flight

A seasonally appropriate vintage

I'd orginally thought this would make a good photo for the day because it was one tasty tasty wine. But then, once the label was in my viewfinder, I realized how appropriate this wine seemed to be at this point in the academic year. It is, if you're interested, 60% Shiraz, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Grenache. Although it doesn't say it on the label, it goes well with frozen entrees from Trader Joe's (which, for the record, are also pretty tasty especially when one is procrastinating and/or at one's wits end).

Moscow Alberta

Edmonton actually, but it sort of looks something like a bit of Moscow might, if your idea of Moscow is based on the superb movie version of John le Carre's The Russia House (screenplay by Tom Stoppard) and you took it from your hotel window since you didn't want to go outside because it was -30 C.

Rutherford Library

A slightly blurry photo of the atriumy space between Rutherford Library's North and South buildings at the University of Alberta. It's a nifty piece of architecure joining the formerly separate buildings.

McKenzieHall

The skyline that is ours yet not ours

I snapped this while shivering and waiting for the bus this afternoon. If it's sunny, I don't mind the cold; there's something about the cold that makes the sky a particularly crisp and lovely blue.

7:18 PM

Still life with porcini mushroom risotto, pumpkin seed crusted tilapia and beloved cow kettle.

First Snow

As seen from my back porch.

The last roses of the year

Happy Birthday!

A Parliament of Owls

I wonder why owls in the window? Maybe they're sort of guardians of the house, keeping watch at night.

Nectar of the Gods

Beans of the Gods

Purrr

Pate Deluxe or Beef Wellington?

I've been saving this tea for a day like today

Phog Art

Fantastic work on the alley wall of Phog Lounge.

Taped to a tree

Mita, queen of cool, found this cartoon taped to a tree on campus and nominated it for my photo of the day. Whomever put this up is also pretty cool (especially since they used tape on the tree not staples)

How I came to own a cute hat

Department stores (especially ones as storied as the Bay in downtown Toronto) have a certain nostalgia and romance for me. Not surprisingly, when I had a few hours to spend in any way I chose on Saturday, I found myself wandering around the downtown Bay store. After my hours thinking about "Blade Runner" ish technologies the day before, I found great comfort in the elegant simplicity of deparment stores and, as it turned out, hat shopping. Here, ladies and girls of all ages tried on hats of all styles: dapper, dowdy, stylish, sensible, elfin and elegant. It hardly seemed like the futuristic world I had been immersed in the day before and more like a Katherine Mansfield short story. Here, strangers told strangers; "oh, that's lovely on you" or "oh yes, the burgundy looks much nicer! It brings out your eyes" or "It looks awful on me but I bet it would look adorable on you!" And so it is that I came to be the happy owner of a very cute wool Parkhurst hat that I've read about with nostalgic curiosity for many months. Parkhurst, by the way, was established in 1926 in Toronto and their hats are still made in Canada. Hurrah!

Evening

In which the amateur photographer attempts to reproduce the sense of wonder he felt watching the ritual evening dance of tens of thousands of starlings as they prepare to roost. Fails.

Return of a long absent friend: The DIA re-opens

This weekend was the members' preview of the newly redone DIA. It is spectacular and I am uncharacteristically speechless.

Hotel room aesthetics

Another guilty pleasure: I love nice hotels. This one was particularly lovely in its colours, its simplicity and its serenity. The art was lovely: delicate photos of tree branches and etchings of dragonflies. Even the shampoo was lovely. When I woke up on Saturday, I made some mental calculations about how I might continue living in this hotel room for another month. Needless to say, I am back home with my own gloppy shampoo bottles and the kind of serenity that comes from sleeping cats and a running dishwasher. And that's just fine too.

Autumn

"It's kind of like 'Blade Runner'..."

One of my Friday meetings turned into a rare opportunity to visit the inner sanctum of a very, very large project. Although I was told "sure!" when I asked if I could take pictures (for educational purposes), I'm still not sure people would be very happy if I were to put them up on a blog. But, seeing this set up both intrigued and spooked me. Here's a very small part of this remarkable set up.

Book Cupboard

In the late Middle Ages, if you had books you kept them in a trunk. Shelves to display books began to be used in the 17th century. My apartment has a nifty built-in cupboard that's a bit of both and holds part of my library. The organization is ... organic, but somehow comforting and it works for me.

Seen while waiting for my brother who was stuck in the slow check-out line after dinner

My day began at 4:45 AM and, after a day of meetings and 4 hours on the train, I arrived in Toronto in the evening. By the time 8:00 PM rolled around, my vocabulary had vanished. But, when I saw this, I thought "this is how I feel to see my brother again."

Function & Design

Sometimes there's an incidental beauty in things. I wonder who designs fire hydrants? Perhaps Tibetan engineers living in exile, spreading the dharma with subversive elegance? My extensive research reveals this to be a class C hydrant (0-499gpm) model.

Guilty pleasure in the dark and rain at 7:10 AM

This, I will confess, is a bit of a guilty pleasure from a necessary evil. My bus stop is right outside this bridal shop and in the mornings I generally have a few minutes to look at each dress. This store always has four dresses in the window: 2 bride dresses and 2 bridesmaid dresses in the same colour. I probably wouldn't look at each dress as carefully as I do if I weren't waiting for a bus or if the store were open. But I have to admit that I really like looking at them in the silence and the dark of morning. It pleases me too that they change the dresses several times a week. I like watching people look at them while they wait for the bus too: some cynically, some wistfully, some indifferently.

Welcome to the Casino District

This is on Pitt Street, near the Gallery. I went there today to pick up a great little moleskin notebook
for my scrapbook. I don't really know but I guess that this area has been 'the casino district' for a long time, maybe even since prohibition. Signs like this are great historical records and wonderful palimpsests (there might be some older writing under there) and then it will someday be covered over too.

todayphoto

todayphoto is a place for Heidi and Alec to post daily* photos with commentary.
*daily-ish