Once Upon a Time

“ The world is a fairytale; we are it’s guardians.” – Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

It’s a rare, warm fall day – a day when the sun’s rays break through the whipped cream sky and entices one to head down to the sea where wonders are sure to be found. After several days of dark, rainy weather, this was a day not to be missed! As I started out on one of my favourite walks, I found myself on the seawall just past English Bay, anticipating the picture postcard views yet to come and feeling glad that I had made my way down here. There were quite a few other people out doing the same and as we ambled toward Bikini Beach (locally named by regulars who tan and read there in the summer), I noticed that a crowd was beginning to gather and people were taking pictures with their phones. Out of curiosity, I slowed down to have a look and was delighted to see a family of energetic river otters fishing at the end of the rocky point. They were a family of eight – the two adults were dining on fish as they sat on the rocks while the youngsters swam and dove in the calm waters; every once in awhile, the male would yip at the youngsters, warning them not to swim too far away from their watchful eyes. I enjoyed watching their antics for several minutes until they dived deep and swam away, perhaps becoming shy with the ever growing crowd.

The rest of my walk had other treasures for me to gather and I actually had to sit down at an empty picnic table to write down my thoughts – to write of the figure wrapped in a dark hoodie, staking their claim on the almost deserted beach, a portable chair cradling them as they faced the shimmering water, reading a book to the soft sound of the waves. To capture my awe as I followed the frenzied calls from a murder of crows as they chased a small barred owl to the canopy of bamboo growing in a secluded part of the park not far from the street I live on. I can still see it’s beautiful eyes watching me…

Enchanting moments like these make up my part of our fairytale world and act as a healing balm against the rising static that is spreading outwards, a supernova born from the ashes of the recent American election. On one side of the coin there is fear, unhappiness and uncertainty with the flip side showing just the opposite, somehow I have to find some common ground and be at peace; I know it will take time. Once upon a time, the world waited for the glass ceiling to shatter only to find that what really needs to shatter is the mirror being held up to us, forever revealing the darkness within if we aren’t willing to reach for the light.

We enjoyed an enchanting day at ROM (the Royal Ontario Museum) in downtown Toronto, Ontario on our trip out east last month.

We really liked the Chihuly exhibition at ROM, a collection of colourful blown glass installations. This one reminds me of autumn and is called “Float Boat, 2014” by the artist Dale Chihuly.

A beautiful shot of “Jerusalem Cylinders, 1999-2012” in front of the “Red Reeds on Logs, 2016” installation made from birch logs found in Ontario at the Chihuly exhibition at ROM.

This stunning shot is of the “Persian Trellis, 2016”, another beautiful installation at the Chihuly exhibition at ROM. The colours just glow…