The Psychos

 I borrowed this from someone's facebook page, no credits shown to whoever thought it up. Banksy style.

Clever and funny..... but absolutely terrifying that these three psychopaths are in charge of (or want to be in charge of) a huge slice of the world.

The Dead End of Town

Sometimes my morning walk takes me through the local cemetery. It's cool and shady and quiet there, with not many people about. And if there are people walking their dogs, they are always happy to stop and chat. 

I don't think I'm the only person who likes to wander among the graves and read the names and dates of former residents of town. The earliest legible memorial stone here dates from 1849, but there are probably a few earlier than that.

Nathan Forsyth 1852-1948 was the builder of many of the Victorian red brick houses that still stand on  the older streets. In fact, I lived in a Forsyth house for many years. He also built the United Church, the Presbyterian Church and the original Fire Hall. His grave memorial is in the shape of a house with windows and doors.

There are some lovely stone angels marking graves. But they look so sad. A lasting memorial to a family's grief.

Walking around the newer section of the cemetery I came across many familiar family names of friends and neighbours. One was Eddie Luther, the original "Eye in the Sky" traffic reporter for CFRB. He was a radio pioneer, the first to report on Toronto rush hour traffic from his helicopter starting in 1961.

Bee in the Brick Update: This was a couple of weeks ago. The hole in the brick is now completely sealed, so I'll be watching for a happy event.

Art Behind the Story

The current Covid-19 situation has caused so many people to abandon the daily commute to the office and work from home. This includes the so-called "experts" and journalists and interviewees who have been appearing on our TV screens to keep us up to date with what's going on around the world.
Often, whatever is hanging on the wall behind them is more interesting to me than what is being said. I'm getting an unauthorised peek into people's private homes and offices.
I don't know who all these people are, but they own some interesting art! I wish I could see the whole piece.

I don't remember who the last chappie is, but he certainly loves cars! And he plays golf.

And also..... HAPPY EASTER! 

A Touch of Royalty

Last week some very good friends of mine were invited to speak at a local church lunch. My friends are staunch Royalists and are enthusiastic members of the Monarchist League of Canada. Over they years, they have amassed a truly enormous collection of all things Royal, in fact so much that they almost need to build an extension on the house to store it all! Their topic was "Royal Weddings", perfect timing to coincide with the recent wedding of Princess Eugenie. They set up a display table that included photos, letters, books, commemorative mugs and plates, colouring books, Tshirts, you name it.... it was there. And this is just a tiny portion of their collection.

I'm afraid that's as close as I'll ever get to a real Royal Wedding. However, my maternal ancestors hail from the same town in England and with the same last name as some ancestors of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, the wife of Prince William..... so I may be related..... very very distantly! I wasn't invited to that wedding either.

Music Marathon

I'm back from my vacation, but before I show any pictures, let me tell you about an important event going on in my small town.

There's an attempt going on upstairs at the local pub to break the record for the Longest Concert by Multiple Artists. The live music concert started on Friday 17th March and is currently still going strong, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, aiming for 16 days finishing on 1 April, or perhaps longer, if the stamina (and the coffee) holds out.
Audience members are charged $5.00 and the money goes to a different charity each day. Today it goes to the Canadian Mental Health Association.

The current record is held by an Irish Pub in Las Vegas since October 2014. The Las Vegas concert lasted 372 hours and 10 minutes, beating the previous record of 360 hours. We can beat that!

There's a lot of rules and regulations to comply with the Guinness records people. No more than 5 minutes between acts, and only 30 seconds between songs, and no song shorter than 2 minutes. No time to chat to the audience between songs or tune the guitar! And if the guitar string breaks or some other disaster occurs, no stopping.... keep going.
The same song can't be performed more than once every 4 hours, and there has to be minimum 10 audience members at all times, even at 3:00am, and they all have to be awake!
Official timekeepers have to record the start and finish times of each song.

This crazy event is featuring over 400 bands and solo performers over the 16 days, and has over 100 volunteers making sure everything runs smoothly. The music ranges from classical to opera to heavy metal and everything in between. I was there to watch my friends perform this afternoon, and then stayed for the next couple of gigs. Great music. Great fun.

The Albert Street Four - folk rock

Mark Thackway and Garth Dynes - R&B and blues 

J. Paul Adams - piano and pop songs.... and some funny songs too.

Update March 29: I'll be back at the concert today as my friend's daughter is singing at 1:00pm. Live streaming video of the concert at https://epidemicmusicgroup.ca/#

Update March 30: To date more than $50,000 has been raised for charities from this concert. The concert will go on until Tuesday April 4 to try and beat a record set last week by a concert in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Update 6pm: $60,000 raised now!

The Odd Couple - Vienna

I'm just about to cross the road on the Graben, one of the most famous streets in Vienna, and I see them. I simply had to take out my camera.....

What is the story here? What are they saying to each other? I'd love to know. Any ideas?