It's a neat mural. Why it is on the wall of a North London corner store is beyond me. I'll have to stop by and ask. I'm curious. It is stylish, bright and colourful and exceedingly well done. But why is it here? This is not commonly done in London. And my wife believes this may not be the first mural to appear here. She thinks the mural may be temporary and will be painted over at some point in the near future. Yup. I've just go to stop by this store and as some questions.
The bright greens of spring are everywhere. Bright, fresh, new. And the red? A sign of spring? Kind of. The berries fall from the holly bush above, dropped by returning birds,
The world is changing. Our reliance on fossil fuels is slowly, or maybe not so slowly, waning. This home in the Byron suburb of London, Ontario, sports about two dozen large, solar panels on at least two sides of the sloped roof.
In London, Ontario, Canada, symbols of the risen Christ are everywhere on Good Friday. But crosses are commonly found throughout the cemeteries in town year around. In the coming years this may change.
Londoners waited patiently for almost two full months for the groundhog to make its annual appearance. On April 1st it finally showed, popping up in Springbank Park to see its shadow and then immediately scamper back into its den. Why? The forecast: snow! And London's official meteorologist agree with our furry friend. Snow is on the way.
I have an appointment to get a vaccination but it is for two full weeks in the future. The month will be half over by the time my wife and I get our first shots. The second may not be administered until four months in the future. Canada is so short of vaccine that those who have not been vaccinated are getting their first shot before others are given their second.
It is hoped the Yanks will free up some vaccine by early summer as it appears the Americans will have everyone vaccinated in the U.S. by then. Canadians have their fingers crossed.
That said, I expect it to be good. My wife and I both like coffee brewed in a French press. The French press was, as far as I could determine, patented by the Italians Attilio Calimani and Giulio Moneta in 1929. No, it wasn't patented by the French first.
What is said to be the most popular design was patented by Faliero Bondanini in 1958. Bondanini was Swiss and not French but he did have his design manufactured in France. Still, the version that made the French press a household name in North America was a Danish company: Bodum.
What makes French press coffee special are the coffee oils remaining in the brew when poured. Sadly, some of these oils are said to change a coffee drinker's blood cholesterol, and not for the better. Paper coffee filters absorb some of these oils and so drip coffee is the brew of choice for those with hardening of the arteries.
Which brings us to the AeroPress. And American invention from Palo Alto, California, it is said to filter out the unhealthy coffee oils but somehow magically retain the full flavour of the ground coffee. To me, it looks like an American take on the French Press with a coffee filter added.
I call it ingenious as it certainly addresses the concerns of those with certain heart disease problems by removing the heart-offending coffee oils. Sales are through the roof. Bodum is jealous, I'm sure. If the coffee is no better than that from a drip machine, it is a rip-off but one in tune with history. The Americans have to get in line behind the Swiss, the French and the Danes when claiming bragging rights to the creative invention of a pair of Italians almost a century ago.
