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2:30pm Saturday February 23, 2013 | Bloor-Yorkville, Toronto Ontario, Canada

Strolling down Cumberland Avenue…

…on a beautiful Toronto wintry February afternoon looking at the process of making ice sculptures at Bloor-Yorkville’s Icefest. It was fun! Packed with guests, and hard to get good shots.

This year’s theme was “Wonderful and Whimsical” and took guests on a journey through a magical enchanted garden. IceFest transformed Bloor-Yorkville into a wonderland with fantastical sculptures including whimsical winged fairies, charming and adorable gnomes, oversized butterflies, magical flowers, trees and plants carved from 35,000 lbs. of ice.

The downtown Toronto neighbourhood just sparkled with excitement as Bloor-Yorkville IceFest introduced whimsy and warmed some of our hearts during this chilly winter. ^

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December 20th, 2000 | Oia, Santorini Island, Greece.

In December of 2000, I embarked on a journey to build a shrine on a cliff edge on Santorini Island (ancient Thira) over the caldera of an ancient underwater volcano.

My pilgrimage to Ancient Thira, a.k.a. Santorini started with a dream inspired by an angel…

Click on the gallery below to scroll through full size images.
Music Tie-in, listen to: Stairway To Heaven.mp3 – Led Zepplin

December 2000, building my shrine overlooking the caldera of an ancient volcano. Location: outside Oia village, on a remote hiking trail northern tip of Santorini Island.

I constructed the shrine out of tin, glass and ceramic tiles and painted it. Inside there’s an alter made of volcanic rocks, an icon of the Old Testament Archangel Uriel, an oil lamp, matches, olive oil, personal keepsakes. It is cemented to a boulder at cliff edge. The caldera is in the distance. The sea below me is very deep almost bottomless, the crater created by the eruption.

Uriel’s shrine cemented to boulder on cliff edge.

Lighting the oil lamp one last time before I leave the island. — at Santorini Island, Greece.

The shrine was visited by my friend Jennifer in 2007: This is how it looked after years of exposure to the sun, rain, wind and saltine air. Haven’t been back to the island since i built the shrine. According to Jennifer it has become a popular stop along a remote hiking trail. Hikers have been maintaining it, writing their names on the rocks, making offerings and leaving possessions. I don’t know when I’ll get back there again. if you are interested in lighting the oil lamp for me let me know. I’ll send you a map and instructions. I buried something special to me under the rocks.

December 2000 | The last eruption in Santorini was the largest in the ancient world. In legend It buried Atlantis which is suppose to be underneath me in this photo. Volcanologists predicted another eruption around 2000 that will sink the island. It didn’t happen.

AEGEAN SEA

A reproduction on wood of this Icon is in the shrine. The inscription reads Archangel Uriel written in Byzantine script. More on: Uriel – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I found an Iconographer Greek Orthodox Monk in Athens. Told him my story and what I saw in my dream. He painted this image of Uriel in traditional Byzantine style on wood.

The Book of Enoch describes Uriel as one of seven archangels who preside over the world. “One of the holy angels, who is over the world… the leader of them all.”

Two of many dogs that call Oia home without belonging to anyone in particular.

Blow Me Down, Come-By-Chance, Pothead, Dildo….

In all of it’s Awesomeness, Newfoundland has some of the strangest place names on the planet.

Cupids,
Conception Bay,
Cow Head,
Heart’s Desire,
Heart’s Content,
Nick’s Nose Cove,
Whitless Bay,
Square Islands.

“Newfoundland, rugged and beautiful even through the rear view mirror of my car.”

Location: Island of Newfoundland
“The Rock”
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

Photography/Author: John Zeus

Endangered African penguin at the Toronto Zoo, a.k.a. black-footed penguin and formerly as the jackass penguin.

Penguin chick hatched in Toronto Zoo breeding program – Toronto – CBC News.

Summer Solstice | Bay Bulls, Newfoundland.
It was an exhilarating marine wildlife boat ride. Majestic Humpback Whales, Atlantic Puffins, Rocky Islands shrouded in fog, the tune of the Irish Fisherman’s song, North Atlantic winds, Screech to warm the bones. Few words can describe this experience.

Nature-based tourism is a fundamental driver of the viability of some communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. Given the importance of whale watching as an attractor of visitors to the province, whale conservation is a key ingredient in the policies that promote tourism in the province.

Puffins

Photographer/Author: John Zeus