tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57350122012-02-16T09:11:46.751-03:30Musings and thoughts on the world. Get ready - it's not always pretty out there but it's always interesting.Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1157085900848223692011-01-03T08:43:00.000-03:302011-01-03T08:43:47.775-03:30

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-25327890965629812122009-08-28T13:09:00.000-02:302009-08-28T13:13:28.762-02:30

Would have been 90 today.

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-15903568095789953752009-01-13T21:16:00.001-03:302009-01-13T21:19:51.341-03:30

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-68043469710512523632009-01-09T15:14:00.006-03:302009-01-09T15:50:06.864-03:30

One of the great Smallwood projects was the Books of Newfoundland. Starting in the Great Depression, Smallwood edited six huge volumes of all kinds of information on the province. I have often gone to them to get information that you just can't find in an easy form anywhere else. I'm sure they are riddled with idiosyncratic errors but my cursory looks haven't found them.Smallwood made money

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-50347304894656042162008-01-02T16:10:00.001-03:302008-01-02T16:10:27.290-03:30

LONO, Yolande Quesnel:  Passed peacefully away at Chancellor Park long term nursing facility on December 29, 2007 in her 82nd year. She is predeceased by her beloved husband of more than half a century, Simon Joseph Lono (d. March 8th, 2001) and her brothers Gaston and Bernard.  She leaves with fond memories, and with much thanksgiving for her long and active life, her sons and their families:

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-26585127199966412972007-09-01T10:15:00.000-02:302007-09-01T10:20:18.925-02:30

As of noon Friday, I am the Liberal candidate for the provincial district of St. John's North.I have no illusions that this will be an easy campaign - I read numbers too. But the "best time to run" is only obvious in hindsight. At some point one has to put their name, time and energy where their mouth is so you can look at yourself in the mirror in the morning.As in my municipal campaign 2

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-10921854384983019072007-07-06T13:07:00.000-02:302007-07-06T13:11:40.032-02:30

(Thanx, Nottawa. I guess I'm not as fast as I used to be. . . . )Tag Rules:1. All right, here are the rules. 2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 3. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves. 4. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. 5. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-3742714620020510502007-04-09T12:02:00.000-02:302007-04-09T12:09:20.473-02:30

It's nice to see your neighbourhood profiled in a leading European newspaper like the Financial Times.-------------------------------A diamond in the rough By Daina LawrencePublished: April 5 2007 18:21Climbing the steep San Francisco- style hills north-east of St John’s, out of the seaside city’s bustling downtown core, you’ll pass a graffitied street sign that reads: “this way to hell”.

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1166301272327674262006-12-16T17:04:00.000-03:302006-12-17T12:33:10.480-03:30

One of the great treats of traveling with our parents to Montreal when my younger brother and I were kids was hitting their old haunts. Chief amongst these places that mom and dad were happy to share with us was the places they liked to eat and pick up foods of all kinds.Food was, and continues to be, very important in our family. And because dad was Italian and mom French-Canadian, both raised

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1164853263382198162006-11-29T22:20:00.000-03:302006-11-29T22:51:03.496-03:30

All food comes into Iqaluit either by plane or, if you order in bulk in advance, by ship. There are no road links to here at all.It's hard to appreciate how the isolation of this community affects the every-day costs of living until you see a few examples. So here's a small sample.Looking for a quick meal, maybe some soup? No problem!You will probably want a sandwich with that so you need some

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1164767530452318212006-11-28T22:55:00.000-03:302006-11-28T23:02:10.463-03:30

These are taken near the local Rotary Park. Nearby are bbq's and other facilities for family outings.You might think that these shots were taken near dawn or dusk. In fact, they were taken at about 12:45pm. At this time of year, around here the sun only rises a bit above the horizon before it heads back down again.That makes for very short days that are only getting shorter all the time.

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1164321607013378572006-11-23T18:58:00.000-03:302006-11-24T13:03:18.646-03:30

These are some of the people I work with when I'm up here. This was taken outside the Legislature on the last day of the June session.There's actually more than twice as many involved than this pic shows. The team is 80% Inuit and come from all walks of life. Some have day jobs and only come in to transcribe in the evenings. One is a former cabinet minister and MLA in the old NWT legislature

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1164255998524947252006-11-23T00:47:00.000-03:302006-11-23T00:56:38.526-03:30

Flying to Iqaluit meant heading west and north in the early morning. The result was a very a very long sunrise. I saw some remarkable colours so I whipped out the trusty little camera.Here's some lovely pics I managed to take as the sun came up.

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1164255387960240012006-11-23T00:42:00.000-03:302006-11-23T00:46:27.970-03:30

I know this will drive my dear wife mad but I can't help it - I like this picture. It's a self-portrait at the NL Symphony Gala right after the music stops and the Arts and Culture Centre starts to empty.I'm in my father's tux and Dei is in a stunning red gown. Behind us is a bemused Paul Barnes who's not quite sure what to make of us.

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1157675450401832792006-10-23T21:07:00.000-02:302006-10-23T14:53:45.133-02:30

(I've been a little distracted so I've been a little behind in my posts. Here's my catch-up efforts)Driving around the city you will see vast expanses of vinyl siding. Now I don't have anything against vinyl siding on principle but even if I could put it on the house (and I can't because of where I live) I still wouldn't.First problem is, compared to paint, you have very limited colours

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1160184775840133952006-10-18T01:44:00.000-02:302006-10-18T00:49:33.776-02:30

Let's try a change of pace. Here's a collection of neighborhood and general NL pictures from my hard drive.A couple of years ago my boy Simon woke me in the middle of the night with the words guaranteed to instantly wake any person who lives in row housing in downtown St. John's: "Dad, I smell smoke." Sure enough the house across the street was on fire. We were lucky that it was a quiet night

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1160066756597354202006-10-08T13:58:00.000-02:302006-10-08T11:58:57.846-02:30

Time for my folks. . .This is dad known formally as Simon J. Lono and informally as leaky Lono. He served in WWII and rose to be Master Sergeant and instructor. It was not an experience he enjoyed thoroughly and he was glad to get out.The folks moved here around 1951 and built a life supported by the successful operations of Simon Lono Ltd., a roofing contracting firm that became the largest

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1160052913957929152006-10-05T10:07:00.000-02:302006-10-06T09:12:15.163-02:30

This is the newest addition to the family - Anthony. He's the son of my baby brother Marc and his wife Nikki.Can't get an earlier shot than this of new baby and mom - day 1.Proud dad and Anthony at the end of year one.This past summer they made their first visit home since Anthony was born. At 2 years, 3 months he gets a chance to see family and the province. Anthony stayed here a few nights

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1160003707411740402006-10-04T20:44:00.000-02:302006-10-04T20:46:15.410-02:30

Time for the boy - my son Simon . . .This is one of my very favourite photos I have. He's small here, about 2-1/2 and just finished a crying jag one lovely Regatta day. I remember it like it were yesterday.Summer before last in Burin.At mom's 80th birthday in the limo. You can see Sam, Simon, mom and Diana.Best Halloween costume ever!

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1159907731567214732006-10-03T17:10:00.000-02:302006-10-03T18:05:31.640-02:30

It's time for the lil fool - Diana.She's about 3 years here and she's losing her mind over a new animatronic Barney. I wish this was a video clip because she's reacting to the Barney moving his head and hands around and saying "hello".That was then. . . .. . . and this is now, 11 years, and at a wedding this past summer.I ran for Council last September and she was my biggest supporter. What

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1159874490074249142006-10-03T08:41:00.000-02:302006-10-03T08:52:49.676-02:30

Here's the second set. I'll post a set each day centered around a person, place or theme. Since these are the first ones to catch my eye, the person of the day is Sam.Sam and Deirdre at the piano. Music is an important thing they share.Sam and debating schmoes, Russell on the left and Jonny on the right.Sam the trumpet performerJust hanging out in the kitchen

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1159810803355536932006-10-02T14:40:00.000-02:302006-10-02T15:10:04.110-02:30

My dear better half has threatened to leave me if I don't post pictures promised to love me more if I start posting family pictures. How can I turn that down? So, for then next days be prepared for family pics!My better half, Dierdre, and I.Our girls, Sarah and Diana and our old family friend, Paola from St. Pierre, in the backgroundOur boys, Simon and Sam.More to follow. . .

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1157650030045826152006-09-07T14:47:00.000-02:302006-09-07T22:05:00.070-02:30

In house renos, just like anything else, the devil is in the details. Details, in this case, means those architectural flourishes required to make the house look like a really good example of the local heritage ideal.Things like corbels. I had no idea what corbels were before we started. When you drive around the city, look up to edges of the eaves and you'll see little braces in the corners

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1157037703200531652006-08-31T12:33:00.000-02:302006-08-31T12:51:43.210-02:30

I regret to inform the world that my Motorola T730 cellular telephone has passed on, a casualty of the infernal house renovation.It was a warm sunny day when my lovely wife was up on the scaffolding painting the newly installed house trim. I gave her my phone in case she needed to call me while I was in the house doing other things. The house phone rang and I could barely hear her telling me to

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1156979897309143112006-08-30T20:02:00.000-02:302006-08-30T20:48:17.340-02:30

I've been sadly negligent in keeping up with my posts because the house renos are all-consuming. I'll work to bring you up to date (we are now up to painting) but for now, to make it up, I have something very interesting to post.One thing about old houses is when you start to dig into them, you really never know what you might find. For example, some people like to put a piece of newspaper

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1155237813623364712006-08-10T12:06:00.000-02:302006-08-10T16:57:54.153-02:30

New details and house wrapNot the most productive of weeks although a few things have been done. The house has been covered in housewrap (Typar for those interested in the details) from Home Depot (as you can see in the pic).In addition, Steve has been cutting and assembling the door and window trim for installation. He just sent me the new designs as you can see here. I'm a big fan of the

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1154875385804555372006-08-06T11:35:00.000-02:302006-08-10T09:18:37.530-02:30

This week we should be seeing the assembly and installation of house detailing and clapboard. Since this house is a Second Empire Revival style, and since we live in the region of the city most tightly ruled by the heritage police (just kidding. . .we love you guys. . . really), our detailing has to be of the approved types.That means no plastic facing, no huge bubble windows, no faux Tudor

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1154866886869688942006-08-06T09:51:00.000-02:302006-08-06T11:33:11.230-02:30

There are people who have known me a long time who do not know that I am one of the original computer geeks. My first Computer Science course was the last time they used punch-card machines. In the early 80's my hobby was to poke around with the MUN Unix systems, getting into the innards of VMS and admiring the clean lines of the latest DEC PDP-1170's.I even crashed the systems once (that story

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1154711083267084272006-08-04T14:17:00.000-02:302006-08-04T22:54:35.523-02:30

Plywood InstallationAs really cool as expanding foam is, it's not the kind of stuff you can leave out to the elements indefinitely. After a few days of being covered in plastic to protect it from the rain, the strapping is completed and the plywood put on.We had a choice. We could use planking again (a more traditional material) or replace it with 3/4 inch plywood. We went with the plywood

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1154708240954634532006-08-02T13:27:00.000-02:302006-08-04T14:36:59.963-02:30

Regatta Day SalesI normally hit the Regatta with the kids but two things kept me away this time: really lousy weather and the world-famous Chester Dawe Regatta Day Sale*. I had never gone before.We went out kinda late to the Topsail Road store and it was amazing! Huge numbers of people with cars parked far away. We got some great swag including 3 bathroom fans, a compound mitre saw and even a

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1154706822842363192006-07-28T12:54:00.000-02:302006-08-06T12:18:06.993-02:30

Insulation installationWhat's the point of just removing/replacing the clapboard unless we make the house better, said I. So of course it went without saying that insulation would have to be part of the project. Steve, our intrepid builder, recommended a spray expanding foam. It's effective as an insulator and air/vapor/sound barrier. As a bonus, it's fast and easy to install compared to

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1153661310187990802006-07-22T10:45:00.000-02:302006-07-23T14:36:23.666-02:30

Tree Cutting Day!Dei is very excited by this. We (did) have a large maple in the backyard that was causing no end of trouble. It was in the wrong place, overshadowed the yard and was the annual home to tens of thousands of spanworms.It was time to get rid of this nasty weed-tree.I don't do the whole chainsaw-up-in-tree thing so we called in the pros. As you can see, they did a wonderful

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1153660237222437642006-07-21T10:26:00.000-02:302006-07-23T10:44:39.353-02:30

Thanks to this stop order we had to make changes to our scaffolding. That meant taking it all down and then putting it all back up.Let me explain: the rules are that you cannot block sidewalks. However, the city is understanding about this and makes informal allowances for special cases.Like our street, for example, which has very little traffic and no parking on either side of the street. So

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1153330154872969572006-07-19T14:26:00.000-02:302006-07-19T14:59:14.933-02:30

It's a one-step-forward one-step-backward day.Today we have finalized the financing so now we can just plough ahead. We even have all the clapboard off the front as you can see here.We've also had a chance to get a close look at the dormers and noticed that they were made of plywood.Also today we were handed our first stop-work order.Thank you Mr. Neighbour, for making this process so much easier

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1153248675998468312006-07-18T15:17:00.000-02:302006-07-18T16:43:22.216-02:30

Today we begin the first of the major outside work - tearing off the front clapboard, insulating, cutting out the rot, replacing the board and painting. Since I don't do heights, I do the documentation until we get to the point where I can help.The fellow in red is Steve and the other fellow his carpenter Ray. Good fellows, both.So up goes the scaffolding:Start at the bottomFirst level. . . .

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1152583697297520872006-07-10T23:34:00.000-02:302006-07-10T23:38:17.306-02:30

On Saturday I checked out the nest again.To my surprise, the chicks were already gone. It took far less time for them to get on the go and leave than I would have ever guessed.One sad note: of the 5 eggs, all hatched but only 4 of the 5 chicks made it out to the big wide world.Let's see if any come back to the site next year.

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1152197399944898162006-07-06T11:53:00.000-02:302006-07-10T23:39:17.376-02:30

A few days ago Deirdre decided to water a geranium hanging off the back of the house. When she poured the water, a small finch flew out! Turns out she build a nest inside with five little eggsThis morning I noticed ma and pa bird flying in and out with worms. Checking it out with a camera I took these: If you look closely you can see the lil chicks. Here's a closeup of them. Expect updates as

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1150655914921137882006-06-18T16:06:00.000-02:302006-06-18T16:08:34.933-02:30

Wish you were here.

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1141175578260661892006-02-28T21:42:00.000-03:302006-03-02T11:38:09.020-03:30

“Bring a warm coat”, was the constant refrain I heard in the weeks I spent preparing to come up here. It didn’t matter if that person was up here, or if that person had people up here or if that person had no idea what it was like up here. The consensus was – it’s a cold spot. Checking the weather on a daily basis, the temperatures in Iqaluit in the days before I arrived hovered around –20c

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1141175527064743492006-02-28T21:40:00.000-03:302006-02-28T21:42:07.076-03:30

(I'll try to keep things more up-to-date as I get internet access)I’ve spent an awful lot of my life in airplanes from a very young age - I was born in March month and that June I was on a plane with my parents. I’m never happier than when I’m on a plane with money in one hand, a passport in the other and an interesting destination ahead of me. My personal record is 30,000 air miles (almost

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5735012.post-1140456543747636762006-02-20T13:47:00.000-03:302006-04-14T13:57:53.253-02:30

This is what I've been threatening to do - my own blog. I don't think it's going to change the world but at least I can let my family and friends know what's going on. My goal is to keep this updated on what's going on around me as I see it.Just to let you know, in 24 hours I fly from home in St. John's, NL for a four week stint in fabulous metropolitan Iqaluit. I'll be working with the Nunavut

Simon Lonohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03988088082767730876noreply@blogger.com7