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.
Last weekend
This weekend
I hope that you all had a great weekend! It was fabulous to be out and about enjoying the warm weather – everyone is happier when the sun shines and the snow melts! The following pictures were taken today when I was out walking along Queen West, people watching as I went.
below: Street artist SKAM and his graffiti tag. The original was painted in 2012 and had not been tagged over or messed up too much. Some of the paint was peeling so it was time for a make over.
below: Part of the latest Uber5000 mural is reflected in the window as SKAM paints.
below: Trinity Bellwoods Park (This is also where the ‘believe’ in yellow is woven into the chainlink fence – photo above).
below: The albino squirrel of Trinity Bellwoods Park – he’s up here somewhere!
below: Found him!
below: Reaching for a coffee
below: Walking the dog!
below: It wasn’t a happy day for everyone.
below: Smoking room
below: Supporting the locals. It’s also play-off time of the year and this year both the Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs are still in the playoffs in their respective sports.
Welcome spring!
At one end of the new sports field at Regent Park, there is a large mural by elicser.
below: The west end of the mural, waiting on the sidelines with basketball at the ready as well as watching the soccer game.
below: The cricket players are between the words ‘Regent’ and ‘Park’ as seen above.
below: The mural continues behind the basketball court.
below: Basketball players both on and off the court.
below: The east end of the mural
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!
It’s after Labour Day but it’s still hot enough to be July. I tried to walk for a while today but I didn’t last. Air conditioning is my best friend this afternoon. But all was not lost. Even though I was only out for a short time, I walked along Croft Street and discovered that the south end (south of Vankoughnet) has been cleaned up and repainted. If you don’t know Croft Street, it’s a street in name only. It’s more like an alley in that it’s narrow with a lot of garages on it….but it’s also a lane that now has a number of residences on it. I guess you could call it a hybrid, a little bit alley and a little bit street.
What I really like about the street art here is that there is a cohesiveness to it. It’s not all the same but it all works together. Do I dare call it designer street art?
below: A couple of murals that existed previously were left untouched. On the left an oldie and on the right a new coat of paint.
below: As well as a bright and cheerful coat of paint (and the occasional white wall!), the lane has been decorated with planters made of cement blocks and old plastic barrels.
The south end of Croft Street is at College Street. There once was a mural on a wall at the corner of Croft and College that commemorated the fire of 1904. Almost three years ago I blogged about it. (3 years!) John Croft died in that fire and it was for him that the street was named. Anyhow, that mural is still there although it’s been hidden behind someone’s ugly tagging for more than a year. Today it is also behind scaffolding.
below: Part of the John Croft mural that no longer exists.
And now, because life (or, my life) is rarely linear, I’m going to jump around and look at the other end of Croft Street. North of Vankoughnet there seemed to be an animal theme in street art that I saw.
below: birdo bunny with his ears at attention.
below: The memorial to Monty the cat is still there, again for at least 3 years, but now it’s someone’s little patio. In case you are unfamiliar with this wall I have added a transcription of the poem written in Monty’s honour.
Did you know our Monty the cat?
King of Croft and all that
(Ask your dog. Ask your cat)
Did you give him a pet
Once you had met?
Or tickle his soft silken tum tum?
Did he tell you his tale in articulate meow
And share his affection with a rub of his brow?
His loss here has left us really quite blue
But remembering all of those of YOU
Who knew how to share a sweet kindness true
Who would pause on the way,
In midst of each day,
To offer wee beastie
affectionate feastie
In Memory of Monty
Thank you!
below: Unicorns vs Monsters. And the winner is?
below: Three cows standing in a field…. on a wall.
below: No animal here…. but it must have been here recently and left its paw prints behind.
below: An angular fox, or rather a triangular fox
below: More animals but I’m not sure if it’s art, or if someone has a lot of watering cans they’re trying to keep organized. The bottom yellow one is probably not a pokemon, right? Of course I could be missing something – it wouldn’t be the first time!
below: Leaving the animal theme behind, mind over matter.
below: 74B likes grids. The metal stripping on the brown door has been there for at leasat three years but the coloured stripes on the garage are more recent.
below: All stories and all blog posts need an ending so I’ll stop here. The end.
Summer in the city – enjoying the summer weather!
below: Toronto street art in Graffiti Alley.
below: skateboarders
below: Enjoying a quiet moment, late afternoon.
below: Painting shingles – June 4th was 100 in One Day, a day where community activites are promoted. One of the activities on Kenwood Lane was shingle painting.
below: Running through the fountains at Yonge Dundas Square
below: World Naked Bike Ride participants cycle through Kensington.
below: Relaxing at Nathan Phillips Square. #sitTO is a campaign to increase the number of places to sit in public spaces.
below: Distillery District
below: Patio, College Street
Sharing Dance
Organized by the National Ballet School,
the 3rd annual Sharing Dance event was held at Yonge Dundas Square.
A chance to laugh a little and learn a few moves.
#sharingdance
Spring is in the air.
I’ll be lazing on a sunny
lazing on a sunny
lazing on a sunny afternoon.
(with apologies to Queen)
Get your head wrapped!
Considering the cold temperatures, not to mention the rain, snow and hail, there was a great turn out for Turban Up! at Yonge Dundas square today. The event was organized by the Sikh Youth Federation to help raise awareness about Sikh religion and culture. There were martial arts demonstrations, food, an art exhibit, and other examples of Sikh culture, but the main event was the turban wrapping. Numerous eager and friendly volunteers were available to wrap a turban for you in your choice of colour. A few people sported black and dark blue turbans but bright colours were very popular – colours like turquoise, bright greens and blues, as well as pink, orange and red. A veritable rainbow of turbans.
below: He’s out of focus but I like his gumption. Thanks for the smile!
#sikhyouthfederation | #turbanup | #ydsquare
I am still trying to get caught up with the photos that I took at Science Rendezvous last weekend. There was so much happening! Lots of people were involved and engaged in the various activities that were available both at Yonge Dundas Square and on St. George street.
below: On the stage at Yonge Dundas square: Start with three identical piles of building blocks and three teams, put ten minutes on the clock and see what towers result. The challenge was to
build the strongest, tallest, or most awesome tower.
below: Teamwork!
below: How do you test the strength of a tower?
By giving one exuberant girl a big orange ball of course!
below: At the end of the competition, all three teams came together to build the tallest tower that they could. It didn’t quite reach the stage roof, but it was close!
… more great activities…..
below: Question: How long does it take the light from the Sun to travel to the Earth?
Answer: sunlight travels at the speed of light (rounded to 300,000 km/s) and it has to cover a distance of 150 million km on average to reach Earth. With a bit of math, the answer is 500 seconds, or 8 minutes and 18 seconds.
below: making paper
below: robots
below: How unique are you? Test yourself for various phenotypes (the product of your genes)… Can you curl your tongue? Can you smell freesias? Is your thumb bent? From answers to these and five other questions you can determine if you are 1/10 (you share similarities to many people) or 1/1000 (you are more unique)… or something in between. Apparently I’m 1/45 and if you’re curious, my thumb is straight, I can’t curl my tongue and I can smell freesias.
below: St. George street.
below: A demonstration using acids, bases, and pH indicators. Technically, pH is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions. In practice, it indicates how acidic or basic a substance is. Water, with a pH of 7 is neutral. Acids have a pH less than 7 while bases have a pH greater than 7. A pH indicator is a chemical that changes colour depending on the pH.
below: How much energy is a gummi bear? Find out by heating a little bit of of potassium chlorate in a test tube. Once it is liquid, add a gummi bear. Smoke and flames ensue. When the potassium chlorate is heated, it produces oxygen gas which ignites if there is combustible material, such as sugar, available.
below: Design and construction with K’nex
below: Tetris players
below: programmable Lego vehicles
below: Watch out! Scientists on the loose!
below: The little boxes used in this activity have a marble inside them. When placed on an inclined surface, the boxes tumble to the bottom. Sandpaper prevents the boxes from slipping.
below: Corn starch and water makes a wonderful substance. It’s not liquid and it’s not solid. If you are fast enough you run on top of it but if you stop moving, you sink into it!
as I walk Toronto 