Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #57! I’m glad you’re here. Please come on in, help yourself to a cup of coffee, or tea, or hot chocolate at my coffee station and let’s chat.
Week 7/ 52
When I read that February 20th is an annual National Love Your Pet Day in Canada and the USA, I knew exactly where to take my blog readers to see my virtual pets. Are you ready to go? I know you are. We’re going to three places to see a few pet murals that I adore.
1. Mural at Coronation Park
Artist Andrea Manica painted these dog murals on a storage building at Coronation Park in 2021. Their expressions make me smile. There is a fenced dog park across the street where we can watch dogs running around, playing, and chasing squirrels.
2. Mural at College Street Animal Hospital
Artists Viviana Astudillo and Logan Miller created a long animal-inspired mural for the College Street Animal Hospital in 2012 under the StreetARToronto program in partnership with Community Cave. I love the animal eye expressions and their ears. They make me want to pet them.
3. Mural at the Toronto Humane Society
Artist Allan Ryan (better known as Uber5000) painted a long and amazing mural that covers most of the south wall of the Toronto Humane Society on Queen Street East (at River Street) in 2017. What could be more appropriate for this wall than cats and dogs and other animals that you can adopt?
Here are my close-up photos of some of the cute animals on the mural. The yellow birds are the artist’s ‘signature’ animal on his murals.
Using my cellphone to photograph these murals is my low maintenance way of owning pets. I promise there will be less photos in my next post.
Which pet is your favourite? If you own a pet, tell me what’s most endearing about your pet. How do you show your pet affection?
Shared with #CellPicSunday, #PPAC36, #SundayStills, #ThursdayDoors.
Copyright © 2024 natalietheexplorer.home.blog – All rights reserved.
Natalie the Explorer 
These are all so different Natalie – some vibrant and some looking really realistic. I’m always surprised by how many murals you seem to have around you – I feel quite mural deprived in comparison!
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Hi Leanne, The City of Toronto has several organized street art programs that attract international muralists. Their artworks are in abundance around me. It’s a visual treat to see them and get to know more about some artists’ portfolios.
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Impressive. I liked the hamster at the door with the yellow birds. Hard to tell it’s the entrance as it is all a part of the art. I live the creativity of street art. It’s always one of a kind too.
We had a kitty for 22 years. Most traveled cat on the planet. Came along on our trips around Europe, and the only states he hadn’t been to were Alaska and Hawaii. Donna
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Hi Donna, Yes, the main door with the hamster is so well done. It’s amazing that you had a kitty for 22 years and it traveled with you all over. Thank you for sharing your pet story.
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My favourite is the second one. I had two Maine coon cats that I am convinced thought that they were dogs. I could wax philosophically for hours on their antics, they kept me entertained for many many years
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Pamela, The second mural looks so real, doesn’t it? I used to have cats and dogs. I know what you mean how your cats kept you entertained for many years. Do you have any pet atm?
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They are all so wonderful it’s hard to pick…but if I had to pick it would be the mural on College Street animal hospital. It’s just wonderful! But so are all the others!
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Excellent pick, Dawn. The mural at College Street Animal Hospital looks so real. I feel like petting the cat and dogs in that mural.
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I like the rabbit with the red glasses. He resonates with me!
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Ally, The rabbit with the red glasses is cool. I took photos of another rabbit without glasses on the same mural but chose to share the cool one.
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Thanks Natalie.
I thought the images from the Animal Hospital were amazing – so detailed and almost as precise as a photo.
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Gary, Yes, the mural at the Animal Hospital looks so real. The artists did an amazing job painting the animal eyes, ears, and facial expressions.
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So many fun pets, it’s hard to choose, Natalie. I do have a soft spot for the turtles though.
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Jo, Hard choices for sure. The turtles with sunglasses are adorable and fun to see. They made me smile.
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🤣💟
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No need for less photos! I really like the Dalmatian, and the cat with the ball. As a cat owner (Charlie, 2.5kg of black fur) I do like the cats!
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The Dalmatian and the cat with the ball are both adorable. Charlie is a beautiful cat. I’m happy to hear your feedback and Marsha’s comment below about no need for less photos 🙂
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I agree 100% with Thistles and Kiwis. More pictures, please! I love the petable ones at the Animal Hospital. The ones at the Humane Center are certainly attention-getters. How cute! I might have to take your post and show it to our human society. We’ve got some great artists in Prescott. That would be a great project and very visible. Your virtuals all look like they’d be fun to own and cuddle and play with. 🙂
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Marsha, I’m glad you like the murals and want more photos 🙂 It’s a good idea to share with Prescott Humane Society. Hopefully they’ll have artists in Prescott paint a nice pet-themed mural for all to enjoy.
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I think it’s a great idea, for sure. 🙂
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What fab shots. Such a wonderful collection of murals you have!
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Thank you. I hope you’ve been doing well.
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Lots of changes but we’re doing really well, thanks. 🙂
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I love all of these, Natalie. It’s hard to pick a favorite. I do like the College Street animal hospital mural. I love the turtle, too! Thanks for sharing.
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Jill, I’m happy to hear you love these murals. The Animal Hospital mural and the turtles are adorable. Have a great weekend!
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The murals are wonderful Natalie. So colourful and I like the dog on the skateboard as my grandson is starting to learn to ride a skateboard. The dog also looks like ‘Schnitzel Von Krum with the very low tum’ a character in the Hairy MacLary children’s book series about a group of dogs. It is one of my favourite children’s books. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photography and hosting #weekendcoffeeshare
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Hi Sue, I’m glad you like these murals. The dog on the skateboard looks so playful and you’re right, it does look like Schnitzel von Krumm. I couldn’t resist photographing it. Have a great weekend!
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The murals are fabulous. My favourite is the one outside the animal hospital. That artist has the eyes and the expressions down pat.
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Jo, I’m glad you like these murals. The College Street Animal Hospital mural is amazing. The animals look real.
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The turtles with the glasses are adorable! They’re all so cute but I typically have a soft spot for turtles anyway.
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Turtles are such gentle animals. I like how the artist added the glasses and gave the turtles style.
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How fabulous are all these murals Natalie?? I liked them all but the dog on the skateboard took my fancy! So much fun 🙂
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Debbie, I’m glad you like these murals. The dog on the skateboard looks so playful, I couldn’t resist photographing it 🙂
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Natalie, I appreciate your low-maintenance pet ownership option. At this stage of life, pets are like babies – better when they are owned by someone else! Love the colorful murals.
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Suzanne, I prefer to be free to travel or come and go when it suits me so no pet for me atm.
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My blog is about pets today and I did not realize yours is too. I the murals by Andrea Manica and ‘The Dog on the Skateboard.’
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Great minds think alike 🙂 The dogs in Andrea Manica’s murals and the dog on the skateboard all look adorable. I’m glad you like them.
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So true. 😉 Thank you, Natalie.
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Oh nooo so many to choose from. I guess my fave is the rabbit with the red glasses but all are so greatly done 👍🏼
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Hehe, hard choices for sure, Teresa. The rabbit with the red glasses looks cool.
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Hi, Natalie – These murals are fabulous! Thank you for sharing them with us. It is very, very difficult to choose a favourite. But if pressed, I would choose the one from College Street Animal Hospital.
Happy ‘ Love Your Pet Day’ to all pet owners! 😀
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Hi Donna, Difficult choices for sure. The College Street Animal Hospital mural is amazing. The animals look real. Have a wonderful weekend!
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Fantastic murels! And it is all within your city. Even more fantastic. Thanks for the tour.
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Antoinette, I’m fortunate to have easy access to many beautiful murals. I’m glad you like the ones I’ve shared. Have a wonderful weekend!
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I love the more realistic mural on the animal hospital – lovely. Where’sd the code for the badge? Can’t see it (but I am having one of those days)
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Lydia, The mural at the animal hospital is amazing. The animal expressions look real. The badge is an image. There is no code. I believe you can save the image and add it to your blog. I’ve seen it on Blogger and WordPress blogs so I know it works. Have a great weekend!
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I really like the mural on the Toronto Humane Society, it’s hard to pick a favorite – I’d love to take them all home.
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Dan, If you enter the Toronto Humane Society building, it will be hard to resist how many pets to adopt. The artists are so talented to do these murals. I thought about sharing my post with Thursday Doors but with just three doors and many more animal photos, I hesitated.
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It would be fine to share it. A lot of posts only have one door. Those murals are too cute, and we get a lot of street art lovers.
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That is all lovely art work.
I’m a dog lover. I grew up with dogs in my house. When my husband and I got our first house we got a boxer and within weeks we got a second boxer. Now, we have just one boxer. Her name is Maddi. This breed of dog is so funny and lovable. I can’t image owning another breed.
Thanks for the virtual coffee Natalie. I will be back tomorrow to post up my link.
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Shari, Dogs are wonderful companions. I think there is a boxer in the Animal Hospital mural. Thank you for sharing your pet story. A virtual and gentle pat from me to Maddi. Have a great weekend!
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Such a gorgeous collection of cuties! I think the turtle is my favorite 🙂
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Great choice, Betty. Turtles are gentle pets. There are two turtles with glasses in the photo. Did you notice the cute baby turtle with black sunglasses on the right of the big turtle?
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It looks like the linky is closed already 😦
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Betty, The link is open until midnight Sunday, Canada Eastern Standard Time.
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They are all nice, but the College Street Animal Hospital one is something special. Sometimes realism wins out over cartoony cute or abstracted. Hope you are havign a great weekend!
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Trent, The artists did an amazing job with the College Street Animal Hospital mural. I’m glad you like it. Have a great weekend!
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All of them are great but I love the rabbit with the red glasses. Very cool. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
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Patrick, The red glasses make the rabbit unique, a great idea by the artist. I’m glad you like it. Have a nice weekend!
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Lovely! I laughed at your comment about photographing these murals being your way of owning a pet.
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Yup, funny yet practical for me at this time.
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I love the turtle and the ones of the outside of the animal hospital. So cool. I just love all the murals you find. They are always so fun to look at.
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Thank you, Kirstin, for your lovely comment. I’m happy you like the murals that I’ve shared.
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These are great! The Dalmatian and the hamster are my favorites–so cute!
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Janet, I think you’re the first respondent who likes the hamster. Someone else also likes the Dalmatian.
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Love that you have pulled together so many cute animal murals for us to enjoy … Younger Child & I were just admiring them! I think my favourites have to be those with red glasses – the rabbit & the turtle are so whimsical!
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Ju-Lyn, I’m happy to hear your younger child and you were admiring the murals I shared. This is part of what’s so wonderful about blogging. Your picks are excellent. The artist gave the rabbit and turtle style with simple pairs of glasses.
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Our wonderful world of sharing!
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Stunning displays of street art depicting our beloved pets, Natalie! Toronto certainly is rich in its murals. So glad to see your post celebrating both pets and art, a great combination. I love the realism of the murals by College Street animal hospital.
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Terri, Although there are many murals with animal images in downtown Toronto, as far as I know the mural at the Toronto Humane Society is the most elaborate and specific to pets. The mural at College Street Animal Hospital is quite beautiful with its realism. I’m glad you like these murals. I’ll link up after your Sunday Stills post goes live.
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More amazing art from your city Natalie. I love them all but I do love the cat with a ball. The colours in the mural are amazing. You would love our Oscar the toy poodle. He loves looking after the chooks and is always up for a bit of fun.
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Jennifer, I saw photo of Oscar on your blog and he’s one beautiful dog. Dogs are wonderful companions. The cat with a ball is adorable. I’m glad you enjoyed these murals. Have a great week ahead!
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Excellent. Great street art
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Thank you.
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It is almost impossible to choose one of those awesome murals Natalie! If I had to choose one it would be mural number two. ❤
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Hehe, Maria, difficult choices for sure. #2 mural looks real. Excellent pick!
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They’re all cute, but I really love #2!
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Pam, #2 mural is an amazing mural. The animal expressions are like real.
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Why the turtle of course! All the paintings are wonderful though.
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Cheryl, The turtles are adorable. There is a baby turtle on the lower right of the big turtle.
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They are all so amazing. I’m kind of partial to the Dalmatian, and to the orange kitty with the ball. Someone(s) did Great Work on all those.
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Tena, I agree the artists did amazing work on these murals. The Dalmatian looks playful and the cat with a ball looks adorable.
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They are all really cool murals, Natalie. I think my favorite is the one on the wall of the animal hospital, though, because they look so real and natural. Our Maya is the cutest when she sleeps on our bed in the camper. When she’s staying out of trouble, she is the best dog in the world! 🙂
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Liesbet, #2 mural is amazing to see for the reasons you mentioned. Maya looks sweet to me 🙂 I hope you’re having a good time in Mexico.
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You can’t beat a rabbit in specs! My cat steals socks and drags them out to his water boil, generally in the middle of the night. Sometimes he chews a hole in them.
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Jan, The artist gave the rabbit such style with red specs. Your cat seems to know how to tease you. You probably have dedicated socks for his chewing.
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We (the 7 of us children) grew up in a house with many, many cats. After the last of us left home, Mother’s cat population dwindled away, which was sad but inevitable. I enjoyed my hamsters, iguana, and white mice, but that was difficult to maintain in rentals. Now that I am married, we have enjoyed a succession of American Cocker spaniels, to which I am not allergic. They are more interactive than any other of our pets, The cats, however, were neater and more self-sufficient. I do not think that I ever would want to be without pets, since I have retired. I covet their companionship.
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Lizl, Pets are wonderful companions. Your dogs are adorable from the photos I saw on your blog. I remember you mentioned they recently had a new and good groomer. Thank you for sharing your pet story.
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Hi Natalie,
You have such amazing artwork in Toronto! I love them all being such an animal lover but the Humane Society’s real life artwork is truly amazing. What a great tribute. I wasn’t watching my time and started out rather late in the evening and ended up missing the coffee share linkup. Darn it all, but I posted my weekend coffee share anyways. My weekend just runs away with me sometimes! I hope you have an awesome week ahead! ❤
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Thank you, Diana, for your comment. The Toronto Humane Society mural is quite extensive with at least twenty animals on it. I’m glad you liked it. I know you’re busy so I greatly appreciate when you blog. I’ll be over to your coffee share post shortly. Have a wonderful week!
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Natalie, this week I really am too late for the party in spite of starting early. But I do have some pet pictures for you and an update of this week. Thanks for hosting this fun challenge. https://alwayswrite.blog/2022/02/20/sunday-stills-coffee-share-squares-pets-are-forever/
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Thank you, Marsha, for your coffee share. I’ll be over to your blog shortly. Have a wonderful week!
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No hurry. Thanks for coming.
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Hi Natalie,
Thanks so much for another week and for sharing those awesome pet murals with us. We’ve had three dogs for about five years now, since our Border Collie, Bilbo passed away. Bilbo used to be quite a feature on my blog. Much more so than our current dogs, although Lady used to be on with Bilbo. We had Lady who is a Border Collie x Cavalier and she might be around nine years old now. Lady is much more cavalier personality wise and only chases live critters unlike the pups who incessantly chase the ball/stick/anything. A severe thunder storm is brewing here, and massive flashes of lightening out towards the beach. Lady just jumped up on my lap, but the pups seem to be oblivious and just want Geoff to keep throwing the ball.
Here’s a link to a past post featuring the pups: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2020/04/18/dealing-with-the-diggingest-dogs/
Hope you have a good week.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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Hi Rowena, I read your post featuring your pups with great interest. They’re beautiful dogs. Some dogs are terrified of loud noises like fireworks and thunderstorms. Thank you for your coffee share. I’ll be over to your blog shortly. Have a wonderful week!
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Thanks so much, Natalie. The pups are very funny and certainly help lighten the mood at home. I also did a post for What’s On Your Bookshelf? My question is: “do you really want to know?”
Best wishes,
Rowena
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These are amazing images ..and some make me smile . The paintings are wonderful.
I am following your site .
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Thank you, Anita, for following my blog. I’m glad you like these murals. Have a great week!
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Thanks Natalie. hope you will follow my site .
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I enjoy the first set of murals. It’s so cute!
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Julie, Yes, the first mural makes me smile. Thank you for stopping by. Have a great week!
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Hi Natalie, I was not aware of National Love your pet day. The pet murals have amazing, positive vibes and they make me smile. Ha, ha about the dog park across the street. You are right, how the artist captured the animal expressions at the Animal Hospital. Natalie, you captured well the mural at the Humane Society. Excellent angle to try to get most of this large mural in the photo. I love everything about this post and all of the photos! Thank you for brightening up my day!❤️
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Hi Erica/ Erika, I’m glad you like these murals and they make you smile. I took all my photos with my cell phone so they’re intended for fun and not for professional photography. The mural at the Toronto Humane Society is huge and long with at least twenty animals on it. It’s colourful and really brightens the intersection. Thank you for stopping by. I hope all is well with you and your family.
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I take most of my photos with my iphone now and get the better results – sometimes I will use a point and shoot with zoom if I want a better zoom. Your photos and the entire post is awesome, Natalie!!💕
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You’ve got two excellent camera options, Erica/ Erika. The multi-functional and portable iphone is hard to beat. The point and shoot with zoom gives the zoom capability. I had a point and shoot camera that was unfortunately damaged on a trip pre-pandemic. I think I’ll shop for a replacement when I resume travel. As always, I appreciate your encouragement 🙂
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A wonderful collection of pet murals! Thanks for joining us on Cellpic Sunday! For some reason, your link to mine didn’t show up in my notifier, but it did in the Comments section. I didn’t notice it until this morning.
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Thank you, John, for your comment. I’m glad I left my link in the Comments in addition to pingback. Have a great week!
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Those murals are so detailed and beautiful. I’m so impressed with the scale and quality of them. Growing up we only had dogs but now I’m a cat person. They are independent, affectionate, aloof, grumpy, temperamental and a bit like having a teenager in the house. 🙂
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Welcome, Margaret, to my blog, and thank you for your comment. I’m glad you like the murals I shared. I think the artists did an amazing job. Your description of cats are spot on 🙂 Do you have a blog that I can visit?
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