Northern Flicker in London Ontario backyard

A Northern Flicker shot through my kitchen window.

Northern Flickers are woodpeckers with handsome black-scalloped plumage, a black on white speckled breast, and with a flash of red at the back of  their heads. Flickers may be woodpeckers but they love to dine on easily found ants and beetles which can be dug up with their long, slightly curved beak.

These are  not uncommon in our backyard and I shot this one with my Fuji FinePix HS10 zoomed to the max and pressed against a kitchen window. I'm glad my wife cleaned those windows! There is still a little distortion from shooting obliquely through a couple of layers of insul-glass.

Magnolia

 I'm not a gardener.

My wife and I like magnolias and so I bought a tree for my backyard. It has now survived a number of Southwestern Ontario winters and has grown to about four feet. This spring it is in full flower. What a surprise; The blooms are a deep purple rather than pink and the shape is unlike the other magnolia trees in the neighbourhood.

What did I buy?

The magnolia may be the official state flower of Mississippi and Louisiana in the U.S., but some species are native to Southwestern Ontario where there the temperate climate supports a Carolinian Forest.

Canadian spring

Spring is surely here. The grass is green and blooms are everywhere. Wish I had grabbed a better shot.

Green growth from still water

The rather still pool of spring fed water sheltered plants beneath its tranquil surface all winter. Now, with spring in the air, lush, green leaves are sprouting above the water. Maybe, in a few weeks, there will be some lily pads making an appearance.

An older style of housing

 

There is something very pleasant about these well maintained, older homes found in a small town just outside London. Two of the three homes have fairly large porches and all sit very close to the sidewalk. There is a warmth and simplicity to this neighbourhood that new urbanist planners try to emulate but rarely as achieve.

Of art and bike racks

The large, red sculpture nestled into the small courtyard behind the Bell building and government offices and the courthouse in downtown London, Ontario, shares its visual space quite comfortably with the nearby bike racks.

We're a young country but our flag is still younger.

I can remember when Canada didn't have the bright red maple leaf as the national flag. It was February 15th, 1965, when the Maple Leaf was first raised above Parliament Hill.

In the beginning, it was tough going for the little flag. A lot of folk were quite happy with Canada's de facto national flags. That's right, flags plural.

One flag often flown was the Canadian Red Ensign. This was a British Red Ensign with a Canadian shield in the fly (the right-hand half).

As a child, I can recall waving a stiff-fabric red ensign when Queen Elizabeth visited Brantford, Ontario. Many Canadians had memories attached to that flag. For those folk, it was tough saying good-bye.

The other flag that served as Canada's official national flag was the British Union Jack. The Union Jack often flew over government buildings as well as government-related facilities such as RCMP camps and military forts.

When the Maple Leaf was first flown, I know of one one high school teacher who told his students that the new Maple Leaf design was better suited to decorating beer bottles. He went on to argue that there were parts of Canada that didn't have maple trees. He was disgusted and wore his disgust with wounded pride.

But Prime Minister Lester Pearson bravely broke with the past and gave Canada a fresh, new flag. It was a gutsy move. Today, I believe, you'd have a difficult time finding many who'd want either the Union Jack or the Canadian Red Ensign in place of our beloved Maple Leaf.






If you'd like to know more about the history of Canada's flag, please check out The Canadian Maple Leaf Flag site.