Monday, January 17, 2011

New Year - 2011


After an unfortunate 'start' to the New Year with a complete collapse of my phone/internet service, I'm now back, ready to go! I intend to start with some simple photos this year of a phenom that interests me: tracks. Footprints. In the snow. I like where this takes my mind in the consideration of OTHER species 'out there'. These marks are like minature signatures in and of Time. The imprint of activity that has long gone resonates with the 'background' notion that these critters are 'out there' still, and more importantly, that they are there at all times of the year. It is only during the hush of winter that many of our otherwise silent 'wild nieghbours' become visible ...

Whether it be rabbit, coyote, squirrel, field mice, deer, and/or predatory hawks (and many more unidentified prints, large & small) - all pass through this landscape on a regular basis. (I've even SEEN an elusive FOX near here...) Needless to say, it's lots of fun to track and explore in the bush ...

Time to go a wanderin' with camera. Will return with more WINTERSCAPES later ... :)

Monday, December 20, 2010

Annual Family Xmas Party - FUN, FUN, FUN!


As always, a krazy cast of characters (!!!), caricatures by the deft Pete Emslie, music by Burlington's own Michael Keys, with unique location this year at Burlington Golf & Country Club . Black tie (as per long-standing family tradition.) Dames danced, gents cajoled, shrimp wiggled, turkey clucked! From 16 to 94, GOOD TIME had by all. Dem bay lights were a'sparklin'!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Season's Greetings & Tribunal Decision


Dear friends, associates & other interested parties ...
to read my seasonal e-newsletter &
find out what has HAPPENED - link 'here'.


Friday, November 19, 2010

Fractal Star Dust

... and now for something completely different ... yup, I've been messing with fractals again, feeling the seasonal mood coming on ...

Sunday, November 14, 2010

New City Park 'walk-about', Nov.14, 2010


Back tracking our walk, we did a 'circle' around the upper parkland area. The last shot shows an old tractor tire propped up against a tree, with the land graded for the artificial turf playing fields in the background ...


It was encouraging to see this bird nest in one of the NEWly planted trees along the brow's edge ...

View from the brow back out over Burlington & the lake. Yes, a bit 'gray', but it IS November and still, a great VIEW.

Tree plantings along the brow edge. Our gut feeling is that at least half these 'newlings' won't make their first winter. None are 'deer/rabbit wrapped', and though tethered, some have already been 'uprooted' by strong winds.


Moss covered OLD escarpment rock off the Bruce Trail. This 'untouched' area is the BEST part of the park at present. It affirms that this LAND has been here for a long, long, LONG time.

EdeG strolling on the Bruce Trail, along the brow edge ... near the 'catalpa' tree ...


We explored this karst/sink hole and were kind of surprised to see that for all the 'designing' going on around the upper parkland area, old farm debris, like a rusty decaying metal feed drum and ancient tires, are still embedded in this natural creviss. Why haven't they been taken out? What purpose does it serve to LEAVE this debris in here? We don't know.


Lots of gates/fences around the new plantings. Why? It effectively interrupts the 'open' feeling that this location once naturally gave ...

... more fences ...

The above shot gives a sense of the 'old' brow forest and the newly planted saplings - strategically placed.
The next three images indicate HOW the water will run off from the fake lake into the ESA - (ecologically sensitive area). Above is the 'unfiltered/uncontoured' drain-off that sort of 'drifts' off towards the woods ... It's all a bit hap-hazard at the moment. It doesn't anticipate HOW the run-off from the synthetic artificial turf will IMPACT this ground water and/or land ...

The above shot shows the rock screening where the pipe leads out from the fake lake ...

The fake lake at New City Park. Wild canadian geese seem to like it ... so that's sort of good ... The current plan is that this water will be used to 'service' the artificial turf. All the water will drain directly back into the lake after it is used to 'wash off' the sanitizing chemicals, and 'cool' the heat islands of latex/rubber in the summer when they reach in excess of 120F.

Overall, it's an eco-disgrace, and that's why your VOTE is still needed. Federal & PanAm monies have 'hi-jacked' this PUBLIC park and will soon turn it into an 'exclusive use' tournament level soccer sport STADIUM facility. The money and this 'out of town' AMBITION is turning it into something it should NEVER be. Unless we do SPEAK OUT, we'll lose this Niagara Escarpment 'jewel' for good.

We want New City Park to be GREEN, from stem to stern, not fenced-in plastic turf with a half million dollar flood-lit stadium illuminating the landscape for miles around.

Give us back our park! Vote via this link -

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/Vote-NO-to-the-Pan-Am-Games-in-New-City-Park/

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Last Stand ! New City Park-Tribunal Decision

Just completed this oil painting, 'Last Stand!'. It kind of encapsultes my recent thoughts about the recent 'developments' at New City Park, in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Wildlife is on the 'edge', literally & figuratively; it's 'stuck', habitat & food resources ever-diminishing.

As of today, we are still waiting on the 'decision' from the Tribunal to determine the fate and future of this park. Will it be just another 'major sports facility' with FIELDS of plastic grass and a domineering metal-rod flood-lit SOCCER STADIUM? an end-point 'sports toursim destination' as has been latterly proposed by the PanAm Org in conjunction with the City Staff/Council? OR, will it REMAIN as it was ORIGINALLY planned as an 'eco-friendly & sustainable' mixed-use 'recreational' NATURAL parkland area for ALL living things? The verdict is still out ... we wait.

In the interim, please join me for my final 'formal' Friends of City Park 'Meetup' on Sunday, November 14th, NOON, at New City Park. Meet at the front entrance of the Park on Kerns Road (at Dundas Street). Rain or Shine. Please be sure to wear warm clothes & good walking shoes/boots. All welcome.
This 'walk-about' should take about an hour. We'll likely have the Tribunal 'decision' by then, so, depending on that outcome, future 'strategic' plans will be considered/discussed. Your ideas, and continued help, are much appreciated.
Please join me to go 'a-wanderin' before the snow flies -
Hope to see you soon - Lindsay
p.s. New City Park doesn't have a 'website' or 'location' yet. Use Google MAPS, search for 'Burlington, Ontario L7P 4V9'.



Friday, October 29, 2010

Too Cute not to SHARE ...


I've just been sent these pics of a baby porcupine ... they are too cute not to share. I don't know who the original photographer is, or where the location is, but LOOK at that little critter and marvel for a moment at Nature's mighty mysteries ... :)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Thanksgiving 2010 - Roots are Essential

For those of you who follow this blog, you'll know that this summer has been a very interesting and demanding one. Not only did I have my second public gallery exhibition, ['Memory's Shadow: Pinhole & Photo Collage Photography' by yours truly, well received and reviewed btw], I also undertook a personal crusade effective of mid-July to save a new park on the Niagara Escarpment from ruin. The mis-guided introduction of three fields of artificial turf aka 'plastic grass' into what is otherwise one of the few remaining wildlife corridors in Southern Ontario is an eco-disgrace.

In many ways, it seems to me, the last minute 'development' of this parkland area since December 2009 to satisfy 'out of town' sporting interests (the PanAm Games) re-enacts a well worn 'attitude' that the dominant & domineering human culture has about 'the planet' - in general. Locally, it can be seen in the 'colonializing' intent to reshape a natural environment to fulfill the over-weening AMBITION of bureaucratic planners, designers and landscape 'architects' to IMPROVE what Nature has done well and quietly for centuries.

After publicly protesting this venture through a petition (yes, you can still vote on my previous post), and then standing up at an Environmental Hearing last week to be HEARD, we are now waiting for the Tribunal to decide this park's fate.

In many ways, it doesn't look good. Millions of dollars have been 'earmarked' for this park's development. We all know that money speaks louder then words. Even so, if anyone of 'import' IS listening, hopefully they will come to understand that what is currently being destroyed is an IRREPLACEABLE CONNECTION to THIS wholly unique land for all of US, here, in Southern Ontario.

This leads me to the topic of this post - ROOTS. They connect us to each other by blood. And they ultimately and intimately connect us to the planet in our need for water, air and land. Without them, we flounder, fail and lose our bearings. Roots are essential for personal well-being and growth.

New City Park offers us, and generations to come, a chance to re-connect to the land and our vital living roots in ways that plastic grass never can. Without REAL roots, we are lost.

Roots assist us to define, refine and become who we singularly are. We all have them. We all need them. I am 'canajun' from HERE, Southern Ontario, the Niagara Escarpment, born & bred. To destory that, to smother it with toxic non-biodegradable crude, is an insult to all living things who thrive and survive at this point on the globe. Imported 'carpets' of synthetic grass are anathema to the spirit of this place. By using this product to cover the Living Earth, we are admitting our dominating dis-respect, dis-connect and dis-regard for ALL that sustains us daily.

Giving thanks during the harvest months is the antithesis of this superior 'attitude'. Giving thanks recognizes that we ARE a part OF Nature, not apart from it. Giving thanks expresses our gratitude for ALL living things that make OUR roots to this place deep and vibrant.

One such person who embodies this 'thankfulness' is Annie B. Her family lived and farmed what will become New City Park for nearly a century. Annie grew up on this escarpment land.

When Annie learned of the proposed 'changes' to the Park, she flew in from British Colombia earlier this summer to visit, one last time, what the land had always given her. her planetary ROOTS. The following photo of her shows a little hobbit-like creature meandering through the woods ... It may mean nothing to you, but to me, this shot embodies the solace and harmony that this landscape can bring. Annie is HOME here. And for that, she is most thankful.


Further to these thoughts, I've added a few images of the paintings & general 'messing about' I've been doing at my lakeside studio this summer ... And yes, I am most blessed. I too give thanks.

May you all have a warm and fulfilling Thanksgiving with your family, friends and loved ones. Thanks be too to the natural world that has - through its Life-Giviing Bounty - given us the bedrock- and benefits - so that we may all have a FULL life ....

Saturday, October 2, 2010

New City Park - MLH Presentation to the Hearing

Here is the link to my presentation before the Environmental Review Tribunal, scheduled for October 5th, 2010, at Burlington City Hall, in Ontario, Canada. In it, I argue the reasons WHY 'synthetic grass' aka 'artificial turf' aka 'plastic grass' does not BELONG in New City Park, a 'new' park protected by the Niagara Escarpment Plan, and thus, now a part too of the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

It's a long dissertation, so, you might want to get a cuppa before you settle in ... link - here.

(For those who follow my 'other life', kindly note, that after this is over, I will be posting new summer work, so please come 'visit' again soon ... thanks. mlh)