I Wish I Could Take A Hansom Cab Down Memory Lane

This little brooch is something I have always liked. It belonged to my mother. It is about two inches wide by two and a half inches tall, made of solid silver, hallmarked and dated 1913, the safety chain is missing and there should be a tiny citrine stone in each of the coach-lamps. It is not a valuable piece, but it is precious to me.

How I wish I had asked my mother about it before it was too late. From the date stamp, it is possible that it was her mother's - but something I do recall her saying was that the only possession she had that had been her mother's was a saucepan lid! This stuck in my mind because it was so bizarre, and also because there was an old saucepan lid which she always kept.

The finer details don't matter, suffice to say that my grandmother was the second wife of my grandfather. Ultimately two of the much older sons from that first marriage ended up living with my grandmother and grandfather and they, allegedly, claimed everything when my grandfather died...well, all but the saucepan lid.

Unfortunately, I will never find out the story of the hansom cab (or the saucepan lid) because the last one standing, my mother's sister, has no memory of it at all.

So, the history of the brooch must begin with my mother, but that still leaves a lot of years where it was presumably enjoyed by someone else. Hang on while I call a cab...

Solstice sunrise

A lurid, gale-driven sunrise for the shortest day. I hurried into warm anorak and hat to go out and take some pictures, and stepped out into spring-like temperatures. Weird. The tall building in the centre, which looks as if it could be a castle, is just an ordinary block of tenement flats.

This is Calton Hill from the opposite side to the photo here.

Random thoughts on the road

Today is a travel day: 550 miles, which will take us about 10 hours. This leaves plenty of time for reflecting back and thinking ahead, as well as noting a few things about travel and the places we're traveling through.
When we pull into a roadside stop, we have to park with the other big rigs.

We began with a quick stop at a nearby Food Lion, which reminded us of something we've noted before: Food stores offer a fascinating glimpse of the places they serve. Spices, baking mixes and jams are often the most localized items. Here we took the opportunity to buy some Old Bay seasoning, which Robert told us was an essential part of the Chesapeake experience.
Maple syrup, ski slopes, pub food, alpacas...Marathon seems to have it all.


It's really strange sitting on a soft seat, zipping along at 60+ miles an hour. It's kind of like sitting on your sofa, but you can't stretch out, and you have to stay seated for an absurd amount of time. For the past week, we've done most of our sitting in kayaks, which is a very active kind of sitting. To paddle well, you have sit up pretty straight (“the dynamic seating position”) and use your core muscles as you move through the water. Car seats somehow encourage slouching, and with it back and shoulder pain. And instead of using our muscles to power our craft, we're burning gasoline. If driving weren't necessary, we certainly wouldn't do it. The notion of a “joy ride” seems alien and unnatural.
There's time on the road for reading, napping, listening to music and doing sudoku puzzles.

Before we left home, we used Google Maps to generate directions for each leg of this trip. We also brought along an atlas and a set of state road maps, but we figured we'd mainly rely on the Google route. Instead we've found ourselves frustrated by the Google directions and relying on the maps. It's kind of interesting to realize why.
First, the Google directions have tunnel vision. They may provide the most direct or quickest route, but they feel strangely out of context. Looking at them, you can't answer the question, “If we pass Main Street, have we gone too far?”
Second, the Google directions are robotic. If a road changes names as it passes through a town, Google notes it as a new leg of the journey with a mileage all its own, making it hard to see how many miles you actually should travel on that road.
Third, they contain errors. Robert told us about a sign posted somewhere he'd been that said, “Google maps is wrong!” because it was leading people down a dead-end road.
And fourth, they turn a three-dimensional journey into a linear chase, denying the traveler any sense of place along the way. We've always loved gazing at maps, choosing routes, taking detours, finding surprises along the way and rediscovering why we love to travel. It's sort of like the difference between dictionary.com and a print edition. When you use the online dictionary, you can find out what a word means, but when you flip through the pages of Webster's, you see how that word connects to the words around it, stumble on a word you don't know, and rediscover your love of language.
This plaque sits on the border between the US and Canada.

The border crossing into Canada was fairly efficient and not particularly unpleasant, but this was the first year we were required to show our passports. There's something kind of sad about that change. Still, our eight kayaks didn't raise eyebrows and we could honestly say that we had no firearms, alcohol or live fish bait. Tonight we'll be in Cumberland, Ontario, on the Ottawa River, staying with Larry and Bonnie Kearley.

Yea! Singletrack

Last night I was so tired that I did not even eat. Hungry this morning - so I went to the Durango Diner for a hotcake and sausage. They are known for their large hotcakes. The one was enough for me this morning. (Could have eaten more, but did not want to stuff myself.)
Set out to check out Durango singletrack. The trail head at Horse Gulch was packed. Anyway, I wanted to ride the Animas River trail to see if I can now handle the altitude. Feeling good, and the trail ended near the local Trek dealer (Hassle Free Sports), stopped in to see what they can recommend.
They suggested Colorado Trail (at least for the first 2.5 miles, where then there are sharp switchbacks). I headed to the trailhead. The trail surface is anything from rocks, native soil, gravel, pine needle-covered. I did pretty well. Negotiated the rocks better than I have done before. Had to walk up a couple little sharp rises in the trail. As I got 1.5 miles, the trail was on a ledge, overlooking the creek. It got to the point that I was not feeling comfortable walking the bike up the trail. First photo shows the point where I decided to turn back. I was pleased that I was able to ride among the rocks - gained some experience.

Now, I was not ready to give up on singletrack today. Headed over to Horse Gulch. I had to walk up most of the gravel road (about .5 mile). The altitude was also getting to me. Guess I should do these kinds of walks/rides in the morning. Anyway, had a good ride. Rode the Meadow Loop and Stacy's Loop (about 3 miles of singletrack). The second photo was taken on Meadow Loop. Some wildflowers are in bloom. There were a couple sections of the trail that I did not feel comfortable riding. That, and my heart rate spiked from riding in the afternoon and the altitude.
Plans are to ride Horse Gulch again in the morning. Then later in the day, perhaps hike up the Colorado Trail.

Tractor in the city

This is ghastly photo quality. I don't quite know what's going on at the bottom right of the image. As usual just now I was in a tearing hurry as I passed through Princes Street Gardens at lunchtime. But the sight of a tractor ploughing as if it was in a country field made me grab my camera.
The area it's ploughing is where the Winter Wonderland was in December and January. Ice rink, fun fair, the works - see the bottom photo in this post, taken from the other direction. When it all gets taken away the grass beneath is in a sorry state. Usually it's re-seeded and it pulls away and by May it's as good as new. This year however it's being given some pampering.

The Destroyer

This is a photo that you've seen before, although never composed the way you see here. I've shared two previous versions of this image, both of which were vertical crops. This version shows the original composition, cropped only slightly to get rid of some dead space on both sides of the image. I've always loved this shot because of the power and intensity of the lightning, but I was never completely happy with the vertical crops as they cut off part of the island. I love this one because it shows the whole island as well as more of the water. This is Pete's Island in Grand Portage Bay, and is the view that we see from the beach right in front of our house.

Bird's Nest fungus

I know I'm living up to the most common descriptive written in my old yearbooks ("weird") when my first reaction to finding Bird's Nest fungus is, "Oh, I've been wanting to see those!"

But it's true. If I'd had a Most Wanted list for fungi, this one would've been near the top. I should have prepped myself a bit better though - I didn't realize that they were so tiny. (That green towering thing on the left is an onion.)
It's apparently very much a fungus of bark or wood mulch. The "eggs" contain the spores, which are splashed out by rain. So I'm thinking that our mulch probably already contained the spores when we bought it.
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Key to the Bird's Nest fungi. I believe this one is Cyathus striatus.
Other Most Wanted?
Dead Man's fingers!
Any variety of Stinkhorn fungus!
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Hmm, there's a blog carnival/festival/circus for everything else in the world, but not one for fungi? Or am I just missing it?

Material Girl

My car had been stolen - but I managed to acquire a Chopper bike.





It was a little on the small side for me and I felt ridiculous, but I pedalled furiously, delighting in my ability to change the gears smoothly, and made good time.





I reached my destination - which turned out to be a fabric shop - just in time for a special 15 minute sale. They were selling whole bolts of fabric - Jane Churchill, Nina Campbell, Colefax & Fowler, etc, etc.





The sale price was 3 bolts of fabric for 70p. No limit on quantity.

Borrowed Image from visual photos.com

It was so exciting, so unexpected.





I needed no further invitation, my greedy hands reached for the fabrics and then I woke up.





Oh.

Tree Quiz

Sauron?

That's my dainty size 6 next to the largest leaf in North America. Identify the yellow leaves on the lower left for extra credit.

A big hint to how this tree got its common name.
Answers below.
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1. American Beech Tree with a personality problem. (Fagus grandifolia.) The smooth carving surface often tempts woodland vandals.
2. Around here this tree is known as the Cowcumber, but more commonly it's called the Bigleaf Magnolia, Magnolia macrophylla. I've read that they're rare, but it's one of those plants that tend to be locally abundant when you do find them.
Extra credit: Sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua.
3. Hophornbeam, Ostrya virginiana.