April 21, 2010
comments 5

What it is and what it isn’t

I’ve mentioned before that there is no grand plan for this here little blog. I haven’t mapped anything out and I pretty much make it up as I go along. I don’t much think about defining it, and my efforts in the past to make it into something it wasn’t fell by the wayside fairly quickly.

However, something happened today that caused me to pause and consider for a minute what I’m doing. I was asked to post an article by someone I don’t know, haven’t heard of, never met, expressing a point of view, expressing support for a point of view about health care in America.

I’m not going to publish the article, and it isn’t because I disagree with it. The request simply made it clear to me that this blog is first and foremost about whatever I fancy it being about and that’s it. I can imagine that with some blogs, blogs that are destined to be popular items for instance, that requests to take positions, post material, to become somebody’s mouthpiece, must be par for the course. In the case of 27th Street, I thought I had carved out a tiny little community, a small circle of friends so to speak. Who would think that this little island in the sun would attract enough attention that somebody would want to use it to express their ideas? I could see it if perhaps I wrote about American health care (I don’t think I have, have I?), and even then, I do allow comments after all.

Has anyone ever asked you for a piece of your blog action? Would you publish an article somebody sent you and asked you to publish?

April 19, 2010
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More Search Terms

People used the following search terms to find their way to this pot of gold:

Portuguese botton accordion
el bandoneon
fascination personality test
mushroom identification course toronto
bylaw officers
los gauchos
patychky
cherry wine and turpentine
niagara street coffin factory
fats domino my blue heaven
April 19, 2010
comments 2

A few plants to start the new garden

I started to populate the new garden this afternoon.

I planted an Endless Summer Hydrangea Macrophylla ‘Bailmer’. This will grow to 3 to 6 feet height and width. It blooms pink in alkaline soil and blue in acidic soil. Maybe that means purple in neutral soil, I’m not sure. This is a hardy shrub that is happy in partial shade. I may plant a second Hydrangea beside the first, with different colour flowers.

I planted a single Common Bleeding Heart. By about the third year, these will start to spread and pop up all over the place. If anything, they’re a bit too aggressive, but I can think of worse things than pulling out Bleeding Hearts.

I planted two Clematis-flowered Columbines. These feature fluffy double flowers that resemble small Clematis blooms, upfacing on stems and well above the green foliage. Blooms are rose pink with a yellow centre.

I planted two Chinese Astilbes. These are mid-sized shade loving astilbes, with white and pale pink plumes that appear in mid-summer.

Finally, I planted a St. John’s Wort Millepertuis tricolor. This is a smallish colourful shrub with reddish arching stems bearing dark green leaves edged in shades of pink, red and cream. It features buttercup-like yellow flowers from mid-summer into fall.

April 18, 2010
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Complete Streets

The intrepid research staff here at Anchovy World Headquarters stumbled across this open letter to candidates at Spacing Toronto. Well, the following quote makes good sense: There are not two Torontos, comprised of cyclists or drivers. In fact, statistics show us that those who own bicycles are more likely to own cars than those who do not. We are one Toronto. We drive, we ride and we walk. The goal of Complete Streets is to ensure that our streets are designed to safely accommodate all users.

April 17, 2010
comments 5

Bike lanes on University Ave?

The City of Toronto has decided to experiment with bike lanes on University Ave, after deciding on bike lanes on Jarvis. I support establishing an excellent network of bike lanes throughout Toronto, but I don’t support the apparent “war on cars” approach of the outgoing mayor.

Instead, I support a strategic approach. We already have bike lanes on many north south streets, such as Beverley and Sherbourne. I suggest we create even more, a really good system of bike lanes to provide safe bike access all over the city. At the same time, I think we should reserve a network of streets such as University and Jarvis that have no bike lanes and perhaps even no bikes or cabs during rush hours, to facilitate automobile traffic. That seems to me to be a balanced approach.

We don’t have to try bike lanes on University to see what happens. It’s obvious what will happen. It’s the same kind of thinking that came up with ideas like the narrowing of Lansdowne Ave. I understand that advocates of those plans want a car-free city; however, I think we’re a long way from that yet, and for now, I want a city I can drive in, bike in, take public transit in, and walk in.

I fear that plans like bike lanes on University are going to cause a backlash in the coming municipal election and generate support for the conservative blow-hards in the race, and that would be a shame.