KISS MY ASphalt HELLO

Beautiful summer weather in this first week of fall. The leaves are changing colours but the boaters are still out on the blue. Two extremes in the creature world ---- baby snails s-l-o-w-l-y crawl up the garage door: to where, and why? In the meantime the bees are busy and buzzy all over the gardens. And kissing my ash goodbye continues but the trees are bigger and/or on steep slopes.

But the big news is that after 11 years of our being here and months of promises, our road has finally been resurfaced. There has been dust, mud, and flying gravel for weeks. (The Big Boy's Toys have been confined to the barn, demanding to be out where they belong...) Easy to get roadside for a closeup view of the blacktop because the noise of approaching heavy equipment gives you lots of warning. The actual asphalt layer goes down pretty quick, about 1/2 a kilometre per hour. What was that famous movie line: "I love the smell of asphalt in the morning"?? Scraper, grader, roller, layer, roller. And repeat.

The lane marker paint lines went down yesterday even faster, at least 12km in a day. All the cars can now resume cruising. Now, how about that long overdue sunset drive...

KISS MY ASH GOODBYE

Today is the summer/fall equinox, and even with the beautiful due-east sunrises, there's trouble in this paradise. The invasive and destructive emerald ash borer has attacked. This bug was first discovered in my old hood of Windsor/Detroit in 2002. Since then it has been chomping north, killing every ash tree in its path. The most visible symptom is a thinning crown of the tree, death from the top down. The trouble is, our property has about 80-85% ash trees. Originally I couldn't tell my ash from a hole in the ground, but now I know the tall, leafy canopy will be reduced to a thin scraggly mix of feral pear, hawthorn, hornbeam, etc. Here are some of the "before" pictures of our lush ash trees.

So we have begun what will be many seasons of taking down ash trees. They will be chipped up for the garden paths, and the views will be "improved" with the tallest trees gone. But it's a bittersweet chore. I haven't run a chain saw for years and there's some re-learning, such as don't smash a tree into the split rail fence! The ash wood is very hard and dense (used in baseball bats and flooring) and the 18" chain saw is maxed out on the biggest trees so far. Even the clumps of branches create a real cardio workout when they're dragged away.

There's ladder work  which is not recommended in the safety rules, but the ash have grown into every nook and corner. They have to come down now, or later. Am I making an ash of myself?

INSERT YOUR OWN TITLE HERE: ________________________

After the previous jam-packed weeks, this week was mostly mixed and minor. In Toronto, the boardwalk is still as serene and appealing as you can get in a big city. The big Film Festival was ending, my last chance to volunteer at the airport to give advice to visiting celebrities.

But then the rains and chill of early autumn came (3 days of snow in Calgary!). Up at Kemble, the resurfacing of our road is going as slowly as the glaciers that formed the place eons ago. Cars get dirty immediately driving on the muddy surface, so my ragtops are confined to the barn indefinitely. The last major car cruise is in early October --- will the road be paved by then?? In the meantime the birds are migrating south and this Wood Thrush was dazed when it struck our front window. Young Atley next door has started taking a school bus, and he already wants to drive!

In town there's the annual RibFest eating binge going on, plus the Terry Fox Cancer Run events.  But the event drawing international coverage is the Concours d'Elegance competition of the most valuable/rare/beautiful vehicles. Too bad it's pouring rain. How about a 1936 Delahey for your garage?

Pat has been fighting a serious throat and ear infection but she still wanted to work the Master Gardeners' plant sale. We helped set up in the heavy morning rain but her face mask convinced the others she should leave early. Overall, a mixed bag this week --- any ideas for a snappy title??

LIGHTS, CAMERA, LOTS OF ACTION!

What a concept --- Birthday Week, not just a day! Probably the busiest 7 days of the year in the city and we tried to do it all. Last Sunday we made a special trip downtown to ride the new generation of streetcars on their first day. They caused a sensation on Spadina Street with lots of gawkers because they're longer, lighter, quieter, and just way cooler (a/c too!). Hopped off and managed to catch some of the CNE Air Show featuring the Canadian Snowbird jets. Hopped back on and got home to find the neighbours' roof is finally getting some attention. Raccoons living in the chimney, rain leaking through the shingles. Next day strolled down to see The F-Word, a bittersweet rom-com movie. Extra interesting because it was shot largely in our Beach neighbourhood --- great footage for any future Home Exchange! Also interesting because in the U.S. and U.K., the title is What If  because the Americans and Brits would be scandalized by the original title. Lighten up out there!

Also just down the road we saw the new Cirque du Soleil show, Kurios. As always, fantastic talents from around the world performing to a story line both impossibly creative and eye-popping to see in person. Don't miss this amazing show, your dinner table will never look the same.

Then the annual circus of film rolled into town, the Toronto International Film Festival. Hundreds of films from around the world performing story lines both impossibly creative and eye-popping to see in person. (That sentence looks familiar? See paragraph above. Repeated like Groundhog Day, which was honoured on its 25th anniversary!). TIFF has grown so much that streets are now closed off and filmmakers compete to be seen by the legendary Toronto film buffs. Of course, hundreds of stars show up too --- this time we walked by Kevin McHale (the kid in the wheelchair on TV show Glee) and Dustin Hoffman. They star in a film called Boychoir.

Yesterday took a day trip to Niagara Falls. Wanted to ride the train to get there but wound up on a comfie Amtrak bound for NYC rather than the Canadian VIA Rail! Revisited all the glitzy/tacky tourist strip but the main event was the wetter-than-wet ride on the new ferry thisclosetothefalls. Like the new streetcar, the Hornblower (poorly named, no?) was bigger, faster, and way cooler. Just like Birthday Week!