Dig, Plant, Patterns, Mulch

It’s Monday of the first long weekend of the season here in Canada, and I am totally exhausted.  Statistics say that the chances of a warm and sunny Victoria Day weekend are slim to nil, but this year we got lucky!  Saturday and Sunday were absolutely gorgeous – hot and sunny and not a drop of rain, and today is shaping up nicely as well!!

Next weekend my parents are coming for a visit (Yay!!!), and we are going to Exposure, the Photo and Video Imaging Expo in Toronto, which happens twice a year in the Spring and Fall.  It is a day that I always look forward to because not only are all the big name camera and accessory companies there selling their wares, but there are also free photography seminars all day long!!  I always come home with my head swimming with new information.

So, because I will be very busy next weekend, I took advantage of the good weather this weekend to dig up my gardens and get all of my new flowers planted.  I am really not much of a gardener, but I do like to try and perk up my property with some colour in the gardens (small though they are).  I made two trips to a greenhouse an hour away from my home (awesome place – totally worth the drive) to replace some ailing perennials and buy my hanging baskets and annuals, and then I spent most of the rest of the weekend digging and planting.  That is why I am exhausted, but it was so worth it because now it is basically all done, and I can enjoy my summer.  However, as a result, my brain couldn’t handle anything complicated for my blog today, so I decided on some building close-ups from our trip to Windsor.  I enjoy zooming in on buildings to capture the different patterns in the architecture.  How about you?

Ok, my blog is done for the day, so it’s time to finish off my gardens by spreading some mulch. See ya and have a nice day!!

I think I’m speechless…….

We now interrupt our regular scheduled programming for a view from Mikey’s camera.  I really am speechless when a newbie photographer like my hubby produces photos like this.  Wow!!!!  Yesterday Mike was helping his sister with some repairs at the horse farm where she works, and he willingly, of his own accord, got his camera out and took pictures. These are the results.  Pretty awesome eh?

Scuffy, is that you?

It seems that I will never run out of ideas for posts about my weekend in Windsor, Ontario, so I hope you are not getting bored yet .  I guess it’s because I had the time to truly look around me and capture a variety of images from different perspectives instead of just concentrating on the obvious shots.  Here is an example of what I mean.

When I took this photo, it was like a face was looking back at me, and I just found it adorable.  It took me back to when I was a small child reading the book, Scuffy the Tugboat, about the little red toy tugboat who takes off to explore the world only to realize that home is where he really wants to be.  So, what kind of boat is this really?  It’s not a tugboat but rather a river cruise boat that takes groups out on site-seeing tours.  I still say it reminds me of Scuffy though!

Mystery Photo #26

Happy Friday everyone!!  Tomorrow marks the start of the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada, so I am a happy, happy girl.  The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm, and I don’t have to go to work for 3 whole days.  Yayyyyy!!!!!

Let’s start if off right with our fun Friday game.  As we celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday, let’s see who will be the queen (or king) of guessing the mystery photo.  Ok, ready, set, go…….

The Tower of Freedom

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that the church I featured was near a monument to the Underground Railroad.  Mike and I took a few pictures of it from a distance on the first day as we were walking to the casino, but I was so drawn to it that we returned the next morning to take close up photos.  It is aptly called the Tower of Freedom, and the inscription reads, “International Underground Railroad Memorial – Keeping the Flame of Freedom Alive”.  It’s companion work called the Gateway to Freedom is located across the river in Hart Plaza in Detroit.  They were both dedicated on October 20, 2001.

A plaque on the base reads as follows:  ”From the early nineteenth century until the American Civil War, settlements along the Detroit and Niagara rivers were important terminals of the Underground Railroad.  White and black abolitionists formed a heroic network dedicated to helping free and enslaved African Americans find freedom from oppression.  By 1861, some 30,000 freedom-seekers resided in what is now Ontario, after secretly travelling north  from slave states like Kentucky and Virginia.  Some returned south after the outbreak of the Civil War, but many remained, helping to forge the modern Canadian identity.”

This memorial really moved me.  I have great respect for the people who put their own lives in danger to help people who had been so horribly wronged and mistreated.  Their bravery was phenomenal – the African Americans for leaving and the people of the underground railroad for helping them.  The whole idea of the prejudice that these people who are just like you and I went through, and still go through today to some extent in certain areas, just disgusts me.  How can the colour of a person’s skin matter, when the hearts beating in their chests are the same as yours and mine.  I know that mankind has been constantly working to eradicate prejudice in the world, but it’s still out there and that saddens me.  However, looking at this memorial puts hope in one’s heart.

Faith in the midst of horror and prejudice

I love to take pictures of churches.  I’m not an overly religious person, but I think churches are beautiful and the architecture so awe-inspiring.  There is so much detail to take in when you really look closely at a church, especially the very old ones.  So, even if I am out and about for other reasons, I always find myself detouring with camera in hand if there is an old church in the vicinity.

While Mike and I were walking around the Charles J. Clark Square in Windsor taking pictures, we came across this Anglican/Espicopal church and were drawn to it.  I found it interesting that it was located close to both a war memorial and a statue honouring the underground railway.  I don’t know if this makes sense or not, but somehow it was nice to see a place of faith near the memories of two such disturbing parts of our history, where the monuments were honouring the bravery of those who fought for what was right and just.

Here are some of the more interesting shots of the church.  I tried to fix the really bad lighting of the shots taken looking up at the sky by replacing the overly bright sky, but it was my first attempt at doing that, so they could probably be much better.  Oh well, anything new that I learn in Photoshop is a bonus with the limited learning time that I have, so I am thrilled that they look even a little bit better.

The beauty of street murals

I live in a very small rural town, and one of the things that I have noticed over the last few years is how little towns like ours are being spruced up with murals painted on the sides of old buildings.  We have acquired a number of these beautiful works of art in Dundalk, Ontario, like the mural of an old school on the front of the elementary school that my boys attended, and it is absolutely gorgeous.  There is also one on the side of the building which houses the local drugstore which depicts a scene from earlier days in a similar small town complete with horses and buggies and old fashioned clothing, there is a group of cows painted on another building, the Last Supper adorns the wall of the old library, and the old fire hall has a painting of some of the actual firemen from this town back in the 70′ or 80′s.

When my hubby and I were in Windsor a couple of weekends ago, we noticed quite a few murals there too, but there was an interesting mixture of old and new themes.  The first photo below shows a picture of a musician, the second a lady’s smiling face, and the third an old fashioned scene at a street intersection.  The street mural was on the back wall of our hotel facing the parking lot, and what I love about this photo is how the cars parked up against it appear to be waiting to drive down the street in the mural.  I think it provides an interesting illusion.  Does your town or city have any street murals, and if so, what do you think of them?