National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

 I will spend this day thinking about the First Nations students I had when I was teaching and hoping their lives turned out well. 

A lovely sunny day

 Jim got up early to play tennis and was very pleased with his game. I enjoyed a nice lie in.

I think it's a day for Las Margaritas since we're out of steak. We find the Sterling strip loin at Safeway is pretty good.

Quick trip to Victoria to see old friends

 We really enjoyed seeing people we hadn't seen for five years. Jim and I were amazed  to realize how long it had been.

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful welcome and hospitality!

I'm always a sucker for sunflowers....

 Loved Susan K.'s rendition posted on her blog.

"After a brief summer hiatus, Painting With Joy is back.  It proved to be what I needed to end my own hiatus!

We painted Van Gogh's sunflowers yesterday, and I really enjoyed it.  I used watercolor, Neocolor crayons and watercolor pencils in my 9 x 9 Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook."

Turning potholes into art....what an amazing idea!

 AUTHOR Rebekah Brandes

"The city of Lyon, France, is as much subject to urban decay as any other metropolis, the wear and tear from cars, weather, and foot traffic leading to crumbling pavement and potholes on once pristine roads. But for one man, there is inspiration in disrepair. An anonymous artist known as Ememem has been filling in street and sidewalk divots with striking geometric mosaics — colorful bursts of beauty amid the asphalt. 

“He calls himself the bitumender,” a representative for the artist told Nice News, referencing bitumen, a substance used for paving. As soon as Ememem laid the first tile, “he understood he was going to do it again and again, until the end of his life.” 

The striking street art melds contemporary style with the ancient Japanese tradition of kintsugi, the practice of using gold to mend broken pottery. He’s has been creating the pieces for the last six years, first in Lyon, then Paris, and throughout Europe — adorning streets in Norway, Germany, Spain, Scotland, and Italy with hundreds of his creations."

 

Multitasking

 

For all the cheese lovers in the world

 This came up on FB....ah...what would we do without cheese. I'll never forget the first cheese board we were offered in France. It was in Paris and couldn't believe all the choices. There was a whole section of blue type cheese if I remember correctly.

Richard did the Gran Fondo

And has the photos to prove it.

Well, we went for a walk on the beach :)

"I rented an old man"

This was the name of an article in "Postscript: TheMagazine for Retired Educators"

It's a pretty catchy title so turned to read it first. It seems like a pretty good idea and made me wonder if such services exist outside of Japan. I imagine they do. 

https://www.tofugu.com/reviews/ossan-rental/

The woman who submitted this articles has a blog:

www.thewayofwords.com

She posts some interesting stuff so perhaps I'll take a look at her posts from time to time.

Just love all this amazing stuff that comes up

 "Queen Elizabeth"

With Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and his 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

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This lady is amazing!

She was a Mechanic in the British army when she was a young lady!

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth by Andy Warhol

 I've always been interested in Warhol's artistic take. I thought this was pretty good at capturing her regality and intelligence, 

The Brits are great at queuing ...

 

London

CNN — 

It is a moment for which Britain has been in solemn preparation for years. Multiple official agencies were brought together. Meticulous plans were secretly drawn up. Intricate logistical technicalities were ironed out. A route was carefully mapped out. 

And no country’s population could have been better prepared for it.

We are talking, of course, about the queue which Britons must join in order to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II. This is not an ordinary line. It has taken on symbolic meaning, a ritual to be undertaken, an embodiment of the national mood. It is, in short, The Queue.

It snakes from Westminster Hall, where the late monarch’s body is lying in state, for miles along the south bank of the River Thames. It stretches past landmarks such as the London Eye (constructed at the turn of the millennium), the Royal Festival Hall (opened in 1951, the year before Princess Elizabeth’s accession to the throne) and the Globe theater (a throwback to a previous Elizabethan age). Plans are in place for it to be as long as nine miles, or 14.5 kilometers.

Love his work!

 Well, primary colours (and colours that seem like primary colours),  interesting shapes.  I may just get motivated to do something.

Colour Zone, 2000 

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Acrylic on canvas  
106 in x 78 in (H x W)
269.25 cm x 198.12 cm (H x W)
Price on request, for more information please contact artsales@vancouverbiennale.com

Sale proceeds will establish two Vancouver Biennale residencies for Indigenous artists. 

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is one of the most prominent outspoken contemporary First Nations artists working today and is projected to be one of the most relevant of our time. Colour Zone is one of Yuxweluptun's most significant ovoid works. In this canvas, ovoid forms serve as the central element.  Ovoids are the foundational building blocks of classic Northwest Coast Indigenous design and are unique in Yuxweluptun's work as they are used as non-pictorial compositions to  convey critical issues of the human plight such as self-determination, self-government, social conditions and Indigenous philosophy.   Strategically placing different colours of ovoids around a background  in a chaotic matter, Yuxweluptun talks about the frustration, struggles, and confusion of one's identity that occurred in the minds of the Indigenous peoples throughout the colonization of what is colloquially referred to as Canada.  ​

​

I loved this recent photo of Queen Elizabeth and Justin Trudeau

I wonder how many times the Queen met with dignitaries and officials in her long lifetime. This is a recent encounter and I am touched by what seems like honest sincerity on her part. 

Her Majesty met Canada's Justin Trudeau several times, including earlier this year at Windsor

The Queen's dogs

 Anyone who loves dogs must be a good person :)

This is my favourite photo of the Queen with her dogs.

Glad to see this news about Notre Dame

 My blog readers probably remember I was in tears on hearing my beloved Notre Dame sustained a fire. 

Work Begins on Restoring Notre Dame’s 170-Year-Old Stained Glass Windows

More than three years after a fire badly damaged Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral, work has begun to restore the building’s iconic stained glass windows. Per Reuters, most of the 170-year-old windows survived the blaze but became covered in smoke and dust, blocking light from streaming through the glass. In order to avoid damaging the windows in the cleaning process, restorers must gently rub the colorful surfaces with a mixture of water and ethanol. Flavie Serriere Vincent-Petit, the head of a stained glass company near Paris, is in charge of restoring 22 of the 39 windows. She told the outlet they are currently in a “major cleaning phase,” which when completed will ultimately “give back full brightness to Notre Dame.”It is one of many concurrent projects to get the historic, centuries-old cathedral back to where it was before the 2019 fire. In July, France’s Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak said they are on track to reopen Notre Dame to the public in 2024 — when the country is set to host the Summer Olympics.

Loved this Asimov quote

A bit of humour in this sad time

 

Tributes to Queen Elizabeth

 I continue to be amazed at the tributes around the world to Queen Elizabeth. I guess I shouldn't be as there has been a world wide fascination with the Royals for a long time. I have always admired how well she handled this very difficult role she was thrust into.

Queen Elizabeth

 

This photograph was subtitled "Past and Present". 

What an amazing life she lived and I think almost everyone would admire the way she navigated a difficult job regardless of how you might feel about the idea of royalty. 

This came up while I was googling Queen Elizabeth. I never saw one of these but I imagine they will be worth more than $20 now.

FIRST SERIES $20 NOTE

Printed by Canadian Bank Note Company Ltd., the $20 note features a portrait of 8-year-old Princess Elizabeth (granddaughter of King George V and later Queen Elizabeth II). The engraving for the note, completed by Edwin Gunn of American Bank Note Company, was based on a Marcus Adams photograph of the princess. The image on the back, based on a painting by Alonzo Foringer, shows two allegorical figures representing toil. 

 

Cup of Noodles Museum in Osaka, Japan

 Well, I guess they really do have museums for everything.

Loved the design for the theatre.

https://www.cupnoodles-museum.jp/en/osaka_ikeda/attractions/mc-factory/

Rainbow Wall

Loved this photo John Denniston posted. I think it would have been fun to paint. I taught in a classroom where a previous teacher had painted a rainbow over one wall. I really enjoyed having that rainbow greet me every morning. 

Columbia Street at 4th Avenue. Photo by John Denniston

Blue Jays win again

 Well, pleasure in small things but pleasure all the same!

Lovely evening with Donna and Earl yesterday

 We had a wonderful dinner at the Milltown Pub yesterday. We all  enjoyed their wonderful prime rib special. And back to Donna's for watermelon and cookies...yum.

I must remember to take photos :)

Cheese

Apparently, the most popular brand of cheese in the US in 2020 was Kraft Singles. This was in "Interesting Facts". I think Americans eat a lot of interesting cheese too but I would guess that cheese on burgers counts for a lot of the boring stuff. I like Kraft Singles on a burger too. I'm having trouble getting images to load but on one image they were proudly proclaiming "2% milk".  Yikes.

Stan and Nicki come in for a visit Friday

 It was really great to see them and we all enjoyed our dinner at the University Golf Club.

What a lovely evening.

Loved this cartoon

 We have many photos of Oscar (a neighbourhood cat who loved to visit) pushing Jim's laptop to the side so he could have the prime spot on his lap.

A lovely dinner with Liz

 We had lots of fun with Liz last night. Feeling very mellow as I post this. We are all glad not to be going "back to school".