Uninhabited Spaces

Image Credit: Gardiner Museum, 2012 At lunch today I took the subway up three stops to check out the Gardiner Museum , Canada's national ceramics museum. I had never been to the Gardiner before, and I was impressed that there exists a museum devoted solely to the curatorial presentation and preservation of ceramics. The museum's collections numbers some 3,000 pieces and it also hosts special exhibitions. I was drawn to a current special exhibition called Rule Britannia!: Four Centuries of British Style, Power & Taste .  According to the show's website," Rule Britannia! celebrates the union of artistry and craft that symbolises and captures the social history, ingenuity, aspirations and sensibilities of one of the world’s greatest empires. Examining significant moments in the development of iconic British potteries, Rule Britannia! documents their emergence in the late 17th century to their domination of the world market in the 19th and early 20th cen...

This is not a vacuous self-help book with platitudes and endless lists with bold instructions on how to make your life better in 150 pages. If you are seeking such a read look elsewhere. Rather, this is a meditation on the nature of work in our times. Told using real-world stories spanning the globe, de Botton encourages deep thinking and reflection in his readers about the relationship between meaning and work as well as the meaning of our work.

Image Credit: Stacy Kelly, 2012 Freeway like a river cuts through this land Into the side of love Like a burning spear And the poison rain Brings a flood of fear Through the ghost-ranch hills Death valley waters In the towers of steel Belief goes on and on         U2, "Heartland" I snapped this photo recently while waiting for the 504 King Street streetcar to take me home. I thought the framing of the CN Tower was rather nice. It also made me think about how the city's skyline is being irrevocably changed by the never-stopping construction of high rise buildings. I had written about how Toronto is in the process erecting more high-rise buildings than any other city in North America in a posting back in November; something along the lines of 132 high-rises under construction. Admittedly, my posting was fuelled by some chest-pounding so I was taken aback by a provoking article in the July issue of Toronto Life called "Faulty Towers" tha...

Image Credit: Stacy Kelly, 2012 This past Saturday we finally made it over to Toronto's slice of paradise, The Beach . Home to a wonderful boardwalk along the Lake Ontario shoreline, opened in 1932, The Beach is also stocked full of Victorian and Edwardian era houses tightly packed along gorgeous tree-lined streets. The main street, Queen Street East, is mostly chock full of quirky independent stores. We checked out Ends , which is sort of like a version of Phase 2 for my Kingston friends, and a great store called Binz , which is completely devoted to organizing and storing things. Their motto is "Think inside the box". I rather like that! We also stopped in at Seagull Classics , a handsome furniture and lighting store. But mostly, we went to The Beach neighbourhood to take in its namesake, the long beach and inviting stroll along the waterfront on a hot and humid summer day. Image Credit: Stacy Kelly, 2012

We had the top floor apartment in the front (circa 1850) All images copyright Stacy Kelly, 2012

Main St., Chatham Church, Chatham Chatham Town Hall (left) and Church, Chatham John F. Kennedy Memorial, Hyannis John F. Kennedy Memorial, Hyannis Looking onto Lewis Bay, Hyannis Korean War Memorial, Hyannis All images copyright Stacy Kelly, 2012

Commercial Street The Crown & Anchor Commercial Street Church on Commercial Street Commercial Street View of P-town from the west end View of the 3 towers from Commercial Street An art gallery in a former school house A community centre in an old school house The town's library! Leaving P-town on the ferry View of downtown from the west end View from deck of Boat Slip, home of the famous Tea Dance Waterfront homes in the east end Looking downtown from the east end All images copyright Stacy Kelly, 2012

The cute almost-hidden entrance to a great restaurant One of our favourite spots, the Squealing Pig Clams and oysters at The Waterford Inn A plate of--what else--cod at the Waterford Inn A great find: Blue Moon Belgian White from Colorado Osyters freshly shucked at The Squealing Pig Read the sign Mussels pasta at the Waterford Inn All images copyright Stacy Kelly, 2012

All images copyright Stacy Kelly, 2012