The bag held several old columns written by my parents

Within seconds of arriving home from Ottawa recently and looking inside a plastic bag that was found among a stack of papers and mail left by a neighbour on the dining room table, I knew I was holding family treasure.


[“A collection of articles - a rare find”: photos GH]

The bag contained articles written for the Norwich Gazette by my father, circa early 1990s.


One article was entitled ‘Merchant mariner, true Norwich hero.’

My heart jumped. I’d been looking at books related to the Merchant Marine while at Canada’s War Museum in Ottawa.


[“My dad looks a bit like Crankshaft in this shot”]

Another my father wrote was about his workplace, the Norwich Co-op, and included a picture from the 1930s.

Good Lord, I thought. I discovered a story my mother had written in November, 1992. It was called ‘Life around the town tank: War days’ and appeared under the word ‘Columnist.’


[“Mother lived beside the town’s water tank in the 1930s - 40s”]

What a find. Real treasure.

Then I pulled out another:

‘The Thirties: A little went a long way’ by Edith J. Harrison. The topic - the depression years.


[“A reproduced photo of Edith J. - bottom center - was found”]

It included a photo of her great-uncle Arthur, seen leaning against a fence in his yard and beside his garden.

Too soon I came to the bottom of the pile of columns.

Then I began to read.

Treasure.

***

More to follow.

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Zoom w a View: Good timing. It was almost lights out

I thought someone had left the lights on outside.


["View from the back deck": photos GH]

But I reached the switch before I said something stupid.


(“Hey, who left the lights on out back?” was on the tip of my tongue).

After my finger flipped the light switch, I realized the light shining in through the back window was caused by the sunset, not my wife’s negligence. (Hey, it couldn’t have been me. It had to be her).


Fall, crisp air, clear sky, good timing, great sunset, no foul.

***

More artsy fartsy photos here.

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Climate Change Concerns: The E-car is not the way to help

The following statement about E-cars concerns me.

“...the range of electric vehicles that will soon be on the Canadian market will have something for everyone.” (‘Electric Empire’, London Free Press, Sept. 25)

Why? Does everyone need or want an E-car?


["E-cars for everyone? Don't you believe it"]

Should we continue to focus on the needs of the individual regarding transportation?

(I say, no. As mentioned in an earlier post, the ‘I must have vs We need’ issue requires a serious rethink.)

And if the upcoming offerings of E-cars are anything like the current models then the concept of ‘something for everyone’ needs real work.

Consider the following:

The Mitsubishii-Miev, a four-seater, is 100% electric and has a range of 120 km. Price (estimated) - $30,000 - 40,000.

News flash - it’s definitely not for everyone.

How many Canadians will be attracted by the price tag for what would essentially become a second car or in-town car?

As well:

The Chevy Volt, at $41,000 US, may not be for everyone either based on its price.


["The Volt is definitely short on volts"]

And though it’s called an electric hybrid, the range of 64 km electric plus 400 km with gas makes it more of a gasoline hybrid (86% gas hybrid to be exact).

Next:

The Tesla Roadster, a 100% electric two-seater, has a range of 257 - 483 km range and lots of horsepower (248), but the price tag is $120,000.

For everyone? Not a chance.

Finally:

According to the article, “the Canadian winter will impact both the range and performance of battery-powered electric vehicles. The colder the temperature, the poorer the performance.

“In addition, while gas-powered vehicles use the heat of combustion to provide interior warmth, electric batteries will have to provide additional energy to ensure passenger comfort.”

I’m already uncomfortable enough with the E-car concept.

Not only are current offerings are off the mark, but feeding the appetites of the individual consumer (business as usual, is it not?) isn’t really the way to show real concern for climate change and peak oil prices, though E-car manufacturers would like us to believe that it is.

Their bottom line depends on our naivety.

Don’t plug in for their sake.

***

G. Dyer said it best:

“...seven billion human beings cannot all live the current lifestyle of the billion richest without causing an environmental and ecological catastrophe. It is inherently unsustainable.”

Please click here to read more Climate Change Concerns.

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The Electric Car: I must have vs We need

Funny how the mind works.

“Growing concerns about climate change and peak oil prices have car manufacturers scrambling to find greener and more sustainable ways to fuel the world’s estimated 750 million automobiles.” (‘Electric Empire’, London Free Press, Sept. 25)

Climate change and peak oil are great topics for any car manufacturer to think about and toss around.

We should commend them if they do something to significantly reduce carbon emissions in their industry.


["Chevy Volt: Let's all buy one?"]

But, is building an electric empire by satisfying the needs of the individual the best way to do that?

It would be the most lucrative (It’s funny how the mind works. After all, “if trends continue, that number - 750 million autos - is expected to double in the next 30 years”), but is it the best?

In the scramble to find greener ways for people to get around town are car manufacturers simply focusing on greenbacks over long-term sustainability?

I wouldn’t doubt it.

Gwynne Dyer recently wrote the following:

“The problem is not the current economic slump. That is cutting into living standards in many places, but even if it lasts for years, it is essentially a transient event.

“The real worm of doubt is the gradual realization that seven billion human beings cannot all live the current lifestyle of the billion richest without causing an environmental and ecological catastrophe.

“It is inherently unsustainable.

“Rich really is better than poor, in the sense that people who are physically secure and have some freedom of choice in their lives are generally happier people.

“But we have to do a serious re-think about how we define the concept of rich.”

I feel car producers and buyers need to rethink their concept of sustainable transportation.

For example:

Does everyone deserve a car?

Is that where our human energy and electric power should go?

Is there a more sustainable way to transport people from A to B than putting individual bums into individual electric cars?

Do electric trains, trams, buses, come to mind when car manufacturers brainstorm about climate change and peak oil prices?

It’s funny how the mind works.

I think the ‘I must have vs We need’ issue, as it relates to transportation (and several other areas), must be addressed with some vigour and with national governments at the table beside car manufacturers.

Because if “growing concerns about climate change and peak oil prices have car manufacturers scrambling,” they need to be scrambling with more in mind than the needs of the individual who has $40,000 for an unsustainable mode of transportation.

***

I’m sure many government leaders would disagree with me.

They wouldn’t want to say too much to business officials, even ones they (we) have helped bail out of the recent recession.

However, real talks about climate change and peak oil demand they do.

Please click here to read Climate Change Concerns

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Live Small and Prosper Pt 2: Priorities related to your house

I concluded Pt 1 yesterday with the following deep thought:

“Though my wife and I live in Wortley Village, close to most conveniences, a move within the neighbourhood may only be 5 - 9 years away.”

Why?


["Four wintry scenes from The Village": photos GH]

In part, the answer lies within two more tips that S. Rinomato passes along to new homebuyers in a recent article entitled ‘Set priorities before house hunting’ even though I’ve been living at my current address in Wortley Village, a very convenient, cozy part of town, for over 25 years.

Rinomato writes:

“And what about the size of your home? The bigger the house, the more space you're heating and cooling. That's something to think about, since about 60% of Canadians' home energy use is related to these two activities.”


Allow me to add, the bigger the house the more furniture and appliances that are required as well. As far as I know, just about everything we need or want in every room comes with a price tag.

Rinomato adds, “Be realistic about how much space you're really going to use. Bigger isn't necessarily better.”

Well, that’s a problem for some,eh?


Many learn too late that one, two, three or more rooms don’t get much use after a year or two. And the ones that get lots of use could house a football ball team, not just their family.

I remember reading about the owner of a large ‘cottage’ in Muskoka a few years ago.

She said that 5,000 sq. ft. was probably too big for herself and husband.

Probably? She wasn’t sure?

She also said she would sometimes go and sit in a room for an hour just to get some use out of it.

Hopefully, by now she’s pretty sure it’s too big.

Yes, we must be realistic. And think about true needs.

That’s why I’m thinking about something smaller than my current 1,050 sq. ft. house now. My wife and I are getting older. We just don’t need as much room as we once did when our two boys lived with us.

Yes, smaller is sometimes cheaper but whether I’m inside or out, I wouldn’t mind doing a bit less work.


Okay, I lied. I’d like to do a lot less work.

If you’re thinking along the same lines, you may be one day joined by a legion of others who are searching for something smaller, more convenient, less work, cheaper.

Start collecting information now, I say.

Don’t get caught in the rush to ‘get small before we get low.’

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Climate Change Concerns: Will we soon know more about the effects of the oilsands?

I hope so.

First though, let’s tip our hats to David Schindler, an Alberta scientist who released a study last month (the study was peer-reviewed and published in a respected science journal) “that says the oilsands industry is polluting the Athabasca River.” (Oct. 1, London Free Press)

Not that the oil industry couldn’t have told us pretty much the same thing - they just wouldn’t.


“Schindler found pollutants downstream from oilsands developments” (incl. mercury, arsenic, lead and cadmium, metals known to be toxic at trace levels) and his study finally found it’s way up the nose of Jim Prentice, Canada’s fearless federal Minister of the Environment.

(“We have an environment,” you might well ask. “Well, yes we do,” I must say. “We just don’t normally hear much about it from our Environment Minister.”)

For those surprised that the Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program RAMP), the organization that currently monitors the Athabasca River, didn’t publish such a study first, don’t be.


RAMP is an industry-funded organization and toxins are so darn hard to find.

Jim Prentice now admits he’s worried about the water downstream from the Alberta oilsands and has announced that a panel of scientists will look at whether the river is being properly tested.

In other words, he’s right on it.

The panel will go to Alberta (“Find Saskatchewan, turn left toward the smell.”), speak to people in the provincial government as well as other scientists, and report back in 60 days.

For some reason, Alberta scientist David Schindler isn’t on the panel.

Will we soon know more about the effects of the oilsands?

I hope so, but what are the odds?

***

To be fair, I earlier read that two Liberal MPs want Schindler to be on the panel.

And learning about the omission of Schindler from Prentice’s panel inspired me to write this post.

Please click here to read more Climate Change Concerns.

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Live Small and prosper: Priorities related to your house

Would you agree?

Most of the glossy pages of home magazines and inserts are reserved for pictures of glossy, expensive, out-of-reach-for-the ordinary-Joe houses, kitchens, bathrooms, renovations, additions and the like?

Do the pages seem to say, push, spend, improve? Bigger is better?

Well, that’s the vibe I get, at any rate.

But near the back of a recent ‘Homes’ insert in my local paper I found a sensible article - with no glossy photos, sorry - that actually said to new homebuyers that ‘bigger is not necessarily better.’ Amazing but true.

I also felt the tips to new homebuyers should also be considered by current homeowners, whether they’ve been in their house for 5 years or 35 years.

The article, entitled ‘Set priorities before house hunting’ starts out as follows:

“Many first-time homebuyers start out with wide eyes and a long wish list. But their list may be based on current trends and not reflect their true needs or values.” (Oct. 2, Sandra Rinomato, London Free Press)

Don’t many current homeowners also have a long wish list?


["I have a great backyard, but...": photo GH]

Aren’t many going further into debt to keep up with current trends?

Are some out of tune with their real needs?

Here’s one thing that Rinomato encourages new homebuyers to consider (before a purchase) that I think current home owners should consider as well.

“For instance, you might long for a large lot in a quiet suburban cul-de-sac. But ask yourself how much time you're willing to spend in your car when you could be enjoying your new home.”

That’s a good idea.

I bet there are people living in the ‘burbs who are growing tired of driving here, there and everywhere for just about every need.

Rinomato continues:

“Access to public transport, proximity to work and school, and having shops and services within walking distance can make a big difference. There's more at stake here than just lowering carbon emissions; it's also about quality of life.”

Some in the ‘burbs may well agree but say, it’s too late now, we’re stuck.

But are they?

For the time being, no doubt. But it’s never too late to begin thinking about a house closer to many of life’s amenities and a life that is less car-dependent.

And if you’re thinking it, talk to significant others about your feelings. Ask if a three-, five-, or ten-year escape plan is worth considering. And if there is mutual agreement, start collecting information about other, more convenient parts of town. (Ever heard of Wortley Village?)

If it makes sense, start the process.

Already, I’m thinking about it myself. Though my wife and I already live in Wortley Village, close to most conveniences, a move within the neighbourhood may only be 5 - 10 years away.

Why?

More to follow.

***

Want to skip ahead?

Full article here.

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Last photos of Ottawa trip - highly artsy fartsy

None of the following photos were prohibited or taken inside a restricted area. So, if you’re a member of the RCMP - relax.

These are definitely the last photos I’ll post related to my recent Ottawa trip. [Also, they are not accompanied by quiz questions. Click here for The Photo Quiz].

However, I went to Halifax in June and still have 600 - 700 more shots to show you re that trip. So, you’ve been warned.

One or two below may look familiar; I am, however, trying to present them in a new light. For the sake of artsy-fartsiness.


[“A child’s fountain inside my wife’s first school”: photos GH]


[“Clouds form over Manor Park Elementary School, Ottawa”]


[“A fountain outside The Highlander Pub, including reflection of the salt shaker at our table”]


[“Trivia Night, inside The Highlander Pub. I shall return!”]


[“Main St., Perth, Ontario. Lovely wee town. Been there?”]

***

Next time I (we) go to Ottawa, I’d like to spend a night in Perth. It is a quaint town of 6,000 and has a museum I’d like to explore.

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Last photos of Ottawa trip with quiz questions

Five tough questions follow. Are you up for this?

Context: Recently, I took my wife on a mini-vacation to Fenelon Falls (to see our twin grand-daughters) and then on to our Nation’s capital (to see the inside of a jail cell and a few other sights).

We visited the National Gallery, War Museum and Archives Canada. I spared no expense. (I even paid 6 bucks for a salad at the Metro on Rideau!)

Now, if you’ve been following the posts and photos, and have a few book smarts, you may be able to answer the following questions easily.


1. “Which Group of Seven painter did this work? Is this a prohibited photo?”


2. “I took this photo inside which aforementioned building?”


3. “Inside which building was this picture taken?”


4. “Name the brand of smokes pictured above”: photos GH


5. “Name the famous playwright smoking his brains out”: photo from inside Archives Canada

No monetary prizes will be awarded because the mini-vacation left be flat out broke. However, global recognition is almost assured.

***

If you believe that bit about global recognition you must be new around these parts. Welcome.

.

I recommend the Ottawa Jail Hostel on Nicholas St.

(Well, at least to those who are used to hostels).

After leaving Archives Canada in Ottawa last week, my wife and I dropped the car back at our hostel’s parking lot before heading out for a well-deserved supper.


[“The hostel is 2 minutes from The Queensway (417). Our room, top right”: photos GH]

Beans and wieners. Where can I get some beans and wieners? I asked myself.


[“Top floor left window - our spacious bathroom”]

Though I could have cooked some up on the spot in the hostel’s pleasant basement kitchen I decided to treat my wife to a lovely meal at The Highlander Pub, but a few short blocks away.

I’m glad I did.


[“Our room was the jail’s hospital before housing female prisoners”]

Inside the cozy pub there was fine service, music, ‘trivia night’ questions, and a few beers I hadn’t ever tried. (And now I have!)


[‘Trivia night regulars keep the place buzzing”]

Though I really like the hostel, and recommend it highly to people who like hosteling, next time we visit our nation’s capital, I think I’ll stay in a hotel closer to the Parliament Buildings.


[“Throw crooks in the clink. The hostel is a jail, after all.”]

That way I can snap 100s of photos (prohibited or not), visit Sparks St., all without having to go up and down 6 flights of stairs several times per day.

***

About the stairs - no fun with an armload of groceries.

.

Oh, yes. I could live in Ottawa, Canada

While in our nation’s capital recently, the following thought crossed my mind - more than once:

I could live in this town.

It’s a walker’s paradise. Friendly people. Historic stone buildings on every corner. (With my granite-like jaw I’d fit right in!) Good food. Good craft beer. Inspiring art and sculptures everywhere.


[“A stairway inside Archives Canada. Fabulous”: photos by GH]

About that last statement, I’m not kidding.

At Archives Canada, as I approached a magnificent stairway to the floors above, a bronze, behind a corner, caught my eye.


[“This definitely looks familiar. From a postcard?”]

I vaguely recognized it.


[“A Centennial gift from Britain. Amazing. I love it. Thank you.”]

My sharp mind, always at the ready, thought, this could be something.

And indeed it was. (My mind is sharp, eh? Henry Moore is no common piker.)


[“What is that? White marble? Faux stone?”]

Yes, I could live in Ottawa. I’d look behind this corner and that to see what else is hidden away. And prohibited or not, I’d take dozens of pictures a day.


[“The stairs and walls are made from the same material. Stunning.”]

No wonder I feel at home at the Ottawa Jail Hostel.

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Past, present and future form a continuum

A couple of statements I’ve made lately fall under the umbrella of a quotation found at the very bottom of this long, long page.

If you haven’t read it, here it is (saves you a trip):

"Past, present and future form a continuum in which each generation inherits a world shaped by the actions of its forebears and holds it in trust for all generations to come." (The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki)

Now, about the actions of those that came before us.

From Land Of The Eagle by Robert McCracken Peck:

“To many New England colonists, the path to prosperity on earth and in heaven was the same. It involved transforming the ‘remote rocky, barren, bushy, wild-woody wilderness’ of North America into a ‘second England’. With hard work and prayer, the Puritans believed they could fulfill God’s command to subdue the earth. In so doing, they would also recreate a comforting, understandable piece of home in a hostile and alien land.”


["From my secret National Gallery files": photos by GH]

About other early Europeans Peck wrote:

“Most of the new arrivals viewed the land as something to be possessed, controlled and transformed. (Many native tribes held the view that the land did not belong to them, they belonged to the land). They saw the Indians’ semi-nomadic lifestyle as shiftless, and their lack of defined ownership as a sign of primitive barbarism. Only with active management, they believed, could nature be made truly productive. So they set about reshaping the land in Europe’s image: trees were felled, fences built, and the land cultivated to Old World specifications.”

The principle of subjugation, not conservation, began its reign.


["Also from my secret National Gallery files"]

And from A Short History Of Progress by Ronald Wright:

“If civilization is to survive, it must live on the interest, not the capital, of nature. Ecological markers suggest that in the early 1960s, humans were using about 70 per cent of nature’s yearly output; by the early 1980s, we’d reached 100 per cent; and in 1999, we were at 125 per cent. Such numbers may be imprecise, but their trend is clear - they mark the road to bankruptcy.”

To some extent, the above passages come to mind when I write such statements as -

Live small and prosper

Get small before you get low

Reduce spending, pay down debt, save money for tough times ahead.

***

Past, present and future do form a continuum.

What can we do better now to ease the challenges of the future?

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From the War Museum to the Archives

My wife and I both had some success in locating information about the service of family members in WW1 and 2.


[“I found Archives Canada. Wha... how much to park?”: photos GH]

However, if we wanted information about my father’s war records or my wife’s grand-father’s records we would have to leave the museum, locate the Library and Archives Canada on Wellington St., Ottawa and deposit several loonies and toonies into any available parking meter near the building.

“Look for the building that looks like a communist bunker,” said a helpful staff member from the museum.


[“A communist bunker? Hard to tell.”]

I bit my lip. We were standing in a bunker-style museum. What goes around comes around, I thought.


My wife and I were greeted by two young figures. The scene held more significance after I left the building having seen records (that I can order by mail) related to the arrival to Canada of my late grand-parents - at a young age - on my father’s side.


[“The Canadian-style door handles were appreciated!”]



[“The inside is more glamorous than the outside, for certain.”]

After climbing several stairs my wife and I were several steps closer to interesting family records.

Thank you, Archives Canada! (Our tax dollars at work.)

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Success! A grand-father’s book is found

While I busied myself looking at books inside the research room of Canada’s War Museum in Ottawa, my wife did some snooping of her own.

With great success I must say.


[“The Horse in War,” by Lieut.-Col. D.S. Tamblyn: photos PH/GH]

More than once I reached for my camera and saw her with it, focussing on pictures and text from her grand-father’s book about the horses that were pressed into service during WW1.


[“Snookums beat the odds and survived WW1”]


[“Snookums retired to Brussels, Belgium”]


[“About 256,000 horses were lost by British forces alone”]


[“About 56,000 were lost in battle, the rest by exposure to harsh conditions”]

My wife thinks we have a copy of the book here at home - somewhere.

The hunt begins. I’m hoping for more success.

.

We won’t give up our chocolate. No, we won’t!

(The following post is just for fun).

Here in North America, land of the brave and wide load, though personal, provincial, and national debt levels are up to our armpits and we know we should save for tough times ahead, there is a long list of material things we won’t ever give up.

For example, even though some of us have made a sterling effort to cut down on unhealthy snacks, there will always be a market for sausage dogs for $3.99 (containing a life supply of hot nitrates) outside of big box stores. It’s the smell of the things that gets ya. And those free condiments are a bonus, eh?

Thus begins my latest long list.

“Things that will be pried out of our cold, dead hands”

Street meat - I don’t know about you but I have to run out of Canadian Tire with a bag over my head in order to stay away from this menace to my arteries. The reason I don’t know about you - I have a bag over my head.

Chocolate - dark chocolate from the freezer is my favourite. I bet if chocolate doubled in price over 3 billion addicts would hit the streets, and protest very loudly for at least an hour. Then we’d wander home with a fresh supply hidden in our pockets.

NFL tickets - though ticket prices are up 4.5% this season, with the league average ticket price going for $76.47, gridiron warriors the size of moving trucks will still prosper. The lure of cold beers and hot nitrates in vast parking lots is strong.


NASCAR racing - oil at $125 per barrel will barely make a dent in attendance. The hypnotic effect of fast cars going around and around and around and around and around and around a track will keep diehards in their seats long after the fuel tank runs dry.

Potato chips - it’s the salt, it’s the dip, it’s the crunch. I’m dead.

The single family home - the notion of ‘our own place, geez, with a yard’ has been sold to us for so long - in expensive, glossy magazines - many of us will hang onto it dearly until death. (Thus the title of this list!)

Car keys

Huge refrigerators - how many condiments do we actually need at any given time? I count 13 kinds of mustard and relish in my fridge, but there’s not even one slice of bologna for a sandwich. What’s wrong with this picture?

Okay, that’s enough fun for one day.

***

What else should be added to the list?

.

This Old Economist: How will the government respond?

A new poll for Royal Bank Canada (RBC) has revealed two things we may already know but it made me think about ‘government response.’

(Not that I’m in charge of government response. Forget it. Sometimes I don’t even hear my wife call me for supper. And I really like supper).

Here’s what the RBC poll revealed:

First, “consumer confidence in Canada has dropped significantly amid growing uncertainty over the economic recovery” (Oct. 2, London Free Press)

(The bank’s recent consumer outlook index dropped from 108 (the mark since Dec. 2009) to 94. Don’t ask me what it takes to get a mark of 94 or 108. All I know is, if I’d had a score of 94 in my university courses in the ‘60s and ‘70s I’d be doing brain surgery every morning and jetting to Paris for supper every evening. Sorry, I digress).

Second, “mounting debt continues to weigh on the mind of Canadians.”

In other words, all across this fair land people are aware of uncertain economic times around the world and that we’re standing up to our armpits in personal, provincial and national debt. Some people might even be aware that the US of A is even in worse shape and has us in its back pocket. If it sits or falls done we’re done like dinner. (And I like my dinner too).

So, how will our government likely respond to these heavy details?

Will they hope - above all else - that our economy will turn around so it can be driven as in the past and we can all get back to business as usual?

Will they consider stimulating or manipulating the economy in some way, e.g., with stimulus dollars, or with money that is sitting on a shelf somewhere, or with a new tax policy? (Corporations are still over-taxed, aren’t they?)

Will they beg people to spend their savings so we can get back to being a consumer-drive society again? (60 - 70% of the Canadian economy is reliant upon consumer or sump pump spending).

In the opinion of this old economist (my university degree is hermetically sealed and taped to the back of my energy-efficient furnace), I think the government will go with the first two ideas because the members know, as well as anybody, most Canadians don’t have any savings.

Whatever you do, don’t hold your breath waiting for any government to start encouraging people to live in smaller homes, buy less furniture, drive smaller cars, eat less street meat for snacks (and I like snacks too) or think about converting to a lifestyle about 80 per cent of the size we have now - even if it would help the situation.

***

Important additional information: I like snacks but haven’t had street meat in so long I can’t even remember what it smells like, though the words ‘hot nitrates’ do come to mind.

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