I am not an enormous fan of summer. My boyfriend and I were discussing it, and we really much prefer fall – or even that beginning part of spring that is almost exactly like fall except in reverse but the temperatures are exactly the same (and it’s our birthdays – and that is also probably ok). But summer is hot, and there are bugs that bite you, and I just don’t understand why any rational person would like it. At least in Saskatchewan the very hot part of the season is pretty short, and as I said in the title – it does make for some pretty nice looking, brilliantly lit photographs so I might as well take advantage of it while I can I suppose because it truly is a pretty short season and to the people who do enjoy it, it’s over so soon (and then us fall people rejoice!).
About mid-June I took a little stroll around Broadway and across the bridge to take pictures of whatever I saw and this is one of those things. We have so many statues and sculptures in Saskatoon, and it’s become one of my projects this summer to photograph as many of them as I can. I didn’t get many of them on this trip but I did get this guy on his horse and he almost appears to be saying “Why yes, I do own that tall building in the background, thanks for asking.”
Another one of my favourites from my walk that mid-June day was this one from that statue on the round about near the Victoria bridge. I had captioned in my Flickr photo stream as “Simba one day all of this will be yours..Oops, wrong film.” Now I suppose that could be interpreted as grossly inappropriate, but I’ve received too much feedback that it’s left many people in stitches of hilarity so I will just leave it.
This is the last one I’ll show from that day – but the rest are on my Flickr feed if you’re interested. This is an installment that is right by my apartment actually. It’s to symbolize the Broadway Five Corners and it’s right at the five corners on Broadway (Broadway & 12th & University Drive) so it’s pretty neat. It has stuff written on it too. If you’re in the area and have time to check it out it’s a pretty interesting little art fixture. It has more substance that some of the sculptures that have gone up in the city that’s for sure, and no I’m not being biased because it’s in my neighbourhood 
A few weeks later on Canada Day (July 1st) it wasn’t too dastardly hot and it wasn’t raining so my boyfriend and I took the opportunity to walk downtown, check out the jazz festival – and I took a bunch of pictures of things! If you’re familiar with Saskatoon’s downtown you might recognize these three fellows. I’ve never really been able to figure out if the middle one is giving you the peace sign or is really British and just flipping you off.
And here we have what appears to be an ornate stone sandwich.
On our walk we found one these tall twisty hunks of misshapen metal that seem to have become so popular in Saskatoon these days. I guess we are very avant garde, no? I don’t know. I know I really like that big one on the north side of the University Bridge and the rest of them kind of make me go, umm so this is some metal and I’m not entirely sure how I feel. Then I would like to read the artist’s statement of intent – and sometimes when I get to read the plaque it doesn’t help me at all. Reading this plaque on this one didn’t help at all.
The bust of Ghandi, looking serene with all of his trees… and his bank. I just assume he owns that TD bank over there.
Wilfrid Laurier roughing up a young boy for a newspaper. You might remember him from such dollar bills as the five dollar bill. I like how the boy looks so insolent about getting roughed up by one of our founding fathers. Also, why do we have a statue of this? I like that he is carrying a top hat.
Proof of more artists gone mad with power. I took many many more pictures than this – and you can see them all in my Flickr account via the link on side bar to left.
The next day my boyfriend and I thought it would be a good idea to walk around the university campus after supper. Which was fun, but I was eaten by mosquitoes because I also thought it was a good idea to wear shorts (it was rather hot out) and I failed to take pictures of the campus because I was so busy looking at and being mesmerized by so many stone buildings! Luckily he also suggested taking a quick drive over to Innovation Place while we were in the area and he showed me this neat fountain with bronze pelicans in it that I had never seen before. So I took I picture of it, so lovely!
I also got a picture of this thing which I had seen before, and had kicked myself for not taking a picture of it even though it is just a bunch of metal. I don’t mind this one so much because at least they painted it and it almost seems more intentional than just a bunch of scraps thrown together haphazardly. I really appreciate the lighting in this picture too so it’s almost a good thing I didn’t take a picture the last time I saw it because it wouldn’t have been the same – it was worth it to wait and come back for just this moment and get it this time, to get it in this light, as I was getting mauled by mosquitoes. But like I said at the beginning – at least the season is short!
