Summer is Here

Our first day of Summer stretched across time zones this year.  For the Arctic Circle the sunlight lasts for 24 hours - and is known as the midnight sun.  This is the astrological summer rather than the meteorological summer which started June 1st and ends August 31st.  I think of September as the start to Autumn, so I guess I have my two seasons mixed at various points. I blame the start of the school year on that confusion.  You might reply with this silly solstice joke: "Thanks for making the longest day of the year longer by explaining why it's the longest day of the year". Or head over to the Huffington Post article on Manhattanhenge.  On July 12th the setting sun will be fully visible between skyscrapers lining the major east-west streets - 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42, and 57th Streets. The phenomenon is named after  Stonehenge.  Stonehenge 2017 has just been celebrated by 13,000 people.  Our picture shows a family of geese crossing the road and heading down a laneway, a moment of pause for the Porsches.

Summer School

Summer school used to mean failing a course and having to take it in the summer so one could get to the next grade. Now one can take regular credit courses (new credit, re-take a course to upgrade mark) and remedial credit courses (earned a final mark of at least 35% but below 50%).  I would have been happy to go to summer school - school was fun for me.  So it seems ironic that those who went to summer school in decades past were those who didn't like school.   Summer school for the Toronto District School Board ends today with report card pick-up.  So now what to do with August? There's the Helsinki summer school from August 4th to August 20th.  One can go to Shanghai China, the Imperial College in London, or Berkeley.  So many options to choose from.

Spring and Summer

I was at the Lincoln Rotary WingDing Festival on Friday evening.  It is a chicken wing festival, with live music, lots of food trucks and a view of Lake Ontario at sunset, as it takes place at Charles Daley Park in St. Catharines.  This is one of the beautiful parks with a natural lagoon where the big brown trout go to spawn.  It also has an endless sandy beach.   So someone at the festival told me there were water restrictions in the town of Grimsby.  This morning I looked it up and find that the Town of Lincoln has water practices every summer with the odd and even days of water for the home address that matches.  I've been told this is the worst drought year since the 1980's.  Today's pictures show the difference between the RBG Conservatory spring garden in April and in July.  Which do you like the most?

What Say You about Summer?

Summer Sayings What are the quotes of summer?  What comes to your mind? Shakespeare has an abundance of summer references.  Sonnet 18 opens with a truly famous question. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" There are Summer words and expressions we take for granted. I found this site - it lists the subscribers' grade level estimate for this page as 1st to 3rd grade.  Typically the vocabulary sites are related to learning English. One can go to the positive thesaurus and see a long list of summer expressions here or we can browse this small list -  Summer beer Summer break Summer breeze Summer camp Summer celebration Summer colors Summer crush Summer day Summer fashion Summer festival Summer fling Summer friends Summer fun Summer games Summer gardening Summer holiday Summer love Summer months Summer night Summer romance Summer sauna Summer sizzle Summer smiles Summer solace Summer solstice Summer storm Summer vacation Summer wardrobe Summer wedding Summertime Summery

Congratulations to 'They'!

We're still on the theme of headlines, and the word of the year has been announced with a delightful headline from Voice of America: 'They' Wins as Linguists' Word of the Year  "Its usage has been a source of contention since the times of Shakespeare and Chaucer — both of whom, for your Grade 3 teacher’s information, used “they” to refer to a single person on occasion. Puritanical grammar nerds have been sticklers, however, for pairing singular subjects (for example, “the suspect”) with singular pronouns (“he” or “she”) — even when the person’s gender is not known. The rationale is that “they” should only refer to multiple persons, not just one. So traditionalists would rather see this: “Everyone took his or her chances on the roads that day.” Than this: “Everyone took their chances on the roads that day.” That’s started to change, slowly: The Washington Post, for example, changed its style guide last year to accept a singular “they.” But this kind of “they” got a thumbs up from some of the nerdiest word nerds Friday evening, when an overwhelming majority of the American Dialect Society cast their annual words of the year ballots for:  “they: gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, particularly as a nonbinary identifier.” Congratulations to "They"! On to our pictures of the day:  The Ontario Regional Lily Society has its flower show at the Royal Botanical Gardens atrium each year.  The natural light in the atrium and the tall open space showcase the flower colours and forms beautifully.  I stopped in the perennial gardens and the conservatory, and found a cornucopia of flowers and model trains. They seem to be together a lot.

Farewell to Summer Flowers

We experience shorter days in October - with the sun getting up later and setting all too early.  Yet the days themselves are brilliant with vivid colours in the leaves.  Already the Sumac and the Virginia Creeper are orange and red along the roads. Fall bulbs are ready for planting.  I visited the new Van Noort location to pick up my Spring order.  They've moved to a few streets from Brian's Lilycrest Gardens hybridizing field.  What a facility it is.  There are rows and rows of polyhouses that they are going to use to grow roses in the spring.  In the shared production facility, the last of the Gladiolus were being packaged for shipment.  Industrial plant production is very similar to industrial food or material production.  Things moving along conveyer belts with people doing small tasks along the way.  So today's images acknowledge the last of the Gladiolus and the end of our great summer flowering season.

Port Dalhousie Beach

The Port Dalhousie beach is a perfect summer spot.  I was struck by the pretty umbrellas and have highlighted them in this picture. It seemed there were so many stories in this waterside scene - my favourite is the man lying on his back in the foreground, with the dog looking my way.

Niagara and the Lake Effects

"The Lake Effects" - that's the phenomenon that gave Buffalo the terrible snow storm last year.  The one with the snow that came up to house roofs. In Niagara, the Lake Effects are/is credited with 'giving rise to remarkable flavour distinctions between grapes of leakier sub-appellations and those from further inland. " Here's the link that describes more about this: http://www.vqaontario.ca/Library/Appellations/NiagaraPeninsula_Maps.pdf We've been experiencing Lake Effects with the recent rain.  These pictures show the fog effects at Vineland Estates winery.  Fog can role in before or after a rain.  The third picture is Moyer Road - the road that leads to Vineland Estates.  Isn't this a beautiful country road!

More Country Living

These picturse were taken during our visit to Pennsylvania.  The sheep were very shy and ran to the barn when they say Dezi and I.  The horse, was most friendly, and came over for a visit.  The rural landscape is much simpler than the urban one.  The picture of the fence posts, grass and mist demonstrates this.

Colour in Summer

COLOUR


It seems so far away that there could be this much colour all around us every day.  This is the Grimsby Market and the Wendalane Flower Farm stall.  I am enthralled by Jen's combination of floral materials - creative and inventive.  I've seen people point at a flower like the Queen Anne's Lace and say - 'that's a weed'.  And then they buy a posie or bouquet with it.  It is one of those graceful, delicate flowers with a vintage sense to it.  Jen is choosing her flowers for 2015 and will be starting seeds soon.  I hope she grows the Walking Gourds again.  They were fun in the garden urns in Autumn.

Here's their Facebook and website to take a look:
https://www.facebook.com/wendalanefarms
http://www.wendalane.com