Sep 28 2021 - Toe Tapping to the Music

 

Somehow my parents determined that their children would get music lessons and play music.  Perhaps this was a popular notion in the 1950s.  Perhaps they wanted to continue an old tradition of music in the house.  They also sent my sister and I took dance classes.  That seemed unusual and I think was influenced by the musical movies at the time.  I think that as my parent gave every indication that they did not have any spare money, or even enough money.  I wore my sister's hand-me-down clothes, and got new shoes and a new winter coat each year.  Here we are again - that could easily have been a deep tradition in their generation which went through the great Depression.  They were entranced at Christmas time when we sang Christmas carols in three-part harmony and my sister entertained them with accordion songs.  The singing didn't last very long as my sister and brother were mostly not in key.  Linda, my older sister, had an early musical career as she had an abundance of musical talent.  The great German instrument is the accordion, and she played in accordion bands and at music festivals, winning prizes and scholarships.  She went on to playing the pipe organ in churches, but dropped music by university.   My brother, Brian, was interested in science activities. He got an ulcer from accordion lessons.   So they were concluded quickly - that was before universal health care.  My parents bought a piano and I took piano lessons.  It went with me from my parents' home, and I eventually got a grand piano and an electronic piano, playing all through my adult years.  I sang in a choir for a few years, but the pandemic has suspended all of that. Research has found that music lessons improve many key skills, and increase IQ scores.  Things like language skills, verbal memory, spatial improvements, focus/attention, creativity, cognitive performance, and so on.  There is research in abundance. Music School Central has gathered 71 studies showing music lessons are the best thing for your brain HERE. The studies indicate that skills are improved for all ages, so dementia and Alzheimers sufferers benefit from music lessons.  Should music be a mandatory subject in school if it ranks up there with physical activity/sports in terms of benefits?  It has long been a debated subject.  How we view subjects is most interest: Can you imagine if dancing became an accepted physical activity/skill in public and high schools?  Doesn't that put in perspective our focus on sports as the primary delivery vehicle of physical fitness and skill. Our picture today is music in the garden at the Watering Can, Vineland.  This was part of their mosaic sculpture display.  The most recent display has a VW camper and a canoe planting.

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Nov 25 2020 - Finding a Rainbow

 

Are you looking for cheerful news today?  Go to the Good News Network where the quote for today is: "You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down".  ~Charlie Chaplin That seems particularly relevant to checking out the Niagara Falls water flow over the edge vs checking out the rainbow overhead.  So what are the good news articles at the Good News Network?  Man Becomes a Millionaire when meteorite from heaven crashes through his roof - HERE "One minute, you’re minding your own business, working outside your house building a coffin, and the next minute a smoking meteorite worth a small fortune hurtles through the roof of your veranda and winds up buried in the earth next to your living room."  (He's a coffin maker - who would guess). If you're feeling the weight of the world, this beautiful book will lighten your load - HERE The book title is HumanKind and is 'a perfect antidote for these times'.  Consider giving it as a Christmas gift this year.  The proceeds to go Big Brothers Big Sisters. This 2-acre vertical farm produces more than 'flat farms' that are using 720 acres - HERE The ag-tech start-up is named Plenty and will soon be the site where your Driscoll strawberries will be grown. This is a good start to a day - consider this: first the goodnewsnetwork and then the NY Times summary.  That would have balance. The Watering Can's piano display is our picture for today.  Everything at the Watering Can would fit the Good News off the day.

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Urban Attractions

Wikipedia says: Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE, and sometimes known as 'roof-and-tunnel hacking') is the exploration of man-made structures, usually abandoned ruins or not usually seen components of the man-made environment. Photography and historical interest/documentation are heavily featured in the hobby... I found a website that identifies urban exploring sites in Toronto here.   However, as I scrolled through the list, so many of the abandoned buildings have been demolished and are gone.   Today's images might also capture urban components that will become lost.  Our Piano Keyboard in the first image has been added to the loading dock in recent times and brings a sense of delight to a back alley. It could disappear quickly with graffiti or demolition to make way for grander buildings. Our second image is a "preserved" painted billboard for Tip Top Tailors.  It is located on Richmond Street West - you can see the 'suits and coats' quite well.  I found a posting on it which says the building was once 5 stories with a small painted sign, and then become 6 stories, with the large sign painted over the first. As they have decayed, the original sign has shown through.

In the Key of Red

With the proliferation and abundance of graphic design and signage, there are often opportunities for abstract art in commonplace areas.  This was a Remax sign in Grimsby that had a bit of wear and tear from weather.  The proportions of the black shapes in the top figure make me think of piano keys, so this theme was in my mind as I composed the images.  Mostly I prefer to have even light without shadows to work with the textures and colours and yet the third image shows that shadows can create visual appeal and interest.