Western Fair

The annual fall Western Fair is now on in London ON. Attendance is dropping at the old agricultural event. I know one reason: cost. To take my granddaughter set me back $85. Wow! She is only three and so entered for free. I'm more than 65 and got in under the senior discount. Still, tickets for the rides and some fish and chips for dinner set me back a whopping $85. A visit to the fair is no longer a fun day for a struggling family.

Easy getaways another London plus

I found these guarding a neighbourhood temple in the Cotes-des-Neiges area of Montreal.

I love living in London, Ontario. One nice perk, which I have mentioned before, is how easy it is to getaway from London.

London is located on 401, the major highway running from the southwestern end of the province all the way to the Quebec border. Montreal is but a day's drive away.

In the summer there is Montreal and Quebec City beckoning. In the winter one can add the call of the many ski resorts in La Belle Province: Mont Tremblant, Mont Ste. Anne, Le Massive de Charlevoix, and more. Some of the highest vertical drops this side of the Rockies are found in Quebec.

But it was late August when my wife and I made our quick, short visit to Montreal. Driving a Jetta powered by a VW designed diesel engine, we made it from London all the way to Quebec without one stop for fuel. Coming home we drove from the Ontario-Quebec border all the way to London on little more than a half tank of fuel. Getting to Montreal was not expensive.

The Cotes-des-Neiges neighbourhood has tree lined streets filled with duplexes.

 We stayed with friends in the Cotes-des-Neiges neighbourhood, strolled the duplex lined streets and later took the rubber-tired subway system downtown to see a film shown as part of the World Film Festival. We dined in Chinatown, visited old Montreal and savoured Montreal bagels (we brought dozens home for family and friends). We enjoyed cafe au lait served in a bowl.

And everywhere we went the Quebec folk were wonderful --- sometimes too wonderful. I had a young man offer me his seat on the subway. I didn't know I was "that" old.

The Montreal Biodome offers everything from penguins to bobcats.

Where the sidewalk ends

Click on image, enlarge, read the sign.

I changed this post after hearing from a reader. I'd forgotten the children's book, Where the sidewalk ends, by Shel Silverstein. They wrote to say I'd found the place made famous by Silverstein in his book and in his poem of the same name.

How I forgot the late Shel Silverstein's book and poem, it a question. He is one of my favourite children's book authors. I'll have to go to Chapters for a couple of his efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where the Sidewalk Ends 

by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Storm-water pond

It was barely daybreak when I drove by the new subdivision separated from a major thoroughfare by a wet storm-water pond. These ponds retain rainwater and act to prevent flooding. For more information on these ponds, which are very numerous in London, read the story in The London Free Press.

The growing city

New commercial additions are clearly in the offing.

Construction continues.

On land that was open farmland when I moved to London, a massive shopping district is taking shape in southwest London, Ontario. The plan is to make Wonderland Road a major and welcoming entrance to the growing city.

The major gateway I can see but the welcoming part may be a stretch --- unless rows of fairly standard box stores with acres of black asphalt is your idea of welcoming.

Still, it is a clean, modern area offering everything from groceries to banking to eye care and much more. Like an ice cream? It's here. Looking for wine? Or beer? Yes, these stores are here, too.

This area offered the city a wonderful chance to showcase the city's planning department. If the city was going for the gold, someone fumbled it, in my opinion.

It's a good shopping area but very, very ordinary. It lacks magic.

Orchids flourish in London, Ontario

An orchid blooming in a London, Ontario, home.

When I think of Ontario, I don't think of orchids. But they are found in the province. Mostly in stores and the homes of orchid lovers but they are also found growing wild. Gosh, I've got to go looking one of these days.

What got me thinking about orchids was the beauty blooming at a friend's North London home. I may be wrong, but I believe his wife bought it at Costco. It's a discount orchid, although I don't think that is its official name.

Painting a face doesn't paint over the problems

The young girl doing the face painting was very friendly. In fact, she was busy cleaning up for the day when I approached with Fiona. She didn't have to but she took out some paints and brushes and readily agreed to paint Fiona's face.

As she started I asked about the cost. "It's five dollars," I was told. Now, that's not that much but yesterday I paid something like $140 for a season pass to the park plus the right to unlimited rides on the merry-go-round and other park attractions.

For more on Storybook, click the link. Read the comment.

There's nothing like forking over a payment in the three digits to make one immediately aware of a park's shortcomings. Today I noticed that the operator wasn't playing the music during the carousel ride. The kids road the merry-go-round ponies in a quiet punctuated by the grinding of well greased gears.

One horse was broken, at least one seat was torn, and the entire ride looked generally poorly cared for.

When we rode the miniature train I noticed that the engine was covered in dust. One would think it only reasonable to give the little engine a wash and a shine now and then. The park didn't shout pride.

But as I paid my five dollars I thought I might shout: "Storybook! Get your act together!"