A bountiful harvest

The Norland apple tree is loaded with another bumper crop (like last year).  The trunk had split during a storm in August 2010, but it's healing (hopefully well).

The raspberry we got from a friend will need to grow for a few years before we can get a good harvest:

The Heyer 12 apple is still not doing well 2 years after we transplanted it.  Looks like the root system is still not recovered as there is not much foliage, but there are quite a few apples:

The red currant bush is brimming with berries even after I picked some off.  It's a real pain to harvest though!

As you can see, we were painting the fence after 7 years since it was erected.  The colour matches the stucco colour of the house (light green).  We didn't get any Saskatoon berries again because the birds got most of them already!  Have to put a net around them next year.  We bought 4 L of fresh Saskatoon berries from the Farmer's Market at Peavy Mart yesterday for $18.

Watch out for share dilution

Bought Carpathian Gold too high today.  This blog post warned about CPN and I think he has a good point.  So I looked up the shares outstanding of three stocks over the last few years

 

Looking at the last line in each of these graphics, you can see that FED has the least dilution and CPN has the most.  SGC is somewhere in between.  So, CPN is already quite a sizable market cap and that blogger's argument is pretty good.  However, I do agree with one of the commenters that CPN has a huge prospect in Romania and Barrick today invested in CPN to the tune of $20 million in a private placement.

Chopin - A Chronological Journey

I just got my 3rd Valerie Tryon album in the mail from Hyperion in the UK today - Chopin - A Chronological Journey is a 3 CD set. I had actually purchased this directly from the APR website.  APR's web orders are fulfilled by Hyperion.  I got it for £19.98 (about $30 CDN).  More than I would usually pay nowadays (given that boxed sets from Universal Classics can be as low as$2/CD).  However, Valerie Tryon is one amazing pianist.  I had previously bought her CBC Chopin CD and the APR CD of Mozart, Schubert and Schumann.  I decided to listen to the 3rd CD first as it has some of my favorites (Barcorolle, Berceuse, Heroic Polonaise).  The 3 CDs contain almost 4 hours of music.  Generous indeed.

However, while I was in Edmonton this past week, Samuel spotted the David Garrett DVD "Rock Symphonies" and we bought that at HMV after I checked that it wasn't cheaper at Amazon.ca.  The two boys are rather hooked on Mr Garrett right now.  He's got talent, but I much prefer Valerie Tryon's artistry (or Artur Grumiaux for violin). 

Got bad news from the dentist today too - back molar is cracked.  I had lost a top back molar on the other side a few years ago that was cracked.  A crown would be $$$.  This has been a crappy year (car troubles and now this).  We went to the Berry Barn after seeing the dentist and had a waffle.  Then we went to Floral Acres to use up the Groupon and bought some lilies and geraniums.  Try to just enjoy Valerie Tryon playing Chopin.  Beautiful recording from APR.

How E-bay ratings work

I've had only one really negative experience on E-bay.  I bought a microSD to Compact Flash adaptor from a seller called Gigacity.  It said the item was in USA when in fact it shipped from China.  Anyways, the product didn't work.  Instead of giving me an immediate refund as other sellers did, they demanded I return their piece of junk merchandise at my expense.  Today, I got an universal power adaptor for notebooks (also an Ebay purchase).  It was a piece of junk.  You couldn't change the polarity of the plugs as the plug itself was polarised so that you could only plug it in one way.  Instead of giving a negative rating right away (and then retracting it once I got my refund), I contacted the seller (this is the preferred Ebay procedure) and told them they sent me a useless power adaptor.  Well, they responded right away and said I would get a refund in my PayPal account within 48 hours.  That's typically how things work on Ebay (it's happened before when I got some crap CPU cooling fans, a bad SD-CF adaptor and even for SDRAM I bought from a USA seller).  That's why the ratings are always so positive - way over 95% for the most part!

Well, while rummaging through the shed, I found a Compaq 18 V adaptor that worked in the HP DV1000 I got for $25 (along with an HP desktop and 2 Socket A mainboards with CPUs).  The HP DV1000 LCD screen is busted, but I just hooked it up to a CRT so it's now a desktop.  Got all the drivers working on it eventually.  I also got my AMD notebook today from Dell.  Unfortunately, they also sent me an Intel notebook which I didn't want.  Have to clear up the mess somehow!  I am going to use this notebook to try to learn PHP this summer so I can program webapps to hopefully do something with MySQL.  Lot's to do!

I had passed out at the blood donor clinic last Thursday (June 30) and I think I bumped my head.  Never going to donate blood again!  I had reluctantly signed up at the behest of an Aden Bowman student who was applying for a bursary.  A quarter century ago, I donated blood at U of Toronto during a residence activity and I just broke out in a cold sweat (that was when I was a teenager).  This time, I actually passed out twice. The first time, I was still in the recliner and they had to lower it again when I was about to pass out.  My BP lowered to 105/60.  After a while, I thought I was better so I walked over to the refreshment area.  After a few minutes, I started to feel lousy, so I was trying to walk back to the recliners and next thing I know a nurse is wiping my head with a cold, moist towel!  She even said "well, you gave it a shot and it's just not your thing".  I think I was more trouble to them than I was worth!

The day after Canada Day 2011

We went to visit a dear friend's memorial today.  It's been almost 4 years since Tom Shabbits died.  He was a gentle and generous soul.  After the visit, we went to the 33rd St bridge.  The water level is so high the weir is not really visible anymore.  No pelicans this year!

We had seen a train heading from the bridge today, but it was gone by the  time we got to the bridge.

Saskatoon Berries (service berry)

Nelson Freire

Nelson Freire is quite an amazing pianist.  It's good Decca decided to sign him.  I had borrowed his Brahms Piano Concerto recording and was quite impressed.  Even in his 60's his technique has held up in these highly demanding concerti.  I saw that he actually programmed these two works in during the past season of concerts.  Unlike Gilels, Freire doesn't plod along at a slow pace.  He's more like Pollini in that respect. All in all, a new favorite recording of these works to set alongside Pollini, Fleisher and Serkin.

Parkview Presbyterian Church 2008 September 27

It's been almost 3 years since Parkview Presbyterian Church, Saskatoon, closed its doors (as a Presbyterian Church). At a board meeting yesterday, it was decided that the two stain glass panes that were installed at Parkview would find a new home at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Saskatoon.

The windows are 31" wide in 3 sections that are 28" high each.  Click on the picture to see it full size.

 

 These pictures were taken on 2008 September 27 on a fine fall day.  Here are some other photos from that day:

Géza Anda died on this day in 1976

About a year ago I noted that Géza Anda had died in mid-June.  Today, I actually made money on the TSX. It's been really bad for junior mining stocks since March.  However, today, Ethiopian Potash rose from the dumpster to make me $95.  I have to hope Sunridge Gold does the same too.

Anyways, I would recommend piano buffs buy the Brilliant Classic set The Art of Géza Anda.  It is pretty much a reissue of DG's Géza Anda, Troubadour of the Piano minus the Brahms 2nd Concerto with Friscay and Schumann concerto recordings from that set.  I still want his version of the Chopin Waltzes though.  It's hard to get nowadays!

Teacher Resources

http://www.fourgreensteps.com/school-program/teachers.php

Beware of private placements!

I read about Everton's intention to buyout it's partner on May 25th.  In that news release it said it would need to raise $5 million.  Well, yesterday, they announced the details.  Today, the stock tanked 14%.  So, there's another thing to watch for!  SELL before these private placements come up.  Malbex also tanked after then went for more cash with a private placement and I'm in the red there as well.  Ethiopian Potash says it won't need to dilute it's shares any more, but if they do, watch out!

Chopin and a bad month

As noted earlier, I'm enthralled with Alice Sara Ott's recording of the Chopin Waltzes.  A couple of days ago, I dug out Pollini's 1972 recording of the Chopin Etudes.  Incomparable.  Yesterday, because of my poor blood sugar results all month, I went on the NordiTrak for 30 minutes and listened to Clara Haskil's recording of the Chopin 2nd Concerto.  Ever since I discovered her playing of that concerto, I've listened to it way more than the 1st Concerto.  I should dig out Pollini's 1960 recording of the E minor!  Hopefully, the blood sugar will improve too.

Powerpoint 2010 Frustrations

I had everything ready on a Powerpoint and was ready to package for CD when I saw the optimise media button.  What a mistake.  It junked the video I had in the presentation!  More to come...

Alice Sara Ott plays Chopin Waltzes

I just love this CD and Alice Sara Ott's playing of Chopin Waltzes.  I first got to know Chopin's waltzes from Tamás Vásáry's DG cassette.  He played only 17 and Ott plays 19. I have Ashkenazy's version in the DG Chopin box and Kocsis' version in the Decca Piano Masterworks box.  I also have Luisada's version of 17 of the waltzes. I was struck by how natural everything is with Ott's playing.  She also plays the autograph versions of the waltzes.  I'm addicted.  I've reserved her debut Liszt CD from the library.  Here is someone else's take on her fabulous Chopin CD.

Victoria Day 2011 (May 23)

Yesterday, it was 25°C.  Today it feels like -2°C with the wind chill (+4°C actual temperature).  Here are some pictures of the flowering Saskatoon berry bushes, Norland apple, Thunderchild crab apple, Ohio Buckeye and the food we'll grow this year..  The large ones are smoky cultivar and the small one is a Thiessen.

Norland apple blossoms

Thunderchild crab apple blossom

Snow peas and Russian mammoth sunflower (centre)

Saskatoon Berry Bushes

Saskatoon Berry in flower

Thiessen cultivar (foreground), smoky cultivar (behind)

Ohio Buckeye (lilacs in pots)

Norland apple (damaged last year)

Thunderchild crab apple

Suzuki Book 1 Violin Recital

Today, Samuel had his Suzuki Book 1 violin recital.  A few friends from the former Parkview Church, the TCA, some of Samuel's friends, a teaching colleague and our accompanist's sisters were in the audience.  Two elders from Calvin-Goforth Presbyterian Church also listened in.  One of them provided a very nice commentary for us at the end.  You can't have a performance without an audience, so I was very happy that they could come and hear our son play.  I love the acoustics of Calvin-Goforth church and it really enhanced the experience.

I also listened to Alice Sara Ott's recording of Chopin Waltzes today.  Marvelous.  I noticed she played the autograph version of Op 69, Nr 1 (the one I tried to play) and yes, the notes confirmed that.