The spring pillow fight at Nathan Phillips returned this year. It was a smaller turnout than in pre-covid times but there was still lots of energy and enthusiasm! Family fun too – all ages welcomed and included.
below: After the fighting, a pillow toss to celebrate.
Trees wrapped in lights.
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It’s late December and the Christmas season is upon us. The winter solstice has arrived with its short day light hours… If you can call the greyness of today “day light”.
Santa in his sleigh, Yonge Dundas Square
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Nathan Phillips Square
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Like Decembers past, The Bay has installed holiday displays in some of their windows. Unlike past years, there are no elves or Santa, or even any human form. The robots have taken over and everything has been automated.
Candy canes are packed
and toys wrapped, with a beep and a whirr.
Ornaments are crafted with A.I. and a software update.
Even Santa’s wish list is machine made.
The elves have been kidnapped? Or just sickened with Covid. We’ll probably never know (does Siri know?) but it seems rather fiendish and cold to remove the “human touch” in a year where we’re all 2 metres apart and not hugging anybody.
Stay warm
Stay safe
And may your Christmas be as bright as possible.
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.
Nothing special happening, no special events. Just people going about their Saturday afternoon.
At Yonge & Dundas
Along Queen Street
At Nathan Phillips Square
This is the fourth year of the Brain Project. Forty five sculptures in the shape of a brain have been decorated by different artists. They are on display at Nathan Phillips Square for the month of July.
below: “Silver Bloom” by Carson Teal. Complex, random, and fragmented.
below: Here, pac man from the 1980’s arcade & video game, gobbles up yellow dots that represent brain cells. It is artist Orit Fuchs’s way of illustrating the destruction of brain cells in Alzheimers.
below: Brand Emsley’s “From Making to Thinking”, from the Brain Project website: “Toronto’s unprecedented building boom is reflective of the economic shift from the manufacturing economy to the knowledge economy. It is particularly acute in the area known as the railway lands and surrounding area.”
below: On the left, “The Routine Ride” by Antonio Caballero and on the right, “Beautiful Mind” by Romero Britto
A description of all the brains, plus information about the artists, can be found on The Brain Project website.
#noblankbrains
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.
Today was the day of the parade to celebrate the Raptors NBA Championship win. Today was the day that downtown was immobilized. Like many of the thousands (millions) of people, I couldn’t get anywhere near the parade. I also couldn’t get into Nathan Phillips Square, the end point of the parade. I am not sure I wanted to! Too crowded. Besides, walking around the periphery of Nathan Phillips Square still gave me a plethora of opportunities to take lots of pictures of people out celebrating.
below: Bay Street was one of the many streets that were closed. Two large screens showed footage of the parade as it progressed. In this photo, you can see a sea of red at the Prince’s gates, the entrance to the Exhibition grounds.
below: A larger picture of the screen. This photo was taken at 10:49 a.m. The parade was supposed to start at 10 a.m. I am not sure what time it arrived at Nathan Phillips Square, I was already long gone by the time it did.
below: Red for Manchester United as well!
The brains are back! Close to 50 brains decorated by different artists can be seen in about a dozen locations around this city throughout the summer.
This year they are 2-dimensional, not three. They are much flatter. Above, making an interesting companion to the fabulous pink dress is “Enigmatic Glitter” by Donald and Elaine Rafelman Creative Arts Studio at Baycrest. When we picture art together it lights a spark and evokes a glitter of hope.
below: At Nathan Phillips Square, from left to right: “Pop Art” by Mary Ann Grainger, “No Brainer #Repainthistory” by Andrea Bolley, “Neon Future” by Steve Aoki, “Get Me Out! by Hate Copy (aka Maria Qamar), “Mental Vacation ” by Birdo, and “My Mind is Swimming” by Gina Godfrey.
below: “Power in Growth” by Amy Jeffreys in the Distillery District. Persevere and grow. Every human is capable of harnessing strength from their weaknesses. In this piece, the tangled roots represent the inner struggles and complexity of one’s thoughts.
below: “Memory” by Colin Nun at Nathan Phillips Square. “This type-based piece represents disconnect, dead ends, and memories lost to brain disease. It is inspired by the loss of the artist’s grandfather to Alzheimer’s disease and was created as a tribute to his memory. Take a close look to find a hidden word in the piece. What do you see?”
below: “The Mind’s Eye” by Dave Bagley at Yonge and St. Clair. Concentric rings of birds, fish, and diamonds radiate from the center.
below: Close up of the above, clearly showing the two seahorses in the center as well as the repeating yellow fish and blue birds. According to the artist, “I believe all of humankind share an organic Wi-fi that connects everyone, all we need to do is turn on the switch… is yours on?”
below: “Puzzled” by Harm Huibers on Grist Mill Lane in the Distillery District. The design of the brain is complex and intricate; when it’s complete, it’s a beautiful puzzle. Diseases like Alzheimers take pieces out of the puzzle.
The project is sponsored by Yogen Fruz and Pinkberry and is in support of the Baycrest Foundation. Baycrest, a leader in research into brain health and aging, is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year.
You can find pictures of all of the 2018 brains online at the brainproject.ca as well as descriptions of the brains and the artists behind their creation.
below: What is happening? By the looks of it, Doug Ford and John Tory have taken up cricket. Nice uniforms but something’s not cricket…
below: What is happening is a protest. A decent sized crowd gathered at Nathan Phillips Square late this afternoon because why? Because another Ford, another protest. Been there, done that, and is he really going to do what? Sigh.
below: Making a point. Doug Ford recently dictated that the sex ed curriculum brought in by the last government will no longer be taught because not enough parents had been consulted about its contents. Today he announced that the number of Toronto city council seats will be reduced from 47 to 25 after he consulted with zero zilch nada of Toronto’s 2.7 million people. Hypocrisy. It also gives credence to the theory that this is all sour grapes – he lost the last mayoral election to John Tory and his ego is damaged.
below: “To succeed we must secede #provinceofontario” An interesting concept?
below: Ford did campaign on cheap beer, a dollar a can if I remember correctly. There was no beer at Nathan Phillips square this afternoon. No consultations AND no beer.
below: A lone dissenter (or at least the only visible one). “Thank you Doug Ford. You saved me a part of my battle, for the Mayor’s office. Harris suggested this at amalgamation you put it in to action. Jim McMillan.”
Once the speeches were over, some of the protesters went inside City Hall to the council chambers where a city council meeting was in progress. We’ll see what happens in the coming days and weeks.
below: Like most days, there were lots of tourists in the square too. But that’s a whole other story!
The weather’s been all over the place, warm, cold, hot, cold again, back and forth…. like May weather usually is. We were fortunate to have great weather this past holiday Monday and a lot of people took advantage of the day! As I walked around, this is some of what I saw.
as I walk Toronto 