silhouettes
a walk in the park
chasing clouds, dancing light
light and shadow, black and white
I agree with Olivia aboout walks.
Walks clear the mind, open the heart,
offer feasts for the eyes and food for the camera.
You are browsing the Blog for Canada and BC Archives - Page 29 of 35 - Marja-Leena Rathje.
by Marja-Leena by Marja-Leena Seven years and Thanksgiving
The amazing wood s lot is 7 years old, and that’s a lot in blog years! In addition to his ever rich cornucopia, for the past few months Mark has been posting his own beautiful photos of his home region in Ontario which I’ve admired. With my obsession with rocks and petroglyphs, I was most intrigued by his post of Sept.25th, 2007 with his photos of Mazinaw Rock in Bon Echo Provincial Park. He wrote:
This 1.5-kilometre sheer rock face rises 100 metres above Mazinaw Lake, one of the deepest lakes in Ontario, and features over 260 native pictographs – the largest visible collection in Canada. It also is home to some Eastern White Cedars upwards of 1000 years old.
Congratulations and thank you, Mark! That’s a great photo of you.
And, it’s the Thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada. We’ll have our family dinner on Sunday (tomorrow) with eight of us around the table – two daughters, two partners and two granddaughters. One out-of-town daughter and her partner will be missed but not forgotten, especially on her birthday on Monday! We are thankful for the blessings of a lovely family and a good life in this beautiful part of the world. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
by Marja-Leena away and back
We’ve been away for a few days’ trip to the beautiful Saanich and Victoria areas of Vancouver Island, visiting friends and family. Most important for us was to spend some time with my elderly uncle and aunt. Because of his Alzheimer’s, they recently had to move out of their own home into a seniors’ residence. It’s been nine months since we’ve seen them, so it was painful to notice the changes and how my aunt was missing her home, sigh. But I think they were cheered by our visit and all the family photos we showed them. We said to ourselves that we must go and see them more often.
As always, we had a great visit with our dearest friends who are now in the midst of a major renovation on their old waterfront cottage. We compared notes with our own experiences over 20 years ago and shared much advice and laughter! And of course, we always enjoy staying with my energetic and fascinating sister-in-law. We had many wonderful meals in and out.
The greater predominance of decidious trees and the drier climate on the Island meant that the fall colours are beautiful there now, more noticeable than around our home. The weather was mixed, mostly cloudy with some rain, but one night saw fierce wind and rain storms here and there. Today, the sun was out more.
While waiting in the ferry lineup to head back home, we went for a walk and to our surprise found a very charming stone faced pub, rather like a hobbit house tucked in the forest. We enjoyed a nice lunch there, much better than what’s available on the ferry. We love being on boats and it was most pleasant as we were able to sit on the deck for awhile and drink in the sea, sky, islands and watch other ferries going by. (The photo below shows the smaller Gulf Island ferries).
All’s well at home. We heard that here in Vancouver, there was more rain in one day than there’d been in any day the past 11 months. The only damage that I noticed was that one of my clematis plants on a fan trellis was knocked down by the wind. And Whistler had its first snowfall of the season – winter is coming early! Good be to home again, catch up with emails and a few blogs….and to sleep in our own bed.
by Marja-Leena forest in our backyard
About two weeks ago, I made a long overdue first visit with some of my family (who’d been there before) to the very popular, though awkwardly named Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve located in the North Shore mountains behind us, right in Vancouver’s backyard. I don’t know why I’d waited so long. There are numerous trails to explore through these beautiful forests so I look forward to visiting many more times. The only problem was that I spent more time taking photos than walking so I may have to leave the camera home if I want to get a workout.
Anyway, I promised more photos from that first walk, and being on things arboreal, it’s just in time for this month’s Festival of the Trees, being hosted at the beautiful trees, if you please.The deadline for submissions is September 28th, so there’s still time to participate.
One of the things I love about the Pacific Northwest is our forests and the way the tall trees create a magestic canopy overhead. Here and there were orange and rust coloured sculptural forms standing out from the darker green background of cedar and hemlock, often highlit by a perfectly placed beam of sunlight, like a spotlight on the star of the stage. These still brilliant skeletons look like they may be the remains of giants felled by last winter’s huge windstorms. Here was beauty even in the early stages of decay. At the same time we were appreciative that they were still full of life giving nutrients for future trees, birds, bug-eating creatures and the ecology of the forest floor – a circle of life.
by Marja-Leena rocks bearing fossils
Eight years ago, when I had an exhibition of my works in a gallery in Edmonton, Alberta, my husband and I decided to deliver my framed works by car and make this journey into a bit of a holiday. One of the highlights of this memorable trip was seeing the Hoodoos near North Battleford, which I’ve mentioned here a few times before. The other was a visit to the fantastic Royal Tyrrell Museum. It’s famous for it’s paleontological collection, which I certainly enjoyed, but I was very excited by the fossil collection and snapped a lot of photos of these.
Being in glass cases with low light, not all the photographs turned out well. Here are a few of my favourites. Like the hoodoos, some of these images became incorporated in several of my prints.
This one was used in Paths XII and Paths XIII/Nexus and others.
This one appeared in several pieces including Nexus V, Nexus VII and Nexus/Blue II and III
See what happens when I go through old photographs!
by Marja-Leena a busy week
After a coolish beginning to September, we’ve been enjoying glorious warm sunny days, sometimes even as hot as 27C (80F). Last Saturday I spent one long day outdoors doing garden chores. On Sunday, we met a daughter and the granddaughters on their little bike and trike at Mt. Seymour’s forest trails for a long walk. There were numerous people walking, jogging, cycling, and roller-blading. I was the slowpoke as I frequently stopped to photograph the gorgeous forest – there just may be a future post for the next The Festival of Trees.
After the two hour forest walk, we drove over to West Vancouver to deliver my work to the Ferry Building Gallery, then went walking around for quite some time before we could decide on a place to eat. Afterwards we had another long walk heading further west along the busy seawall, to watch the magnificent sunset. Then another long walk back to the car to head home, very tired but happy.
Last night we attended the opening of the invitational show that I’m in, Making An Impression. The small gallery was so packed that we could hardly walk around and see the work, and the noise was incredible. At one point I had to escape outside for a walk to the nearby Ambleside Pier for some sea air and some quiet. The show looks great. The photos are not really worth posting, just masses of people blocking any good overviews of the show. If you are in the area, I think it’s really worth a visit. It continues until September 29th.
Over the next few days, there are two or three more exhibitions I hope to see, two of which are coming to an end. We’re also attending RETURNS. So, whew, it’s suddenly a very busy time. As happens every September, my free time feels squeezed as I spend more time making art and seeing art after a lazy summer.
by Marja-Leena RETURNS
September’s calendar is filling up with interesting events. I’ve just booked seats to see a Finnish-themed music theatre work by an MFA grad with a Finnish name. As immigrants ourselves, my husband and I were quite intrigued by this program description:
RETURNS is a music theatre work. It is Pessi Parviainen’s MFA Graduating Project in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University.
Part concert, part theatre, the piece visits four generations of Finnish immigration with original music, storytelling, and video segments. ‘Returns’ navigates the gaps between Finland and Canada, past and present, fact and fiction.
As source material, Parviainen uses his family’s immigration stories and 8mm home movies from the 1950s and 1980s. The music Parviainen has composed draws from Finnish folk music, tango, contemporary classical music and free improvisation.
Studio II Theatre
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby Mountain Campus
Burnaby, BC
September 13, 14, 15, all shows at 8 pm
Free admission
Seating limited. Call SFU Theatre Box Office to reserve seats: 778-782-3514
The website for the show has a nice snippet of music that sounds like a mix of kantele and guitar that you may enjoy. And new-to-me is the sponsor, The Finnish Institute of Suomi, which I’m going to keep an eye on.
UPDATE: The performance was great! The old videos, the snippets of familiar folk music blended into new music, the stories of immigrant life all had an evocative feeling for us. Even Pessi Parvianen’s very Finnish looks made me think of my father and another old friend, except that he’s VERY tall (which is beside the point). An enjoyable evening of unique music and images.
by Marja-Leena evening cruise
An invitation for visiting aunt and us!
from niece and boyfriend with boat:
come for a sunset boat ride!
Docked at Fisherman’s Wharf
by False Creek (Vancouver)
At the end of the westernmost dock,
here’s G’s boat!
Slowly cruising out west,
under Burrard Bridge,
out to English Bay
Cloudy and warm,
no sunset to admire,
but misty mountains and puffy clouds,
boats going by, freighters anchored in the bay,
city highrises lighting up with million jewels
as darkness falls
Returning in the dark
vibrating moving
all lights like glowing strings
and dancing arrows
shimmering reflections on water
Thank you for the wonderful cruise,
catching up with life’s news,
a memorable evening,
good night,
goodbye!
by Marja-Leena BC Day long weekend
Our long weekend was a wonderful, busy and mostly family-oriented one. First, a sister-in-law arrived from Idaho on Friday. It’s been almost a year since we last saw her.
Saturday morning a caravan of three cars of family drove up to the hot and dry high country area of Kamloops and east. Our eldest daughter and partner held a huge party for their numerous friends and immediate family. Their acreage turned into a campground with many campers and tents scattered about. They had renovated the old barn on their property and transformed the interior with whitewash and twinkling lights over numerous tables for the diners and the fantastic buffet of food. What a party, wonderful fun for all ages from babies, children, teenagers, young singles, couples and parents and a few of us elders!
On Sunday morning husband, youngest daughter and I drove to Salmon Arm, over an hour east from our motel in Kamloops to visit my brother and two of his sons. Lovely to see them again! Then back to the party – with a trip to the swimming hole on the Thompson River to cool off. Later the children (even some of us adults!) loved a visit with the neighbour’s goats. Then more wonderful food!
Yesterday, the BC Day holiday, we made our way home, tired from a lot of driving but happy. Great to sleep in our own bed again. Sister-in-law took a side trip to visit a friend in Vernon and is returning here later this afternoon for a few more days’ visit. So, we’re keeping busy, busy with family!
by Marja-Leena a labyrinth
I have often wished to visit some of the labyrinths found in different parts of the world.
Strangely, the very first labyrinth I ever did walk on was just a two days ago right here in the Vancouver area. One early morning we went looking for a new painted labyrinth that we read about in a newspaper. Painted on a parking lot of a church, off a rather busy road, my first impression was of a little disappointment. But as I slowly walked around the twists and turns, I did feel my mood become meditative.
With its rose in the centre, It appears to be similar to some that are painted inside modern churches. Yet, according to the brochure, available nearby, this one is “a replica of the 11-circuit labyrinth of Chartres Cahtedral in France. This pattern, once central ot cathredral culture, was inlaid in the stone floor in 1201.” Interesting…
But I still feel drawn to the ancient stone labyrinths, just like I’m drawn to ancient cave art.