Last day of winter at Strathearn Park

19 March 2021.

 

Walking on Sherbrooke Street West

Apartment building entrances on Sherbrooke Street West between Montclair and Coronation; 

18 March 2021.. 

 

Busy Days at Vincelli's Garden Centre

Even during a pandemic people need bedding plants, trees, bushes, hanging plants, annuals and perennials for their gardens. My garden is doing well this year with almost all perennials and a few pots on the patio planted with annuals. I never throw out any plants, I just move them to a different location when needed and expand my garden. We've just had several days of  +30 C weather (one day was an all-time record at +36.5 C), the garden centers are now open and many people are out buying plants for their gardens.

Small personal shrines

A few days ago I noticed a young woman sitting near the City Farm gardens at the Loyola Campus of Concordia University, so today, out of curiosity, I walked where she had been sitting. I am always interested in people's expressions of spirituality, especially personal expressions not associated with any organized religion. Going back millennia people have made little shrines, memorials to dead animals, almost paganistic collections of feathers, shells, broken glass, weathered photographs, holy wells, things hanging from trees, Oak trees, Yew trees, or some other private ritual that is the expression of something important to them. Something that lives on in people's souls despite current events. So, I wasn't surprised to find hidden in some overgrown bushes a vase with a flower in it, several white stones, and a Christmas ornament. What does it mean? We'll never know except that it means something to someone.