iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 6h

Ionic columns and capitals on what is otherwise a Tuscan temple... Vitruvius says "arrghhhhhhhh!".

Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 23h

I was chuffed to see last weekend that my favourite Hintonburg local, the Happy Goat, now has a café in Kingston! It's in this beautiful row of heritage buildings surrounding Market Square (on the right).

A staely row of heritage commercial buildings, one brick building of three stories and two smaller limestone buildings of two stories, behind a sidewalk with public seating and umbrellas.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I'm back home in Ottawa now, so one last tip of the hat to the Kingston house that perfectly embodies every dream or nightmare of what a haunted house should look like: the Hochelaga Inn. #OughtToBeHaunted

An ornate, picturesque brick house with a central tower and spire and gothic-arch windows sits among a group of lushly foliated trees against a dark, clear sky.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Glad you're enjoying them, Mina! Please add some of your own if you can think of places that #OughtToBeHaunted!

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I rarely think of churches as places that #OughtToBeHaunted, but Chalmers United in Kingston apparently is – by an especially malevolent spirit that has given several organists the fright of their lives during late-night practice sessions. 😱 👻 🎃

An imposing stone church with a massive circular tower and flanking Romanesque façades, brightly sunlit against a dark, clear sky. The sharp, needle-like spire of another church is visible in the distance.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

If there's one place in Kingston that #OughtToBeHaunted, it's the Frontenac County Courthouse. Prisoners were held in the adjacent jail while awaiting the gallows there. The jail was demolished in 1973, but souls are harder to banish, especially when their mortal remains lie beneath the parking lot.

A broad, very stately Classical building with a recessed central block and end blocks that step forward, all anchored by a giant order Ionic temple façade in the middle. A dome on a drum site above and behind the pediment. The whole ensemble is lit by an oblique, low, evening autumn sun.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

If you've always thought that Kingston's Prince George Hotel #OughtToBeHaunted, then you'll be pleased to know that it apparently is. Very. According to @hauntedwalk.bsky.social, the spirit of a young woman who died in a fire on the 3rd floor is especially active.

A black & white image of a stately stone building of three stories, with an elaborately ornamented wooden veranda, a mansard roof, and a small central tower. A tiny moon is just visible in a dark sky.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Yes, Kingston has a few - most famously, Bellevue (also haunted, or so they say).

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Reposted by Peter Coffinman

Don Curren 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @dbcurren.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Reader: it was. 👻👻

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A century ago it was empty and dilapidated and everyone figured it #OughtToBeHaunted. Today, Kingston's Rosemount Inn is in beautiful condition. But its non-paying guests include disembodied voices, and sometimes even disembodied bodies. Maybe this is where @dbcurren.bsky.social stayed. 👻🎃

Black & white image of a dignified stone house with a robust central tower sitting behind a dark iron fence among trees with light foliage beneath a dark sky with puffy white clouds.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Just getting in under the wire for #StaircaseSaturday #SaturdayStairs #SaturdaySteps I walked by the Kingston Post office today, and got this nice taste of Modern geometry.

Two staircases cross diagonally behind a rectilinear grid of tall, narrow windows.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Well, there’s more than one. Stay tuned…. 🎃👻

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

According to @hauntedwalk.bsky.social, the Hochelaga is Kingston's most haunted Inn. A Victorian mansion built in 1879, it's full of Gothick features and certainly #OughtToBeHaunted.

An elaborate Victorian house with pointed windows, fancy gingerbread, and a central tower with spire penetrating the clear sky.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

They say that Kingston shipping tycoon Donald McIntosh promised his family a castle. But before architect John Power finished building this one for him, McIntosh had hit hard times and been forced to sell it. McIntosh Castle #OughtToBeHaunted, perhaps by Donald's broken dreams.

A symmetrical stone building with a massive, crenelated central stone tower covered with ivy, sits among trees in a black and white image.

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Reposted by Peter Coffinman

Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Many theatre artists will tell you that theatre buildings are haunted. Stages are places of shadowy souls; beings who aren’t really there, but are palpably present. I’m not sure if the Theatre Royal in Barkerville, B.C. is haunted. But it #OughtToBeHaunted. 🎃 👻

View of a simple, wooden theatre space, looking towards the stage. Bench-like wooden seats face a stage at the far end. The entire space is empty except for one figure on the far right of the stage: a female figure in a full, Victorian dress.

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Reposted by Peter Coffinman

Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

“It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope." -Shirley Jackson, ‘The Haunting of Hill House' #OughtToBeHaunted 🎃 😱 👻

An ornate Victorian house with multiple bay windows and gingerbread is brightly sunlit against a dark, foreboding sky.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Ah yes, the tradition of haunted theatres is a long one.... bsky.app/profile/pete...

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Reposted by Peter Coffinman

DCapTO @dcapto.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I see some of you already got your spooky October vibes on. Here’s a hashtag I hope catches on, and my own #OughtToBeHaunted #TOphoto

The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre elevators with beautiful ornate art neuveau style typography in the wall above the doors that read WINTER GARDEN, beautiful gold metal elevator doors with ornate design that need an operator to manually shut and open. One of the two elevators’ doors are open with 3 people waiting for the operator to return. I’ve ghosted their faces with white airbrush tool for their anonymity. It feels like a scene in an old Hitchcock movie. Or Wes Anderson.

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Reposted by Peter Coffinman

Denise Horoky @fadedbleujeans.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

We visited this summer, and some of those cells just felt so full of tainted memories. Haunted? Yes, I would agree, it is.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Designed to inspire fear, built to harbour despair, how could Kingston Penitentiary not be haunted? #OughtToBeHaunted

A wide, tall, impenetrable stone wall is punctuated by a simple, imposing temple façade above which is a small tower and cupola. One side of the tower and a fragment of the wall are in bright sunlight, the rest is in subdued shadow.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Thank you! The building's not bad either....

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It's that time of year again, when I can resurrect my favourite hashtag: #OughtToBeHaunted. Here's one of my favourites from last year. I'm off to Kingston today, where some other possibilities might come up. 👻🎃

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"We're still here." And how! 👇 Champaigne and Aishihik Adminstrative Bldg, Haines Junction; Migizii Agamik, Winnipeg; Haida Heritage Centre, Skidegate; Wabano Centre, Ottawa.

A clean, crisp-lines wooden building with several windows is perched atop a rocky mound.

An undulating path and stone wall leads to a stone building with a glass porch.

A row of modern longhouse-style buildings with central totem poles recedes into the distance.

And undulating, irregular stone and glass building sits on a city street as pedestrians pass by.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I saw it on the weekend. A very entertaining film, but no, not really about concrete at all. Concrete simply supplies a very thin narrative thread that loosely connects a number of disparate stories. I mean that simply as a description, not a criticism.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Historical prequel: Third Avenue Complex, Dawson City, Yukon. We can thank Parks Canada for the romantic, evocative name.

Frontal view of two very simple wooden houses, one a bungalow the other three-story, leaning into each other as if for support.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Agreed! 👇 Dredge #4, near Dawson City, Yukon.

Steel tubes and other parts from a long dismembered machine sit in a random pile, backlit by a single window.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thank you! It's a nice feeling. 🙂

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Is it just me, or does the logo for the Signal Awards look a lot like a hand giving someone the finger?

A poster for the Signal Awards, showing a row of vertical bars of unequal height clamped together with headphones, with text reading "5th Annual Signal Awards/Finalists Announced Today".

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Feels so good to be easing into fall, my favourite season. After years in academia, 'easing' is the key word. 👇 Westport, Ontario, a few years ago (the colours are not that far along yet this year).

Elevated view (from a hill) of a church spire poking up from a cluster of trees in full fall colours of orange and yellow.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A bit late in the day, but I've just realized I can recycle this for today's #BirdOfTheDay themes, which are #Seabirds; alternative theme #Airborne.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Perhaps the return of Coburg Café?

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

That Canada was modeling its response to a potential invasion by the USA was widely reported in January, so this isn’t really news - except to an American audience, which is presumably the target here.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Just don’t swallow the toothpick….

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Thanks for clarifying, I was, as I said, surprised. Problem is, there are a lot of people who follow municipal affairs who've only heard of one 'Tom Flood', and it's not the funeral home guy.... However, it's not his fault for having the same name as you, so 🤷‍♂️.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Ah, that would make more sense. But is that 'Tom Flood' well-known enough to be on a list of endorsements from prominent people?

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Interested – and a bit surprised – to see @tomflood.bsky.social listed as having endorsed @mark-sutcliffe.bsky.social's re-election bid for Ottawa mayor.

Photograph of Mark Sutcliffe, mayor of Ottawa, with a list of people who have endorsed him, including Tom Flood.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

When I was studying photography, we took drawing courses. The goal wasn't to teach us how to draw – it was to teach us how to look.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It's that 30% that really worries me, much more than he does. They aren't going away.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Tomorrow is the Fall #Equinox! Which means that when the sun rises at Loughcrew, Ireland, it will shine straight through the passage of the 5000-year-old tomb 'Cairn T' and illuminate the mysteriously carved backstone. Weather is expected to be sunny; should be unforgettable for a lucky few!

An earthen mound with an entrance opening flanked by upright stone slabs.

View through an enclosed passage with upright stone slabs on either side, leading into a dark chamber.

View of a very rough stone chamber with upright stone slabs on the sides, a corbeled domical roof, and a flat, carved stone at the far end.

Close-up view of a stone slab with various indecipherable carvings on it depicting geometric shapes and patterns.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I'm delighted – and maybe even a wee bit envious! – to see the second blog from Daniella Dixon, one of the @carleton.ca students who took our summer course on Roman art & architecture in Rome. The course was taught by Prof. Morgan Currie. carleton.ca/aah/2026/dan...

carleton.ca

Daniella's Blog from Rome, Part 2: The First of Many "WOW" Moments - Art and Architectural History

In her second blog from Rome, Daniella gets her first tase of Roman architecture, ambience – and gelato. The famous lemon gelato, served in a real lemon.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

And, compared to the current proposal, guilt-free. And that's really saying something.

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I think I'll start the week by posting a photo of a real triumphal arch commissioned by a real emperor and made by people who really understood Classical design. The current poseurs are making me a bit nauseous.

A large masonry block viewed at night from an oblique angle, with three arched opening: a taller central one flanked by shorter, narrower ones. The surfaces are covered in carved ornament, and attached Corinthian columns support a full entablature and attic story.

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Reposted by Peter Coffinman

Adam Markham @adammarkham.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

At the request of the Magistri Militum I have agreed to convert the Arcus Triumphalis, planned since the Pax Romana, to an Armamentarium to have the rapid ability to use large numbers of manuballistae, plus sagittarii on the attica & platea, & hold large quantities of plumbatae Imp. Constantinus🏺

Constantine's arch from the front against blue sky and a buildings. There is a fence to prevent access.
Photo: User:Alexander Z., CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

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Peter Coffinman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Actually, what the @theglobeandmail.com reported was that this was "the first time a Canadian prime minister makes an official visit to the small archipelago...". Which is correct, as Trudeau's was not an official visit. The Globe's source was the gov't of France. They did their homework.

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