Chihuly's Glass Sculptures Exhibition at the ROM ( Royal Ontario Museum)

ROM - The Chihuly Glass Sculptures Exhibition runs from June 25

Glass balls floating in a boat!

A couple of years ago, we were in Arizona, USA, and visited the beautiful desert botanical garden there.

 We were lucky as the the Botanical Garden was hosting a special outdoor Chihuly Glass Sculpture exhibition in its garden.

We loved the show!

Laguna Torcello - an intricate garden of glass with floats, reeds, crystals & white Belugas

I was happy when I learned that the Chihuly exhibition would take place at the Ontario Royal Museum  - ROM starting on June 25.

As a member of the ROM, I enjoy the privileges of attending the preview show before the exhibition opened officially.

Red Reeds on White Logs

Dale Chihuly, an American born artist, learned his crafts of glass blowing in Venice as a young artist.
















He has been working and experimenting with glass sculptures for over fifty years.

I love his work! I love the bold colour, various shapes and the sheer sizes of Chihuly's glass sculptures!

Persian Trellis 2016 - This special installation was created  and designed specifically for the ROM

I saw quite a number of Chihuly's installations at the exhibition.

There was a special one called the Persian Trellis 2016 which was created and designed specially for the ROM.

I saw beautiful glass sculptures of sea urchins, shells. jellyfish  hung on a wooden trellis. I learned that Chihuly started making these special roundels with wavy irregular forms since 1986.

Northwest Room

There was a surprise exhibition of another kind which I did not expect.

Chihuly's collection of trade blankets being displayed in the ROM

Chihuly has a collection of native baskets and trade blankets in his boat house in Seattle.












Inspired by his own collection of native baskets and trade blankets, Chihuly created glass sculptures shaped in the form of baskets with northwest designs.They were life like.

Can you tell which pieces on the left are Native baskets and which ones are Chihuly's glass baskets?

Of all the Chihuly's installations at the ROM, my most favourite was a ceiling installation - a brilliant, creative installation hung on the ceiling in one of the exhibition rooms.

It was breathtaking! The colour was absolutely heart stopping!

 I stepped into the room and the entire ceiling was lighted up with spectacularly beautiful colourful glass sculptures shaped like sea shells!

To help visitors to enjoy this amazing installation hanging from the ceiling, the artist had huge body cushions scattered at various places in the room where visitors could lay down comfortably to view this piece of art.






I loved it! I lay down on one of the cushion, took my time to admire this piece of gorgeous installation. I did not want to get up at all!

The Chihuly exhibition will be in Toronto from now until January 2, 2017.  I hope Torontonians and people from around the area will make use of this opportunity and enjoy his wonderful work!

R.T.
Royal Ontario Museum
Toronto, Ontario

Aboriginal Month Display - Downtown Toronto - Always a Lot to See!

A building at Bloor and Yonge, Torornto

I love Toronto! We have been living in this city for almost forty years and we are never tired of it.

Because the housing prices in Toronto have skyrocketed for the past decade, many people have cashed in selling their Toronto homes and moving to the suburb for bigger houses at much cheaper prices.

Beautiful buildings abound in Toronto

We refuse to follow the trend because we love living in this beautiful city!

There are always so much to see and do right here!

A window display - an aquarium look alike with  a school of paper fish swimming around

 A few days ago, after finishing a meeting downtown, I was on my way to the subway station heading home.

I passed by some interesting displays around the Bay and Bloor area on the street.

A sports car was supported by 4 Wedgewood cups outsdie the Ashley store on Bloor and Bay street in Toronto

I came across an extraordinary display!  There was a dining room table set up beautifully with fine china - dinner plates, teacups, teapots and cups etc outside the Ashely Store on Bloor Street.



On top of this elegantly set table was a sports car supported by four Wedgewood bone china teacups!

Wow! Those were stong cups!

But for me, I just want my teacup to serve me tea or coffee. I really don't need my teacup to be able to hold a weight of a thousand pounds. But it was interesting to see.

Toronto Eaton Centre entrance, downtown Toronto

As I was walking by the Eaton Centre, I passed by some street musicians and some more displays.

Having just returned from a native reserve, I am more interested in native arts. I spotted some on the ground.

I stopped and looked at some of paintings and wood burning artwork displayed on the ground of the street.

The gentleman who did these art pieces was there. So we started chatting about his work and the subjects which he chose to draw and burn on wood pieces.

Aboriginal people usually live on reserves as our government gives them their treaty rights to have free housing on their own land. However, many do try to live in cities outside the reserves.

A double decker  tour bus at the Square

But it is not always easy to them to find work to support themselves as they do face systemic racism and discrimination in Canada. I admire those who do try and beat the odds.

We had a good chat and I bought a small painting from this native gentleman.

Heading toward the Dundas subway station, I came to the Dundas Square on Yonge and Dundas.

Display booths filled the Dundas Square

There are always something going on at the Dundas Square!

A crafts booth  provide free activities for children in the Square.

Every time I go downtown, I always go by there and see what's happening. 

June is National Aboriginal History Month in Canada

Today, there was a special celebration!

A musician performing on the Dundas Square stage

The National Aboriginal History Month.

Enjoying a performance by an aboriginal artist at the Dundas Square

This is the first year Canada has proclaimed and is celebrating the month long event! 

There were many booths displaying and selling native crafts and arts

It's great to see aboriginal people proudly displaying their arts, products, and goods outside their reserves and communities.

A proud positive message on a T shirt

 Our aboriginal people are starting to feel confident and proud of being themselves.  I saw that proclamation on a t- shirt there!

R.T.

Dundas Square

Toronto

Todmorden Mills - An Urban Oasis in the Middle of Toronto

Even though we have been living in Toronto for almost forty years, there are still many interesting and pretty
places where we have not visited.

Todmorden Mills was one such place.

The Cottage at the Todmorden Mills

Each year, during the last weekend in  May, Toronto and many cities across the provinces in Ontario host the Doors Open event.






Many historic, interesting and significant buildings are open to the public to visit, free of charge!









No longer used as a mill, there are a number of  buildings at Todmorden Hills and they are now used for heritage, cultural and arts events.


We visited two houses one of which was  a  cottage with a spacious kitchen furnished in the early 1950's style.

As evidenced by the wooden fence built on the middle of the property, the other house we visited was divided into two separate dwellings at the time.














 The larger portion of the house with a formal sitting room lived the foreman of the mills whereas  the workers lived in the smaller section.

We hiked the tree lined trail

I personally likes the cottage better as it looked really cute and cosy !


After visiting the historic houses, we hiked on a trail shaded by tall trees on both sides.

We discovered ponds, bridges and beautiful scenery along the way.

Fiddle heads !

As we strolled along, we saw fiddle heads, wild Geraniums and many beautiful wild flowers and plants.

I learned that the wild Geraniums are tough flowers. They can withstand the harsh Canadian winters and come back and bloom, year after year!

I jumped at the chance and bought one from the lady selling these plants at the Centre.

These beautiful Wild Geraniums come back and bloom year after year!

Though in the middle of the city, we felt as if we were miles away from Toronto!


How on earth had we failed to visit this beautiful historic part of Toronto was beyond our understanding!

Tomorden Mills - A quiet escape from  the busy life of Toronto within the city!

During the summer months, Torontonians race to escape from the city on the weekends driving miles away to their cottages or elsewhere.

However wee seem to have forgotten what we have right here at home.

Sometimes in life, we are so busy looking for something we yearn for that we neglect to see what's right in our own backyard!

We are glad we rediscovered Todmorden Mills.

When we feel like an escape from our modern life,  we can always turn back the clock and back to the past for a couple of hours by going to the mills!

R.T.
Tomorden Mills
Toronto's Doors Open 2016

A Year End Potluck Luncheon in a Don Mills Home

Both my spouse and I  are retired people and  have a little more leisure time. We want to give back to our community and fill our days with meaningful activities.

I love teaching the senior ESL class at a Seniors' Home!

Teaching has always been my passion and I just love it! I  worked in the Ontario education system for over thirty years and nothing will keep me away from teaching even in my retirement.

 Last year, I volunteered to teach an English as a Second Language class to seniors at my mom's senior home. I have been doing that and enjoying the experience ever since.

We attended a lunch party at a house in Don Mills recently

S. has done the same thing and has volunteered in a ESL class since he retired as well.

Volunteering is a way of life for many Canadians, many of whom put forth countless hours each year to make our communities better places for everyone.

Noma has graciously opened her home to host the party for the past eighteen years!

Noma, an elderly lady in her eighties, is one such volunteer.

Realizing that many new immigrants to Canada do have a good foundation of of English language but with few opportunities to practice their oral skills, Noma started an ESL conversation class for newcomers years ago.

A beautiful setting for a party!

Along with a few of her peers, they have been running this conversational class for the past eighteen years!

Noma and her guests in her backyard.

The ESL class takes place on Wednesdays from September to June every year.

At the end of June, Noma will host a year end potluck party in her home to celebrate the coming of summer and the end of another successful year.

Last year, I was invited to attend this party and enjoyed it.

This year when the invitation was extended to me again, I was prepared  and knew what to prepare and bring to the party.

A great variety of dishes from around the world were brought to the potluck lunch at Noma's house!

A creative way of presenting a fruit salad!

A potluck party is a very popular type of gathering in North America.

Instead of the host slaving over the stoves for hours preparing everything for the party,  a potluck party is when every invited guest brings a dish to the party to share with other guests so that the host will not have to cook all the food.

We love potluck parties as there are lots of different dishes from everyone who usually prepares and brings his/ her specialties.

Some people get very creative in the presentation of their food and we love learning from others!

Noma's big backyard had welcome guests for many years!

Noma has a beautiful home in Don Mills with a huge backyard!

A perfect day for a summer gathering!

We could not have asked for a better day for this outdoor gathering.

 It was a lovely breezy summer day!

A guest shared her Spanish music and culture from her native country

There was nothing better than sitting outside and enjoying good food with some great conversations and great music!

Even the little one was enjoying herself at the potluck lunch!

Thank you, Noma, for your great community service for the past eighteen years!  Really appreciate all you have done for the newcomers in the Don Mills community!

R.T.
Noma's Annual Potluck Party
Don Mills, Ontario