MACDONALD BLOCK, WELLESLEY AND BAY...AMAZING ARTWORKS IN GOVERNMENT BUILDING

November 15th 2017, morning, I left  office to pick cash from the bank and as usual, I cut through the  Macdonald block at Wellesley and Bay. I have walked through this building at least a 100 times in the last decade plus years and every single time I have loved looking at the massive artworks on the walls. This time, I had my cellphone and decided to photograph these amazing works and share them . (I am one of those rare breed of folks who never had a cellphone until now(Sep 2017)). 

These arts are unbelievably underexposed and under-appreciated... It's like those artworks hidden in the vaults of billionaires...no one gets to see them and enjoy them except the billionaire.

I  believe very few people enter this building and these amazing pieces are seen by less than a few thousand people in a year...and a majority of those numbers are people who work there. People visit museums and art galleries to see art...I don't think many people consider visiting a building full of government departments in search of art!

Today, for the first time, I walked on the second floor too and wandered around, clicking photos of the arts. At one point a police officer came up to me and asked what I was doing. He said that governments buildings are not to be photographed but it's okay to photograph the artworks. Whew!

Thinking back about my brief pleasant encounter  with this officer, I realize that this might have played out differently and unpleasantly in countries with a paranoid police-force. Thank you God for these understanding and non-zealot police officers of Canada!

I wonder if there were artworks in floors above the second. I did not see stairs going to the third floor and I did not have the courage to go up by getting into a lift! I had discovered a few years ago that in these sort of buildings one needs some sort of key to key in, once you enter the lift, in order to get off  at your floor. Since I had no 'real' business, in the floors above and as I did not have the courage to ask someone, I simply left, after taking these photos on the first and second floors. I hope you enjoy them. I hope you realize that these works are all quite big...10 feet or more by 12 feet or more. They are made of a range of materials. ..clay, metal, glass, fabric, wood, etc. Many are 'more than 2 dimensional', if you know what I mean (not 'fully' three dimensional...i.e. almost flat but not fully flat). You have to see the actual works as these photos don't do justice to their full beauty and complexity.

The  art work above is a bit naughty dont you think?

This blue-green-gold tapestry sort of thing is one of my favorites. This photo simply does not do justice to it's vibrant, brilliant beauty.

This metal piece above reminds me of a mural done by M.S.Murthy...don't know why

This one above reminds me of some of Picasso's works.

I have not yet figured out, how to cut out the bits outside the art work before uploading the photo. For example, the above photo has a bit of the floor and a bit of the ceiling above the art work.

Above art on a massive wall seems dystopian to me...is it because the colors seem dystopian or is it because the row of cubic things remind me of skulls?  Or it it those collection of holes ?

The above art made of glass and maybe metal is so intriguing to me...mysterious lives behind those glowing glass windows? what is happening behind the unlit ones on the other side?

Above is comprised of thousands of nails, painted white and nailed in...with different lengths jutting out. The idea of nails in art is amazing....there is a  nail art in the Toronto city hall also.

Light falls unevenly on some of  these artworks. The lights are above the art work and so they appear overly bright at the top and too dark at the bottom.  Some of these are in corridors with relatively dim lighting.

If you want to visit this building (in Toronto, Ontario, Canada)to enjoy these artworks, get off at the Queens Park  subway station and walk east on College Street and go north on  Elizabeth street, walk through women's college parking lot and find this building on the north side of  Grosvenor street. If you get off at College Park subway station, walk north on Bay street and  the building is on west side of Bay, one block north of College Street. There are massive sculptures outside this building. If you cycle, there is plenty of cycle-parking space. 
If you are in the area, you could also go to Queens Park and attend a Legislative session and see how our Ontario province government works. Queen's Park is 5 minutes walk from Macdonald block, to the west. You could also wander around Yonge street and check the shops, eateries or go west and check out the university area. You could walk further north on Bay and visit Indigo, a book shop and browse. Continue further north and you will be in Yorkville, an upscale area full of  interesting stores(expensive!) and resturants($$$$$). Walk about a kilometer from Macdonald block north on Bay and then east on Cumberland St or Yorkville Av  and you will reach the amazing Reference library of Toronto on Yonge st. You can spend some time here too. 

FLOW: ONLINE GAME

Flow or free flow is a game where you connect matching colors with pipe to create a flow. 

A year or two ago, my husband played this game on IPad as I watched shows on Netflix. At the time, I was annoyed that he preferred Flow to the Netflix shows. 
 I did try Flow  a few times ... I tried Flow at the level he already was at and  but it seemed impossible to solve and I found it more annoying than interesting! I lost interest completely and stopped for a few months.

My comments to my husband at the time  was "If our plumber put pipes like this, we would be spending a fortune on our pipes". My brain simply could not put on hold the  fact that pipes should be direct and short! I knew this is only a game but my 'need' to be practical and  economical cannot be suspended even during a game
 More than a year later,  I started playing the beginner games on Flow which were easy. I soon learned to play and enjoyed this game...  till I hit the difficult ones.I remember telling my husband this sentence at least ten times over many seemingly unsolvable games.  "There is some error in this game. It can never be completed. We have to email this company and ask them to rectify this error". My husband would solve it and I gradually accepted that there were no mistakes; Every single game  can be solved, even if I can't solve it! Each time I could not solve one, I would hand the IPad to my husband  and asked him to solve. I could not give up the puzzle and  go do my chores. I would be feeling bugged until it was solved! 
Soon I reached a stage when instead of netflix, my last activity before going to bed was Flow. I would continue to play flow until I fell asleep. I found some puzzles so difficult that I would take month or more of trying to solve...especially in the extreme pack.  It is this pack which gave me the most enjoyment..it was not so easy or so difficult that I lost interest. It was just right for me .. challenging enough to keep me persevering until I solved it.

I am proud to say that yesterday(Nov 2017) I finished the first of the two extreme packs which  I really really really enjoyed. I did get stuck on some puzzles for more than a month  but I finally solved them all...without husband's help! 
Initially it was frustrating to find that I cannot   skip the unsolved one and move on to the next...the next puzzle does not open until you have solved the previous puzzle.

I am now in the second of the extreme packs.
I cannot explain how I solve the problems; but I do solve it...trial and error method I suppose. After solving so many, now I solve with lesser number of trials, in lesser time, and experience  lesser  perplexity. And I no longer feel the 'slightest bit' frustrated by the seemingly unsolvable ones... I simply persist, repeatedly trying until I get it!
Has my ADHD frontal lobe become mature in  it's 50s? Research has found that the ADHD brain takes longer to 'mature' and maybe that is what is happening to me!

DISTILLERY DISTRICT IN TORONTO

Distillery district in Toronto is  one of my favorite places to take friends and family visiting Toronto. I love the old limestone buildings with green windows and doors. I love the brick buildings and the brick-paved streets within. The limestone building with the green windows for some reason reminds me of KEB office in the Majestic area  and 'quarters'  for staff in Rammandir or second block Rajajinagar area of Bangalore! It must be that green paint on the windows which links the two in my brain I suppose.
I wonder if there is someone reading this blog who has seen both Distillery district and the KEB buildings in Bangalore I am talking about? I am not sure if those buildings still exist or the corrupt government has snatched them all. Do you recall the sapota trees outside everyone of those KEB quarters? the green windows and pale yellow color bungalows? the bus route (71, 72 80, 81 of those days)ran in front of those bungalows.
Coming back to Distillery district...I love drinking hot cider in the cooler months in Balzac's. I enjoy window shopping in the artist's workshops. The jewelry artists, the carpenters and woodwork artists, the pottery artists. I also enjoy the shops with unusual and designer household ware, though I rarely buy anything as most things are out of my price range. I also enjoy the art work on display in the galleries. Walking around leisurely, stopping for food or drink in one of the cafes within, browsing in the shops and art galleries can take anywhere between one and half to three hours, depending on your speed. You can click several photos too but none of the photos can capture the ambience of the district. I always get something from the SOMA chocolate maker. People who love chocolates and live in Toronto should visit this.
Distillery district has Christmas market which is fun to visit.  I,  being frugal, earning little and also living in a home overflowing with things I refuse to throw, I do not buy but just browse the delightful items in this market.  I feel bad for the sellers but I have to look out for myself...I feel guilty that I don't buy, but what to do?

GINKO TREE

I have loved the Ginko trees of Toronto since I first saw their lovely yellow fan shaped leaves in autumn. Most Ginko trees I saw were small i.e. about 20 feet tall (or less) and the branches, if you can call them that were less than 6 feet long.

Today (Nov 2 2017)I saw this huge Ginko, unlike all the other Ginkos I been seeing till now. It was at the intersection of St. George street and College, in the University of Toronto premises. And for the first time, I saw fruits in this tree, and some fruits had fallen under too. I have never ever seen the small Ginko trees with fruit. 

I have been wanting to buy 3 Ginko saplings to plant at the bottom of my garden but they cost 45-00$ per tree! So I have put off buying them.

Today I picked three Ginko fruit, with a seed in each. I am hoping to Google  the right time, the right soil, etc  to plant these seeds.  I hope to grow my Ginko trees from seed!
Let's see if I succeed.

By the way, the Ginko fruit stinks! I had to wash my hands when I got back to work to get rid of that awful rotten smell!

Below is the St. George street and College street intersection, north west side.

Below is the tree with leaves, turning yellow...with still a bit of green in them



 Below is a lovely gold color, fan shaped Ginko leaf fallen to the ground.

Below is the Ginko fruit and the seed or nut from another fruit.  It was pretty soft and mushy.
God. It stinks!

There are huge fruit bearing ginko trees in High Park.