Toronto+Vancouver City of Labyrinths Project

Saturday Afternoon spent chalking three Labyrinths in and around the Central Playground of Brampton’s Chinguacousy Park.

I was so focused on making the Labyrinths,

I only took a few photographs.

And altogether forgot to take any photographs of my third Labyrinth, a pass-through baltic design closer to the spray pad area.

It was that time of day,

Before the photographer’s Golden Hour when natural lighting is at its best for image captures,

When long shadows make it challenging to properly photograph the Labyrinths I draw in chalk on the ground.

So I only took two more less than satisfactory photographs to simply remember and remind myself of the day.

People walking the Labyrinths came in waves, when one would walk, many then followed.

Perhaps as many teens and grown-ups walked them as the total number of children who kept returning to re-walk them.

I lost track of time and was mostly in the moment.

Making Labyrinths has become my Mindfulness practice as much as walking Labyrinths.

Around the largest of the afternoon’s three Labyrinths,

I chalked the word for Labyrinths in a number of Brampton’s most spoken Languages.

Somehow the late afternoon rays of sunlight peeking through the trees and landing upon my multi-colour chalk Labyrinth,

Looks very much like the colours of sunlight passing through the stained glass windows of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, as it illuminated the Labyrinth inside the Church.

Image I took of the Labyrinth inside Grace Cathedral in SF back in 2013.

Currently in progress,

I am painting a Labyrinth commissioned by the Chaplaincy at Holy Name of Mary Catholic Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario.

Parking Lot was agreed as the best candidate location for a Painted Labyrinth.

Available space for painting a Labyrinth was trapezoid/rectangular.

My final design was a Nine Lane Labyrinth plus two wings with spans of four additional lanes on either side.

Keeping the Concentric Circle arc design rather than using true 90 degree hard right angles will make for a funner and more flowing Labyrinth walking experience.

Plan for the day was to at least outline in paint my chalked design.

Retracing in paint a thin outline meant I need not worry about any rain which would wash away my chalk design outlining work.

Rain has been intermittent yet frequent enough this month to delay completion.

InshAllah, will finish painting it before the first snow.

Fifteen Grade 9 Students at Brampton’s Only All-Girls Catholic Secondary School walking my second Proof-of-Concept Chalk Labyrinth.

The width of the Labyrinth outlines were chalked/re-chalked in 3 inch widths, the same width as my go-to size when painting permanent Labyrinths using paint rollers.

This second Labyrinth Candidate Location works.

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Because there is ample space on either side of my Nine Lane circular chalk design seen here,

Final design can include additional wing-like lanes afforded by the rectangular asphalt canvas space.

I’ve been approached by the Chaplaincy at Holy Name of Mary Catholic Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario to help them with locating and making a Labyrinth on their high school campus.

This seven lane Chalk Labyrinth was my quickly chalked Proof-of-Concept in one of our candidate spaces,

An asphalt service lane beside their athletic field . . .

Parking Lot seen in the background below is the better candidate location for a Labyrinth painted on asphalt.

Ergo,

A second Proof-of-Concept Chalk Labyrinth is needed to see if the Parking Lot works best.

This Thursday Morning was the Big Day !

Your favourite local Labyrinth Maker, wore his Red Labyrinth TEE, to the Mobile Vaccination Clinic !

I signed up at 10:03 p.m. last night on a Stand By List for First Doses at MAC ICCO, Islamic Community Centre of Ontario operated by Muslim Association of Canada.

There was no guarantee of getting a first shot today, the email confirmation warned us.

We may have to wait all day from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.

But that’s not what happened at all.

The company that was outsourced by the Region of Peel to handle the online booking system for Vaccine Doses at this location pretty much were overwhelmed, almost from the first day registration opened on April 30 2021.

Confirmation emails or phone calls were not being sent or made.

Many people had MISSED their confirmed Vaccine Appointments at this Mobile Vaccination Clinic.

MAC created an easier parallel online booking system for “Standby Appointments” to ensure all available doses were used.

Almost all the people ahead of me in line that you can see in the above photograph, were Standby.

And all of us received our first dose of Moderna before Noon !

There was a somewhat Labyrinthy Experience to everything.

Before you enter you start with Questions,

Like any worthwhile Labyrinth walk.

Having satisfied the Security Guard that we were Vaccine Dose eligible,

we enter the Vaccine Clinic Labyrinth . . .

Followed a winding path marked by duct tape on the carpet and arrows stickered on the floor 6 feet apart.

Sometimes the Centre of a Labyrinth has spaces that resemble rose petals or alcoves.

People sometimes sit down in those places inside the Centre.

Today’s Centre has Vaccine Stations.

And this where I sat down . . .

My Vaccine Dose was administered by Andrei, a registered nurse.

I asked him if there was any difference between getting jabbed in the right arm or the left arm.

It was something I had been wondering about.

Did the Heart being closer to one’s left arm have anything to do with it?

Nope.

There was no difference in efficacy, either arm can be chosen to receive the jab.

Because some people might feel a little soreness for a day or so in their arm,

People are recommended to get jabbed in their less dominant arm.

I am mostly right-handed, so I got jabbed in my left arm.

IF any soreness pops up today or tomorrow, my right-handedness won’t suffer.

Oh okay.

Minor Mystery solved.

Here we go . . .

Time of Dose : 11:37 a.m.

I know I felt something,

but I almost can’t describe what getting the needle in the arm felt like.

Painless.

Over in seconds, if that.

As almost everybody knows by now,

After getting your first dose,

You need to hang around on site for 15 minutes.

If this were a trip,

This is the part where we ask, “Are we there yet?”

Because we are stationary,

We instead ask, “Are we then yet?”

Like the Jab that was painless,

This passing of 15 minutes of time went by almost unnoticed.

Because I was a Standby Vaccine Appointment, while checking out at the exit desk, they could not confirm date and time for my second dose.

That would be in an email to be sent later.

No matter.

I was giddy and feeling euphoric while this portrait of me standing beside the retractable Vaccination banner stand while pointing to my jabbed arm was being taken by a MAC ICCO volunteer.

Many times, one needs to walk a Labyrinth more than once to get the most out of it.

I’ve gotten my first Vaccine Dose at the Mobile Vaccination Clinic today.

To ensure COVID-19 immunity, I need to repeat the steps above a second time, but that’s for another day.

To observe this Labour Day Monday 2019,

I visited and walked the Milestones of Labour Monument Labyrinth in Brampton, Ontario . . .