#holyroodbenchproject update #5 -- three-and-a-half years later

Just before the snow flew on November 6th, I took one last chilly bike ride to capture a few pictures of some neighbourly benches that have shown up in Holyrood since my last #holyroodbenchproject update two and a half years ago. If you missed my earlier moodlings about the project, you can check out some pretty creative benches and learn how the project began by clicking these links below:

The #holyroodbenchproject
The #holyroodbenchproject -- an update
#holyroodbenchproject update #2 -- special edition
#holyroodbenchproject update #3 -- two blue benches

#holyroodbenchproject update #4 -- one year later

For update #5, I'll start with two blue simple beauties:

Blue seems to be a popular bench colour in our neighbourhood.

Since my last #holyroodbenchproject moodling, 
there are a couple of benches that have been repainted...

This brown one has the addition 
of some green grass and blue sky, maybe?

Jane's Doggie Rest Stop 
got spruced up after a hard winter or two.

Brett and Lynn turned their Canada Day red bench into something more romantic.

And the Butterfly bench is now a floral Spot to Stop. Clever rearrangement of letters.

There are a few newer designs, too...

Or maybe this one is simply redone with additional white paint?

This street has at least four benches on it, 

with this zinnia design being the newest.

This bench rests in a little area park rather than being a boulevard bench. 

Very punny.

Be careful how you sit on this one! 

I think it wins in the humour department.

Shadow and I often walk in the neighbourhoods beyond Holyrood, 

and we were delighted to find four neighbourly benches (below)

 next door in Strathearn. The SEESA carpenters' little project 

has spread benches far and wide, building community 

beyond the neighbourhood's boundaries.

Above is Strathearn's counterpoint to Jane's doggie rest stop, I guess.

These playful cats make me smile every time.

I really like this last Holyrood bench below, designed by Jeff Sylvester, a Holyrood resident who is an amazing artist, for a neighbour who wanted a piece of Jeff's art. I'm not sure if the bench has an actual title, but Jeff's murmurations of starlings and cell towers feature in other art on his website. 

The design reminds me of the swirls of Bohemian waxwings that we often see feeding from Holyrood's mountain ash trees in February, and of the crows that I've seen around church cell towers that have been converted to look something like steeples marked with a cross. I once heard a crow inside a tower, seemingly playing with the sound of his voice echoing against its walls. Or maybe there was a nest up there? Regardless, the juxtaposition of nature and technology in this piece of art is thought-provoking, it is beautiful to look at, and is possibly the smoothest SEESA-made bench you'll ever sit on. The bench has a thick coat of resin to give it a show-stopping shine.

I could feel the oncoming snow in the air by the end of my bike ride, so I may have missed a few benches in my hurry to go home and warm up. I suspect there are others that have changed in the past three-and-a-half years. I wonder if more might show up over the next while as covid projects. Not that it matters. I love my neighbourhood and all the good neighbours who make it more walkable by offering some public seating. 

Well done, all!