I tend to read a lot of books I regret. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus is one of these. The gist of this book - Nanny = good, Park Avenue Parent = bad.

http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=29142&cgi=product&isbn=0312291639

Just after I finished this book, by coincidence, while channel surfing last night, I found Six Degrees of Separation and watched it for the second time, having seen it in a theatre several years ago. It intrigued me then and has again. The theme of this is - Park Avenue Parent = multifaceted. These parents are dealing with the complexities of life (con artists invading their homes; living their own form of hand-to-mouth; maintaining their fast-paced life style) with logic and love and compassion and arrogance and intelligence and flaws. Their pampered, over-indulged older teenage children, in spite of their angst and despair, come together, albeit unwillingly, to help them solve their problem. In the end, while nothing is resolved, the parents have come to realize that you can't always have what you want and at the same time that other people want want you have, even if what you have is not all that great. Chaos and Control, something we all deal with in life, is exemplified so well in this film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108149/

Have you ever noticed how often two aspects of the same thing, e.g. Park Avenue parents, often present themselves at the same time.

If you liked The Devil Wears Prada, you will like The Nanny Diaries as well.

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/devilwearsprada/

Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell and Bill Bryson are my two favourite non-fiction writers. Both are easy to read, enjoyable and informative. Outliers, Gladwell's third book that I have read, is all this and more.

Outliers looks beyond the obvious and simplistic to explain success. It is done in both an entertaining and at the same time a lecture-like way. Gladwell shows how culture is an active participant in outcomes, both good and bad. He has no compunction about discussing subjects we avoid in our politically correct environment. He has reinforced for me the importance of knowing and understanding our own histories.

One recurring theme in my family concerns the idea of hard work. That is sometimes the main defining characteristic of family and friends. I can still hear my mom saying, "He may drink a lot but he has never missed a day's work over it and his house and gardens are always immaculate". If a person was a hard worker, a lot could be forgiven. I am now wondering if that concept originates way back in her ancestry. And, just how much does my ancestry affect my thought patterns?

I am certainly thinking about the world a little differently now.

http://www.gladwell.com/

Wild Roses

One of the first signs of summer are when the wild roses begin to bloom. Found these on my bike ride today.

While our spring was late, the dogwood bloomed on May 1st which seemed right on time. The roses, I think, are a bit early this year. And dragon flies are out in force. Some were moving along the bike path at my speed.

Flowers from Mother's Day

This rose came from Goldfish, the place where I had Mother's Day Brunch. On our way out, all the mothers in our group received a lovely fresh, long stemmed, velvet lemon rose bud. It stayed fresh for more than a week. Since then, it has slowly turned a burnished gold. I took it out of water a few days ago and didn't have the heart to throw it out. I wonder if it will just dry like this.

Below is the pink azalea I received as a Mothers Day gift. It has come into full bloom in the last few days.

At last it feels like summer might be arriving. It is warm enough again to enjoy my deck. My garden is beginning to grow and I actually picked radishes for the first time for lunch today. It was a good thing that I brought them home to wash as I have rediscovered that little worms like my radish as well. After cutting out all the squiggly parts, there was still enough to enjoy. This is my first time to garden completely organically. I just don't know how much I will enjoy sharing my bounty with other creatures.

Mother's Day Card

I made this card for Mother's Day in 1953. Being a little dyslexic, this is actually the back of the card. The writing was pasted onto the inside left. My Mom died on Mother's Day several years later. I found this card with her papers.

Before Picture

This is my garden plot. I planted beans yesterday. So far, I have peas, beets, onions and radish coming up. Something is munching on the leaves of the peas. I am waiting to see a sign that some of the carrot seeds have germanated.

I have some strawberries in blossom. They are at the end of the garlic that you can see at the bottom of my plot.

While searching for miner's wages in the 1940's, I came across this blog. I hope I am not violating any copyright laws but I remember that our neighbour, Mr Heacock, worked as a typesetter for Roy Thomson at the Timmins Daily Press and often received I.O.U.'s in lieu of a paycheque in the 1940's. Besides it has names of people I had forgotten.

''Roy Thomson’s Timmins Adventures – Michael Barnes
posted in Michael Barnes, Timmins
All millionaires have to start somewhere. After chubby,ambitious Roy Thomson started his first radio station on a shoestring in North Bay, his attention turned to the bustling Timmins-Porcupine area.
The hard luck,hustling salesman came to Timmins in the early thirties and worked to open a radio station.No one would loan him any money but he found an ally in J.P. Bartleman.
The insurance salesman thought a radio station would be a good thing and he rented the newcomer space in a building of his in the seamier part of town.
Thomson’s long suffering engineer cobbled together the parts for broadcast output and fell foul of the law until his tight fisted boss paid union dues. The new station started with a piano and a few records. Even the sole announcer became fed up with playing ‘In a Monastery Garden’ several times a day because the discs were scarce.
The canny fledgling newspaper owner played off local businessmen against each other and drove them into fierce competition to gain scarce advertising dollars. Since his pockets were always practically bare,he paid employees with cheques drawn on a North Bay bank because they took longer to clear.
Prominent Timmins businessman Leo Mascioli was a hold-out as Thomson hustled for advertising business. The fast moving salesman had sold the hotel owner an ice making machine for the Empire Hotel when he first came to town. The machine was faulty so Thomson lost the hotel promotion business.
Although the output on the airwaves was limited to a paid announcer and a few records,volunteer entertainers were welcome. Most dressed for the occasion as if they could be ‘seen’ on the air in the magic of radio.
Much of the time as the Timmins outlet grew,the aspiring media magnate was elsewhere.He was in Kirkland Lake trying to promote his fledgling radio station in that gold mining town.
Thomson’s landlord,Jimmy Bartleman,was now a town Councillor. A character in his own right,he was always ready for a good fight. He was annoyed with the paper of record of the time,the Porcupine Advance, and decided to get even by purchasing a printing press and starting his own paper, The Citizen.
But Bartleman made more enemies than business allies and his new paper was losing money.Thomson popped up at this point and offered to take it off his hands for $200 down and promissory notes of $200 a month for 28 months.
Bartleman still owed money on the press but he admired Thomson’s gall. After all,said the wily Roy, if he went bust with the paper,at least the press owner would get his machinery back.
So Roy Thomson learned the newspaper business by studying the ratio of advertisements to news and initially charging for ads what he thought the traffic would bear.
He bought newsprint from Abitibi Paper at Iroquois Falls on credit, had no wire service or national news at first because he could not afford it, and worked hard to convince a sceptical government that it was not a bad thing to own both a paper and a radio station at the same time.
Even as he competed with the established paper, The Porcupine Advance, for advertising revenue, the cash-strapped Thomson had only enough type to print eight pages.
He often repeated stories on the back pages to fill up space but could still make as his slogan, “If it will help the North,we are for it.”
Readers could tell the upstart new paper was making progress when it endorsed Jimmy Bartleman for Mayor. He won the position but the Press later fell out with him and ceased to back the man who had given Thomson his start.
Roy Thomson suffered a major setback when his building burned at the close of the thirties.But people rallied to his aid,he published in temporary quarters and finally found loan capital from McIntyre Mine millionaire owner J.P.Bickell to build a new building tohouse both radio station and paper. After Thomson fell out with Jimmy Barlteman, in the next election he supported taxi-owner Emile Brunette who became the new mayor. Roy Thomson soon left Timmins to go on in his fifties to be a media mogul and billionaire. His fine Art Deco building remained in Timmins long after both paper and radio station had moved to new quarters.
The classic radio and newspaper building was torn down in 1995 when funds could not be garnered to preserve it. Thomson would have not cared. He never let sentiment interfere with making money.
Michael Barnes is a published Canadian author who has written extensively on Northern Ontario. Michaelbarnes53@hotmail.com
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