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Framing Fine Carpentry
Yesterday’s changeable sun/cloud mix presented a perfect backdrop for some architectural photography in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighbourhood. Carpenter, and fellow Algonquin College Heritage Trades Institute alumnus, Christoph Altehoefer restored this gorgeous porch, integrating a mix of original and reproduction pieces. Carefully redeploying existing materials, he crafted each reproduction piece from unusable rafters and other surplus lumber…
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The Most Magical Apartment in Paris
There was definitely some magic to how my brother-in-law Marco and his partner Rod came to live in Nicolas Flamel’s house in Paris.
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CurioCabinet: “Dame Marjorie’s School” 1894
Much to my delight, Library and Archives Canada continues to post more and more of their fascinating materials online for public access. Just in time for Halloween, they’ve posted a set of 52 costume/Halloween pics here on Flickr. Seems Lady and Lord Aberdeen, Canada’s Governor General from 1893 to 1898, ran an enviably entertaining and…
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Staring At Blank Walls
I spent the last two days hanging bits and bobs on my dining room walls. And taking most of them down. Seems the thrill of decorating – the implementation vs. the idea of it – is less a thrill and more a sucker-punch to the head. It appears to involve a disproportionate amount of mental…
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The Gift of St. Luke’s Summer
The first killing frost has passed and our eastern Indian Summer has arrived. Folklore has it that this stretch of warm weather predictably arrives on or about October 18th, the Feast of St. Luke. The natural world heads into dormancy while it marks the last kick-at-the-can for us northern hemisphere humans to romp semi-clothed, to…
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Launch of My Online Photographic Portfolio
Here’s a little long weekend eye candy just for you. Aside from painting floors and wrestling cats, I’ve spent the past few days organizing my online photographic portfolio. It offers up a meaty overview of my work categorized by People, Place and Things and focusses on my more narrative pieces. There are hundreds of additional photographs…
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Wet Paint
“The cats need to be locked up. They can’t walk on the painted floor or they’ll wreck it,” I said while I painted the entranceway floor (with oil-based paint).
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What My Grandmother Was Doing 79 Years Ago Today
My paternal grandmother, Antoinette, was the illegitimate child of a French-born Count living in Switzerland and his mistress-employee, Francoise Mallet. Neighbours described Francoise as having fallen victim to “droit de seigneur,” and soon after her birth in 1907, Antoinette was brought to Montreal to be raised by a governess, Aldea Hogue, under the loving eyes…
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This Belongs in Your House
Dear Claire: The days are shortening, the nights are cool and I am, slowly, packing away my summer things for another year. When I see this dress hanging in my closet – the one you admired – I can’t bear to banish it to the basement. It reminds me too much of you, Ellen and…
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The Best Place on Earth
The more I travel across this country – and abroad for that matter – the more I am dumbfounded by the human ability to choose just one place to call home. There are a hundred magical villages, towns, cities and regions that strike a frisson of excitement in my gut, triggering the feeling that “I…