Pastel Pencils to Last a Lifetime!

Artistic Pastel Pencils

 by Walt Blake

of StonewaterStudio

www.stonwaterstudio.ca

Surely the 'Most Photographed Art by Visitors'
(some taken with visitors posing with the pencils,
including myself, and lots of 'selfies' of course!)

at Artfest Toronto 

in the Distillery Historic District.
Fri. 29 August 2014 thru till Mon.1 August 2014

Pictured above is an exhibit of my neighbour's booth. Blessed with good neighbours, Edna's Pickles had visitors of all sorts. Some were real characters who just passed by my wife's booth and others who stopped by to purchase. Apart from the usual and often visitor query "Do you make these yourself?", "My mother makes pickles too" and "Are you here all days of the year?" I do remember a classic one from this show. It went like this:

Visitor:  Do you sell on line?

Edna   :  Yes, we do - through our web-site.

Visitor:  Do you ship them as well?

Edna   :  (Silently)  Duh!

For the number of visitors that I noticed at the show, for us overall it seemed that it was a slightly slow show than usual in sales, giving me some time to go around the 'District' and take some 'Historic' pictures! Here they are below:

Anya Teresa

OUR NEW ANGEL

Grand-daughter

ANYA TERESA FERNANDES

'THE GREAT MOMENT'
11.45 PM - 29th August 2014

And finally came the time for Mom Kate to go to the hospital after anxious and timeless moments all through the day and especially on the night of 29th August.

We waited anxiously at my son's place while my son and my wife dashed off to the hospital accompanying my daughter-in-law Kate. Thanks to Kate's Mom Teresa, Aunts Denise and Dahlia, and our dear friend Maral for their support for each other in our anxious moments during the long wait for the good news until 11.45 pm when Baby Anya was born.

There have been numerous anxious moments in my life in the past, and this moment was no exception. I have never before waited so long by the phone to hear it ring, or glanced at my watch so many times until we got the news that Baby Anya Teresa had stepped into our world of Ferns.

They say 'Motherhood is not for wimps' and undoubtedly this adage will hold true eternally. From what I've heard from my wife, Kate's patience and bravery is to be admired, as this is quality in a mother that stands out like in so many mothers around the world. In the words of my daughter Dahlia "Our angel Kasia Kate Fernandes proved to be her warrior self yet again. Amazing.

And to top it all up Kate is marathon runner and winner in real life! Check out TonFerns Blog: Kate Fernandes-Kneichweij http://tonferns.blogspot.ca/2010/05/blog-post_21.html

Congratulations to Mom Kate & Dad Denzil and to the little fellow - a.k.a. Big Brother Ari - who together with his Baby sister Anya - will make a beautiful pair indeed.

Along with my wife Edna, we take extreme pride in being grandparents for the second time. There has never been a greater feeling than having another grandchild. We look forward to continued enjoyment of spending time with the latest addition.

This song below is especially dedicated to my daughter-in-law Kate, and also to all mothers everywhere. One of my favourites songs by none than great Glen Campbell. Please give it a listen. Thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6MGou_HzbM

Chris Isaak at Massey Hall - Toronto

Photo Credit: Edna Fernandes

It was my first time watching Chris Isaak live on stage in a theatre, who seems to have a great flair for showmanship along with many jokes and one liners - a walk-through of his past stage and on-road experiences. Within a few minutes into the show Chris had already established a rapport with his audience. And by the middle of the show had front seaters dancing and singing along, some of whom eventually wound up on the stage for a short time.  

I had almost forgotten about it and my evening-out with this Chris Isaak - that my daughter had booked tickets for me as well - as a treat from her side - at the Massey Hall in Toronto for last night's performance. She knows that Chris Isaak is one of my favourite singers since the early 1990's and did justice to an evening well spent with a show that lasted for over 2 hours of continuity of a list of covers of the popular songs by the likes of Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Chris certainly had the house rocking to his cover of Roy Orbison's 'Pretty Woman', singing along to 'I can't help falling in love with you' and total silence during his rendition of 'Only the Lonely' - my two favourites. 

Way back in the mid-1990's I bought Chris Isaak's CD after hearing him on Dubai FM 92 with my all-time favourite 'Only the Lonely'. Incidentally Dubai FM 92 gave a lot of air-time to Chris's songs. His CDs were available in music shops there.  It was a wonderful show, reminding me of 'Dubai Days' of long ago when I was a DJ and frequently played Chris Isaak's songs. I have to thank Shawn and Denise for the treat of watching one of my favourite singers in concert - and for being considerate not having made me drive all the way there which would have been a nightmare. Most certainly I could have been lost somewhere in Toronto!

This was indeed a great moment for me and my wife. It was like living through it again hearing songs that I have often played at home for my children in the past. The past concerts that I remember my daughter has taken me to, have included my other favourites too - Connie Francis, Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel, Everly Brothers, Anne Murray and Gypsy Kings. 

HISTORIC AMHERSTBURG - Ontario

Historic Amherstburg & Surrounding Areas

 - Ontario - Canada

Amherstburg is a historic Canadian town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario. It is approximately 27 kilometres south of the Canadian city of Windsor and the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. It is part of the Windsor census metropolitan area. Across the Detroit River. The town was permanently established as a British military fort in 1796. Fort Malden was occupied as a garrison. Many of the houses are built in the French style of a century ago giving the town a very old fashioned appearance. Amherstburg is home to several tourist attractions, including Fort Malden, Ontario's heritage. Bellevue House. and the Gibson Gallery.

The 'Robond' - (Catapult)

             This was what my first 'ROBOND' (Catapult) looked like when I was a young lad. Firstly, we had to find an appropriate fork of the tree branch that formed a shape of a perfect 'V'. We had to cut it to the suitably appropriate length, skin and flatten the sides if need be. Then look around for an old discarded inner rubber tube of a bicycle, cut strips out from it with scissors - both for the straps and strips for fastening/tying onto the 'V'; search for some old leather shoes, or walk a kilometer to the nearby Tinto (Marketplace) at Parra Junction, to the 'mochi' (shoesmith) for a piece of leather and also pay a visit to the bicycle repairman for some unusable tubes, both of whom would oblige to our need. And later, after assembling the catapult, off we went in a group for a hunt around the village or to the hills nearby.

             My father had helped me make my very own first mini 'robond' (Konkani) cut out from a tree branch when I was about 9 years old. Small pieces of laterite stones were used as projectiles - held snugly in the leather clasp between one's index finger and thumb of the left hand, the rubber straps were pulled as far back as possible, aimed and released towards the intended target. This caused the 'unguided' missile to be launched through the space between the V-shape of the catapult which was clasped tightly with the right hand. Some lads were very adept in making the catapult, fondly called 'catty', using it with expertise and were very good with their aim as well.

Toronto Harbourfront in the Twilight

The CN Tower in Toronto

 &

the Harbourfront in the Twilight.

 ~ In man's eternal quest in achieving his reach up to the heavens since the Tower of Babel, the CN Tower was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower in 2010. It remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, a signature icon of Toronto's skyline, and a symbol of Canada.

Canadian Sunset.

Glorious 'Canadian Sunset' in Caledon

13 August 2014

However long the day or night -

 a new dawn tomorrow must break.

A gorgeous sunset - as the sun cast its final glow over the horizon.

Caledon countryside at dusk. A beautiful day bids adieu,

Time to head home before it's dark for me on my bicycle.

Have hope. Believe. For I shall rise again.

The trees still stand tall hoping for a warm day tomorrow.

No! I won't be alone. I'll have the moon and the stars till the break of another dawn.

Wild flowers bid adieu to another glorious day

Super Moon

 

It was a Supermoon Sunday yesterday - 10 Aug 2014.

As I was hoping, and luckily to my delight, the evening sky was clear except for a slight haze just above the horizon.

A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth.

The above pictures of our closest celestial neighbour, shot yesterday evening from 8.37 pm onwards by Tony Fernandes in Caledon, Ontario - Canada.

Gibbous - Waxing Moon

Meanwhile in Caledon, the evening skies yesterday, 

Wednesday 6th August, were clear and the moon made a 

grand appearance in its 'waxing gibbous phase' in the 

Zodiac sign Libra, after just having passed the first quarter 

on 3rd August, on its way thru until full moon on 10th 

August.


These shots were taken at 8.45 pm. by Tony Fernandes

Why did the geese cross the road?

HIGHWAY HOLD-UP

Why did the geese cross the road?

Because the chicken was on vacation.

RATAPLAN !

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!

LEFT, LEFT  RIGHT LEFT, LEFT, LEFT ....

A GOOD DAY IN THE DAWNING