Category Archives: Uncategorized

Haciendas in the sun and the Power of Quiet

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Thoughts of sunny haciendas and social media-ocrity sweep through my mind…

Hey aspirational! Hey blookup! Hey all you dog gone great followers and fans! Let’s Face-book it:

Oh yes, this is a truly virtual blog now! I talked to Mike.Brown and he creates the post. These are my words coming through him! Thanks, Mike. (You’re welcome! 😜 )

When I’m out with my love dove, Bill, we frequently have to contend with the horrors of corporate background music. Last night we endured two hours of repellant looped robotic music that only drinking could improve. Oh I guess that’s the point, isn’t it?

Hey, come on… We’re human beings… We want to feel! To be touched… To imagine! It’s sinister how corporate decides which satellite (sat-elite?) channel will hold sway over the diners and the rest of us can just lump it. While it’s true I’m extra sensitive and still recovering from my head bonking last December, I think I’ve always been sensitive. Silence – you know, the space between the notes – can be powerful. Then, I want to put in a video clip of oh no nonononononononono leave it it’s wonderful. We will find this on YouTube…

Can’t wait to play with my Naturals again! And also check out Randall’s splash cymbal on “We are Golden”! My camera did something cool and unusual.

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The late Canadian composer Harry Freedman said it best:

Are you an informed listener? Do you take the trouble to protect your ears and your musical appetite? Do you cancel your order and leave a restaurant if the manager does not turn down the Muzak?

It’s a Beautiful Day

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Did you know that we have one hundred billion neurons in our brains? As many as the stars above us. What does this have to do with sumac? I went to Bill’s gig at Kay Meek last weekend – it was Steve Dawson’s tribute to David Bowie – there were about twelve people on stage and the sound just got more and more massive! I found myself slinking down in my seat and putting my head down and my fingers in my ears in crash position and then I just excused myself and slunk out to the lobby… and who did I see but Dave Watson, the amazing emerg. doc. whose daughter I taught years ago! When Dave heard my concussion story he whipped out his phone and said, “look, I want you to go see this guy.” It turns out that both Dave and Brian Hunt are mountain medical emergency doctors. I saw Brian today and he was very encouraging. He advised me to meditate four times a day, avoid all screens, and reduce obvious stressors like driving in Vancouver! I have a lot to be thankful this Thanksgiving and I am wishing you all a tasty, yummy, colourful Thanksgiving. Best wishes to all!

Flames of Sumac

The fall brushed air swirls around my face and ruffles my hair

I see runes written in the moss that grows

Along the old stonewall by the lagoon.

There are dandelions still standing

Stretching themselves as long as they can

Toward the falling green and gold light.

Flames of sumac

Be inside it

We welcome the change

And the wind lifts these pages

Holly Burke, September 2015

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Tristan the Swan

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Tristan loved Thea, his mate of many years. Together they floated over the lagoon with royal elegance, bestowing their grace upon all who saw them…

The parks board never did provide a safe place for the swans of Lost Lagoon. Tristan got bumble foot from the concrete and gravel around the lagoon and was sent to the vet for a couple of weeks. While she was left unprotected on her nest, Thea was fatally attacked by a coyote. This should never have happened. The thing is, there was a swan love triangle between Tristan, Bijan and Marika – a swan Tristan had briefly been involved with a few years back. With Thea’s passing, Bijan corralled poor Tristan into the swampy area of the lagoon. Perhaps he was trying to prevent Tristan from reuniting with Marika.

Many thanks to Fiona and Ziggy, loyal swan-keepers of many years, who organized relocating the swans to a dream home in Langley where they have soft grass under their feet, and abundant clean lake water to enjoy.

It is my hope that the parks board will recognize the legacy and value of the Stanley Park swans and with public help, launch a campaign to make the lagoon safe for all wildlife, including the once and future swans of Lost Lagoon.

Here is an actual photo of Marika and Tristan “making hearts” – taken by Fiona:
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View the Instagram Page for the Stanley Park Swans

Visit the Swans of Stanley Park web page

Anchors Away!

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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

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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

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

StanleyBurke NOW Serendipity and Coping with the Unexpected

 

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

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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

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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

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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.
You are one of my beloved fans!yayoi mime 2 square small

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April 9-10 Sakura Festival

 

 

Like a Small Miracle 🌞

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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