First Day of School
September second.
Summer is over.
My oldest child starts the first grade.
I already miss summer.
Mike Whitla’s Blog
Exchanging ideas about learning, music, community, and culture.My Favourite Jew’s Harp
I recently received a shipment of Jew’s Harps made by master maker Zoltan Szilagyi of Hungary and I could not be more pleased with them. I ordered several of the instruments but the one I have been enjoying playing most is this one:
Zoltan Szilagyi’s Consul in C.
To hear me play this amazing instrument a bit check this out:
“Here Comes the Sandman” song origins revealed.
Download this song here—>
| I had a great response an article I published on a the origin of a lullaby called “The Sandman”. It seems that this song has been kept alive for over 100 years by parents singing it to their children from generation to generation. This song is well known in my family and we have always wondered where it came from or who wrote it. It also seems that my family was not alone. Families from all over the English speaking world have also been keeping this song alive, including New Zealand, Scotland, England, USA and Canada. Many of them have also searching for the origin of this song. |  |
A Great Time at the Toronto Model Railway Club
I went with my family today to the Toronto Model Railway Club open house. They allow admission to the public the last 3 Sundays in February each year. So if you are in town check it out. It is a pretty amazing place. The permanent installation is 4800 square feet of “O” gage civilization. It is a train lover’s dream. Needless to say Jake and Kyle, my two budding train geeks, were in heaven. Check it out:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/7_dPYduAiVg" width="550" height="453" wmode="transparent" /]
Winter Bike Riding
I Love riding in the winter (actually I prefer the summer but riding anytime is great). People think Toronto is too cold to ride a bike in the winter. No way!!! Often by the time I get where I am going I have to have a little cool off time as my metabolism is all pumped up from the ride. Even the few days we had of -20 Celsius were quite ridable.
One of the things about riding in the winter is you have to ride farther into the road. The sides of the road are covered in ice so are not ridable. So if you are driving your car behind a cyclist in this weather please don’t follow too close and sit there revving your engine. It’s not safe!! IF you can’t safely pass back off!! People do this too me even when I am riding with my son Jake in the bike seat. It is not safe. If I need to stop quickly the following cars don’t have a safe distance to stop.
After all, I am riding so that the air is more breathable for everyone, even those foolish people who continue to drive cars. Not driving is the single easiest way for city dwellers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and building community at the same time.
Remember 4 wheels bad 2 wheels good.
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