Here are a few photos of spring in the city that I collected as I walked in the past few weeks.
below: Spring time … when all the bugs and insects come out!
below: As do the trees…. including this massive pink magnolia in full bloom.
below: Flowers on a grave
Wilket Creek forms one of the many ravines in the city. The northern part has been buried; it surfaces just south of York Mills Road and flows south until it joins the West Don just north of Eglinton. Edwards Gardens is part of the park system along the creek and that is where I met a friend the other day. It was her part of town and she was my guide for the day. The magnolia trees were at peak bloom and the fragrance of their blossoms filled the air.
below: Magnolia
below: Three magnolia buds ready to open up.
below: Other trees and shrubs were also laden with blossoms
below: Volunteers working in the Teaching Garden, preparing the beds for planting.
below: Some of the different types of trees that grow here – three different bark colours.
below: A willow tree by Wilket Creek
below: Dawn Redwood tree (aka Metasequoia tree)
below: Parts of the gardens were closed for repairs to the banks of the creek and the path alongside it.
Walking the ravine north from Edwards Gardens is impossible – unfortunately, that stretch of the ravine is not open to the public. A gap in the system. We rejoined the creek at Windfields Park.
below: A rock stuck in a hard place, where rocks usually aren’t found.
below: Yellow wildflowers, Lesser Celandine which is apparently an invasive species.
below: A tennis ball in the wild.
below: Two birch trees, probably Silver Birch because of the brown bark of the younger tree that will soon shed to reveal the white bark below.
below: Yellow trout lily. The flashy red parts hang downwards so they are hidden close to the forest floor. The flowers are difficult to spot but the mottled green and brown leaves give them away.
below: Bloodroot flowers
With thanks to Iskuhi for walking with me and teaching me the names of some trees and wildflowers. … and for some playing with sunlight and shadows (because that’s what photographers do!).
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.
Scarborough Bluffs Park on sunny but windy Sunday afternoon in March.
The red twig dogwood is looking redder and the trees are barely starting to bud.
The water and air are still cold enough that icicles form on the overhanging branches that get hit by waves.
Getting used to this “social distancing” thing but not the “stay at home” part. A walk in the park seemed like a good way to mix the two – get a little exercise without running into too many people.
below: Keeping his distance
It’s close to March 21st and the beginning of spring. Actually this blog post started to take form after I parked my car and wandered aimlessly a few yards. I was standing on a path in a ravine wondering which way to go… but why was I here? I heard a bird, and then I heard another.
below: A robin snacking on sumach
below: A female downy woodpecker
below: A little chickadee
below: It’s not a bird nor is it a sign of spring, but it sat still enough to let me get my camera focused through the branches.
below: The red dogwood branches have started to become more vibrant.
below: Pussy willows have opened up their fuzzy white buds. A definite indicator of spring.
below: There weren’t many tree buds but this tree (and others of its type) were an exception.
below: There was a train too! A different kind of sign of life.
Spring, and a walk in the park. Sometimes it’s just the little things…. including someone to share your space.
below: Reflections in the Wilket Creek
I’m not sure what the allure of the cherry (aka sakura) blossoms is. Has it become a symbol of spring and who doesn’t like the long awaited end of winter? Is there something special about the cherry flower? Or is it more ‘exotic’ than the magnolia that flowers about the same time, or a bit earlier? Why not celebrate the lilac trees? Or other trees that blossom in the spring?
below: A couple of cherry blossoms along with some buds and partially opened flowers.
Although there are a number of places around the city to see sakura trees (14 I think), High Park seems to be the most popular place. True, they have the oldest trees and the most trees planted in one area. It has become the site of an annual pilgrimage by thousands of people to see the blossoms. Even though the ‘sakura watch’ website said that ‘peak’ blossom hadn’t yet arrived, I decided to check out High Park yesterday.
below: Lots of signs to direct pedestrian traffic to the cherry trees. The roads were closed to most cars.
below: There were a couple of school groups there for the morning. Although there weren’t too many blossoms to see, it was a beautiful spring morning and many of the kids were making the most of it.
below: An Instagram moment I suspect.
below: An engagement photo shoot
Yesterday there were many more buds and partially opened flowers than there were blossoms. By the weekend, there will probably be a profusion of white petals… as well as a swarming of people. I had to search for flowers to take pictures of but at least it was a relatively quiet and peaceful morning.
It’s still May and the CONTACT Photography Festival is still on so I am still trying to see as much as possible. Yesterday afternoon I went wandering in Yorkville where there is lots to see and do besides a couple of CONTACT exhibits.
below: Captain Canuck. I started with the TD Gallery at the Toronto Reference Library. It wasn’t that long ago that I was there (April I think) but the exhibit has changed. It is now ‘Alter Ego: Comics and Canadian Identity’. Isn’t Captain Canuck the most famous Canadian superhero? He first appeared in 1975.
below: Not so well known – The cover of the book ‘Nelvana of the Northern Lights’ by Adrian Dingle (1911-1974). Nelvana was Canada’s first female superhero; she first appeared in 1941, a few months before (American) Wonder Woman. Nelvana’s superpowers included turning invisible and traveling at the speed of light along a ray of the Northern Lights. According to Wikipedia, she “visited lost kingdoms under the ice, journeyed to other dimensions, and fought against the Axis Powers during World War II, eventually taking on the secret identity of secret agent Alana North. Her last adventure was published in 1947.
below: This structure was built in 1876 as a Carpenter Gothic Revival Style church – the Olivet Congregational Church. It has been the home of the Heliconian Club since 1923. This women only club was formed in 1909 and is still active today supporting women in the arts. There is a photo exhibit on there at the moment but viewing is by appointment only (it is a club not a gallery after all).
below: For CONTACT, the Lomas Gallery on Yorkville Ave is featuring a few large photos of cityscapes that are full of tall buildings. The one behind the red couch is ‘NoMad New York’ by Christopher Woodcock.
below: On the wall beside is ‘[a]DCLXI’ by Amyn Nasser.
![on a gallery wall, Lomas Gallery, a large photo, [a]DCLXI by Amyn Nasser of a wall of glass skyscrapers with lots of windows, on the wall beside is another photo in which Nasser's photo is reflected.](https://mcfcrandall.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/blog_photo_reflected_another_photo.jpg)
below: It’s not a sculpture or a statue, but this red faced mannequin caught my eye. Maybe next time he’ll remember his sunscreen.
below: The clock tower of the Yorkville firehall. One side seems to missing its clock face.
below: Brendan Meadows’ black and white portraits hang on the walls of the Liss Gallery in an exhibit titled ‘Ipseity’. These were printed as silver gelatin selenium-toned lith prints by Bob Carnie from negatives made from digital images. The images were also manipulated with the Sabatier effect (solarization); this results in an image that is wholly or partially reversed in tone. Dark areas appear light or light areas appear dark.
below: Posters on hoardings add a little life at street level to the construction sites in the area. This set features businesses and sites in the area including the ROM.
below: Some colourful art deco style posters.
below: Prepared for anything! With a yellow duckie, handcuffs and binoculars, Batman and his Robin hand puppet prepare to take on the forces of evil! These are sculptures by Patrick Amiot.
below: Part of the Miraim Schiell gallery is devoted to Amiot’s work.
below: This large RCMP mountie and his dog stand behind the gallery.
below: Enjoying the wonderful spring afternoon on Cumberland.
below: Oh.. that second mountie that I alluded to in the title of this post – he was on the wall at the Alter Ego exhibit. This one. Just don’t call him Dudley Do-Right.
below: This is either ironic or sad. The first few lines of text say “In the the 1960s and 1970s, Yorkville village was the heart of Canada’s bohemian, counterculture community”. As I took this picture a new Bentley with dealer plates drove past. I looked around and the ‘counterculture’ of 40 to 50 years ago has been replaced by designer boutiques, high end stores, fine art galleries, and restaurants with linen napkins. Not a lot of music happening here. Full transcription is below.
“In the the 1960s and 1970s, Yorkville village was the heart of Canada’s bohemian, counterculture community. More than 40 clubs and coffee houses nightly featured folksingers-songwriters, including Ian & Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, and Neil Young, who performed some of their first compositions in these smoky venues.
Yorkville’s first coffee house, Club 71, was opened by Werner Graeber in 1959. By 1964, Yorkville had become a nurturing environment not only for folk music, but also for pop, blues, and later, psychedelic rock. Hippies and teenagers flocked to these unlicensed venues, which offered an alternative to Yonge Street bars.
Yorkville was also home to three sound-recording studios, taping major acts such as The Guess Who, Lighthouse, and Ann Murray. With its vital role in fostering a wealth of talent, the Yorkville scene inspired a generation of songwriters and led to the rise of a new Canadian sound.”
A trip to Toronto Islands on a sunny spring day.
Photos and stories – an eclectic mix of history and nature that resulted from wandering around the eastern portion of the islands.
below: From the ferry, looking toward the glass and steel of the city.
Toronto Islands is a collection of at least 12 small islands. In the early years the island archipelago was really a peninsula of sandbars and ponds; it was connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of sandy shoreline. This landform was created over centuries by the action of waves, winds and lake currents – washing away portions of the Scarborough Bluffs and depositing this material to the west in a five-mile-long hooked shape. This process of natural “landscaping” continued until the spring of 1858, when a particularly powerful hurricane created a channel four to five feet deep through the peninsula. By June of that year, the Eastern Gap was a waterway, and the Toronto Islands came into being.
below: On the ferry between the city and Centre Island.
The first buildings on the islands were the Blockhouse Bay garrison built in the 1794 by the British at Gibraltar Point – it included a blockhouse and storage structures. A second blockhouse and a guard house were built soon after, only to be destroyed by the Americans in the Battle of York in April 1813. The lighthouse at Gibraltar Point built in 1809 still stands (sorry, no photo).
In 1833 Michael O’Connor built a hotel on one the islands. He used a horse-drawn boat to ferry customers across from the mainland to his hotel. At that time, there was still access by road but it was a toll road. In 1836 it cost sixpence for every four-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses. Smaller ‘vehicles’ paid less. In 1858 the hotel (now Quinns Hotel) was destroyed during the same hurricane that turned the peninsula into an island. The hotels were destroyed but the islands remained popular. With no road access, ferries were needed and many people ran private ferry services until they were bought out or amalgamated into the Toronto Ferry Company in 1892. It was privately owned until 1926 when it was purchased by the City of Toronto for $337,500.
Many houses and businesses, (hotels, restaurants, bowling alley, laundry, theatre etc) were established over the years from Hanlon’s Point in the west to Wards Island in the east. Today, residences are only in the eastern section of Wards Island and on Algonquin Island.
The Ward’s Island community began in the 1880s as a settlement of tents. Up until then, that eastern end of the islands was mostly wetlands. The first summer colony on Ward’s in 1899 consisted of just eight tenants, each of whom had paid a fee of $10 rent for the season. The number of tents grew each year. In 1913, the city felt it necessary to organize the community into streets. The evolution from tents to cottage structures progressed in stages with the building of floors, the addition of kitchens and then porches, resulting in the creation of the homes.
In 1953 the municipal government changed their policy toward the Toronto Islands landscape and its residents. Businesses were removed and the systematic demolition and burning of homes began. More of the islands became parkland. There are 262 houses on Wards and Algonquin Islands today, down from about 630 residences on all the islands. The last of the Lakeshore houses was removed in 1968 but traces of them still remain.
below: The pier on the Lake Ontario side.
below: Sandbags along the shore. Last spring there was a lot of flooding here and the island was closed to visitors – sort of. Ferries didn’t run and the park facilities were closed. The islands are very flat and low so it doesn’t take much extra water to flood.
below: There is a small amusement park, Centreville, on Centre Island.
below: Island transport that can be rented if you don’t want to walk.
below: Boats moored QCYC (Queen City Yacht Club), one of the three yacht clubs on the islands.
below: Sakura trees in bloom. The trees were donated by the Sakura Project. The aim of this project was to strengthen Japanese Canadian relations by planting cherry trees in visible locations across Ontario. Between 2000 and 2012, 3,082 trees were planted at 58 locations. The trees on Centre Island were planted in 2011.
below: Catkins from a red alder tree. They almost look like raspberries packed tight together.
below: An early family of Canada geese.
below: The pier at the eastern end of Wards Island is bad need of repair. To the right is the entry into the Eastern Channel (or Eastern Gap).
below: Looking over to Algonquin Island. Once upon a time this island was just a sandbar.
and back to the mainland.
Today. Wonderful
and Shiny.
I am not usually a morning person but how could I resist not getting up and moving on this gorgeous spring day? With my metropass in my back pocket….
… and my walking sandals on (Yes! Sandals!) I headed out to explore the day.
(early enough to beat the crowds!)
The early morning criss cross shadows and reflections.
The soft greens, and almost yellows, of new leaves.
The flowers – tulips, daffodils and hyacinths – that have spring up in planters around the city.
Oh no. The geese are back (or did they never leave?).
The dogs are still waiting for the water to be turned on.
On Yonge Street (near Wellington), there has been too much water. The street has been closed while water main issues are straightened out (it has since been opened).
While Yonge was closed anyhow, workmen install a new sign at the corner of Yonge & Wellington.
Also needing fixing – yesterday’s wind storm left a lot of damage around the city including this very large tree that lost a very large branch. Actually the whole tree has come down.
Lots of wires were down too.
Not everybody was up with the sun this morning.
I hope that your day was shiny and bright too!
I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!
below: The reigning champ and I!
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!
as I walk Toronto 