….from my garden
New Flower (June 9, 2022) – Mini Irises
2
Category Archives: About Me
I’m a Fan of……Lawn Bowling
….thanks to Jez for hosting I’m a fan of…..https://jezbraithwaite.blog/2022/06/06/corbies-fan-of-159/
Down the street from where I live we have a lawn bowling club. It’s been there for 120 years. It was established June 24,1902 and is the oldest lawn bowling club in Toronto. I’ve been walking past the greens for decades and never gave playing the game a second thought until my neighbour across the street recruited me and two other neighbours to join. This happened shortly after I retired from teaching.
Even during COVID we managed to keep the greens open with a very limited number of players. This season we’re back in full swing and hoping to bring more members into the club. People laugh when I tell them I’ve joined the club but after our open house last week where the public could try lawn bowling for free, more people, young and old, saw a new side to lawn bowling. It is not just a sport for the elderly. It is challenging but not too cumbersome and it’s a lot of fun.
Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – Peaceful
….thanks to Cee for hosting CBWC https://ceenphotography.com/2022/06/02/cbwc-peaceful/
Walks in the park, along the beach and past the marina are all peaceful to me.
New Flower (June 4, 2022) – Columbine in my Garden
Weekly Prompt Colour Challenge – Nautical Blue
…thanks to Sue from Weekly Prompts for hosting this week’s colour challenge https://weeklyprompts.com/2022/06/04/weekly-prompts-colour-challenge-nautical-blue/
What is nautical blue? According to some sites on the internet it is the following:
There are a surprising number of colours that can be considered nautical. Some of the most popular include deep blue, navy, red, black, white, turquoise, sand or khaki, brick, cream, sea green, sky blue, yellow, shades of gray, and more.
Sue is allowing us to interpret the colour nautical blue as we please. Here is my interpretation of nautical blue.
Macro Monday and Tuesday Textures – May 31, 2022
….macros often have great textures so I’ve combined the two challenges today
Taking My Big Camera for a Walk Yesterday
….and capturing all these wonderful shots with my zoom lens
Yesterday was a wonderfully sunny day and I was hoping the the turtles would be out, sun bathing on the logs in the pond. I wasn’t disappointed.
After I left the turtles I came across a few more critters.
Whatever is so Lovely – Week 20
….thanks to Squirrel Chase for hosting Whatever is so Lovely https://www.thesquirrelchase.com/2022/05/24/whatsoever-is-lovely-2022-week-20/
I know this post may seem outdated in some parts of the world but spring tends to arrive later here in Toronto, Canada and in the last week many of the blossoms are still just opening up. The ornamental crabtree in my front year still hasn’t completely bloomed. It should be in full bloom in the next day or two. Clearly blossoming trees bring me joy.
Thursday Trios – May 26, 2022
….trios can be found anywhere
If you have some trios you’d like to share, just copy my link and paste it into your blog. I’ll get a ping back and will be sure to leave a comment. Have fun!
Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Missing
….thanks to Sue and her partner over at Weekly Prompts for hosting this challenge https://weeklyprompts.com/2022/05/25/weekly-prompts-wednesday-challenge-missing/
*WARNING* if you are offended by nudity in art or the antiquities you may not want to continue reading this post. Just saying…..
On our trip to London this year we spent a couple of hours at the British Museum. We went there primarily to see the Stonehenge Exhibition but our tickets were time sensitive so we decided to pass some time in the other galleries. The first gallery, on your right as you enter the museum, houses some of the collection donated by Hans Sloane who was directly responsible for the opening of the British Museum. He donated some 71 000 pieces from his personal collection on the premise that the museum itself would remain free of charge to the British people and anyone outside of Britain who wanted to see it. Sloane is not without his dark side and in recent years it was revealed that much of his collection and wealth were derived from slavery. In 2020 his bust was removed from the entrance and moved into the gallery next door and encased under glass with an explanation as to how slavery contributed to his wealth.
In this same gallery are many statues from ancient Greece and Rome. It is here that I found the ‘missing’ component of this post. It is not unusual to see parts of these statues with missing limbs and even heads but it seemed that every single nude male had his penis removed, not broken off but actually sliced off. I found this odd and I wondered why so I did some research.
Many scholars believe that the missing appendages fell off during an earthquake, which was quite a common occurrence in Greece and Rome but others believe that converts to Christianity back in the 5th century were offended by the exposed genitalia and the parts were consequently emasculated or were provided with a loincloth (cemented in place). In later years some believe that missionaries, dealers and some collectors had a hand in removing parts that they deemed offensive. This scant disrespect for the integrity of the items may explain the condition of the statues and sculptures that I witnessed on the day I visited.
In 1857 Queen Victoria was gifted a full scale cast of Michelangelo’s David . She was apparently so taken aback by the frontal nudity that the museum commissioned a fig leaf to conceal the offending genitalia for subsequent visits of Her Royal Majesty. On my our first trip to the V&A our son pointed out the gold plated fig leaf and explained the significance to us. We found it quite amusing.
If you want more information about how and why this happened you may find this paper by Jeremy MacClancy interesting.
Cutting and Covering Up Ethnographica: The Culture of Curatorshiphttps://www.theasa.org/publications/asaonline/articles/asaonline_0108.shtml
