Hiking in the GTA - Vivian – Ghost Towns Of The GTA

I know a house in Ballantrae, Ontario, which must have been built by the same people who built this one, that house is an old shop just at the corner on Vivian. I used to live in Ballantrae but I've never been inside that house, or even closer than looking from the street. I wanted to. This house is a local treasure, to me at least. I found it on a card sold via Etsy today. It doesn't seem to say who the artist is, might be easier to see on a larger size. Or, I could ask the Real Estate Board. But, mainly, I like seeing the house drawn as it is now. Who knows how it will be in the future. Nothing lasts forever, but houses aren't always so lucky with being maintained. I hope this one stays lucky a long time.

Update about the image: I had a link to vintage cards produced by the York Region Real Estate Board for sale on Etsy. They featured a print of a hand-drawn sketch of buildings located in Ontario. The link is not working now, the shop is closed and I found the York Region Real Estate Board merged with Toronto and is no more. If I can find the image I made as a screenshot I will post it. Until then, I found a post from Hiking in the GTA about the other house, up the street.

Vintage Cards of Ontario Buildings Blank Interior With | Etsy Canada Keeping the link in case its useful in finding the image again.

As a reader (and keeper of books) one thing I especially like are bookends. I have some standard black wire bookends which do the job of keeping my books from falling over. But, they just do the job, nothing more. I prefer bookends with some drama, some personality and some mystery even. Sometimes I like a romantic style, sometimes architecture catches my eye and I have bookends which are not really bookends but chunks of rock and stone from old buildings.

Whatever bookends attract you they still need to be functional. The purpose of bookends is not to pose fashionable at the end of a row of books. Bookends need to hold up your books, keep them from falling over on bookshelves and then slipping and slopping their way onto the floor. Bookends are great.

I have a lovely bookshelf but... the sides were not designed with the idea of keeping books in place. The sides are left open and my books fall through if I don't use bookends to hold them in place. I also use this for my very small collection of video games and my even smaller collection of movies on DVDs. So, bookends aren't just for books and book readers.

Gargoyles Would Look Great on my Bookshelves

Don't those gargoyles look great. Sitting there, quiet, still and supposedly made of rock with rock for brains too. However, I suspect when you head off to work, school, or whatever it is you do with your day, the gargoyles will read your books. I hope you pick something good for them to read. Change around the books they hold too. You don't want to leave them with nothing new to read.

You don't need to leave your gargoyles milk and cookies, that would be silly. You're just thinking of Santa. But, a well placed bookmark would be a great idea to keep them from turning down pages to mark their place in your book.

Does a dragon count as a gargoyle? I think so. Dragons have been seen on the sides of buildings among the other odder looking gargoyles. I wonder if they all have their books tucked away up there, hidden from public view?

Gargoyle Girl, is/was a site by Gigi Pandian. It's still online but no longer updated.

I can remember a farm house here in Ontario with a tall light post covering most of the house, sheds, and barn area - still working. Somehow, long after the rest of the property was far into decay and ruin. Were lightbulbs just made so much better long ago? I'd be surprised if the power were still on, but it must have been. I don't think of it as some ghost story, just vestigial architecture. I thought it was a good phrase to remember.

Vestigial architecture works better than Thomassons.

I was fascinated by this recent podcast and article over at 99% Invisible about “Thomassons,” architectural elements on structures or properties that no longer have a function and yet are maintained. These architectural leftovers–stairways leading to nowhere, boarded-up or bricked-up windows, telephone poles that no longer carry lines–are named after Gary Thomasson, an American baseball player who played for the Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo, Japan in the early 1980s. Thomasson was paid exorbitant amount of money for a two year contract, but lost his game in Tokyo and was benched for much of his contract (i.e. he had no function, but was maintained…ouch).

via Rustbelt Anthro. Thomassons: Vestigial Architecture