August 3, 2013
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Tea cup and tea pot bird feeders

We made a couple more bird feeders today. Previously, we’ve just used tea cups and saucers but this time we also added in a tea pot for one of them.

bird feeders

bird feeders

If we can find a load of very inexpensive or free old teapots, we’re thinking about making a teapot totem as well.

August 3, 2013
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Spanish Ladies OR We’ll rant and we’ll roar

I thought it was a Newfoundland tune….

I’ve known the tune We’ll rant and we’ll roar for some time, and when I was playing a lot of button accordion, I played this one quite a bit. It’s been repopularized by Great Big Sea.

I just assumed it was a Newfoundland folk tune, and I suppose it is, since folk tunes evolve and get adapted from place to place. What I hadn’t realized is that it is also a whaling tune called Spanish Ladies – really the same tune with a different location. Here is Paul Clayton, whose recordings of sailing and whaling tunes are just fantastic.  Clayton was a Greenwich village folky in the 50s and 60s, part of the great folk music scare. Sadly he took his own life in 1967

 

August 3, 2013
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Jack Darling new and improved

We took the dogs out to the new and improved Jack Darling Leash Free park this morning. It was our first visit since they opened up the new area. As construction on the water treatment plant there has been completed, the dog park has been reconfigured and shifted and expanded. There are gravel paths, dirt paths, fields and a bit of forest. Most dog parks, such as the one down the street from us, are simply a fenced in field with a bench and a gate or two and a couple garbage cans. Now at Jack Darling, the paths loop and change. There is a great deal of variety as the park follows the ups and downs of the filtration plant. Very nicely designed. There is even a water tap available so you can give your dogs some fresh cold water. They really did a great job.

However, there is some kind of leash-free political problem happening. There were some people at the entrance with a petition and there was a sign that talked about freedom of speech except at Jack Darling. One of the issues was about the election of a board member who was now not being recognized. Another issue was about a restriction apparently added to the park rules restricting children from the leash-free area. I didn’t really have a full picture of the issues after talking to the people with the petition – if you know what’s going on with Mississauga dog park politics, please comment and let me know.

August 1, 2013
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Can I re-heat?

Somebody landed on this blog after searching, “Can I reheat breaded meat on a stick?”  The searcher is asking about patychky.  I’m happy to answer that question. Yes of course you can reheat them. On the other hand, they’re excellent cold for breakfast as well. There is no fine for failing to reheat, nor are there bonus points for reheating. I’m not complaining by the way. I’ll take all the viewers I can get. I seem to have scared some away lately.

August 1, 2013
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Hell Amongst the Yearlings

Of all the tunes in the Old Time songbook, Hell Amongst the Yearlings has to have the best title. I hadn’t known it as an Old Time tune until recently. It is also the name of a Gillian Welch album, her second from 1998. The Old Time tune isn’t on it. The tune is sometimes called Rounding up the Cattle. It’s been well recorded by Old Time outfits and some bluegrass bands as well.

Here are Allison Williams and the Hot Ash Stringband…

July 30, 2013
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Whistle while you work

I’m tired and mentally exhausted and I’m going to bed. Tomorrow I’m taking part in an Ontario Municipal Board hearing – sometime down the road I’ll tell you all about it. Suffice it to say I came home from work today and started right into final preparations. The only thing to do at times like these is whistle while you work.

Here are Sun Ra and the Intergalactic Arkestra or whatever he was calling his amazing band at the time, doing Walt Disney.