Sunday, August 31, 2014

Friday, August 29, 2014

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Sugar Baby watermelon ripeness test

This is the first sugar baby I harvested - the tendril was withered, the bottom spot has turned from white to cream. I didn't know when the tendril had withered - a suggestion I've read was that you should harvest 7 to 10 days after it withers, so I was just testing here. I guess the tendril withers in the wild ancestor of the watermelon to let the ripe fruit fall. The tendril on these plants that you check is the one that grows next to the stem that connects the watermelon to the vine. Now I'll mark the watermelons that have withered tendrils and wait longer to harvest. It also said that it should be harvested before the stem itself starts to wither. The melons don't follow a schedule - the oldest and biggest one still has an unwithered tendril.
Withered tendril
6 inches, 15cm, 4.6 pounds, 2 kg
White spot on bottom turned to creamy color
before cutting - the stripes for this type should be about the same color as the rest of the melon
Cut - flesh still white but turning pink, seeds white. Flesh is actually sweet and edible, so not a loss! 

Friday, August 8, 2014

Fuzz Waxbar

Money Can't Buy Love, But It Can Buy You a Bikini Wax

Little boy splashing in pond, Nathan Phillips Square

In the middle of a huge city, one carefree boy!

Green roof, Toronto City Hall

Toronto City economic development officer Chris Rickett shows off new 'Green Roof' at City Hall. Green roofs are required for many new structures in the city. They are plant beds that absorb rain water and reduce the amount of runoff going into sewers, reduce heat, and have flowers that help feed insects like butterflies, like the ones seen below at a butterfly garden nearby at Harbourfront:
Monarch Butterfly feeds on Blazing Star plants

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Red River Hogs

Red River Hog, Potamochoerus porcus, at Toronto Zoo. Known as Pinselohrschwein (Brush Ear Pigs) in German because of the long tuft of hair on the tip of their ears.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Honest Ed's, Toronto

 Famous bargain store on Bloor - Ed Mirvish, the late owner, also produced many musicals and other shows and the store has tons of publicity photos and posters on the walls. 


Sunday, August 3, 2014

Easter Donut

Tim Horton's, 2014

Justin Bieber's Girlfriend fragrance

You too can smell like you dated Justin Bieber!

Adam Goren

New scan of photo, Adam Goren, of Atom and His Package, in Guelph, 1998
He made jokes about the Star Wars curtains.
At someone's house in Guelph, Ontario, c. 1998.

Doggy Style Entrance

It's a pet grooming salon!

1938 Plymouth 5 window coupe

1938 Plymouth 5 window coupe

Dapple Dachshund

Dachshund, dapple, in Ottawa

Passenger Pigeon

Passenger Pigeon, taxidermy, Vistor Centre, Point Pelee National Park - totally extinct now due to industrial scale hunting, these used to darken the sky in North America with a flock of more than 3 billion birds reported in Ontario in 1866.