Posts with the Hadrian’s Wall tag

Barris Beat

‘Backyarding’ – the new normal

Written by Ted Barris on . 1 Comment
Flying squirrel – one of first attractions we noticed in our backyard this pandemic spring.

I needed the contact, the conversation. Anything. So, I stopped at his front walk, so that a friend and I could talk – keeping physical distance – about how each other’s family was faring. We moaned about the weather and the isolation. We tried to stretch the human connection as long as possible. But all too soon, we had to bring our chat to an end. I wished him well.

“It’s back to the garden,” he said.

I smiled and nodded as I left, because he like I has found himself spending a lot of this spring’s lockdown time in his backyard. (more…)

Barris Beat

That which endures

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Completely intact and with old cement attached, this Coca-Cola bottle emerged from the dust of another era of renovation.

It surfaced a few months ago. We found it along an old, stone foundation during some renovations at our house (built in the 1920s). And while this piece of history wasn’t nearly as old as the house, it dated back nearly that far. It was an empty Coca-Cola bottle. You know, those short, stubby ones, sometimes made of blue-green glass, but more often clear – the ones that were a perfect fit in your hand. Our artefact came from an era when the Coke slogan (c. 1938) was: “The best friend thirst ever had.”

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