Aug 19 2022 - The Ex

Microsoft Bing's Search Page today has a picture of a ferris wheel and the headline "Let's Go to the Ex".  I remember the song, and they are playing it on the radio again so it is lots of fun.   Something that caught my attention is that there will be a Drone Show every night.   But much attention leading up to the Ex is the food news.  There is always weird and wacky food that brings headlines.  Here's the list:  Light Sabre Cotton Candy Cookie Butter Frites Mac & Cheese Pizza (Macaroni Pizza, as the CNE, puts it) Krispy Kreme Pulled Pork (you read that right) Two-foot long nachos Pirate’s Treasure (vanilla ice cream inside an edible seashell, apparently) Spice Cream (like ice cream, but spicy) Squid Cakes (self-explanatory) Squid-Ink Korean Corndogs State Fair Hot Dog Croffles (Croissant Waffles) Cinnamon Curd Crunch (deep-fried cheese curds topped with cinnamon sugar) Deep Fried Coffee (a deep-fried funnel cake topped with cocoa beans, to be transparent) Giant Mozzarella Sticks Deep Fried Snickers Dole Whip Pineapple Split and Pickle Split (banana split with a twist) Eva’s Mac & Cheese Cones Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Smash Burger and Burrito Edible Rainbow Slime Candy Ketchup and Mustard Ice Cream - this is the news this year Leaning T.O-wer of Pisa Seoul-ful Taters And the drinks? Mac & Cheese Lemonade Spicy Pickle Lemonade Colour-changing purple slime soda Vegan Sorbet Floats And while you are munching on the CNE treats, the drone show sounds like the new thing to see?  What is a drone show?  It is performed by illuminated, synchronized, and choreographed groups of drones that arrange themselves into various aerial formations. Almost any image can be recreated in the sky by a computer program that turns graphics into flight commands and communicates them to the drones.  Does that make fireworks obsolete? Stay tuned.

I somehow have not been to the CNE summer exhibition in quite a few years.  This picture was taken on the grounds, but not during the exhibition. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

 

Walk Right In...Have a Seat

The facades that face the commercial streets in Toronto have a minimalist approach to texture and surface. Less seems to be better. All the surface and texture lie in the back alleys.  The pictures today show back alleys in the King Street West area yesterday.  I was in search of doors and chairs. The first picture is the remaining wall of a building under deconstruction/reconstruction. This is the alley-view of a second story door - I didn't go around to see the facade from the street view.  The door got my attention as it looks like a swing door.  What would have been on the second floor? These back alleys are grimy and gritty.  They don't get washed down like the sidewalks out front of commercial and retail stores.  At Yonge and Bloor, the gorgeous black granite sidewalk along Bloor Street got washed every morning before 7:30 as I was on my way to work. In the alleyways, back doors are open to the kitchens of restaurants.  Loud voices pour out, releasing the vitality and energy of the City.

It is Time for the Outdoor Chairs

Wake Up on the Bright Side I wonder how many pictures of Muskoka Chairs there are in my photo collection.  I'll start to gather them into a poster collage. If we were in the North-Eastern U.S. we would call them Adirondack Chairs. Wikipedia redirects one from Muskoka to Adirondack for information about the chair.   However, it doesn't explain how the chair migrated to Muskoka and got 'renamed'.  Back to Adirondack, the chair was originated by Thomas Lee in 1903 while on vacation in Westport.  He offered the design to his friend, a carpenter in need of winter income. That explains the patent by Harry C. Bunnell rather than the originator, Thomas Lee.  The article says that Bunnell registered the patent without telling Lee, and that Lee was surprised, but then didn't mind. Muskoka Chair Company is in Port Carling (that's in Muskoka), dedicated to making these wonderful, iconic, outdoor chairs.

Muskoka or Adirondack - What's in a name?

"The beloved Muskoka chair started out as the Westport chair, named after Westport, New York, where it was patented.  It later became known as the Adirondack chair, in honour of the mountains of the same name in New York state, where tuberculosis patients were sent to relax and take in the fresh air at a convalescent home." Over the years, improvements were made, such as using slats instead of a single slab for the seat and back. No one knows who brought the first one to Canada or the start of the term Muskoka chair.  But there it is: Muskoka or Adirondack - nothing different.  Both are the epitome of summer comfort and relaxation. What better way to enjoy the calendar's slide between July 1st and July 4th!   Facebook Twitter Website Blogs at: http://opengardensniagara.blogspot.ca http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: http://www.redbubble.com/people/marilyncornwell http://1-marilyn-cornwell.artistwebsites.com