Category Archives: Toronto

The Ninth Street Santas

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….on Dec. 6th, western Christian children celebrated St. Nicholas Day, New Toronto had its Santa Claus Parade and Ninth Street residents inflated and lit up their Santas

A week ago, Saturday, my husband and I were walking Frances over to the park when I noticed a very unusual sight on Ninth Street. Giant inflatable Santas popped up all the way down the street. Now it’s not unusual to see Christmas decorations this time of year and the inflatable variety are becoming more common but it seemed like every other house had a large inflatable Santa on their lawn.

On the way back from our walk we purposely  went down Ninth Street from the top of the street and I counted the Santas. There were 16 of them in one block that were all the same size and design. There were a few smaller ones in between and there was one lonely Frosty the Snowman.

Later that night I went back to Ninth Street to see the Santas lit up. I parked the car and saw two people on the street. I approached them and asked them if this display of all the same Santas was a coincidence or if it was an organized event. The latter was true. Apparently someone on the street went door to door and suggested that everyone put up one of these Santas. They were at Walmart and were on sale.

I asked if the person with the snowman didn’t get the message. It just so happened that one of the people there was the owner of the snowman and she protested very loudly. I calmed her down and concluded that Walmart must have sold out of Santas and that’s exactly what happened. A few more Santas have gone up since then.

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Busy, Busy, Busy…..

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….the month of November has been incredibly busy but very enjoyable for the most part

It seems that the number of cultural events that I get to experience are few and far between but lately I’ve been going to quite a few shows. As they say ‘when it rains it pours’.

The month started off, sadly with my aunt’s death and her memorial gathering six days later. On a hIMG_3284appier note my daughter celebrated her birthday and  my son came home for a short visit from London all in the same week. I also attended a show called Between the Pages with a group of friends where we were treated to readings from the top five books that were short listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. All the authors were there and we listened to them answer questions that were given to them by the evening’s host, Carol Off.IMG_3275

In the following week we celebrated Remembrance Day at school on the 11th. It is always a big deal at our school and the children and staff prepared a very moving and memorable assembly for the community. IMG_3297Two days later I attended an afternoon concert at the Edward Johnson building where the Dover String Quartet played to a full house. They were the winners of last year’s Banff Springs String Quartet competition. It was an amazing concert and received rave reviews from two newspaper critics. The concert was sponsored and hosted by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.

A week later on the 20th, my husband and I saw the show, The Book of Mormon at the Princess of Wales Theatre. It was a very funny show. Just what the doctor ordered. We needed a good laugh after getting the news that my husband will need another surgery to remove the other half of his thyroid. They discovered that the nodules were cancerous. Apparently cancer of the thyroid is very slow growing and as his doctor put it, it’s not the illness that he’ll die from. None the less, the news was discouraging and the play helped alleviate some of his despair.

Courtesy of: http://torontoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506_bookofmormon.jpg

Two days later, our good friends, D and D called us and invited us to brunch at the restaurant, Frank, at the AGO. The art gallery was featuring works from Michelangelo and Rodin so after our meal we decided to take in the show. I have to admit that I found the Michelangelo pieces somewhat underwhelming. Many of the works were very small and people moved into the the pieces way too closely for my liking but I can understand why.

The Rodin pieces on the other hand were all sculptural and much larger. I enjoyed seeing the sculpture, The Thinker, up close and personal. It was also interesting to see how large Rodin made the extremities of his figures. The hands and feet of many pieces were massive. IMG_3410 IMG_3409 IMG_3408 IMG_3405

On the 25th I received a phone call from my friend L and she informed me that our friend, C  had put her back out and couldn’t use her tickets for the ballet the next day. She offered them to us and so the next day we headed downtown, had dinner together and then went to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts to see the ballet, Nijinsky. It was an incredible performance. I was mesmerized by the slow motion action going on in the background and the shear physicality of the lead dancer’s movements. How that man isn’t black and blue all over is beyond me.

Courtesy of: http://rt.com/files/opinionpost/33/5b/f0/00/nij-2014-26-_300_.jpg

Finally on Friday, November 28th we were guests of our friends D and D at the University of Toronto production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, It was charming and fun to watch.

As I said earlier ‘ when it rains, it pours’. So much to see and do. I’m exhausted just writing about it. Now that we’re into December I’m sure things will not slow down but for different reasons. November was truly a month for the arts. 

 

Sunday Tree – 158

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…..now that we’ve officially had our first snow storm most of the trees have been stripped of their leaves

I’ve always been a huge fan of bark. I love the texture, the subtle colours and the interesting lines that bark produces.

IMG_3425For more Sunday Trees check out Becca Givens’ site.