as I walk Toronto

A grey day. The kind of day that when it starts to rain you head to a subway station, only to have the rain stop before you get there. So you walk more. Then it rains again so you buy an umbrella and minutes later the rain stops. So you walk more.

below: Southwest corner of Yonge & Wellesley

below: Northwest corner of Yonge & Wellesley

below: Marks left behind, traces of lives once lived there.

below: Do you think that there will ever be a time when we can walk downtown without encountering construction zones?

below: If it’s a gaggle of geese or a parliament of owls, what’s a group of cement trucks?

below: A new large mural by birdo at Dundas & McCaul

below: Same mural, different angle

below: “Keep going” at the Children’s Healing Garden outside Sick Kids Hospital on University Avenue.

below: You can do anything

below: A large hole on University Ave

below:  There was a Dragon Festival at Nathan Phillips Square this past weekend.

below: Friday was a rather quiet day at the festival, probably because of the weather.

below: But there was lots of different food available including skewers of octopus

below:   There were also these fried potato spirals on sticks that are available at every festival and street function.

below: Hot dog vendor on Queen Street

below: Snowmen?  This is “Born and Raised” designed by Studio How-to-See.

below: The tallest snowman is 5 “snowballs” high, or 17 feet tall.    Oh no! The snowman in the middle has lost its head.  What would Olaf say?

below:  Of course early September means TIFF.  King Street West closed and many people were walking or hanging out there trying their hand at celebrity spotting.  We are all groupies during TIFF.

below: I wouldn’t know a famous actor or director, or anything like that, if they came up to talk to me.    My attempts to follow the crowd to get celebrity pics weren’t very successful. This is the kind of photo that I ended up with –  The eye belongs someone called Jason who is taking a selfie with a father and daughter.    I didn’t linger long on King Street.

below: Having King Street closed didn’t help the traffic on nearby streets.  Mind you, this is normal for Toronto especially around rush hour.  Stand at any intersection downtown and you’ll find many instances where cars block traffic when the traffic lights change.

below:  The driver knew I was there taking pictures.  It didn’t make much difference.

below: Paste ups on Richmond Street.   I find these mesmerizing.  I love the positioning of the eye and the way that it is staring at you .

below: And my last stop that day, a quiet charcoal drawing by Olexander Wlasenko at the Arbozzo Gallery at 410 Richmond Street.

Now, all that’s left is the pink umbrella that I bought, still unused.