Posts Tagged ‘bird house’

white walls

Posted: March 10, 2020 in abstract, windows and walls
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A few white walls on a sunny shadowy day.

a white door on a white wall with blue sky, also a bird house above the roof, horizontal shadow across the front of the house

A metal wall with peeling paint and a few rust spots…  and then add an old basketball hoop to the composition.

metal wall, painted white, exterior, with some rust, also an old basketball hoop and its shadow

shadows on the wall of a white house

In the spotlight, spotlight, spotlight, spotlight… and on camera too?

side of a white garage with lights and security cameras

Twig and texture

white wood wall with metal strip, a twig in front, with texture and shadows

Moccasin Trail to the rainbow

Posted: March 18, 2019 in locations, nature
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Moccasin Trail is a street in Don Mills that provides access to the East Don Trail. Starting a walk there looked like a good idea when I checked the map.

yellow metal barrier prevents cars from entering a road that is covered with snow, trees on both sides of the road

I decided that it was worth a try. Going downhill is harder than going uphill on snow and ice so I figured that if I got stuck all I had to do was turn around and go back to my car. In the summer you can drive down to the parking lot.

snow covered road with small trees growing on either side of it, winter, no leaves on the trees

With a little slipping, a little sliding, and a lot of care, I made it. At the bottom of the hill is Moccasin Trail Park.

a picnic bench ina park in winter with snow on the ground

below: The path goes under the DVP to join the East Don Trail (where there was not as much ice!). Except for the constant rumble of traffic in the background, it was very quiet down here today. I only saw two other people (and one dog).

park in winter with a path that leads to a bridge under a road

below: Wild grasses grow in the ditch alongside the Don Valley Parkway along with sumach trees and other shrubs.

wild grasses, brown in winter, grow alongside the Don Valley Parkway

below: A Red-tailed Hawk circles overhead. There were two of them flying above me today. They were magnificent to watch as they circled in the sky – and as I wished that they would come closer, or perhaps even find something to catch. No luck today.

a red tailed hawk flies overhead, blue sky with some light clouds

below: Ducks in the water and traffic on the Don Valley Parkway

two ducks swimming in the Don River, with cars passing by on the Don Valley Parkway

water flows over a low concrete dam on the Don River, winter time, but no snow or ice, no leaves on the trees,

below: Someone has tied this bright and cheerful bird house to the trunk of a tree.

a bright red bird house in a tree, no leaves,

below: One of the biggest reasons why I chose to walk this path today – the rainbow bridge. It’s easily visible from the northbound Don Valley Parkway. Although I don’t drive the DVP on a regular basis, every time I am reminded that I haven’t walked there yet. It was originally painted in the 1970’s by B.C. Johnson, a teenager from Norway. Every time the city painted over it, the rainbow was repainted.

East Don Trail winds towards the bridge that is painted with a rainbow, some traces of the Don Valley Parkway like a green exit sign for Lawrence Avenue, and a couple of tall light stands.

below: In 2013 the arch was repainted with the help of Mural Routes. The interior was also painted in the same rainbow colours.

arched bridge under a railway, over a walking path, that has been painted with a rainbow

These are some of the scenes that are painted inside.

scenes from the mural painted inside the rainbow arch bridge - on red background, with orange and purple trees, a man walks his dog and a woman pushes a stroller

scenes from the mural painted inside the rainbow arch bridge - blue and purple children build a white snowman with white trees in the background

scenes from the mural painted inside the rainbow arch bridge - a cyclist on a bike rides along a yellow and orange path past yellow and orange trees

I didn’t explore much beyond the rainbow bridge. That adventure is for another day!

 

UPDATE:  The rest of the trail that can be access from the Moccasin Trail is now covered in a blog post, From Charles Sauriol southward

pieces reconstructed

Posted: June 22, 2016 in general Toronto, graffiti and street art, people
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The best walks are those where you discover things that you weren’t expecting.

Slices of pool cues and wood, toy figures and animals, as well as small bits and pieces have been put together with patience and imagination.  The methodical, artistic work of Albino Carreira covers his garage in a lane.  It looks like a work in progress.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - one side of the garage is painted red and covered with decorations

below: Rising above the garage is a sculpture that resembles a spinal column with its stacked vertebrae.  Albino Carreira was a construction worker who came to Toronto from Portugal in 1972 as a young man.  In 1993 he fell from scaffolding on a job site,  cracked his skull and broke his spine.   Albino survived the fall and doctors were able to fix his skull with metal plates and reconstruct his backbone with pieces of bone from his leg.

a tall sculpture resembling a spinal column rises above a garage in a lane. constructed of bits of wood and found objects.

below: As you can see, one side of the garage is painted bright red, blood red perhaps.
But it is also a vibrant red, full of life.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - one side is painted red and designs in sun shapes are found, with toy scorpion, snakes and insects

below: The north side of the garage (the side you can’t see in the first picture) is covered with slabs of polished stone with marbles in the grouting between the stones.  All parts of the pool cues were used, including the rubber bumper ends in the pattern seen here.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - an edge, pool cues pieces on one side, tips from pool cues down the center and flat slabs of polished stone with marbles on the other side

below: The wasps have found it and they must like it too.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - a corner section where wasps have built a nest

below: Some examples of the eclectic assortment of objects that have been used…. skulls, Santa Claus, beetles, butterflies, gold golfers, figurines, and champagne corks.  I spent quite a bit of time looking at the details, but then again that’s the sort of thing that I like to do.  I find it rewarding to discover little things that other people might pass over.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - glow in the dark skull

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - detail of one section, a gold figurine of a golfer, a fat man holding a blue birdhouse

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - a small Santa Claus, beetle, butterly and champagne cork

As I wrote this blog post, I kept thinking that I should go back to see if there was anything that I missed… and then I learned that his house is also decorated in a similar manner so now going back is definitely in my future!