There are always options….
and sometimes they are polar opposites.
Also, plans are made for changing.
I was going to go to Brookfield Place to see the World Press Photo exhibit – a good activity for a grey and wet day. Just before I left, the rain stopped so I switched plans and turned the outing into a walk. There was a protest in the afternoon at Queens Park, a march against white supremacy. I knew that I probably missed it (it would have been wet!) but I went in that direction just in case there were still some remnants. But all was quiet and the people were long gone. So I wandered on.
below: In front of St. Regis College, a sculpture called ‘Homeless Jesus’ by Timothy Schmalz. In memory of Joseph and Mary Benninger.
There is a small park at the corner of Bay and Wellesley with trees, water, and sculptures.
below: ‘The Three Graces’, 1971 by Gerald Gladstone (1929-2005). Part of the Governement of Ontario Art Collection.
below: ‘Hunter With Seal’ c. 1966-1968. Sculpted in Canadian black granite by Louis Temporale after a soapstone carving by Paulosie Kanayook.
below: Workers in stone – surveyors, men with shovels and picks and wheelbarrows, and a scientist with a microscope. Part of the artwork above the door of the old Stock Exchange Building on Bay street.
below: At one point the sun even came out – shining on the almost blank west wall of Commerce Court North. This 34 storey building was built in 1931 and at the time it was the tallest building in the British Empire and remained so until 1962.
below: When the site was redeveloped in the 1970’s, Commerce Court North was preserved. It is now surrounded by glass and steel high rises.
below: The mama and baby elephants that stand behind Commerce Court are under wraps. I could say something about going into hibernation for the winter but I think that they are in the midst of being renovated.
below: Just down the street, one of Toronto’s early skyscrapers is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The black towers of the Toronto-Dominion Centre are icons of the Toronto cityscape. They were designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The 56 storey Toronto Dominion Bank Building was completed in 1967. Two years later the adjacent 46 storey Royal Trust Tower was finished. The buildings are steel structures and are clad with bronze-coloured glass and black painted steel.
below: Rocks? Large balls of wood? Plastic made to look like something else? They were inside and I was outside so I didn’t get a close up look.
In case you’re wondering, I did get to Brookfield Place.
below: Photo is the winning photo in the people category, ‘What ISIS Left Behind’ by Magnus Wennman. It shows a girl, Maha age 5, at Debaga Refugee Center.
below: Center photo is by Canadian photographer Amber Bracken and it was taken at the Dakota Access Pipeline protest at Lake Oahe at Standing Rock Sioux reservation.
below: Four coloured photos by Peter Bauza. Third prize in the Contemporary Issues category – a series of pictures taken in the Jambalaya neighbourhood in western Rio de Janeiro where people squat in derelict apartment blocks that lack basic infrastructure.
as I walk Toronto 