Monday Mural

Posting at Monday Mural

June 2013 -Toronto Ontario 

At the Steam Whistle Brewery near the Toronto Convention Centre and Rogers Centre, on the west wall beside the coal silo at the historic Roundhouse Park.

Titled "A John St. Morning" was painted by Canadian artist David A. Oram.

Read more about the artist here and see the amazing coins he has designed for the Royal Canadian Mint. The article also includes fascinating history of our railroads.

The mural is a large-scale replica of his original 2003 painting of the same name and depicts the historic John Street Roundhouse in its operational prime.

Mosaic Monday

Posting at Mosaic Monday.


Habib - beloved

Monday Mellow Yellow

I'm posting at Monday Mellow Yellow today.

August 2008 - Kelley's Island Ohio

Dreaming of France

The rules for this meme are: Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Maybe we can all satisfy our yearnings for France, until we get there again.

August 2012 - Versailles Palace France

Some outside photos of the grounds.

Blue Monday

I'm linking up at Blue Monday today.

May 2012 - Copenhagen Denmark

PAPER IS DEAD

A friend just sent this to me and I had to post it!

Weekly Top Shot

I'm posting at The View From Here this week.

June 2013 - Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario

This was taken a couple of weeks ago. A rather classy water bowl for the dogs.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Shadow Shot Sunday

June 2013 - Toronto Ontario

For more shots of the Tall Ships drop by this post.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I'm joining the Scavenger Hunt Sunday sponsored by Ashley.

The rules are simple:

1. Anyone can participate.
2. You’re encouraged to take five new photos this week for the challenge. Creativity is also encouraged!
3. If you get stumped, you may use one photo from your archive (although I’m not too strict about it – I do my best to take fresh shots).
4. Link up here on Sunday (or Tuesday at the latest) – you can use the button above.
5. Leave comments for at least five entries around yours (with so many new participants each week, it’s the only way I know to be inclusive
6. Have fun!

1. Tools
2. Motion
3. Sweet
4. Dots
5. Stripes

TOOLS  - taken at a construction zone at Yonge and Bloor Toronto.

MOTION - slow moving on Lake Ontario

SWEET - speaks for itself

DOTS - I have two this week taken on the Toronto subway, the platform and a directional sign.

STRIPES  - in honour of Canada Day and the Fourth of July holidays this week, the flags atop the Air Canada Centre.

inSPIREed Sunday

Sally hosts inSPIREd Sundays.Sally hosts inSPIREd Sunday!

July 2005 - Dublin Ireland

We had never visited the Church of St. Michan in Dublin and thought it would be a good place to take our niece and nephew on their first trip in 2005. St. Michan's was first built in 1095, possibly on the site of an early church constructed by the Viking Danes - Michan was said to be an old Danish saint, though records in Christchurch Cathedral suggest that he was an "Irish saint and confessor", while other theories suggest he was a Dublin Norseman, thus incorporating both other ideas. on their first trip to Dublin.

We were the only visitors and our guide was extremely well-informed, and a bit of a character. You enter the vaults from outside and climb down through slanted metal doors into long corridors, with chambers on each side.

Our guide said the air in the vaults is extremely dry due to the consistency of the soil and the steady unvarying temperate.

This is my niece's face when I tell her she can touch a corpse and a great fortune would come to her.

I didn't take any photos inside, I think we were told "No photographs".
I did find some at another site and am posting one of his.
Four mummies are on view inside an inner chamber - with a few random skulls lying around beside them. 

Where's my Backpack?

The weekly theme is SCULPTURE.


June 2013 - Toronto Ontario

For my first entry I am posting a sculpture located at Queen's Quay dedicated to fallen firefighters.

Slightly to the East, near the South end of Station 334 is the sculptural group Last Alarm, dedicated to the memory of Toronto firefighters who died in the line of duty. The inscribed names of fallen firefighters span the period from 1848 to the present day. The focal point of the memorial is the free standing bronze sculpture of a Toronto firefighter cradling a rescued infant. The scale is 1 ¼ greater than life size. To the left and right of the central figures are stylized high relief forms in bronze symbolizing flames. The flames form part of the contoured polished black granite panel which forms the backdrop for the sculpture. The sculpture and plinth stand in the centre of a circle paved with flagstones of varying colour which create a mosaic effect.
The memorial, the work of Yolanda van der Gaast, was officially dedicated on 1 October, 2000. In the raised centre part of the granite panel is a Maltese cross set into a circular opening. The section with the Maltese cross was designed to cast a moving shadow across the Station 334’s East wall with the rising of the morning sun.

Sepia Saturday

Challenge and image source from Sepia Saturday.

This photograph of the entrance to the Wombeyan Caves comes from the 'Caves' set of the Powerhouse Museum Collection on Flickr Commons.  It could take you into grottoes, tunnels, caverns, potholes or mines. Or it may leave you completely in the dark, so remember to bring a torch! Dig deep and see what you can discover down there! Of course there's no need to match the theme at all and our only request is that you post your response to SS 183 on or around Saturday 29 June. Please link back to this Sepia Saturday page, and there is a mini-banner to add too if you choose.

After you've published on your blog, don't forget to add the link to your actual post (by clicking on its title within the post and then copying the URL which this generates) to Mr Linky below, and then leave a comment please. After a deep sigh of satisfaction at a job well done, put the kettle on and set off to visit as many other contributors as you can. If the mood takes you leave them a comment as well; we Sepians thrive on comments - it makes it all worthwhile!


I couldn't think of anything that would match this theme. I started looking through photos in my family album and found this picture, taken in 1989 when my parents went back to Dublin for a wedding. They had a great time catching up with family at their local watering holes. My mother was dead within two weeks of returning from that trip.
This photo was in colour so I converted it to black and white.

The information and video are from the Dublin City Libraries website.

This pub is located in Phoenix Park, Dublin. In Medieval times Blackhorse Avenue was one of the main roads into Dublin City. People travelling to Dublin by horse or by coach would stay overnight outside the city in an inn called 'Ye Signe of Ye Blackhorse'. Its name came from the fact that in those days inn owners would hang up the picture of an animal, such as a horse, outside their pub instead of a name as only few people could read. This picture would give the Inn its name.



When roads were improved, people no longer needed to stay overnight at the inn and the inn was changed into a tavern, a place where people could eat and drink. As the tavern was right beside the Phoenix Park and there were many public speeches given in the park in the 1800s it became a popular spot for a drink and a bite to eat. One of the speakers was Daniel O’Connell; in fact, Daniel O’Connell brewed the ale which was sold in the Blackhorse Tavern.


When the British Army was staying at McKee Barracks in the Phoenix Park from 1891 to 1922, the soldiers would sometimes sneak off and go to the tavern for a pint of beer! The owner of the pub at the time, Levinus Doyle, served the men through a hole in the park wall, and this is why it is called “The Hole in the Wall”.

The name was changed from Blackhorse Tavern to “The Hole in the Wall” in 1970, by PJ McCaffrey and his wife, Margaret. They wanted to remember the history of serving the army through a hole in the wall.

Over the years many extra bits were added and many people believe that this is the longest pub in Ireland.

Saturday Snapshot

 

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy. 

The Redpath Tall Ships were in Toronto last week.