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!
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.
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.
below: Canada Day merchandise for sale at Yonge Dundas Square
below: Great sign! We’re on a picnic because Doug Ford is out to lunch!
below: A Canada flag in a heart, face paint to celebrate the day.
below: Under a red umbrella. There were quite a few performances at Yonge Dundas square, all of which were celebrations by different ethnic groups.
I was standing at the corner of Bay and Front, near Union Station, when the WNBR (World Naked Bike Ride) passed by.   This has been an annual event for more than 15 years now and the ride occurs in many countries around the world. Full nudity is not mandatory, costumes and accessories are welcome, and half the fun is watching the reactions of the people on the sidewalks…. especially those who aren’t expecting to see a large group of naked people cycling past!
below: I love the heart!
below: Mr. Conehead rides by
below: As it turns out, this man with the suitcase is in a lot of the pictures that I took.
If you want more information – or you want to get involved, they have a website and a facebook page. It’s on the latter that you will find another motto, “less gas, more ass”
See you next year?
Across the back of a row of stores in Port Union there are some doors that have been painted over with a mural. These are some of them:
They are all part of the same mural. The mural is so big that I couldn’t get a picture of the whole thing unless I made a very long skinny panorama – which I decided against. I think that you should get a good idea of what the whole mural looks like from the following set of photos.
below: The mural tells the story of Port Union starting with a First Nations settlement in the area.
below: North end of the Port Union mural. The mural faces the parking lot of a complex consisting of the Port Union Community Centre plus a library and Charlottetown park.
below: The railway comes to town.
below: And that brings us back to the swan and KFC at the south end of the mural.
This mural was painted by Blinc Studios and was part of Mural Routes. Artists are: Allan Bender, John Nobrega, Azadeh Pirazimian, Jesse McCuaig, Chris Brown, Frances Potts, and Melissa Bessey.
Other blogs that feature doors can be found at Thursday Doors, courtesy of Norm 2.0. (see the little blue link between the end of the blog post and the comments section).
After parts were shuttered 40 years ago, Ontario Place has re-opened to the public. The spherical Cinesphere and the buildings that are over the water are not open but the grounds are.
below: Canadian and Ontario flags fly along the docks of the Ontario Place Marina.
below: Double trouble.  Hot x 2
below: Those are some very big boats!
There is also a new park, Trillium Park, that has been built on the eastern end of Ontario Place. It is 7.5 acres of green space with a 1.3 km trail (the William G. Davis trail) winding through it.
below: Trillium Park provides new angles from which to view the CN Tower and the Toronto skyline.
below: It is also a spot from which to watch airplanes as they take off from Billy Bishop Airport.
below: Sunbathers
below: Rock climbing
below: Water levels in Brigantine Cove, like all of Lake Ontario, are higher than usual.
below: There are still some traces of the amusement park rides that were once there. There is no water in the boat ride, but the bilingual warning signs are still on the rocks. “Keep hands, arms and head inside boat. Stay seated.”
below: Tbonez (urban ninja squadron) must have been to Ontario Place recently
below: Crochet street art, marine life, discovered clinging to the underside of a small wooden bridge.
This picture is upside down.
below: A painting of a man painting and of his shadow painting.
below: And last, music events are held at Echo Beach, a section of Ontario Place. The day that I was there a steady background noise from the electronic (techno? I’m out of date on newer music genres) music permeated the park. You couldn’t escape it.  This isn’t the best picture but I didn’t get very close – my poor head! I was interested in the palm trees but I couldn’t get the right angle.  There are other music events happening this summer so maybe you can time your visit to coincide with music that you like!
So excited! So happy to be able to walk on the sunny side of the street and not be struck down by heat stroke!
below: You could say that we’re walking on cloud nine at the change of weather.
This past Sunday was a great day for a walk. Luckily, it was also the day that Penny (author of ‘Walking Woman’ blog) and I had set aside to explore westward from Christie subway station.  Actually, we were going elephant hunting. Well, it started off as an elephant hunt, but it turned into a treasure hunt – a treasure trove of Toronto quirkiness.
Eureka! As it turns out, it was also a great day for elephants to hang around outside. This is Sally, a lifesize fiberglass elephant that stands nearly 3 metres tall. She’s been standing here since 2003 and despite a little crack at the top of her trunk, she’s looking pretty good for her age.
It was also a good day for gorillas to sit in trees. A shout out to the man who was standing under this tree talking on his phone, oblivious to this furry creature above him. The same man who gave me a strange look when I walked over with my camera, but then who shared a laugh with me when he too looked up and saw the monkey.
Quirky treasures like woolly headed scarecrows.
below: Tartan columns holding up shady porches.
below: Pet waint at Lansdowne subway station.
below: A solitary dandelion in a lawn of astroturf. Even fake grass isn’t immune to the ubiquitous dandelion.
below: We encountered many Little Free Library boxes. This is not just a Toronto phenomenon and I’d have to say that it is beyond the “quirky” stage. There is now a Little Free Library organization where you can register your library. They claim to have over 40,000 registered libraries in over 70 countries.
When I checked their website, I found a map of Toronto locations.  There are the libraries that are registered with the organization; I know that there are more than what is on this map. What the map does show though is that these little libraries are numerous and that they are spread around a lot of the residential areas of the city.
below: Quick, get your Valentines Day roses while they’re still on sale!
below: The middle way, in case you’re lost? There was a man standing there, the middle man so to speak, but he didn’t hang around long enough for me to get his picture.
below: Figures watching over a front yard, including angels and a buddha.
below: And of course, what’s a Toronto walk without a lovebot?
Near the end of our walk, we passed what is known as the Terracotta House.
This house was built in 1905 by John Turner, a builder. In the late 1800’s terra cotta tiles went out of style and there was a glut of them on the market.  Mr. Turner was using up excess stock that he had on hand? Or advertising his business? Or just taking advantage of a cheap material?  Whatever his motives, the house is still standing and is still a unique piece of architecture more than 100 years later. I wonder what his wife thought of it?
May all your walks, or cycles, be on the sunny side …
… no matter how long they are!
Just before Dupont Street ends at Dundas West, it passes under a set of railway tracks…
and of course another underpass means another mural.
It is an Art Starts project “honouring the Junction and paying homage to its industrial past rooted in the railway and celebrating its development as a diverse neighbourhood oriented community. ” Lead artists Joshua Barndt and Jamie Bradbury along with 5 youth artists took 4 weeks to complete the mural.
The mural was funded by the City of Toronto’s Graffiti Transformation Program.
Cycling is used as a theme and as a way of traveling from the past to the future in the mural.
below: The final panel in the mural, a future friendly city.
This year’s Dyke March (the 20th!) was an energetic, supportive, and positive celebration once again. It was led as usual by motorcycles and then Dykes on Bikes. Numerous groups and individuals walked and there was a good turnout that lined the sidewalks to watch the parade pass by. Colourful. Joyful.
#pride | #prideTO | #prideToronto
as I walk Toronto 