Keys to the Forest City

Children call them 'whirlybirds' or 'helicopters'. They are more accurately known as maple keys — the seeds of the maple tree. These distinctive seeds grow in pairs and spin as they fall. With a good breeze, they can travel a fair distance before striking the ground. As one tree can release hundreds of thousands of keys, this London street was thick with maple keys after a nasty thunderstorm rolled through the neighbourhood.

When I was a little boy, I would break a maple key in half and then split the seed pod itself. The inside of the pod was slightly sticky and I could spread the two halves and stick them on both sides of my nose. I thought the wing or blade of the seed, sticking out from my face, was like a lot like a rhinoceros horn — a small, thin, green rhinoceros horn — but a rhinoceros horn just the same.

Hey, I was a little kid and little kid's have big imaginations.

Beautify the city; decorate a fire hydrant

Fire hydrants don't get a lot of attention. They are installed, painted and forgotten — unless there's a fire. Fiona decided to do her part to beautify the city; She decorated the fire hydrant at the neighbourhood park with dandelion blossoms.

Daisy Patch

One Earth Day, 2009, the Cosmetic Pesticides Ban Act came into force in Ontario. The sale and use of the pesticides commonly used to maintain lawns and gardens in Ontario was banned. The result? Lots of bright yellow dandelions and lovely patches of white petaled daisies here and there.

Now, my neighbour tells me to enjoy the bright, flowering weeds while I can. He assures me they will soon be gone. He's hired a company that uses a new herbicide, approved for use in Ontario, with the active ingredient chelated iron. The company promises to control his weeds legally and chemically. No more futile pulling, they say. They claim  once the spray has dried, it is safe for children and pets to walk on the treated lawn.

Ah . . . I've been learning to love the untreated, naturally weedy, expanses of lawn.

Victoria Day Fireworks and I Missed 'em

The Fanshawe Optimist Club of North London again teamed with the Fanshawe Conservation Area northeast of London to present one of the largest fireworks displays in Southwestern Ontario. As usual, the Victoria Day event got underway at dusk, which thanks to daylight savings time comes a little late for the wee-ones.

We brought Fiona, 20-months, to see the fireworks and by the time they started she was just about ready to quit. Oh, the first five minutes kept her interested, she actually kept signing "more, more," but after that it was "been there and done that." She made it clear it was time to go. We left.

As everyone knows, the best fireworks are the closers. The bursts of colours come so fast they fill the sky with overlapping displays. Oh well, I may not have got the most impressive shots but we did miss the traffic jam at the end.

I must confess that my dramatic shot is complements of Photoshop. Forgive me.

A mother and her little daughter play with a sparkler while awaiting the show.

A cool spring

It still seems so early in the year. It has been a cool spring with way more rain than usual. Mentally it feels as if winter has just left. But these goslings, down by the river, say spring is here and has been here for awhile.

In years past I have taken pictures of the goslings strutting about behind their parents. This year the fuzzy, little things are cuddling close together for warm. As I was saying, it has been a cool spring.

Cool balconies!

The balconies on this apartment building in the south of London are neat. If this building was built close to other, visually different, apartment buildings, the balcony treatment would contrast with the surrounding buildings causing these unique balconies to visually jump.

Instead this building is teamed with another of the same design and the pop is reduced to a gentle fizz.

Oh well, it is still a cool design.

Rain, now fog, and the forecast? Rain.

It looked good when we got up, just a little after daybreak. But soon a dense fog had settled over the city. Not good for the morning commuters but good for early morning photographers. Just step out the front door and find a picture.