Author: Helen Polishuk

Our Queen

Helen Polishuk Leave a comment

Cindy approaches the air flow from the air conditioner vent as if she wants to grab it.Her crooked tongue prevents her from opening her mouth, and she tries again and again to grab air with her nose.

Small constant convulsions of the face and head do not allow her to do this, she sneezes, raises her small head to meet the flow of wind again and again.

Here she is, such a tiny red bird, raising her head… not knowing what will happen to her in an hour… that she is like a ray of our sun, like a little bird she will fly away from us to the rainbow… she will feel better.

Her spasms and attacks will stop, she will not have to hide from the sounds that she has become afraid of, from the disease that has paralyzed her, her face, her tongue.

She stopped howling, barking and whining. The tumor squeezed her brain and she went numb. Only her suffering, painfully beloved by us eyes, which no longer cry, but bulge, the left eye is paralyzed, tears do not flow. She looks for a place with her thin beautiful paws to hide. This is how animals hide when they see that their life is coming to an end. She is no longer ill,only past three month.

For two more days she whined, howled and barked. Then suddenly she fell silent. The paralysis lasted almost a day, did not stop with medication. Doctors did not give good prognoses. She is 12 years old and this happened suddenly. In two months the disease took over and took her.

These were 12 happy years for us.

Thank you for being with us. We had such a good time, as we will never have again.
Thank you for leaving your sons Mimmi and Chaki.


Thank you for loving and being loved by Alex.

He will never have such a wonderful Cindy again.
You had such a beautiful life!
You had a very beautiful wedding!


You were like a bride in a blue dress. True, it was already a little small for you, but you managed to fit into it and marry Alex.


A year later, we brought a sambrero from Mexico, you got dressed and ran. Well, yes, you are from Mexico. Chihuahua.

Then the daily grind of life began, like every woman’s.
But first, why did Alex marry you?
When I brought you from Ukraine and you turned from a puppy into a young dog, you caused me a problem, you wanted to be a mother and we lay on my bed for 24 hours without food or sleep, you played pregnant and giving birth. And I suffered, pretending to help. I couldn’t go to the toilet or get distracted. Then I decided that I would bring you from Ukraine a small, smaller than you in weight, male chihuahua.
I fulfilled your request, the groom flew to you on LOT Airlines in the seat next to me across the ocean to meet life in paradise.

Yes, it was a happy 11 years of dog’s life. You lived together in our house, everything was yours – both the house and the yard. Until the end of your life, Alex, even when you growled and barked at him, licked you, your ears, neck and head. When he wanted to lie down next to you, and you were in a bad mood, you growled at him. Then Alex crawled to you with his back. We laughed.

It was a wonderful family, where we learned love and friendship, where a real dog family life reigned.

You, our tiny creatures, gave us joy every day. It was not hard for us with you, on the contrary, it was easy.

Together we managed our large household very well, now I can’t find a place for myself and the house, it turns out, was held up by you. Your boys look at me with your eyes. The house became clean and quiet in a second. So quiet, as I never wanted. After all, I always wanted our house to be full of noise, dogs barking and for the small family to live in it perfectly.

We are lived in a family of Chihuahua. You gave us a happy life.
You had a friend and a Mini in love with you. Unfortunately, he is with you this year in the spring on the rainbow.

You were friends.

Family life was ordinary and you was pregnant and I had to be your assistant. Without experience I tried to acquire it,I watched videos and read many books.

I helped you give birth, it lasted about 6 hours, we had three beautiful little tiny balls of hair puppies.Your first puppies.

They chewed all the furniture on the floor and gave us trouble, but we studied and enjoyed caring for you. I then thought of getting rich, breeding a lot of puppies from you and selling them. But ….Each birth – one dead or disabled, and there were only three births. Then I stopped my ideas, since in Toronto veterinarian services are expensive and your birth cost us a lot. Especially the second. Caesarean and dead puppies. The first birth, we sold two, and one, Bim, stayed with us, he had hydrocephalus and four years later he also died very quickly from sudden epileptic seizures.

I was very worried then, and you saw and understood everything, and decided to help me – you got pregnant, after a cesarean section and when I no longer dreamed of your puppies. You decided to give me a gift and we had three puppies.I remember that moment, I came to the veterinarian, a wonderful veterinarian, whom all of Toronto knew. This Polish doctor loved cats and dogs so much that all of Toronto was in his clinic. Great experience and strong love for him from people. I brought you, Cindy, to him to see how many babies you have and I collected money for your cesarean, because I was very afraid for your health and the health of the babies. The doctor smiled and reassured me – there are three puppies and she will give birth herself. She is a beast. She can do it. Don’t be afraid that there was a cesarean.

And you are great, you gave birth to three beautiful babies for us. Our last babies. As beautiful as you.

Mimmi, Chaki and one, as always with you, died, since in your breed, there is a hereditary.


You gave birth only boys, however, as I did.
And also, three. You and I, we never quarreled. You always understood me, and I you.

In our family, two babies appeared, who stayed and live to this day. One is your favorite, we call him ,,Doctor”. He treats us. He is small and looks a lot like you, only a boy. You loved him, washed him every morning, caressed him, took care of him.

Now your care has passed to me and it is difficult for me to cope, you did it easily. It is very quiet and empty here now. You knew how to manage your whole house without emotions. We open the door in the morning and your whole family quietly goes out for a walk in the yard, for a morning promenade, on the green grass.

And how did you manage to attract attention to yourself – I was working on the computer, drawing or writing a book upstairs, on the second floor. Downstairs, so that you wouldn’t run up the stairs, there were always boxes. So you barked once. Then you rammed these boxes. No matter how we strengthened them, no matter how tightly we closed the entrance. And on the second floor, on a small platform, your Mini, our little Doctor, would appear. Quietly, without words or emotions.

Your messenger. Now he lies next to me. And before he always warmed himself in your embrace, you never let him go. He was the third, between you and your Alex. And you always chose him, the Doctor. A small, tiny repetition of you.

The second is mischievous, circus, prankster and our favorite, Chaki, took your character and cheerful from you.

Today our home is empty. Chaki is going to his owner, now he will live in downtown. And the little Mimmi will remind us of you.

The last days, when you can not cope with the disease, you retreated, went limp. I carried you in my arms, we lay with you in the sun, you slept with me. I fed you from my hands, as it was becoming increasingly difficult for you to swallow.

Birds as always played near us and sang, crickets sounded in the air. Now the first days of August. You loved to bask in the sun these days, preparing yourself for the long and cold Canadian winter. And next to you lay your Mimmi and Chucky. Alex did not like to sunbathe, and rightly so, he has a skin disease from which he also does not live long, it is a dot, a vector growing, similar to a mole. Alex always liked to sleep on his back somewhere inside your soft corners. He loves to eat a lot, in recent years he has poor eyesight and poor hearing. We know that he has grown old, but we did not expect that you would leave him so quickly.

I remembered what a Queen you are. Our Queen is Cindy.

When you started having terrible epileptic seizures, constant, as if something terrible and black had entered you,similar to a black scary spirit, you fought bravely and fearlessly.

You was strong and you have a strong body. But the seizures ate your brain. The medicine stopped helping. You howled. And the black scary spirit took your voice and turned your tongue out. Closed, spasmed your throat, bulged your eyes out. There is a witch of dogs Hecate, yesterday I asked her to leave you with me, but she only did it for a few hours. Already in the morning your condition was very critical – spasmed throat, protruded tongue, constant seizures, did not take any drink or food.

I believe that you are now on the rainbow, where there are many of your relatives. Thank you for the happy time we lived together. I hope that you were happy with us too. You licked my face for two more days, lying with me on the veranda. You seemed to be getting better and I hoped every day that you would come out of this state, you will be cured and recover.

We are all grateful to you, our whole family, because you were our main one, you were the Queen.

Thank you.
You always greeted us joyfully. You danced in front of us, greeting us. This always put us in a good mood. We were always happy with you.
You skillfully raised the last two puppies. Mimmi is your joy and love. Chaki is your copy and your mind.

Now the house is empty. You was our center. However, as in our life – a woman is the center of the family. In the last days, when you were very ill, I carried you in my arms, you slept between attacks with me, covered with a diaper and grunted me pleasantly, as only you can do.

This will forever remain in my memory.
You, like a real chihvahva, ate only boiled chicken meat, as a real chihuahua should. And when we switched to dry food, you categorically refused. I had to go back to chicken. That’s why you lived for 12 long years without illnesses and problems.

I need to tell how you came to be in our house. It was in 2013. My son and I went to Ukraine, to Kyiv, for the first time in the summer, having survived two of the most difficult years for immigration. Before moving to Canada, we had a dog in Kyiv, her name was Diana and she died a month before our departure to Canada.

Therefore, when I arrived in Kyiv, on the first day off, my son and I went to the Kurenevsky market, where they sell dogs, we really wanted to get a new dog. Running around the rows, my son found a puppy similar to the previous dog and we gave a deposit, walked around the market. We stopped near an old plump woman who was sitting separately at a table and on the table stood a tiny trembling dog. I already thought that this creature would be very expensive, since it really was clear that she was purebred. The woman asked us what we were interested in and after listening, she showed her. This is Cindy, showed her passport and pedigree. And said that if we are interested, she will sell her to us cheaper, since she wants to make a gift for her husband’s birthday. She wants to sell this puppy and buy a gift for her husband with the money she gets. This Cindy was from a famous kennel for breeding Chihuahua. She had vaccinations and a passport.

So Cindy became our dog.

We brought this little happiness to Canada.

That year she appeared in our family and our family grew, our eldest son got married.

It was a very happy year and she was our joy.

Well, and when you, our Queen, wanted children, we brought Alex to you.

If you flew in the baggage compartment of the Russian airline TRANSAT, then the groom had excellent conditions. I remember the first time I saw your character. These were absolutely catastrophic demands of this company, but we had no choice, our tickets were bought, and this company served us, but their attitude towards transporting animals was terrible.

You was carried to the luggage compartment of the plane in a small plastic basket and only in Toronto, after 8 hours of flight, the officer brought you.Completely wrapped in tape, without the possibility of getting access to air. Why this was done. I still don’t know. You were a tiny puppy, only 4 months old, I poured you some food there, but there wasn’t enough water, only what I gave you before the flight. The basket was warm and I quickly began to open the window, scared that I had cooked you there.

And you jumped out of there, growling at me – why did you tape me up like that, why did you wall me up like that, I felt bad. How did you treat me! I was happy, kissed you, grabbed the basket and ran to the exit.

That’s when I realized that we had a real Princess.


Well, then there were all sorts of things – sore eyes from ant bites and my new boots that were gnawed.


You changed our lives. We are very grateful to you.


You were the center of our family.

Our hearth of happiness.
I told all my friends, forgive me, we live in a family of chihuahua,not chihuahua live in our family.Rarely can anyone afford such happiness. We had great happiness that you gave us.

The disease started suddenly. You felt it, but we didn’t understand it yet. You barked, complained, howled, whined… and we thought that there was a calcium deficiency, that your teeth had fallen out and that’s why. We did tests, gave you antibiotics.Low hemoglobin, inflammation showed blood. 12 years. When after the examination, the doctor named a terrible diagnosis. I did not want to believe it. You played so beautifully with Mimmi during your last hormonal heat. I will not forget this. You caressed him in front of all of us, taught him to be a man, gave yourself to him from all sides. And for him, this tiny boy, well, nothing worked out at all. And you taught him again, not letting anyone near you,except him. And I thought that if it was not a real pregnancy, although where would it be from and lasted so long,then this is a false pregnancy. With each of your first attacks. I wanted to believe it.
Then, when the attacks became frequent and strong, we went to the doctors again, the prognosis was bad and I didn’t want to believe it, that at 12 years old, that it was brain cancer and that you had a maximum of 3 months to live. I started reading. We started giving symptomatic treatment, antiepileptic drugs, hoping that it would prolong your life. But two weeks ago, suddenly all the drugs stopped working and you fought and I fought, but the epilepsy became permanent and paralyzed you.
The last two days you lost your voice, the tumor was pressing on the center of the brain. You stopped walking, fell, stopped eating and drinking.

There is no positive prognosis in treating dogs with epilepsy at the age of 12 and older. You can prolong their life a little by giving them treatment, but you cannot cure them of the underlying disease. I wanted you to stay with them longer, at least for a few more years. But this year and time and your destiny, they decided otherwise.

………

And you stood with your face to the air flow from the air conditioner in my room and caught the air with your face. Cold air.
You waited for 5.30 pm. to fly to the rainbow happy.

Now it’s evening. 8.00 pm.
Our house is empty.
Your photos are left.
You was beautiful.
Thank you for everything.
We love you

16.04.2013-2.08.2025

Pachamama Raymi

Helen Polishuk Leave a comment

On August 1st, in the province of Quispicanchi, Cusco region of Peru, they celebrate the Festival of Mother Earth or Pachamama Raymi.

This is an annual celebration that involves communities living in the Andes: Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. Over the course of a week, many people come to this area to perform an annual traditional ritual and sacrifice to Mother Earth for her gifts.

This event is held in a large special place, which has been set aside for this ritual for a long time.

Farmers rest on this day, people wear beautiful costumes, dance a lot and thank nature for a good harvest.

The symbol of Pachamama is a chakana – the upper part of the Inca cross – piadista with three degrees leading to it. Pachamama was depicted as an underground snake, a mountain or a hill of stones. Gifts were brought there, poured with chicha, wine and balls of coca.

Mother Earth is a pre-Inca ancient tradition. The Incas believed that Mother Earth is the patroness of their empire, who protects them and helps them to exist. So they earned favor and gratitude for the next year with these rituals. I must say about the sacrifices on this holiday – I noticed and was told this when I was in Machu Picchu – they sacrifice fruits that nature gives, put these fruits in a “pit” for collecting the sacrifice, to feed Mother Earth, so that she is not hungry. This ritual is performed by a special priest.
In addition to fruits, you can offer coconut leaves, candies and sweets to sweeten Mother Earth.
In addition, the inhabitants dance and sing traditional songs and dances for the ritual.
Traditional fairs and exhibitions of products are held. And the Peruvians have so many of them and they are so valuable – these are products made of fabric, leather and wool alpacas.

This holiday is very symbolic, as it gives the importance of living in harmony with nature and I was very envious in a good way of these mountain people, who were involved in their lives. Time passed, I mentally return to their way of life and I miss it in the bustle of the city. It’s great that the state of Peru supported these traditions and developed them, attracting tourists and creating conditions for the development of communities and popularizing their culture.

This day is also celebrated as National Alpaca Day(Dia National del Alpaca)

And this is an incredibly cute, fluffy, kind animal that grazes in the meadows of the Antes and even the Incas raised them and considered them sacred animals that helped transport cargo, gave wool and meat as food to the Incas in the high mountains. Now these animals are in many countries, but they are a symbol of Peru.Alpacas live in Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile too. There are two breeds of alpacas – Huacaya and Suri.

Their wool is used to weave fabrics that are valuable in the world. I got a hat and socks as a keepsake. I will remember these furry, kind animals in cold times.

It is safe to say that this holiday today brings a new spirit and is a concern for the Universe, love for the Earth and the environment.

Winter 2025 Artwork History

Helen Polishuk Leave a comment

I have been meaning to write this story for a long time, but I had little time to sit down at the computer. Today I chose a few hours to pay attention to you and write down this story. And all this is winter 2024-2025. I had many changes in work, stopped working in a public organization, switched to a more creative artistic focus and opened my archives to see what I am most successful at ,what I am bad at.

There is snow outside, cleaning every day. It is cold and most importantly, cloudy, absolutely no sun. I live in the northern part, in the northernmost country, although in its southernmost city, but the sun is not a frequent guest here in the middle of winter.
My works are most recognized among artists and it has become established for me that I can show winter beautifully.
For paintings created in different years, I received many prizes and titles specifically for winter landscapes.
To speed up and warm up, I created the first two landscapes.
For me, they are the same, in motive. As a creator, I played with shades and I succeeded.
The size of the paintings is 5 x 7, created with acrylic on canvas.

Here the snow cover is not deep and the river has not frozen yet. It was interesting to draw each bush of the plant, each leaf of the tree and grass.
It was immediately taken away.
The second one is more monochromatic, it is already a slightly different time of winter, the snow is like glass, the plants are frozen and icy. A little fog at such a time. The river has merged in tone with the sky.
This painting was not taken away.

It remained. And I wanted to draw something from the winter landscape again.
Then I decided not to stop, to create more and this painting turned out.

I decided to create a painting right after the icing. Forest. Trees were damaged, broken tree branches. And to mark, highlight it in red. That’s how this painting came about.Ppainting’s size 10x 8.Acrylic on canvas.
As soon as I showed it, it was immediately taken away. It didn’t stay in my gallery for long.

And I put my work aside, because outside the window there was everything that created material for my creativity.
And here is this painting, soft fluffy snow on a large semi-field near a farmhouse. A small path that leads to the house, freshly trampled by people.
The turning point was a trip during a snowfall to the north, to Huronia.

It was after this trip that I realized that we are lucky, Toronto residents. It snowed, we raked it out, removed the cars and now we are running around in puddles again. And all the people to the north, west and east of us – there they stock up on food and firewood in the fall and during snowstorms they dig small paths, leaving cars and fields under the snow until better weather. That’s just our weather.
The painting is 10 x 8,acrylic on canvas and again flew to its buyer.

And I was left with one work, as a memory of these works.

This artwork had been lying around for a long time, it ended up on sale at Saatchi and was selected for an exhibition in Etobicoke. The ice storm in this painting was just too realistic.

July came, hot, intense and active. I met with Hatcher and this painting, my last masterpiece of this winter collection, went to her collection.

7 x 5 acrylic on canvas.

The entire winter collection was sold out.
I was left with photos of the works and pleasant memories of winter.
After all, not everything should be gray and sad.
Although later there were serious health problems, but even now, remembering, I smile.
My works flew away from me.
How wonderful it is.
I was left with my inspiration and strength for the next collection

LUMINATO THAW

Helen Polishuk Leave a comment

Once again I return you to the beginning of summer, to June, boiling with activities. Once again I remember the wonderful LUMINATO

It is really hard to forget and I will return to it more than once.
And today I want to tell you about the magical event that took place on Dundas Square on June 8, the last day of this event.

I’ll start with the fact that I was out of town, 4 hours away from Toronto, and I was late for my shift. I had to give the car to my son, run into the subway on a line that was being repaired, put on a volunteer tennis shirt right in the subway car, and be right in front of the group captain at the square on time. I made it. I remember it well.

When I arrived at my shift, the acrobat’s performance was already underway. A large crane was hanging over the square, with an ice floe attached to it. This is a real ice floe from Antarctica, which was cut out of an iceberg or a large ice floe and delivered to this performance in a special container.

The weather was wonderful, no one except my husband said that rain was coming. But my husband was at home. And the atmosphere in the square was wonderful. There were a lot of people. Everyone was looking at the acrobat dancing on the ice floe and taking pictures of her. She was wonderful.

Although the auxiliary safety ropes held her, it seemed that she was sliding boldly and freely on this ice floe without fear or stress.
But the ice floe was still slippery.
And cold. It was a natural ice floe.
Water was constantly dripping from it, it was melting.
But the skill and experience of the organizers was that they took into account the volume of the ice floe, so that it would be more than enough for the entire performance.

Toronto is very busy with tourists at this time. A double-decker tour bus was dropping people off and on, curious about what was going on in the square. This is the most popular square in Toronto with tourists, and there are events every week during the summer.

The performance was reflected through a huge screen located on the side of the square. This helped to see what was happening from any corner of the square. People watched what was happening, sitting on benches and chairs located in the park. Children jumped, played and repeated the dances of the acrobat.

She was given a very warm send-off at the end of her performance. And indeed, flying under the arches of Dundas Square on a real ice floe is super.

And how many emotions she had when she finished her performance and came down to square.


Here I want to note that this is a group of acrobats from Australia who specially flew to the LUMINATO festival. And this was the last day, Sunday, the last day of their performances.
This group did their first such performance in 2022 at the Sydney Festival and Sydney Opera House in January 2022.

Created by Joshua Thomson with an original score by Alaskan composer Mattew Burther.

2.7 tonne ice block transforms under summer sun as a monumental call to action about climate change.

Three times each day, the artists take to the ice to perform their show in front of an audience and make their contribution to the fight against climate change.

We are experiencing signs of global warming everywhere, Europe is experiencing heat waves, heavy rains with hail, here in Toronto this year we have unprecedented heat for our region. And all this speaks of global warming.
I had to work with the last of the performers.
She was the youngest member of this group.
A very young 16 year old girl.
I captured her as she climbed up on a crane, sitting timidly on a cold ice floe. Her performance was extraordinary.

The little girl hesitantly began to show her number. It seemed that she was a little constrained and afraid. But it only seemed that way to us.

Thaw means ice,snow,frozen substance become liquid or soft as a result of warming.

The girl seemed to be collecting droplets of water from the ice with her hands. She was collecting the immensity.

And then the extraordinary began. That is, the usual for my husband’s forecast, that it would rain. But rain can be different. And no one among the organizers foresaw the rain, since it interfered with the performance and was even dangerous. They did not foresee it.
And then, during the performance of this little girl, the youngest artist, from nowhere, the wind blew in. Clouds, the sky turned black and it did not rain, but real hail. In one minute, an avalanche of water poured out of the sky.
The square emptied, everyone ran for shelter, and they began to ask the poor girl to go down, since the weather did not allow the performance to continue. It was very dangerous.
But she refused. She refused to go down and finish the performance and in the rain on a very slippery ice floe she continued the performance. It’s so brave and so sensitive. We all watched her without taking our eyes off her. The girl seemed to come to life. She, all wet, on the cold ice floe, continued to show her performance and express her fight against global warming.

NO TIME TO WASTE is written on her poster.

We stood in the tents, holding our breath, looking at this brave girl.

The weather changed again and the final part of this artist’s performance was again light and a lot of people came running to the square to see how this tiny girl boldly flies under the arch of the park, lifted by a crane above the square, regardless of the weather, the evening, or us, the spectators.

This is the video, it is very memorable to me. It is how she is on a slippery ice floe, wet, after more than an hour of performance, at great speed, at the end of her performance, flying over our heads. This remains in my memory.

I think it’s not just me who remembers it. Everyone who was on that square that day, and all the organizers of the show.
The fight against global warming is our responsibility to the next generation. What will win – money or wisdom – is up to us to decide. Until now, wisdom has won.
That’s why we live on this planet today.

Bel Air Tremblant

Helen Polishuk

I will tell you a little about the place of rest, where our whole family visited this year.


It is really a step into the future and something from fantasy and unreality.


A little history for your appetite. As the workers told us, the owner of this five-star complex is a former very famous and successful lawyer in New York.
Having become interested in this idea, he left his business and moved to Quebec to make his dream come true.


And so on the mountain, not far from the famous Tremblant, in completely wild nature, fabulous glass houses grew.

Each of the houses has two or one floor, there is a hot pot, a private recreation area for each house.

The house is built according to the eco system and is located in absolutely wild nature.

The central cottage is equipped with a restaurant, a swimming pool, a sauna, there is a store and a massage room, a fitness room.


You can ride bicycles on the territory – there is a bike track nearby, go for walks and below there is a farm where they keep llamas, goats and cows, breed chickens.


The complex is made up of 50 houses, but will be expanded. This is a great place to relax in the silence of nature and an ecological zone away from the noise of big cities, alone with nature. Strawberries grow everywhere!


This is a five-star resort.


I saw such resorts in Columbia, near coffee farms. Now here in Quebec, near the famous ski resort.
The houses inside are air-conditioned, protected from mosquitoes. And in winter there is air conditioning. Everything is thought out to the smallest detail and is very attractive.


A great place to relax for a family.

From May memories

Helen Polishuk

The last three months have flown by quickly.
I want to stop them, but time is running forward inexorably.
Recently, my friend said to me: “Have you noticed that time has started to run faster?”
“Yes!” I answered her and indeed, we are getting older faster, and time is running forward faster.
Ah……

I’ll be back in May and it’s time for the Door Open Toronto 2025.

I’ll tell you about my volunteer work in a beautiful building located in Toronto at 50 Carlton St.

The building not only has a very interesting history, but is also very interesting itself.


An escalator goes to the upper floors, which rises to enter the ….. ice field.


This ice field in the center of Toronto is the largest indoor ice hall, built in the 70s was the largest and most modern in North America.


It served as an arena for hockey and figure skating competitions, and hosted circus acrobatic groups.
There are many photographs that tell about the events of those years.

The largest concerts in terms of numbers took place here, where stars from all over the world performed in front of a huge number of spectators. Elvis Presley, Madona…

Built in 1933, it served as the largest arena and was called Maple Leaf Gardens

Now this place stores historical photos of those years.
There is a wonderful conference hall where meetings and conferences are held.

And today hockey teams are training, just like many years ago. We also had the opportunity to skate if we brought skates with us.

There were many who wanted to.

Arena honors memory of its famous Toronto Maple Leafs hockey players and the founders of the Arena.

Conn Smythe,founder and owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs,secretly buried a time-capsule in a cornersrone when the Maple Leaf Gardens were built in 1931.

The capsule would remain buried for 80 years until its accidental discovery by a construction worker during building renovations in 2011.

The capsule was housed in a copper box handmade by Millard Breuls Campbell,a draftsman working at the Gardens during its construction.Campbell left an inscription located on the inner lid that reads,,M.B.Campbell124 Lindsay Ave 2119131″

The capsule held mementos from the time including-newspapers,official hocey rulebooks,a stock prospectus from Maple Leaf Gardens,a red onsign flag,an ivory carved elephant and a four-page letter detalling the design and construction of the arena.

The Toronto Maple Leafs win 11 Stanley cups and was host to some of the biggest stars of the time.

Traditions are maintained today, new athletes train in this arena.

On the second floor of the arena there is a wonderful modern fitness center.

Finally, I want to tell you about this photo.

Photo from Libraries and Archives Canada, Walter Curtin Foundation.

King Clancy(right) and Leafs captain Ted Kennedy.

Francis,,King” Clancy (1903-1986) is a hockey legend,despite being one of the smallest defencemen of his era-just 5 feet,7 inches and 155 pounds.

In 1930 Conn Smythe traded two players to the Ottawa Senators and paid an unprecedented $35,000 to acquire the rights to Clancy.

During the following season,the feisty,rushing defencemen helped the leafs win their first Stanley Cup.He was a versatile player,once playing all six positions in a single game,including goal.

He retiered as a player in 1936,became a NHL referee for eleven years,and later returned to coach the Leafs from 1953 to 1956.

King Clancy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958,and remained connected with the team until his death in 1986.

As I was leaving Arena, I felt a little sad.
After all, time flies quickly, and we can’t keep up with it.
Or is it just me?

Rainbow Story

Helen Polishuk

I want to start a project of sunny, joyful, interesting posts for the summer of 2025. This is how I perceive everything that makes summer in Toronto bright and unforgettable. This is LUMINATO.

RAINBOW DREAM

The whole city has been filled with rainbow installations since June. In parks, squares and public places in Toronto you can see these multi-colored installations or banners inviting you to visit them.
And this has colored the business center of Toronto, its busiest places, business centers, parks near the largest and most important business centers. This has created a feeling of joy and a play of love.
But no one thought about what it means.
Well, installations, beautiful unimaginable flowers, near which a child can play or adults can take selfies, you can eat lunch during a work break or take a leisurely walk.
But this is much more than just decoration and I will begin to tell from a rainbow dream.

This is a collected idea, which consists of many colorful decorations. In the center of which there is a wheel, which is located in 181 Bay St W.

This circle reminds us, children who grew up in Eastern Europe, of a “squirrel in a wheel” or a drum that you spin to win a prize.
There is something of this, but on the first day of the opening, a psychologist, the founder of this installation and its organizer, told us about this installation.


I was lucky enough to see it.

She said that the idea of ​​the wheel is that a person gets inside the wheel, takes the handrail with his hands, starts walking with his feet and the wheel starts spinning. You can adjust the speed from low to high enough to make the person feel comfortable and happy. It may happen that your head starts spinning and at that moment – a request, the most important thing here, is to look 15 degrees to the right of the wheel at the opposite wall of the hall, where an imitation of fire is created from glass and colored beads in the wall from the ceiling to the floor. This fire distracts a person and the person forgets about his illness and he feels normal, he comes to normal.
This is how a psychologist helps to cope with difficulties.


In stress – to get out of stress, you need to quickly switch over so that the body does not get sick and gets out of discomfort.
Around this rainbow circle, bright pillows are scattered, where children and adults can take a nap, play. There is a place for relaxation and peace.

In this days, the famous dancer HIROMI TANGO took part in RAINBOW DREAM.

This is the one you see in the advertisement for this event.

And I was pleased to see the happy faces of the people who came up to look. After all, the working day of these people is very busy and this is downtown, the busiest business place with thousands of company employees. The working side of Toronto and Ontario is created here and here in June these rainbow islands blossomed LUMINATO FESTIVAL.

DREAM ORIGAMI GARDEN

Do you like origami? Have you ever made origami yourself? And what if you are taught by ALEX YUE the most famous origami creator in Canada?

Now imagine a working day. Lunch break. A huge building filled with different businesses and companies.
And people come down, knowing that they have limited time for rest. They come, sit down next to them and start creating origami flowers. I have never created flowers before.
That is, not like that. I have created flowers, but origami flowers that I created under Alex’s guidance, this is the first time.


It was joyful to take an absolutely clean colored piece of paper, turn it one way, turn it over, bend it and turn it the other way and in your hands a beautiful flower.

And so a garden of origami flowers was created, in which there is also a part of me.

And on the street in the park near our building, incredibly beautiful flowers bloomed.

And how nice it is to come to these flowers during lunch break. Many young people take selfies, children play.
Bright colorful giant flowers between business places in Toronto
A great idea.

And in the window of our glass business center there are origami garden decorations made by everyone who loves and is keen on origami.

I left, the weather changed to rain. But in the summer rain these instillations become even brighter

Taking part in the creation of beauty is a gift. And decorating the city, giving joy, warmth and love is wealth.

Origami workshops are free and run until June 22nd in Bay-Adelaide Centre,333 Bay St.

More:https://www.luminatofestival.com/

Dawn Chorus

Helen Polishuk

It took a few days to make posts and get ready for an active summer life. Today I will tell you about a very interesting event that took place on June 5.
This event is called Dawn Chorus.

It was a mysterious, divine, extraordinary, tear-jerking, majestic event.

It took place in the morning, very early, already at 7 am and lasted until 9 am. This time was chosen specifically. At this time during the week, on Wednesday,people are rushing to work. The place of action was also chosen specifically – the busiest subway station Toronto-Union Station. The exit is the busiest – into the premises of an old high-rise building Bay-Adelaide Place,55 Front St.W.

The lively crowd in the building that day in the morning was filled with the magical singing of 6 choirs, which were located on two floors of the house.

Choirs were selected for this event not only from Canada. I had the opportunity to work with a choir from Bulgaria.
So, in the morning, a large crowd rushes to work. And then the music begins to sound. Acapella singing of choirs. The singing of choirs was heard from several sides of the building at once. It was so fantastic that it seemed that some kind of magic was happening.
The thing is that the places where the choirs were located were chosen so as not to interfere with people passing by, but in an acoustic place where the sound was most audible.

Six points of two floors sounded in polyphony.

I can show a rehearsal before the performance of the Bulgarian choir. From the video you will understand how correctly the place for the choir was chosen.


The repertoire of the choirs was composed of songs about the morning, about spring. about Easter, connected with the sun, the arrival of spring. The songs excited and gave energy.

People stopped….
Listened…..
Standed still for a moment…….
Pull out their cell phones, took pictures. Then ran off to do their business…..

The polyphony flowed non-stop. One choir fell silent, while the sounds of singing came from another choir from the upper floor. Then it was heard somewhere to the left.
And it flowed from floor to floor, enveloping the walls and the room.

The most crowded place in Toronto, in the middle of the week, in the morning, sang in many languages, exciting, giving such an energetic flavor that no one was indifferent.

And even though it’s been a week, I can’t forget it.
It intertwines with the morning birdsong when I wake up in the rays of the sun.
It adds enchantment and some magic.

Then these choirs dissolved into the crowd and, without haste, one by one went to gather in a heap under the main dome of the building. Each of the choristers walked, playing a clay pipe.
It was interesting to see this.
They gathered in the central hall and sang their main song.

A fantastic idea. An unsurpassed performance.
How one must love people and enjoy music to give such a wonderful morning song to the residents of Toronto.
This is LUMINATO.

#luminatofestivale

St.Andrew by-the-lake

Helen Polishuk

Yes, today I will tell you about my journey and acquaintance with the church, which is the oldest church on Toronto Island, this is St. Andrew’s Anglican Church.

The church was built in 1884 and existed in the central part of the island, on the main Lakeshore street.

Several decades ago the church was moved to this place where it stands today. There is a beautiful park growing around it, a boat stop and a hiking trail nearby.

On May 24 and 25, the church is open to all visitors during the Door Open Toronto.
This is a great opportunity for all Toronto residents and beyond. Residents of Quebec and groups of tourists who visit the island come here and get to know the church with interest. #DOT #DOT2025


The service that is active this year – bike rental – is also very helpful to go around the island.

At the entrance to the church there are stands that tell about the history of the church and the times and seasons that took place near the church. In winter, it was skiing, skating on frozen water. In summer, it was cycling activities, which do not stop today.

Life on the island is not easy. There have been floods and natural disasters.
But today it remains in photographs. Today a school has been built on the island, there is a water collection station equipped with the highest quality filters. But there are no shops on the island, all products are bought and brought from the mainland. Therefore, local residents have developed their own farms here, where they bake delicious bread and pastries.
I treated myself to a delicious kich, which was baked for the guests of the church.

The church preserves a history that almost coincides in time with the history of Canada itself.
And this is reflected in the beautiful stained glass windows of the church.
I have only seen stained glass windows like this in a church St.Georgeis on-the-Hill Anglican Church in Etobicoke on Dundas.

Both churches are beautiful and the stained glass windows are simply a delight. And most importantly, they contain the history of the churches themselves. I will try to tell you about the stained glass windows of St. Andrew’s by-the-lake Church.

The main ones, located at the head of the church, behind the altar, tell of St. Andrew’s patronage of fishermen.

It speaks of the hard, harsh life of the islanders in the struggle with the water element and the help and blessing from Saint Andrew.

The side stained glass windows are created in memory of events and people.
Thus, at the entrance on the left there are two beautiful stained glass windows that remind us that faith and help are very important for society and the survival of the commune.

This stained glass window depicts Christ blessing the children and was created by McCausland Studio in 1923.

This is a memory about Harry Ryrie( 1862-1917) who had a summer home on the Island at 398 Lakeshore,a few doors from the church before it was moved.The Ryrie’s family also donated 50 park benches at Centre Island.

This thrilight window showing Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane,flanked by

two angels.This window was donated by Robert and Emy Spence.

This is a memory of the island’s inhabitants who died during the First World War. 58 island inhabitants gave their lives as soldiers and participating in the First World War.At the bottom of the stained glass window you can see a Red Cross nurse caring for a wounded soldier.

On the right, at the entrance to the church, on a gilded plaque are carved the names of those who died in the First World War for the Queen, for Canada.

WEEKLY SUNDAY SERVICE
10:30 am

​ALL ARE WELCOME!

Travel to the island

Helen Polishuk

Every city that is located on a large body of water, on the ocean, on a lake or river, has islands near it.
Historically, or it is the help of nature, I do not know, but in our life it is always a very interesting addition to the existence of the city itself.
To say that the island and the city are interconnected – no. They exist independently of each other and their presence only adds zest to the existence of the city itself.
To go out for a day, or for a few hours, or for a day with an overnight stay – it is pleasant, interesting and a certain experience.
Toronto Island is several islands that are connected by this name. There are bridges and connections between them. There is a domestic Toronto airport on this island. Therefore, you can always see how planes land on the island. It is especially interesting to watch in cloudy weather, when clouds cover visibility above the fifth floor and you can see how suddenly an airplane takes off from dark clouds and slowly lands on the island. All houses with a view of the lake in the central part of Toronto have such a pleasure.
But I’ll start everything in order, namely along the route that I’ll share today.

Of course, I will comment on everything that I liked along the way. So, I got on the subway at Bathurst St.Whether it’s my love for murals or classicism with baroque, I was struck and liked this mural opposite the enter on the subway.

I took the 510 streetcar to Spadina and rode along the street, enjoying the morning city. Few people talk about the day off. And it helps me to look at the drawings on the walls of the houses and admire the old and new buildings.

Tim Hortons is open as always and it’s impossible to resist its smell.

Well, that’s understandable. With the onset of warm weather, the city begins to undergo repairs and is all in traffic jams, congestion and repair scaffolding.

How old houses with aluminum high-rises are structured is visible in this video. There is a mixture of cultures, styles and times.

The presence of the CNTower on the horizon indicates that we are in the city center and approaching the embankment.

I got out on the embankment and calmly walked to the meeting place, to the entrance to the pier.

The meeting was scheduled near the statue of Jack Layton near Jack Layton Ferry Terminal.

Jack Gilbert Layton was a Canadian academic and polistican who served as a Leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011.

Bronze sculpture of Jack Layton was unveilled in 2013 at Toronto island ferry terminal.

Symbolizm of this bike:,,Together you support each other,just like a community.”

Layton on the back seat of tandem bicycle,much like one he rode with his family,with the front seat open for people to hop on and take pictures.

My route went from the farry station to the island.

I will immediately note that despite the early hour and the day off, there were a lot of people near the pier. People gathered in families and groups. Many moved with fishing gear and their own bicycles. The weather did not promise to be either warm or sunny. Cold, constant, strong, gusty rain.

Having bought a ticket, you find yourself waiting for the ferry to arrive and, having gathered with the passengers, you simply wait until you can take a seat on the ferry. Seats are on a first come, first served basis. But there are a lot of seats, some on top to watch and take photos and some inside the ferry. There is always enough space for everyone.

You can spend a whole day on the island. And although it is small, there are many interesting entertainments, many parks and attractions, specially organized places for children, where there is a small zoo, a cable car and even a railway. And all this together is very interesting and attractive.

There are many recreation areas on the island, there are tables and there are playgrounds where you can relax and sit with family and friends, there are cafes and restaurants.

Well, and the number of flowers, beautiful parks and blossoming trees, I just keep quiet, because in spring everything comes to life and this range of floral delight simply envelops. This year, for the first time on the island, there is such a service that you can rent a bike and ride from one side of the island to the other, walk in the most interesting places. Everywhere there are devices to put the bike and go have a coffee.

It gives me great pleasure to see beautiful tulips.

So, the ferry arrived, the doors opened and everyone waiting went to take their seats. I climbed onto the deck, I wanted, like many others, to photograph the view of the city from the ferry.

There were many ferries nearby. They go to the island strictly according to the hours and schedule. One comes, another goes to the island.

You can sit on the deck and calmly watch the waves gently rock the ferry. Perhaps in winter or during a strong storm, the waves are high. But today the weather is very spring-like and the trip from morning to evening will be eventful.

So, we unmoored, the horn blew and the ferry slowly went along the water.
The distance between the Toronto shore and the island is small, it takes 15-20 minutes.
The island became an island not very long ago.
It was part of a sand dune on the Scarborough Banff side. But then it washed away and the island separated and began to live its own life.

From the ferry station there are three directions of piers on the island.
There are a huge number of taxis that take you for 13 dollars one way.
The ferry costs 10 dollars round trip.

This is a wonderful photo, a beautiful view, because of which this trip happened.
View of Toronto from the ferry that goes to Toronto Island.
About what I saw and where I visited on the island in the next post.


I want to remind you that there is still a sale of my paintings and you can take advantage of the biggest discount of 20% off use code SUNBEAM20

https://www.saatchiart.com/en-ca/helenpolishuk