Baby, it’s cold outside
December 12, 2009
Happy birthday and bon voyage
October 14, 2009
Philately & bowling
September 11, 2009
Hmmm, my second stamp post in just over a month – I think I may be turning into a stamp geek. I just had to share Canada Post’s beautiful new 5-pin bowling stamp with you. It’s in a set with some other sports Canadians invented (yes, basketball was invented by a Canadian – look it up). Here’s their blurb:
Five-Pin Bowling
When members of the Toronto Bowling Club complained about the weight of the standard ten-pin bowling ball, Thomas F. Ryan, the club’s co-founder, introduced a smaller ball and had his father whittle down five pins to match. He devised a new scoring system and introduced his game in 1909. This year, five-pin bowling, now the number-one participant sport in the country, celebrates its 100th anniversary. Note that on the first day cover, a bowler holds the coveted goose prize.
I’m surprised to learn that five-pin is Canada’s number one participant sport – seems to me that five pin lanes are getting to be almost as scarce as drive-in movie theatres, with only a handful remaining as 10 pin lanes dominate.
Stampin’ Tom
August 9, 2009
I haven’t collected stamps since I was a lad, but today I went to the post office to pick up some of Canada Post’s new Stompin’ Tom Connors stamps. I would have bought a whole roll and sent postcards to all my friends – but it only comes in a set along with 3 other Canuck recording artists I’m less enthusiastic about – Édith Butler, Robert Charlebois and Bryan Adams.
I also picked up a few sets of this series featuring some well-known roadside attractions of western Canada and the Territories:
Mr. PG (Prince George, B.C.), the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon, the Inukshuk of Hay River, Northwest Territories, and the giant Ukrainian Easter egg in Vegreville, Alberta. There’s more sets coming with attractions from other parts of the country.
My Saturday
April 12, 2009
Breakfast: pancakes with real maple syrup, sausage, two eggs sunny side up and endless cups of the most wonderful smelling and tasting coffee.
What the heck? The Emergency Relief thrift store was open on Good Friday but not today?
The new art gallery under construction. It seems you either hate it or hate it. I think I like it. Right now it looks like something collapsed – this is what it’s supposed to look like when it’s finished:
Bought my ticket to see this dude.
To the library for cds and dvds
but my membership had lapsed and I didn’t want to wait in line to renew and risk a parking ticket.
Made the thrift rounds in the northeast part of town which I don’t get to very often.
…because it sucks. No thrift finds. I also trolled a couple of Giant Tiger stores I hadn’t been to before for remaindered dvds.
Score.
Late lunch at Sunterra market on the south side. Delicious soup (more like a stew) chock full of chicken chunks in spicy coconut milk broth. Then grocery shopping at Spinelli’s for pizza fixin’s.
Homemade pizza with bocconcini, feta and olives.
Enjoy your Easter.
March Hare
March 11, 2009
Birthday Week Day 6
December 1, 2008
Birthday week wraps up with a brunch at Marlena & Michael’s.
M & M.
Their house is a trove of vintage treasures
and arty touches.
Lee & Howard.
Jo.
Nancy & Shandip.
Vittles included bacon, sausage and gluten-free pancakes.
Glutenlicious birthday cupcakes.
Trying on my swell new Hawaiian made Iolani bowling shirt. 100% polyester stylishness.
That’s birthday week for this year. Now back to work.
It’s a big world after all
October 7, 2008
I’ve pretty much abandoned my swankola.com website since starting this blog, but this week I updated It’s A Big World, my “big things” travelogue, by adding a trio of big things in Washington state. Check it out.
big wagon, spokane wa
big commie, seattle wa
Lovers of big roadside stuff might also be interested in One Week, a new Canadian movie I saw last week at the EIFF. Not a great movie, I thought, but it was fun to see Joshua Jackson’s character visit more than a dozen big things on his cross-country motorcycle odyssey, including:
Muskoka chair. Gravenhurst ON (I think – there are several in Ontario)
World’s Largest Photo Mosaic. Port Carling ON
Nickel. Sudbury ON
Canada Goose. Wawa ON
Huskie The Muskie. Kenora ON (there are lots of big fish in Ont, but I’m pretty sure this was the one)
Inukshuk. Schomberg ON? (lots of inukshuks in Ont.)
Fire Hydrant. Elm Creek MB
Sara the Camel. Glenboro MB
Pipe. St. Claude MB
Paper clip. Kipling SK
Teepee. Medicine Hat AB
T-Rex. Drumheller AB
These are the people in my neighbourhood
September 13, 2008
Angry guy
Walks around shouting profanities, usually along the lines of “[really loud] HEY!!! [less loud] fucking son of a bitch” over and over. Otherwise seems harmless – people leave him alone and vice versa. Still, this is as close as I want to get.
Boling and Loafing on the Open Road
May 4, 2008
All the cool kids are getting vintage trailers. In the last year gaenor&tracy and jill&carl both bought Bolers and just yesterday christine&claude took delivery of their Lil Loafer.
Bolers are sweet little ultra light fiberglass trailers that were manufactured in Canada in the 60s and 70s. They’ve become very popular lately – and pricy as a result, though bargains can still be had.
gaenor&tracy’s 1976 Boler is still without an “offical” name but they’re considering Niblet, Peep, and Citronella. They’ve taken it on several camping excursions – as far as Vancouver Island – and this summer they’ll be going to Arizon and California. jill&carl haven’t been out in their 1971 Boler yet because it still needs some work.
Christine shows off the “Silver Bullet.” Aristocrat built the Lil Loafer in Idaho in the late 50s/early 60s. This one seems to have been used by Idaho law enforcement.
Not ultra light, smells like a musty basement right now, but cute as button (a button with aluminum siding).
The icebox is just that – a box you put ice in, not an electric fridge.
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