More City Shots...

Hi everyone, I really wanted to share some more shots I took when we were last in Toronto a couple months ago...these are some of my new favs and I admit right now these city shots are making me miss Toronto abit...we lived there for 5 years long ago...maybe someone we'll move back...I dream of Portland but that isn't a possibility with Jonathan's line of work and my fear of earthquakes & Portland being right on the 'ring of fire'...anyhoo...let me show you...

 I loved the mirror play on this building..there is never a boring visual moment in the heart of Toronto...

...I love this mirror play of the blue skies and clouds of that day, I walked past this building almost every week for 4 years when I attended OCAD...

Jon has to go to Toronto sometimes for his job and his meetings, etc are usually in a cluster of the city where the building generally look like this...beautiful I think...

We decided to pop into my old romping grounds called The Riverdale Zoo, it was a couple acres of really foresty land full of farm animals like goats, swans, bulls...and I'd go there often in between classes to center myself...this beautiful church is part of the area and though I'd never step foot inside, I always did and still do appreciate the beauty of the outside structure...

I so loved the warmness of this bench in the evening sun...I think I might do a coloured pencil from this shot...

and I found something so simple but lovely about this open door way and stairs...and the reflection in the side window is pretty cool...

 ...and this is a window in the side of the big barn...I am a sucker for photographing old barns!

This mural is in cabbagtown, just by the Riverdale Zoo, I thought it was pretty catchy so I hung out the truck window to get the shot as we zoomed past in haste to get to one of our favourite vegetarian restaurants...

...Kensington Market is a crazy busy part of the city and it's one of my favourite places, it's full of strange people and 'normal' people who seem to intermingle harmonously, there is a feeling that nobody gives a crap about what your doing or who you are, your able to just be there wholey and fully in your own self and I find something really relaxing about that.  There is always lots to see, hear and smell and I have fond memories of strolling around with my best friend on a hot summer day arm in arm just looking and finding and muching on a big carton of fresh strawberries...this time I found some new murals I had never noticed...check out this Mucha-inspired one...

...and I quite liked this one, something about it was very sweet...

...there was also this one...

...ah but than we hit our favourite 'King's Cafe', and down to the business of eating we had to get.  Everything in the place is vegetarian and soooo delicious.  (If you visit or are in T.O, and have not yet been to this place, we highly highly recommend it).

When we go to the city we like to revisit an old favourite restaurant and also try at least 1 new place and we came across this place, 'Herbivore' that we can't resist trying next time...check out that door 'Closed at Sunset', I've never seen that before and I just love it, ha ha...

..and what non-meat eater/animal lover can resist a place that doesn't allow people wearing fur!  SOOO awesome, I tell ya, I've not even been in yet and it's a place after my own heart, ha ha.

I really like where we are at this point in our lives, all the decisions we've made are to get us where we currently are but sometimes, just sometimes and once in a blue moon I can't help but wonder where/what we would be like now if we had chosen to stay in the big city...hmmmm....but than I realize we wouldn't have had all the bunnies who have graced our lives since we've moved back home so that right there alone is the clincher that I'd never go back in time and restart... 

The haunting possibilities of 'what if's' is something I've learnt to stay away from...living fully in my own present is key and defiantly makes for more beautiful and fulfilling days...

...I wanted to share my most favourite shot for last....a pigeon nesting on a really old building...LOVE IT....I think this might make a really night coloured pencil as well....



....well that's about all for today...thanks for stopping in and having a look...

Do tell me, which is your favourite photograph??? 

I think some of these will be in my photo shop as soon as I get all of that figured out!

I am off to help a friend hang their exhibition, I just hope my head behaves!!!...

See you Friday with a new piece of work...

Toronto...Part 2 of 4...The Beach

Walking along the seemingly endless wooden boardwalk along Toronto's waterfront is one of our favourite places to spend some time when we're in the big city... And despite there always being lots of people around, you can always find moments of complete privacy and quietness, because people seem to mind their own business and are involved in their own stories and lives...sometimes you can't find that in smallish towns like where we live! In the city you have anonymity...sometimes I miss that...

This was a building right alongside the boardwalk and I loved how the shadows of the afternoon danced on the siding...

This dog playing along the shoreline made me feel so cozy and content but also made me anxious to get to my best friend who I knew I'd be spending the evening with and also made miss our furry babes back home...usually half a day or even a few hours away from home and the bunnies makes me crave to get back to them.

Something about the Toronto police on horseback makes me giddy with awe, ha ha.

This woman looks good on her horse...I was happy to see a female up there in the saddle as well.

I really like this shot...with the duck in the water and the upside down Tim Horton's cup on the fencepost! It does speak of our lack of respect for the natural world doesn't it...well whomever left it there is not treading lightly on this earth I am quite sure!

And than just when we didn't think the day could get better we saw two people on the beach creating these cool little stone pillars...a balancing act of sorts and quite impressive to view and watch. There were tons of these stacks taking up at least 10 metres of beach...

I found this guy so beautiful to photograph and the way he so intently and serenely focused on his tower of balancing stones was lovely and calming to watch...I found myself breathing easier just watching him...

I think part of what I found so beautiful about this scene was not just the perfect day we were previously enjoying, or the fantastic warm summer air wafting gently around everyone, nor the waves crashing down on the beach but it was how these two people building their rock creation didn't give a single fig about what anyone thought...they were simply in that moment building whatever they were building and not caring a second what anyone else thought...I have to learn to do that better...

...Full concentration on the task at hand...feeling ease in the moment present because you know your doing exactly what your meant to be doing at that exact moment...also something I am working on, ha ha...

A wonderful day...with some pretty cool shots taken too I think:D Again thanks for joining me here and having a look at some of my photos...like I said before, I don't call myself a photographer by any stretch of the imagination but I sure do love my camera....and I do plan to open an Etsy Shop for some of my photos...why not give it a try right!? I already have my banner and name picked out too. Come back again on Friday for another and new Beautiful Bird. Be Well All.

Toronto Photographs By Moi...Part 1 of 4

Way back in June or July of this past summer, Jonathan and I spent a couple days in Toronto, just enjoying our old stomping grounds and one of our favourite parks... We sprawled out under the towering trees with some ice cappuccinos beside us, a full beautiful day ahead to do at leisure whatever we wanted and we just basked in the heat and calming noise of park life...ahhh it was blissful... It's a park in the Beaches area that we frequented quite often when we lived in the city...it holds good and cozy memories for us...

We've seen lots of couples dancing and bands playing on summer days in this beautiful gazebo.

...and we've gotten hit in the head by acorns thrown by black squirrels quite often too, ha ha...which is why we're often seen looking up...like my Jonathan in this shot, ha ha.

Okay okay...so this blog is mostly for my artwork and artistic inspirations but I do include Jonathan in that group, and do oh so love to photograph him and I just love these shots of him so I thought I'd add them in:D

I also love taking photos of houses and gardens...or places and moments that just strike me as being quiet and cozy and most likely overlooked...like the side of this house near the park...

...and Jonathan of course took this one of moi...which I of course had to alter and crop etc...I think I had a sore head that day, which is one reason we were laying under the trees but I am happy that it doesn't show too much in my face, since bliss and contentment defiantly overshadowed any head pain that day...

...and I just had to show you my favourite little charm...my 'bunnies will be just fine while your gone' talisman that I just can't leave town without!

...A sweet little garden and house making the day even sweeter...

...a lonely park bench reminding us of how lucky we were for each others company...

...and fallen leaves reminding us of precious time being quietly passed...

I think as a carpenters daughter, I was raised with an appreciation for wood and the beautiful places and trees that they come from...so a 'normal' set of tree branches often holds much beauty for me...

I think this is one of my favourite shots I've taken of Jonathan so far...

But this "I am coming to get ya" shot is a possible close 2nd, ha ha.

And for now that's it...we took tons more photos but as always I try for this blog of mine to par it down to my absolute favourite imagery...so there you go...part 1 of 4....do join me next Wednesday for Part 2.

Be Well and may you find many beautiful simple moments and places to photograph wherever you may be.

Some Favourite Old Photos Found

I recently found two of my all time most favourite photos. Unfortunately, they are just black and white photocopies that I found, but it's better than nothing. The originals were digital photos, we never got good print outs made and now sadly all of those old photos are gone, which is upsetting because there was alot of imagery of our lives in Toronto with our very first bunny Beanie.

This one is one of my most favourite shots of my handsome sweetheart, Jonathan.
And here is another of my favourites, me taking a snooze on the floor with Beanie in my old studio in our Toronto apartment on Leslie Ave...Ah good bunny-filled old times:D

My best friend Judit is always saying people like to put a face to the name and work. So in that spirit I am sharing these with you today.