Farewell to the Grand Old Oak

across the street

We have enjoyed this lovely oak for 47 years. On average oak trees can live for 150 to 300 years, depending on the variety and its environment. This tree clearly lived here long before we arrived.

In the last few years this oak was showing its age. Last summer a very large branch fell and took out the neighbours’ fence. It was becoming a liability. It was slated to come down this spring and the three day process ended this week.

When I got home later in the day this is what I found.

Serenity

this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge

Thank you to Egidio from Through Brazilian Eyes https://throughbrazilianeyes.com/lens-artists-challenge-348-serenity/

Serenity for me has always been looking over lake up at my cottage or enjoying a cup of coffee with a book on the deck.

When Dad lived with us he used to love going down to the park at the end of the our street and sitting on the bench or his walker and just enjoying the view of his ‘ocean’, which was actually Lake Ontario.

A Week of Art

enjoying other people’s art

Last Thursday I enjoyed a concert in the afternoon put on by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. They featured the tenor Asitha Tennekoon with pianist Steven Philcox and a string quartet. Here is short description of this man’s musical journey into opera.

https://www.amplifiedopera.com/asitha-tennekoon

After this very moving concert I walked over WAAC and took in the the show featuring photography for this year’s Contact Show.

On Saturday Kevin and I drove to the Better Living Building and spent a couple hours exploring the beautiful art at the Toronto Art Project. It was fun meeting artists that we followed on Instagram and conversing with new artists.

On Saturday Kevin and I continued our our art filled weekend and took the train into the city and enjoyed an afternoon listening to a big band group of young people , the Angela Pincente Orchestra at the famous Rex.

The Rex is Toronto’s oldest jazz club.https://www.therex.ca/events/angela-pincente-large-ensemble-9gmm4-txnft-w799d-h3m7j

Lens Artists Photo Challenge – Cinematic

thanks to Sofia for hosting this week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge https://photographias.wordpress.com/2025/04/26/lens-artists-challenge-346-cinematic/

Sofia explains that to capture a cinematic effect the photo may have: camera angles, bold and high-contrast colours, light, locations, just to name a few. The main objective is to take a shot that is part of a story, there’s mood and a sense of location; our image is but a snapshot of a much wider situation.

Not sure if I’ve met the brief but here is my interpretation of ‘cinematic’.

Monochrome Madness – April 22, 2025

thanks to Leanne Cole for hosting Monochrome Madness https://leannecole.com.au/monochrome-madness-will-a-rainforest-look-good-in-monochrome/

There is no particular theme this week so I’ve chosen to post photos of angles, both geometric and organic.

Easter at the Market This Week

…special bread and extra vendors

This week we brought out a recipe for bread that we haven’t made in several years….Timbit Paske. We slightly altered our fruit bread and added four Timbits when we shaped the dough.

There certainly was a lot of interest in this bread and it was mostly sold when I left the market an hour after the market opened.

Along with the regular vendors we had a few new merchants with special treats for Easter.