Monthly Archives: March 2010

Origami 101

 

Dior Haute Couture photo courtesy of: my.opera.com/ mystyle/blog/ch

 

This breathtaking creation was part of John Galliano’s Spring/Summer 2007 haute couture collection for Christian Dior. It’s also a perfect example of how origami can be an incredible medium for artistic expression. Children love it, and it provides an excellent way to develop their fine motor skills, patience, sequential learning and attention to detail. It requires understanding some basic terminology and symbols, and after that, it’s about practice, precision and patience. Children find it incredibly rewarding once they have understood the basics. They easily memorize instructions to simpler designs, and need nothing more than some beautiful paper to execute them and impress those around them. For years, I have carried origami paper in my purse to rescue children from the boredom of lineups and restaurants. My children have literally left a paper trail.

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Stepping Back In Time

Ontario Specialty Co.

I grew up in a small town that actually had a general store. While this may conjure up images of one room schoolhouses and Laura Ingalls, I promise you it wasn’t that long ago, and I did not call my parents Ma and Pa. The shop pictured above, however, is exactly what it reminded me of.  It’s on Church Street in Toronto and has been around since 1939; the interior seems to confirm that.

It’s a gem of a store and when you enter, it really does feel like you’re stepping back in time. It’s a great place to take your kids for a visit and show them what kind of toys used to be popular. There are lots of wind up toys, a serious collection of sunglasses, as well as a nice selection of faux vomit and plastic poo. I have no problem fessing up to the fact that I owned at least one of those at some point in my life, and yes, it brought me great joy.

Be warned, you might end up hearing things like: “It winds up and moves forward? That’s it? No laser? I can’t connect with it?” Welcome to the past.

If you want to teach the young’uns about general stores, it’s all here: http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/genstore.html

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Filed under Misc, Shops