The Poet
I didn’t know Hamish Grieve, didn’t even know his name until this week. To me, he was just The Poet. When I moved to Belleville from the city, before I had even heard about Prince Edward County, I was wary of living in a small place, one city dwellers had warned me was devoid of […]
Barrel of guerillas
A friend thinks John A. Macdonald looks much better with googly eyes. This friend has been adding the crafty apparel to the statue on Picton’s main street sporadically, only to discover some anonymous vigilante, unimpressed with the guerilla-style artwork, has had them removed. It’s too bad, really. They give J.A.M. a certain charm. I’ve heard […]
A prevelance of spirits
That the recorded provisions of the Mayflower showed more beer than water reflects the uncertainty of the water purity in England and, in fact, throughout Europe of the time. Rivers and streams were used to dispose of all the sewage from both industry and inhabitants. This tradition of mistrust continued in the Colonies as settlers […]
The golden pancake
You’ve probably been reading the same reports I have. The Ross/McMullen house, long the home of Picton Legion Branch 78, has been sold to a Toronto architect and is to be turned into an international culinary school. Jonathan Kearns, the purchaser, already has a home in the County and has culinary experience under his belt, […]
Home
This is our last weekend in London. Three weeks isn’t nearly long enough to see a city of this size, but as far as my budget goes, it is definitely time to head back to the County. I feel a bit homeless in that this is where LOML’s mom and my dad were born, but […]
The Stinson Block Road
O-ka-lee o-ka-lee o-ka-lee! The call of the red-winged blackbird. It’s a male and he’s somewhere over there, perched in the bulrushes of the nearby creek. The nasal sounding red-wing’s song is the bugle call of spring; when the freshets run through every hollow; the time of year when the cold muck sucked at your gumboots […]
Canary fish
The thrill, for anyone who loves science, is the idea of discovering alien and unexplored possibilities. Planets with the potential for life. Millions of species yet to be observed. Technology that can change every aspect of our lives. Secrets from the past. The mysteries of our own minds and bodies. The less information there is, […]
A debt of gratitude
As I mentioned last week, deliberate production of alcoholic beverages first took place in the Americas around 2000 BC. In North America, the Iroquois nation made an alcoholic beverage from the sap of the sugar maple, the Pueblo used maize (corn), and the Tohono O’odham (who still inhabit the Sonoran Desert) made a sacramental wine […]
Inspiration and cheap beer
Still in London. Oh yes, I am. London proper hasn’t experienced a drop of rain since our arrival. I’m sure the locals are grateful for our visit. I’ve been following the goings-on in the County and I must say I am not surprised by the weather you’ve been experiencing. April is a tricky month. We […]
The camping option
Three trends are converging. First, real estate prices continue to surge. A couple of Main Street properties are rumoured to have gone recently for around the million-dollar mark; at this rate, a mansion in Wellington could soon fetch as much as a garden shed in Toronto. Second, there is a crying lack of housing stock […]