Port Dalhousie Ponderings

Notice the salmon and trout sign?


Who would have believed that the Lake Whose-Name-We-Dared-Not-Speak in the 1950s would ever be stocked with anything other than polio meningitis, two headed carp and raw sewage?




But thanks to many concerned people and organizations Atlantic salmon, last seen in Lake Ontario 150 years ago, are making a comeback. 


You can read more about this wonderful project at:


http://www.bringbackthesalmon.ca/

It is impossible to get near this place in the summer, but right now in April, while the leaves are still coming out, it's very quiet.




Port Dalhousie rhymes with oozy.


If you said, "There's a Port Dalhousie floozy in my jacuzzi," people would totally be in awe of your poetic skills.

On a clear day you can actually see the Toronto skyline from the pier.


I know that it seems as if whole armies of people swim back and forth to Toronto daily these days, but I remember when the radio flashed the news that 16 year old Marilyn Bell had become the first person to ever complete the swim.


I was a small girl and I remember my grandfather saying jubilantly, "She made it!"




(High fives hadn't been invented in those days, but people did other things like saying,  "She made it!" or "That's amazing, eh?")

This young man is fishing. 


He told me he catches them, takes a picture of them and let's them go.


(I had boyfriends like that at one time.)

 
He was disappointed that he didn't catch anything when I was there but I assured him that I had seen fish before and he seemed happy with that.




There's a speck on the horizon behind him.


It's a laker or an ocean freighter moving towards the Welland Canal.


The Welland Canal allows ships heading for one of the American cities that sit on the Great Lakes, (i.e. Detroit, Chicago,etc.), to get past Niagara Falls.


Which is a good thing because if we didn't trade with the Americans, they might get cranky.

Port Dalhousie is another part of the North End.

It ain't so bad.

:)

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February - a Month to Die For

"February is a suitable month for dying..."

- Anna Quindlen, One True Thing


I knew that one of his dogs had died when I saw this old fellow on the trail a few days ago.

In the past he has  always been accompanied by an Irish wolfhound
 and the whippet you see in the picture.

For some reason the male wolfhound at about 200 pounds and my dog Flynn,
a 15 pound alpha female, hated each other on sight.


Anyway, I told him how sorry I was and he nodded sadly.


"But we just bought a twelve week old Irish wolfhound puppy!
He's already 48 pounds," he said proudly.

Flynn didn't take this news well.

"There seems to be so much more winter than we need this year."

- Kathleen Norris

The thing about February is that everything isn't always what it seems.

It looks as if this young fellow, who was kind enough to stop and pat Flynn, might be one snow block short of an igloo the way he's rolling a bicycle down a snowy path.

The truth is that the roads were absolutely clear and dry that day.
 Perfect for biking if you were dressed for it.

He was likely just taking a short cut home from school.



And anyone who wears a bright red toque and pats my dog is okay in my books.

"Late February,

and the air's so balmy snowdrops and crocuses

might be fooled into early blooming.

Then, the inevitable blizzard will come,

blighting our harbingers of spring..."

- Gail Mazur



Yesterday I was given this bundle of unusual black pussywillows
 that had been found down by Lake Ontario .

It was a beautiful day. 
The first day I had been able to wear shoes rather than boots in months.



Today a February winter storm rages outside my window.

"Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours.""

- Robert Byrne

 And geese are Niagara's way of saying "Up yours" to winter.


They V up in the fall and look like they are going someplace,

flapping and honking across the evening sky.

But they never really leave.


 It is all for show.


They know we like to see them do it I guess.


Mid February Flynn and I spotted this flock happily paddling around in the Welland Canal.

"Why, what's the matter,

That you have such a February face,

So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?"

- William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing

 
 
February is also the month that
 
Secnarf,
 
 the independent Rhino candidate from North Pelham
 
took over my facebook wall for a day.
 

She promised to open all of the community schools that have been closed in Niagara.
 
She will fund these schools with the money she gets from shutting down

the Board of Education.
 
 
She promised to take all of the calories out of chocolate cake

 
and

 
to make up for all of those years when women didn't have the vote,
 
she believes that women should be able to vote twice.

 
 
I don't know about you,

but

Secnarf,

(the only candidate who looks like a cabinet minister),

has my vote.
 
 

I mean votes.
 
 
 
 
 
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Hang on everybody, it is the last week of February and we're almost there!



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