Loulou Downtown

Thanking Strangers from the Past for Pleasures of Today

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Loulou

I can take no credit for the gorgeous lilac tree that grows beside our home. It is two stories tall and right now there are thousands of blossoms on it. It is spectacular.

It would have been planted about 30 years ago and by the looks of things it was never pruned, so just kept right on growing. All I did when we moved in a decade ago was cut out the dead wood, and now I just trim the bits that hang down over our walking path every year.

Did you know that lilacs are trees and not bushes? I didn’t know this before meeting this one. They are in the olive family and there are actually 20 to 25 different specimens of Lilac. Ours is one that doesn’t smell very strongly and I’m actually happy about that because with so many blooms, it would have been overwhelming if they smelled as strongly as do the more common ‘French’ lilac. The flowers we get are more delicate and fragile looking and very lightly scented.

Every year when it blooms I think of the person who planted this tree all those years ago, and send them I little thought of thanks. Not only did they plant the lilac, but beside it is a magnificent forsythia ‘tree’ that blooms with a fiery yellow earlier, in April. And that’s not all this thoughtful gardener did. They also planted a hibiscus tree beside those, which blooms profusely with purple flowers in late summer and into the fall.

While these trees are beautiful seen from the outside, the long-ago planter also had the foresight to consider what they would be like from inside the home, as they planted them within view of our favourite window on the second floor. We both spend plenty of time gazing out this window, and right now my gaze lands upon a sea of pastel pink flowers.

This person must have planted these three flowering trees with the goal of having flowers out there throughout the growing season, although it would be years until the young plants would be large enough to really flower well. What they would have had was the work involved with getting three small saplings to grow, tending and watering them while they became established. Really, they were doing it for someone off in the distant future. Me.

I am so grateful to the long-ago gardener, that I may reap the fruits of their labour today.

Here are the cuttings I had to take this year, in order for us to be able to walk by the tree. I haphazardly arranged them in an old vase that I was given years ago by vintage dealers, from whom I was buying a set of dishes. The vase was already old when I got it and I usually keep it safely tucked into a glass-doored cabinet (along with the same dishes I was buying back then). The people who gave it to me were the very first to introduce me to the beauty of vintage housewares, as when I first moved downtown as a single girl beginning to make my way in the world, their shop became a real favourite place to go. (Anybody remember the shop ‘Red Indian’ on Queen Street West?) They would let me take my time looking at every perfectly curated treasure-from-the-past, as though I was visiting a museum. The vase is McCoy pottery and I remember when they presented it, they told me it was ‘the real McCoy’. I’m sure that’s not where that saying comes from but I’ve always called this vase my real McCoy.

Thanks for taking a look. Wishing you a happy Thursday.
xo loulou

Posted in Home style, Plants and Garden | 10 Comments

Out to a Neat Show and What I Wore

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Loulou

On Friday night we went to a cool show in which our friend and drummer, Chops (Niall Mellors), was playing with a singer called Patrizia. It was held at The Mod Club and was something very different and interesting.

Patrizia is an accomplished 4-octive soprano singer, whose mission it is to “make classical music more mainstream and rid it of its elitist status by mixing it with other genres and updating it to relate to everyday people.” She sings beautifully and opera-like while being backed by a really rocking band, including our pal on drums.

Chops is an extra talented drummer because he can play to a click-track, which makes the music perfectly timed so other musicians can join in, like the strings at this show. They learned the sheet-music on their own and then just had to rehearse a bit with Patrizia and the band. That’s why he has earphones on, so he can hear the click and set the tempo.

Not only was this show a treat for the ears, it was also quite amazing to watch. Joining her usual band, was a four-piece string section, plus a wonderful aerialist, Katelyn McCulloch of No Parachute Theatre, performing on silk ribbons suspended from the ceiling of the venue. Also there was a stunning pole-dance done by Ontario champion, Kiran Friesen.

I have always loved (and wish I was capable of) acrobatics of any kind, so was totally enthralled by this added bonus. In fact, I can’t recall ever actually seeing Silks or Pole-Dancing performed in person, except at Cirque du Soleil, but there I was far away. It was great to see these dances done from such a close vantage point and both were extraordinary and quite thrilling.

I laughed when I looked at these pictures of Nick at the bar (in the blue checked shirt), which I took in very close succession. I didn’t notice that fast moving man at the time!

Here’s a dark pixilated one of me at the venue.

After it was over we felt like all we could say was wow, and good for Chops for becoming involved with this excellent show that suits his style perfectly.

Here’s what I wore on this rainy and humid evening. My boots were made for walking ’cause that’s just what they did.

[Blouse: Zac & Rachel. It came with the black camisole underneath. Jeans: One 5 One. Bracelet and purse: Vintage from ebay. Nail polish: Big Apple Red by Sally Hansen New Lengths]

It was a weekend filled with being entertained by talented friends, because the next night we went out again, so see a comedy show starring another friend. I’ll have a post up about that one soon.

Thanks for dropping by.
xo loulou

Posted in Clothing and Accessories, Out at Night | 11 Comments

Bits and Pieces : May 2013

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Loulou

Hello. Here are the shots that I’ve taken during the previous month that I liked but that didn’t find a home within any other post.

( 1) A pink African Violet. I grabbed this little plant from the deep-discount section at the grocery store. It had no flowers on it at the time, which is probably why it was on sale for a mere 75 cents. But I was curious to know what colour the flowers would be so I brought her home. Within a few days she revealed pink buds which quickly opened into flowers. Then went on to flower cheerfully for a good three weeks. I already have a white one and a purple one, so Pinky here adds nicely to my plant table.

( 2) Glass Buildings. Here’s a shot I took at the corner of King Street and University Avenue. I used to work on this corner at one of my very first big-girl jobs, however the building I was in was behind me when I took the picture. If you like glass skyscrapers this is a very beautiful corner of the city.

( 3) Self portrait in a three-way mirror. Yes, I brought my camera into the washroom for this picture! It looks like it could be two pictures side-by-side but it is only one shot. My challenge was moving the sides of the mirror so that my camera would be hidden when I got the picture. There were quite a few out-takes from this particular photo session.

( 4) Man on Bike. This man used to ride an electric scooter around the neighbourhood but I see he has changed to a pedal bike now.

( 5) Hosta Unfurling. This is the only surviving hosta in my garden. It’s a big one that reliably shows up every year. While I like to take photos of things that grow in my garden, I only show you the successes and let me assure you there have been many fails. Such as all the other types of hostas I have planted over the years. We have a lot of shade and this type of plant is supposed to do well in shade, but this is the only one that agreed with that premise. Nowadays, I rarely plant anything new into the garden and just let what has survived, without any extra watering except during really dry spells, come up. Because really, planting things that will not survive is just like planting money into the ground, and I am just too frugal for that action! Instead I stick to planting an herb garden, and a few vegetables and annual flowers in pots, where I can much better control their growing conditions. That said, I did transplant my potted Thyme plant right into the ground last fall, and surprisingly it is now growing. It’s not great, but it did survive the winter. Oh oh, there I got talking too much about plants!

( 6) Bentley. I spotted this Bentley parked down the street the other day. I believe it is only the second one I’ve ever been able to take a good look at (without getting too close and sounding any alarms!), the other being this much older but perfectly kept one I saw last summer. This car looked to be brand new and was quite beautiful, but at a price tag of about $200,000 it should be, right?

( 7) Fallen Petals. Here are some flowers from our Forsythia tree that have fallen onto the bench Nick found once. This has to have been our best sidewalk pick-up find ever! See some other finds and read the story about this bench here.

( 8) Food Truck. There are not many food trucks around town, as there is some type of law that only hot-dog carts are allowed, which can be found all over. I think it’s because it’s easier to keep hot-dogs safe to eat, while out there on the street. That said, I did see this truck that sold burgers down by city hall, if you’re hungry.

( 9 and 10) Ok, this massive Chestnut tree in flower nearly got it’s own post, as I think it’s quite spectacular and I did take quite a number of pictures of it. I was just taken aback by it’s gnarly beauty. I have included two shots of it here so you can see its crest. All that is just one tree. I can’t say how old it is, but it must be quite ancient because a good 7 years ago a Chestnut tree randomly began growing in our yard. A nut must have been brought over by a visiting squirrel. Anyway, I left it where it sprouted and while it seems to be doing just fine, in all these years of growing, it’s still only about 3 feet tall. This one is ten times that.

Thank you very much for dropping over. Hope you’re having a great Monday.
xo loulou

Posted in Monthly Bits and Pieces | 9 Comments