Another good spot near London, Ontario

Port Bruce, a lakeside village on the north shore of Lake Erie, is a great beach destination for those put-off by the crowds attracted to Port Stanley about 16 kilometres to the west. If baking in the sun isn't your cup of tea, fishing off the port pier is another option. The area is known for its yellow perch and walleye fishing. At one time the village supported a fairly large fishing fleet, but today sun lovers have replaced commercial fishers.

One of London's finest features isn't in London

Small breakers rolling in at the Port Stanley beach south of London, Ontario.

Click the link to see and learn more.

Port Stanley on Lake Erie was once thought of as London, Ontario's beach on Lake Erie. Teens would board the London & Port Stanley Railway and ride from London to the beach.

The Port was really something back then. There was a dance pavilion, an incline railway, a casino, a roller coast and more, and of course there was always the lake and the beach.

The Port is still a fine destination. I took my granddaughter there today to build sand castles with the fine sand and watch the tumbling waves gently crashing onto the shore.

It is only early May and still quite cool. Yet, there were a fair number of folk enjoying a little time at the beach.

To learn more about the Port that was click the LINK.

An asparagus farm in the city

This asparagus farm and retail stand is maybe half a kilometre from my London home.

The City of London is convinced that all that is important is found in the core. The local paper seems to agree. The suburbs are a dull, backwater to hear these folk tell it. Boy, do they have it wrong.

Oh, I'm sure some people, maybe most people would agree with them, but I don't. I love living in the suburb of Byron, in the southwest corner of London. Every May I look forward to taking a short walk to the asparagus farm operating near my home. I always buy a couple of pounds.

Trust me, asparagus picked in the morning and eaten for lunch, gently salted with a little melted butter, is "wonderful." The adjective "wonderful", by the way, was supplied by my 33-month-old granddaughter. The kid knows her veggies even if the city and the newspaper haven't a clue.

Fun in the suburbs

There are a lot of myths about suburbia. One being that there is nothing for kids to do.

Well, in my neighbourhood, known locally as a suburb of London, there are lots of parks and open spaces. At the end of one court, the local kids have managed to hang a swing from a not so low lying branch.

One way of knowing what one is reading is myth and not fact is if the claim being made is that all, fill in the blank, are this way or that. Nothing, well almost nothing, is always one way. If that is the claim, be suspicious.

To grab this picture all I had to do was walk across the court from my front door. I can also walk to the grocery store, to my choice of drugstores, to my choice wine stores, to my choice of banks, to restaurants -- not chain places, either, and  . . .

I believe that the suburbs are not given the respect that they so rightly deserve.

A few dandelions today, many more tomorrow

Weed control in Ontario is almost a thing of the past. Oh, golf courses can spray weed killer, anything to encourage a healthy sport. Healthy that is except for walking on grass treated with poison. And farmers can spray weed killer on food crops. Hey, the stuffs harmless, just ask Monsanto.

But on lawns or in parks the application of weed killer is a no-no. This spring the dandelions are worse than ever. Although, I rather like the bright yellow flowers but this is not something one wants to admit to in polite society.

The yellow flowers are already going to seed and the spring breezes are carrying them everywhere. Next spring will be wonderful --- if you are a weed lover.

Butterfly Conservatory

The Butterfly Conservatory in Cambridge is about an hour and a quarter down 401 east of London. Today it was somewhat wet, somewhat cold. A poor day to do anything outside. I thought it would be a perfect day to visit the butterfly conservatory. The crowd would be light.

My wife called my granddaughter's other grandparents and they picked up our granddaughter, Fiona, and all came over to our place. Together we made the trip to Cambridge.

The tropical exhibition hall is warm and humid; it has to be for the comfort of the at least 2000 free-flying tropical butterflies and moths. All the butterflies and moths originate in either Costa Rica or the Philippines and are sent to to the conservatory weekly as pupae (also called chrysalides (butterflies) or cocoons (moths)) from tropical butterfly farms.

Butterfly farming is a sustainable form of agriculture and ensures that natural populations of wild butterflies and moths are not depleted.

With so many butterflies and moths flitting about, it is not uncommon for one or two to land on a visitor's head or hand. People are advised to refrain from trying to pet, or touch in any way, the delicate little insects.

Butterfly on a visitor's boot.

Apparently some butterflies are attracted to salt. Boots, flavoured with salt from trudging along snow covered and heavily salted winter sidewalks, are a strong attractant.

The warm, humid air made me sweat lightly. I had two butterflies light on my moist, somewhat salty, bald head. The butterflies tickled and Fiona laughed.

At the emergence window, Fiona and I watched a butterfly dry its wings in preparation for its very first flight after pulling itself free of its pupa. Some butterfly species are reared onsite giving visitors a chance to observe all four of the stages of metamorphosis: egg, caterpillar, pupa, and butterfly.

There are approximately 40 different species of butterflies and moths at the conservatory. Its a great place to take a granddaughter.

Is it too late to look for my shadow?

It is now almost mid April and the weather had turned pretty cool. A few weeks ago it looked like we were about to enjoy an early spring. The unseasonably warm weather encouraged the local magnolia trees to bloom.

Very little is blooming today. There is frost almost every night. I wonder if the groundhog that lives in my backyard is still looking for his shadow as he supposedly did back on February 2nd, Groundhog Day. Sunny weather in early February portends a late spring.

Cookie-cutter housing; I like it.

A row of attractive cookie-cutter homes in North London.

I love cities. I'm fond of the countryside, too, but it is cities that I love. As a boy I used to bike about my neighbourhood taking notes. On returning home I would add the stuff I had noted to a large map of the area. In my young mind, I was an explorer.

Mine was a "wartime housing" neighbourhood. My street was 52 similar homes on three city blocks --- a true cookie-cutter development. I learned to study those homes and note what had been done to add a little diversity. The siding was varied, some homes had shingles, others had wooden planking. The colour of the homes was varied with some grey, some white, some deep green . . . . The height of the homes varied as some were single floor homes and others were two floor. To prevent someone looking down the street and seeing 52 very similar homes in a very long row, the home were staggered on the lots. A short row of one floor homes might be forward on their lots, while a following row of two story homes would be placed farther back on their lots.

I noticed these same visual tricks were used in what I called the "brick home neighbourhood." Although the brick homes did not look to have all been built at the same time by the same builder, there were often two or three almost identical homes grouped together. One home might have yellow brick and the other red but they were the same style of home. Over the years I saw the insides of many of these homes and can attest that the layouts were identical.

And so, I have been left puzzled by the comments of writers critical of suburban developments. "Suburbs don't have to look like 'human filing cabinets' ", Randy Richmond of The London Free Press tells us. As if building a row of similar homes is unique to suburbia.

These writers toss about the 'cookie-cutter' remarks all too freely. There can be a beauty to repetition. It all comes down to what exactly is being repeated.

New urbanism, an approach to development favoured by these writers, results in very rule-guided structures. And this isn't a criticism. Rules can be good. Think Paris, France.

A new urbanist community north of Toronto.

Another look at housing evoution

With its front porch intact and colourful landscaping, this is a lovely heritage home.

When built many decades ago, the small cottage homes that dot London provided relatively inexpensive housing. This is not always the case today. Many still present a simple but elegant face to the street but inside they have been upgraded, modernized, and rear additions have been added, expanding the homes to sizes unimagined by the original builders and occupants. It is not uncommon to find these homes have had multiple additions over the intervening years.

This once-small-home appears to have had two rear additions expanding it size.

Evolution of a building

I'm not an expert when it comes to architecture. And my memory is failing. All that aside, I believe this lovely little home in North London was once white with a red tile roof.

Back when I was in the market for a home, I can recall it being listed as a mission style home in white stucco. It couldn't be listed quite that way today. It is not longer white and its roof is now simply shingled. The mission look is still there but subdued.

Buildings change over time. Often the changes are quite dramatic but they occur over such a long time period the changes go almost unnoticed.

North London is one of the finest areas in town. I would not be surprised if, in the future, this place undergoes some big and very dramatic changes. Already some of the neighbouring homes have undergone some incredible makeovers.

Magnolia blossoms threatened

The incredibly early spring has encouraged London, Ontario magnolia trees to go into full bloom all too early. Now, the weather has turned chilly during the day and is deep into freezing territory at night. The beautiful blooms may all soon tumble to the ground, victims of the frosty March nights.

Spring is here!

Mud baths are fun, unless you're the dog's owner.

The game of fetch is over.

It was the winter that wasn't. I could have slipped through this past winter without owning a snow blower. There was so little snow that the local ski hill was only able to remain open thanks to its sophisticated snow making equipment.

It is only March and the parks are filled with kids playing, dogs relaxing after a game of fetch and other dogs sneaking off for a spring mud bath. Everyone is loving it, except possibly the owner of the mutt in the mud.

The water is only an inch deep but a rock still makes a good splash.

London Orchid Show

Yesterday, Saturday, March 17 the London Orchid Society's 35th Annual Show and Sale started. It is on again today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School, 1065 Sunningdale Rd. (just east of Adelaide).

The well attended event attracts vendors from across the province. The London Orchid Society can be found online. Just click the link.

Shooting orchids, as incredibly beautiful as they may be, can prove difficult at a show such as the one in London. One must be careful that the light illuminating the blooms is not cold, green fluorescent or overly warm tungsten. I focused my interest on the flowers nearest the large windows. They were bathed in wonderful bright but soft, clean light.

It is also important to watch the background when shooting blooms. All too often backgrounds can be very busy and very distracting with other flowers pushing themselves into the picture.

As you cannot touch the flowers at a show such as this, moving the flowers is out. Move your camera. Pick your angle with care. Do not allow yourself to be blinded by the beauty of the bloom to the detriment of the beauty of you picture. Think picture and not just flower.

Orchid in a plastic container ready to be taken home.

A simple, concrete block home - nice!

I wish I knew more about heritage housing. This home, sitting on a large lot in an older section of London appears to have exterior walls of concrete blocks with a surface treatment reminiscent of cut stone. This may be what is known as rusticated concrete block.

I love the home's simple presentation, but I think a covered porch of some sort must have originally graced the front.

I worry little homes, like this one, are always in danger of being bought and demolished by a developer intent on maximizing land use by replacing the heritage structure with a densely built, in-fill style, multi-unit, condo development.

London Normal School sits vacant

Recently I did a post on the former London Normal School. Normal school is the name given to a teachers' college back in the 1890s when the London heritage structure was built. The building hasn't been a normal school for decades. The teachers' college is now in the north of the city and associated with the University of Western Ontario.

The structure is presently sitting vacant but it is still in fine shape. Recently I did a blog post on the building called Promoting a Dream. For more info, please follow the link.

10 degrees and foggy in Southern Ontario

Winter has been a non-starter in London, Ontario. I don't think I got out the snow blower more than a couple of times. And even those times when I cleared my drive, the snowfall was minimal.

Today, not quite spring, the temperature was about ten degrees centigrade (50 degree fahrenheit), a bit rainy, and a bit foggy. Later in the week the temperature is forecast to climb into the high teens or low 20s.

It is time to remove the snow tires. When the temperature is above about seven degrees centigrade, the tire tread wears quite quickly.

So green it's silver

St. Joseph's Hospital in London is getting an extreme make-over, hospital edition. One problem being fixed is the deteriorating exterior brick. Bits of wall were breaking free and falling. A safety issue.

This is being corrected with new cladding and new exterior insulation. The windows are being replaced, too. When done, the old hospital building will be so green that it will be silver, LEED Silver.

This may be green but it comes with few bragging rights, the LEED standard has Gold and Platinum levels above the Silver standard. But Silver is still a great improvement.

According to the hospital, the present structure, as it stands, does not meet today's fire standards, nor is it up to code for floor loading. Windows leak and the lack of insulation results in higher energy use.

The construction causes a little inconvenience for patients and visitors but it when it is done it will have been well worth the trouble and expense.

I saw the gleaming framing for the new cladding and thought "art."

Of snowmen and hot cocoa

When it snowed recently in London, Fiona just had to make a snowman. She'd never made one but was familiar with the concept from television. Still, she wasn't prepared how fast a rolling snowball grows in size and how heavy it rapidly becomes.

One big surprises was how cold snow can be. She slipped off her mitten to work on her snowman and her fingers were soon painfully cold. She slipped her mitten back on.

With the snowman done, and her fingers regaining their warmth, it was time to go inside for hot cocoa. Fiona likes measuring out the powder and stirring the hot drink until it swirls about in her cup. If grandma and gugah come to her "tea party" all is right with the world.

Cheese is big business and imported

Fiona tries helping gaga by grating some cheese for an omelet.

When I was little I can recall going to a cheese factory owed by a friend of my father and mother. The factory was near Alexandria in Eastern Ontario. Today, the factory is gone.


Closer to home, cheese factories once dotted the area around London. No more. Every so often a new enterprise opens up, but as often as not they soon close. Big companies, like Kraft, bought the small family concerns and today the big conglomerates control the market.

My granddaughter may never know the pleasure of going into a cheese factory and buying some fresh curds, still warm to the touch and squeaky on the teeth.

Locked out permanently

Ontario was once the economic engine of the entire country. The province was the industrial heartland of Canada. Today, industry is leaving: Mexico, China, even the States are the destinations.

The Electro-Motive Diesel plant in London was opened in 1950. After more than half a century and three owners, the locomotive plant is being closed. Caterpillar demanded that the workers take a cut of approximately 50 percent in pay and accept further cuts in benefits and the company pension plan. The workers refused and Caterpillar locked them out.

As the lockout stretched into the fifth week, Caterpillar pulled the plug and is pulling the plant out of Canada. Counting the unionized and non-unionized workers, approximately 700 Londoners are being thrown out of work.

The biggest stairs I've ever seen.

I live in the area of London with the most hills, Byron. It is so hilly that Boler Mountain, the local ski hill is located in my subdivision.

My granddaughter, Fiona, loves to go outside and she loves a good walk. Yesterday, we took off down the slope across the street from where I live. There's a small playground down there and the neighbourhood public school.

To make it easier, and safer, for the kids coming to and going from the school, there is long staircase behind the building. When Fiona spotted the stairs she exclaimed, "Look! The biggest stairs I've ever seen." Seeing how she is just 29 months, she's probably right.

She had to climb those stairs, and she did.

Warm winter for southern Ontario in Canada

It has been one warm winter with very little snow. I've actually had my English roadster out twice this winter. No snow. No salt. No slush.

But Fiona found some snow to enjoy. She called it a snow doughnut. It was the snow piled in the court by the snow plow. It has been so warm that the entire middle of the pile was melted away.

London at Night

This short video of London at night was shot by StoryBox Productions, a local communications company specializing in telling stories with a strong visual bent. They love producing stories with stylish, artistic visuals that people will remember.

A little snow angel

Fiona has watched Max and Ruby make snow angels. If you don't know who Max and Ruby are, well, you clearly don't have little ones. Max and Ruby are rabbits, rabbits in a cute cartoon for kids.

For the past few weeks Fiona has been making floor angels. We haven't had much snow. She did get out once to make some real, snow angels but just once. It got warm and it rained. The first snow was washed almost completely away.

Well, this past Saturday was different. We had snow and Fiona had her snow suit, mittens, a warm hat and new, cozy boots. That's her word for warm boots: cozy. She was ready to hit the snow.

And she does hit the snow. She let's herself fall backwards, hitting the fluffy, light white powder with a bit of a thud. I try to stop her from pulling the stunt where the snow is a light dusting over paving stones. She doesn't protest.

We walked together all the way to the park, with Fiona dragging her sled behind her. Sleds are great fun to pull. It's even more fun if the sled is filled with snow. And if one is pulled in one's sled, it is just the best if a bed of soft, cold snow cushions the ride. If you don't know that, well, you clearly don't have little ones.

We searched the neighbourhood for fresh, unblemished snow. Nothing. Everywhere we went other kids had been there first. Everywhere that is, except for the slide in the park. No other kids had the will, or stick-to-it-ive-ness to struggle through the snow to the top of the slide. But that snow, as untouched as it was, was not suitable for snow angel making.

Fiona slogged through the snow, climbing to the top of the slide. Carefully positioning herself at the top of the snow-clogged slide, she then eased herself down. She moved forward --- slowly, pushing snow ahead of her as she gradually descended. "Again! Again!" she said with excitement and satisfaction. She made five climbs up, each one easier than the last, and five slides down, each one faster than the last, until fully cleared of snow, the slide was open for use.

The challenge met, we headed home.

And at home we found it: unblemished snow. It was in Gugga's backyard. (Fiona has christened me Guggga. Her other grandfather is grandpa Bill. But I'm Gugga; Her buddy.) Finally, Fiona made her snow angels. She made lots of snow angels. And then, she spent a little time admiring them.

I took these moments to do something similar. I admired my little snow angel: Fiona.

Lockout of workers entering fourth week

A local locomotive plant (but always American owned) was purchased two short years ago by Progress Rail, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., and is now facing the threat of possible closure. The approximately 425 unionized workers were given a "take it or leave it" offer; they decided to pass. But, and this is important, they did not decide to strike. When they made it clear that they would show up for work after the strike vote, the company locked them out.

Saturday a rally in support of the locked out workers was held in Victoria Park in London's downtown. The mayor spoke and both provincial and federal representatives were on stage showing support. Although, all the federal Conservative MPs were absent. It appears Prime Minister Harper has put out the word to his minions: Stay clear of this dispute.

I posted more images and a story on the Digital Journal news pages.

Neighbourhood devolution

The Spot restaurant on the right burned the other day.

I don't mind seeing homes converted to businesses. It is possible to do this in a way that respects the former homes. Done properly, these conversions can make for a very pleasant street, lined with heritage properties.

All too often, this is not done in London, Ontario. If an addition is necessary, it is often simply a boxy mass slapped onto the front or the side of the structure. Ugly.

Down the street from The Spot, the residential feel is intact.

A restaurant/apartment complex in the core burned the other day. It is always sad when a building suffers a fire, especially a residence. People can be injured, or killed, and treasured, irreplaceable stuff is lost. When a business is involved, the expense to the owner can put the business out of play permanently.

All that said, maybe the fire that gutted a restaurant and several attached apartments in London's core, causing an estimated $450,000 in damage, can be turned into a positive.

Maybe the restaurant can be rebuilt in keeping with the architecture of the older building. Let's blend the commercial smoothly into the residential.

Let's make this old, heritage structure evolve rather than devolve. Let's honour the past, the present and the future.

Many of the residences in this downtown neighbourhood date are circa 1880.

 All images screen grabs from Google Maps.

Locked out EMD workers facing Hobson's choice

The short story is that the Electro-Motive Diesel plant that has made locomotives in London, Ontario since 1950 has locked out its workers. The CAW, Local 27, members were asked to accept a 50 percent cut in wages, have their benefits chopped and sit by while their pension plan got gutted.

The workers are now out on the street 24 hours a day in shifts. So far the company has not tried to get replacement workers, at least ones who would be there to build locomotives, across the line.

I blogged the whole story with my guess as to its outcome here. [But, I so hope that I am wrong and that the workers win this one. A cut of 50 percent in salary is impossibly large, especially when you consider that Caterpillar, the ultimate owner, is making a bundle even in today's economy.]

An historic battle unfolds in London

A battle pitting a giant American multinational against a small group of organized workers in London, Ontario, is presently unfolding in this Southwestern Ontario community.

When the workers would not agree to having their wages cut by half, their benefits slashed and their pension plans gutted, the company, Electro-Motive Diesel, locked out its skilled workers.

The EMD name may not be known to you, nor the immediate owners of the EMD, Progress Rail Services. But the big name behind it all is Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar is infamous for its union-busting tactics and for its willingness to close and move plants to avoid collective bargaining.

Last night, I visited the locked out workers on the picket line and this morning I checked in with them to see if any replacement workers had yet crossed the line. I reported all to the online newspaper Digital Journal out of Toronto.

Heritage homes overlook the Thames River

At least one of these homes had an historic plaque visible beside the front door. I should have taken the time to read it. I have been unable to find anything on the Internet about Riverside Avenue in London, Ontario.

The name of the street say it all; These homes border the Thames River. They both look like wonderful homes and I'm sure they both have interesting histories. There is a certain similarity to these two places and I wouldn't be surprised that they are in some way historically connected.

I took this picture yesterday while walking back to my car from the London Children's Museum. It is interesting, to me, how neighbourhoods evolve. The museum is in the former Riverside Public School. It was a pretty, three story school in local, yellow brick. If the school hadn't become a museum it would most likely have become a memory.

As children grow up, the enrollment at area schools declines. The city does not mothball under-used schools. They demolish them. This leaves a neighbourhood without a school. It is no wonder that families do not repopulate the neighbourhood with the passing of time.

These two homes hint at the elegance that was once Riverview Avenue. But what sits across from these two grand, heritage homes today? A Salvation Army complex.