Posts Tagged ‘dogs’

going to the dogs

Posted: June 19, 2017 in locations, nature, people
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
3

The facelift of Berczy Park has been completed and although the park only reopened a short time ago, it has already become a popular spot.

a photographer is taking engagement pictures of an Asian young couple as they sit on the edge of the fountain at Berczy park. The fountain features sculptures of dogs that spout water into the fountain. A young boy is also sitting on the edge of the fountain. He is looking forlornly at the photographer, looks like he's feeling left out.

The highlight of the park is the refurbished fountain.  Sculptures of dogs big and small spout water into the fountain – or maybe they’re drinking from the fountain?  There is one cat that sits quietly on the base of the sculpture seemingly unaware of the canine antics.

the new fountain in Berczy park, many sculptures of dogs that are spouting water into the fountain

Three boys playing with the water spouting out of a dog's (sculpture) mouth and into a fountain. One is spraying the other while a third watches

two little kids playing in a fountain, a young girl and a young boy. The boy is spraying water while the girl watches

Besides the fountain, there is new landscaping, trees, plants, and benches.

mural of windows and facadde on the back of the flatiron building with the redesigned Berczy park planting and benched in front of it

This sculpture was a feature of the original park but it’s been moved to a different location.   It is the work of Almuth Lukenhaus-Lackey.

sculpture of a family - father, mother and child in a park, with new garden plantings around it, hostas mostly

The plaque by this sculpture says “This sculpture was donated by the Electrical Society of Mecklenburg Upper Canada Inc., with the financial assistance of The Consumers’ Gas Company Limited and the The Council of Metropolitan Toronto, in memory of Johan Albrecht Ulrich Moll, better known as William Berczy, born December 10, 1744 in Wallerstein Germany. He was co-founder of York (Toronto) in 1794 when John Graves Simcoe was Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. His younger son, Charles Albert Berczy, was the first president of The Consumers’ Gas Company, from 1847 to 1856, and Postmaster of Toronto. His older son, William Bent Berczy was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and like his father and mother, a gifted painter.”

I only spent a short time at the park on the weekend but I’m sure that I’ll be back!

sunny days

Posted: June 4, 2017 in general Toronto, people
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

This morning’s blog post is a mixed up mashed up collection of some of the pictures that I have taken in the past few days. The theme running through the post is “sunny days and people making the most of it.”  It seems like an appropriate subject for a grey morning!

below: #duckman, one of the many ‘performers’ outside the Eaton Centre on Yonge Street.

a young Japanese man is dressed in a yellow body suit, seated on a stool on the sidewalk on Yonge Street, he is playing the drums - actually 5 empty plastic upside down buckets, with #duckman written on the buckets

below: The beginnings of a new mural on Queen Street West.

motorcycle in the foreground, a man painting a white outline of a rose as part of a mural on the side of Canada Convenience store on Queen West, a few people watching him paint

below: This weekend was the annual Riverdale ArtWalk at Jimmie Simpson Park and Community Center.

a man stands holding up a painting (bottom of painting is resting on the ground), more painting displayed on the wall behind him, at the outdoor Riverdale Artwalk art show and sale

below: Dancing to the drums of Venice and Kevin who are playing as past of an event to raise money to fight sickle cell disease.

a young woman dancers at the bottom of the stage steps at nathan phillips, two people are beating drums on the satge

below: Four singers – they’ve just finished performing on the stage at Yonge Dundas Square as part of the DesiFEST celebrations.

four female singers are smiling, they've just finished a song, performing at Yonge Dundas square as part of Desifest, all 4 are of South Asian descent

below: A sign of the times.

a blackboard sign on the sidewalk in front of Brioche restaurant that says we serve Covfefe. People walking on the sidewalk,

below: It wasn’t just the people who were dressed for summer.

two little white dogs on a leach, both have pink and white frilly dresses on.

below: Gardening season has begun!  The vacant lot beside Nick Sweetman’s mural has been turned into a Garden Centre.

garden plants for sale, outdoors, in front of a large mural, bees, by Nick, on Queen st east

a front yard with gardening supplies, and pots of plants on the front steps

below: With their backs to the windows … but it looks like they’re dressed for summer

two mannequins with their backs to two windows, both dressed in red clothes

people riding down the escalator at the Eaton Centre, a large screen is playing a slideshow of summer pictures as part of an advertising campaign.

a mother helps her young daughter reach down and touch the water in the fountain at Nathan Phillips square

we’ll start with ravens and flamingos

Posted: February 22, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art, old buildings
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
5

below: I doubt she’s saying that she loves the sunshine THIS MUCH!  but I’d like to think she is.   That’s certainly what was going through my head for most of the weekend so I’m going to pretend that she agrees with me!… especially since I am writing this as the rain falls outside my window.

a group of women walking down College Street at Montrose on a sunny winter day. One of the women is wearing a black coat and she has her arms open wide.

But back to those ravens and flamingos that I promised you…..

below: But not everyone’s happy.  Witches brewing with ravens and crows nearby.   There always seems to be symbolism associated with these large black birds so I went searching for information.  Ravens and crows are found throughout most of the northern hemisphere so many diverse cultures have their own mythologies surrounding these birds.  The best summary I found was this,  “On the negative side, Raven represents the profane, the devil, evil spirits, the trickster and thief, war and destruction, death and doom, the void.  Yet in many cultures Raven also represents deep magic, the mystery of the unknown, death and transformation, creation, healing, wisdom, protection, and prophecy. ” (source)  We don’t know exactly what Fiya Bruxa, Shalak, and Bruno had in mind when they painted this mural but I doubt that it was something positive – those witches look rather angry and nasty.

a mural on a wall of two angry women's faces. One is pale pink and the other is yellow. Many crows or ravens are flying upwards from the women. The mural is on the side of a store that is part of a row of three storey brick storefronts.

below: From the vengeful looking faces above to these hopelessly romantic flamingos is just a matter of a few steps along College Street.  They’re the center part of a larger mural by Katia Engell.

part of a largeer mural of two pink flamingoes with the necks intertwined and their beaks together in a kiss, red petals behind them.

large pink flamingo painted on a wall, part of mural of 4 pink flamingos by Katia Engell

There are 4 flamingos altogether and they are in between two other murals.
In the picture below you can just see the yellow of an alphabet mural by runt

three pink flamingos. Two with entwined necks and one looking on, street art,

below: Too many things in the way makes for an awkward photo but you can still see enough of it to play the game of what creature goes with what letter!  R is for robot dog?  Z is for zlithering thingy with rings?

a mural by runt on a bright yellow background with letters of the alphabet in black and many imaginary creatures in bright colours.

below: J is for jumping purple blob?  C is for coughing-up- dinnersaurus?
And look, an alley to explore……

blog_runt_alphabet_creatures_mural

Wait! Before going down the alley I want to take a few steps backwards. Remember that I mentioned that the flamingos were between two murals?  This is what is on the other side…..

below:  Three cowboys in a mural signed by J Bizzel 4 Shizzel.
The one with his shirt off is the one under the air conditioner.

a mural of three cowboys, one tall, one in the middle and one short, purple and orange scenery behind them.

below: This strange but happy fellow was waiting in the alley.

face of a creature with bulging eyeballs, a large oen mouth showing many big rounded white teeeth, and a long tongue that can make a spiral as it curls back on itself.

a man is spray painting street art on the back of a building in an alley. Two others are standing in the lane watching him

part of a mural of a boy with headphones on, seat crossed legged on the ground and pointing downwards. He seems to be pointing at a collection of spray paint cans sitting on the ground below the mural.

below: If you look closely at this painting, you will notice that the wavy lines continue behind the bars of the railing and that there is only a small distance between the railing and the wall.    That was not a simple paint job.

a white staircase is diagonal in the picture, with white metal bars and railng, immediately behind it is a street art picture of an orange face blowing down towards the stairs. White wavy lines radiate from the open mouth

below: ‘Such a fool’ and someone to agree with it.

paste up graffiti that says such a fool. Someone has written true in large letters beside it.

below: I’m not too sure what to say about this one.  Vermut? or Vermouth?  Too much vermouth and you take your clothes off, versmut?  Bad joke.

a tall green bottle painted on the wall with the word vermut written vertically. Beside the bottle is painted a naked woman draped in red with breasts showing.

street art picture of a triangular shaped face looking upwards, open eyes and partially open mouth, behind the face is streaks of blue, yellow and red.

That’s the end of our little tour.
Find a sunny spot and pull up a chair and rest your feet for a few minutes.

chairs and a set of drawers outside a store full of antiques and stuff, the door is open and you can see into the store where there are two men shopping.

Tomorrow there will be puddles to go splashing through…
but that’s a story for another day.

afternoon in the park when the snow and ice begin to melt. Lots of water, big puddles, a few people walking dogs on the path trying to stay dry, reflections of them and many trees in the puddles.

 

 

Craven Road gallery

Posted: November 6, 2015 in locations
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
4

Craven is a narrow street that runs south from the railway tracks.  For most of its length, there are houses only on the east side of the street.  Between Gerrard and Dundas, a wooden fence runs along the west side right up next to the street.  This fence separates the backyards of the next street, Ashdale, from Craven Road.  As I drove up Craven this afternoon I noticed that someone has mounted a number of pictures onto the wall so of course I parked my car and took some photos.

There are paintings of cats of various sizes and colours

A canvas has been stapled to a wood fence, on the canvas someone has painted a large tan and white striped cat that is lounging on the ground but with its head up and alert. The canvas is wearing out a bit around the edges

The stars look like the glow in the dark stars that my kids used to have.

A small painting of a cat standing in a room with a light blue floor. It is mounted on a wood fence. Four glow in the dark stars are on a diagonal across the corner of the picture.

Most, but not all, of the paintings have an animal theme.  Seven Christmas sheep in the snow.

A painting of seven sheep in a line in the snow with more snow falling from the sky. The painting is on canvas and it is stapled to the fence.

They are painted on canvas and stapled to the fence.  Some are in better shape than others!  The pattern of the rips in this painting seems to complement the pattern of the boards in the fence although the cat doesn’t look too pleased about it!

A very weathered painting of a cat on canvas and stapled to a wood fence. The canvas has started to rip vertically in places. The pattern of the rips sort of matched the pattern of the boards in the fence.

There are a few dog pictures too including this reindeer dog.

Painting on canvas stapled to a wood fence. A large dog is sitting in the snow. Red fake reindeer antlers on its head. More snow is falling from the sky.

Two dogs sit on the front steps of a house. One of the dogs has a rope toy in its mouth.

You may have noticed by now that this gallery is a one woman show.  Christine Kowal is an artist and a  resident of the street.

Painting on canvas stapled to a wood fence. A long haired light brown cat resting on a striped carpet or blanket

And did I mention that there were pictures of cats?  🙂

Painting on canvas stapled to a wood fence. A small brown cat in amongst tall grass. A vine is growing on the fence beside the picture.

Painting on canvas stapled to a wood fence. A black silhouette of a cat that is surrounded by turquoise and farker blue swirls and smudges

Two paintings on a wood fence. One is a collection of animals in bright colours and the other is an abstract with a large amount of blue in it.

 

animals and birdo birds in Roncey

Posted: March 18, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

On Queen St. West, just before it meets Roncesvalles Ave., is the Corona Restaurant and Nightclub.  Along the wall of this building are a number of pieces of street art.   Only a small section is visible from the street.

Two pieces of street art along the upper floor of a brick building. In front, closest to the street is a young woman's head. The other is a colourful stylized bird by the street artist Birdo. The words "Birdo Wales" are written in white letter between the two pieces. The Corona Restaurant with a yellow awning is on the right and James Dys Antiques and Collectibles is on the left. is on the left.

Close up of Two pieces of street art along the upper floor of a brick building. In front, closest to the street is a young woman's head. The other is a colourful stylized bird by the street artist Birdo. The words "Birdo Wales" are written in white letter between the two pieces.

If you follow the alley that runs behind Queen St., you will find more street art alongside the same building.

Destination Mammals Cabana mural,
The back part is a mural entitled ‘Destination Mammal Cabana’ by Birdo, Spudbomb and SKE1.  It was painted in 2012.

Destination Mammals Cabana mural,

Destination Mammals Cabana mural, middle part, large baboon wearing a party hat, a giraffe, a crazy looking zebra and a green turtle, street art on a wall.

Destination Mammals Cabana mural, purple ostrich, screaming baboon and a giraffe,

Destination Mammals Cabana mural, hairy creature with mouth wide open and wearing suglasses and a rhino by a beach umbrella, street art, graffiti,

Destination Mammals Cabana mural, upright yellow tiger, antelope wearing yellow and green stripe beach wear and some other hairy creature with sunglasses on.

blog_mammal_sign

On the north wall of the same building…..

metal stairs to a small landing outside a door on the second storey of a concrete brick building. The walls of the bottom floor are covered with graffiti. Immediately behind the stairs is a large blue letter Z.

If you look closely at the above picture, on the right hand side metal pole supporting the landing, is a sticker.  Below, that sticker up close.

A small yellow bird on a small sticker. It is an Uber 5000 bird, wearing glasses and holding a red book. He's on a metal pole.
three murals on alley walls

mural by birdo, red background, a man's head and an creature with an animal face and a body that looks like a blue checked sweater

a mural by birdo, a small black and grey bird that is holding a geometric shape in blue and white diamond shaped sections.

Looking west along the alley towards Roncesvalles Ave.

looking west along an alley in late winter. Street art on the walls on the left, garage doors on the right. Buildings on Roncesvalles can be seen at the end of the alley which is about a block long.

but if you walk slightly west, away from Roncesvalles, you will encounter two more pieces by Birdo.  The ‘Dreamer’ is on the same building as the Destination Mammal Cabana that is pictured above.

A street art piece painted in a small stairwell, down from alley level. The door way is the head of a woman and her arms extend over part of the stairwell walls. She is dressed in red and blue including a birdo hat.

A birdo mural on a dirty light grey wall of a stylized bird and the word "dreamer" written in large black letters.

Irish for a day

Posted: March 16, 2015 in events, people
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

St. Patricks Day, 17th March

Watching people watching the parade in downtown Toronto on Sunday afternoon.

A couple watching a St. Patricks Day parade. He is wearing big shamrock shaped glasses. They are both wearing green hats. He is waving to the camera.

blog_pat_barricade

blog_pat_kid

blog_pat_bear

A woman walking a dog that is all dressed in frilly green. It's also wearing a hat that says "Kiss me I'm Irish".

A heavyset man wearing long green robe and carrying a plastic snake. He is supposed to be St. patrick, the patron saint of Ireland who drove the snakes out of Ireland many centuries ago.

blog_pat_hbc

A man dressed in green, green pants, green shirt, big green bowtie, green shunglasses, and a big green hat, and he's wearing a shamrock around his neck.

A group of Irish setters with green bandanas around their necks. They are part of the parade. One of them is being hugged by a girl spectator along the edge of the parade route.

blog_pat_family

by kids

Posted: December 7, 2014 in locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

On a fence at Adam Beck Junior Public school in Scarborough is a wonderful “mural” composed of pictures painted by some of the students.  Kudos to all involved in the project!

a large number of colourful paintings by students at a junior public school. Some are scenes of Toronto, others are of animals or plants or buildings.

A “Danger due to construction” sign, the CN Tower and a Toronto police car.
Ladybugs, flowers and trees.
On the very right is a picture that looks like a sunset or sunrise.  What you probably can’t read are the words written on the blue stripe.  They say, “the story of my life”.

Close up of the fence at a school. About twenty paintings done by the students.

 Buses, soccer balls and a hat left on the fence.
Another CN Tower, an arena, and ice cream.
Stop bullying too.

close up of the left part of the fence with paintings by students at the school.

A Canadian flag and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

more of the collection of paintings by elementary school students that are hanging on a fence around the school.

grammar?

Posted: September 22, 2014 in general Toronto
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Considering the number of different languages spoken in this city, it is not surprising that some signs have English grammar mistakes.  It is the official signs with incorrect grammar that make me shake my head.

Sign by a sidewalk that says Please do not chain your bicycle to the lamp post. Will be removed immediately at owner's expense. Large condo towers are behind the sign.

Lack of subject makes for an incomplete sentence, not to mention some confusion. Something will be removed.

Sign on a wood fence by a park that says, Dogs that dig holes must have owners fill them in immediately.

If only dogs could read.

A sign on a fence beside a driveway that says Please don't parking on driveway.

don’t parking

A pink sign that has been taped with green tape beside the entrance of a shop that says We open. Please come in.

we open

 

buskerfest 2014

Posted: August 26, 2014 in events, people
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Buskerfest 2014

Yonge Street was closed from College to Queen for the event.

Yonge St. at Dundas, barrier across Yonge St. as it is pedestrians only. Lots of signs, lots of people,

Yonge Street on the Saturday afternoon of Buskerfest, looking north from Dundas Street

.

A man dressed in green is on stilts as he walks up Yonge St.

Hovering above the crowd.

.

There were street performers……

 

A group of four people are on stilts but dressed in very long pants. Two are playing a drum and two are playing shaking instruments. They are walking down Yonge St. People are on the sidewalks watching them. Street performance as part of buskerfest.

towering over the audience as they walk down Yonge Street

.

A performer is on a very tall unicycle. He is juggling lit torches as he slowly goes around in a tight circle.

DyneMike, playing with fire on high

.

A street performer is using a diabolo to entertain a crowd of people who are sitting and standing on the sidewalk around him.

This guy, part of Touch2Catch, was amazing to watch. Great diabolo action!

.

A performer has been launched into the air. He is holding a large ring that is on fire. He is turning himself through the ring while in the air.

more Touch2Catch – jumping through a ring of fire

.

One of the street performers from the group Touch2Catch is doing a side flip over a man who is on all fours on the street.

side flip over Dimitri

.

A picture of buskerfest is displayed on an electronic billboard.

Samsung was putting tweets and instagram postings with their buskerfest hashtag on the electronic billboard above Yonge & Dundas. At one point I looked up and saw this one. A great photo! She captured an unobscured view of the exact moment the performer from Touch2Catch did a side flip over five people.

.

A woman has taken the silver guitar from Silver Elvis and is pretending to play it while hamming it up for the small group of people that are watching.

sharing the limelight with Silver Elvis …. or taking over? All in good fun!

.

A woman is having her picture taken with a performer who is dressed in a white dress made of balloons. She has balloon wings and white feathers in her hair.

Photo op with an angel in white balloons.  Balloon dresses are available from The Twisted Ones

.

A street performer is twisting the upper part of his body in order to fit it through a tennis racquet.

What one does in the name of entertainment – putting one’s shoulders through a tennis racquet…. don’t try it at home kids.

.

….. music

Musicians onstage, a group of adults standing in front of the stage. The adults all have drinks in their hands and they are all toasting. One of the musicians has a stuffed fish in his hand.

A toast to the cod, screeching in at Dundas Square.  The Screeched Inn performed on the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square, their “kitchen party”.

All money raised by performers on the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square went to Epilepsy Toronto.
In addition, Samsung donated $1 to Epilepsy Toronto for every tweet of buskerfest that included the hashtag #samsungsbbf

 

….. sidewalk artists

 

A woman is using chalk to make a large picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the sidewalk

ninja turtles taking shape on the sidewalk (artist: the Chalk Chick)

.

A chalk drawing of Ariel, the little mermaid in the Disney movie on a sidewalk. A man's legs are also in the photo.

Ariel, Disney’s little mermaid is on the sidewalk. Another drawing by the Chalk Chick.

 

 

… and curious kids, entertained kids

Some children are watching buskers perform by peeking through a gap in the red and white plastic banners that are the backdrop to the show.

vantage point

 

.

A dog, a Great Dane, is standing in front of two women dressed as clowns on pink and white ponies. The dog has barked at them and they are reacting by making faces and moving back

Some dogs don’t like clowns either. Great Danes have quite the bark!

.

 

A large electronic billboard high above Yonge St. A picture of one of my buskerfest tweets is being displayed.

a narcissistic moment

With thanks to the Second Cup on Mt. Pleasant where I hung out while putting this blog entry together.

graffiti on garages

Posted: November 10, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

Graffiti and street art on the garages

of David French Lane and Alan Powell Lane

David French Lane runs south from Barbara Barrett Lane (just south of Bloor St.), one block to Sussex Ave.  If you cross Sussex Ave., the lane continues as Alan Powell Lane.   Both lanes are lined with garages for the houses on Borden St. and Brunswick Ave., the streets that run parallel on either side of the lanes.   Alan Powell Lane also runs behind Central Tech Collegiate.

There is an excellent interactive map of the lanes of Harbord village and the people for whom they were named at http://www.harbordvillage.com/laneways/lanewayinteractivemap.html

mural of a large blue and white locomotive that is painted to look like it is coming out of a brown brick building

A railway locomotive roars past the corner of Barbara Barrett Lane and David French Lane.

detail of a green and blue blob on a door. In the blob shape someone has written I love you Camille

Camille is loved.

.
.
blue garage door covered with white line drawings of squares and circles within those squares. Some of the shapes have been filled in with black or red paint
.
blog_df_brown_garage
.

A grey garage door with two pictures of Darth Vader's head, two Scottie dog heads, and a couple of other dogs

Darth Vader and the dogs

.

.
blog_df_garage_grid
.
blog_df_red_grarage4
.
blog_df_tag

.

blog_df_demon
.
blog_df_wave
.
blog_df_three_garages

.

view of Alan Powell lane, looking north. a chain link fence runs along the left side of the lane. some old garages are on the right. One of the garages has words spray painted on it

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, in duplicate. Looking north up Alan Powell Lane.

A row of old garages in a lane.

A posr rabbit lurks in the corner, Alan Powell Lane

.

.
df_black_white

Older Entries
Newer Entries