Hell or High Water

A return to the garden

2018-07-07T10:35:00.001-07:00

Sunny and warm.

After several weeks of absence, I returned to the garden today for a weeding session. As is obvious below, the garden is once again overrun with hideous weeds. It's like I never even picked out one in the spring! I can now appreciate more why people end up container or raised-bed gardening.

While I was pulling weeds, I heard a voice behind me, babbling on the phone in Ukrainian or Polish. I turned to see a short, ancient woman trudging up towards me. As she passed by, I greeted her, but she chose instead to 'tsk, tsk' my plot. Her eyes grew big at the same time. Yup lady, my garden is a royal fecking mess! Lol, as the kids say...

However, I'm not ready to give up yet. First, I will throw some money at it and see how far it gets me. I have already been eyeing gardening fabric...watch out weeds!

On the bright side, I did manage to throw some radish seeds into the ground several weeks back, and look what I found today! They are quite potent to eat, so I'm excited to put together a salad later today with them included. Yay!

The other item of sparkle in the otherwise gloomy garden is that one of the three lavender plants, although not exactly thriving, did have a teeny tiny purple blossom on it. Double Yay! Now that I know where my plants are again, I will be working hard to make sure they don't get choked again.

Praha & Bratislava

2018-06-26T18:10:00.001-07:00

And now for something completely different.

Just a few pictures for now from my recent trip abroad. When I recover the rest, I may post more.
The below are all from Prague.

A different angle of the castle.

A view of a part of Praha from Petrin hill.

Random fabulous street picture.

The glorious view from my airbnb apartment window. Perfect charm or what.

Remember, it's a first-year experiment

2018-06-09T14:50:00.003-07:00

Overcast and warm.

To make myself feel better, I planted some radishes about a week ago, and here they are sprouting already. I hope I thinned them out enough today, but I guess we'll see.

The other half of the row was seeded with lettuce seeds, but they haven't come up at all, yet. Who knows, maybe by some miracle, we'll see them in another week or so.

The only other plant that is thriving, is the cayenne pepper plant. To be honest, in desperation, I have started using miracle grow when watering and it looks like this guy likes it. The others, especially the habanero plant, still seem to be unmoved, as evidenced in the background of this picture where the Kew Lavender is merely languishing.

Also, as you can see, the weeds are coming back with a vengeance, the horrible things.

And last, but not least, I should like to report that I seem to have some rather unfriendly neighbours. Every time I show up, I find more garbage on my patch. Seems my lot has been designated a dumping ground. Not very kind, indeed.

I would just start hauling it off to the container, but last time I picked up a couple of the wood boards, I found a couple of garter snakes curled up underneath. Nearly crawled out of my skin. Ah well, so we wait until the frost returns. And build a fence. Yay!

A disaster zone

2018-05-29T19:17:00.001-07:00

Very warm and dry conditions for the past week.

Well, the weeds are doing very well, as is evident below, and my expensive plants are barely existing as you can see above. I keep reminding myself that it is year one and this is merely an experiment. As well, it's high time I bought some radish seeds and planted them, to get a bit of success going!

We seriously need some rain! (Never thought I would ever utter those words.)

Yesterday, I splurged and bought a pair of garden shears. Today I annihilated the weeds. Hopefully, the neighbours won't hate me as much.

And last but not least, the first casualty of the weed wars, on the good side, my pitchfork is now no more. I am going to keep it as a reminder of my first few glorious Saturday mornings in the garden by myself weeding with abandon. Heh...

Planting day

2018-05-19T19:09:00.002-07:00

Significant rain fall.

Well, two little rows of plants are now in the ground. The back row holds four different varieties of lavender. The front row has two rosemary plants, an oregano plant, a cayenne plant and a habanero plant. We shall see who survives, who thrives and who (hopefully not) perishes. All in the ground by 8 o'clock in the morning. The great experiment begins!

There was a great heap of wood chip mulch in front of the main garden entrance, so I helped myself. Some of it went around a few of the plants that apparently like mulch, and the rest of it went on the compost heap in the lower left corner of the picture.

On Monday, I will switch gears for a bit and spend time measuring my lot and establishing boundaries, both physical and emotional.

Dig it up and burn it!

2018-05-16T19:22:00.002-07:00

A sunny and cool evening. Rained yesterday.

I made a visit to the garden allotment today, not really meaning to do much work, but as you can see, I could not keep away from the weeds! Digging them out and seeing the clean soil feels like an actual accomplishment, it's so addictive. Should have become a horticulturalist. Shoulda, coulda, woulda!

Anyway, there I was happily weeding away, when I heard some rumbling on the plot next door. An older gentleman was puttering around on the neighbouring allotment, but did not seem to want to meet and greet, so I kept on working. I was relieved though, that the owner was a quiet man.

Ha! No such luck as his wife came tramping down with a box of plants and howling at me about whether I was "a friend of Linda's". She launched a tirade about the previous tenant on my lot who missed the boat on renewing her rental because she was in Poland, and kept going on and on about it. I shrugged my shoulders a couple of times and smiled, but even that did not discourage her from getting over it. Oh man!

Fortunately, Jim, her obviously long-suffering husband stepped in and pointed out that they have asparagus on their lot that is ready for harvesting. To his credit, he offered me some to try. Jim has clearly chosen to stay on with her, despite her insanity. I hope, for his sake, that it's because she is a great bunk-mate.

As for the asparagus, I was shocked how tasty it was. It was tender with a delicate taste that reminded me of young peas. Wow!

Anyhow, insisting on brining back the crazy, Mrs Neighbouring Lot volunteered that she had helped herself to the lush garlic that was growing on my lot, earlier this week! I became so furious with her, I totally forgot her name. Then, she also informed me that "Linda" (previous tenant), wants to come and dig out her gooseberry bush - top left corner of lot. So, now I'm dealing with theft? At this point, she is 0/3. When I mentioned it to my friend Tracy, she came up with a great suggestion: beat ol' Linda to the punch; dig it out and burn it. Haaaaa... Totally sucks, but I am going to have to do it. If I don't do it, I will have to deal with the useless cops and the unhelpful City staff.

All this will not overshadow the joy of planting my first resident, who can be seen off to the right in the picture - the horseradish! 🌱Hopefully he'll be happy there. Yay!

Gardening day 3

2018-05-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Overcast and cool.

A week has gone by since I had an opportunity to return to the allotment. High Park is overrun with cherry blossom gawkers these days. There are at least a half dozen websites solely dedicated to reporting on the stages of the blossoms. Last Wednesday, I planned to pay a visit to the allotment, but could not get within two blocks of the park, with all the cars waiting to get in to see the blasted blooms. It is somewhat mind boggling.

Arriving super early this morning, (6.30am) thinking I would beat the crowds, I was surprised to find a significant amount of folks already staking out their parking spots and trekking to the cherry trees. Luckily, this gardener can park her car at the allotment gate and unload in relative comfort.

Anyway, the picture up above is an updated shot of the rather modest amount of work done today. Though, again, my back muscles would disagree about the 'modest' part. I did manage to clear up another good chunk of the garden and spread some sheep poo. Okay, compost. Hence, the somewhat dark looking soil at the back of the lot. Still have a ways to go, and when done, I think I will have cleared about 250-300 square feet. Which I think will be enough to play with this year. The growing garlic is a natural sort of barrier, so I stopped there. Hopefully I'll be able to get in on Monday or Tuesday after work to do a bit more weeding and prepping.

I did buy some radish seeds a couple of weeks ago, but now cannot find the packet.

Today, is also the annual plant fair at the United Church on Roncesvalles. It seemed like a good idea to go and check it out to get an idea of what they typically offer. Not sure that it's really worth it. I did walk away with my first two allotment tenants, a lavender and a rosemary plant. People were rather aggressive around the plant stands, so I wasn't really keen on spending too much time in there. Seems to me it makes more sense to go to Richter's.

Alright, last but not least, towards the end of my shift I was paid a nice visit by a big red robin. Of course, in the picture he looks like a little red dot. I hoped he would hop on down to the newly tilled area of my lot and feast on all the bugs and worms I turned up. No such luck, he flew away soon after arrival.

Gardening Day 2

2018-05-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Sunny and warm, but not hot.

I was there at a quarter to eight. I found the gate unlocked, but seemed to be the only one there till about nine. I guess there isn't much to steal in the gardens right now, except maybe some young garlic. One would have to be pretty desperate to want that.

At the front end of my allotment, there is a proliferation of deadnettle (pictured above). It appears to be a fairly common weed in Ontario. I did notice it in a number of allotments all over the garden, but none so voluminous as mine. Deadnettle doesn't sting like its cousin plain ol' nettle, thankfully. It has some health benefits, and is found most commonly in the form of tea leaves, so I may pick some before it is eradicated entirely (for the season, I'm sure it will be back next year).

Above is a shot of work completed today. For no reason in particular, I started work on the garden from the far end. I turned over about 80 square feet today which does not sound like much, but I suspect my back would disagree. I could feel it already this morning from yesterday's workout. So tomorrow morning should be interesting.

I also found use for my huge blue IKEA bag. I schlepped two full bags of weeds to the communal compost in it. Very handy bag; it will certainly be my right hand while I weed!

Today much research awaits. Like, what is this giant plant in the northwest corner of my lot? Looks like it could be rhubarb, but that's just a random guess. The stems seem rather short, maybe it is a type of rhubarb? We shall see.

Tomorrow I will take a break from the garden as the park will be flooded with people gawking at blossoming cherry trees. When I was driving out this morning at a half past nine, the traffic was already picking up. Glad I went early in the morning.

So far, so good. Although I can't help feeling like a middle-aged cat lady. Except that my garden is my cat. Weird.

Is that you ma?!

2018-05-05T04:01:00.003-07:00

Sunny, humid and a tad windy.

It is true, you can take the peasant out of the field, but you cannot take the field out of the peasant.

Welcome to my High Park garden allotment. It is six hundred square feet of potential, as you can see above and below. The allotment south of me is completely neglected and the one to the west of me is looking a little scary right now, but

Today I welcomed myself to it too, and as an inaugural activity, I weeded the nettle in the back corner. One and a half hours of pulling weeds. Voluntarily! I left a bunch of the nettle in the back corner, mostly out of sentimental reason, but I think I'm over it and tomorrow will pull it out.

Neighbouring plots include one neglected plot to the south and one very ghetto looking one to the west of me. A small sample can be seen in the picture above. They have been at it for a few years by the look of their raised beds and various interesting implements.

While I was digging away at the weeds, and turning over worms and grubs and other helpful creatures in the soil, I received a very bold visitor (below, if you can spot him). He was not shy at all and helped himself to anything that wriggled or scampered. I wondered whether it was mom coming to visit me in my garden! Heh...of course, I'd have to believe in that b.s. Speaking of which, tomorrow I'm going back, bright and early to weed and put down compost. Yay!

I'll just put this over here

2017-05-31T16:27:00.001-07:00

Family day weekend

2017-02-21T19:47:00.001-08:00

Just yesterday, we celebrated a government mandated holiday in Ontario, called Family day, so I set out to do the-least-family-oriented-thing-possible: photography, followed by a jaunt through a forest and a little target practice at the range to round out a perfect day. With a friend, of course.

Our first stop was the (formerly known as) Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Markham, a suburb of Toronto. You can see the spires of this beautiful church from the highway.

Do not be fooled by the 'under construction' feel, however, this monolith is an abandonment, thanks to the ongoing feud of the donor's family and the archdiocese of Toronto. Unfortunately, the donor passed away unexpectedly (decades ago), and his surviving relatives seem to have either created or have been pulled into some sort of controversy over the church. The story is unclear to me, but my hunch is that neither side is innocent. Too bad.

The mosaics are gorgeous and enormous, both outside and from what we could see on the inside as well. The altar is covered by an enormous one, made mostly of gold.This is truly a temple. They certainly do not build them like this any more. As is evident, the onion-shaped spires on the church are traditional of Byzantine architecture with the added shimmer of gold as well.

I may have had some grease on my lens. It is the only thing that would explain the dazzle of the spires in the pictures. Both annoying and interesting.

Anyway, the surrounding grounds look like the church is still under construction. The surrounding streets are built up with town-homes mainly occupied by Asian families. There are a few shops and dentists' offices, but no actual useful stores like groceries or drugs. It is weird and eerie being there, because although there is evidence of inhabited homes, there are very few people outside as there is nothing to do, and nowhere to go of interest.

The donor's original intention was to build homes for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite, who would attend and support the church, but again, that plan was thwarted by his early demise. His vision clearly was not realized by his successors.

I understand that there was a horror movie made on the church grounds. The cathedral, in the story, was allegedly used as the portal to hell. I laughed irreverently when I heard it.

The donor, Stefan Roman, was obviously a) Slovak, b) extremely wealthy and c) a practicing Greek Catholic (which is a rite). As I understand, he made large donations to the Church over the years. So, when JP II was in Canada in 1984, he made a special pit stop to bless the cornerstone of the cathedral. Guess who was there? I mean, besides every Slovak within a very large radius of Toronto. Yes, me!

Let's see if I can find a picture of us going to Markham on a St Catharines transit bus all the way there and back. Heh....so 80s!

Finally some snow

2017-02-12T09:53:00.002-08:00

At long last, snow in Toronto. Which reminds me of a -rarely hilarious- Rick Mercer Special Report.

We have not had a signficant accumulation since the early part of December and that only lasted a couple of days before it melted. We had none for Christmas either. So this is a nice treat, even if all traffic snarls and streetcars conk out.

Since I did not get to go skiing yet again this weekend, I thought I might go for a walk in the falling snow instead. This is a picture of the Dufferin Gate entrance to the CNE. The picture below is taken from the bridge at the same gate looking onto downtown TO. Can't see much due to the low lying clouds and all of that feathery snow coming down.

This picture is just evidence that even Canadians have no clue how to drive in the snow even after all of these years. And of course, the perennial question all drivers ask, where are the ploughs?! Heh...

This is For Rouille, about which Wiki will tell you its purpose better than I can. It looks like a rustic shed good for storing a ladder and a lawn mower, so it is hard to imagine that people (or even soldiers) having any chance of defending themselves from a bunch of marauding natives.

Anyway, snow picture are fun to take, since it makes everything look so soft and pretty. I mean, look at this bunch of old rotting wood, doesn't it look pretty? Unfortunately, my phone battery got cold quickly and shut the whole thing down. Which is a pity because I saw some very pretty sights out there on my walk. Ducks and swans swimming and diving for their lunch down by the lake, die-hard runners pounding the pavement and even little kids (and their helicopter parents) tobogganing down a tiny hill. Seems everyone likes a bit of snow once in awhile.

And now to hibernate for the rest of the afternoon!

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson

2016-12-29T18:48:00.002-08:00

Most people will recognize his name and face because it has been in the news quite often this year. Being ideologically fatigued, I ignored much of the controversy.

However, a close friend began reading his earlier works, including 'Maps of Meaning' and became very enthusiastic about what he was reading, so I took a peek too. The quality of work he has produced is beyond my expectation, and I am envious of every student that has had him as a professor. Fortunately, he shares much of his material via his website. He is a captivating and engaging speaker, so it is not difficult to listen to him.

There is also a section called self-authoring on his site, where you can complete a series of writing exercises that help you understand yourself better. It is a great exercise, speaking from personal experience, and a good use of time when you may be at a cross-roads in life and may have questions on how to go forward.

In short, the University of Toronto administration and associated social justice warriors should be ashamed of abusing a man who has spent his life helping people become their fuller selves. Sadly, leftists are blind to their own ideological tyranny.

Speaking of which, there seems to be a lynch-mob at every university these days. Just ask Anthony Esolen.

Overdue update

2016-12-21T15:28:00.002-08:00

It is a bit too early in the game to be apologizing for posting so sparsely, so I won't. Instead I will just write a short story of what has been going on here at #66 for the past few weeks. Recently, I have had the pleasure of sheltering a young man named Janko. He is one of my cousin's sons (they live in SVK). He has been in Canada since January, on a work visa, but he was laid off in October, so he moved from Calgary to my couch at the end of November.

However, he wasted no time; packed his bag and hitch-hiked and couch-surfed his way to Quebec City, managing to see Montreal and Ottawa as well on the way. Unfortunately, because the weather has turned for the worse and his winter clothes are a bit sparse, he had to put a hold on any further Canadian travel adventures. Just before he left for Quebec, he asked me, in a slightly mocking tone, where the big, bad Canadian winter that he had heard so much about, was. By the time he returned to Toronto last Thursday, it was -20C and he texted begging to be picked up at the nearby subway station. The wise old woman always gets the last laugh!

As you can see he is no slouch. On Sunday he wanted to bake something from back home called a 'babovka' or in English a 'bundt cake'. I am quite sure that the bundt form he used was it's first time in an oven, ever. I have had it for years, but never quite got around to using it. I blame it on having a baker in the family. Anyway, it was a success, we enjoyed it very much. It was gone by end of day Monday. Next time, we intend for him to use the full recipe, rather than cutting it in half as we did this time.

Yesterday, while we were waiting for Vojto to pick him up and whisk him away to the great white north for Christmas, we passed the time decorating my Christmas tree. If it seems like something is missing, there is: the twinkly mini-lights. I scoured my locker and found none; no idea what I have done with them. At first I fretted about it, but eventually it dawned on me that I can have a tree without lights, and it will be okay! So, here it is, in all it's glory. Hope you like it.

The tree itself is from IKEA and I am amazed at how nice it is. I do not think I will ever buy a tree anywhere else from now on. They charge $20 and then they give you a $20 voucher to use in the store in the new year, so the tree is essentially free.

There you are, all caught up! The next few days I will visit with friends and do some last minute grocery shopping and similar exciting activities.

There is a Christmas market on for another day or so downtown, so I will drop in and check it out. Then H. and I will spend Christmas together, eating, drinking and being merry. Also, playing Monopoly, our new pastime...haha...can't wait!

Work has been truly hectic the last six weeks, so thank God for Christmas, it always comes just in time. Hopefully all of you will have a good Christmas too!

How it was...

2016-11-16T20:33:00.002-08:00

H and I tripped over to Cold Creek Conservation Area, near Nobleton last weekend. He used to go there with his students, decades ago, for day trips. Way back then, there was a public rifle range - if you can believe it - and a trap shooting range as well. (Now kids get to climb ropes instead.) Anyway, we stumbled upon what is now the abandoned and decaying rifle range and the accompanying field. Abandoned buildings are attractive in their own way, and this one certainly didn't disappoint.

Even though there was a large-ish No Tresspassing sign on the back of the building, it did not stop us from climbing in through those welcoming 'windows' and having a look around. My phone camera did not much like the indoors, so none of my indoor pictures survived the edit. We didn't stay long as the place was full of falling fibre-glass which neither one of us wanted to inhale very much.

We both pledged to come back. It really is a beautiful spot.

Mount Hope Cemetery Visit

2016-10-18T16:54:00.001-07:00

It has been a busy and interesting few weeks, so it is time to share some of the excitement with you. The weekend prior to Thanksgiving, my friend H. (pictured here) and I took a trip to north Toronto's Catholic cemetery. The neighbourhood of Leaside, is more accurate, I understand. The spot is at least as nice as Mount Pleasant cemetery, perhaps even nicer, and certainly more prestigious in terms of the area of town it is located in. There were quite a few recognizable names, such as Longo, Lynett, etc. Catholic families who helped build this now very secular city.

While H. is a distinguished photographer with an arsenal of work to rival any of his contemporaries, and equipment to match, I lug around my iPhone 5 and pretend I know what I am doing. In truth, I watch him and learn by stealth! One of the best pieces of advice I have heard him give is to get up close to the subject you are photographing. It is easy to say, and much more difficult to remember, especially since I prefer to take panoramic pictures of scenery, rather than of a particular subject, but I am trying to adjust, because it is actually a better format for the somewhat weak iPhone 5 camera.

For example, here I really liked the green moss growing on the faces of the statues and it would probably have been more obvious if I had taken close up shots than this far away, backwards 'L' picture. Well, live and learn! Next visit I will try again. Still like the picture though.

The place was full of interesting monuments and huge plots where whole families were buried. There were several burial places (mostly of Italian descent) that included a photo of the deceased on the monuments. Most of the photos have weathered Canadian elements quite well, surprisingly. Some monuments had little knick-knacks left on them like a baseball or a teddy bear from grandchildren, those were particularly touching.

It was quite a sprawling space, though again, not nearly as large as Mount Pleasant, which on a map looks like it may be up to three times the size of Mount Hope. The trees were beautiful and just on the verge of putting on their autumn coats. I was almost sorry we did not wait just one or two weeks more just to see the change. It seems that while the cemetery is rather old (burials since the turn of the last century), they are making room for newer plots as can be seen on the left side of the picture just under the tree. This made me hope they may have a spot for me, I was truly taken by this spot and wouldn't mind resting my ol' bones here - haha.

Towards the end of our outing we stumbled upon a group burial ground for the Sisters of Service. The rows of crosses reminded me of the military burial grounds in the U.S. we see in pictures so often. I wondered whether the order still exists or whether the last one that turned out the lights is buried here too. As a point of interest, in the background there are a number of the familial burial plots mentioned earlier.

Some of the nuns didn't even get a cross -perhaps another order that had a stricter vow of poverty- rather just a slab, like the one below (a close-up, yay!)

And finally, a close up belonging to one of the familial burial sites, that indicated where each member was buried. (another close up! I might get there yet.)

A very productive and fulfilling afternoon at the cemetery was had by all. Looking forward to the next one.

Late September

2016-09-27T11:13:00.002-07:00

Today is my last day at home, tomorrow I return to work a week early. And since I have not been able to go out of the house much and roam, I took a drive to Lake Ontario just down the road for a short walk. It is a beautiful day as you can see in the picture, but a bit blustery. It really is fall now, no question, and the white caps on the water past the break wall prove it. The clouds below also announce the arrival of something a little cooler. They are a bit eerie looking, aren't they. I'm sure they have a name and a sixth-grader would be able to tell me what they are. Heh.

Well, good bye then, summer. You were a bit too hot anyway!

Jim Goad: A few bad skittles

2016-09-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

Last week, social justice warriors across the globe exploded in fury over Trump Jr.'s tweet:

"If I had a bowl of skittles and told you three would kill you. Would you take a handful? That’s our Syrian refugee problem."

Here, someone rational gives us a history of the analogy. It would be a good idea to know the background of a thing, before screeching "Hitler".

Apple pie

2016-09-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I baked my first apple pie of the season and boy, is it delicious!

I may be persuaded to share the next one. Heh!

Everything old is new again

2016-09-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

For the past week or so, I have been reading a very interesting and insightful (at times funny too) book written by the creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams. He certainly has had an interesting and fruitful life, so far.

Here is a quote that just caught my attention: "...The most important is the transformative power of praise versus the corrosive impact of criticism. I've had a number of occasions since then to test the powers of praise, and I find it an amazing force, especially for adults....Adults are starved for a kind word."

It immediately reminded me of a quote I read every morning: "Every day, as long as this 'today' lasts, keep encouraging one another." (Heb 3:13)

Kate & Wils do the Yukon

2016-09-23T18:19:00.002-07:00

This made me giggle a little bit...

Uncle Tetsu's "Cheesecake"

2016-09-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

All the rage in Toronto a year or two ago: Uncle Tetsu's Japanese cheesecake. Or as already mentioned, "cheesecake". There was word (confirmed by Yelp) that people were lining up for hours to get their hands on this supposed god-food.

Not being the hype-chaser type, yesterday I finally had an opportunity to buy and taste one, to see what the fuss was about. Today I am no wiser. H. and I could not quite wrap our heads around this delicacy. It seems like a combo of sponge cake, or angel-food cake and cream cheese. It was confusing to eat, so we stopped and gave the rest to the birds outside. Hmm, maybe I have been spoiled by years of Future Bakery cheesecakes that were actually that. (Also, Peter's cheesecakes were great, but he stopped making them.)

RIP

2016-09-18T07:48:00.002-07:00

Hopefully he trained a few others to carry on.

About The Art of Manliness

2016-09-13T07:50:00.002-07:00

Every so often, I would like to share a short review of a website or blog worthy of reading. I will link to them somewhere on a sidebar, as soon as I figure out how.

Since this is the first such attempt at sharing, here is hoping you will agree that The Art of Manliness is worthy of a visit. Not just by men, by the way; much of the advice given can be used by just about anyone wishing to build his or her character (How to Comfort Someone Who is Sad/Crying), learn a skill (How to Whistle with Your Fingers) or just read something of real interest (What the Length of Your Ring Finger Can Tell You about Your Masculinity (Ha!)) .

Here is how the founding bloggers (a husband & wife team), describe the mission behind their site:

'AoM is a blog about growing up well, aimed at men and their unique challenges and interests. We explore all things manly - from the serious and philosophical to the practical and fun. We seek to uncover how to live with grandpa's swagger, virtue and know-how in the present age by wedding the best of the past to the best of the present. The end goal is to create a synergy of tradition and modernity that offers men a way forward and signposts on how to live an excellent, flourishing life.

Ultimately, the Art of Manliness aims to encourage our readers to be better husbands, fathers, brothers, citizens - a new generation of great men.'

The site is like a soothing balm, a sort of antidote to the daily parade of girlie-men one encounters in the city. How many times I have wanted to hand a boy with a man-bun, a little card with the website's address and encourage him to visit. The only thing preventing me is the fear of becoming one of a legion of crazy old women in the same city. Heh...

Anyway, check it out and pass on the good work of AoM to your friends & family.

Cannot resist...

2016-09-12T17:29:00.001-07:00