Toronto Art and Architecture: Flying Canoe

I have been trucking around the downtown area scoping out public art and sculpture to blog about. I think I could do one blog a week about art and architecture in the Toronto Downtown area for the rest of my life and still have something to write about in my next life.

The sculpture pictured above sits in an area of some new downtown Condominium towers in the Concord City Place Development. This is a new collection of maybe 15 to 20 new towers which are being built out over a 10-15 year period. Today's sculpture is featured in the area of one of the first few to be built - around the Navy Wharf Street, right by the Roger's Centre, Toronto's Sky Dome.

This creative work was inspired by the French Canadian Folk tale "the flying canoe".

The legend originated from a French legend about a man named Gallery, a rich nobleman who loved to hunt. In fact, he loved to hunt so much that he even skipped the Sunday mass to do so. He was condemned to fly forever through the night skies, being chased by galloping horses and howling wolves, which is reminiscent of the hunts he so loved.

French people who settled in Canada swapped stories with the native people and eventually the tale of Gallery was combined with a legend the natives had about a flying canoe. Thus we have a tale of "The Bewitched Canoe" or "La Chasse-galerie." This legend was published in The Century in August of 1892. It was written by Honore Beaugrand (1848 

The following video, by Sarah Keenlyside is a great source of information about the Chilean artist, Francisco Gazitua,  and the journey of his artwork "Barca Volante" from Chile to Toronto.  It is really interesting to hear about how the sculpture was conceived, made and eventually shipped to its location in Toronto.


The Long Voyage of Barca Volante from sarah keenlyside on Vimeo.

A question posed and Song of the Week - Peter Gabriel - The Power of the Heart

Before we get to the Song of the Week, let me present the debate topic of the month:  With Discipline or Without Obligation?

I am constantly pulled for time.  I try to make time to blog as I find it an enjoyable activity and I think it is good to be disciplined, even if with a hobby.  There are times however I wish I could take a more relaxed approach to my blogs and just do it when I feel like it.  Recently, I found some interesting arguments for each point of view presented in other blog sites.

Blogging with Discipline

Presenting the case for regular blogging, no matter what else is going on in your life,
C Beth who writes a number of blogs, the above which explains the concept of Blogging with discipline.  Who amongst us can argue against this?  It just makes sense that if you want to encourage regular readers then they need to know when to come back to read the next blog.


Blogging without Obligation

Presenting an opposing viewpoint, that blogging should be at the mercy of the bloggist's whimsy..  Tartx who writes Down the Tartx Rabbit Hole promotes the concept of blogging when and only damn well when one wants to.


 I liked this point made by Tartx:

• Because you shouldn't have to look at your blog like it is a treadmill - who likes treadmills?   My thought: Only your little gerbil because they have nothing else to do...

There you have it folks, two sides of blogging.   You might notice that I have for some time now been hosting the badge of "Blogging without obligation" although I have pretty much settled on at least a Tues/Thurs post with sometimes weekend posts as well.  I have decided that weekends are optional.  As summer comes I think I will post reliably once per week with any other post being optional.  We should not be slaves to our blogs - unless of course like your gerbil you don't have anything else to occupy your time - or you have found a way to monetize it sufficiently to earn a living from it.

OK bloggists, time to weigh in... What do you think?

Peggy's Song of the Week:

Without further adieu I would like to present my song selection of the week.  I heard this the other day and it perked my ears up and brought back memories.  I hope it will do for you as well.



You and me we sweat and strain
You look for sun and I look for rain
We're different people, we're not the same
The power of the sun
I looked for treetops, you looked for caps
Above the water, where the waves snap back
I flew around the world to bring you back
Ahh, the power of the heart
You looked at me and I looked at you
The sleeping heart was shining through,
The wispy cobwebs that we're breathing through
The power of the heart
I looked at you and you looked at me
I thought of the past, you thought of what could be
I asked you once again to marry me
The power of the heart
Everybody says love makes the world go round
I hear a bubbling and I hear a sound
Of my heart beating and I turn around
And find you standing at the door
You know me I like to dream a lot
Of this and that and what is not
And finally I figured out what was what
It was the power of the heart
You and me we sweat and strain
The result is always the same
You think somehow we're in a game
The power of the heart
The power of the heart
I think I'm dumb, I know you're smart
The beating of a purebred heart
I say this to you and it's not a lark
Marry me today
You know me I like to dream a lot
Of what there is and what there's not
But mainly I dream of you a lot
The power of your heart
The power of the heart

Mother's Day Moments

A Mother's Day Getaway

I am having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.  As a busy professional and  mother of 5 grown children, I have discovered that for me, time for quiet and solitude are more appreciated than any other gift I could be given.  I am particularly blessed to have a getaway place to enable me to recharge from my busy weeks.  This weekend, I am so very grateful that I am able to be at my Georgian Bay retreat, my little Shangri-La at Rupert's Landing.  Although the weather is cold and nasty - I am very happy. 

The sand bar just beyond the marina causes the waves to break well out from shore.  While Georgian Bay has high waves, White's Bay is relatively calm since it is sheltered and very shallow.

I took a walk this morning out to the end of the sea wall that encloses our marina and forms a break wall on White's Bay.  The wind was particularly bitter, I had to drape my arm over my face to keep the ice pellets from blinding me as I walked out the the furthest most reach into the Bay.  It feels so invigorating to feel the spray in your face and hear the pounding of the waves.  Bella and I very much enjoyed our morning walk although it ended up to be a morning run. It was so cold out by the water that we ran all the way home!

You can see the Blue Mountain ski runs are still snow covered.  Click for a better view.

Even within the enclosed area of the marina the wind is whipping up the water.

The Ruperty's Landing community consists of a number of low rise stacked condominium buildings in an area spanning Highway 26 on the south and Georgian Bay on the north, just on the edge of Collingwood.  There are a dozen low rise buildings and one high rise tower, arranged in a fashion similar to a Carribean resort community.   Each building houses about 14 residences, although most are  occupied by folks like me, needing a weekend escape for either skiing &/or summer holiday fun.  My building is beside the Recreation Centre and Tennis Courts, a short walk to the water's edge.  My idea of heaven would be to have a unit which looked out into the Bay, so I could hear the pounding of the waves and the blue of the lake where it joins the sky on the horizon, but on the other hand my unit has unrivaled privacy.

Some hopefuls have their boats in the water even though capsizing would mean hypothermia in minutes.  It will be a month before water temperatures are tolerable.  Kyaking anyone?

It is just a short walk to the marina following a winding lined with ornamental cherry trees.  They are just starting to come into bloom.  What a contrast to the senses - the warmth of the pink blossoms in stark contrast with the cold white snow pellets carried by the wind.

The ornamental cherry trees are almost blooming along the pathway.

It is heaven to sit here, fireplace warming my toes and cuppa coffee in hand,  in a mellow mood listening to Melodie Gardot and Diana Krall sing some jazz favourites.  I hope I can share these nice vibes with my blogsphere friends as you read my blog today.

I will head back to Toronto in the mid of the afternoon.  We have a birthday celebration planned for my daughter Laura and there will be about 20 of us in attendance. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to get seated at the Old Spagetti Factory - the spot chosen for the bash.  There will be my parents and myself, the 5 and significant others (or not) of the moment, my X husband - my children's father and his wife.  There will also be a few "honourary  adult children" who have grown up with and become lifelong friends of my biological offspring.  We should have a cozy and happy time.

A Poem by Mahmoud Darwish :- My Mother
For me, anything can be an excuse to look for a poem and Mother's Day is no different.  I promised to lay off the Neruda Poems, but in the interest of acknowledging the wider body of poetry that exists in the world, aside from the English revered poets, I decided to include a poem which was written by a very famous poet from the Middle East - Mahmound Darwish.  I have to thank my friend, A Cuban In London, who introduced me to this poet and the poem on his blog "On Literature and Other Abstract Thoughts"


According to Wiki:

Mahmoud Darwish (Arabic: محمود درويش‎) (13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who won numerous awards for his literary output and was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. In his work, Palestine became a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile.

I have enjoyed learning about this poet and time spent reading his poetry.  This one, I long for my Mother's bread my Mother's coffee, is appropriate for Mother's Day.  My mother never made coffee as a rule, as tea is the drink of choice for those of her Newfie heritage.  I can however, remember as a child, both my mother and my grandmother baking bread.  Pleasant memories of  huge bowls of dough rising on the kitchen counter and the smell of baking bread and if we were lucky, some warm bread and butter fresh out of the oven.

If you are not so enamoured with Middle Eastern music, you can skip the video and just read the poem.


- a poem by Mahmoud Darwish :- My Mother أمي
المعروفة بـ "أحن الى خبز امي"

I long for my mother's bread
My mother's coffee
Her touch


Childhood memories grow up in me
Day after day
I must be worth my life
At the hour of my death
Worth the tears of my mother.

And if I come back one day
Take me as a veil to your eyelashes
Cover my bones with the grass
Blessed by your footsteps
Bind us together
With a lock of your hair
With a thread that trails from the back of your dress
I might become immortal
Become a God
If I touch the depths of your heart.

If I come back
Use me as wood to feed your fire
As the clothesline on the roof of your house
Without your blessing
I am too weak to stand.

I am old
Give me back the star maps of childhood
So that I
Along with the swallows
Can chart the path
Back to your waiting nest.

Nerudas Poetry - If you Forget Me

Poetry Month is over, but somehow I did not manage to blog about each of my favourite Pablo Neruda poems even though I did include 10 of his very best and renowned poems.  I enjoy poetry and so decided that it would be fun to do one poetry blog a month throughout the whole year instead of just April.  You can look forward to the last day in every month to be a poetry blog - or not and skip that blog :-p.

For good measure I will also do one today and it will be another of my Neruda favourites.  Stay tuned for the end of May - I promise to introduce you to a poet and writer I have not spoken (much) about as yet.  I wrote briefly about Jack Kerouac as a sidebar to the Haiku blog here.  I will feature this interesting "beat" author and discuss beat generation poetry and other literature in my May 30th blog.

If you are interested in Neruda the man, but not so much interested in more Love Poems, skip down to the last part.  I found a fascinating documentary covering the early part of his life and I have included it at the end of this blog.

Neruda's Sonnet: If You Forget Me

If you have not read the previous posts to celebrate poetry month  relating Pablo Neruda's great poetry go here to catch up.    In the following Video Madonna narrates Neruda's Poem If You Forget Me.  She included it on a version of her song "Frozen", calling it "Frozen (Poetry Edit)".  I can`t find this one in any of the 3 books  his poetry I have, so therefore it is not in his 100 Love Sonnets, 20 Poems and Song of Despair or his poetry book titled Intimacies.  If anyone out there knows which book this one was published in I would be glad for the information.

I really like this one. It expresses so potently the way our love, if not returned fades away over time.  The opposite can also occur, if one feels a warm and shining love from another, slowly over time the love you feel for that other person can grow, as if nutured itself by the love emanating from the other person.   I have had this happen to me in more than one instance...  Love can ebb and flow like the tides driven by the moon.  This is one thing that perplexes me.  But no matter.  Listen to Madonna recite for us Neruda`s If you Forget Me.


For some other thoughts and analysis of the meaning of this poem go here.



If You Forget Me
I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

- Pablo Neruda


A Documentary on Pablo Neruda`s Life
This is a 6 part series on the early life of Pablo Neruda.  I have included the first part below and links to the remaining 5 parts, if you are interested you can click through.

Also, I have also  found a short biography  in case you want the Coles Notes. 



Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Art and Architecture: Remembered Sustenance

In the south lawn of the Metro Hall Building at Wellington and John Streets is a sculpture titled "Remembered Sustenance".   I took these photos last summer and as I look at them now, somehow I took them all from the "rear end view".  I went out last weekend and took a bunch more photos and this time taking more time to reflect on the composition of the litte dog/rabbits within the frame of the photo a bit more carefully.

The sculpture is located right by the Metro Hall Daycare playground - so it is appropriate in both visual congruity and by title.

These little creatures are just the size for little ones to sit on and pretend ride.

From an e-Brochure published by the City of Toronto which serves as a walking guide to the 22 works which are included in Toronto's Downtown Art Walk:

Remembered Sustenance
Cynthia Hurley (Short), 1992
The inspiration for Remembered Sustenance is drawn
from the location of the sculpture’s site. Adjacent to
an outdoor daycare playground the work has been
created to convey the sense of playfulness and
whimsy associated with children’s stories and games.
A group of bronze, non-specific-looking cartoon-like
animals appear to be migrating in procession across
the lawn, towards, then away from a curtain drawn by
two birds. Below the curtain, a plate set in the ground
holds a negative impression of the shape of a small
ballerina that might be found in a child’s music box.
This element represents the remembered experiences
of childhood that the artist suggests can sustain us
throughout our lives.
Open and abundant with possibility of meaning, it is
the artist’s stated intention that the work should most
of all be enjoyed by children.

Next Tuesday I will post another blog on the Art and Architecture around our Metro Hall, home to the City of Toronto (and the amalgamated Boroughs) Government administrative departments.

One - U2 or Mary J. Bilge - an All Time Great Song

I heard this song on CBC Radio 2 on my way home from work on Friday and I was reminded of  what an enduring favourite this song is.  Made famous by the band U2, it is a Rock classic and a perfect "cause" song  used by a number of organizations promoting human rights and social justice causes.  Bono uses it in promotion  "One Campaign", which is a grass roots international, nonpartisan, non-profit organization aiming to increase government funding for and effectiveness of international aid.  Bono and Bob Geldof were instrumental in the formation of this organization - a merger of DATA, World Vision, Oxfam America, and Bread for the World.  Bono is such a humanitarian, as his wiki noted awards attest to.

But I digress... the song is one of the greatest Rock songs of all time no doubt.  From Wiki:

"One" is a song by Irish rock band U2 and the third track from their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. It was released as the album's third single in March 1992. ...
The song is widely considered to be one of the band's greatest songs and is consistently featured in lists of the greatest songs of all-time. Rolling Stone ranked the song #36 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" (also their highest-ranked song from the 90's), and Q ranked the song at #1 on its list of the "1001 Greatest Songs of All-Time".[2]

Contrary to what one might think after a superficial listen to the song it is not about "oneness" -  it is a song about splitting up. 

Rather than selecting a live video of this song - U2 has performed it at every single concert that they have given - I chose the one produced by the renowned director Anton Corbjin in 1992.  It captures the essence of the song wonderfully.




One
Songwriters: Hewson, Paul;Evans, Dave;Clayton, Adam;Mullen, Larry Jr
(Note: Bono's real name is Paul Hewson)

Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame
You say
One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
carry each other
carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much?
More than a lot.
You gave me nothing,
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
See we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love is a higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't keep holding on
To what you got
When all you've got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters and my
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One...
One...

I had to also include the Bono and Mary J. Bilge duet version which was recorded with U2 in 2006.  The updated tempo and engergy that Mary J. Bilge brings to the song lifts it even to a higher level - if that is possible.  This version does not however communicate the melancholy that the original U2 version does.


I couldn't help but also include a pic from long ago - boy we all sure have changed from the days of our youth and U2 is no different.

Liberty Bistro Saturday Nights

It is a grey morning here in Toronto, but the weather is warm and almost balmy.  Lake Ontario is reflecting the greys of the sky and the shore on the far side seems just a blend of darker grey.  I have broken out my balcony furniture and have reconstructed my outdoor living room in preparation for another summer season.  Despite grey skies, petty injustices and less than desired outcomes in a few fronts, life is pretty good in Toronto.

Now that I have my Collingwood Shangri-La back from my winter ski tenants I am not so often in Toronto on a Saturday night.  I decided to stay home this weekend to get ahead of chores in the City, before the really great weather starts and so was around to catch something very special that is happening on the first Saturday each month at the Liberty Bistro.  Actually, something special happens each Saturday night at the Liberty Bistro, but the first Saturday is reserved for the Latin Jazz band XOTEKA.  Aside from the regulars in the band, there is also a different musical guest each month and this month it was Luis Mario Ochoa.  The music was just fantastic and the warm and friendly atmosphere combined with great music, good food and  friendly faces made the night really special.

XOTEKA, (pronounced "exotica") is  a band featuring Laura Fernandez' vocals and Don Naduriak on piano.  The quartet included a skilled percussionist and a really talented bassist  and they were joined on stage by others at various points in the evening.  Other than Don, I am not sure if the other musicians are regulars in the band as the MySpace site for XOTEKA does not contain much detail.  For a period of time in 2009 the band did the Tropical Night Thursdays dinner show at  Chalkers Bistro Pub/Pool hall,  but having checked the Chalkers site there is no mention of  this now so I presume that gig has ended.  Seems like if you want to hear this band, at least for the time being you will need to mark the first Saturday of each month on your calendar as a Liberty Bistro night.