Colourful Dreamer

I t is a little bittersweet writing about this. Our time in Toronto and in Vancouver was spent on the assumption that we would be returning regularly. But we did not know that the Canadian government had other ideas. Michael and Amy’s work visa was not renewed, and they had to leave. It is all a little sad. and it makes our time there in 2023 even more special. Friday morning Michael, Bonnie, and I set off by train to explore the Royal Ontario Museum. Expensive. But a really cool building. The have dinosaurs! The highlight for me was the Being and Belonging: Contemporary Women Artists from the Islamic World and Beyond exhibition. Some really provocative pieces, some of which you can see here .   It reminded me of the power of art to break open your perspective and to allow other voices you might hear to speak into your life. It was an amazing exhibition. There was also a permanent gallery of the world’s indigenous cultures which featured 1,400 rarely seen artifacts, including ...

I had been to the Niagara Falls on the Canadian side in 1993 on another sabbatical. It was nice to go back and take time to enjoy it all. It was pretty brief last time. After our drive down we found our motel. Then we drove to a nice diner for dinner. Then we drove down to the falls and caught the last 5 minutes of the light show. Very cool. Then we worked out the geography and returned to our motel for the exciting day coming up. After breakfast we walked down through Clifton Hill, this mini–Las Vegas weird area complete with Frankenstein Burger King. We did not linger. Instead, we headed for the first boat ride of the day. All decked out in our red ponchos we joined a big Korean school group and headed out onto the Niagara River.  AI tells me that “ The Niagara River is a 58-kilometer waterway flowing north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, forming part of the international border between Ontario, Canada, and New York, USA. It is renowned for hosting the massive Niagara Falls, w...

I feel the need to finish blogging about my sabbatical, to kind of round it out and give some closure. So here goes. We arrived at last in Toronto to be met by Michael at the airport. It was such a joy to see him, and to finally get there after some of our misadventures with flights and visas and such. He led through the public transport system on trains and buses back to where they lived on the edge of St. James Town, to their apartment building on Sherbourne Street, one of the big streets that run all the way down to Lake Ontario. Amy had prepared a lovely gift pack for each of us, including slippers (which I still use) gloves and wooly hat, which got a lot of use during our time in Canada, and less so here in warmer Tauranga. Our next adventure began. The first full day had a leisurely start. Michael and Amy took us out walking along Sherbourne Street, through Millionaires Row, and into Riverdale Park (I think) with beautiful bush with all the autumn colours Bonnie was lookin...