Book Review: The Resistance Painter

🇨🇦 The Resistance Painter 

 Book by Kath Jonathan

What an epic tale. It is an historical fiction, combining present and past. It is set in wartime Warsaw, 1939, as well as Toronto, 2010. I ordered it directly from the publisher. While it is an American publisher, they feature Canadian books on its .ca website. 

I spend afternoons reading out back. Usually non-fiction, but this is an important topic. Especially with wars going on around the world. Humans have spent a lot of time fighting one another for land, power, and fuel sources. It was impressive seeing how resourceful people become when fighting oppressors. 

There are many untold stories of women who fought along side the men, even in the patriarchal military setting. 

From the publisher, Simon & Shuster:

An evocative work of historical fiction, examining the little-known story of Poland’s extraordinary WW ll resistance army and the contemporary lives of two artists, grandmother and granddaughter, inextricably linked by a wartime betrayal.

Life around Crumbly Acres!

 Thinking time: how to block Fred from my garden and under the garage.

This was last week. It did not foil her! This is really funny now. 

She's eating the plants, which isn't horrible. They are creeping across the garden, usurping other plants.

The contrails intersect in a tic-tac-toe pattern!

Outside, it is comfortable when there is a breeze and one is in the shade. The deck gets shade in the afternoon. I am reading The Resistance Painter. Joe is reading 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America! I may read that when he is done.

Nutmeg, AKA killer, is left indoors! She is not amused. She catches far more critters than Cinnamon. She is deadly. 

The sphinx moths are amazing. 

Here is a sphinx caterpillar I managed NOT to step on whilst gardening.

As we left the house for our lunch out, we saw Lanark County pulling out individual Wild Parsnip plants. I saw the red truck on camera and realized what was happening.

Since about 2015, they've been spraying the shoulders. Now, with some people disallowing spraying on their property, some plants are growing back. Respreading, I guess. The deal is that if a landowner doesn't want spraying, they have to clear it out themselves. I've found no impact from the product they use. It was restricted to a few feet on the shoulders, and has mostly eradicated this invasive species. 

Originally, pioneers brought parsnip from the old country. It has spread, and evolved, and gives humans a horrid burn, just like Giant Hogweed, or Poison Ivy. 

This is what we had, prior to the country spraying them.

I have had this. It is itchy and painful. My poison ivy ointment works on it, thankfully. 

Phytophotodermatitis, also known as "Lime Disease" (not to be confused with Lyme Disease), "Berloque dermatitis", or "Margarita photodermatitis" is a chemical reaction which makes skin hypersensitive to ultraviolet light.

The County is at the point where they pull out offending plants, bagging them up. This spot clean up is working well. As gardeners know, it doesn't take much for weeds to spread.

Saturday's Critters

Things have been busy! The coyote popped in for an evening visit.

I think this is a coyote! We don't have any dogs roaming. Looks a little less furry, though.

   

My camcorder tends to focus on the image farthest away. This wasn't so much an epic fail, as a lesson! The sun is so bright on the viewfinder that it is difficult to see. I shall work on this. Nevertheless, it is evidence of both goldfinch and scarlet tanager.

   

  Butch raccoon comes and goes.

   

 

  The Freds are still here! Sadly, Fred is back under the garage. She keeps digging around the barriers. Twerp. I guess it keeps them off the street. 

Still momma Fred, and her one shy kit. This has preserved her, methinks. The other 3 kits were dinner.

 

Night time July fireworks and lots of moths.

 

For more critters: Saturday's Critters # 606 visit Eileen!

Canadian detained in Canadian waters

Yes, two posts today, this one is shocking. They have released an attack on humans from near and far. People working for the government have been empowered to commit horrid attacks on humans. 

U.S. Travel <= we're up to 35 cases of detained visitors. I've been tracking them. They have unleashed monsters.

Some U.S. governors have been in Canada, trying to convince Canadians to resume visiting the U.S., but we aren't having any of it. It is dangerous. The U.S. ambassador has been calling us 'nasty' for boycotting U.S. goods. At a Washington meeting, Ambassador Hoekstra was leading an attack on Canada. 

"Ambassador Pete Hoekstra made the remarks about Canadians avoiding U.S. travel and booze when he was speaking at the annual Pacific NorthWest Economic Region Foundation summit in Bellevue, Wash."

The U.S. ambassador has been calling us 'nasty' 

In the meantime, we had a horrible incident with a Quebec man simply fishing. The US Coast Guard rammed his boat, boarded, and arrested and jailed him. Canadians are getting really angry. What an horrific incident. The law is no longer protecting citizens. He was 15km north of the border, very familiar with these waters.

Canadian thrown in jail

What an horrific incident

A storm!

  We had quite the storm last night. About 7 mm rain (0.27").  Very exciting thunder and lightning.

I watched it approach. 

Look at those clouds! 

Interesting storm last night. Here is a TimeLapse I did. You can see how windy it got by the movement of the big trees at the river's edge. In this area it died away to not much more than a good rain, thank goodness.

[image or embed]

— Harry Foster (@harryfoster.bsky.social) July 25, 2025 at 6:22 AM

I looked at the power outage map. Yikes.

At the height of it, lots lost power. Things are better this morning, but it'll take time.

Crumbly Acres in bloom

We've had some cool mornings! It's more like August. 

Blue Cardinal flower! They have seeded themselves and come back every year. The hummingbirds like them. I've put my hummingbird feeders away. There are lots of blooms out there. 

My first tiger lily bloom!

I have spent hours clearing out and pruning. 

We've one big green frog in the goldfish pond. He's getting along with the gold fish. 

There is a very green frog in the frog pond down in the forest. There were several, but I'm still working on managing my new camcorder.

One trumpet flower! They have reseeded themselves.

This popped up in my memories section! That was my blue year, 2017! 

I went off for a pedicure. I thought I'd perk up my hair. It's a spray-on thing, that washes out quickly. I just needed a lift.

It was very relaxing, and she pulled out a sliver, likely a thorn, from under one toe! 

Fred, the cuckoo, loons

Fred and miniFred have still been around. They are incredibly wary. Recently, I haven't seen the fox in the daytime, which is good news. Can you see them behind the lilac tree?! I was afraid to move before taking a photo, but they both stuck around. 

MiniFred checks out Paul and the goose:

Cinnamon and I were reading on the back deck, Joe having his nap.

I could hear a loon, as well. There are people following the loon family on the lake. These are from days when  I was able to canoe, or wandered about. 

 Not so bad birding from the back deck! Thing is, there is the highway out this way, and no water for  perhaps 500m. 

They have marvellous songs.

 

I took a walk. The black-billed cuckoo was calling. Or so I think, as does Merlin! I cannot find it, just follow it along the edge of the wetland. Joe can't hear it, I can't spot it! The sound is really interesting.