Posts

\ “Poinciana, your branches speak to me of love Poinciana, your branches speak to me of love Poinciana from now until the dawning day Our love, will live forever and a day Blow tropic wind, sing a song through the tree Tree sigh to me, soon my love I will see” ……Song to the Poinciana I just returned from a beautiful wedding in Barbados. All the pictures in this post show the “flame tree” and its flamboyant display of flowers. This is what it is known as in Barbados. I always knew it by the name “flamboyant” which its display of flowers truly is. It is also known as Royal Poinciana, Pride-of-Barbados, Barbados Pride, and Peacock Flower. It seems that the name changes according to the part of the world you happen to be in." Pride of Barbados, Caesalpinia pulcherrima is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae). It is referred to by other names including Barbados Flowerfence, Peacock Flower, Mexican Bird of Paradise, Dwarf Flamboyant Caesalpinia, and Dwarf Poinciana. The species name pulcherrima literally means “very pretty” and this plant definitely lives up to the name. The blooms of Pride of Barbados are incredible with terminal flower clusters showing an orange-red with a tinge of gold on the edges. Each flower is composed of five showy petals with very prominent six inch long red stamens." ...

\ It’s June 21st tomorrow and the first day of summer. Our roses are in full bloom now. I have been captivated by their beauty and enjoy looking at them every day. Being a budding photographer and naturalist, I couldn’t resist taking these pictures. They’re all from the front garden. \ My Dad wrote a poem called “Oh Beauteous Rose” which I will share with you. He had a beautiful rose garden in the old country and enjoyed cultivating roses very much. His love for flowers, and roses in particular, never waned. He enjoyed our garden up to his last summer and this was written later in his life - in Canada. ...

\ Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later… that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life. ~Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities ...

 “In the end, the character of a civilization is encased in its structures.” (FrankGehry) Doors Open was held in Toronto last weekend. Many buildings noted for their historical, architectural, cultural, and social significance were open free of charge so that Torontonians and tourists alike could visit. All the images in this post are from my visit to the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres in Toronto. I’ve been to shows in many other theatres in Toronto but never to this one. ...

 Talk about dance? Dance is not something to talk about. Dance is to dance. -Peter Saint James- Going to the ballet is always a fun way for me to spend an evening. For most ballet lovers, it’s usually the traditional ballet classics that one doesn’t want to miss. I was in the mood for something different last week when the Eifman Ballet from St. Petersburg, Russia, was in Toronto, and so it was that I saw Eifman’s “Rodin.” The pictures in this collage are photographed from the program except for two which I took while the performers were taking their last bows. ...

 \ _“Each of the arts whose office is to refine, purify, adorn, embellish and grace life is under the patronage of a muse, no god being found worthy to preside over the_m.” (Eliza Farnham) \ The lovely bright, yellow forsythias, were in full bloom in our garden a few weeks ago. I don’t know how the idea came to me, but it did, to take my painting of “The Three Graces” and put it in the forsythia bushes and take some pictures. I also decided to try it in some greenery and you can also see the effect of this idea. I did this acrylic painting about ten years ago since dance and dancers have always had a special appeal for me. I was captivated by the beauty, elegance, and the poses of these ladies in their white, flowing dresses, in this work of art. I liked how their hands were intertwined and since the visual appeal was so great, my “muse” got to work. ...

 God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures. (Francis Bacon)\ “The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don’t want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don’t have a soul.” (Thomas Moore) ...

Culture relates to objects and is a phenomenon of the world; entertainment relates to people and is a phenomenon of life. (Hannah Arendt) Downton Abbey Fashion Ashley’s Fine China - Toronto\ We all enjoy watching certain television shows and Downton Abbey is a British series that is very popular with many people. Ashley’s in Toronto hosted a magnificent Downton Abbey Day yesterday at their store in the Manulife Centre and I was lucky enough to stop by and get these wonderful images. ...

 \ “A mother is not a person to lean upon, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” (Dorothy Canfield Fisher) Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and it was a busy day in downtown Toronto. I visited Chapters which is a big bookstore in the Manulife Centre and many young children and older children, as well as grown-ups were there shopping for cards and other gifts for Mother’s Day. As I rode the subway, I also saw many people carrying flowers - although Mother’s Day is not until tomorrow. I passed a fine chocolate shop where many people were buying chocolates. There was definitely an excitement to all this shopping. ...

“When we go out among nature, clay is returning to clay. We are returning to participate in the stillness of the earth which first dreamed us.” (John O’Donohue) High Park was packed with lovers of the natural world and beauty last Friday when I visited. It was a spectacular sight to see the Sakura in bloom. We all enjoyed nature’s bountiful beauty. We weren’t happy to just see the sight, we wanted to take it away with us. Photographers were everywhere. I had my camera along with me and the collages you see here were from that wonderful time. ...