Toronto Superstars
The story of ALLEY PATIO ended up not being about patio furniture at all.
JULY 30, 2017
IT WAS A SIGN
Pato was sent to Kincardine, Ontario to visit a customer at a nuclear plant. The closest he could get by plane was Toronto, a 3-hour drive away. So he flew in early on Sunday to meander the city streets, and there it was – the “mother” of all signs! The sign was in front of Fifth Pubhouse and clearly it was our sign.
Pato was like “how cool is this?!” He changed his Facebook profile picture to reflect our awesome global relationship with a sign several hundred miles away. I did not even notice. I was too busy at home – work, laundry, tending to the kids. Birds singing happily. Dog snoring under the bed.
We each own a stake in this sign. It reads “ALLEY PATIO” in blaring orange neon. “ALLEY” for Aly and “PATIO” for Pato. It just says it all. Of course, all the locals know that “ALLEY PATIO” is actually an alley where people gather to drink and socialize.
I really thought we were getting patio furniture. The chair pictured on one side of ALLEY PATIO was exactly the kind of chair I wanted. Those fancy wooden Adirondack types. Pato did not come home with a chair.
Instead, our annual ALLEY PATIO house party is now complete with a 40”x30” canvas transfer adorning our kitchen wall as a welcome sign to our humble abode. I plan on making a small rectangular sign to put above our back sliders to the deck where we entertain our guests. After all, an ALLEY PATIO is a patio in an alleyway of Toronto where people gather to drink and socialize.
AM – Visual Storyteller / Moments Told
