The colours and shapes in the market this time of year astound me. As the air gets cooler I feel this need to cook and bake - like the animals that are putting aside food for the winter. A busy work schedule is making it hard to find the time for the hours I would like to spend in my kitchen, filling my house with the aromas of autumn - vegetable soups. apple desserts, spicy zucchini bread.
Here's a feast for your eyes
It's always fun to come across the unexpected. This mural is quite new. I checked out Google streetview and there was graffiti on this wall. Funny how a physicist has become an icon - his image recognizable by many people. Today it is the popular culture icons who are recognized by most people. Who are the people you would like to see remembered from today? How can we raise the profile of the thinkers so that they reach the radar of today's youth?
The garden has lost its lustre. Many of my perennials are past their prime with fewer blooms and more dead heads to prune. But I like the cooler temperatures, the blue skies and the crisp mornings. It's that in between time when the mornings are fresh and the afternoons balmier. If you leave the house in the morning, you have to dress in layers, that peel off as the temperature rises.
Soon it will be time to cut some of these flowers way back and make room to plant some tulips for spring blooming.
Eating and sleeping - that's what babies do best. This little tyke came into the world just two weeks ago. He's finding his way around life on the outside. It will be fun to watch him grow. And it is delightful to see his parents grow into their new roles.
Children change you forever. You never stop being a parent.
Welcome Matteo.
As a city person, I enjoy driving through the countryside and gawking at all those things we don't see regularly in the city. I pulled over by the side of the road to snap this horse cavorting in the sunshine. It struck me that for the people there this was just a mundane scene, but for me it was special.
When country people find themselves in a city they gawk at all I consider normal - the buildings, the traffic and all the other features of city life. Unique to one is mundane to another.
Sometimes it is fun to look at things afresh from another person's eyes such as when you have visitors to your city - showing the city makes you look afresh. Sometimes it is better to look through your own eyes and discover all that makes you wonder and enjoy.
Sept 8 - International Literacy. I marvel at my good fortune to be born where I was - where education is valued and most children learn to read. And then my good fortune to be born into a family that valued books - with both parents being avid readers. My house is full of books - fiction, non-fiction, adult books and books for children. I love to read and hope my children, now adults, will continue to pass on this passion to others.
We all know that literacy raises the standard of living of people. I particularly admire Greg Mortenson who has helped build schools in areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan where literacy rates are low and where women are often denied education. Literacy begins at home. How can we then help it spread?
A late night - I caught yet another photo of lights reflected on a rainy road. I have a painting by Sylvia Ary, a Montreal artist which is a street scene on a rainy day. This photograph brought it to mind and I am including a photo of it here. It is interesting to see how different media can portray similar subjects. Each are abstract in their own way - yet each gives the feel of the rain at night.
