A Mystery

On one of my many trips to the mailbox located across the street from the office building where I work during National Letter Writing Month (a.k.a. April), I noticed a hotel key card on the ground beside the mailbox.  You know the kind they have these days, the ones that look like a credit card.  It was just after the snowbanks had melted away, a process which usually leaves behind (or reveals) a lot of garbage and general debris.  I assumed this card was just that, as it was lying in a rather haphazard fashion on the ground about a foot or so away from the mailbox.  Since it was a pretty shade of teal, I picked it up and took it home, intending to use it to spread paint or gel medium or modeling paste on my artwork.

A week or so later, I came to the mailbox again and discovered another card from the same hotel (which is located about a five minute drive from the mailbox location).  Only this time, it was firmly placed under a rock directly beside the mailbox.

I went back the next day and it was still there.

The next time I checked, the card was gone, although the stone was still there.

Of course, I am full of curiosity about what this is all about.  The second card was so deliberately placed, it can't be a random occurrence.  It must have been left there for someone to pick up, don't you think?  Did I inadvertently screw up someone's arrangements by taking that first card?  Perhaps it's a pair of lovers scheduling a secret assignation.  Perhaps someone sharing a room with another person for some reason (airline personnel between flights, possibly, given our proximity to the airport?)?  I'd love to know the story.

For now, it remains a mystery.

Outside My Window

Outside my window, spring has arrived.

The leaves on some of the trees (not all, not just yet) are unfurling their green delights in the early morning sun

the weeping willow is glowing with new growth

and the garden centre in the parking lot across the street is open for business!

More Gelli Fun

Another Sunday afternoon spent playing with the gelli plate.  Just like last time, we each made dozens of very cool pages.  It's a lot of fun but rather a messy process, as you can see.

It was Laura's first time and she wasn't afraid to get her hand dirty!

Another Season Begins

The arrival of spring also means the start of antique season here in Ontario.  My friend Lorraine and I attended one of the first events of the season today, the A Day in the Country sale (featuring Tattered and Torn, The Eclectic Pelican and The Primitive Heart).

The Quonset hut where the sale is held.

We got there early and had to wait a bit for this pretty door to be opened for business.

Here are the ladies arriving to start the sale - L to R: Christine from The Primitive Heart, Kim from Tattered and Torn, Kathy from The Eclectic Pelican and a fourth lady whom I didn't meet.

Everything inside was beautifully displayed.

I bought some antique lace and a keepsake box with this pretty lid:

Then we headed to nearby Greensville for an antique show held upstairs in a church that featured mostly vintage clothing and fabric.

I loved this display of ladies' hats!

I picked up more bits of lace and some antique quilting squares (lined with newsprint from 1929!).

All in all, a lovely way to spend a sunny spring day!

Salgado's Genesis

A bit more about the exhibit I saw at the Royal Ontario Museum last night, called "Genesis", a collection of photographs by Sebastiao Salgado.

The evening started with about forty minutes of listening to Mr. Salgado.  He is a very engaging speaker, with an interesting accent, having been born in Brazil and then moving to Paris at the age of 20.  He mostly spoke about his life, where he grew up, how he came to be doing this work.  He started out as an economist, believe it or not, before picking up a camera for the first time and getting hooked.

Afterwards, we watched a slide show of about 140 photos from some of his previous exhibits.  They were all pretty amazing but some were difficult to see.  For example, his "Migrations" photos included pictures of some of the atrocities which took place in the Rwanda refugee camps - the pictures of starving children were especially heartbreaking.

The focus of this new project was to photograph areas of the world that have not changed in hundreds and thousands of years, that are still as pristine and untouched as they would have been when the Earth was young.  Places like Monument Valley, the Canadian North, parts of the Arctic Circle, the Galapagos Islands, Papua New Guinea.  Admittedly, I only saw half the exhibit last night. It was much too crowded, with four or five people standing in front of each photo.  I'm planning to visit again - hopefully several times - before the exhibit leaves at the end of the summer to get a better look and no doubt, it will be a little less crowded then.

Many of the photos I did see were of tribes who are living the same lifestyle as generations of their ancestors did, which is hard to believe in this day and age that they haven't been overrun by "progress".
There were also scenic views of mountain ranges, rivers, deserts, snow covered expanses and this iceberg:

The above photo was one of my favourites, I couldn't take my eyes off it.  You can get a better look at it here.  The structure on the right looks so much like a castle to me, my mind had trouble computing the fact that it was carved out of ice and not stone.

There were several interesting animal shots, which Mr. Salgado advised were somewhat unusual for him to take, as he had spent most of the past 50 years photographing only humans.  The foot of the marine iguana I showed you yesterday was just one of the creatures he had captured on film (my favourite was the giant tortoise), which is why I was surprised they used that shot for the outside banner on the museum, as it doesn't really represent the focus of the exhibit to me.  But then again, that's just my opinion and it doesn't really matter, it's just an observation.  The subject matter is fascinating, the black and white photos are stunning.  If you find yourself in Toronto, Rio, Lausanne, Paris or Sao Paolo anytime in the next six months when this exhibit is being presented, you should really try to see it.

The ROM's Newest Exhibit

The new exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum was revealed tonight to a couple hundred of members, myself included.  It's a collection of photographs by Sabastiao Salgado called Genesis.  We were lucky enough to attend a talk given by the man himself, introducing the project, followed by a twenty minute slide show of some of his previous work (stunning). We were then invited to see the exhibit, which is spread over two galleries in the museum.

I was surprised by the photo chosen for the banner that hangs on the outside of the museum:

It's the foot of a marine iguana,
which lives in the Galapagos Islands.

I'll tell you why tomorrow.

The First of May

I spent today shuttling between doctor appointments, sitting in waiting rooms, waiting in examination rooms, being examined and commuting to and fro in weekday big city traffic.  A bit of a drain on the energy resources when you're not feeling too well but on the plus side, I have been assured by one doctor that I have a very healthy vajayjay and been prescribed a puffer and antibiotics by the other to hopefully make this debilitating cough go far, far away.  So it's all good.

When the medical part of my day was done, I made a couple of stops.  The first, to visit the grave of two dear friends and former cottage neighbours, as the cemetery was near to my doctor's office and I hadn't been there with time to spare in many years.  Luckily, I was able to find it easily, having only a vague recollection of the location.

I was heartened to see the forsythia finally in bloom nearby

as well as this pretty tree, which I believe is a magnolia of some type but I am not entirely sure.  (Feel free to comment if you recognize its floppy petals and pink and yellow centre!)

As you can see from these photos, it will be another week or two before the leaves on these other trees make their appearance but soon, very soon.

Then I went to the beach, having forgotten the morning forecast which had advised it would be cooler by the lake.  Oh my, yes it certainly was, with a cold wind blowing up whitecaps on the water.  Nevertheless, lots of people about, walking their dogs, biking, rollerblading, playing beach volleyball.  There was even one fellow flying a couple of very large kites (no, those aren't flies on my lens, it's that darned hair on the lens!  Grr.)

If you look closely, you can see the whitecaps
in the background.  Or you can just
admire the subject in the foreground.

I didn't linger on the beach but I did appreciate the quick peek at what lies ahead for us very soon.  In the meantime, we'll enjoy the gifts of spring.