Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » Autumn

Happy Thanksgiving, Blogging Slow September But Successful Harvest

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:36:48 +0000

My September blogging was slow and I will tell you why. I have two valid excuses, my corporate taxes were due (I hate penalties) and I spent many days preserving vegetables.

Cooking variety of tomato sauces the most, freezing peppers and peeling lots of garlic. I am very lucky and very thankful at the same time for the beautiful vegetables and fruit I received from my mother-in-law and my parents.

Red and Green Peppers

Being married to Italian family you just ought to have tomato sauce, and I do now. If I had my stand alone freezer on the first floor it would probably go through the floor – heavy, heavy. Few years ago I phase out freezing cooked food in plastic containers or bags. It is all in Mason jars now.

Being Ukrainian – we are potato people, plenty this year too.

Cooking

As always lots of garlic from both sides of family. I simply peel it and keep in the fridge in the jars. It stays for a long time – until next summer.

Mason Wide Mouth Lids

Mason Wide Mouth Glass Jars

Oh and I forgot to mention vegetables and fruit I don’t freeze, we just enjoy them fresh – green beans, egg plants, parsley, basil, black barries and raspberries.

Egg Plants

Over the years I tried to grow vegetables in pots – on the backyard and front yard. I was successful many times. Mainly tomatoes, beans, basil and parsley.

Plum Italian Tomato

One year I planted lot of tomatoes and beans in front of the house. It was really successful year. I still remember people stopping by and asking ‘Are these tomatoes in front of your house?’.

Where Did All The Turtles Go? Autumn, Nature’s Accents & Abstract

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:45:35 +0000

Last week I read a story about the 30 lb turtle that was saved in Aurora by the Hadley Grange residents and the police. I never thought that our pond would have something that big.

I saved one may be that was less than 8 ounces. Having ponds near by roads it always will be an issue with animal crossings. I am glad that story had a happy ending after all.

So where were all the turtles today, the usual Red-Eared Sliders? We have not seen even one on the Nokiidaa Trail link boardwalk today. Day care children were looking for them, and could not find them. An older woman mentioned the turtles. No sight of them. We looked for them too on the way in and on the way back and there were none.

Children Looking for Red-Eared Slider Turtles

So where are the turtles, I am asking again? It was a nice sunny and warm day today. Usually they sit on the dead wood logs in the pond, but this time there were none. Well, I don’t have the answer. May be they are getting ready to hibernate.

What a beautiful day turned out to be after all despite the missing turtles. I am sure turtles will be back.

We got to observe other things. There were lot of birds, however, there are still substantial amount of leaves on the trees thus hard to spot them. Ducks were very loud and flying over the boardwalk.

The sky was perfect blue and the occasional clouds thus the occasional overcast created prefect environment for some good photography.

I don’t always have good days, but today was exceptional.

I like autumn photography the most just because of a broad spectrum of colors and earthy tones. I love the winding down and aging aspect of the nature. Very calming.

On the other note, remember it is also a flu season. Getting out on the sun, moderate fresh air and drinking lot of fluids is our way to deal with colds and flues.

A Sneeze

I mentioned my successful photographic adventure and it would be a shame not to share it. Have fun with the titles and imagination. Click on the image to proceed. Enjoy.

Oh Summer Is Almost Over, Fall Accents, Town’s Chaotic Communication

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 05:05:21 +0000

Climatologist say that we are for a nice warm fall, and I am glad. I picked up some little accents of fall the other day walking Nokiidaa Trail boardwalk, and here they are.

Chaotic communication – what is that? Something that I think is worth writing about. Read on.

Yellow Leaves, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Fine Grass, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Ripe Berries, Nokiidaa Trail Link

I am not sure if Chickadees are fall birds. I see them through the summer but I do see more of them in the fall. I thought may be because they are so small and do not stand out that much among other birds during summer. Chickadees do stay with us for the winter.

Chickadees, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Chaotic communication. Few months ago Town of Aurora introduced social networks such Blogger, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook to further communicate with the residents of Aurora. I cannot even be nice about this idea. It wasn’t the brightest idea on the world.

Let me do some dissection here.

Blogger. To maintain blog on the regular basis requires dedication, time and resources. To date blogging (last post on May 16th, 2011) and the Blogger logo from the town’s website were phased out. I must give a credit to the writer or whoever was maintaining the blog. It was well written and professional, however, some posts were just repeats of something we know and too long. But there was some good substance there.

Town of Aurora Twitter Account

Twitter. Ouch! I have no idea why Twitter is such a success, I just don’t understand it – may be because it is so simple. Now by looking at our town’s twitter account – I see chaos. If my tax money is paying people to tweet anything and everything – I say take it down, or put some order to it. I really don’t need to get a tweet about the Earthquake on top all other media telling us the same. No substance here.

Town of Aurora Facebook Account

Facebook. I don’t know, just seems overkill. Another place to visit to find out more about Aurora events, such as Nokiidaa Trail opening in Aurora Ontario (Sept. 7, 2011) which was only for the town officials. I guess they made it happen and got it to work, they deserve the ceremony. Just an idea though, wouldn’t be nice to involve Aurora residents. After all Aurora is one big team – what happened to celebrating together?

Going back to Facebook, I am trying to understand the purpose of the Facebook, and I cannot. The information again is random.

Flickr. Someone gave up on it on June 8th, 2011. No comment.

Not to forget there is also town’s Newsletter and the website.

More thoughts …

Four social networks (one out, the Blogger; one not active, the Flickr), a newsletter and town’s website – and all feeding just random information. Do I have that much time to visit all? No. Blog is capable to accommodate all, the news, the photos, the videos and anything else that can be categorized accordingly. But blogging is hard to do, so town of Aurora chooses an easy way out – tweeting, facebooking and flickring. The big question is who is maintaining all this nuisance? The current communication scheme has no added value for the residents of Aurora. Even with that many platforms, there is still lack of communication and professionalism.

So here, just little more thoughts …

The Aurora communication department can set up a single blog on their website. Assign simple categories such news, upcoming events, notices, and other useful categories. The process must be carefully planned out to ensure effective flow of information and proper categorization of information. The information must also be in line with the information posted in the Banner and the Newsletter. Residents will benefit by accessing one source. They can easily subscribe to blog Feeds.

Reporting on activities in our town should be left to the local media such as The Auroran or The Banner. Let them do the talking and keep them in business by attracting more readers. The social networking platforms are not for the Town of Aurora, and it does not add value to our taxed dollar.

The solo opening of the Nokiidaa Trail link by the town of Aurora officials sparked all above thoughts about the whole communication scheme in the town. I would like to thank Evelyn Buck for providing informative answer (It Was Not A Grand Opening) on the comment I made on her blog with regards to the openning on September 7th, 2011.

Communication must have purpose, and if there is none then there will be chaos.

Autumn Imagination, Nature’s Abstract Art

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:55:45 +0000

My favorite artist is nature. My favorite art is nature’s abstract.

In this time of the year, ending summer, you can find all kinds of moss, fungi and mushrooms growing on the tree trunks. As the tree trunks get more exposed the beauty of abstract unveils for those who look.

Nature's Art, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Depends from what angle you are looking, or who is looking at it you may see different features. This time dear readers I will leave this post to your imagination, and remember the new season brings new surprises. Our town has many.