Look Up Radmila!!

Beauty 2

2012-01-10T23:19:00.002-05:00

Beauty

2012-01-02T22:32:00.001-05:00

Saw her on the net and had to reproduce her because she's so beautiful.

2011-10-24T10:04:00.000-04:00

2011-08-02T00:11:00.000-04:00

2011-07-31T00:11:00.000-04:00

Blind

2011-07-23T19:04:00.001-04:00

Sudanese Woman

2011-07-18T23:01:00.002-04:00

Oil on canvas

Happiness

2011-04-18T00:12:00.000-04:00

Lady

2011-04-18T00:06:00.002-04:00

The Mister calls her Medusa...I call her beautiful.

Look down

2011-03-13T20:53:00.000-04:00

The Veil

2011-03-13T20:52:00.001-04:00

Ola Hudson

2011-03-13T20:48:00.002-04:00

A friend sent me a picture of Ola Hudson (Slash's mom), and fell in love with the pic of her.
Had to try to paint her.

For Ngasseu

2011-02-22T18:04:00.002-05:00

She got the image from google and asked me to paint it for her, only changing the colours to match her home decor.
I'm happy with it.

I'm sorry I don't know who the original artist is.
:(

From the back

2011-01-30T20:10:00.000-05:00

Lady

2011-01-23T21:05:00.002-05:00

2010-09-13T17:31:00.003-04:00

Marilyn

2010-03-10T13:22:00.002-05:00

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2010-02-27T16:28:00.003-05:00

I should work for IKEA...

Bob

2010-02-13T16:46:00.003-05:00

Sarah Vaughn

2010-01-30T21:05:00.001-05:00

Ngasseu

2010-01-29T21:30:00.001-05:00

Karen

2010-01-29T21:29:00.002-05:00

more deLempicka love

2010-01-17T20:26:00.000-05:00

Love for deLempicka

2010-01-15T17:46:00.003-05:00

Ella

2009-12-22T15:36:00.002-05:00

What a Wonderful World

2009-12-22T15:34:00.000-05:00

Love for Cesaria Evora

2009-11-09T21:21:00.002-05:00

Can you see Bob?

2009-11-08T21:23:00.002-05:00

Homage to deLempika

2009-10-20T22:33:00.003-04:00

Jazz greats..it looks like it's going to be a series

2009-10-18T12:37:00.005-04:00

Billie Holiday

2009-10-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

2009-08-23T17:38:00.004-04:00

Sherbourne Drive by...with a couple from Queen

2009-04-05T20:35:00.007-04:00

Hearts for dinner

2009-02-28T17:56:00.003-05:00

2009-01-19T16:51:00.001-05:00

Just one of the crowd

2008-09-07T11:07:00.000-04:00

Consider your ways - in a public restroom

2008-09-07T11:06:00.000-04:00

Early Morning Moth

2008-09-03T12:58:00.001-04:00

The CN Tower

2008-09-02T17:21:00.000-04:00

Envisage365?

2008-09-01T11:50:00.003-04:00

I'm participating in a photo project at Pictures and Pie.

Jellyfish at the Zoo

2008-08-31T14:29:00.001-04:00

Slovenija

2008-08-01T21:36:00.002-04:00

I'm hoping that the gigantic supermarket Deli doesn't ever, ever swallow the little, "I've known you for years..." Deli of our neighbourhoods

Storm Clouds are Over My Head

2008-07-21T23:29:00.002-04:00

Neopolitan

2008-07-21T23:27:00.001-04:00

Drive By

2008-06-07T19:59:00.004-04:00

The other day, I just held my camera out my window and snapped shots as I was driving to my destination.
I didn't look at what I was photographing.
I didn't look at them until I uploaded them.
I quite like some of them:

Bella Donna

2008-04-27T14:05:00.001-04:00

Flamenco Blossoms

2008-04-20T00:31:00.000-04:00

Polly

2008-01-15T14:49:00.000-05:00

Fog Love

2008-01-06T17:55:00.000-05:00

I love fog...I took a walk in the ravine behind our house today...

Unfinished Grace

2007-10-31T13:19:00.000-04:00

Murals in a Scarborough Mall

2007-10-31T13:18:00.000-04:00

Don't Cry

2007-10-14T10:03:00.000-04:00

Roadside Memorial

2007-10-08T22:50:00.001-04:00

There's something ominous about seeing this memorial at night.
The whole bus shelter is surrounded with flowers and photos, the entrance to the shelter obturated by 30 or so white candles.

So very sad, and senseless:

"The teen (Akila Badhanage, 16 years of age) was swarmed by four or five youths last Friday and stabbed to death as he headed to an after-school job at a coffee shop near Bramalea City Centre."

Is life this cheap now?

Banksy Wannabe

2007-08-16T10:51:00.001-04:00

Banksy wannabe at Bloor and Perth.

Bee Bop Baluba

2007-07-27T21:41:00.000-04:00

Car show at an A&W in Mississauga.

Niagara & Bathurst

2007-07-27T21:39:00.000-04:00

Child at Marineland

2007-07-27T21:33:00.000-04:00

Postcards from Spain

2007-06-24T00:50:00.001-04:00

The Aged

2007-06-13T22:01:00.001-04:00

I love the aged.
I love their faces, and their stories.
I noticed that in Spain, the aged are respected...and that's the way that it should be.

The following are photos I took of some faces I found interesting.

In Morocco

Ukranian Catholic Church

2006-11-18T16:56:00.000-05:00

The Mister and me saw St. Elias Church on our drive this morning.
At first I thought it was an Orthodox Church because of the architecture...but it turns out that it's a Ukrainian Catholic Church built entirely out of wood.
Very beautiful.

Camoes the OneEyedPoet of Portugal

2006-08-16T20:21:00.000-04:00

Roy Thompson Hall

2006-07-27T14:09:00.000-04:00

Unmarked Building at King and Simcoe

2006-07-27T14:04:00.000-04:00

Canada Day Road Trip

2006-07-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

Trenton, Ontario...There's an Airforce Base there.

Wellington, Ontario...on the Winery Trail

We bought wood from the really friendly guy across the road

Asparagus Farm

2006-06-17T14:46:00.000-04:00

The Mister and me went for a drive to Caledon this morning. We stopped by this farm and bought some fresh asparagus..

Then we stopped at a Church Bazaar where I bought a bag of childrens books for a dollar. I found some great Japanese childrens books there, and I almost bought a crystal liquor decanter for 5 bucks, but then I snapped out of my Young and the Restless episode and put it down.
On occasion I do get an attack of Slav-ness.

Junction Bridge - 1957

2006-06-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

Junction Road and Caledonia

Etta is Coming...

2006-06-09T20:05:00.000-04:00

Etta James is coming to The Hummingbird Centre, and as usual...I'm late on the draw.
I went to buy tickets and found that there are only shitty seats left...and not only shitty, but singles as well.
So, The Mister and I can go out on a date and sit separately.
Ummm...no...maybe next time...

Deepa Mehta

2006-05-22T20:39:00.000-04:00

I love Deepa Mehta's movies.
From Sam and Me, the first movie of hers I ever saw, to Bollywood Hollywood, to Water.
I love her intensity, her fearlessness, her anger, and her humour.
Today, I watched Fire and took some pictures while I was watching.

Radha's character is so sweet, and hard working, and humble.
She lives a life of quiet servitude until Sita comes.

Sitas smokes.

Radha asks for her husbands blessing.

The matriarch.

Sita as a young girl.

Sita arrives.

Princes' House!

2006-05-21T13:31:00.000-04:00

or maybe this is Prince's House...

Or maybe not....I drove through the Bridal Path the other day to avoid traffic while on the way to the east end. I saw another house with a purple gate, but I had a tailgater and couldn't stop to photograph it.
If you weren't Prince, would you paint your front gate purple?

The River Sutra

2006-05-21T13:28:00.000-04:00

Thank goodness for libraries.
I was attracted to this book because of it's cover.

The Dutch Nursery is closing

2006-05-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

A Day at the Nurseries

2006-05-07T19:55:00.000-04:00

Saffron Rock Sugar

2006-04-29T22:32:00.000-04:00

Sunny Bar

2006-04-13T22:07:00.000-04:00

These storefronts are not for long, my friends.
There are a few peppered around the city, tucked into old neighbourhoods...but it won't be long before they go the way of the lakeshore, to be replaced by glass and concrete condos.

1950's Diner in Brampton

2006-04-13T21:57:00.000-04:00

WAIT!!! Is that The Fonz!?!

and last but not least...the bewildered waitress

Motel in Niagara Falls NY

2006-04-01T10:59:00.000-05:00

It won't be long before these old motels from the 1950's and 1960's are no more.

My Day

2006-03-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

Queen Street Photographer

2006-02-03T23:00:00.000-05:00

Council Chambers

2006-02-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

The Latest Supper

2006-01-22T18:21:00.000-05:00

Songuin

2006-01-06T00:16:00.000-05:00

The Last Day of 2005

2006-01-01T13:16:00.000-05:00

The Great Thing About Skipping Thanksgiving...

2005-10-11T17:35:00.000-04:00

Is that you get to go away.
The Mister and I skipped the stress of Thanksgiving this year and went to Montreal and Quebec City. We stayed at La vie de château in Montreal, and then did a day trip to Quebec City.

This was our room.
Apparently, every room has a theme. Our room's theme was
"Afro-Carib".

The painting above the bed is of a woman from Martinique.

Breakfast in the beautiful dining room was included, and it was a lovely spread of fruit, croissants, various breads, ham, cheese, coffee and orange juice, along with fresh crêpes prepared by our host. A wonderful atmosphere with 1930's and 1940's jazz playing to compliment the Art Deco feel of the decor.
If you look carefully, you can see him in the mirror of the dining room.

Our host Jogues was charismatic, and jovial.
He willingly gave us the history of the house.
It being the house of Mdme Voyer a work shoe tycoon, and society woman.
The house was built at the turn of the century to be a smaller replica of The Canadian Club on Ste Catherines Street of which Mdme Voyer was a member. Jogues and his wife Domenique bought it and restored in in 1998.
They did a great job.
When I took this shot, I said: "Say cheese!" and Jogues said, "SEX!" instead...oh, those Frenchmen!

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we drove up to Quebec City.
Pictured on the hill is Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac. A high falutin' hotel overlooking the St. Lawrence.

Here's the route we took to get there...and the view when we got there:

We went to Le musée de la civilisation and The Mister was roughed up by Sherlock Holmes and Detective Columbo who were there to promote the Autopsy Exhibit.

I had dragged The Mister in soley to see "Concours Vie de tsar". Because the giant Babushka nesting egg in front of the museum drew me to it like a 'ho to shiny things.
You gotta love them Russians. Always tellin' you what to do.
Uja's Quick Russian Joke:
"In Russia, there are two channels...channel 1 which plays propoganda, and channel 2, which shows a guy telling you to turn back to channel 1"
Badda Bum.

Quebec City is very beautiful, and old.
Everyone there is friendly, and thinks they are a comediens, oui?..although, that guy is probably from Ontario.

On the way out of Quebec City, a nice person who was sent by God, told us that we had a bubble in our tire, just before we got on the highway to go back to Montreal. We spent an hour and a half at Canadian Tire getting it fixed.
It's amazing that I can stop a non-English speaker, and simply say "Canadian Tire", and they start with the pointing and giving of directions. We found one very quickly.
We were back on the road in no time.

The Mister and I had a great time doing a lot of other great things while we were in Quebec. Too many things to bore you with here.
But, I'm glad we gave the stress of Thanksgiving a miss this year and did something for ourselves.
Just the two of us.
For a change.

The Poconos

2005-10-03T12:26:00.000-04:00

So, The Mister and I spent the weekend in the Poconos.
(Yes Kat, I too was surprised that there was NO "K" in Poconos)
It’s a beautiful place.
While we’re talking, I’d like to point out some differences between PA and Ontario.
You can smoke in places that you haven’t been able to smoke in Ontario for over a decade.

No.
Really.

I was shocked to see cigarettes being sold in Pharmacies!
Not happening here in Ontario.
In fact, pretty soon it'll be illegal to smoke in your own home or car here in Ontario.
I imagine that eventually there will be Tobacco houses where smokers will have to go if they want to smoke.
Like the Opium Dens of days gone by, in the basements of shady establishments...anyhow, that's another post.

Also, we saw a lot of couples with small children who looked very close together in age (the children, I mean...not the adults).
Every couple seemed to have a minimum of 3 children.
The parents were looking perpetually pissed off, and the children were perpetually running wild.
It was actually kind of entertaining.

Anyhow….
We stayed at The Shawnee Inn. Looks nice, huh?

The Mister booked a room on the net.
No fears of this since we found a fab bed and breakfast in Montreal this way a few years ago.
Well, we stayed in a room like the one pictured.
A real throwback to the 1970’s with the décor, no?

Now, The Mister is a little quirky when it comes to things, and he didn’t imagine Lucy and Ricky beds when he was booking the room.

This pissed him off.
The fact that this room wasn’t located in the main building pissed him off too.
See, the website is misleading.
When they do the bookings, they don’t tell you that there’s “The Big House” (as we got to calling it) and then there’s the “Slave Quarters” which is a little motel like structure far, far away from “The Big House”, named The Delaware somethingerother that smelled like a $65CD Bobcageon Motel room for $160AD.
Here’s the kicker…it cost just as much to stay in “The Big House”
This mightily pissed off The Mister, who was already pissed off.

So, we took the looooong walk up to “The Big House” to speak with the Manager on Duty.
Who was very apologetic and nice and suggested we speak with the Grand Fromage the next day.
The Shawnee Inn is a beautiful old building that has been in operation as a golf resort since 1912.
It's really pretty impressive.

There was a beautiful old elevator obviously from the 1920’s or so with a brass grill.

The view from The Big House was breathtakingly beautiful.

The view from The Slave Quarters, was not worth photographing.
It overlooked the 14th hole.

We took a drive over to Bushkill Falls where we took a steep hike to see the falls.

Very beautiful.

On the way back, while driving through Lackawanna or Cheektowaga, we passed a replica of the famous photo of workmen eating lunch on a beam during the construction of Rockefeller Center in NYC Remember that photo by Lewis Wickes Hine?

The hotel it was in front of was a little cheesy and overdone, but I really liked how they did that though.

Well, a grand time was had by all...school tomorrow, and I'm off to bed...sob!

2005-04-06T00:05:00.000-04:00

The Assembly Hall - Kipling & Lakeshore

"You should see our sea of cabbages"

"We go to the garden when we are sick, depressed or are in need of inspiration"

"There is something revelational about walking daily in a familiar place"

You know, there is beauty everywhere...if we just stop to look for a second.
I was on my way to a workshop this morning, and this was the pathway to the Assembly Hall where it was held.

2005-03-27T10:12:00.000-05:00

Road Trip #2

This is the Ste.lco Plant in Hamilton from the Burlington Bridge...heading towards Niagara Falls.

Other than showing our Drivers Licenses and popping the trunk for a thorough search, we were accross in a minute.

Downtown Buffalo has some beautiful old architecture from the 1920's and 1930's. Some of the buildings are quite impressive.
However, downtown Buffalo remains a ghost town, even on a long weekend Saturday afternoon.
It's sad to see so many beautiful old buildings burnt out and abandoned.
It's been a long time since The Mister and I have been to Buffalo.
Certain areas seem more run down than we remember.

We drove through Niagara Falls and came accross the Queenston/Lewiston Bridge, and I didn't take any pictures of the Falls because; let's face it, I've got too many already.
I also didn't take any pictures of Lundy's Lane.
It gets more Funland/Freakshow/Ridiculous looking every time we visit.
Gigantic neon signs and gorillas and monsters hanging onto the main road, and then the circus abruptly stops about 6 blocks up and everything becomes normal again.

The end.
No more road trips for a little while

:(

2005-03-26T09:19:00.000-05:00

Road Trip #1

Heading out on the road to who knows where.
The Mister driving west.

We passed through Shakespeare, Ontario.
It's right next to Stratford, Ontario...the snotty, Yuppie, Shakespeare Festival town.
We saw no ethnics...I think that perhaps the only black person in Stratford was The Mister and Othello...but I think Othello only comes every couple of years, and even then only between May and September.

I suspect that when the urban types took over Stratford, the regular folk high tailed it over to Shakespeare. Where they wouldn't have to buy organic, jog, and could just have regular Tim Hortons coffee at $1 for a medium regular, instead of having to buy burnt tasting grandes or talls at inflated prices ...I'm making this shit up. I have no idea.
But Shakespeare appears to be: i-pod jogger-less, Starbuck-less, health food store-less, Bistro and Patisserie-less and hoity-toity restaurant-less.

In Shakespeare we visited The Pork Shoppe...

With all things pig...and a little lamb too.

In Shakespeare, the streets are named for Shakespearian characters.

On the way back, we stopped in Waterloo, Ontario at a lovely Nursery

We ran accross something called a "money tree" and laughed because it looked like Marijuana, and we wondered if that's how it got it's moniker.

We met Sequoia the Macaw who "Talks but is very shy" and has been living at the nursery since 1974. She was grooming herself the whole time we were standing in front of her, but every time I said her name, she would look up.

Stay tuned for Road Trip #2

2005-03-19T13:09:00.000-05:00

I hate Hummers.
But this one made me laugh.
The driver had bling up the ying, with a cell phone glued to his ear.
Which would explain why he was going slower than the rest of traffic, and twice inched into my lane before I passed him.
He finally cut off the driver behind me when he suddenly decided he would actually need that lane.
Are all Hummer drivers idiots?
Or just the ones that I've driven behind?

2005-03-01T15:31:00.000-05:00

Cynical-C Goes to Vegas

The Kalendar Cafe

2005-02-24T21:03:00.000-05:00

I'm in this one...

I love this place.
I love the old wood.
I love the dark rich feeling of the place.
It feels Deco old.
The food's not bad either.

Black Creek & Weston Road

2005-02-24T21:02:00.000-05:00

Indian Flea Market - Steeles & Torbram

2005-02-12T20:21:00.000-05:00

There is a lot more going on than you think...

Back Alley Queen Street West

2005-02-11T22:06:00.000-05:00

In the spirit of dETROITFUNK

Toronto Webcam

2004-12-31T20:43:00.000-05:00

That's where this image was nicked from.

Merry-Go-Round

2004-12-31T20:40:00.000-05:00

Roadside Carnival experience.

The Princess Gates

2004-12-31T20:38:00.000-05:00

Canadian National Exhibition view from Lakeshore Blvd

Fishes

2004-12-31T20:37:00.000-05:00

Wongs Restaurant in Brampton has a little bridge at the entrance with fish swimming back and forth.

School Bus

2004-12-31T20:35:00.000-05:00

In a parking lot in Etobicoke on a cold February morning.

Casa Loma

2004-12-31T20:34:00.000-05:00

A View From Our Backyard

2004-12-31T20:28:00.000-05:00

Through the screen in September after little monster season.