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Hot Dogs
A Song for Canada Day
I’ve posted this tune before, maybe even several times. Why? Because it stops me in my tracks every time, and before he’s done Mr. Allen has my eyes welling up. Turn it up loud. Here’s Ward Allen performing his masterpiece, Maple Sugar.
Moonrise Kingdom
We trundled out to see Moonrise Kingdom last night, the new Wes Anderson film with an ensemble cast that includes Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Ed Norton and most importantly, two young actors, Jared Gilman as Sam and and Kara Hayward as Suzy.
What can I say about this film? I guess you could call it a summer camp love story about two somewhat troubled youngsters who meet one summer, become pen pals and vow to run off together the next year when the Sam is a scout camp. The potential exists here for one dreary film, but Moonrise Kingdom is anything by dreary.
It is clever, funny, very charming, and all around delightful. The cast is perfect and the kids do a fine and understated job. Even Bruce Willis is good in this film, and I have a very very low Bruce Willis tolerance level. The adults see these kids as dysfunctional but of course it is the adults all around them who are dysfunctional. The kids are finding their way, charmed by the naive magic of youth.
This is the best film I’ve seen in some time. Just go see it now.
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For my fellow Canadians out there, Happy Canada Day.
And to my friends celebrating Pride this weekend, have a great party!
Leap Second
The earth is slowing down friends. Just a little bit, but it’s slowing down. Or so they say. The world’s atomic clocks are being adjusted on Saturday and an extra second is being added, just in time for some added Canada Day enjoyment.
A creature of habit
I think I’ve become a creature of habit. There is a regular rhythm to my life which I don’t realize until something or another induces a little change. It could be something small. Like today, instead of taking the dogs for their usual 6:00 walk, I had a little nap. It was just too hot. The dogs were OK about this. They had a little nap too. Well, I think Memphis would have preferred to stick to schedule. Ellie Mae, on the other hand, is always ready for a little nap.
Post-nap, I gathered up a pocketful of dog treats and some handy little waste bags, and doubled up two leashes so Ellie could walk a few feet behind Memphis the way she likes it, and off we went. Newsflash – it really cooled down nicely here by the lake. What a good idea that nap was. There was a bit of a breeze and that breeze had just the right edge of cool. I’m going to have to do that again sometime. I won’t let this straying from the usual rhythm get out of hand or anything like that. Maybe just once in a while…
Not On Hold Music
What’s the worst “on hold” music you’ve ever heard? Today I was on the phone with a help desk when I was put on hold to the piano stylings of a computer attempting Wichita Lineman. It doesn’t get much worse than that.
I’ve got a job to do tonight. I’ve got to do something to make up for the butchery done to that lovely Jimmy Webb tune. Let’s make up for the canned version with the real deal. The tune was written in 1968 and first recorded by Glen Campbell. Man this is one lonesome song. It just doesn’t belong as “on hold” music at all.
And then there’s this version and it’s killer…
Now, Stone Temple Pilots with Mr. Campbell
OK, one more….I bet you never thought you’d be listening to Kool and the Gang over here on 27th Street. We’re full of surprises here at Anchovy World Headquarters, deep underground below the sleepy West Toronto community of Long Branch. Feel the Groove.
OK OK OK…..now that we’re down there, let’s hear Cassandra Wilson. Are you ready?
Ok OK OK OK…I know I said I’d stop, but how can I end this post without hearing the Johnny Cash version. Perfect. Flawless.
That’s it friends….you’ll have to go searching for the Jimmy Webb and Tom Jones versions yourself.
Hedgehogs
Over the past couple days there have been searches on hedgehog mushroom identification that led people to this blog. There are two kinds of edible hedgehog mushrooms and I start finding both in the forests I haunt in Southern Ontario, sometime in August and into September. I don’t think I’ve found any of either variety prior to August.
The two kinds are Hydnum umbilicatum and Hydnum repandum. The Hydnum umbilicatum tend to have a flatter top and in the forests I find them in, they have quite an orange cast about them. When you see them in the forest, you’ll see they have a depression like a belly button on the cap – hence umbilicatum. The Hydnum repandum have more of a tan colour and more of a rounded cap and they tend to grow much bigger. Both have teeth under the cap.
You’ll find that both varieties are quite firm, and as a bonus they are much less likely to be bug-eaten than chanterelles.
Both varieties of hedgehogs are quite distinctive – firm tan to tan-orange mushrooms with many teeth on the underside of the cap. Still I can’t stress enough, if you are not 100% certain of what you have, don’t eat it.
The Chemnitzer Concertina
When I grow up, I want to get me one of these babies and learn to play it.
and one more…
A morning walk in the Enchanted Mushroom Forest
Sunday morning, the dogs and I headed up to the Enchanted Mushroom Forest for a good long walk. Well, I’ll admit I had an ulterior motive. The forest has enjoyed the magic combination of rain and heat that leads to the fruiting of mushrooms. In past years I haven’t found the summer mushrooms this early. Usually there is a longer gap between the oysters (beginning of June) and the first chanterelles. However, this has been a strange year so far so I figured it was worthwhile checking out the forest. Of course it does me and the dogs plenty of good to wander about in a forest.
I didn’t see any mushrooms of any sort fruiting in the forest. The only thing I saw of interest was some Monotropa uniflora – known around here as Indian Pipe and also sometimes called the Corpse Plant.
Indian Pipe is a herbaceous perennial plant that is fairly common in our Southern Ontario forests. I usually notice it in early summer. The curious thing about this plant is that it is white and contains no chlorophyll. Unlike plants that generate energy from sunlight, the Indian Pipe needs to have certain fungi present, fungi that have a special relationship with trees. If I understand it correctly, this plant draws energy from the trees via the fungi by tapping into the mycelia of the fungi. If there are any naturalists out there who would care to elaborate on how all this works, please leave me a comment. I think it’s fantastic that the fungus and the trees and the Indian Pipe have this special three-way relationship going on.
The particular forest where I shot the photo has plenty of Indian Pipe but is always surprises me when I see it because it is so unusual.
Ooh Poo Pah Doo
Here’s a Daily Dose of Ooh Poo Pah Doo
Jessie Hill
Tina Turner on Shindig – man, she really had it happening back in the day, didn’t she?
Ronnie Dio and the Prophets!
Finally from the Treme soundrack, here’s James “12” Andrews and Trombone Shorty. I read that these guys are Jessie Hill’s grandkids. They do their grandpa proud with this version. I love the New Orleans horns.
27th Street 