flowers | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘flowers’

Pride Parade 2015

Posted: June 30, 2015 in events
Tags: #HIVanonymous, #lovewins, #oneteam, colours, costumes, crowds, Cyndi Lauper, Elizabeth May, facebook, floats, flowers, fruit, gay, Green party, groups, heart, John Tory, kids, LGBT, marchers, mayor, men, parade, people, pflag, police, politics, pride, proud, rainy, spiderman, superman, Toronto, triggerfish, women, Yonge St.

Toronto Pride Parade,
Bloor St. and Yonge St., June 2015

fun & games,
smiles & laughter,
community involvement
pride parade pics in no particular order

people at a pride parade on a rainy day - Toronto mayor John Tory walks in the parade while holding a large yellow and orange super soaker

Toronto mayor John Tory walks in the parade armed with a super soaker.

people at a pride parade on a rainy day - Cyndi Lauper is wearing a white frilly dress and hat as she rides on top of a float for the musical KInky Boots. In the background a photographer leans out the window of a building to get a better view of the parade.

Actress Cyndi Lauper rides on the ‘Kinky Boots’ float.

people at a pride parade on a rainy day - a man in a spiderman costume stands on a garbage bin so he is above the crowd on a sidewalk watching the parade

Spiderman makes an appearance too.

Elizabeth May, wearing a green garland wrapped around her neck and helping to hold a green banner walks in a parade along with some other people

Elizabeth May, leader of the federal Green Party.

people at a pride parade on a rainy day - the #HIVanonymous characters in complete white costume stop to pose for a picture in front of group that is preaching anti-gay messages

Anonymous characters because #HIVanonymous

A group of men dressed up as different fruits, banana, kiwi, blueberry, apple and orange

Fruit having a wonderful time in support of Communityone Foundation

people at a pride parade in the rain - a man dancing and holding a mic, with a funny look on his face, on a float from the Peel Regional Police, called the Heat, there are lots of balloons beside and above him.

“The Heat”, Peel Regional Police

people at a pride parade on a rainy day - a nude man poses in the middle of the road while he takes a selfie. Onlookers watch.

You don’t need clothes to take a selfie!

magical garden

Posted: June 12, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: #cruz1art, #monicaonthemoon, animals, birds, butterfly, cruz1, dog, flowers, giraffe, howl, magical garden, marine life, monsters, mouse, murals, octopus, panda, street art, tree, wallnoise, wallnoize, wolves, youth

The Magical Garden, by Broadview Community Youth Group and Wallnoise

in a park just north of the Danforth between Ferrier and Logan.

One wall features four murals created by members of the youth group.

Local street artists have decorated the other fences in the park as well as a couple of garage doors in the lane adjacent to the park.

Lansdowne billboards

Posted: May 21, 2015 in public art
Tags: billboards, black and white, books, CONTACT, Dundas West, Flat Death, floral, flower arrangement, flowers, Lansdowne Ave., old, photographs, Sarah Cwynar

Flat Death and Contemporary Floral Arrangements,
by Sarah Cwynar,
large photographs on billboards on Lansdowne Avenue,
Part of CONTACT Photography Festival.

below: ‘Flat Death’ at Lansdowne and Dundas West.
Black and white photos of books on four billboards.

below: ‘Contemporary Floral Arrangements’ on the corner of Lansdowne and College

The foundation for ‘Contemporary Floral Arrangements’ are 1960’s photographs of floral arrangements. Small objects such as key chains, plastic bits, buttons, spools of thread, etc are then placed on the photos, matching colour and tone.

The idea that this is an ad made of things that no one wants may be interesting in theory but in practice it’s just a pretty picture. Because of the location of the billboard, the details of the picture can’t be seen.

still looking for spring

Posted: February 25, 2015 in galleries, locations
Tags: basin, Derby, European, ewer, flowers, Gardiner museum, mullein, old, pink, plate, porcelain, Sevres, yellow

Flowers, a sign of spring. No real flowers outside yet and probably not for quite a while!
Instead we’ll have to settle for European pottery florals from the Gardiner Museum today.

below: Ewer and basin, Sèvres France, 1757, porcelain, attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis. Pink ground with foilage-like edges.

below: Purple flowered mullein plate, from Derby botanicals, pattern 216, England, c1800.

a break in winter

Posted: February 22, 2015 in locations, nature
Tags: Allan Gardens, can't wait for spring, cheerful, close ups of flowers, colours, conservatory, daffodils, flowers, green house, hibiscus, macros, plants, poinsettia, thorns, tired of winter, Toronto, tulips, warm, warmth

Yesterday Toronto got a brief respite from the frigid temperatures that we’ve been experiencing. Instead, more snow fell. I think that most of us are getting tired of this thing called winter, including me. So, here are a few photos from inside the conservatory at Allan Gardens to brighten your day.

by kids

Posted: December 7, 2014 in locations
Tags: Adam Beck Junior public school, art, artwork, buildings, city, CN Tower, dogs, elementary, exhibit, fence, flowers, houses, ladybug, mural, outdoors, painting, Scarborough, scenes, school, students, sun, Toronto, trees

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 “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”.

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

A Canadian flag and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Scarfo Lane

Posted: November 29, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: alley, bird houses, birds, blue, carrying, city, deer, dog, flowers, flying logs, garage door, graffiti, lane, logs, machinery, murals, painting, paisley, red, street art, Toronto, urban

Yesterday I came across some interesting colourful garage doors on Scarfo Lane that I have not seen before. I didn’t see any signature on them so I don’t know who painted them.

Walking south from Herrick Street…..

and then walking north from Herrick St…..

an alley with garages on both sides, also tall trees that have lost their leaves, small piles of dead leaves along the sides of the alley.

Looking north from Herrick St.

autumn 2014

Posted: October 13, 2014 in general Toronto
Tags: alley, autumn, cemetery, flowers, lane, leaves, Mt. Hope, mums, October, photos, potted, reds, season, September, shadows, store, sunlight, tombstones, Toronto, trees, vine, yellow

looking down an alley with old garages on either side. A tree with orange and red leaves is in the picture too.

Fall colours in a lane near Queen West and Bathurst.

Two sunflowers on a sunflower plant with big green leaves. The sun is shining from above so the leaves look translucent.

sunny sunflowers

Leaves in reds and purples are hanging in front of a red garage door - close up shot

autumn vine in front of a garage door

Trees with autumn foliage in a cemetery with lots of light grey tombstones

A quiet corner of Mount Hope Cemetery in the late afternoon.

A bicycle is leaning against a wood fence and a green wall.

parked in the alley

close up of a few leaves and the shadows that they make on a orangish wood wall.

shadows and grain

A front yard has autumn decorations - straw men in funny hats and patchwork clothes.

straw men in the garden

A storefront, Bobs Garden Centre, with four rows of large potted plants, colurful flowers, for sale.

Bobs Garden Centre with pots of colourful autumn mums for sale
Their blog.

There are two tall locust trees with small yellow leaves. Some of the leaves have already fallen and they are on the ground, and on the cars parked in the driveway.

Raining little yellow leaves in Scarborough

fall coloured leaves at night, light is from a streetlight.

leaves under the streetlights

Centennial Park conservatory

Posted: July 13, 2014 in locations, nature
Tags: bougainvillea, cacti, Centennial Park, coleus, conservatory, Etobicoke, flowers, gardens, geraniums, green, greenhouse, leaf, leaves, path, pink, plants, red anthurium, rocks, stones, Toronto

I ventured out to Etobicoke because I heard that Centennial Park had a conservatory and I was curious about what was there. Taking photos of flowers and plants is not my forte but it was an interesting place to experiment with colour, texture and composition. I do not know the names of most of the plants that I saw there, and very few were labelled. There were geraniums, anthuriums (red & white), bougainvillea, bamboo, lots of different cacti and succulents, to name a few. The photos below represent only a sample of what was growing there today.