At Home : Autumn and Thanksgiving 2018

Hello, hello. It's been a while since you've been inside our home, so I thought I'd give you a little look at what things are like here this autumn.Most of these pictures were taken on Canadian Thanksgiving Day, when our friend Andrea came over for a visit. It was a casual get-together without turkey and all the fixings, but we were happy with the tasty and healthy meal that Nick cooked up.And I made a cake which we all thought was delicious, which made full use of the variety of lovely pears that are in season right now, combined with the exotic flavour of cardamom. I'll be sharing the recipe in my next post, if you'd like to make one too.You might already know that I enjoy changing things around our home to reflect the season, or whatever holiday it is. You've heard that saying, "Don't sweat the small stuff"? Well, Andrea and I concluded that I do, indeed, sweat the small stuff when it comes to adding little details around the place, that visually tell us what time of year it is. I'm not one to change around furniture -- the general set up of our rooms has been exactly the same for over a decade, with a few additional pieces being added, that fit in around the original furnishings -- but there are certain surfaces that either get a full change-up regularly, and some others where most things stay the same with a few pieces being added in here and there.So, welcome ... I hope you enjoy seeing this year's autumn decor!

At the Gallery : Anthropocene at the AGO

I had the chance to see "Anthropocene" at the AGO recently.On the way out of the exhibition, visitors are asked, "In a word, how does what you've seen here today make you feel?", and are invited to leave their response by touching a tablet. The possible answers are "informed, sad, suspicious, worried, unconcerned, motivated, or angry".Backing up to the beginning of the show, the audience is greeted with a message by the Canadian creators of the pieces within, photographer Edward Burtynsky, and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, stating "Our ambition is for the work to be revelatory, not accusatory, as we examine human influence on the earth at planetary scale and in geological time. Recognizing our impact is the beginning of change."an-thro-po-cene : From the Greek anthropos, meaning "human being" and kainos meaning "new" or "recent".(n) The proposed current geological epoch, in which humans are the primary cause of permanent planetary change.Given the subject-matter, it might be questionable to describe the collection as being beautiful, but indeed, the large-scale, finely detailed, and brightly coloured images are just that. Or, perhaps, "stunning" might be a more appropriate descriptor, given their visual appeal combined with the message they deliver, that we humans are having a huge impact on the planet, does have the effect of leaving one feeling stunned.The exhibition combines photography and film, and makes use of a number of fun interactive technologies. The artists traveled all over the world to capture the images, which include sites such as garbage dumps, various types of mines, large-scale farms, urban sprawl and the harvesting of natural resources.Before entering the gallery, I attended a session, led by AGO Curator of Photography, Sophie Hackett, during which the artists discussed the ambitious project.

Traveling Through Time at Spadina House

My friend Andrea and I visited Spadina House this summer and both really liked it!Described as "Toronto's Downton Abbey", it's a three story mansion reflecting the style and decor of the 1920s and 30s.Located up on a hill overlooking downtown Toronto, Spadina House was built and continuously occupied by three generations of a single family, The Austins, for 116 years, from 1866 until 1982.The land was purchased by James Austin in 1866, who demolished the house that was there, in order to build one that was more to his liking.Then 25 years later, the property and home were given to his son Albert in 1892, who moved in with his young family. He began a series of extensions to the house, including adding a sunroom and a third story.The last of the Austin family to live there was one of his daughters, Anna Kathleen (1892–1983), who went by Kathleen.She was the granddaughter of the original builder and, although she moved out for several decades in between, moved back into the house in 1942, presumably after her parents had passed. This time, she lived there for 40 years until 1982, when she was 91 years old. Rather than sell off the property, she and her family generously donated it to the city, so that it could be maintained and protected as a museum, Spadina Museum.The extra-special part about the acquisition of this historically relevant house was that it came completely intact, including all the original contents and decorative items. So, the sofas, tables, mirrors, dishes, cushions, curtains, knick-knacks ... everything! ... are the very items that had originally been in the home when the family lived there.Certainly, since Kathleen had lived there until the 80s, pieces would have been moved around and put into storage -- there's a big room at the top of the house which was apparently filled with things -- and modern everyday items introduced, however these were all removed during the two restorations undertaken since the house became a museum. Things like the wallpaper and the washroom were redone, based on studies of old family photographs. Today, the house looks just as it did during the 1920s and 30s.So, back to the Downton Abbey comparison, for fans of that show (I am enthusiastically included!), the last resident of Spadina House, Kathleen Austin, who was born the year her family moved in, in 1892, would have been one year younger than Lady Mary Crawley, and exactly the same age as Edith. Kathleen's sister, Constance, born in 1894, would have been a year younger than Sybil. There were three more older Austin children, as well.Our tour of the home began with the viewing of a short film, which beautifully described the history house, family, the city and political and economic times. I'm pleased to be able to share this interesting video with you here, as it is loading up on YouTube. It's 10 minutes long and you can watch it here if you'd like.The two "roaring-twenties" girls, Esmé and Patricia, mentioned in the film, who had their coming-out parties at Spadina House, were Kathleen's daughters. If you don't find it overly morbid, Esmé's obituary found here is quite interesting.While inside, visitors to The Spadina House Museum are shown around with a guide, as part of a group tour. It's a very big place, so there's lots to see. I'll admit that I wasn't able to listen to everything that the tour guide said, as I was busy taking all the photos that I could. Wow, the place was a picture-taker's dream spot with so many gorgeous nooks and crannies!Access to the gardens outside was at our leisure and, if I understand correctly, is granted to anyone who'd like to look around during times of operating, without paying an entrance fee.As for the fee, Andrea and I used a "Museum and Arts" pass that I got at the library. (Note, that this program, offered by Sunlife Financial, granting free admission to a number of museums and galleries in Toronto, is ending at the end of the year, so check a pass out from your branch of the Toronto Library soon. They get fresh batches of passes on Saturday mornings, and it is first come first served.)Yes, I took a lot of photos, and while I've tried to edit, I realize there are still a lot to see. I thank you for taking the time and hope you enjoy them!We met at the Dupont Subway station and walked north on Spadina Road, up to Davenport.Something I hadn't realized before now was that Spadina Road, and Spadina Avenue which the street becomes south of Bloor Street, were named after the residence atop the hill, and not the other way around, although it was the previous owner, Baldwin, who had first named his house Spadina. Mr. Austin kept the name after he purchased the property.

The (Amazingly Whimsical) Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto

My last post was about our recent evening out at the "Just For Laughs SiriusXM Top Comic Finale". It was held at The Winter Garden Theatre, located on the east side of Yonge, just north of Queen Street.I saved the photos of the theatre to show you in a dedicated story about this remarkable venue.The Winter Garden Theatre is situated on the 7th floor, over-top The Elgin Theatre, which was called "Loew's Yonge Street Theatre" at the time they were built in 1913, as the flagship for Loew's chain of Canadian vaudeville theatres. Today, they are last double-decker theatres remaining in the world.Such stacked theatres allowed the actors to go up and down the stairs, appearing on the two separate stages, and thereby entertaining two audiences simultaneously.The two theatres were decorated quite differently from one another, with The Elgin having a classic formal look with lots of gold-leaf and lush red velvet. In contract, The Winter Garden was given a ... well ... um ... I won't even try to describe it, and will let the photos do the talking.So, these two theatres were built to present vaudeville performances, which were live shows that began in France at the end of the 1700s. A Vaudeville show in Canada would have been defined as "a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities and minstrels."But, as the Loew's Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres were opening, in 1913/14, the vaudeville genre was fading as a popular form of entertainment, making way for motion pictures. So, a mere 14 fourteen years after it opened, The Winter Garden portion of the the complex was shut down in 1928. The Loew's Yonge Street Theatre remained open, and changed its offering to movies only. The era of silent movies was coming to an end and films with sound had begun, so they wired it for sound and completely sealed up The Winter Garden Theatre.And so it remained, through the decades, until the early 80s, when The Ontario Heritage Trust purchased the complex to restore both theatres for use as a performing arts stages.When they cracked the seal to The Winter Garden Theatre, it was like entering a time-capsule.I remember becoming so enchanted by the story as a young person, after watching a mini-documentary news segment that described the surprising discovery and the refurbishment. I've searched the web, trying to find the exact video I saw, but it aired before the internet and I have come up empty. I remember it vividly, though, so I know it existed! I have found some footage though, that discusses the theatres and the process here.I recall learning that when they opened the place after not having been seen by anyone in over 50 years, they found that it was mostly still intact, however, the walls and surfaces were all black. I imagine this would have been a result of five decades of cigarette smoking going on in the theatre below it. The restorers cleaned off a small spot and discovered that the hand-painted walls remained under all the soot. They were able to clean the walls using lumps of raw bread dough, revealing the hand-painted water colour artwork beneath.Also, thousands of branches of beech leaves were harvested, preserved, painted, fire-proofed and suspended from the ceiling, replacing the original ones that had crumbled.What is believed to be the world's largest collection of vaudeville scenery was found inside.As for the lower theatre, which had been renamed "The Elgin" in 1978, it had been in constant use over the decades, so there was much more to do in these parts to restore them to their original states. 25 layers of paint were removed from the original surface in the lobby. In the theatre, opera boxes and plaster details were re-created after having been damaged or completely removed. Over 300,000 sheets of wafer-thin aluminum leaf were used to re-gild the walls and plaster details.Time for picture, beginning as far back as I can go ...