27th Street

November 21, 2015

Canadian Tire Hot Sauce

Today I wandered into my local Canadian Tire store, shopping for things like house paint, cat litter, and a few other things I needed for around the house, when what did I come across but a display for Portuguese hot sauce. How strange is that? Pretty Strange.

It comes from Cambridge Ontario so Portugallo is maybe not the most authentic brand. On the other hand, it says right on the label that it tastes great on anything, and I like anything that tastes good on anything, anytime.

Naturally I bought a bottle. The ingredient list looks pretty good. I hope it really is tasty!

November 21, 2015

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The Changing Face of Twenty Seventh Street: Part 4

The pair of three story, tall and narrow homes at the severed 2 Twenty Seventh Street property are standing now, and they are working on some stonework.

Meanwhile across the street at 6, the builder who bought the place destroyed all of Alma’s beautiful shrubs and took down all the trees with the exception of one poplar tree to make room for the giant pit in which he is putting the foundation of the over-sized bungalow he has planned.

So far, the other home he bought, the modest bungalow at 4, where Ottie used to live, has not yet been touched. The builder has successfully severed this property. It seems the OMB adjudicator didn’t think this severance, next to the one at 2, was a problem. I disagree with that decision, which I consider to be nothing short of outrageous.

Meanwhile there is now activity next door to the south of us at 9 Twenty Seventh.

This spruce was taken down on that property today. The guy who bought Nick’s place wants to take the second front yard spruce down as well as the Larch which is close to the property line with our place, but so far, Forestry has not allowed it. I’m not concerned about the larch, which I think is suffering from competition with the huge silver maple and the spruces.

The guy who bought Nick’s place initially planned to try for a severance, but backed away from that idea and is now looking at a large single-family home. It looks like it is nicely designed, and in my view will add some stability to a neighbourhood under seize by developers seeing gold in them thar hills, severing all the big lots they can get hold of.

My only worry with this construction is the protection of the line of spruces running back into the yard on our side of the property line. He wants to run a driveway all the way to the back and construct a garage at the back of the property. He will not be able to excavate much for the drive as he has to try to protect our trees. As well, he plans to put the garage on piers to protect the tree routes. As long as he makes every effort to protect our trees, I’m OK with his plans. Forestry has apparently given him the go-ahead.

November 21, 2015

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Basketeers – drop-off day

Basketeers supports women in new beginnings. Tuffy P has been supporting this initiative for several years by putting together robust baskets filled with all kinds of things women starting a new life might need.

I was on delivery duty this morning. They’re very well organized with a team of volunteers who unload the baskets and take them inside. I was there fairly early this morning but already there was a wonderful assortment of generous baskets lining the tables.

Basketeers has grown from the original group covering the GTA to 10 additional chapters in Stratford, Ottawa, York, Hamilton, Brantford, Guelph, Penticton and Montreal. In fourteen years we have grown from the original group of Basketeers, each with their own drop off locations, all on the same day.

In GTA Basketeers supports numerous shelters helping women in our area.

November 21, 2015

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June Apple

I’ve been thinking about the tune June Apple. Here’s Zepp playing an amazing version. What a super-fine player. He seems so relaxed and nonchalant (not to mention un-smiling) about the whole thing.

This one is usually played in the key of A, and it’s a standard in the old time repertoire.

And here are Kurt Sutphin and Riley Baugus. When they refer to Tommy’s house, they mean Tommy Jarrell the great musician who lived in Toast NC. .

November 19, 2015

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Ramona Jones RIP

Ramona Jones, who for many years worked with her husband, the late Grandpa Jones, was a really great old time musician. I just read in this excellent obit that she passed this week at 91. RIP.

Let’s listen to Ramona singing There’s Better Times a Comin’. I do believe that the fabulous banjo picker she has with her on this performance is Cathy Barton Para.

November 19, 2015

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Banjo Practice – Lonesome John

Tonight I was working on a modal tune called Lonesome John. Some versions I’ve heard of this tune are a lot faster and lighter, making mine sound positively clunky by comparison. Maybe I should work on getting my speed up on this one. At the same time, I enjoy a kind of harshness on these modal tunes.

November 17, 2015

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Science Fiction Painting by Fred R. Messer

Here is a science fiction painting by Fred R. Messer we were able to pick up as part of a lot of 4 works by the artist for very attractive price at the Slotin Folk Art Auction, which took place on the weekend down in Georgia. We bid live using the Live Auctioneers app.

November 15, 2015

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A beautiful November day

What a spectacular fall day. Here at 27th Street, the sun warmed things up enough that I could sit on the front porch and frail my banjo for an hour or so. I spent most of that time working on a piece called Lonesome John. Here’s a nice performance of the piece on fiddle, featuring some flat-footing.

While I was out on the porch, I watched a blue jay visit our feeders after sunflower seeds, competing with the sparrows and the nuthatches, and as well I watched a flicker feast away on the larch next door.

Meanwhile, this was the weekend for the fall Slotin Auction. The Slotins host a couple huge auctions each year down in Georgia, featuring mostly American folk art, outsider art, art brut, and so on, artifacts from a vanishing America. People ask us from time to time where we get our folk art, and over the years the pieces we have accumulated have mostly come from the Slotin Auctions. We bid live online, competing with people in the auction hall as well as telephone bidders, using an app called Live Auctioneers.

Charlie Kinney, Fishing for the Big One

These are two day auctions, and they auction about 70 works per hour. It’s a really big deal in the Outsider Art world. I witnessed one work sell for over $70,000 on Saturday. The Slotins send us a hard-copy catalog for each of the auctions and we use that to track prices and to identify potential works we might like to bid on. We usually identify a few works, and figure out a maximum bid – the most we’re willing to pay for a piece. It’s important to factor in the buyer’s premium and the exchange rate, and take shipping into account. Sometimes works in this auction fetch scary high prices, but occasionally we’re able to find a piece we want at a reasonable price. For us the key is to stop bidding at our maximum and move on.

The piece that is pictured here is one by Charlie Kinney. We already have a Charlie Kinney piece hanging in our kitchen from a previous auction – a drawing of a square dance. In this piece it looks like the two piscators are about to reap disproportionate rewards.

November 15, 2015

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Arggghhh!

Tuffy P has been away on a business trip. She was supposed to arrive at Pearson early this evening. Then it was changed to shortly after midnight, then later and later and later. Now it is scheduled to land at 3:11 AM. By the time she gets through Customs, it will be 3:30, maybe 3:45, and I should have her home by around by 4:30…..that is if the arrival time doesn’t change again.