Summer Reading...

I've read some really great books so far this summer (maybe that's why I haven't been posting, like, at all). It's hard to stay on top of all of the books I want to read when I keep finding new ones or friends make recommendations that I simply can't ignore. Here is a list of some of the books I've read this summer that I can't seem to get out of my head.*

* The Hunger Games trilogy is by far my favourite. It rivals, for me, the Harry Potter series in its excitement, addictive nature, ability to deal with complex themes, and its excellent story.

I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. It's about the four girls now in their adult lives. My mom and I have always enjoyed Ann Brashares writing and story-telling ability. I hope one day my daughters will read this series.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2...

I saw the movie on the weekend and it was well worth getting to bed at 3am as a result. It was amazing, a really great way to end the movie franchise. I thought it provided closure for the books, too; up until now, I hadn't fully believed that J.K. Rowling was not actually going to write anymore Harry Potter books (and the rumours surrounding her pottermore.com announcement didn't help that). A glimmer of hope remained in my silly, imaginative, wanting-more mind. I suppose that's the sign of a great writer and an even better story.

David Thompson and the Fur Trade: Then and Now...

Canada's fur trade history is rich with stories of exploration, survival, greed, adventure, and even death. David Thompson was born in 1770 in Westminster, England to Welsh immigrants. In 1784, he began a 7 year apprenticeship with the Hudson's Bay Company. He stayed with the HBC for 13 years and learned a lot about surveying and astronomical observation. In 1797, Thompson left the HBC for a position with its fur trade rivals, the North West Company.

Thompson was responsible for expanding trade networks for the North West Company and he surveyed and mapped a large portion of what is now western Canada, including the Rocky Mountains and the Columbia River. He also completed a 67500 km survey from Grand Portage to the heads of the Assiniboine and Mississippi Rivers.

Map of the North-West Territory of the Province of Canada, 1814 by David Thompson. 

In 1804, Thompson retired from the fur trade and undertook a project to plot the North West Company's forts on a map of western Canada. The map is 213 cm high by 328 cm long and its replica hangs in the Archives of Ontario Reading Room.

More recently, an archaeologist believes he discovered one of Thompson's first trading posts at Sipiwesk Lake near the Nelson River. The discovery includes the remnants of chimneys from the post and storehouse and was found using Thompson's coordinates in his journals. He apparently spent at year at Sipiwesk in 1792.

If you are interested in learning more about Thompson, check out this online exhibit created by the Archives of Ontario. The Trade, a novel by Fred Stenson, is set in the early 19th century and follows a series of historical people as they work for the HBC. It's a looong book but it's definitely worth reading if you want to learn more about the life of a fur trader.

Documenting a shady past...

I've been following this story in the news since February. The Hungarian government is in the process of creating legislation that will allow for the destruction of archival records relating to its Communist history. Along with other documents, anyone who was spied upon by the Hungarian secret police would have the right to dispose of the records in which they are named. The Hungarian government sees the act as a way to remove Hungary's association with Communism, stating that these are 'immoral documents of an immoral regime'.

If the piece of legislation becomes law, the Hungarian archives could possibly lose 12 miles of archival documents that cover a period from 1948-1990. I don't think that the Hungarian government is directly trying to cover up its less than perfect past. I get the impression, rather, that they are trying to separate themselves from Communism and the grip it had on the war-torn country. By giving its citizens the right to destroy records containing their personal information, they are allowing the people to take control of their past. If Hungary really wanted to destroy its records and break from its Communist past, they could easily and secretly dispose of the documents in question.

That being said, however, I hope that the Hungarian government rethinks this legislation. The archival records document a period in Hungary's history that was turbulent but not dissimilar to many European countries behind the Iron Curtain. I think the Hungarian Archives needs to be the guardian of this information so the tumultuous period can be remembered and considered and so that Hungarians, and other Communist-turned-democratic countries, can truly understand how far they have come.

If you're interested in learning more about this, check out this website created by Canadian, Christopher Adam.

Friday Fantasies on Monday...

I haven't done a Friday Fantasies in a while (or any other posts for that matter). I am in love with these Clarks Originals. The Desert Boot brings me back. I had a purple suede  pair when I was in elementary school and I remember my mom having a pair, too. If I purchase these ones I'll make sure to pick a more neutral, demure colour.

No more pennies from heaven...

One-cent piece, 1858

Earlier this month, a Senate committee issued a report calling for the elimination of the one-cent coin from Canadian currency. The report cited many reasons, the most prevalent being that it costs 1.5 cents to make our smallest coin. It also doesn't buy what it once did. 

Australia and New Zealand have removed the coin from circulation and merchants and consumers in both countries have noticed little difference. Indeed, when I lived in New Zealand I hardly noticed when the prices of products were rounded up or down to the nearest number ending in 5 or 0. Whatever happens to the one-cent piece, it's had a good run.

First one-cent piece struck by Dominsion of Canada, 1876

In honour of our cute little penny, here's a brief history of how the one cent coin came to be in Canada: In 1853, parliament passed the Currency Act which stated that both British pounds, shillings, and pence AND dollars and cents (based on the American system) would be recognized as Canadian currency (Canada refers to the Province of Canada). This meant that coins from the US, Britain, and even Spain were circulating in Canada. The Act was revised in 1857 (I wonder why) and now required that all provincial financial accounts be kept in dollars and cents only. Along with the revision, in 1858 the first coins with 'Canada' on them were minted in silver, bronze, and copper, including the first one-cent piece.  After Confederation in 1867, the penny was used in the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, while Prince Edward Island and the colonies of British Columbia and Newfoundland continued to issue their own versions. It wasn't until 1876 when the Dominion of Canada issued its own one-cent coin. The Canadian penny has been in production for over 130 years now and whether or not it is removed from circulation, I'm sure most of us  have a piggy bank full of the copper-coloured coins that we should deposit at the bank!

Less than two weeks...

Are you in the mood for Christmas yet? With less than two weeks to go I'm starting to feel more Christmas-y. I wrapped some presents on the weekend and I'm off to mail my Christmas parcels to friends in New Zealand at lunch today. I read this article on the Star's website today and now I want to go visit these crazily decorated homes in Pickering. For the past 5 years, the Williams family has won the Battle of Bulbs on the Mayor's Light Tour while the Wright family, just a couple of doors down, has always come in second. These two women families are obviously in the mood for Christmas and a bit of competition, too!

A Victorian Farm Christmas...

I am a big fan of all things British - history, Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, Top Gear, BBC, football, Quality Street chocolates, etc. Mostly the history though. Last night, I was excited to see that Victorian Farm Christmas was finally airing here in Canada (we should really watch more TVO).

Victorian Farm Christmas is a follow-up to Victorian Farm, a documentary where a historian and two archaeologists live and work on a Victorian farm for a year. In the Christmas version, Ruth, Alex, and Peter return to the Shropshire farm to get ready for a full Victorian Christmas. The show is filmed at the approximately 900 year old Acton Scott Estate, which has preserved its 19th century working farm.

It was, in one word, fantastic. It was educational, interesting, and visually, very pretty. Last night, Alex and Peter harvested the hay using a wide range of Victorian farm equipment and selected a ram for breeding, while Ruth prepared the mince meat, and made bread, butter, and soap. The show was a wonderful example of public history. Ruth, Alex, and Peter were great presenters who are excited about what they are doing.

Victorian Farm Christmas airs on TVO at 7 on Mondays. I look forward to the next episodes!

Camp X artifacts to a better home...

The Star and Oshawa This Week recently published an article detailing the fate of several Camp X artifacts belonging to the Robert Stuart Aeronautical Collection housed at the Oshawa Airport. It was a follow-up to an article written in March, when it was expected that the private collection would be sold to the highest bidder, likely someone in the US. As of this week, 15 artifacts, including a suitcase radio, some clothing, trench art, and a helmet, from the Second World War spy training school near the Whitby-Oshawa border, have been purchased by the Canadian War Museum.

I think the history of Camp X, and certainly the artifacts, will be better served at the War Museum in Ottawa than they ever were in Oshawa. Lynn Phillip Hodgson, author of many *interesting* books about Camp X wrote to Oshawa This Week saying that the collection belongs to Oshawa. He goes on to say that, 'Tens of thousands of GTA school children have visited the museum over the past 33 years and now must journey to Ottawa to do so.' I was a GTA student, in fact I attended school in Oshawa, in the 1990s and I never once saw these artifacts. Even as an adult and someone who is interested in history and local history, I didn't find the Camp X artifacts to be terribly accessible, although I have seen the collection.

I don't think that the artifacts belong to Oshawa. Camp X and its history belong to all Canadians. In Ottawa, some of the artifacts will be publicly displayed and enjoyed by all Canadians and tourists and Oshawa's role in the Second World War will be featured. Similarly, the objects will receive proper care and storage at the Canadian War Museum. Isn't that better than the objects languishing in an old building that nobody knows about?

Arkells...

The Arkells played to a sold out crowd at the Red Dog Tavern in Peterborough on Saturday. It was such a good show! The music was loud and clear and the band performed with great stage presence. Their album, Jackson Square, sounds great but  you know a band is good when they sound even better live. We had homemade chili at our friend's house and that kept us warm on the walk to the bar. Thanks, Meghan!

Love is in the air...

Last weekend, we took a trip to London to visit our friends Mike and Meghan and their little Cohen. It was so much fun getting to hang out with them and we just loved Cohen. We had a delicious smoked salmon pasta dish and later, the boys braved the lines at Starbucks for 2 for 1 Christmas lattes!

I imagine their first Christmas as a new family will be the best yet. Congratulations guys!

Getting colder...

I wore my winter coat for the first time this morning. When the weather starts to get colder and with the limited daylight we now have, it's nice to be reminded of summer adventures. We went to Prince Edward Island for a week this summer - it must have been the hottest week - and had a memorable time. It was so much fun.

Green Porno...

I saw Isabella Rossellini on a rerun of The Graham Norton Show last night (hillarious). She was promoting her series of acclaimed online shorts called Green Porno. She told Graham that she has always been interested in animals and that they've always made her laugh so she created Green Porno, a series of 2 minute videos in which she acts out the mating habits of insects and sea creatures. They are highly entertaining and, according to the Sundance Channel website on which the shorts are featured, 'scientifically accurate'. Huh.

There are so many videos to watch - she's been creating them since 2008. I really liked the bee one (damn those drones, they don't do anything!), but others include barnacles, spiders, whales, dolphins, earthworms, fireflies, and the list goes on! Rossellini has since followed up Green Porno with Seduce Me, a series on the seduction rituals of animals. She is such a glamourous woman and I think that adds to the hilarity of the shorts!

Mulling it over...

With Christmas exactly one month away, I've been feeling the holiday spirit at little more lately. One thing that I really like about Christmas is how so many of its traditions are brought forward and celebrated in modern homes. For example, it is thought that the idea of the Christmas Tree originated in Germany, where families decorated a tree to symbolize redemption and salvation. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, both with familial ties to Germany (Albert was German), first had a tree in Windsor Palace in 1841 and decorated it with fruit, tinsel, candles, and ornaments. In Canada, the first recorded presence of a Christmas Tree was in 1781 at a party held for British and German well-to-dos at Sorel, Quebec.

Another interesting Christmas tradition involves food! Much of what we eat during the holiday season dates to Medieval and Victorian Britain, including mincemeat pies, puddings, and mulled beverages, or Wassail. According to Wikipedia (!), wassail is actually ale mulled with sugar, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and topped with bread, however, through the years the ale has been replaced with wine or fruit juice. Germany, Poland, Romania and a host of other eastern European nations call mulled wine Gluhwein and the Nordic countries, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland call it Glogg.

I recently purchased Epicure's Mulling Spices and tried it the other night with fresh, unpasteurized apple cider from Archibald Orchards (100 mile diet qualifier!).Almost instantly, the house filled with the fragrant aroma of the past (and cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon). It was delicious!

Friday Fantasies

This isn't so much a fantasy as it is a reality. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. Tonight. Enjoy!

Reading...Canadian Themes

This country has a plethora of outstanding authors that have written award-winning fiction and non-fiction titles. Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, and Yann Martel are some of our more recognizable authors but there are many accomplished writers that haven't quite reached the same level of fame and well deserve reading. I recently attended two lectures by UBC's Sherrill Grace at Trent University and have thoroughly enjoyed her examination of Canadian landscape and memory through literature, film, and art. I left both lectures with a long list of new reading material that I am anxious to start reading. I am currently reading Canoe Lake by Roy MacGregor, author of a number of books on Canadian artist, Tom Thomson and the Canadian wilderness.

Here are some of the other books that I've added to my reading queue. Have you read any of them?

Art Deco Style

I've always loved the Art Deco style. When I worked at Parkwood Estate, my favourite rooms on the tour were those that were remodeled in the 1930s and influenced by the clean and geometric lines that characterize Art Deco.

Broadly speaking, Art Deco covers a period from 1909 to 1939 and was influenced by art movements like Cubism and Modernism. The introduction of the Ballet Russes, created by a Sergei Diaghilev in an attempt to revitalize classical ballet, to an accepting Parisian social elite in 1909 is largely considered the catalyst of the Art Deco movement. The costumes were designed by Paul Poiret, the first fashion designer to materialize the colourful elements of Art Deco. According to Suzanne Lussier, curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Poiret's influence and fashions would last well into the 1920s. Art Deco went on to inspire art, architecture, fashion, movies, and the general style of appliances and home decor.

 Check out the V&A's website and browse their Art Deco Collections. Lussier's book, Art Deco Fashion, is a great source for Art Deco fashion images and a quick history of the emerging fashion houses of Paris and England.

Poster, 1927 by  Adolphe Mouron Cassandre; Victoria and Albert Museum

Cigarette Lighter, c.1925 by Ronson; Victoria and Albert Museum

Evening dress and slip by Jean-Charles Worth, c.1927; Victoria and Albert Museum

Friday Fantasies

This Friday Fantasies post is a bit rushed as we're off to Grant Lawrence's book launch at the Drake Hotel. I thought I'd post some really fun fashion blogs that I've been following, some for about a year and some more recently. These girls are funny and I appreciate their different senses of style. Enjoy!

jenloveskev.com - Jen and her hubby just had a little girl and this blog chronicles her life as a new mother while she maintains her fashionable style.

whatiwore.tumblr.com - Jessica and her husband just moved to Indiana from Brooklyn, NY. For me, Jessica is the most daring and dynamic with her fashion choices.

whatwouldanerdwear.blogspot.com - Tania's blog is about dressing for a grad student lifestyle, including the budget. I always love her outfits. 

Remembering

Today, Remembrance Day, I'm thinking of all the men and women who have served or are currently serving, in any capacity, for Canada's Armed Forces. I think it's important to commemorate their sacrifices. More specifically, I'm remembering my grandpa Colman and my great-uncle Don. I wrote about their experiences during the Second World War last week here and here. I'm wearing my poppy with pride today and will take some time at 11:00 to bow my head in remembrance.

Colman Ferencz in Vancouver, c.1943.

McCrea family at the family farm, c.1940.

Calling all outdoorsy people!

If you're interested in outdoorsy things and you live in Durham Region then you should really check out the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA). Last Friday, I attended a winter birds workshop at Enniskillen Conservation Area. We spent the night learning about all the birds you can attract to your feeder during the colder months and the different kinds of food they like. They had different bird samples, mostly roadkill from the Lynde Shores Conservation Area, so that we could get a closer look at the feather colours and designs. We made a suet feeder, too!

I've attended other events hosted by CLOCA and would really recommend joining their mailing list so that you can be notified of upcoming events. My boyfriend and I took our moms on a mother's day flower walk at Long Sault Conservation Area and were treated to a lovely tea afterwards. The events are free and the staff is great! They also do a lot of work with schools and they are responsible for flood forecasting and land and water conservation. Make sure you check out this untapped resource!