Lights – Natalie the Explorer

Wrapping Up 2022

December 16, 2022December 19, 2022Natalie100 Comments

Hello and welcome! I’m glad you’re here. It’s week 50 in 2022 and I’m hosting Weekend Coffee Share (WCS) linkup #100 which includes the Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC). Feel free to link your WCS or PPAC post to this post. Come on in for a coffee or tea, and let’s catch up.

This is my last post for 2022 before the holidays. I’d like to wrap up my 2022 with beautiful lights and gratitude. Below is my selection of blue light displays for PPAC and Sunday Stills photo challenge.

Beautiful Lights

I started my walk at Nathan Phillips Square to see the 56th annual Cavalcade of Lights in Toronto. The event is on from November 26 to January 7. It includes lighting of Toronto’s official Christmas tree and thousands of energy-efficient bulbs adorn the heart of downtown Toronto.

Along Bay Street, all the major banks have glittering trees and holiday decorations. Royal Bank of Canada displays their signature blue and silver tree for the holidays.

I ended my walk at Union Station. The Pixel Matrix, created by Michael Awad and David Rokeby, is a three-dimensional cube made up of 30,000 individually controllable LED lights on strings, with constantly changing lighting effects.

On another walk, I discovered an intense blue aluminum sculpture. I thought it would be fun to add it to this post.

Gratitude 2022

On January 2, 2022 I hoped to continue focusing on Health, Home and Leisure to live a healthy and enriched life. Reflecting on 2022, I feel truly grateful for an amazing year.

Here’s the gifts in 2022 for which I am grateful.

My good health throughout the year. I enjoyed cycling on recreational trails, exploring from Hanlan’s Point to Ward’s Island, kayaking around Toronto Islands, playing disc golf, sailing in Toronto Harbour in the summer, and walking. I love being with nature and taking in the beauty around me.

My family and friends near and far. I’m grateful for the opportunities to meet some of them in person in Calgary, Hamilton and Toronto after a long gap due to COVID-19 pandemic.

My home and city with many cultural and recreational opportunities. I appreciate Toronto’s festivals, events, art, history, parks, gardens, beaches, ravines, rivers, Lake Ontario, trails, and more.

Hobbies that are fun and enriching. I celebrated my 6 years of blogging in October. I appreciate all the visits, likes, and comments on my blog and contributors to my weekly Weekend Coffee Share linkup and Photographing Public Art Challenge, as well as my fellow blog hosts. I’m grateful for easy access to books and films from the Toronto Public Library.

Travel: I’m grateful to be able to explore amazing natural wonders in Newfoundland and Labrador, on the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and enjoy fun adventures, historic sites, delicious seafood and desserts in these three beautiful Canadian provinces.

My three ways to give back in 2022:

Met with family and friends at local eateries and Indie cafés to support small businesses.

Volunteered to run my first food drive for Daily Bread Food Bank, and helped out at one public art event and six running races.

Traveled in Canada to support Canadian airlines, hospitality and tourism industry.

A friendly reminder that there is no WCS linkup on December 23rd and 30th. I’ll return with a fresh post on January 6, 2023.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Enjoying the Holiday Season

December 9, 2022December 14, 2022Natalie101 Comments

Hello and welcome! I’m glad you’re here. It’s week 49 in 2022 and I’m hosting Weekend Coffee Share (WCS) linkup #99 which includes the Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC). Feel free to link your WCS or PPAC post to this post. Come on in for a coffee or tea, and let’s catch up.

Are you looking forward to the upcoming holidays? By next weekend, I would have hosted fifty consecutive Weekend Coffee Share linkups in 2022. So, I look forward to taking a blogging break and enjoying the holiday season.

I started my holiday fun with two walks: 1) Gingerbread Lane at Royal York hotel for their incredible displays and 2) Fleurs de Villes Noël in Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood for their gorgeous floral designs. Both events are free to the public.

I’m sharing my pictures for #ThursdayDoors photo challenge and PPAC. Click on any image in the gallery and use the arrow to move through the pictures.

1. Gingerbread Lane

The life-sized Gingerbread Lane consists of about 8500 gingerbread bricks and 12 different types of candy. The floor-to-ceiling bricks are glued together using royal icing and the lane is 90% edible!

Along the lane are windows that look like storefronts with twinkly lights and festive scenes of gifts, gingerbread, decorative cookies and candies. I love everything about this Gingerbread Lane. Such a creative and “sweet” theme!

2. Fleurs de Villes Noël

Fleurs de Villes Noēl is a festive floral trail of over 30 gorgeous floral installations, created by Toronto’s favourite florists. Some of the installations are floral mannequins and some celebrate world-class Canadian figure skaters.

I’ve attended a few Fleurs de Villes events in Toronto and Niagara Falls before. The florists continue to amaze me with their designs using fresh flowers and greenery.

3. New Badge

December 16th-18th is the last Weekend Coffee Share linkup for 2022. It’s also the 100th linkup that I have been hosting since January 2021. I hope to ‘see’ you there before the holidays. After the holidays, I’ll be back with a fresh post on Friday, January 6, 2023.

For 2023, I created a new Weekend Coffee Share badge and added it to my blog sidebar. Weekend Coffee Share and PPAC contributors are welcome to display the badge on their blogs. I look forward to your contributions.

Nordic Lights: 6 Dazzling Displays

February 11, 2022February 14, 2022Natalie99 Comments

Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #56! 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 6/ 52 – Two Announcements

First, I’ve created the Weekend Coffee Share badge for 2022 and added it to the sidebar of my blog. Weekend Coffee Share participants and supporters are welcome to display this badge on their blog.

Second, Dan Antion, the blogger behind No Facilities blog and the host of the Thursday Doors photography challenge, has kindly invited me to meet him virtually on Saturday February 12th at the Island View Café. Feel free to follow our lively conversation about blog challenges and more here.

Nordic Lights Festival

My family and I went out one evening to see the outdoor Nordic Lights festival at Harbourfront Centre. It was a dazzling display of Canadian and Nordic light art installations, some with accompanying sounds.

Here are the 6 light art displays with excerpts from Harbourfront Centre information boards.

1. Control No Control by Iregular Media Art Studio, Canada

Control No Control is a big LED cube that reacts to everything that touches it and every movement performed on its surface. Streamlined patterns and generative sound emerge as interaction occurs. Allowing 48 people to participate at the same time, the experience is extremely intuitive, leading to quick audience engagement and prolonged interactions.

2. Equinox by Anastasia Isachsen, Norway

Equinox asks questions about the nature of light and darkness and about the unique moment of equinox when they are in balance. Equinox combines elements of contemporary dance, nu-jazz and graphics to invite the audience into a dynamic, poetic and contemplative experience.

3. Gorži by Outi Pieski, Finland

In Gorži, waterfalls cascade from the Power Plant building’s windows. The installation by Outi Pieski is inspired by the Sámi spiritual tradition, in which we live in a reciprocal relationship with all living entities. Gorži creates a poetic sight in which clean water flows freely. The voice of Sámi yoik singer Hildá Länsman brings out the feminine power and the spiritual meaning of water.

4. Great Minds by Aleksandra Stratimirovic, Sweden

Great Minds is a dynamic monument that praises the birth of ideas and relates to all creative people. Light work appears in the form of two monumental brains in dialogue, performing active, luminous brainstorming – the unavoidable phase of each creative process – and figuratively using light to emphasize births of unique ideas and sparkling activities of all great minds.

5. Pressure by Hans E. Madsen and Frederik D. Hougs, Denmark

Pressure is a piece consisting of a 300-metre long RGB-LED hose shaped like a doodle wrapped in the construction. Flashes of impulses whip around in the LED doodle and run towards each other while shifting colour and giving the expression of a digitally-stressed doodle.

6. Sense Light Swing by Alexander Lervik, Sweden

Sense Light Swing is a light fixture that is also a moving, eye-catching work of art. The shape of the fixture comes from a hanging swing for children that creates a spectacular light show as it swings back and forth on its long hanging cords.

One More…

Neon hearts are on display at Brookfield Toronto properties from November 1, 2021 to February 28, 2022. Each glowing neon light was hand made in Ontario, Canada by Our Glowing Hearts. Here’s how it all started and how to make a neon heart. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Which light art installation is your favourite?

Shared with #PPAC35.

Good Books Beautiful Lights

December 17, 2021December 19, 2021Natalie104 Comments

Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #50! 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.

As posted last week:

December 24: No link-up
December 31: No link-up
January 7: Weekend Coffee Share resumes with link-up #51

Week 50/ 52 of 2021

1. Mild Weather

It’s been a good week with a few sunny days and above seasonal temperatures every day. Last Saturday and this Thursday the daytime high temperatures reached 16C (61F). I enjoyed cycling and walking, including one walk with my neighbour.

The sun sets around 4:40 p.m. here at this time of the year. The mild and sunny weather also brought fiery sunsets when I took my evening walks.

2. Good Books

I enjoyed reading six fiction books this past month. I use the Toronto Public Library 2021 Reading Challenge categories to read widely and discover new books, authors, and genres. You can see the full list of books I’ve read and the categories I’ve met so far this year on my Books in 2021 page at the top of my blog.

My recent reads by author’s last name include:

Gone by Midnight – Candice Fox
Hostage – Clare Mackintosh
The Road Trip – Beth O’Leary
Address Unknown – Kathrine Kressmann Taylor
The Dictionary of Lost Words – Pip Williams
Much Ado About You – Samantha Young

Four of the above six authors were new to me: Mackintosh, Taylor, Williams and Young. While I enjoyed reading all six novels, my admiration goes to Address Unknown. The book, written in the form of a series of letters (known as epistolary style), is impactful and thought-provoking.

So far this year, Address Unknown (64 pages) is the shortest book and Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land (751 pages) is the longest book that I’ve read. They’re both illuminating reads.

3. Dazzling Lights

After sunset, elaborate light displays and beautiful holiday decorations in downtown Toronto make December feel festive and different from all other months in the year. I have zero holiday shopping to do so my evening walks are pure leisure.

Brookfield Place Allen Lambert Galleria — Dazzling lights in Allen Lambert Galleria

Tree at Commerce Court — Tree and ornaments shine under ceiling lights

Blue light tunnels — Glittering light tunnels as part of #CavalcadeOfLights

Lit-up picture frame — A whimsical picture frame and over 100 lit trees glimmer

Light strings — Shimmering light strings

Happy Holidays

I’d like to thank the Weekend Coffee Share blogging community for your active participation. Whether you posted once, or every week, I appreciate your effort. Together we’ve made the weekly link-up a success. Total 50 link-ups in 2021.

I’d also like to thank my regular blog readers and fellow bloggers for your ongoing support. Your comments enrich my day and make my blogging journey fun. I greatly appreciate our blogging connections.

I look forward to enjoying the holidays and ringing in 2022 with gratitude and optimism.

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season!

Linked up with #LifeThisWeek, #PPAC27, #SundayStills, #WhatsOnYourBookshelf.

Seeing the Lights

December 13, 2020December 14, 2020Natalie79 Comments

Hello blog friends! I’m glad you’re here. I hope you have a few minutes for a quick chat over a cup of coffee or tea. Our days are getting shorter as we move towards the longest night and shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, known as the Winter Solstice. So, I welcome daylight and the holiday lights at night.

The first few days of this past week, it was sunny, perfect for my cycling and walking to different parks during the day and seeing the lights in the city centre in the evening. I took a number of photos of various landmarks on my walk, all outdoors, except the last one. Let me show you in pictures.

Toronto Inukshuk Park

Natural daylight is my favourite type of light. Here’s the magnificent Toronto Inukshuk standing tall in full daylight on a sunny day at the Toronto Inukshuk Park.

Inukshuk is an Inuit stone structure often found in the arctic landscape. It serves as a guide to travellers on land and sea, providing comfort, advice and spatial orientation. The Toronto Inukshuk, one of the largest of its kind in North America, was made from about 50 tonnes of mountain rose granite. It stands 30 feet high with an arm span of 15 feet.

The Toronto Inukshuk is a legacy project to commemorate World Youth Day in 2002 that brings an important symbol of Canada’s Aboriginal people to the people of Toronto. On one of the rocks on the left of the structure, part of the inscription reads:

“The Toronto Inukshuk invites each one of us to become beacons of light and hope, striving for justice and peace in this world.”

Coronation Park

Soft daylight. — Beautiful trees and soft daylight in Coronation Park.

East of the small Toronto Inukshuk Park is the much larger Coronation Park. In the above photo, the clouds and the tall trees filter the sun light and cast soft shadows of the trees on the grass and the trail.

Night Lighting at the CN Tower

The CN Tower and Toronto Union Station. — The CN Tower lit up in blue and a bright Christmas tree in front of Toronto Union Station.

The CN Tower is Canada’s most recognizable and celebrated icon, defining the Toronto skyline at 553.33m (1,815 ft 5 in). The Tower’s lighting begins at sunset and concludes at sunrise the next morning, except during spring and fall bird migration periods during which time lighting concludes at midnight.

The night time illumination from bottom to top of the CN Tower changes on a specific schedule and occasion. On the evening that I took this photo, the blue lights were for Toronto Miracle Community Food Drive.

Christmas Trees at the TD Centre

Three beautiful Christmas trees with twinkling lights at the TD Centre.

The Toronto-Dominion Centre, or TD Centre, is a prestigious office complex in the Financial District of downtown Toronto. These Christmas trees look stunning with simple twinkling lights for the holidays.

Hudson’s Bay Queen Street Store

Every year, thousands of holiday-loving Torontonians gather outside the windows of the Hudson’s Bay Queen Street store to catch a glimpse of the beloved Christmas display. The tradition has marked the start of the holiday season in Toronto for over 100 years. This year, of course, is different — with a much more low-key unveiling and signs reminding observers to social distance.

The five displays all follow a “Santa’s Secret Workshop” theme. Please click on the slide show to see a snow-making department, a candy cane department, a gift-wrapping department, an ornament-making department and a mail-room department.

Christmas Tree in the Eaton Centre

The glittering 108-foot tall tree in the Eaton Centre is Canada’s largest Christmas tree. It covers three levels of Toronto’s downtown shopping centre. My photo is from 2019 for the same tree this year.

Finally

On December 9, 2020 Health Canada authorized the first Pfizer vaccine in Canada for the prevention of COVID-19. Ontario started administering its first COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare professionals on December 14, 2020 at two hospitals in Toronto and Ottawa. We’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I’d love to hear your comments.

Linking here.

Checking Off My Holiday Fun List

December 21, 2019December 21, 2019Natalie27 Comments

Greetings! It’s December 21st, time to share how I did on my holiday fun list that I wrote here. I had five items and wanted to have free or low cost, and environmentally-friendly fun. So here we go:

1) View the holiday light displays: I walked with my family in the downtown core to see beautiful holiday light displays. In Eaton Centre, the tallest Christmas tree was quite a centrepiece. Big banks and major department stores also set up amazing decorations.

2) Listen to live holiday music: My friends and I walked to see the Cavalcade of Lights at City Hall. This event marked the official start of the holiday season in Toronto. The 53rd annual celebration featured the first lighting of Toronto’s 15-metre (50-foot) Christmas tree, live musical performances, a skating party and a spectacular fireworks display. I love the hundreds of dazzling lights that hang above the ice rink and all around Nathan Philips Square.

3) Bake a Ration cake: I baked a Second World War Ration cake with the recipe found here while listening to music. It was an easy and relaxing activity. The kitchen smelled good. The cake turned out well even though I used an 8-inch round pan instead of a square pan. My family and I enjoyed the yummy treats. Success!

A slice of Ration cake — A slice of home made ration cake

4) Give food and hope: The local Metro grocery store creates convenient, ready-to-go food bank bags. Metro will make a donation of $1 to Feed Ontario for each bag purchase. I bought a few bags of food items to let the recipients know that I care.

5) Walk to show the Earth some love: I walked outdoors with my family through the Financial District to the main shopping centre (see item 1 above) and with my friends to City Hall (see item 2 above). Each time we stopped to watch the Hudson’s Bay Christmas window displays. Here’s a snapshot of what’s behind the five windows and the toy soldiers on guard (click on the photos to enlarge them):

Clockwise: Snow angels, Candy canes, Gift boxes, Toy soldier, Holiday balls, and Santa’s list

So I checked off my holiday fun list. We enjoyed the lights, the live music, the cake, and the outdoor walks. It felt good to donate food to help less fortunate people in the city. All of these activities were either free or low cost, and I’d say environmentally friendly.

What I love most is how Mother Nature displays a simple and beautiful decoration for the season: Fresh pine cones on the tree.

Coming up next week: My sister is hosting our annual family holiday get-together. Three generations in my family will be there, plus a few family friends. We’ve coordinated the dinner menu and each of us will bring food and drinks to share. I’m looking forward to this party!

Wishing you peace, joy, and good health for this holiday season and in the New Year 2020.

Click here to join Leslie and share your holiday list update.