Who is that Mansard of the Roof?

How is it that the Mansard roof is named after Francois Mansard.  The word mansard has the French origin of mansard  and the English origin of "Mansard, Francois".  The earliest known example is credited to Pierre Lescot on part of the Louvre, built around 1550.  It was named after the person who popularized it in the early 17th century. A search on roof shapes will retrieve dozens of different ones.  And then there are ones that have no name to describe their unusual shape.  Here's the Lighter Side of Real Estate's 12 most unique roofs.  In comparison, the BBC article is about the world's most unusual rooftops - typically with gardens.  It is HERE.   I thought that perhaps the Guinness Book of Records might give us insight into roofs.  Here are a few records involving roofs: Longest cantilever roof Largest reinforced concrete cement flat roof span Longest roof span covered by a single metal corrugated sheet ... and then it moves on to other roof-related items: Most consecutive donut spins while standing on the roof of a car Fastest time to flip 10 cars on the roof Fastest time to break 1,000 roof tiles (male) (female) And then an array of records involving centipedes, slime, the loudest drummer... these might really be advertisements/news items. I refrained from reading the centipede one. Here's our pretty roof from the Niagara-on-the-Lake garden tour over the weekend. The house is located on the most prestigious place on the street facing the Lake with the view of the American historic fort.  However this gazebo seems like an unlikely lover's rendezvous:  it sits under a chestnut tree and it faces away from the lake.  Perhaps there is a story in this.

Niagara's String of Pearls

I visited two of Niagara's Pearls yesterday.  The first was Niagara-on-the-Lake with its garden tour.  This year's garden tour was a walking tour through what is now named "Old Town".   But you know about Niagara-on-the-Lake as the prettiest town in Canada.  Let's go to the second pearl. The second pearl is the winery in Jordan - Pearl Morissette. The pictures below show the modern black barn on the horizon.  The window reveals two diners in the restaurant. There is nothing ordinary here - even the website - it has an Ethos tab rather than About us.   "François Morissette doesn’t make wine for Ontario. He makes wine for the world, especially for those who appreciate his approach of minimal-intervention, purity, and low sulphur. He is classically trained, having worked on the Grand Cru terroirs of Frédéric Mugnier of Chambolle Musigny, Christian Gouges of Domaine Henri Gouges, and Jean-Marc of Domaine Roulot. Further oenological training was also undertaken at L’Université de Dijon. He attempts to uncover the inherent nature of each and every vintage. The result of this focused dedication is a selection of wines that speak for themselves. At Pearl Morissette, no two wines are ever the same." The restaurant offers a blind tasting menu only.  The approach seemed to be French - where the components of a meal are separated into very small dishes.  I later discovered the chefs have trained and worked in France. Our meal was flavoured with whey and vinegars.  There were herbs and flowers from the field below us.  Included was everyone's favourite little garden weed - oxalis.   We enter a new realm with Pearl Morissette.  Like Stadtlander (Eigensinn Farm) and Susur Lee, the tastes and textures are original, and of course, delicious. Here's a Globe and Mail article about the Chefs. And here's a Hamilton Press article on therestaurant.  Here's the article from the New York Times on the wines.

Gardener's Jokes

I visited Niagara-on-the-Lake yesterday to Valleybrook - they are growers of perennial plants in the blue pots.  Being the largest perennial grower in Canada, there were millions of plants - as far as one can see.  There was lots of activity moving them out to be transported to garden centres for the launch of summer gardening this weekend. They donate plants to the Grimsby Garden Club's Plant Sale each year.  They allow walk-ins on two days a week, so I can check everything out and take pictures. They give you a map to find things, and at the bottom are many rules - you can only purchase plants with silver stakes, beginning with certain numbers, and nothing at the ends of aisles, as these are plants moving out.  I was able to find something to purchase that was new this year - a miniature Clematis.  Today we celebrate gardeners with garden jokes. There are lots of garden jokes. Some topics seem to accumulate more jokes than others. Along the way I found this surprising fact: Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than for the US Treasury. Here are the gardening jokes selected for today: Q: How excited was the gardener about spring? A: So excited he wet his plants. Q: What do you call a grumpy and short-tempered gardener? A: A Snap Dragon. The manager of the garden centre overhears one of his nurserymen talking to a customer.  'No, we haven't had any of that in ages,' says the nurseryman. 'And I don't know when we'll be getting any more.'  The customer leaves and the manager walks over to give him a telling off. 'Never tell a customer we can't get them something,' he says. 'Whatever they want we can always get it on order and deliver it. D'you understand?'  The nurseryman nods. 'So what did he want?' asks the manager. 'Rain,' replies the nurseryman.   Michael O'Leary was waiting at the bus stop with his friend, Paddy Maguire, when a lorry went by loaded up with rolls of turf.  O'Leary opined, 'I'm gonna do that when I win de lottery, Maguire.' 'What's that, Michael?' responds his mate. 'Send me lawn away to be cut,' concludes O'Leary   For more silly gardening jokes, go to Frankie Flowers website HERE. Here's a joke for Mother's Day this Sunday: A mother mouse and a baby mouse are walking along when suddenly a cat attacks them. The mother mouse shouts “BARK!” and the cat runs away. “See?” the mother mouse says to her baby. “Now do you see why it’s important to learn a foreign language.”

Canada's Prettiest Town...

Niagara Falls is a tourist destination, so Family weekend is busy. The Butterfly Conservatory started its day with mostly young families out to see the butterflies.  It is a beautiful tropical garden setting, and like a trip to the Caribbean for a few hours. Huge blue morphos flutter past your head in pairs and swirl away.  Often a butterfly will land on the ground.  Oh no! Don't walk there!.  Someone always reaches out with a finger for them to perch on so they can get back up to a plant.  It is a universal gesture of kindness. There are those who turn out to be afraid of insects - whether they are bearing beautiful wings or not.  From adults to small children, there are a few cringing or crying visitors amongst the laughing and smiling groups.  It is funny to see parents with fearful children - mostly they look puzzled and confused.  They seem to wonder how this is happening to them.  I imagine their thoughts:  "Is this the child I brought with me, or did someone switch it on me?" We took a quick look at the Prairie Meadow garden in the winter - it is beautiful with tall grasses, asters, and ironweed stalks. Then down the River Road to to Niagara-on-the-Lake.  There were boats on the River, and it looked like people fishing.  There are interesting fish species in the Niagara River, including sturgeon. Niagara-on-the-Lake was busy - there's never a down time anymore.  Now there are  all sorts of high-end wineries to visit, and the Oscar Peterson Jazz Festival got its inaugural start this past weekend.  Even in the middle of winter, Niagara-on-the-Lake is the prettiest town in Canada.

This is Blue Monday

Today is known as  Blue Monday - the most depressing day of the year.  "It is calculated using a series of factors in a (not particularly scientific) mathematical formula. The factors are: the weather, debt level (specifically, the difference between debt and our ability to pay), the amount of time since Christmas, time since failing our new year's resolutions, low motivational levels and the feeling of a need to take charge of the situation".  This was started as a public relations invention in 2005, and January 24th was the first Blue Monday.  It generally falls on the third Monday in January.  I noticed it this year as there are Blue Monday sales being advertised.  The equation has been called farcical and nonsensical, but it seems to live on as an observed day. I took a look at what the Snopes rating is for Blue Monday - true or false - the most depressing day of the year. Of course, they rated it false.   What is Blue Monday competing with for national observances?  This is Martin Luther King Day, Civil Rights Day, Hat Day, National Crowd Feed Day, Strawberry Ice Cream Day.  If we were to skip to tomorrow, Tuesday January 16th is Nothing Day.  Is that 0 day, null day, nought day?  It was started by newspaper columnist Harld Pullman Coffin in 1973. The unofficial holiday aims to provide people "with a day where they can just sit without celebrating, observing or honouring anything."  It is considered an "un-event."   Isn't this picture amazing for its vivid green?  This was taken in July 2017 on a rainy day in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  What I notice about the composition that makes me laugh is the contrast between the pattern of graceful arching maple trees and the vertical tree slicing up the image.  Oh well...

Potato Chip Alert

When I was a child, there was a potato chip factory in St. Catharines.  It was beside our community swimming pool.  We passed it on the way to downtown shopping all the time.  The smell was glorious to us children.  The Lever's Potato Chips factory was around for quite a few years.  A St. Catharines Standard article tells us exactly where to look on Grote Street for the original site - the ServiceMaster business is where the factory was.  One of the Levers daughters says that if you go downstairs there, you can still smell the oil.  Front and centre in the Globe and Mail today is the conflict between the Canadian Health Agencies and the Food producers over the warning labels on potato chips.  A potato chip bag will indicate the contents are high in trans fats, sodium and sugar. The various warning symbols under discussion include red circles, yield signs, exclamation marks and magnifying glass.  I knew that potato chips are a poor food choice.  We would guess the bad choices to be chicken nuggets, french fries, pop, and fast-food hamburgers. I didn't realize that white rice is in the group:  this was in a huffingtonpost.ca article Ten processed foods to remove from your diet now.  It made me realize that people probably need significant warning labels. Our first picture is in Queenston - the Soaring Brock's Monument. Our bottom 2 pictures today come from Niagara-on-the-Lake's "Paradise Grove and the Commons".  This is one of the old forest stands in Ontario with an Oak Savannah located here.  Oaks have been planted along with native wild flowers and the natural habitat is naturally regenerating. The oldest oaks date from before the War of 1812.  The Commons walk towards NOTL comes to Fort George and to Butler's Baracks, two historic sites of the War of 1812.

Adventures in Cycling and Gardens

A few weeks ago I told you about Mark Quattrocchi's adventure of cycling around the world to raise money to build schools in developing countries.  Here's the Global News coverage of his return home.  Our pictures come from the Niagara-on-the-Lake Shaw Guild garden tour.  Niagara-on-the-Lake has some large properties - I assume created around the War of 1812 or earlier. It was settled around 1781 and known as Butlersburg, in honour of Colonel John Butler, the commander of Butler's Rangers.  It was a British military base, the first capital of Upper Canada, and a central battle site in the War of 1812.   What we see on the tour is how beautiful some of these back gardens are today with their spacious proportions and mature greenery.

Niagara Spring

Gardens and Orchards are awakening with the blossoms of spring.  This Niagara-on-the Lake heritage home is showing its best in spring with its Magnolia blossoms.  And of course, the orchards have started to blossom.  I notice this year that there are light pink, dark pink, bright white, yellowy white all blooming at the same time. There are orchards showing no colour too. I can identify pear trees as they are vertical in growth - pointing straight up.  But other trees seem more difficult to identify.  I wonder if there are any experts in the photo of the day who know the trees well.

Near the Top

These pictures are a combination of rust on peeling, crackled paint, and paper.  The effect seems to make the textures look like precious metals and velvet.   I usually check out the news before each day's post, and at the bottom of the top 5 stores, below all the ads and  signups (which seem to increase remarkably every day), I saw an article on the 9 best places to retire in Canada.   1. Moncton, NB 2. Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON 3. Kingston, ON 4. Stratford, ON 5. Comox, BC 6. Rimouski, Quebec 7. Ottawa, ON 8. Estevan, Saskatchewan 9, Salmon Arm, BC With Niagara-on-the-Lake just down the road from me, I can enjoy the benefits of a high-class community without the costs that come with it.   V

Return with a Shrubbery

Ladew, in Maryland,  is considered the 'most outstanding' topiary garden in North America, and one of 10 incredible topiary gardens around the world.   I think the (Monty Python) Knight would have definitely passed if he'd returned with this one - all those peaks and rows in formation. The picture below was a topiary found in Niagara-on-the-Lake at the beginning of August - a delight of whimsy.

The Statuary

This is another of the Niagara-on-the-Lake gardens that the garden bloggers visited. It was also on the Shaw Festival Garden Tour.  This garden wants to be named 'The Statuary' to me.  Even the buildings are formal like statues.  It took a while before everyone finished walking around and we then got our shots of the garden with all its elements. As we walked down Johnson Street to the next garden, this little topiary display caught our attention.  It too is a statuary - this one full of whimsy and charm.

Niagara's Weather

How fast things changed.  One week it is beautiful late fall with the autumn leaves in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and within days we are in blowing snow and frost. I could see the clouds changing from the outlook and gazebo at Niagara-on-the-Lake to Southbrook Winery on the Stone Road out of Niagara-on-the-Lake.  

 

Niagara-on-the-Lake Shaw Festival Garden Tour today

It's a perfect day and it's the NOTL Shaw Festival Garden tour.  It's always great…here are a few pictures from last year's trip and some of these weren't on the tour.  Niagara-on-the-Lake is home to many Romantic gardens, so it's always enjoyable being there.

Valleybrook - A Perennial Master

I had the great experience yesterday of visiting the Valleybrook Niagara-on-the-Lake operation.  It is an operation - a large one.  It seemed like dozens of polyhouses that I walked through.  And then I walked into the open yard with what seemed like thousands of pots outside, too.  The size of the operation is what grabs one's attention.  It seemed like millions of plants in pots.

It is great to live in Niagara with plant production operations, commercial greenhouses growing flowers, plants and vegetables.  Valleybrook has always grown distinctive plants of high quality.  These plants really did look like the best of the best.  And yes, the Dancing Queen host is that yellow.  There were lots of yellow plants being grown.  I would think this is a trend towards bold planting designs.

Here are a few images of Valleybrook's operation: