Left Behind.

Readers Nook, a bookstore located on 8th Street, closed at the end of 2008. When it closed the sign above was buried under a mound of snow and was left behind by the owners. With the snow gone it is visible once again, and was in this position when I went to take a look the other day.

Readers Nook, and its previous incarnation the Book Nook, was previously located a block away in a much more visible location. Its less visible location in recent years, combined with the arrival of first McNally Robinson Booksellers, then an outlet of the Indigo book store chain, presumbly led to its demise. It's hard for a small independant like Readers Nook to compete with a big box outlet like McNally Robinson.

Here's the sign that was located above the doors of Readers Nook, including a neon figure reading a book.

Globe On The Green Grass.

No, Saskatoon is not the home of giant hamsters. This is an environmental themed piece called Rolling Composter, created by Regina artist Wendy Peart. It is located on the lawn of City Hall on 23rd Street. Even if a giant rodent was able to get into the metal mesh globe it wouldn't go very far since the installation is chained to the ground.

Fit To Print.

This is the front of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Saskatoon's daily newspaper, located on 5th Avenue North. It is published Monday to Saturday, and is currently owned by Canadian media conglomerate CanWest Global. They also publish the weekend paper the Saskatoon Sun.

Faith Changes.

This innocous looking building on the corner of Boychuk and McKercher Drives was originally a Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall. The congregation eventually outgrew the building and built a much larger Kingdom Hall elsewhere. The building sat empty for several years before becoming the home of members of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam. To me this seems rather appropriate in that both groups are frequently considered by the mainstreams of Christianity and Islam respectively as not being truly part of those faiths due to their doctrinal beliefs. while their members consider themselves Christians and Muslims. Like the Jehovah Witnesses before them it's a reasonable guess their future will find them located elsewhere, as the number of cars parked nearby during Friday services indicates they have a lot of people taking part in worship.

(This photo was taken last summer and isn't the best I've taken, but I wanted to post a religious themed photo for Good Friday.)