princess house

it is snowing leaves of gold the wind shaking them loose as they flutter down in front of the pale pink house full of slow shadows and faded doubts
the mesh-veil framed around the porch held up by dark pink columns muffles the light and mutes inconsequential secrets pulled back into the dark hallway
a hand quivers behind the drapes blinded by the inaction of certain grey days running damp and dirty down princess avenue of the unroyal house and home
continues up the warped stairs to sit in dusky rooms and lie a while on the saddled bed of mechanical emotions rolling over onto the final broken sacrament

strathcona:: tree shadows

On this first warm sunny day of spring [finally!] I went in search of some fitfully artful tree shadows - and other ephemeral exuberances...

Zig-zagging through the old Strathcona neighbourhood on my bike, the flower buds were literally popping open by the minute in the bright sunshine and the abstract sillhouettes of the still leafless tree branches shifted coyly with the sun - a profusion of intricate skiagrams on textured walls and painted surfaces, animating the quaintly charming houses on these most tranquil of inner city streets...

The ethereal blue dome of the Russian Orthodox church on Campbell Street merges with a clear blue sky through a veil of darkly lacing branches and a cascade of fresh spring foliage...

The first blossoms burst into bloom on this old cherry tree and the soft pink petals riff off the fading pink portico of this building on Keefer Street...

strathcona corners:: round one

good to know that we can renew our luck - or get lucky again - in this one particular room, for rent [I presume!] in the Strathcona neighbourhood just east of Chinatown...

the ethnic mix here has shifted from immigrant italians early on to chinese workers to artists, mostly white, to determined home renovators and staunch heritage buffs, also mostly white...

still, many cool old houses from the turn of the 20th century remain, albeit in various states of redressing, making for an interesting residential pocket in the downtown eastside that is easy to miss buffeted as it is by the industrial edges of Clark Drive, the messy distractions of East Hastings Street, and the bright lights of Chinatown...

during a recent culture crawl event that encouraged the opening up of artists' studios/homes to curious outsiders, I wandered around briefly mostly looking in, but plan to return for more photos when the streets are less lively...

 [this was taken in the summer when visiting a friend staying here in this truly haunted house!]