I hope the ability just to pop down to the park to skate never looses its magic! This is a natural rink – no fences, no Zamboni to clean the ice, just the good-will and hard work of local people to top the water levels up and clear the snow.
All posts by Gina
Saucer-eyes
In choosing Canada as our home, we were aware that one of the possible downsides is that paid holiday (vacation) time is significantly less than in the UK. However, we felt that this was balanced out by an apparent Canadian capacity to make the most of leisure time. The weekend just past certainly saw us embrace this spirit, nourishing mind, body and soul!
Friday evening: etchings by Rembrandt and Freud – the Rembrandt so incredibly fine and detailed, the Freud bolder but no less masterly, both capturing so much more than a visual likeness of their subjects; then fabulous photos, model ships and (as AGO members) VIP entry to the King Tut exhibition, recapturing an earlier fascination in the breathtaking beauty of so many of the items on display.
On to fire and ice – the Angel of the Apocalypse belching flame into the darkness as we skated, the trees glinting red and gold with Chinese lanterns to welcome the new year of the Tiger, as pillow-fight snow-flakes drifted down; a huge screen, held in the embrace of City Hall’s twin towers, provided a constantly changing vertical stage filled with oriental images and peopled by fan dancers, stick fighters and more. (On Sunday we caught a different acrobatic spectacle by Compagnie Les Passagers with a more elemental theme.)
Appealing to our senses, the foodie explorations encouraged by the fixed price Winterlicious menus are a delight – we enjoyed two great meals over the weekend. A late Saturday lunch at Pure Spirits took us to the Distillery District, followed up with the post-prandial pleasures of checking out our favourite galleries there, as well as lusting after high-style lights at Artemide. And we can’t seem to resist the wonderful Quebecois cheeses, St Lawrence Market offering up this week’s temptation!
On Sunday, we went Tumbling Into Light – amazing music, dance and visual imagery! Deeply moving, its intention to reflect the constant spiralling of light into darkness into light (individual, cultural, cosmic), I was awed by the twin awareness of the hugeness of the human capacity to encompass pain and the hugeness of the human capacity to manifest beauty.
On our way home from an early supper (Moroccan at 93 Harbord), Winter City claimed our attention again with an eerie performance by Glacialis, an Ice Orchestra. Who would have believed that ice tubes would resonate so wonderously in response to a hot flame!
So often here I am conscious of that I can still be that saucer-eyed child, utterly present, utterly entranced and engaged . . .
Seen in the car park at Canadian Tire . . .
This caught our eye . . .
Observe the bottom right of the bumper:
Homemaking
The last month; hard slog (too many late nights to mention) and the pleasure of seeing a house begin to become a home. Unpacking is sometimes tedious, sometimes joyous, occasionally sad (one smashed pot). I carried every book we own up two flights of stairs!
There is much more we hope to do in the next few months and other things we would like to do if we stay long enough, but we do now have a comfortable home. As we did not significantly change the decor of our last home over the last 15 years or so, I am enjoying the sense of evolution in creating a new space for our possessions that reflects the people we have become but also nods at where we have come from.
Eh . . .
As new arrivals in Canada, one is frequently told about the Canadian use of ‘eh’ at the end of sentences. Although it is not as prevalent as this might suggest, it exists both literally and in spirit.
A Canadian we met in the UK just before we left suggested that ‘eh’ represents something fundamental to the way Canada approaches things. It seems to me that young Canadians are encouraged both to be well informed and to have and to express opinions and to carry these into adult life. However, they are also encouraged to understand that others may have different views and to listen to these. I recently heard it said that Canadians are less inclined than many nations to see things in simple black and white.
To me, ‘eh’ represents the space at the end of any statement that allows for the possibility of a different view or reality, and, beyond this, the possibility of compromise.
Another reason for choosing to live in Canada, eh!