And we’re back! After missing two years because of Covid, Pride is back in Toronto.
Hot! ( 30+ C and sunny) but it didn’t seem to slow anyone down!
We’re getting outside to enjoy the summer while still maintaining some distance as the COVID numbers drop… a few of the restrictions have been lifted and life is little less constrained. Patios are filling up again and a larger selection of stores are open. The following photos were taken downtown on a sunny day a week or so ago…. as I re-learn how to take candid shots of people!
… even though it was the end of September!
below: Up, up, and away… not! The woman in the middle doesn’t seem to interested. Perhaps she’s too busy taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity to sun bathe on the beach one more time.
below: Walking past Leuty Lifeguard Station.
below: He decided to stay and relax a little while people watching.
below: … and (almost) last, a wedding party in the park… finding ways to have celebrations in the summer of Covid-19.
below:Â That’s one way of getting to the beach!
A long weekend in May (Two Four Weekend) + the first sunny warm day in a while + two months of “shelter in place” = people out enjoying Tommy Thompson Park’s trails and waterfront.
below: Flow Like a River
below: Keep ur distance
below: Three people, three positions – up tall and straight, flailing legs middle, and collapsing feet at the end.   Also notable are the mounds of tangled rebar that dot the shoreline.
below: She’s sitting on some very rounded rocks that have been shaped by the waves and water. Are they chunks of man-made concrete and not the more solid rocks formed by nature?
The park has come a long way since construction of the Leslie Street Spit started in 1959. In the beginning, it was to be an area for “port related activities”.  In the early 1970s, it was decided that Toronto didn’t need an expanded port. Since 1973, the focus has been on developing the area as a park but keeping as much “wilderness” as possible. If you are interested in the history of Tommy Thompson Park, they have an excellent website with aerial pictures that show how the park has grown.
below: Nature slowly takes over, and the piles of rubble and construction waste that were used to help build the foundations of the park become grown over and buried.
below: Late afternoon fishermen on their way in.
below: If you look closely, you might see that one of the bikes has a bell in the shape of a skull with red eyes.
below: There were lots of noisy redwing blackbirds as well as many other kinds of birds – orioles, grosbeaks, goldfinches, robins, warblers, swallows, and sparrows. During spring migration, up to 300 different species can be seen here.
below: Construction on the east side of the park. This is the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant Landform Project scheduled to be finished in 2025. Three shore connected breakwaters and a headland/beach system are being constructed.
One part of the city that has changed immensely over the past few years is the area near Spadina and Front streets. I was in the area last night and had a few moments to spare so I thought that I would take a look at what’s there now.
below: Waiting for the 510 streetcar
below: Looking south on Spadina approaching Front Street.
below: Many cranes working at the site of the old Globe & Mail buildings on the north side of Front Street, just west of Spadina.
below: Intersection of Spadina & Front, looking southwest
below: Looking west from Spadina as it crosses the railway tracks.
below: City Place, south of the tracks. Red sculpture is ‘Flower Power’ by Mark di Savero.
below: On the south side of the railway tracks, east side of Spadina, part of Northern Linear Park.
below: There is still a parking lot on the northeast corner of this intersection. This image is the view across the parking lot to City Place.
below: Reflections in the clear and green glass of a new building on Front Street, just east of Spadina
below: Waiting for the light to change
below: And once we started walking across the intersection, I loved how her skirt moved as she walked.
Summer in Toronto. Those days where it doesn’t matter where you walk, you will always encounter something interesting.
This weekend is the Taste of the Middle East festival at Yonge Dundas square, one of the many ethnic based festivals in the square over the summer. As usual, there were performances, activities, and food.
Products like date syrup were also available.
below: Young artist at work at Yonge & Dundas.
below: Adelaide Street was blocked between Yonge and Bay all weekend for a film shoot involving a large number of police cars, police officers, and dummies that look amazingly like real police officers.
below: When the Netflix series ‘Zeus’ comes out, you can play spot the Toronto locations!
below: In the Allan Lampert Gallery at Brookfield Place is an art installation “Into the Clouds”, four large, happy inflatable clouds created by ‘Friends with You’, a Los Angeles based group.  They bring a positive message of light, love and happiness.
below: In front of the RBC building at the corner of Front & Bay.
below: Relief sculpture on an exterior wall of the Scotiabank Arena (formerly ACC). A series of these sculptures were made by Louis Temporale Sr. in 1938-39 on what was then the Toronto Postal Delivery Building.
below: At the foot of Bay Street, a TTC bus stops beside the Westin conference centre. The top part of the concrete building is covered by a large photographic art installation – “Milky Way Smiling” by Elizabeth Zvonar.
below: Sitting on Jack Layton’s shoulders
below: Broken. A gigantic bubble.
below: An oversized picnic table
below: 25 figures in bright orange clasping onto black inner tubes – an art installation by Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier call SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers)
below: Ahoy matey! We be rainbow pirates!
below: The spotlight seems to shine on a sleeping body. The location is Harbour Square Park inside the large concrete sphere that is “Sundial Folly” created by John Fung and Paul Figueiredo and installed in 1995. Whether it’s because of high water levels, or for other reasons, access to the interior of the structure is closed to the public.Â
below: Queens Quay at the foot of Yonge Street is not my favorite intersection. It’s not uncommon for cyclists to not realize that there is a red light and for pedestrians not to realize that just because they have a walk signal doesn’t mean that there won’t be a bicycle whizzing past.
below:Â … and that shape on the sidewalk across the street? That is “Between the Eyes” by Anita Windisman.
below: Future buskers
below: The public art at Pier 27 condos on Queens Quay East lies in an elevated garden between two condo buildings. This sculpture is the work of American artist Alice Aycock and it consists of a whirlwind (or tornado) form and what looks like whorls of paper.  Litter blowing from the lake? It’s title is “A Series of Whirlpool Field Manoeuvres for Pier 27”.
below: Basketball players on the Esplanade.
Presenting an eclectic compilation of images so
Have a seat!
below: But maybe not here, even if they are two comfy sofas! Comfy but wet.
Meandering on a day early in November
while the trees were still showing their last hurrah of colour.
This mural is on Roncesvalles is partially obscured but is still a welcome splash of colour and vibrance.
  I love the raccoons! Pink raccoons
and blue raccoons on street art that I haven’t seen before.
Crooked lines,
tight spaces,
and old glass. All kinds of alterations.
 Peeling paint on diamonds (once red?)
and water drops on leaves (definitely red).
One very pink car. Whiskey for Whiskers.
Uber 5000’s yellow birdies and friends are still on the side of Tommy’s Gift & Variety.
And next door you Coffee and breakfast at Tina’s while your tax returns are prepared.
 Semi neighbours
at the edges of gentrification.
Lights over the train tracks
and graffiti beside.
A fine and dandy tractor
and a great idea
She’s gone green but she’s got the blues.
and Ontario’s now orange.
A family outing
below: The building with the giraffe pattern on top, at Bloor and Dundas West, is still there.
below: The murals painted by Wallnoize are still there. They were painted in the spring of 2015 and I posted a lot of photos of them shortly after that.
below: The murals run under the Bloor Street underpass (railway tracks overhead), on both sides of the street.
below: The new MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) is now open on Sterling Road. The renovations to the old Tower Automotive building aren’t totally complete; most of the area is a construction site. But the museum opened earlier this year. Access from the West Toronto Railpath is available.
But hey! Why stop here?…. more about the new MOCA follows ……
Open Streets – the second, and final, Open Streets for 2018 was held last Sunday.  Large sections of Bloor and Yonge Streets downtown were closed to traffic leaving lots of room for cyclists, pedestrians and a number of activities.
below: Axe Capoeira
below: Mayada’s Belly Dance at Yonge & Bloor
below: And other dancing in the street too – or rather, a very active fitness session!
below: It looks like animals can dance too… this dog seems to be having a great time!
below: Little drummer boy on a fancy Home Depot drum set!
below: Decorating bikes and scooters
below: Sharing a hammock in the middle of Yonge Street.
below: Trumpet lessons
below: Yoga in the park
below: And for those who were looking for something less active…
below:Â Yonge Street was also on the route of the 2018 Toronto AIDS walk
below: A Lamborghini. 0 to 60 in how many seconds?