seen...(and BTW, anyone need a hug?)

Feeling a little blue after the holidays? We know just what you need:

Everything's gonna be just fine!

(This one crossed our paths via one of our faves, Swiss Miss blog.)

friday frequencies- hangin' with the in crowd

Hey...dig this jazzy retro vibe from Ramsey Lewis!

A little somethin' groovy for your New Year's Eve Eve. Here's hopin' if it's square you ain't there!

And remember this: whatever crowd you're in....is in! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Seen...(does Monopoly have Condo game pieces yet?)

Traveling through Pearson airport in Toronto last Friday we caught sight of this artwork. It's called Title Deed, it's by artist An Te Liu, and we think it's great!

It's a photo relic of Liu's work for The Leona Drive Project which took place back in the autumn of 2009. Several houses on North York's Leona Drive which were slated for demolition were temporarily given a second life as installation pieces. We love Liu's for its simplicity, its instant recognition factor, and its comment on the economics of real estate development. Here's a photo of the text accompanying Title Deed at Pearson:

Further information is available by searching The Leona Drive Project. Here's a link to the website for the project.

friday frequencies...Merry Christmas!!

 How better to send us all off into the Christmas weekend than with a little J.S.Bach? A favourite, not specifically Christmas-y, but definitely wintery, is from Cantata 147.

And then, of course, there's the Christmas Oratorio:

To all our friends near and far, please enjoy the spirit of the season and have yourselves a peaceful and joyous weekend!

See you after Boxing Day!

Last minute wish list...and last chance, too!

Well, uhm......Santa tells us that you still haven't made up your minds about what you think we'd really appreciate receiving this year. OK, this is pretty much your last shot, isn't it? Truth is, we'd love to unwrap some of this gorgeous, simple pottery from Another Country, once again featured recently on Remodelista:

We promise to invite you to brunch if we get a few pieces, 

really we do!

Last minute wish list...just a couple of extra ideas!

OK, thank god you're all like us and wait till the last minute, otherwise our tips to you for what we'd love to see under our tree would be so wasted! Here are a couple of additional ideas for all you procrastinators, once again from our friends at Remodelista.

After all, we plan to cycle right through the winter this year! Thank you soooo much!

Last minute wish list...

OK, just in case you haven't finished shopping for us quite yet, here are a couple of ideas to help you open up your wallets. These are courtesy of Remodelista, here and here. The clock is from Lukas Peet in Vancouver, and the shaving kit can be found at the fabulous Mjolk, here in Toronto's Junction neighbourhood.

Thanks so much!

The Colourful Confrontational Cocoons of Arne Quinze

These photos of an installation by Arne Quinze in Brussels, posted recently on Design-D'autore, took our breath away. They're part of an ongoing (ever growing?) project that will run till 2013. Perhaps "installation" doesn't do the work justice. One of its objectives is to re-connect Brussels' residents to one another, creating an environment within the city that will encourage communication amongst citizens. The canopy follows streets that link the Flemish Parliament and the House of Flemish Representatives, which make rather fitting anchors considering the project's goal. The project is called The Sequence, and here is the link to it's web page.

The above photos are from design dautore. Photo below from The Sequence webiste

Arne Quinze is a bit of a Rock Star designer/artist. We were fortunate to have seen him speak at the Interior Design show in Toronto back in 2008, where he shared a few works that were obviously the precursors to The Sequence.

above courtesy of stylepark.com

Above is "Cityscape" on a plaza in Brussels, 2008 (the photo is from a delightful blog called Garden History Girl)

 Photo above from abitare.it

In 2006 Arne built an amazing pavilion called Uchronia at Burning Man. The form, delicate yet forceful, perched on the flat desert, is mesmerizing. And the interior volume must have felt like being in some fantastic cathedral in the middle of nowhere!

 above courtesy burningcam.com

 above courtesy artandculture.com

And then, of course, he burned it down!

If you want to find out a little more about this guy, check out his website at http://www.arnequinze.tv/

friday frequencies- There's nothing like it...

This week's Friday Frequencies is dedicated to all the home improvement and cooking show presenters who feel compelled to breathlessly share their brilliant new holiday entertaining ideas with us every year. The only good episode we've seen so far is from Jamie Oliver, who roasted an amazing jerk ham. Hmmm...did someone say ham?

That last one was great, if only to catch a young Babs a little out of her element! 

Get out there this weekend and make the world your stage!!

sorry we're closed...

...not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

in transit...killin' time at Queen Station

friday frequencies- Jamie Lidell multiplied

Well, after posting Jamie Lidell's infectious "Little Bit of Feel Good" on an earlier friday frequencies, how could we not come back for a second helping? We just had to multiply the effect!

Interesting that he appears here (and we're not sure of the setting) with our fellow Canucks Feist, Gonzales and Mocky.

Wishing you all a multiplicity of fun this weekend!

seen...late night pit stop...

...somewhere along Queen St. W.

Loblaws Maple Leaf Gardens- Opening Weekend

 "before" shot courtesy Fanbase.com

We've been watching the transformation of The Gardens for well over a year, after first waiting and wondering what was to become of the place for more than a decade. Living on a nearby block, we've had perhaps more reason than others to be curious (even apprehensive) about the outcome. What was going to happen to the traffic situation in our neighbourhood? Were they going to do a respectable job of honouring the shrine to the Leafs that is such an icon in our 'hood? Would it help revitalize the ailing block along Church Street where it sits?

We're very happy to report that everybody touched by this massive makeover seems to have come out a winner: Ryerson University is about to get a fantastic athletic facility; Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the company that own the Maple Leafs brand seems to have backed away from its petty and unenforceable insistence that the place not continue to be called Maple Leaf Gardens, and have allowed that name to remain on the historic exterior marquis; a hockey rink will continue to thrive under the storied rafters of the Gardens' giant roof; parking is minimal and is sensibly accessed only from Carlton Street; and the huge windows into Loblaws along Church Street have instantly brought the block back to life. And best of all for us- we have a huge flagship supermarket right next door!

Looking in from Church Street (above)

Ryerson's new rink (below)

The beautifully restored (or re-built?) marquis on Carlton St. (above)

They opened last Wednesday to all day line-ups of the curious waiting to get in, and this past weekend things really didn't subside any. While we were able to walk straight in on Saturday afternoon, by the time we left there were once again police officers at the front doors doing crowd control! We predict things will stay this way till we all go into hibernation mode around January 5th of next year.

The photos below show the great volume that has been maintained in the space. On the second level is the Joe Fresh shop, a liquor store, and a Loblaws cooking school.

We're ecstatic about the on-site Ace Bakery. The loaf we purchased was unbelievably fresh! This is probably the closest we've come locally to the experience of buying fresh bread in France!

We're not sure what use a "wall of cheese" is, other than being a pretty design feature, but we aren't fussed- Church Street doesn't lack for excellent cheese and Loblaws still won't be our first "go to" spot (sorry, Galen!)

 Lot's of freshly prepared food options, right inside the front door.

We love that the wall beside the escalators was kept entirely as found. You can see the old bricks, blue wall paint and the profile of the stairways that used to take you to the nosebleed levels! And the clusters of old blue- level seats welded together to form a 3D maple leaf is great!

The Loblaws folks are to be congratulated for embracing the mythology as well as the bones of this historic Toronto temple to sports and entertainment. What could have been a soul-less supermarket in a building saved but stripped of its former glory is instead a study in how to do it right in today's financial climate. Sure there are those who will continue to decry the fact that such a significant piece of our heritage has been given over to commerce, but who else could have saved it? The old pile of bricks sat for over a decade, slowly decomposing, while being occupied and appreciated by no one. Now it's wide open for Torontonians to enjoy, without even the slightest cover charge. We'll appreciate that with every Ciabatta loaf or bottle of Tanqueray we buy!

 (Above, part of the ad campaign in College subway station)

Seen...Downtown View

Looking downtown from the Panorama Lounge atop the Manulife Centre.

seen...in the Too Much Information aisle...

...at the new Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens

friday frequencies- a little more Gabin

We posted a couple of weeks ago about Gabin, an Italian duo who are mainly influenced by the French lounge scene, and we felt the need to share a little more before we were done with them here on friday frequencies.

A guest artist who appears on several cuts on their album Third and Double is Z-Star. We're not familiar with Z-star, but they seem to have released a cut called "Slow Dancin' " that was later re-worked by Gabin. So here, first, is the original, followed by Gabin's "Slow Dancing dans la Maison"

Finally, we're suckers, as you know, for a Brazilian beat, so here's Fim de Noite by Gabin, featuring Barbara Casini, an Italian songstress who is one of that country's preeminent Bossa Nova artists.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!!

The Folly at Honeywell Hill

As you may recall, we vacationed this past October "in our own backyard" by renting a charming property called Honeywell Hill just outside of Cobourg, Ontario (Property link here). The land was quite spectacular, rising steeply behind the house to a ridge with views back to Lake Ontario, then gently climbing further to an old stacked log fence, now quite grown in, which probably at one time marked a property line.

A broad opening in the fence row (photo below) leads into an adjoining pasture with views to the north across a forested valley and over to the next ridge. In the autumn sunshine, it was breathtakingly beautiful!

If you continue to follow the path flanking the fence eastward towards a wooded boundary, suddenly you stumble upon the "Sunset Folly". The Folly is an absolutely charming little structure, romantically dilapidated, constructed of an amalgam of old windows, and designed for viewing the long- lingering sunsets of summer.

As with all of Honeywell Hill, there has been a sophisticated artistic hand at work here. The transparency reveals a palette of primary colours, and within- just as throughout the main house- the space is home to art. In this case, the artwork is doing double duty in providing expanded quarters for a family of birds.

We think it's safe to say that it's been a while since anyone actually used the furniture while contemplating nature, so nature has decided to take it upon herself to re-acquire the raw materials...in her slow and deliberate way.

The October sun slips away too far to the south for us to have been able to experience sunset across the meadow at the Folly, but even in the morning light it's not hard to imagine just how magical it must be!