as I walk Toronto

into the night at the CNE

Posted: August 21, 2014 in events, people
Tags: acrobats, aim, attractions, August, balls, Canadian National Exhibition, candy, CNE, crowds, Curious George, evening, Ex, gamble, games, Jeff, junk food, lights, midway, mirage, monkeys, noise, people, prizes, rides, ring toss, roulette, sand, sculpture, shows, stuffed animals, summer, Toronto, Whac-a-mole

another August, another trip to the Ex!

Evening shot as the sky is getting darker. Tiny Tom donut stand all lit up, with a line up of people waiting to buy donuts.

Tiny Tom Donuts, an iconic part of the CNE for as long as I can remember.

Two acrobatic women hanging from a large triple hook shaped bar suspended from the ceiling. Bathed in blue light.

One of this year’s shows is ‘Mirage’, an acrobatic show at the Ricoh Coliseum.

Two people on a rope in yellow and purple lights. Part of the audience can be seen in the photo.

another part of the ‘Mirage’ show

A boy wearing a fedora is standing beside one of the midway games. He is holding a coke bottle with the name Jeff on it. Behind him is a large picture of 3 stars.

A star on the midway. The coke bottle says Jeff.

Two young men are hammering away at Whac-a-mole while a woman who is running the game is talking to the people who are watching

playing Whac-a-Mole!

A number of people are competing to win a stuffed monkey. They are shooting water into a target.

shooting for monkeys, Curious George as the prize

A groups of young people are playing a midway game where you toss balls. What they are throwing them at is not in the photo!

Having fun tossing baseballs!

CNE midway game with the prize being a stuffed minion from the movie 'Despicable Me'. A woman is paying to play.

getting ready to play for minions

A young man is sitting by a giant roulette wheel, a midway game at the Ex

waiting for the wheel to stop

Lights on one of the midway rides, Starship.

Starship lights and motion on the midway

A display of candy apples for sale. Some are coated with smarties candies, some with multi coloured sprinkles and some with crushed nuts.

yum, candy apples… caramel, smarties, sprinkles and crushed nuts!

Sand sculpture of a woman sitting on the ground, looking wistfully through a round window. In the background are some woman standing behind a wood barricade who are looking at the sand sculpture

women watching, sand sculpture

Details of a sand sculpture (hands) with another sculpture behind (of a woman)

women from another angle

A father and his daughters are on a midway ride, spinning in red "seats" as they go around in circles.

spinning quickly on the midway – or at least a bit too quickly for the camera!

yogathon

Posted: August 17, 2014 in events
Tags: #riseforthecause, bare feet, child pose, cobra, community, downward dog, exercise, fun, good cause, help, laughter, love, mats, peace, people, postitions, postures, raise money, smiles, stretch, Toronto, upward dog, yoga, yogathon, yogis

Yogathon, Dundas Square, 16 August

Group of people at 2014 yogathon, Dundas Square

The first yogathon was held in Toronto a few years ago.
Today’s was the 3rd annual yogathon and it has spread to 46 cities in 12 countries.

During one of the short breaks between sun salutations.

The goal? 108 Sun Salutations. Variations were introduced to keep it interesting.

Try yoga while holding hands!

Money raised goes to Care for Children who work with youth in rural India.

A woman talks the group at the yogathon through their yoga postures, positions and sun salutations.

Instructors took turns leading the group through their salutations.

Happiness, Hope, Peace, Trust, Love and Balance.

Family time too….

Two women are sitting on the ground and talking to each other. Their backs are to the camera. On the back of their Tshirts are the words 'no one ever drowned in their own sweat'.

No one ever drowned in their own sweat – great T-shirts!

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I was curious as to the meaning of JAIGURUDEV as written in chalk in the above picture. So I looked it up and this is one explanation that I found. It may not be the only interpretation but I liked it……

“You know there is a Big Mind and a small mind. Sometimes the Big Mind wins over the small mind and sometimes it is the other way around.

When the small mind wins over, it is misery and when the Big Mind wins, it is joy.

Small mind promises joy and leaves your hand empty. Big Mind may bring resistance in the beginning but fills you with joy.

The word Guru means great. Jaya means victory. Deva means one who is fun-loving, playful, light. One who is playful is often not dignified and when one is dignified, he is often not playful.

Jai Guru Dev is victory to the Big Mind in you that is both dignified and playful. That is what Jai Guru Dev means: “Victory to the Greatness in you.”

You do not say victory or hail to the Master as he has won over already. You say victory to your own Self, your own Mind, which is being veiled by the small mind.”

from: Guru Vaani at guruvaani.wordpress.com

from pork to park

Posted: August 9, 2014 in history, locations
Tags: bee, butterflies, construction, corktown, corktown commons, DOn River, Gooderham & Worts, green trees, hogs, hogtown, images, map, park, pavillion, photos, plants, pork, Toronto, urban, West Don Lands, William Davies Co..

Corktown Common

One of Toronto’s newest parks

In one corner of the park there is a plaque that commemorates the William Davies Company, once the owners of the land and buildings in this part of the city.

“From 1874 to 1927, this site was home to the William Davies Company, reputed to be the largest pork packing plant in the British Empire. Established in 1857 by William Davies (1831-1921), the company made its fortune preparing and exporting cured sides of pork to England. Later, its products were sold through William Davies Company shops, one of Canada’s first store chains. In its buildings here, the innovative company controlled the entire process from slaughter to shipment. Processing nearly 500,000 hogs annually by 1900, the company contributed to the city’s nickname “Hogtown”.
In 1892, Joseph Flavelle (1858-1939) became a partner and managing director of the company. Under Flavelle, the business flourished until the 1920’s when it was hurt by falling markets. The William Davies Company merged with three other packing firms to create Canada Packers, which continued to operate from this site until 1932. The last of the company’s buildings here were demolished in the 1990’s.”

An old coloured map of the area now called the West Don Lands. This illustration also appeared in a blogTO post about the William Davies Company. http://www.blogto.com/city/2013/10/how_toronto_got_the_nickname_hogtown/

An old illustrated map of the area now called the West Don Lands. The red letters are as follows:
A – Gooderham & Worts, now the Distillery District
B – William Davies Company, now Corktown Common
C – CNR tracks
D – the Don River
A version of this illustration also appeared in a blogTO post about the William Davies Company.

The last remains of the pork processing business disappeared long ago. After remaining vacant for a number of years, the site was developed into a park as part of the West Don Lands rebuilding.

small trees and other greenery , with a path and bench in the middle, in the foreground and the Toronto skyline is in the background.

The park is starting to look a lot greener as the plants and trees grow. This photo was taken from on top of one of the man made hills in the park. August 2014

A black, grey, white and orange butterfly on a pink flower

There are now lots of butterflies….

A bee and a butterfly on a tall upright light purple flower.

… and bees

A pavilion made of steel and wood sits atop a small hill in the middle of the play area. The pavilion was designed by by Maryann Thompson Architects of Boston The blue and green ovals are where there are fountains for warm weather water play.

a woman is sitting on a bench, looking at her phone. Behind her there are a number of buildings under construction

Looking west, and slightly north, from the pavilion towards the downtown area. West Don Lands redevelopment in the immediate background. Autumn 2013 (the building under construction is now almost complete – see above)

Part of a large red metal sculpture is in the foreground, looking past it you can see the pavillaion on top of a small hill that is part of Corktown Common park

Looking northeast through the wood and red metal sculpture, ‘No Shoes’, by Mark di Suvero. May 2014

Newly planted trees surroounded by grass.

The trees are starting to grow. They don’t look like much at the moment but give them time!

raspberries, not quite ripe, on a raspberry canes

There is even a large raspberry bush but by the looks of it, only the birds and insects have found it!

A map, screenshot from google maps, of West Don Lands and vicinity.

A map of the area today. The red X marks the spot of the new park.

When the park opened in 2013, urbantoronto.ca had an article about it. You can read about it here

Some wonderful aerial views of the area can be seen in another wordpress blog

******

Bau Xi Gallery

Posted: August 9, 2014 in galleries
Tags: Ad Rerendum, Bau Xi, Bratsa Bonifacho, letters, multicoloured, painting, the Green Zone

Bau Xi Gallery on Dundas West, across the street from the AGO, is one of my favorite galleries. The artwork that they exhibit is always eclectic and usually interesting.

Two that caught my eye today were by Bratsa Bonifacho.

a very colourful painting that looks like a mosaic of diffferent coloured letters on different coloured squares and rectangles.

painting entitled “The Green Zone”

Painting of letters upside down and rightside up in greys and blues.

close up of part of “Ad Rerendum”. The painting is about the size as the one above

gallery website: www.bau-xi.com

facing outward from the wall

Posted: July 18, 2014 in graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, city, downtown, dude, face, faces, garage, graffiti, graffiti faces, head, lane, laneway, people, photos, spray paint, street art, tags, Toronto, urban

Graffiti faces seen in alleys and lanes recently.

A street art painting of a bust of a woman, all white, looks like white marble Greek or Roman statue, very classical looking

White bust on a wall near Bathurst subway station. She has been here for quite some time now; it’s good to see that no one has tagged over her

Large black & white & grey face of a famous black musician, probably jazz or blues but I'm not sure

musician – and my apologies because I am not sure who it is.

A small black & white & grey face made on paper, surrounded by green , yellow, blue & oranges squiggly lines

colourful face

A street art painting of a woman's face. Her eyes are closed and her head is tilted upwards

Closed eyes between the garages

Graffiti, or street art, on a blue background, of a little black and white animal with a spray paint can in his hand. Beside him is a tag in yellows and olive greens.

Love Spraying Dude, a colourful little guy

A few small trees are growing in front of an older building that has been painted white. Two brown figures have been stencilled onto the wall.

Hiding behind the trees

*****

alley animals

Posted: July 14, 2014 in graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, animals, beaks, bird, bunny, city, cranes, dinosaur, doors, downtown, elephant, garages, graffiti, hummingbird, lane, mural, pig, rhino, rhinocerous, street art, tags, Toronto, urban

A selection of the graffiti animals that I have encountered in the past few weeks.

large mural on the side of two storey building of a rhino surrounded by large birds

rhino and his feathered friends, parking lot off College St.
This is only part of the mural…. more below.

mural of many large birds in blues and greys, they all have long curved necks and large beaks

large beaks, large birds
This is only part of the mural…. more above.

oink, oink
A mural by ACS murals

A white outline drawing of a dinosaur painted on a green door that is locked

guardasaurus to watch over the door

a red and white painting of a floppy eared stylized rabbit on the side of an old garage. Other garages with tags on them are also in the photograph

posr rabbit tucked in beside a garage – hiding from those who are hunting rabbits

large mural street art piece painted on the side of a one storey building of a beaked creature with wings

Creature with scales and a tail, Willis St., near the northwest corner of Queen and Bathurst streets.

elephants in threes, but you can only see two of them in this pic. The elephant on the right didn't fit in the photo.

Elephants herd of three, but you can only see two of them in this picture. The elephant on the right didn’t fit in the photo…. but it looked just like the one of the left except it’s facing the other way.

painted graffiti of a hummingbird that looks like it is coming into land, hovering near vertical

hummingbird hovering beside a garage door

*****

slaps in the alley

Posted: July 14, 2014 in graffiti and street art
Tags: balaclava, bandana, brown brick, city, College St., dog, downtown, graffiti, licking, persevering, phinite, photos, purple, purple flower, rabbit, slaps, socks, stickers, street art, thanks, Toronto, urban, window, woman

In a small alley running behind the south side of College St., west of Bathurst, we discovered a large number of sticker graffiti pieces.

brown brick wall with a window that has been boarded over and painted the same brown colour. In the window, and on the window frame, are a large number of sticker graffiti pieces.

once it was a window, now it is a canvas of sorts

close up of some of the stickers that are in the window. One has words on it that asks if you have thanked yourself for persevering. Another is a red lizard with the words No Pipelines written on it, and another is a dog that is licking socks.

persevering thank you very much, while the dog licks the socks

A woman wearing a light purple cloth over the lower part of her face is holding a large white sign with the letter A inside a circle on it. Beside her is a large purple flower. Both are sticker.

partially obscured with purple and purple flower

An assortment of some of the stickers. These are the ones that were on the top part of the window. A person wearing a balaclava, a black haired girl with the lower part of her face covered in black, an outline drawing of a rabbit,

I did what I could with this photo as it was taken looking upward into the shadows of the window. Strange angle too – being much taller might have helped!

A black and white sticker on a yellow pole. The words on the sticker say Rad Brad. It is weird looking two legged creature.

Rad Brad hanging out on a yellow pole

******

Centennial Park conservatory

Posted: July 13, 2014 in locations, nature
Tags: bougainvillea, cacti, Centennial Park, coleus, conservatory, Etobicoke, flowers, gardens, geraniums, green, greenhouse, leaf, leaves, path, pink, plants, red anthurium, rocks, stones, Toronto

I ventured out to Etobicoke because I heard that Centennial Park had a conservatory and I was curious about what was there. Taking photos of flowers and plants is not my forte but it was an interesting place to experiment with colour, texture and composition. I do not know the names of most of the plants that I saw there, and very few were labelled. There were geraniums, anthuriums (red & white), bougainvillea, bamboo, lots of different cacti and succulents, to name a few. The photos below represent only a sample of what was growing there today.