Passed this location a gazillion times without noticing this faded Coca-Cola ‘ghost sign’ before. Traffic flow is one-way west bound. It’s on west side of building at King West and Locke streets. Undoubtedly painted long before King W. became a one-way. Must be heading east to see it which today, while walking, I was. Boo!
Over time you get to know your ‘home turf’ pretty well. You notice and enjoy the natural beauty that’s all around. You notice things that don’t quite belong too…
Pretty sure Osage Orange trees fall into the ‘don’t quite belong’ category, at least for Southern Ontario.
Osage is a deciduous tree more commonly associated with southern climes. I’ve seen two in Dundas, Ontario. They announce themselves in late fall when the fruit start dropping. Can’t help but notice those odd green balls on the ground.
Osage Oranges have been called Ghosts of Evolution since basically nothing eats the fruit. The seeds in these green balls are so small you’d spend more calories extracting them than they’d give you in return. Also, they ooze a very sticky white sap when opened. Ask your neighbourhood squirrel: not worth the effort.
They’re not actually oranges although the fruit does have a light citrus aroma.
Part of the mulberry family. Alas, not the cool part of the mulberry family from whence the English nursery rhyme Pop Goes The Weasel originates. I guess monkeys and weasels stick to mulberry since nothing rhymes with orange…
Southern Ontario is at the northern end of the Carolinian forest range. Tree cover is quite diverse here thanks in no small part to being near two great lakes, Ontario & Erie. The lakes help maintain slightly milder temperatures in winter. That difference helps these trees survive.
A Port Dover friend tells me there’s some there too. That’s about 40 kilometers further south weather wise and again close to a large body of water.
This should be more than enough info for you to answer any pub trivia night question. Keep an eye out next time you’re hiking in late fall!
August 2024 update…
Huzzah! Was waiting at a light and noticed another one on Hamilton’s west mountain.
North side of Rymal at Glancaster. Healthy tree, its fruit were enormous!
I didn’t know about this event until the other day but my boosterism, like “the show,” must go on!
Have mentioned Carisa Hendrix, better known by her alter ego Lucy Darling, previously on this blog. Neat person, wonderful performer. (See related links at bottom of this post. You’re in for some treats if you do.)
Well, turns out she’s appearing at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre in Burlington, Ontario, on October 29/21. A magical addition to their fall schedule and a wonderful live entertainment choice for those in Southern Ontario. Also a live stream entertainment possibility for those further afield regardless of time zone.
BPAC has ticket options for in-person attendance or via live stream at home. Vaccination requirements for in-person patrons; see the BPAC website link above for details.
Great night out, or, great night in!
I’m a regular visitor to Reddit, the online aggregator site, although my ‘subreddits’ tend to be quite limited; magic, local stuff, photos, videos and a few more. There’s zillions of subreddits covering just about any field of interest you can imagine. You can go down a lot of rabbit holes with, let’s say, decidedly mixed results…!
Clicked a YouTube video link on Reddit the other day called Google It Like A Pro. It’s about the way high end computer coders use some of the many refinements available for the Google search engine to improve search results. Made a few notes while watching. One of these refinements I found useful was to narrow the searched date range using a couple of periods between the dates. For example, if you want to search for stuff between 2017 and 2019 you would add 2017..2019 to your query.
So, just for fun, I used Owen Anderson Magician 2017..2019 as a search. Among the results was this link in the Wellington Advertiser about the OWoW Festival. I have previously mentioned this festival on my blog but I had not seen this local media photo before. Sharing it here for fun.
The video is about 5 minutes long. It has 10 tips to better use search engines. These tips apparently work on other search platforms too. A couple of them were above my pay grade but you’ll probably find at least one nugget that’ll save you its 5 minute length. Hope it helps.
In October 2019 I was part of the Ontario Week of Wonder magic festival in Fergus, Ontario. Great little festival!
At OWoW I met Carisa Hendrix. Carisa performs a wonderful character act as her charming and cheeky alter ego, Lucy Darling.
Shortly after the pandemic lockdowns began she shared a lovely high quality video of her full length show, “Indulgence,” as performed at the Chicago Magic Lounge.
I did a blog post about this online treat last year.
During lockdown Lucy, er, Carisa, deftly pivoted to virtual shows for online audiences with her capable castmates, Miranda Allen & Richard Lee. Now, as things slowly get back to ‘normal,’ she’s released their final virtual collaboration for all to enjoy.
Runs about 50-ish minutes. For adults. Kids won’t appreciate the wit and skill, but if you’re a little older and looking to change-up your usual streaming choices…
The frame below should play but here’s the YouTube link as well. Enjoy!
Owen Anderson Magician 