I look at the pile on my bed. When did it start, I wonder. What was the first breach in the dam? The first tumbling stone in the avalanche? The first unheeding step down that slippery slope? When exactly did I start travelling heavy?
Was it when I started carrying two kinds of toothbrush: an electric toothbrush and a proxabrush with two snap-in heads — each one matching only some of the gaps between my teeth — to keep my dental hygienist happy? Continue reading
1953 June 01 – Coronation coverage
1953 June 01 – Coronation coverage
The coronation was on 02 June 1953 but Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, of the House of Windsor, has been Queen of Canada since 6 February 1952, and just recently celebrated her Sapphire Jubilee. It’s a long time to be in the public eye and in public service. As I post this, The Queen turns 91 – Happy Birthday, Your Majesty – and has slowed down some, but it seems clear she’s in it for the long haul. I mean, as recently as 2012, she jumped from a helicopter with James Bond to start the London Olympics. Continue reading
Well, when you’re drinking a beer (if American light beer can be so characterized) on a golf course, where else are you going to throw the bottle cap except over the fence onto the gravel boulevard?
Lucky for me, it landed right side up.
Luckier for me, a little post-processing added warmth and interest to a washed-out original.
A butter tart is a type of small pastry tart highly regarded in Canadian cuisine and considered one of Canada’s quintessential desserts. – Wikipedia
I was in my twenties before I realized that Americans knew nothing of the butter tart. It was quite a moment. I was accustomed to everything being bigger (if not necessarily better) south of our border, and to think that we had a fabulous dessert that they lacked was a confidence builder.
The tart consists of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg filled into a flaky pastry and baked until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top. The butter tart should not be confused with butter pie (a savoury pie from the Preston area of Lancashire, England) or with bread and butter pudding. – Wikipedia
How anyone could confuse the butter tart with anything remotely savoury or bread-y is beyond me.
The origins of the butter tart are obscure, but Wiki notes some commonality with the French tarte í la frangipane, and the Scottish Ecclefechan butter tarts. Yet they seem to be distinctively Canadian.
Butter tarts were common in pioneer Canadian cooking, and they remain a characteristic pastry of Canada, considered one of only a few recipes of genuinely Canadian origin. – Wikipedia
Wiki also reports that exotic flavours have been developed for competitions: maple bacon, pumpkin, chili and salted caramel cardamom. Out at Pakenham ON, just an hour or so outside Ottawa, a wonderful bakery sells maple and rhubarb butter tarts (in season), as well as more standard flavours.
Is there a site devoted to butter tarts? Not that I saw, but there are festivals, trails, and tours:
And of course, there are all sorts of recipes to try:
As I may have mentioned, photographing birds is a seductive and addictive pastime in which the standard keeps changing.
When I started, I was happy to get a recognizable photo of a bird.
Then I wanted one that was tack sharp. In good light. Exhibiting an interesting pose.
Now, I want sharp photos of birds in flight.
This zoomed and cropped photo of a green heron illustrates the challenge. This bird was behaving a little oddly by planting itself out in full view rather than being tucked into the reeds along the shoreline. But it was sufficiently far away that my photo is low resolution.
On the other hand, it’s miles better than the one time I got it in flight.
And the chase continues.
Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States; more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York. They form the southern end of the Niagara Gorge. From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. – Wikipedia
Quoting the Niagara Parks site (headings and photo added):
Height: The Canadian Horseshoe Falls drops an average of 57 metres (188 ft.) into the Lower Niagara River.
Width: The crest line of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls is approximately 670 metres (2,200 ft.) wide.
Depth: The plunge pool beneath the Falls is 35 metres (100 ft.) deep.
Flow rate of water: More than 168,000 cubic metres (6 million cubic ft.) of water go over the crestline of the Falls every minute during peak daytime tourist hours. The International Boundary Waters Treaty stipulates the minimum amount of flow over the falls during daytime, nighttime and the tourist season.
Speed of waterfalls: Niagara Falls has moved back seven miles in 12,500 years and may be the fastest moving waterfalls in the world.
Colour: The startling green colour of the Niagara River is a visible tribute to the erosive power of water. An estimated 60 tons of dissolved minerals are swept over Niagara Falls every minute. The colour comes from the dissolved salts and “rock flour,” very finely ground rock, picked up primarily from the limestone bed but probably also from the shales and sandstones under the limestone cap at the falls.
Other kinds of colour: Every evening beginning at dusk, Niagara Falls is transformed into an incredible, multi-coloured water and light masterpiece.
Low resolution photo taken with phone, but you get the idea.
Prognosis (American Falls, like we care): All things considered, scientists speculate that perhaps 2,000 years from now the American Falls could dry up.
Prognosis (Horseshoe Falls): The Horseshoe Falls will notch back for about 15,000 years.
Niagara Falls is historically famous as a honeymoon destination – these days more in a campy, maudlin kinda way – but it also attracts a range of visitors, especially families. . . . With the addition of a new casino resort in 2004, finer hotels and restaurants have followed, adding an iota of sophistication; however Niagara Falls is primarily touristy and uncultured in character. – Go Canada site
OK, here’s the skinny, according to me.
How soon to go: There’s no need to hurry: the Falls will be around for a while.
When to go: Try to pick a better day than we did (overcast skies, intermittent rain, winds gusting to 80 km/hour).
Winds gusting to 80 (maybe 90) km/hour. Lovely.
Notice in hotel elevator
Where to stand to take a picture: The best shot I got was from Floor 14 of our hotel, so I recommend going for a high vantage point. Having seen photos online taken from the Skylon Tower, I think that’s a good bet.
But, you know, it’s a natural wonder as well as a National Treasure, so you have lots of options.
It’s the day of the Great Pakenham Photo Shoot, a day months in the anticipation. Today I’ll finally get the shot I need at the Pakenham General Store, about an hour west of Ottawa and famous for their bakery. The photo is to illustrate a National Treasures blog about butter tarts, so this is serious business.
We’re just back from our snowbird digs, and have come “up the Valley” to visit the sugar bush and run an errand for friends. It might seem like the Great Pakenham Photo Shoot is piggybacking on other activities, but for me it’s the main event of the day. Continue reading
I watch as the agent tries to scan my printed-at-home boarding pass, and fails. Tries again. And again. Finally, he slowly keys in the barcode numbers, stares at the screen, squints at my passport photo. Apparently satisfied, he hands pass and passport back to me.
Having cleared what should be the last hurdle to board the plane, I turn but pull up short, momentarily dazzled by too much choice in a process that doesn’t offer much. Two jet bridges connect to the corridor behind the gate desk. Which one to take? Continue reading
“Everybody said that I would never make a living at sculpture in Canada. But I’ve never listened a great deal to everybody, so I just went on drawing and modelling. I taught myself everything I know.” – Allward quoted on National Gallery site
Known as “Allward of Vimy,” Walter Allward was a Canadian sculptor who apprenticed with an architectural company and then worked at the Don Valley Brick Works. He went on to create many monumental sculptures, including the Canadian Battlefield Memorial at Vimy, which is a monument to the Battle of Vimy Ridge and to the 11,000 Canadians listed as missing in action during WWI. Continue reading
Posted: 2025 Aug 20
