Coffeeshop Correspondent

Alien Update.

2010-07-07T13:46:00.000-03:00

Rosa multiflora

I've added some new pictures to the Flickr essay. They now show some of the plants in bloom for better identification. Seaside Park on Flickr.

When Aliens Attack!

2010-06-14T22:57:00.072-03:00

Saint John is under attack and most of its citizens are blithely unaware! We have many aliens living in our lawn and invading our garden. Fortunately, most of them are not more than an aggravation.

I mean stop and think, lawn lover; what it would have been like if our pioneer ancestors had stomped out the dandelion when they realized it was escaping from their vegetable garden? Or if Shakespeare had never mentioned the grape-stealing Starling, so it was never released into Central Park?

These things aren't true so we gardeners must soldier on.

Unfortunately, some invaders are not so benign. A strangling plague of Japanese Knotweed (or Mexican Bamboo as it is also known) can kill trees, and pretty old-fashioned Dames Rockets out-compete important natives like milkweed and goldenrod. The "Valley" as seen from the highway is a gallery of these plants. Well, it is until the mortal combat taking place ends and all that is left is Polygonum cuspidatum. It is this knotweed that is the arch-villain of this post.

Polygonum cuspidatum (or its aliases Fallopia japonica, Japanese Knotweed, Mexican Bamboo, and Fleeceflower)

Jeff Hallworth, P. Ag., Coastal Invasive Plant Specialist for the BC Ministry of Forests and Range, noted that, "Knotweed is considered by most experts to be amongst the world's worst invasive alien plants and one of the most difficult of all plants to eradicate." The Comex Valley Echo via Canada.com

How do we get rid of it? It seems the best bet is to keep it bush-hogged to the ground and never letting it get tall enough to flower. This will help deplete its energy. Tilling does not seemed to be recommended as it can spread from a small piece of root. So tilling can spread it.

In the Spring, or once it is hacked back, cover the patch with tarps:

Begin by investing in some plastic or poly tarps, with which you'll cover your patch of Polygonum cuspidatum and smother it. Invest the money in the biggest tarps you can find -- the investment will save you a lot of labor (see below). If the landscape area from which the Japanese knotweed emerges is covered in the early spring with tarps, Japanese knotweed's growth is immediately impeded. By David Beaulieu, About.com Guide

The above article also recommends keeping it cut to the ground as a part of a three-pronged approach that includes injections of herbicides such as Round-up. As a sustainable gardener, this last suggestion is not something I can personally recommend. According to the No Kidding article from Comex, the UK spent over a billion pounds using pesticides to try to eradicate it. So chemicals alone are not the answer anyway.

So, if it's so horrible how did it get here? This quote from the DAISIE pamphlet on Fallopia japonica gives a clue.

Fallopia japonica and F. sachalinensis were introduced into Europe as garden ornamentals in the 19th century and soon escaped from cultivation. Because of its showy blossoms, F. japonica became a popular plant in Victorian gardens of Europe, winning a gold medal in 1847 from the Society of Agriculture and Horticulture at Utrecht as the most “interesting” plant of the year.

Other noxious weeds thrive here in the city. Some of which compared to Japanese Knotweed may only seem more than scabby minions to its criminal master mind, but they should not be underestimated. Dames Rockets (Hesperis matronalis), Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria L.), Rosa multiflora, White Popular (Populas alba), Sea Spray Rose (Rosa rugosa), Common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) are all alien invaders taking a toll on our city. We are not immune just because we are in the north . Our mild winters and summers make for a wonderful pleasant home for these invaders.

So don't buy them, don't propagate them, make sure you properly identify them before destroying them; as most resemble an innocent native species, such as Northeastern Rose (Rosa nitida). Then dispose of any remains in the city compost.

In the future make sure when you buy that pretty Lilac that it is a non-suckering hybrid. Try a hardy rose based on a native species, like Metis (available at Cornhill Nurseries) which is a Rosa nitida cross. If you are not sure then buy your plants from a garden centre that employs or is owned by a professional horticulturalist and have them point you to the alternatives.

Here is a Flickr photo essay on the invasive weeds found here at Seaside Park. It's good to know your enemy.

Roundabout-phobia

2010-05-07T14:13:00.000-03:00

Roundabout-phobia seems to be rampant here in Canada.

I have visited many cities in Eastern Canada and can count the number of roundabouts (traffic circles) on one hand. This is roughly the same number as can be found in any ONE populated center in the UK. Kudos to Oromocto for their forward thinking in recently building one of their own.

Here on the West Side of Saint John, New Brunswick we have Simms Corner.

Simms Corner is the bane of new drivers. It has likely provided a heaping dose of trauma for every driving test since the first bridge spanned the gorge above the rapids. The intersection is visible in this 1894 map, in the top left.

Here is a Google Street View of the intersection ::

View Larger Map

Over the years the city has tried a variety of ways of controlling the traffic in the intersection, including traffic lights. It currently has what could be considered the traditional controls for the site; two stop signs.

This method has come up for review since work will be starting soon on the Harbour Bridge, the only other east-west access. This will of course, drive up the volume of traffic on an already busy intersection.

Of the options reviewed, the roundabout system was considered to be "too large for the site".

The idea of a roundabout - or traffic circle - has been ruled out, municipal operations commission Paul Groody told council Monday night.

The slope of the intersection, railroad crossings, underground infrastructure and lack of space make it not a viable option, he said.

Galbraith said the project has taken so long because of all the discussions with landowners as well as the co-ordination of plans with J.D. Irving's new entrance."The other thing is, there's other competing priorities in the city," he said. Though the intersection is "dysfunctional," Simms Corner has always been an accepted part of the city, said McGuire, who lives on the west side.

"There's a cultural thing. 'Well it's just Simms Corner,' " he said. "We always kind of joked about it." April Cunningham article in Telegraph Journal

This opinion has puzzled more than just me. Here is an example:

At Monday night's common council meeting a discussion about Simms Corner prompted Paul Groody, the municipal operations commissioner, to dismiss the idea of a roundabout, or traffic circle, because of the slope of the intersection, railroad crossings, underground infrastructure and a lack of space... (the ellipsis is not a grammatical statement, nor is it caused by a sticky period key - it's my way of expressing frustration and banging my head against the wall when I heard this latest explanation). Herb Duncans commentary in Telegraph Journal

A roundabout is the simplest and likely the fastest intersection to get up and running for this situation. It can even be considered more green, as this simple (if askew) old intersection would not require traffic lights.

Because roundabouts improve the efficiency of traffic flow, they also reduce vehicle emissions and fuel consumption. In one study, replacing a signalized intersection with a roundabout reduced carbon monoxide emissions by 29 percent and nitrous oxide emissions by 21 percent.11 In another study, replacing traffic signals and stop signs with roundabouts reduced carbon monoxide emissions by 32 percent, nitrous oxide emissions by 34 percent, carbon dioxide emissions by 37 percent, and hydrocarbon emissions by 42 percent.12 Constructing roundabouts in place of traffic signals can reduce fuel consumption by about 30 percent.11,13 At 10 intersections studied in Virginia, this amounted to more than 200,000 gallons of fuel per year.10 And roundabouts can enhance aesthetics by providing landscaping opportunities. Quote from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety Q&A on Roundabouts

As for the issue of space, the city has already demolished the unique Italianate Victorian building Centracare Hospital from the rise above the intersection, so there would be little detrimental effect to subsuming part of the hill.

Almost anyone who has driven roundabouts in Europe would likely agree that the current area taken up by the intersection is adequate, so no additional space would be required.

The key is to think
<--- this and not this ---------->

This is a list of readings on roundabout design:

Large vs "Normal" Roundabouts
- contains many interesting articles
Wikipedia: Roundabout - Notice the animated traffic flow at the top right.
www.boston.com: Safer Roundabouts Sprouting Up All Over New York
NYSDOT New York Transportation Website section on the new Roundabouts in NY. From the site:

"Until recently, roundabouts have been slow to gain support in this country. The lack of acceptance can generally be attributed to the negative experience with traffic circles or rotaries built in the earlier half of the twentieth century. Severe safety and operational problems caused these traffic circles to fall out of favor by the 1950's. However, substantial progress has been achieved in the subsequent design of circular intersections, and a modern roundabout should not be confused with the traffic circles of the past."
and;

"Those that are currently in operation have been reported to be performing favorably, when compared with conventional controlled intersections (i.e., stop signs or signals), in terms of improved safety, shorter delays, increased capacity, and improved aesthetics. Early results generally indicate that roundabouts have resulted in an overall reduction in the number and severity of accidents, despite the initial concern that lack of familiarity with this type of intersection would lead to driver confusion."
A pamphlet on how to use a Roundabout from Village of Great Neck Plaza. They installed one of a similar size as would be needed at Simms Corner
Modern Roundabouts
If you have Google Earth then you can download a .KML file from Modern Roundabouts showing the growth of Roundabouts in the US.
This is a video over a transport with an over-sized load negotiating a medium city Roundabout. It demonstrates why modern rotaries do not have curbs on the island or around circumference.

Here is one of my favourite roundabouts. It is in Jedburgh, Scotland and it is on a bit of a slope:

View Larger Map

Java Moose in the City Market

2009-08-13T16:01:00.000-03:00

Still a wonderful spot to meet friends but I still dispair about their hours. Why don't we have an evening coffeeshop uptown?

If I'm quick I can meet friends after work it's a squeeze and their coffee is worth it if you have your own travel mug. They only have styrofoam cups which distroys the coffee for me but then I'm rather picky.

Find Java Moose at the bottom of the Market or on Prince William.

Old city, new life

2009-08-04T14:34:00.003-03:00

I've moved back home to my home province and have started a whole new chapter in my life. It was not a graceful return, but more of a stumble toward a 'proper situation' as Miss Jane Austen might term it.

Thankfully the old city of Saint John, New Brunswick has its share of charms and distractions to help alleviate some of the frustration of house hunting and orientation to a different way of living. The distractions have been offered by the Church of Saint Andrew and Saint David with their noontime concert series. The most recent was visiting hometown boy, Phillip Thomson, a pianist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He is a known expert in Liszt. He even kind of looked like the old portraits of the great pianist.

The NBM offered another distraction with their promotion of a self-guided tour book, Rebuilt in Stone, featuring the uptown buildings and the stone that made them. It is co-written by industry and architecture curator, Gary Hughes and geology and palaeontology curator, Dr Randell Miller. The book is available at the Museum Exhibit area in Market Square.

There is lots coming up and I'm hoping to catch as much as I can fit in my schedule. Next up are the summer plays by the SJTC.

Is that hominid my grandmom?

2007-08-09T12:01:00.000-03:00

I'm not sure if it's the scientists or the science writers that can't seem to get beyond their Victorian male sensibilities of the old school texts of their childhood. I must admit I'm leaning toward the science writers for failing to ask the right questions to present a well-rounded article. This is the article that set me off today: African fossils paint messy picture of our past

It's whats missing that annoys. It mentions at the beginning that researchers keep messing with the tidy old-fashioned human evolution cartoon, but the article points to them as trying to make a new one that is just as tidy. If they are why?

Why do they not believe say that humans aren't from a crossing of H. habilis and H. erectus? We know from the history of breeding practices even on a non-academic level that many close species can interbreed with a viability of 25% in the F1 generation and can be 90% viable by the F4, so do they have enough bone or teeth material to do a complete genetic workup of the hominids to disprove an interbreeding. I would expect all these things have been considered in the research, but the right questions were not asked by the writer so thereby fails to give us the answers proposed in his opening statements.

Over-qualified graduates or just misplaced ones?

2006-04-15T16:57:00.000-03:00

From Starbucks Hazeldean 11:10

Sat and read my first paper copy of the Globe and Mail in quite a while (only found the entertainment section on Monday). There was an article on how twenty percent of new University grads are over qualified for the jobs post graduation. It doesn't go on to mention how many will continue to be overqualified five and tens years after graduation. I also mentions that many grads will enter MBA courses to order to find better positions.

It's an issue that should be better studied for several reasons: the emotional and psychological impact on these individuals (an the inevitable physical deterioration which will be an added burden to the already overburdened health care system); the appropriateness of certain people going into university and into certain programs when they had better been directed into other programs; whether the lack of proper and appropriate guidance was given in high schools (and possible junior high schools) and whether such guidance would work and how it should be enforced (a la Poland etc).

I'm a strong supporter of the democratic/socialist mix of Canadian government and I think this is a perfect example of how we are losing it. This is not to say I'm not a staunch individualist, but I'll be the first to admit that this point of view may well have directed me wrong in my own career path.

I think individualism has in some ways been allowed a little to soon and that more direction is needed in the early education system. With the proper guidance in school I might very well be a working scientist, doctor or lawyer instead of employed outside my chosen field. I'm not suggesting that my original path as an Artifact Conservator was wrong as no one could likely have predicted the huge Government layoffs of the mid-nineties, but they certainly even then could have predicted the short fall in the medical profession and possible in the high-skilled trades even then.

So what we have now is important trade departments being closed in community colleges and a crisis level short fall in the medical professions. So where are these people? Likely frustrated under-employeds, and unsatisfied and possibly out of work high-tech employees. Why is this? Gore-filled TV doctor shows? Newspapers filled with Dotcom winners? Or unutilized or nonexistent guidance councilors? This last, in my personal belief, is an important culprit.

In high school, many moons ago, we were given various aptitude and personality tests and actually had a guidance councilor, which I think I saw once if memory serves. I know that neither those tests nor the ones given to us in Junior High school came up in that one guidance interview. As far as I can tell the test were a waste of time and paper. It is a rare student that has a good realistic grasp on what they want in life and how it is best to be fulfilled, most of us would glaze over once some unknown adult starts spouting on what they feel ‘we, a rebellious teenager’ should do with their life, especially when the only barriers are good enough marks and enough money/student loan. They now that there will be other hoops to jump maybe even something in the form of and SAT for all degree/certificate/diploma entrances, then the child will have the time to better prepare.

A good supported guidance councilor is the beginning. I feel that better training and exercise of these instructors and this should be supported by an after-high-school course that is part of the basic curriculum. It would go a long way to avert the grief that will happen to so many individuals in there later working life.

An independent teacher instructing children in various professions would help. It might also relieve stereotypes of certain professions and widening the field of view for many. I mean how can the child of a truck driver who’s general acquaintance of employed people is other truck drivers going to think beyond low skilled blue collar trades even if there innate abilities would make them a good doctor? Or how is the child of a moderately successful hi-tech employee living in a plastic suburban house going to know that they might make it best as a self-employed plumber? They can’t, as it wouldn't even occur to them.

It didn't to me. I grew up in a fairly enlightened house full of books ranging from country music biographies through to hard science fiction to anthropology and art. I met an assortment of individuals but mostly in the capacity of artists and folk singers, not as air traffic controllers, bookkeepers, accounts, trappers, and geologists that they were in their day jobs. So I spent my childhood being told I could do anything, expecting to go to University and wanting to be an archeologist. My loving and liberal minded parents never dissuaded me never temper such an idea (possibly believing I would become more rational on the subject or maybe they them selves not knowing any archeologist at that time, that archeology is the way to starvation especially after the advent of Indiana Jones. I took an art degree with the plans of following up with an archeology degree later. It was a course in Archaeology that was just offered that I discovered Conservation. Had markets been better I might still be happily employed in it. Or maybe not. As much as I enjoyed it and it was my life I still in retrospect seriously wonder if it was where I should have been. I wonder if better guidance had been given that I might well be efficiently employed and even happier elsewhere.

The lack of proper guidance and actual application of personality and aptitude tests may well be what can avert the waste of our human resources. The system is even mostly in place it just needs to be used. It's a sad thought that the lack of importance placed of proper employment guidance to high school students may well be fundamental to the brake down of medical system, an ideal fundamental to the Canadian mindset. I think Canadians are lucky to still be Canadians - to hold the population comparable to the State of California alone distributed over a vast tract of land full of natural barriers and different ecosystems is a tribute of a deeply stubborn and independent nature given to us by our early Aboriginal, French and Scottish ancestors and ephemeral ideas of unification given to us by our medical system, CBC, charismatic leaders such as Trudeau, our system of government and possibly hockey.

We are currently facing the erosion of many of these things. The crisis in the medical system through fuel on the riches cry for a two-tier health system, the treat of commercial subsidization of the CBC, our new weak-assed-conservative-couldn’t-be-less-charismatic leader Harper, and more and more people are sending there children into soccer instead of hockey simply because it’s a lot cheaper. I think that better preparing our children for the future and guiding them it to their best place where they will be fulfilled and where our society best supported is a way shoring up our nation where it is starting to sag.

The Globe and Mail article is no longer available in the regular edition but the Comments section can be found here.

Battlestar Galactica: all the vision is in the look.

2006-04-11T14:22:00.000-03:00

We were just listening to won of Michael Moore pod casts. They've become as painful to listen to as the show has become to watch, leaving a bitter and lingering after taste. I was so impressed originally with the mini-series and the first season, but by the fifth episode they started to seriously loose me as a viewer. I don't know if I gave Moore too much respect at the beginning because of how greatly his voice and manner resembles Joss Whedon who managed to hold my respect for over seven year barely ever slipping in my personal poles.

Michael Moore has sadly proven that he isn’t Joss Whedon and that he isn't truly much of a SF writer in the end. He is unable to step free from his white middle-class American belief structure to see through the wonderful idea started in the mini-series by what must be luck.

Now even in the beginning I had issues (but I'm critical by nature and cynical by experience) with how they were trying to portray equality both between the sexes on the ship and the predominant Caucasian ethnic in the cast. Setting aside the lack of ethnic diversity and focusing on the so-called equality of the sexes. What we are being given is basically what Moore seems to believe the US (thus for him the world) will be like in another 50 to 100yrs not a culture that has supposedly existed separately from ours since the Egyptians or whenever. While likely they may have had they're ups and downs they wouldn't have had ours. So why should there hang ups be ours? It likely given they've retained their science better than we had that the Visigoths never sacked their Rome, that people weren't dragged from Their Africa to be slaves, woman weren't persecuted in by their Taliban, they may never had witch trails or a Pope. They aren't us. For all we know they've enjoyed sexual equity from the beginning. So the ugliness of sexual inequity may never be a default modern human behaviour. From instances of rape through to conniving women are more and more proven to be social indicators not necessarily originally default human ones.

Rape is something I'll never undestand so I'll move on to conniving. We have many instances of conniving and manipulative people in BG all of which are women. There are many stories written by men (and even a few women) throughout the ages about 'this type of woman'. Not doubt this 'type of woman' existed and currently exist but it can be considered that this stereotype was created and now persists because of social constraints previously placed upon women. A power hungry, forceful or even just ambitious man could strike out into the world and make their way but woman could only fulfill these needs through others (that is of course husbands and other males). It is a reaction to a societal condition.

Compounding this is people default societal reactions to things. Now I wouldn't try to write from a black man growing up in the US South in the 20's anymore than I could write from the perspective a woman who would cover their face in obeisance to men, but I would certainly write a black man a hundred years from now or an Iraqi woman because one can only believe that at the pace of globalization that cultural memory of African slavery and religious misogyny may have passed beyond living experience therefore the decisions those people would make would not be based on such social/religious hang-ups. When we become used to something it becomes everyday, common and we only question it in its absence. Just as we become inured to violence on TV we will become used to seeing other ethnic groups and the sexes in all types of positions in society. We can socially inoculate people to the ideas of equality by its constant example in the media and like wise we can damage it the same way.

So Moore has lost the chance to show us how from different cultural and thus different cultural scenarios might react differently. Or demonstrate how given different major events may have produced a more equitable society. By this I’m not asking for Star Trek, basic equality does not mean utopian society. It does not mean fluffiness, it does not mean the end of inner strife, it only means that possibility their reactions to that strife may be different. But no, Moore is giving us a well-produced but hackneyed plot, plot devices and subjects instead of looking forward as science fiction should.

Well JA Konrath says they way a good blog is confrontational. So if Gina recieves hate mail just by saying that dogs can and do love then I'm bound for a flame war if this blog is ever discovered.

Early spring flowers and Angel

2006-03-31T12:43:00.000-04:00

It’s not only Pamela at Thomasburg Walks to the south of me that has crocuses early. Here are a few little Gypsy crocuses. I think this is the earliest bloom of my earliest crocus. The tulips leaves are also a good 10 cm or so above the ground in places and the leaves of my dwarf white daffodils are peeking out. What I’m most worried about are the budding on my roses and magnolia. The nightly frosts haven’t done them in but we’re still likely to get another snow

Since I haven’t posted any of the pieces I’ve written lately and now my ire about what ever they were is over so I’ll post cute pictures of my cats instead it's better for the blood pressure.

It’s Angel’s turn. We didn’t name her and she isn’t an angel. Oh she has cute-face down pat to the point she’s still called the kitten when we refer to her. Among her other cute tricks, is sleeping in seeming inappropriate and too small places. Like this basket last fall, which worked out well with my red sun hat.

Here she is in my recently assembled seedling stand, I am posting a pic of the overall stand at Back to the Drawlyn. I took this yesterday, but the rack had only been up an afternoon before she discovered to comforts of a seedling catch tray.

And this is where she is as I write this. My knapsack is the comfort spot of the day. For more of the story of Angel and her mom, Velvet, as well as Koi and his MIA bud, Mr Bingley, check out their pages on the Drawlyn.

Good-bye HBC?

2006-02-24T18:28:00.000-04:00

I feel rather ill. One of the prices of a quiet and sequestered life is not knowing what’s going on unless I remember to look at the Globe and Mail’s website. And usually by the time I do it’s too late to be involved in a protest or even write a strong letter.

This happened again today. I went to the G&M’s National page and found this article, Hudson’s Bay, USA by Peter C. Newman. It announced for me the foreign buy-out of a Canadian institution, the Hudson’s Bay Company. Even when control of Tim Horton’s, another landmark Canadian company fell into foreign hands I didn’t feel as sick as I do today. Not only is it being severed from Canada but it is likely to spell the demise of it as well. As a Canadian institution it endured and survived the rigours of social change and economic hardship, but like Eaton’s that went before, it’s patrons will flee in search of a more patriotic solution or to Wal-Mart for the cheap one.

I wonder if anyone else is even noticing. Like most Canadians I pride myself on my stoic-ness, but right now I wish people would get angry. It’s not like it’s an isolated incident – it’s an important icon – more so than the aforementioned Eaton’s and Tim Horton’s, and they all stand for a scary trend. They are a part of an growing number of lost companies sucking Canadians of our money and returning nothing but minimum wage cashier and sales jobs. It is an economic bloodletting and it’s not a Canadian who’s holding the leech.

As much as I hate seeing top dogs like the Black’s and Irving’s of the country developing ever-growing monopolies at least they are Canadians (well, were in the case of Conrad Black). There are likely few Canadians that care less about Canadian culture than Black but at least he was brought up here. It may be a case of the devil you know but I doubt that a foreign company will care more about Canadian culture and economy. The fact that HBC is being taken away is already proof that they couldn’t give a damn.

Of course with HBC it’s not just the Bay Store but also Zellers and the Home Outfitters and likely lesser-known enterprises as well. The one saving grace is that the HBC’s museum collection was gifted to the Manitoba Museum back in 1994. Which means this important cultural property is safe from decorating a corporate office somewhere, or being auctioned off.

Well, my rage isn’t spent and all I can hope is that Canadian and the traditional British shareholders will start coughing up more money and maybe in our social-democratic way that the government will see fit to throw in a few bucks as well. They’ve seen fit to bail out less significant companies. Hopefully a little pride will be evident this week in the halls of Parliament Hill.

From Home with no Coffee

2006-02-17T14:13:00.000-04:00

No coffee shop hopping for me today. I thought I had escaped this season without a cold but, no, the yearly one caught up with me. Also we had freezing rain over night, which meant walking would be tricky and the bus schedule will be off. So I figured I'd be better off at home.

It was beautiful this morning even though it was overcast and looking like rain. I managed to get a few worthwhile pictures. Koi who followed me around the yard.

He was watching me take picture of the open birdfeeder.Beside it is a your crab-apple we planted a few years ago and a Grefsheim spirea. The latter has been amazing the last few years. Mounds of flowers. I bought it because there is one on Percy street that I was increadably envious of and I didn't have enough of a sunny location at the appartment to plant one. So it was one of the first shrubs I bought after we purchased the house

Here is a close up of the little crab-apples encased in ice. I was pushing the focus a bit.

The Crab was bought before the spirea but in the same summer. This house was a blank slate when we bought it. A few tiny mainly annual beds and acres of grass. Boring!

Ive been doing my best to hide the bungalow ever since.

At the side of the garage with a lovely shade specimen plant - the name is escaping me. The seed heads were up right yesterday and about 2m high or so. It’s now touching the potentilla below it.

I love the colour in this picture. A minimal pallette with wonderful contrasts. The golds against the blue and the red against the white.

The movement of the curves and diagonals of the stalks belie the rigidness of the encasing ice.

I put the fill flash on and it really shows the echinacea’s seed head well through the thick cap of iced.

I took quite a few pictures of echinacea and coreopsis seed heads in what has become known as the Great Ice Storm of ’98. Someone even put out a coffee table book about it. The damage it caused is still evident in the landscape around here. Actually we still see the damage through to New Brunswick on our trips home.

To see the full uncropped photo click on the images.

At the end of the same bed is a lilac. You can see how warm a February it’s been in the swollen buds. In front of it is a bent over hollyhock stem which unfortunately is out of focus.

The held off but a few hours later the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. Then it snowed. It was a complete white out for about an hour. It’s still windy now. There will be tree damage because of this. Thankfully the cedars can take quite a beating and provide a good wind break for the yard so the ornamental trees seem fine so far.

From Bridgehead Westboro

2006-02-13T19:12:00.001-04:00

2006/02/10
10:00 Bridgehead Westboro

I was lucky find a seat this morning, so I shouldn't bitch about the one I have. :) While I normally enjoy sitting by a window when I'm not planning to use the Clio it's a little annoying when I am. The screens not to bright on the poor old thing.

Well it's a gorgeous day, bright and sunny and a normal February temperatures. It was -20C over night and about -8C right now, whish is perfectly livable as long as you remember your longjohns and a hat. Amazingly, few Ottawans seem to actually dress for their weather, which is quite a risk when cars break down or the bus is not running to schedule.

Though here in hip Westboro with the MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-Op) next door there are more ppl decked out in cool hi-tech winter gear than in most places in the city.

The MEC is the destination this morning. I'm going to exercise my gift cert. finally. There’s a knapsack with my name on it.

It is great to have an espresso! It's been retro coffee-wise at home since the espresso part of my aged DeLonghi Treiste finally rolled belly up. It's nearly 10yrs old and I'm debating on seeing if it can be serviced for under what it would cost to by a new one. I'd rather keep it. It takes up less space then a reg drip and a separate espresso/cap machines.

Back to the retro part. I’ve dug out my old electric perc., my first electric coffee maker. I found it at the St Vincent de Paul's thrift shop back in Peterborough. It replaced my large old 40's stovetop model that had been my Grandmother's. It's a great little thing and it makes just the right amount of coffee for one person for one single sitting. I'm not sure how old it is. Anyone have a guess? Certainly newer the my grandmom's. I wonder where that is anyway?

Going back to percolated is a little rough caffeine-wise after the caffeine-liteness of espresso. So a friend gave me a sample of Orzo Pupo, which I believe roasted barley and chicory. So I've been thinning my afternoon coffee with it and it works out quite well. It gives more of a mouth feel and an added carob note that's quite pleasant.

10:30 - still at Bridgehead

Yesterday I went out for my regular walk and to shoot another panorama. I'm trying to refine the method needed to use my crappy little Kodak digital camera. It was certainly not design for such a thing. It's been great otherwise and does well what we originally bought it for. Someday I'd love to get a better one. Something at least approaching the quantity of image of the old Minolta I bought back in university. That thing still works great even though it's been carried through many a wooded hike and through several countries. Now it sits under shoes in the closet. Even the problems with the Kodak can't over come the instant gratification of having the image right away. This is where photography always fell so far behind painting or even sculpture for me in school - the gratification was too delayed. It didn’t have the satisfaction of pushing a big fat brush loaded with paint across a large canvas.

Speaking of which I really should finish at least one of the many paintings I started last summer. The problem is always the same, the idea and execution to the proof stage is fun but anything after that is just work. Sigh. I keep thinking I'll start again in the spring when I can set my easel up on the deck. Yeah right. With the half finished pond, the roof and the chicken coop all needing done it's unlikely I'll get to any of them until summer.

Still, a chicken coop! How cool is that. Actually two, a stationary one for layers and a pasturing one for roasters. Oh and I didn't mention expanding and preparing the garden. I've been considering digging a shallow well back there too. It would help drain what will become the back pasture and save me from lugging so much rainwater. Lee Valley has these cool old-fashioned style pumps which will be perfect for it. The water table is so high especially out there that we'll be ankle deep by the time we're 2m down.

Anyway the coffee is long gone and the MEC's been open near an hour. So I'm gone.

For coffee at home

2006-02-07T10:37:00.000-04:00

Just a recipe for oatcakes. I hadn't made cookies in and age so broke down last night and made one of my favourites. These oatcakes are great with coffee (or Scotch to toast Robbie Burns), less sweet than most cookies and are based on a Nova Scotia recipe. They are crisp without being hard and are warm and cosy.

1 c brown sugar
1 1/4 c shortening
2 c rolled oats
1 c spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c boiling water
2 c oatbran
+ flour for rolling

Add baking soda to boiling water and set aside to cool. Cream together sugar and shortening. Add dry ingredients and cooled water with baking soda. The mixture should be slightly sticky but not wet. Add another 1/4 c or so of flour if it is. Roll out until about a 1/4 thick and cut into rounds a large cookie cutter.
Bake at 350 F for 12 mins or until golden brown and crisp.

PS Most of the pottery you will see in my pics was made by Carol Taylor.

First post - Starbucks

2006-02-04T15:47:00.000-04:00

8:30am 2006/02/02 - I'm starting this blog from the Starbucks in BC. For us in Ottawa that's Bells Corners not British Columbia. It's one of my favourite places to write. There is something about the smell of coffee and the generally reliable atmosphere these outlets that induce my particular brain chemicals in to cooperation.

I'm hoping to get a PDA-to-journal app going, but I don't know yet if it will work on the old version of Windows CE on poor old Vadem Clio. It's favourite writing tool. They were such a wonderful invention it's such a shame they were never properly marketed. Even today they could be pitted as a cheap alternative to the expensive and heavier small notbooks like Sony Vaios. For writing what more do you really need? It's light enough and small to fit in a purse (well an ample one) and it has a reasonable keyboard.

One doppio espresso down and on to a cuppa Zen.

Well, I've made the commitment to join the Green Party and now I've lost 90% of those few ppl that have stumbled across this blog. Oh well. Harsh critical mode (HCM) on - I think that most ppl who have started blogs have an agenda of some form - and well this isn't really mine. It is just a by product of my increasing worry over not just our global environment, Canada's active part in its preservation, but more particularly the way Canadian culture is headed – into Badness and Blandness. I don't like seeing our resources going out the door leaving nothing in the country but holes in the forests and a few bucks in a few ppl pockets. Doing more locally is a strong theme in the party's mandate. Strong platforms and reasonible success in European country's as well as BC (the real one this time) are real and yet ppl still look at me like I'm supporting the Marijuana Party :P

Still the morning-heading-to-work crowd here. A clock could be set by Starbucks patronage.

9:09 - This is one of the other things that I like about coffee shops - interesting ppl. Just met the regional manager from a Niagara winery. He's a writer and is currently doing an article on green fridges. I could hear him about it w/ the barista, so I butted in (something that only seems to happen in a coffeeshop for me) and asked if he was going to cover Sunfrosts. Anyway that started a conversation that eventually covered Clios and Priuses (him) and TDI Jettas (me).

It's really pouring here. We are experiencing what I think is the warmest February of my tenure in Ottawa. Even when we have mild Januarys it usually stays to below -5C and plunging regularly to -30C. When we first moved here I thought I had moved to hell. That year it hit 50C w/ the Humidex that summer to -50C w/ the wind chill that February. It hasn't been quite that extreme since but still more so than this east coast born person was breed to tolerate.

Speaking of Ottawa, the Dogma blog had a link to a wonderful article from the New Yorker. It's only bad point was the incident it centred on cast Ottawa in a bad light. It was really just an example of a normal city’s workings. The story just happen to most recently occur here. We unfortunately are not lacking in macho irresponsible dog owners. Mores the pity. Even if you are not interested in the banning of dogs based on breed, it is an article worth reading for the writing if nothing else.

So I’ve accomplished my goal of getting in my 20 mins a day of writing. Hopefully it will expand beyond an exercise for my own benefit to something actually worth reading.