Birkdale Park Clean Up

Today we participated in "Clean Toronto Together" at Birkdale Park.

We decided to focus on the playground area.

We picked up plastic bags, cups, bottles, bottle caps, and cigarette butts.

 I like these little blue flowers that come out in the Spring. I don't know what they are called.

Here is a close up.

There was a daffodil close to the blue flowers.

After the clean up we went to the raffle and we met Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker.
He is the Toronto City Councillor for Scarborough Centre. He told us all about the Community Movie Nights.
He's a cool guy.

Happy Earth Day!

Today, Mom and I joined the Scarborough Town Centre Earth Day Clean Up.
There were a lot of people there but only a few kids. We all worked together to clean up around the Town Centre.

Mom took a couple of pictures of me.

There are more clean ups happening this weekend all around Toronto.
Here is a link to information about "Clean Toronto Together" from April 25 - 27, 2014.

Video of "The Travelling Cellist"

I knew the Toronto Public Library was planning on making a video from "The Travelling Cellist" performances.
I found it on youtube! :-)

When I am at performances I focus on the music and who is playing. I don't normally notice the people around me. The video is different because it looks at the people who were around too.

This version of Albinoni's Adagio was arranged by Ed Hayes and the soundtrack is by Igor Gefter.

Each of the cellists played it slightly differently but all of the performances of Albinoni's Adagio were wonderful.

Here are links to my blog posts about "The Travelling Cellist".

• "The Travelling Cellist" at Fairview Mall
• "The Travelling Cellist" at Gibson House
• "The Travelling Cellist" at St. Lawrence Market
• "The Travelling Cellist" at Malvern Library
• "The Travelling Cellist" at Harbord Bakery
• "The Travelling Cellist" at Scarborough Civic Centre

Walk to Courthouse Square

Yesterday, Dad and I went to Mackenzie House so we could go on their guided walk to Courthouse Square.

There is a memorial outside Mackenzie House which commemorates Peter Matthews, Samuel Lount and all of the men and women who fought for political freedom and responsible government in Canada.

William Lyon Mackenzie was the 1st Mayor of Toronto and he was a leader of the 1837 Rebellion for responsible government. He fled Canada to escape being captured after the rebellion. There was a bounty of £1,000 when he was on the run. He moved back to Canada with his family in 1850 after he was pardoned by Queen Victoria.

We did a quick stop at St. Michael's Cathedral. By the time Mackenzie came back to Canada for a short while in 1849 there was an increasing number of Catholics in Toronto.

When Mackenzie left Canada there were a total of 2,000 people in Toronto but when he came back there were 15,000!

We walked passed Massey Hall.

We stopped outside The Eaton Centre. Before The Eaton Centre was there, that area had a lot of residences. Mackenzie and his son stayed at the the MacIntosh Residence in 1849 when they came back.

People rioted!

They threw rocks through windows and burned an effigy of Mackenzie outside the house!
They blamed Mackenzie for the 1837 rebellion and they were upset that he escaped punishment.

St. Michael's hospital stands on where George Brown's House used to be. George Brown was a good businessman and a journalist. George Brown ran the Toronto Globe (which is now the Globe and Mail). Mackenzie was a good journalist but not so good at business. But, Mackenzie beat out George Brown for a seat in Parliament in 1851.

Beside Courthouse Square there was a jail where the captured rebels were kept. Peter Matthews and Samuel Lount were executed for High Treason even though they didn't cause any bloodshed. People didn't think they would actually be executed.

Even though there was a population of only 2,000 people in the city, 10,000 people were in the square to watch the execution!

At the site of the old jail they have this plaque.

After the rebellion Samuel Lount almost managed to escape capture. He was in a boat and able to see the Pennsylvania coast when the wind suddenly changed and blew him back to Canada. A farmer caught him and claimed the bounty of £500.

Bruce Beaton played the role of Samuel Lount. He explained what Lount must have been thinking as he faced execution. Lount wouldn't get to see his children grow up to become the great adults he knew they would be and his wife would miss him dearly.

Samuel Lount faced his execution bravely.
Sheriff Jarvis, who led him to the gallows, cried.

Bruce Beaton also played the part of Solicitor Robert Baldwin. He told Lount and Matthews to plead guilty because he expected leniency. He felt terrible about what happened.

There is a monument to Peter Matthews and Samuel Lount in the Toronto Necropolis.



Here are links to my other blog posts about Mackenzie House where I talk about the Rebellion, Lount and Matthews:
http://joshdlee.blogspot.ca/2013/05/mackenzie-house.html
http://joshdlee.blogspot.ca/2013/11/halloween-at-mackenzie-house.html

"The Travelling Cellist" at Fairview Mall

Today Dad and I went to Fairview Mall to see "The Travelling Cellist".

It's the last one I will get to see, but there is one more performance tomorrow at Albion Library.

David Hetherington performed Albinoni's Adagio at Fairview Mall. It was noisy but I could clearly hear his playing. He is an amazing cellist!

Here are some pictures from today.

I loved the arrangement of Albinoni's Adagio by Ed Hayes and I loved all of the performances that I saw.

Even though Mom wouldn't let me read the book, "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway, I really loved going to see "The Travelling Cellist". I'm definitely going to read it when I'm older and I will remember these performances.

Here are the links to the other blog posts that I did about "The Travelling Cellist"

• "The Travelling Cellist" at Scarborough Civic Centre
• "The Travelling Cellist" at Harbord Bakery
• "The Travelling Cellist" at Malvern Library
• "The Travelling Cellist" at St. Lawrence Market
• "The Travelling Cellist" at Gibson House

And here is a link to the Toronto Public Library's website about "The Travelling Cellist"
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ktr/the-travelling-cellist.jsp

"The Travelling Cellist" at Gibson House

 This evening Mom and I went to Gibson House to see "The Travelling Cellist". The last time we went to Gibson House was in October 2013.

We looked around the house before the cellist came.
We forgot the camera but we still took some pictures with Mom's phone.

We started off in the kitchen. They had the fire going and it was nice and warm in there.
There were board games set up for games night which is the first Thursday of each month.

We peeked inside David Gibson's office.

This box and this table were close to the square piano in the parlour. They are both very interesting.

We went back into the kitchen before heading upstairs.

I couldn't help noticing the toys on the ground.
Can you believe that 4 boys shared one bedroom. There were 2 beds and 2 boys would sleep in each bed!

This room was the sewing room and the hired girl's room.

I was interested in the clock on the fire place in the parlour.

When it was almost time for the cellist to come, we were happily surprised that it was going to be Joseph Johnson, the Principal Cellist of the TSO. I've seen him play Albinoni's Adagio two times already (at Harbord Bakery and at St. Lawrence Market).

Of the 3 locations I've seen him perform, I think this was the best!
The room the smallest and it was nice and quiet. He played it differently as well. He didn't use pizzicato but instead played out the notes.

I like this photo because you can see a picture of David Gibson over Joseph Johnson's left shoulder.  

I've really grown to love the cello. :-) 

You can still get to see "The Travelling Cellist" in different locations across Toronto until April 7th.
Here's a link with more information:
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ktr/the-travelling-cellist.jsp