Month: December 2003

Civic Art



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Four Portraits in Kingston City Hall.

Click on image for larger scale, details on alt tag.

Not only is the building itself a work of art, but City Hall has a collection of around thirty or so portraits of past civic leaders of the City. The upper left of John Counter is interesting for a bunch of reasons, one of which is the form of the chain of office – a simple metal chain. Over the second half of the 1800s the chain gets medals added and transforms into gold. In the earliest state, the chain is only a symbol of obligation.

My understanding of the history of Kingston is limited but it appears that the City, like Halifax, was under military government to a certain point, then civil. The City celebrated its 325 anniversary of settlement in 2003 but only about 160 years of civil goverment.

Nice Buildings I Like: II and III

kingstoncathDouble domed because they could

In the second of a continuing series, I appear to be working out issues I have with domed buildings. This is the head of the Anglican Church in Ontario which sits a couple blocks west of work. There are two parts to it each under its own dome and the foreground one facing King Street East has a dandy smaller dome – verging on cupola – whose gold on black clock faces are quite the thing.

kingbajus210 years of brewing and office rentals

Another great building is down by my parking lot on Wellington, north-east of work. This was a brewery – apparently second oldest in Canada according to a picture at the Kingston Brew Pub. The brewery as a company started in 1794 but there was a move back from the street when the public road when through so these buildings are more in the 150 year old area. You can see the tower used in high fallootin’ industrial production of ale in the later end of the 1800’s as it was easier to lift all the ingredients up at the start of production and move them down through mashing, sparging, fermenting, casking, etc.

New Reads?

For 2004, I know I need some new blogs to read. Right now my reads generally and quite happily fall into these categories:

  • People I have met or know people I have met;
  • People who are yapping about blogs and how they are the future and will have us all eating food from tubes someday undefined but surely soon;
  • People with a connection to Kingston, Atlantic Canada or Scotland;
  • People who have linked to me;
  • People talking about food and drink.

I know I do not want to read blogs mainly about my job – law – as the lawyers who write blogs mainly about law tend to be the lawyers you drift away from at gatherings of lawyers. I do not want to read blogs about US politics as they have that thick veneer about “liberal” and “right” that defies either comprehension or perhaps only extra-territorial translation. Are there gems out there based on other themes? I am really pleased how Switching to Glide has begun to develop from an idea – are there other music based group blogs, for example?

And how do you find new reading?