Forgotten newspapers discovered in basement

 

Just doors down the street, a neighbour has made an interesting discovery: a box filled with old, newspapers. Whoever put these papers away only saved the biggest stories. My brief inspection indicated the papers go back at least sixty years.

North London neighbourhoods are not old but heritage

 

Once I thought that homes like this one in North London were unique. I was much younger then. Now, thanks to posting to this City Daily blog, I realize these home follow a formula, a formula that has been repeated many times throughout the heritage neighbourhood.

In fact, it is so much like other homes that I had to check my photo records to assure myself that I had not run a picture of this home in the past. I hadn't. But, I had run a close cousin. See on right.

Why do builders today find it so difficult to recreate this style and other from the '20s and '30s? One neighbourhood in South London attempted to emulate the period but the concrete rather than clay bricks immediately declared the homes faux.

The new homes in South London occasionally have garage doors with hinges but the hinges are not attached to the door jams. The hinges are as obviously fake as the for-show shutters with no hinges, not even phony ones.

The Monarch Ultra Run from Twitter

The Monarch Ultra Run (@monarch_ultra), co-founded by Carlotta James, moves through Southern Ontario in sync with the monarch migration. http://themonarchultra.com

I saw this on Twitter and thought it was both interesting and a fine idea. If you are like me, you are concerned that this beautiful and rather unique butterfly may not survive in our changing world. 

Between global warming and loss of habitat both in Mexico and elsewhere, the monarch is facing a potentially very bleak future.

Big running events have gone virtual

London's paved pathways have been much quieter of late. Events such as the Terry Fox Run held last week have gone virtual. People are encouraged to participate in an activity of their choosing. No big masses of runners are to be seen. Social distancing reigns supreme.

But the lack of a proper event does not seem to have cut into the donations collected to fight cancer. A friend, whose daughter has a team in the Terry Fox Run, easily blew past her goal. She raised 177% of her original goal. That converts to $3270 more in donations.

Red peppers add inside colour during the winter.

 

Celosia, the bright yellow blooms, is native to East Africa. The red pepper looking ornamentals are just that: red peppers. Both are on display as suitable decorative plants for adding colour to your home this coming winter.

Man-made hybrids are common

Visiting a local garden centre, it was impossible not to notice the large variety of calathea plants on display. Calathea plants are found in many tropical regions: South and Central America, Africa and the West Indies. 

Starting with a good number of different varietes of calathea, plant growers have been able to  create more than 300 hybrids. Many are man-made hybrids made using tissue cultures.

Many claim that the calathea is a difficult plant to grow. Others say keep the light indirect and the level low, water lightly and let the top 3-4 inches of soil dry before watering again and the plants will thrive. With such beautiful leaves, it is clear from the number of plants filling the garden centre that lots of folk are willing to try and provide a calathea or two with a good home.  

Garden centres now stocking indoor plants

 

One clue that it is fall is that the plants now filling the garden centres are indoor plants that can't take the cold but will flourish in low, indirect light. Many of the plants feature incredible foliage. I believe the plant shown is a type of calathea. With proper care it may attain a height of three feet.