Power, vision and influence
Okay, I’m still gone, so don’t tell anybody. There’s just a few more things. I would like to start with a strange analogy: Canadian folk hero and musical legend Valdy once performed in front of an audience which clearly hated his music, because it didn’t fit where they were at, and the messages he wanted […]
Bring on the Candy Apples and Chili Sauce
Did you get out to The County Fair? LOML and I dodged the rain and headed out after lunch on Saturday. If you know me, and let’s face it you don’t, these days I have to be convinced to go out to do just about anything in public. The thing is, I spent a lot […]
Driveways
When it comes to driveways, I am not a fan of using interlock for the entire space. I have several reasons why: Often interlock is installed without a proper base. We know that in our climate with lots of freeze-thaw periods, a patio needs at least eight to 10 inches of drainage gravel (base) to […]
Split again, naturally
I know I’m on hiatus, so pretend you are not reading this. While I clear my mind, and set my thoughts at ease, I suffer that ‘vacation thing’ in which your brain doesn’t know if you turned the iron off before you were 100 miles away. Until you truly hit vacation mode, your brain keeps […]
“A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow”
As summer winds down a whole lot of County people will start to breathe a little sigh of relief. In the next few days things will calm down a bit as regards traffic, crowded beaches, line-ups for restaurants and jammed parking lots. I’d be lying if I said tourism was a bad thing for the […]
Summer bloomers
Peony season is officially over and many homeowners and gardens struggle with ‘what’s next?’. It’s a pretty common problem as many of us build gardens that are what I like to call front-end-loaded, which means that they have lots of spring blooms, but less interest going into the summer months. Here are my top five […]
Ready! Or not?
I remember when the last weeks of summer meant a trip to the Ex, back-to-school clothing shopping/swapping and the end of summer camps, which most of the neighbourhood kids referred to as “Summer School”. We went to a Catholic school in town, which really wasn’t any different from the public school a few blocks away […]
Buy or die
Carson Arthur recently wrote a brilliant piece about the importance of buying local. I can’t top that, but I can expand on that. I won’t go into how we historically grew as a County by relying on each other. I’ve written tons on that, to no avail. Business is hurting in the County, and I’d […]
Lacking motivation
Have you’ve ever gotten into a gardening funk? Gone a full week without having any motivation to get outside and do yard work? With all of the hot weather happening across the country, more and more yards are starting to show some neglect as homeowners would rather be in the air conditioning than outside under […]
Up in the Air. Over the Wall
Excuse me, but did I just see reddish leaves on the trees in the “Big Swamp? Yes! Yes, I did. Come on, it’s only half-past August. As much as I am happy to see the end of the oppressive heat of summer, I’m not exactly ready for the hoodies, Hallowe’en and the fuzzy socks of […]