October 11, 2011
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A Loss for Long Branch

Tuffy P was out walking the dogs the other morning, and noticed that our favourite falafel place had closed its doors. Baba Ali was a family run business that made excellent Middle Eastern food. We enjoyed the food and we also enjoyed chatting with the owners, really friendly people. Now where will we get our fresh made zaatar manakeesh?

Although a number of new businesses, including restaurants have opened up in Long Branch in the last couple years, it’s a tough place to run a business. The Lakeshore strip is long, running through the three communities still known locally as Long Branch, New Toronto and Mimico. It doesn’t have really great concentration of energy anywhere, and our communities are somewhat cut off from the rest of the city. Maybe we just need a broader customer base. There has been some development in the form of condos and we’re seeing quite a few house renos in the area. I’ve heard some people are critical of the condo developments, but I think a measured influx of people in the area is a good thing all around.

I don’t know why Baba Ali closed, but it’s a loss for our neighbourhood. We need independent family businesses like that and we just can’t take our local treasures for granted. I hope the folks who were running Baba Ali are OK and I wish them success in their future adventures.

October 10, 2011
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New Painting

I finished off a new painting the other day. This one is called False Morel, or The Mycologist’s Bad Dream. It’s acrylic and found chunk of car part on unprimed plywood panel.

This painting is 6 feet wide and 4 feet high. I found the chunk of metal in the parking lot of the building in which I work. I saw it sitting on the pavement day after day screaming, “pick me up, and use me in a painting.” Finally I relented. When I picked it up, I thought, this could be a mushroom, then tossed it on the floor of the back seat of my car, and proceeded to drive it around for a few months. I forgot all about it. Meanwhile I started this painting….

Here’s a detail…

Filed under: Art
October 9, 2011
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The Buck Fever Rag

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians. Let’s celebrate with a tune from the Ottawa Valley. Reg Hill was best known as the fiddler in Mac Beattie’s band, The Ottawa Valley Melodiers (Mac was the scrub-board player and singer). Here’s Mr. Hill from a solo recording called Ottawa Valley Hoedown.

 

October 8, 2011
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Likewise I’m sure…

Somebody out there in the cyber-planet entered…

трубчатые грибы
into a search engine and landed on my little island in the sun. Go figure.UPDATE: my friend East Texas Red promises me that it translates to this

 
October 7, 2011
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The Wrong End of Hambo

Here in Canada, this is Thanksgiving weekend. What better time to sit back and listen to some accordion music?

Here’s a definition of Hambo from Wikipedia:

The hambo is a traditional dance that originated in Sweden in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a couple dance in ¾ time, danced to music played with a strong accent on the first beat and a tempo that varies from moderate to fast (100 to 120 beats per minute). The hambo is a dance with a fixed pattern and tunes almost always have a corresponding eight measure structure.

In Sweden, the hambo is in the gammaldans (old-time dance) tradition that, despite the name, arose fairly recently around the beginning of the 20th century. The dance is also danced in North America in the social clubs formed by immigrant Swedes and during breaks at contradance venues. Many social waltz groups include the hambo among their regular dances.