Category: Travel & Vacation
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IKEA Builds 26-Acre Community in London
Can’t say I didn’t see this coming. Back in April, I extolled the virtues of IKEA’s business model and pondered how it might be applied to other related endeavours. You can read that blog entry here. Britain’s Daily Mail Online reports that IKEA is building an entire community near Olympic Park in London. Strand East will contain… Read more
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Hiking the Legend of Grey Owl
I remember a friend saying that kids are special when they’re little, but that every age holds the promise of something new. My eldest son, D, now twelve years old, and I headed out for a seventeen kilometre roundtrip hike to Grey Owl’s cabin in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, something he wasn’t ready for… Read more
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Bon Echo: Natural Inspirations (and Aspirations)
My foothold is tenon’d and mortised in granite/I laugh at what you call dissolution/And I know the amplitude of time. – WALT WHITMAN, 1819-1919, carved on a rock face at Bon Echo Provincial Park, Mazinaw (Massanoga), Ontario I am intrigued by, and not a little envious of, the concept of an artists’ retreat anchored deep… Read more
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Prairie Love
My father’s 80th birthday and a 2,200 kilometre drive brought us to a family reunion in the middle of Canada. We’ve tooted around the province and Winnipeg marks the finale. Another day of relentless blue skies and the city continues to surprise me with its ubiquitous public art, wealth of classic architecture, and intriguing tapestry… Read more
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Cottage Dreams
This province always deceives. We drive and drive, the hours pass and the odometer spins but we are in a time warp on the northern route above Lake Superior. We call the number from Nipigon, as we’re advised to do, and arrive at the cottage as dark closes in. Half the occupants are abed and… Read more
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Road Trip!
Drove. Photographed. Gawked. Book shopped. Looked at architecture. Ate. Sat next to Bruce. Talked about God, income tax and Libertarianism. Ate chocolate. Met Robin. Amazing tile samples migrated to the trunk of my car. Met Tedd Benson. Met some of Tedd’s fantastic team. Talked. Toured. Talked some more. Exchanged books. This one too. Left buzzing… Read more
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Dipping a Toe in Urban Waters
New York has a trip-hammer vitality which drives you insane with restlessness if you have no inner stabilizer. – Henry Miller Husband and I spent an extended weekend in NYC, compliments of our friends Dan and Shaleen at Magellan Vacations. They flew us down and put us up in a gorgeous corner suite at the… Read more
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Grandma Craft On Acid
Don’t like your current home or apartment? Then crochet yourself a new one! New York artist Agata Oleksiak has crocheted fitted coverings for EVERY object in her “apartment”, including the real (but inoperable) sink, telephone, tv, walls and the clawfoot tub and hairdryer I’m demoing above. She incorporates text messages into her wall hangings, transforming… Read more