What inspires...part 5

Inspirational words....

"The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew the lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to a lack of respect for humans too. So he kept his youth close to its softening influence."

Luther Standing Bear, OGLALA SIOUX

(Picture: taken during one of my many walks in the woods in Northern Ontario)

" When we live in nature it's like constantly being in school. We are in an environment that is always teaching. We are constantly being reminded that there are laws, Natural Laws, which are running the universe. Once we know these laws and we drift from them, we start to live our lives in a different way. Soon we become discontent, selfish and disrespectful. Then, we get in trouble. If our lives have become this way, it can be reversed by going back to nature to be among our teachers."

The above quoted paragraphs are inspirational words taken from the website: www.whitebison.org

Nature will always be my greatest teacher... as I walked through the forest the day that I snapped the above photo, the words came to me in my mind, that I was to walk tall, but with respect in the forests of the Elders ...

What inspires?... part 4

Upon reflecting back to my years in school studying Architecture... I think back to a design class in which a professor once said to us.... "When you guys get out of school...and can afford it... Travel! Go see Europe! Otherwise your designs will end up looking like Markham shopping malls..."


We all laughed... but later on in life, I did get that chance to travel to Europe... I did get to see what some of the true Masters of design were about. In every historic corner of Europe, you find hidden gems of architecture...

This picture was taking in Tallinn, Estonia, I once spent 3 months there during another chapter in my life...

The Great Coastal Gate!

Imagine if you will a medieval town founded in the year 1154. Sailing ships travelling from various Scandinavian and Germanic communities in the Baltic Sea area... coming to the main gate (built in the early 14th century) of an important hub for trade in those days...

The archway crowned with the town's emblem flanked by fortified walls protecting the market and citizens of the area. The stone walls served a purpose for defense, but included design detail that people could marvel at for centuries!

The defense wall blocks your view of what lays beyond it and the winding cobblestone pathway leads your eye in as it prompts you to explore this 850 year old city...(Tallinn)

Still in Estonia, just to the left and down the road a bit from the gate is the Rottermann's Salt Storage, which was renovated recently and is now fittingly converted into The Museum of Estonian Architecture.

Originally designed by a Baltic/German Engineer named Ernst Boustedt and completed in 1908.

When I first saw this building, I could not take my eyes off it. It's shape is so pleasing to the eye as there are hidden geometric ratios in it's form and layout of the facade. The extreme craftsmanship of the Masonry work that went into this structure is a work of art.

The Cherry Trees in High Park....

It's getting close to that time of year again...

It's usually in the next few weeks of May or so that the Japanese Cherry Trees explode into bloom along the slopes of the Grenadier Pond area. If memory serves me right, they come into full bloom just as the Forsythia shrubs are starting their show of yellow flowers.




Be sure to keep your eye on the trees in the next few weeks... When you see the Crab Apple trees and other Cherry trees starting to bloom, make your plans to get into High Park. A word of caution, weekends can be hard to find parking and the park has a 20 km/h speed limit! You might find a radar trap set up in the park on occasion!

(Prunus serrulata - Japanese Cherry (Sakura))

If you plan to visit on a weekend, take the Bloor Subway line to High Park Station and walk south (15 to 20 mins) till you get to the restaurant...then head towards the hillside gardens...down the hill and you will see what looks like pink clouds of cotton candy.

They only stay in peak bloom for about a week... I had the fortune of working there a few years ago. It was like a dream to walk around the gardens and grounds and to look down a hill at a view of blooming trees lined up along the path that follows the pond area.

There were a number of trees dedicated back in the 1959... by Japan to the City of Toronto. A few years back when I was working there in 2001 or 2002, there was another ceremony in which new Japanese Cherry trees were planted.

It's a beautiful site when in bloom...