Tuesday 27 May 2014

Opening Day at the Sculpture Garden


Last Sunday, May 25, I went to the opening of the Second Annual Sculpture Garden exhibit at the Skelly Gallery in St. Eugene, Ontario. One of the first works of art I saw was this fabulous snake by my friend Holly Kelleher. It was wound around a tree a looked very biblical.


The face was great - lots of personality. Holly made him using recycled plastic bags and chicken wire. Isn't he wonderful?


Next, I saw a totem pole. This piece was begun by an artist named Joann Brown who, unfortunately, died several years ago. The sculpture was completed by another artist, my friend Lis Skelly. It is a lovely story and a beautiful piece.


Up the hill from the totem, this beautiful sculpture by my deceased husband, Peter MacElwain, sits in a great spot, practically right in the middle of the sculpture garden. The piece is called "Homage". I took a picture of my friend, artist and fellow-blogger Ronna sitting on the Homage.


Following the path, one comes across this fun piece by Susan Jephcott among the trees.


Here is the other side of Susan's piece.


At the farthest point in the walk around the sculpture garden, this celestial piece, by Philippa Lesniak, is perched high up on a very tall tree trunk.


On the walk back, I discovered two wonderful little sculptures hanging in a tree. This was one of them......


...and this is the other. They were made by 2 artists called Two Barn Owls. I loved these pieces - they were so whimsical.


This piece by Adele Reeves is especially interesting because the heads turn on the poles and can be rearranged to face in different ways. Also, there are holes in the top with those peephole things that are put in apartment doors so one can see who is at the door (they probably have a name but I don't know what it is). So you can look through the peepholes in the heads and view the other sculptures in the garden.


Almost at the end of my walk, I enjoyed this beautiful tile water-fountain fish by my friend, Dody Dines.


This piece hangs on the outside wall of the Skelly Gallery. Isn't it great?

The Sculpture Garden is really worth a visit and will run all spring and summer until Friday, October 31st 2014. 

Monday 26 May 2014

Strange Light in the Sky


The other evening, as I was driving along the road to my home in the country, I saw this strange light phenomenon in the distance. I came to a screeching halt, jumped out of my car, and took some pictures.


I guess it was some sort of rainbow effect, but it looked like a pillar of light against the blue-grey clouds. Quite amazing - and beautiful!

Monday 12 May 2014

Visiting a Mayan Village


Back in mid-March, I went on a trip to the Mayan peninsula of Mexico. I posted some pictures from my trip in an earlier post, so I thought I would show more photos from this wonderful trip. These were taken when my sister and I went on a guided visit to a Mayan village. This is one of the homes we visited. It was very simple - only a few rooms inside and no electricity or running water.


We were welcomed to the village by this man - who was the head, or chief - and his wife. We were told how many children they had and it was a very large number - more than a dozen (I have forgotten now). I guess no birth control.


The Mayan are not a very tall people. In this picture they are standing beside our guide, who was himself not a tall man - about as tall as I am.


The village comprised about a dozen houses, all made of wood with thatch roofs. We did not visit them all but we walked around the village and looked at how it was laid out. It was much like any small village anywhere.


We were invited inside this home and our guide talked to these two women, who were cooking food. No stove - just a charcoal fire. They invited us to eat with them but our guide explained that we had already had lunch earlier.


Outside the house there were a number of beautifully-coloured birds in cages, including this one. There was also a pet monkey but he was too fast for me and I couldn't get a good picture of him. 


When we left the village, these children came to say goodbye. Aren't they beautiful?