Remembering

This whole week has been one of remembrance, starting on Sunday with a Service of Remembrance at the Christ Church Cathedral. Every year, a list of fallen soldiers who were parishioners at the Cathedral is read; from the Great War through to the recent losses in Afghanistan. Among those is a member of the boys' choir of the Cathedral from around one hundred years ago: Lt. Edmund Gordon Brown. For me, one of the most memorable experiences of this past summer's choir trip to France and England was a graveside performance in Barlin, France (see page 6). The ultimate sacrifice of Canadians serving in France is still much solemnly appreciated almost a century later. We were very moved by the welcome we received in the town, as we were there to pay tribute this former chorister. In Sunday's service, I thought of mothers of previous generations and how, but for the time in which I live, I could be mourning the loss of a son. One does not need to know the deceased, but simply a bit of their story to feel a profound loss.



This photo shows my paternal grandfather as a youth at some point during the First World War. Still too young for active duty in this photo, he is labelled as Scout Thies on the back of the photo. His presence in the photo reminded me of how war made an impact on everyone in his community in the north of England and, with almost an entire generation lost, the whole society.




As a young man, my Grandfather moved to Canada where he was able to fulfill his 'cowboy' dreams and work with horses. During the Second World War, he traveled across the country training Cavalry soldiers. I believe that this photo of my grandfather was taken near the beginning of the War when my Father was very young. My Dad was very lucky that his Father was considered too old to fight overseas during this war and, unlike many boys his age, had a father to raise him after the war was over. Unfortunately, my Grandfather died before I was born, but I remember him through his story retold.

I feel fortunate to have known my Mum's Father who was a squadron leader in the Royal Air Force. He was not inclined to discuss his wartime experiences but I was able to learn his story through my Mum and my Nanan. I try to share all these stories with my children and hope that feel connected to those that served for their country long before they were born, so that they too can remember and appreciate the enormity of dedication and sacrifice of our Armed Forces.

My Creative Space: Out and about

Sometimes the need to be creative takes a back seat to the creative needs of other family members and lately that seems to be the case for me. In addition to all the winding up of activities, this family did a little travelling this past weekend. Numbers 3 and 4 dance but being boys they do not have a lot of male company in their classes. Last Saturday, No.3 had an opportunity to change that for a few hours when he auditioned for this production. Along with about three dozen other boys he got to put himself through his paces with others his age. He would now like to try taking some hip-hop and tap classes as well as his ballet and stage classes and he made a new friend from near London, Ontario. He is pretty sure that he will not get a call back because there were a few boys who were really advanced that were asked to stay a little longer and he is just happy to have had the opportunity to audition.

While Number 3 was at his audition, the rest of the family decided to have a picnic lunch in a nearby park. Adjacent to the park is a popular destination for Toronto families through many generations. Within this site there is a museum that tells some of the history of the area and of the immigrant experience in Toronto. We enjoyed meeting the volunteer interpreter Kay and her story. I took lots of pictures of the buildings and plants which I will put up on my flickr account. I was quite taken with this mule form of sedums.

The whole neighborhood of Cabbagetown is made of beautifully restored nineteenth century small houses or cottages. I took many pictures of all the little individually architectural details with this one very finished.






























The ones I like the most show a little of their age.































Does this look like these chairs are on the curb? I was not sure and I did not have the room in the van but I was sure tempted! I have wanted some of these for awhile so maybe they will show up closer to home. My family was groaning that I was taking a picture but you find inspiration where you find it which leads to what I spotted in ritzy Rosedale.








A pink garage! I love the whimsy of this scheme but its locale reminds me that wealth can help when it comes to eccentric expression. We have a deep, lipstick pink front door but I not sure that candy pink would work in our suburban neighborhood but the ivy across the roof line might.




After the audition, the whole family did the quintessential Toronto tourist experience and went up the CN tower. We chose not to go up the additional Sky Pod as it was expensive enough just going to the observation deck. The view of the city is spectacular and certainly changed from when I ate lunch in the restaurant as a teenager in 1982. The restaurant is much fancier than when I ate there so long ago although my meal of Salisbury Steak was Canadian Haute Cuisine at the time. We chose not to feed our family a dinner at elevated prices and found an Indian restaurant nearby which was more appreciated with more down to earth prices. (Sorry for all the bad puns!)

So after getting cosy with the public sculpture, we hopped in the van to start our long drive home. While this was the farthest away day trip we would try, the kids have proven to do well with road-trips which has inspired me to think of some new destinations.

For creative spaces closer to home spend some time travelling through Kristy's blog.

Thrifting at the community garage sale

This past weekend was our community's garage sale and eventhough I was not feeling very well, I made a quick trip around the need to pick my daughter up from Youth Orchestra. At the community centre there was a large sale as a fund raiser for a child with a rare disorder. I did not get to the sale until after 1:00 but the deals were still to be had. For $1 you were given a plastic bag to fill: all the books and the ceramic piece fit in the bag. The Planter(?) is marked Crown Ceramics, Vancouver, B.C. and the only information I could find on the web was a vase with an almost identical glaze which dates it from the '50s. I am really attracted to that colour and the shape reminds me of a lotus flower. I forgot to add the bread machine cookbook that my eight year old wanted in the photo but you might see the "Arthur" and "Science Experiments you can eat" books he also wanted. There are sewing and craft books from the '60s and '70s and "Roughing it in the Bush" by Catherine Parr Trail who was a early Canadian Pioneer diarist ( I already have the book by her sister Susannah Moodie). The small red book is Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" which is about people in Australia after a global nuclear war and I remember being struck by themovie when I saw it as a teenager and no doubt made a huge impact when it came out in 1959 at the height of the Cold war. The last book is the "Rand-McNally Reference Atlas of the World" from 1936. It is filled with demographic and social information as well as maps of countries whose geopolitical boundaries are quite different than today's. It will live on the shelf next to my Father's "Historical Atlas of Canada". The last piece is the shelf the books are on. We will use this in our music/living room to hold the sheet music used daily by my husband for teaching and by my children for practising. The ironic thing is that we know the family who donated it to the sale because their name is written on the back. Fine Hand inspired me to photograph my front door(or part of it to show the colour) like she had been inspired by pink picket fence and the bookshelf had belonged to her in-laws. Is there some kind of thrifting karma going on?

I actually went to another sale first and I immediately saw the Androck egg beater for $.50 and it was all I bought at that house. As the first purchase of the garage sale season it is great because I have waiting for one to go with my other vintage kitchen tools for over a year and it is perfect mostly because of the red wooden handles. Selena at posted about patience and thrifting today. The yellow bowl is Fire King rather that Pyrex and in rough shape but at only a quarter, I thought I might use it in the sewing studio as catch-all for buttons I am using. The train case came for the same house as the bowl as well as some videos and DVDs. The case is in rough shape but I would really like to alter it like Julie or Bethany. Number 3 found some very nice newer Bushnell binoculars in a nylon case that he bought with his own money. He was in a spending mood because what he found next was way out of my garage sale budget. A return trip home and discussion/negotiations with his father ensued and then a call back to the owner sealed the deal. I know that this would not happen in many households, but we let him buy a drumset. Yes, you read correctly. What is a housefull of classical music types doing with a drumset? Well just because my training was to be a orchestral flutist does not mean that I do not enjoy other types of music and the same goes with my husband who has worked as a full-time orchestral musician for over twenty-five years. The fact is that our harp-playing choir boy of a son plays percussion in the school band. He knows that he cannot play the drums when anyone else is practising, teaching or sleeping but he was still willing to use his whole year's choir pay to buy it. We were going to need to buy him a snare drum anyway. I hope that we do not regret this decision.

When we went to pay for and collect the drum set all the garage sales were over and free stuff was at the curb. The water carafe and glass/lid is for my husband's bed side table and is nicely weighted at the base. The vase is marked "Treasures of Spain", Brody, Japan. Click on the photo to get a clearer view of the texture and colour. I can picture a bouquet of same type flowers in this vase and it will work well with less attractive stems or lack of greenery. Does anyone know about this ceramics company?



The lamp shades were also for free at the curb and although they look good in the photo, they are damaged so I will be stripping them and using the frames. It is amazing that people do not bother to donate leftovers to charities. This morning was our local garbage pick-up and there was still some donate-able stuff at the curb. If people place so little value in their stuff, why did they buy it in the first place? I do not mind benefitting but I do believe that the lack of thought behind consumerism has contributed to the world's present economic woes. As consumers we have the power to reject what does not have the quality and lasting value we seek!

Birthday Gifts part 2

Yesterday's post about gifts missed three essential elements: The first is the gratuitous cute kitten photo seen here. The second is the video clip of her on her first evening in our home which I still cannot get to work. The third is photographic evidence of number 4's fabulously awesome birthday gift: a brand new bike. Being the youngest of four he gets a lot of hand me downs but we do not get too many complaints so we did not mind making a new purchase of something that would not be handed down to a younger sibling. His new bike is of better quality than the one we had for his siblings and will be passed on to someone when he grows out of it. We also purchased it at an independent (family-owned, I think)store rather than a big box outlet. The sales staff were far more informed, the bike was properly assembled, we have complementary servicing for the next two years and we are supporting our local economy more directly. The process is certainly more like how our grandparents approached it yet the impact is positively modern.