About milestone birthdays and bizarre weather conditions.

I embrace birthdays the way I embrace winter: enthusiastically and unapologetically. I have come to terms with the fact that winter is but a memory... a memory from this time last year!!! This has been one strange weather phenomenon. Most people have been embracing it, but I can't help but think about how it's going to shift everything a little sideways!! (and no, I'm not just sulking because I didn't get snow for my birthday!) I see hearty tulip leaves striving for the sky on cue because that's what they do when they feel such warmth in the soil. But is it not a gross miscue? And what about our own ebbs and flows? So much of our schedules are governed by the seasons... as I was surveying my yard to see what else was awakening, my mind started to float towards end of school activities and then I reminded myself 'whoa... that's three months away yet!!' It's like anything else that happens in the universe - we have to just adjust to it - but it sure is the warmest birthday I've ever experienced, and that's even since leaving the land of the snow!

And speaking of birthdays, this one's mine. I emerged into this fabulously complex and wondrous world forty years ago today and I am blissfully comfortable with taking the elevator up to the next decade. I am content with the knowledge that I become stronger and more adventurous with every year of experience that I've amassed and I insist that this just doesn't happen if you're longingly stuck in decade number two! 

At the very least, one's birthday is an easy way to gather together some of those beautiful people you adore the most in the world and proceed to paint an already colourful town red. Because, you know, red's a great colour!!

So on that note, I leave you with some of my favourite images along with some of my thoughts on enjoying life:

Wine barrel at Inniskillin Estate Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake

See things in a new way.

Steam Whistle Brewing at the Roundhouse - Toronto

Give in to your cravings.

Gooderham Building - Toronto

Seize every opportunity to cross things off your list.

Avalon Drive from Cabot Crescent - Labrador City, NL

Revel in where you came from.

Icewine Festival - Niagara-on-the-Lake old town

Become a tourist in your own backyard.

Child number two! Signal Hill, NL June 2009

Take time to inspect the dandelions.

Child number one! Heartland Forest - Niagara Falls, ON May 2011

Delight in nature's little miracles.

The Godiva store in Times Square NYC 2010

Indulge in all the deliciously good things in life!

Cheers!

~ Christine Mastroianni

Hotel Verite on East 19th Street

as it was in April of 2011

http://www.veritehotel.com/guest_service

It was approaching the lunch hour when Otis Pretorious and his tidy tweed overnight bag arrived at Hotel Verite, his adopted home for the next two nights. He smiled as he looked up at the sheer curtains blushing behind their creamy white frames, and surreptitiously pulled his reservation documentation out of his pocket. Even though he had been generously employed for the better part of a year, his new job was still new to him, and he approached the assumed perk of business travel with all the enthusiasm and gusto of a child being set free on the upper level of FAO Schwarz. He always felt as though he were getting away with something - as if he stealthily figured out a way to go to work from an immaculately decorated and maintained room that required no effort on his part.

Whenever he travelled, Otis always elected to spend the night enjoying the intimacy of a local gem in a charismatic district far removed from the predictable, intoxicating drama and attention seeking screens of Times Square. Don't get him wrong, he has never shied away from 42nd Street indulgence or exploration, but he revelled in stealing away to something unexpected each time he visited the city.

He always strove to engage in a visit or two while in town, with his twin sister or his college buddies. He was endlessly perplexed by the grumblings of his friends who resented having to board yet another jet to perform the latest financial rescue efforts or marketing wizardries that, they argue, could be just as effectively orchestrated from their comfortable office chair where they could multitask in peace. Otis was the type who thrived on travel of any kind, even to a city in which he had lived for many years, and even if it was for reasons of a corporate nature. He figured he had to get up and go to work on any given day regardless... why not embrace the opportunity to do it in a novel, vibrant environment. Perhaps it was because he was still lusciously green in the capricious world of employment at the executive level, but he just loved being asked to board a jet as part of his job.

As he inhaled deeply looking up at the carnation-hued curtains, another employee caught his eye. And so on this day he also resolved to never again complain about a less than attractive assignment he might be given, considering the tasks that some people have to undertake in a day. He shivered at the precarious position of the man in the blue shirt and pants, and proceeded towards the hotel lobby.

Finally enjoying the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Festival

January 2012

As I was meandering in and around the pristine white special event tents and contrastingly colourful attire of festival visitors, I knew I was going to be blogging about it later. I took various intentionally representational photographs showing the layout of the wine and food stations, capturing snapshots of the effervescent people who were attending, and attempting to showcase the heated passion behind the icy craft...

But this picture, strangely enough, emerged as my favourite. I say "strangely" because it was staged. But I still like it. It's not because of who owns that hand and corresponding lips that I know will once again press against that glass... although that is part of it...

I love how the glass reflects the brightness of a much welcomed fresh winter day, how the subject is set apart from a background of eclectic Queen Street shops, how the festival logo etching is just a little bit visible on its bowl,  and especially how the ruddy complexion of the icewine that slides along the interior of the glass makes my mouth water. When I look at it now, I can practically taste its bold, luxuriant flavour, its unapologetic sweetness... I can feel its dense smoothness coating my tongue and arousing my tastebuds...

For on this day, the "liquid gold" being poured into all the coolest open-air glasses completely won me over: I had tried icewine once or twice over the years, and I always felt disappointed that I wasn't swept up under its spell as so many of its aficionados were. Perhaps, the past, I was sipping the wrong concoction for my palate. Perhaps I was trying too hard.

On this day, I was elated to be out in the fresh Niagara air, enthusiastically enjoying the offerings from several participating wineries - some I knew well and some I'd never tasted before. In fact, I think it was the cold winter air that prepared my tastebuds and enhanced my sampling experience... perhaps the ideal appetizer for such a sumptuous treat!

Brooklyn Bridge, NYC

One of my favourite scenes in the original Sex and the City movie takes place towards the end: Miranda is walking on the Brooklyn Bridge hoping to see her one-time unfaithful husband and love of her life, Steve, walking towards her. Those recognisable double arches stretch up into the blue sky and the sun is shining down through the cool spring air onto all the pedestrians. As Al Green and Joss Stone sing about mending a broken heart, Miranda spots Steve and their feet can't bring them together quickly enough because this union signals an unspoken agreement to let go of their past hurts and move forward together in love. Every time I watch it, I think how poetically it combines everything that I love about New York City: the urban lifestyle, the stylish people, that brilliantly written tv series, and the familiar architecture that I love to explore.

I think walking that familiar bridge is the last untouched line on my New York City To Do List. I've scurried up and down Manhattan's avenues and streets like a little mouse, shamelessly playing tourist on five separate, dynamic occasions, albeit for a day at a time! I've photographed my reflection in the exterior window of the Empire State Building, reflected on the calm after the 9-11 storm at the World Trade Centre Memorial, and became swept away in a sea of people amongst Times Square's towers of neon and pixels. Yes, I heart New York. But I still haven't really seen the Brooklyn Bridge.

That explains why I am supplementing this post with a substandard image of that famous span. I realise it doesn't truly do it justice. I didn't really even have a whole lot of control over how it came out being that I shot it while sitting aboard a CitySightsNY double decker tour bus! Even though the main aim of that particular visit was to photograph the bridge while standing somewhere between Brooklyn and Manhattan, I figured I better take what I can get as we passed by. It's like taking a picture of a deer you spot while walking in the forest: take a picture as soon as you see it and then work on getting more refined as you move closer. That way, if it darts out of view, you'll at least have something to say you saw it...

Chilling after visiting the Icewine Festival

Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

January 22, 2012

I had been very clear on the fact that it was going to be a grown-up event, not the sort of festival that sells nests of cotton candy and welcomes little sock feet into inflatable castles. We were going to linger at portable wine bars, sample weird food, and talk to other adults. I reminded them several times that I could make arrangements for them to go somewhere and play. Despite the insistence of tedium, both of my boys declared they wanted to come along, just to see what it's like... perhaps also to demystify what makes an event a "grown-up event."

I think the mental preparation paid off because there wasn't much in the way of coat pulling or sibling infractions or vocal vexations. They were curious about all the different kinds of chili (because Mom only makes the one kind) and enthralled by the ice sculptures: impossibly smooth, frozen depictions of winery estates and cleanly chiselled text in letters of both blocks and scrolls.


As I watched their gloved, and later ungloved, hands slide along the flat, frozen surfaces of the sculptures, I pondered whether I had even mentioned to them that there would be such attractions. But given the ridiculously tepid January we'd been having, I decided that this one little nugget of interest might not even materialise! So it wound up being an unexpected highlight for them - a quiet study in textures and temperatures and talent.


After enjoying the tented alfresco bistros, we made our way to Simcoe Park, my ten-year-old with his portable chess board slung over his right shoulder. It was his idea to bring it along in hopes that we might be able to play it somewhere. I had originally envisioned that being the distraction that would allow us adults to peruse the icewine bars, but as it turned out, we all settled into the shelter of the park's wooden bandshell and had ourselves a little tournament! It was the perfect arrangement: playing chess outdoors in the winter sunshine, breathing in fresh, brisk air, sipping Balzac's rich hot chocolate... with no mention from anybody of any desire to be somewhere else...

Chicago's Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa

(A little summer fun for all of my heat seeking comrades out there!)

A colleague of mine was in Chicago recently on business, and this prompted discussion about some of the aspects of this dynamic city amongst a couple of us who had been there. There was mention of the mesmerising sculpture Cloud Gate (see my entry made August 5, 2010) and the brilliant bandshell Jay Pritzker Pavillion (my entry of August 21, 2010). And how about those two towering video screens that displayed people's facial expressions and periodically spewed water out onto those frolicking about on the splashpad.

This prompted me to revisit the pictures from my trip back in the summer of 2010. Upon reviewing the meagre imagery that I shot at this location, I am disappointed that I didn't shoot more... more faces, more activity... from varying angles and heights. But then I recall that it was absolutely sweltering on this July day, and the city devouring and museum absorbing events that preceded visiting this locale were extreme both in energy expediture and in geographical coverage. At this point, it took everything I could muster just to raise my camera to my eye!

Still photography doesn't really do this creation justice: these faces aren't static images, they are video clips which actually portray random likenesses of local Chicagoans (nearly a thousand of them, as I've learned). Imagine knowing your neighbour or your buddy could appear on that big screen at any time! And it gets even better: some of the images portray people pursing their lips which coincides with the eruption of water from fountains installed inside... imagine a kid being able to see a 50 foot tall video of his face spitting water out onto all the people playing there!!! This sort of thing doesn't just happen in any city, folks...

Dufferin Islands in Niagara Falls

January 2011

On a fresh, January afternoon last year, we went to Dufferin Islands with a peanut bottle filled with birdseed, a thermos filled with hot chocolate, and cameras filled with... available SD card space? (not quite as romantic as film, is it?) But we were prepared. I admit I was a little skeptical towards claims that birds would trust us enough to land on our mittens, but on such a bright, frosted day I really didn't want to be anywhere else.

My son trudged along the feathery path that must have seemed endless to him in the sea of whiteness. I am somewhat disappointed that my kids don't exhibit the enthusiasm and energy to play in the snow that I did when I was their age. In their defence, you can't really get into the allure of a polar climate around here. It's a pretty fleeting concept... illustrated by the fact that this weekend's offering is the most it's felt like winter since winter's exit last year!! Growing up in Labrador, Newfoundland, we knew what to expect temperature-wise and precipitation-wise, and we never had to wonder what form our precipitation would take. It was dependable. Once we were in the sub-zero groove, we were ready for it, and could adjust accordingly. We would go out, properly dressed to shield our tender skin from the biting cold, and play until lunch... or supper, depending on which quadrant of the day it was. I suppose I must have complained at the weather at one time or another, but it wasn't the norm. And I don't remember it being difficult to find something to do. We just allowed ourselves and our imagination to be swept up in winter's magical metamorphosis. We trusted it.

My kids have become victim to the information age taunting them with the next big technological wonder. Instead of marvelling at the glimmering uniqueness of a single snowflake, they marvel at the flickering possibilities of a single pixel. I'm not saying it's anyone's fault, it's just evolution... and it's happening to everyone, not just children. But I know this: I remember my childhood. I wonder how much today's children will remember of theirs... will they be able to discern what was real as opposed to what happened virtually? Will they hold specific experiences close to their heart or will it all meld together?

It is because of our synthetic world and its pull to keep my kids indoors when it's cold out that I seize any opportunity to expose them to special moments in the snow. It only took a few moments of patience and a still, flat, mitted palm to entice a nuthatch to perch for a snack. This wasn't a staged event or a trained creature; it was real and magical and awesome... it induced awe in my son... so much so that he still talks about that afternoon when the birds ate seeds from his hand.