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Improvements
Image via Wikipedia
The City has been doing some improvements to 27th Street. It started earlier in the year when they re-did all the water lines. The same contractors were also available to replace water lines going from the City shut-off into houses. After they completed the work they patched the road and sodded the areas of lawn that were dug up. Really they did a nice job of it, even if it made a mess of the street for a while.
The next thing they did was to grind off several inches of road in preparation for new paving. They had big machines to do this and it didn’t take very long to strip the road. This left raised manholes so it was a bit of an obstacle course around here for a while. It was left that way for some weeks, and then the guys came along and did the first level of paving up and down our street. This reduced the raised manholes to the point where we could drive over them. I thought the next step would be to do the final level of paving.
I was wrong. The other day, they crews returned. They cut a 4 foot wide trench in the street along our side, removing the new paving and digging down 2 or 3 feet. It looks like now they’re replacing the old curbs. I guess when they finish our side of the street, they’ll either patch the road or do first level paving again before moving to the other side of the street.
I’m happy to have the maintenance work done on our street, and I understand the mess and disruption. I’m OK with having to park on the street for a while instead of in my driveway (a trench is currently blocking the drive). I do have one question, though. I wonder why they decided to do first level paving, then dig that up to do curbs. Why not dig up the old paving to do curbs, then do first level paving. It just seems wrong to do work that has to be torn up again a month later. Maybe there’s a reason for it that I’m blind to.
Hopefully, the trenches will be gone on our side of the street in a few days.
mister anchovy’s dream #3
Answering a search question
Somebody landed on this blog after having searched, “can hedgehog mushrooms cause upset stomach.”
Some people are sensitive or have allergies to all sorts of wild mushrooms. The rule is when you try a new mushroom, you should try eating a small amount, even though you’re sure it’s a tasty edible – just to be sure your body reacts ok. There are two types of hedgehog mushrooms growing in Southern Ontario. I pick and eat both of them and find them most delicious. I haven’t experienced any stomach upset at all after having consumed them.
Never eat any wild mushroom you cannot identify 100% for sure correctly.
mister anchovy’s dream #2
Kitschy to Classy
Thanks Spicecat for passing along an article in the Toronto Star about the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain. As regular readers know, I’ll be going to their show at Convocation Hall on Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it. Watch for my review following the concert. I think my friend Spicecat is somewhat bemused by my ecclectic and sometimes unusual musical tastes. When I announced to my workmates that Tuffy P had ordered up tickets, I’m sure I detected the look that can only mean, “This confirms it – he’s nuts.”
Vira
A Vira is a Portuguese dance form, often (as here) played on a triple row diatonic button accordion, which the Portuguese call a concertina. Viras are kind of like fast waltzes, usually with a heavy emphasis on the first beat of the bar. They’re usually played on instruments tuned “wet” or “full musette” which gives it that carnival sound so characteristic of Portuguese folk music.
mister anchovy’s dream
Seek and ye shall find
The WordPress interface gives me a view of all the searches which caused folks to land on this little piece of the rock since I closed down the old Mister Anchovy’s on Blogger and started 27th Street here on WordPress. I’ve pasted a picture of the top searches below.
Alarming is the fact that das boot is not only the top search term, but there have been close to three times more views from that search terms than the second one. I’m happy that 27th street is the second top search terms, since that’s an indication that people are coming here because they’re looking for the place. Of course that’s followed by another version of the das boot search. Sigh.
I made one post about Das Boot. That’s it. I finally saw the film and I wrote just a little bit about it. It seems it has quite a following. It’s amusing that searches for that film lead to 27th Street. It tells me that surfers are digging deep into search results in their quest to find out more and more arcane details about the movie. I tried googling Das Boot, and even after looking at several pages of results, I failed to find this island in the sun. Yes friends. There are Das Boot freaks out there.
93 times, people found this place while looking for Columbo. I’m sure I only made one post about Columbo. Perhaps I mentioned it a second time.
The reference to los gauchos or gauchos or uruguay gauchos is to a post I did on Los Gauchos de Roldan, a folk group from Uruguay who play accordion-driven polkas and such in a traditional style, and sung in Spanish. Here’s a sample:
Are there persistent searches that lead people to your blogs?
Ballin the Jack
Image via Wikipedia
I mentioned Kid Ory in connection with the Muskrat Ramble in a previous post. Mr. Ory was a jazz trombone player from Louisiana. He had two careers in music, one prior to the Great Depression, after which he retired, picking it up again in 1943. My father was a fan of Kid Ory’s playing. When I was a teenager, he found a couple old New Orleans style jazz records featuring Ory and played them a lot around the house.
Here’s Ballin the Jack…
Ballin the Jack is an older tune from 1913 at which time it was a dance craze:
First you put your two knees close up tight
Then you sway them to the left, then you sway them to the right
Step around the floor kind of nice and light
Then you twist around and twist around with all your might,
Stretch your loving arms straight out into space,
Then you do the Eagle Rock with style and grace.
Swing your foot way ’round then bring it back.
Now that’s what I call Ballin’ the Jack
The term Balling the Jack was or became railway slang and gambling slang, perhaps meaning risking everything on one attempt. Of course it was also a slang for having sex:
My baby’s coming home.
I hope that she won’t fail because I feel so good, I feel so good.
You know I feel so good, feel like balling the jack.
Here’s a brief interview with Mr. Ory…
And one more tune, The Tiger Rag. I like this one a lot.
The photo in this post, by the way, is the Kid Ory House in New Orleans.
27th Street 