Our London Family

 

A little more than a year ago a London Muslim family out for an evening stroll was struck by a car and four of the five were killed: both parents, a daughter and her grandmother died, while a young son was the only one to live. Police allege the act was intentional. It is alleged to have been a hate crime. Now, a large monument dedicated to "Our London Family" marks the spot. Although located in the northwest corner of the city, the monument attracts a constant flow of visitors. Many leave flowers.

A monument to our London family

 

The mural shown is part of a larger mural on a monument erected to honour a London Muslim family killed a year ago in a vehicular accident police allege was intentional. A car struck a Muslim family out for a summer evening stroll killing both parents, their daughter and her grandmother. The family's young son was the only one of the group to survive the collision.

Hostas: better than you think

Hostas are nice but if we are honest we must admit hostas are not the first choice of most gardeners for a featured plant. Gardeners are missing a great opportunity.

For many years the local paper organized a Garden Walk Weekend. Readers were encouraged to stop by the paper to pick up a map in order to tour of the city and visit ten spectacular, private gardens. Most of the gardens were in the north end of the city, in the city's finest residential neighbourhood.

One year one home on the tour was located in the east end of the city in an area known for its industrial parks. Hidden among the factories and warehouses there was one short, forgotten residential street and the home at the end of the street was on the tour. To say folk were surprised would be a gross understatement.

When the visitors entered the home's backyard, they got quite the surprise. The home owner was a hostas freak. He loved hostas and over the years he had become a self-taught hosta expert. His narrow but deep backyard was filled with hundreds and hundreds of hostas: big hostas, small hostas, solid green hostas and varigated hostas. The biggest hostas were at the sides of the yard growing on tall mounds of earth. The tall plants, they must have been at least four feet tall, blocked the view of the surrounding neighbourhood. The large leaves even muffled neighbourhood noises. Very practical.

The hostas on the sides of the yard were so large that the plants inside the yard seemed small in comparison. Some were truly small but others were not and added privacy to small spaces enclosed by dozens of hostas. A narrow trail snaked through the yard with benches nestled among the foliage.

To a visitor, quickly lost in the green-lined maze, the backyard seemed far larger than its true size. The hostas had been planted imaginatively and wisely. The backyard was a world onto itself. At the end of the day, where ever folk gathered to discuss the tour, the hosta-home was the clear winner.

Ignorance is not bliss when it come to plants

Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to plants. Plant the wrong plant in the wrong place and one may find themselves with an aggressive, spreading ground cover that takes over an area and smothers competing plants--plants you may have liked.

The voting is still out on the plant shown above with the green leaves rimmed with bright yellow. It has spread very nicely, according to my neighbour, and so far it has played nicely with the other plants in the garden. The question is: will this cooperation continue?

City folk love their gardens. One can be forgiven for thinking that there might be an ongoing, unspoken contest being fought here. Each home each succeeding year sports bigger, more spectacular, more numerous flowers and shrubs. 

But mixing and matching plants is no easier than mixing and matching neighbours and sometimes the wrong plant gets put into the mix with disastrous results. Luckily, bad plants are easier to uproot and remove than bad neighbours.

Today it is a bed and breakfast

Stratford, Ontario, is famous for its theatres, plural. A lot of the original manufacturing has left the little city and now a big percentage of the city's wealth comes from the entertainment industry. And make no mistake about it, it is an industry.

For instance, this little home is a bed and breakfast today. The hospitality business is a spin off reaping the benefits of the flourishing local theatre business. Rumour has it that this B&B was once a simple, little church. Maybe. But the little building also has the look of an old school. Unfortunately, the info on the stone above the door has been obliterated.

If you are ever in southwestern Ontario, google Stratford. You might well find play being performed to your liking.

Schubertii allium, I think . . .

Each year these blooms appear in a friend's front yard flower garden. Over the years, she has noticed that the strange blooms appear to attract butterflies and hummingbirds; a plus in her estimation. Furthermore, they don't appear to be loved by the common garden pests that plague other plants in her garden; another plus. 

But what exactly are these mystery blooms? I have guess thanks to a google search. (Drum roll, please.) These blooms are flowers on schubertii allium plants. Does anyone agree?

Only made in France, available everywhere

In high school history I learned shipwrecks of Roman trading ships had been discovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea with cargoes intact. Trade was important to the Romans. Goods unique to one country were bought and shipped back to Italy.

Trade is even more important today and the glassware at the restaurant silently attests to that fact. The glasses are Duralex. Duralex is French made glassware tempered to resist breaking. Invented just two years before I was born, Duralex, with its unique properties, was soon shipped around the world. 

Restaurants loved it. The glasses stood up to the crude automatic dishwashers of the period. The glasses lasted so long they developed a cloudy, surface patina of thousands of scratches from repeated trips through the dishwasher.

Today the Durlex product is still popular with restaurant owners. As a senior raised in the '50s, I immediately recognized the original glass design which is apparently still popular. Amazing. Any design still in use after almost eight decades is truly ageless.

But, the Duralex glass folk are not resting on their laurels. The second glass is also Duralex but a more recent design. Curious, I googled Duralex. I wondered if it was now being made in China, as well. No, it wasn't. The company says, 

"The original tempered (toughened) Picardie glasses are still produced in France and are known as the “original French tumblers”. . . . Duralex is and will always remain a true French manufacturer of glassware and tabletop products, and is the only glass manufacturer that makes 100% of their products in France."