Bloggity Blog

I think I’m getting better! I spent 12 hours yesterday on the set of “Wonder”, a film with Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, among others. I had the great pleasure of chatting with Owen and meeting his radiant mother. This was the highlight of my triumphant return (lol) to “union film background” 😉 I made a new friend. A 79 year old woman named Elizabeth who was recovering from a stroke and was out for a day of work. She was a spritely spirit who could only speak a few words. We had wonderful conversations savouring these words. The word of the day was “beauuuutiful”. I noticed her difficulty with pronouncing “crazy” – her crazy came out as “crouuzy”. My inner ESL teacher came out and I was able to help her with her pronunciation so she could enjoy saying “crazy”. We put those two words together so that we could go around saying “crazy beauuuutiful.” It really was tremendous fun. I wanted to stay in touch with her but she was wrapped before me and vanished!

This is an interesting mixture of seasons… Isn’t it?

White morning glories popping out of tangled vines with red blackberries tumbling over a blue spruce. 

I am here
in my spot

thanking the sun for warming my back
a humming bird drops by to check up on me.

Damsel flies – a low hovering wasp
and dried grasses all around me
you can feel the fall this summer.

The young girl who borrowed her father’s oil paints and walked out into a field to become a painter one summer day is all grown up now and still enthralled by nature. I didn’t become a painter but I did become an artist!

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Here’s dad doing two things he loved – sailing and singing.

And here’s my tune, Seraphina, named after my flute. Let’s all enjoy this last part of summer! 🌞

Anchors Away!

Stanley Burke 

Patriarch and peacemaker, veteran CBC news anchor, journalist, foreign correspondent, author, humourist and peacekeeper, dad, husband, great friend. What a life! What an arc of life dad had! He was as colourful and dynamic as the comets he loved to paint as a young man. Dad had a beautiful mind and a beautiful heart and a sweetness that people responded to with love. He was easy to love. The world fell in love with him, his sparkling intellect and irrepressible humour.

We are having a celebration in his honour next Saturday. We wish Stanley well on his next voyage!

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Diego the Cat

I’d like to introduce you to my grandson, and latest addition to our family, Diego the Cat. He’s all that. We’ve all fallen in love with him. There’s no escape!

Diego on YouTube

One of my favourite things to do with him is have him pose for portraits in the parlour or out on the promenade. Purr-fect! He is like a pink, pink rose but he is a grey tiger on the outside. I hold up my page and draw so that he can watch the movement of the pen. He is a very good student of drawing. He watches every movement and listens to me as I explain to him that he is a cat. Pointing out his pointy ears and all that. He is a cat. His attention never wavers and when the pen moves closest to him, he starts purring. I think he likes curves especially.

The obvious next step is a full ballet production involving cats, pens, and a generous production budget. I am told this was actually done in Montréal way back in 1999 or 2000 with a contemporary dance company, but alas with the unfortunate exclusion of cats.

Next week we will be back to our regular programming.

 

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Serendipity and Coping with the Unexpected

Upon the passing of my father and dear friend, congratulations on a life well lived. Always in my heart. Thanks for your inspiration.

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Art in the Garden, Dino DiNicolo and the Rare Gangetic Dolphin

I am so fortunate to live on Stanley Park in the spring when the trees leaf they seem to rise up and surround my balcony like a canopy filled with bird song. Zephyrs of wind move through the trees and I can sometimes hear the little children at the Pooh Corner Daycare playing capriciously and singing “Jingle Bells” at the top of their lungs!

What could be more inspiring than playing with Dino DiNicolo in a beautiful garden surrounded by trees, flowers, and art? Dino and I have done this tour for years, sometimes in the rain, which has its own special atmosphere, but we expect nothing but sunny skies. The flowers are getting ready for their great performance! Art in the Garden is a tour of 16 gardens in West Vancouver and North Vancouver with a very reasonable charge of one dollar for each garden, each one unique featuring a visual artist, a musical duo, and of course the beautiful plants and flowers that have been nurtured all year.

Dino and I are scheduled to perform:

Saturday May 28th, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Garden #14: 2820 Marine Drive, West Vancouver

Sunday May 29th, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Garden #12: 5570 Woodpecker Place.

Come and smell the roses… and everything else!
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And let’s not forget..

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The rare, and uniquely beautiful, Ganges River Dolphin. (Just look at that smile!)

The Rapture of Cherry Blossoms on the Wind

It seems to me the cherry blossoms are even more beautiful as they fall. Long lines of pink along the streets. Hallways of rosy colours and small petals that tickle the road as they pass before you. This Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival is a wonderful thing. Thanks to Linda Poole for creating it.

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even the blind woman
picks blossoms

-Rosa Clement, Manaus, Brazil

Before I leave you with a fantastic photo of Yayoi and I, and a video clip, I’d like to let you all know I’ll be returning to the garden once again May 28-29 with the amazing bassist Dino DiNicolo.

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Yayoi and I performing haiku.

This is a video of our performance at VanDusen Garden.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Holly Burke performs at the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival this week, and in April!
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It’s Cherry Blossom Time!
Hello Dear Friends, and happy Haiku to you! What is haiku? Well if you’d like to know more, you absolutely have to join internationally acclaimed dancer Yayoi Hirano and I to experience the poetry, petals, movement and music. Read on…
You’re invited to a delightfully intimate performance I am involved in. This will be the world premiere of Haiku Mime, a whimsical physical interpretation of haiku poetry submitted from around the world. Weaving text read by yours truly around the expressive movements of Yayoi Hirano, I love our spontaneous interplay as we illuminate these modern haiku poems together. Please join us and be a part of the blossoming of this novel cultural collaboration.

Performance Dates and Times:

Burrard Station Courtyard
March 24: 12:30 pm
(Free Admission)

Van Dusen Gardens
April 9: 11:00 a.m.
April 10: 3:00 p.m.
(Japan Fair Admission $8-$14)

And lastly, thanks to everyone who kindly contributed to our Indiegogo campaign, moving Holly Burke and The Naturals closer to completing our second recording. We’ll resume work on “Playground” as soon as I’m over my concussion. Thank you for all your good wishes!

Copyright © 2016 Holly Burke and The Naturals, All rights reserved.
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April 9-10 Sakura Festival

 

 

Like a Small Miracle đŸŒž

An interesting foreign couple asked me for directions in Stanley Park the other day, and I was quite drawn to speak with them. The woman was from Switzerland, her husband Oman told me his wife was really into trees because of a book she was reading. Ah – A soulmate! She told me that this book was only available in German, and it describes how trees communicate through their roots! For example: there are some trees in Africa that can secrete a toxic substance to turn off giraffe’s that are coming to eat them. Not only that, trees at a distance will warn other trees that the giraffes are coming! When I find out when this book will be translated I’ll let you know. The French are going to make it into a movie. For me, I think of my beautiful family and how we help each other and how similar we are to a group of trees. Screen Shot 2016-03-17 at 10.55.15 AM.png

It’s Cherry Blossom Time!

You’re invited to a delightful intimate performance I am involved with. This will be the world premiere of Haiku Mime, a whimsical physical interpretation of haiku poetry submitted from around the world. Weaving text read by yours truly around the expressive movements of Yayoi Hirano, I simply love the quick interplay we are able to discover as we illuminate these modern haiku poems together. Please join us and be a part of the blossoming of this novel cultural collaboration.

March 24th, 2016; 12:30pm-1:00pm at the courtyard above Burrard Skytrain Station.
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April 8-9 Sakura Festival

Burke goes Bananas

Happy Year of the Monkey, everybody! Super excited that we’ve broken $2500 as we begin our final push toward the Valentine’s Day weekend! Can we double that amount by then? Only with your help! Operators are standing by to take your contributions – no matter how small bananas! 🍌

Indie Go Go Here!

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