Toronto | as I walk Toronto

Posts Tagged ‘Toronto’

yogathon

Posted: August 17, 2014 in events
Tags: #riseforthecause, bare feet, child pose, cobra, community, downward dog, exercise, fun, good cause, help, laughter, love, mats, peace, people, postitions, postures, raise money, smiles, stretch, Toronto, upward dog, yoga, yogathon, yogis

Yogathon, Dundas Square, 16 August

Group of people at 2014 yogathon, Dundas Square

The first yogathon was held in Toronto a few years ago.
Today’s was the 3rd annual yogathon and it has spread to 46 cities in 12 countries.

During one of the short breaks between sun salutations.

The goal? 108 Sun Salutations. Variations were introduced to keep it interesting.

Try yoga while holding hands!

Money raised goes to Care for Children who work with youth in rural India.

A woman talks the group at the yogathon through their yoga postures, positions and sun salutations.

Instructors took turns leading the group through their salutations.

Happiness, Hope, Peace, Trust, Love and Balance.

Family time too….

Two women are sitting on the ground and talking to each other. Their backs are to the camera. On the back of their Tshirts are the words 'no one ever drowned in their own sweat'.

No one ever drowned in their own sweat – great T-shirts!

.

.

I was curious as to the meaning of JAIGURUDEV as written in chalk in the above picture. So I looked it up and this is one explanation that I found. It may not be the only interpretation but I liked it……

“You know there is a Big Mind and a small mind. Sometimes the Big Mind wins over the small mind and sometimes it is the other way around.

When the small mind wins over, it is misery and when the Big Mind wins, it is joy.

Small mind promises joy and leaves your hand empty. Big Mind may bring resistance in the beginning but fills you with joy.

The word Guru means great. Jaya means victory. Deva means one who is fun-loving, playful, light. One who is playful is often not dignified and when one is dignified, he is often not playful.

Jai Guru Dev is victory to the Big Mind in you that is both dignified and playful. That is what Jai Guru Dev means: “Victory to the Greatness in you.”

You do not say victory or hail to the Master as he has won over already. You say victory to your own Self, your own Mind, which is being veiled by the small mind.”

from: Guru Vaani at guruvaani.wordpress.com

from pork to park

Posted: August 9, 2014 in history, locations
Tags: bee, butterflies, construction, corktown, corktown commons, DOn River, Gooderham & Worts, green trees, hogs, hogtown, images, map, park, pavillion, photos, plants, pork, Toronto, urban, West Don Lands, William Davies Co..

Corktown Common

One of Toronto’s newest parks

In one corner of the park there is a plaque that commemorates the William Davies Company, once the owners of the land and buildings in this part of the city.

“From 1874 to 1927, this site was home to the William Davies Company, reputed to be the largest pork packing plant in the British Empire. Established in 1857 by William Davies (1831-1921), the company made its fortune preparing and exporting cured sides of pork to England. Later, its products were sold through William Davies Company shops, one of Canada’s first store chains. In its buildings here, the innovative company controlled the entire process from slaughter to shipment. Processing nearly 500,000 hogs annually by 1900, the company contributed to the city’s nickname “Hogtown”.
In 1892, Joseph Flavelle (1858-1939) became a partner and managing director of the company. Under Flavelle, the business flourished until the 1920’s when it was hurt by falling markets. The William Davies Company merged with three other packing firms to create Canada Packers, which continued to operate from this site until 1932. The last of the company’s buildings here were demolished in the 1990’s.”

An old coloured map of the area now called the West Don Lands. This illustration also appeared in a blogTO post about the William Davies Company. http://www.blogto.com/city/2013/10/how_toronto_got_the_nickname_hogtown/

An old illustrated map of the area now called the West Don Lands. The red letters are as follows:
A – Gooderham & Worts, now the Distillery District
B – William Davies Company, now Corktown Common
C – CNR tracks
D – the Don River
A version of this illustration also appeared in a blogTO post about the William Davies Company.

The last remains of the pork processing business disappeared long ago. After remaining vacant for a number of years, the site was developed into a park as part of the West Don Lands rebuilding.

small trees and other greenery , with a path and bench in the middle, in the foreground and the Toronto skyline is in the background.

The park is starting to look a lot greener as the plants and trees grow. This photo was taken from on top of one of the man made hills in the park. August 2014

A black, grey, white and orange butterfly on a pink flower

There are now lots of butterflies….

A bee and a butterfly on a tall upright light purple flower.

… and bees

A pavilion made of steel and wood sits atop a small hill in the middle of the play area. The pavilion was designed by by Maryann Thompson Architects of Boston The blue and green ovals are where there are fountains for warm weather water play.

a woman is sitting on a bench, looking at her phone. Behind her there are a number of buildings under construction

Looking west, and slightly north, from the pavilion towards the downtown area. West Don Lands redevelopment in the immediate background. Autumn 2013 (the building under construction is now almost complete – see above)

Part of a large red metal sculpture is in the foreground, looking past it you can see the pavillaion on top of a small hill that is part of Corktown Common park

Looking northeast through the wood and red metal sculpture, ‘No Shoes’, by Mark di Suvero. May 2014

Newly planted trees surroounded by grass.

The trees are starting to grow. They don’t look like much at the moment but give them time!

raspberries, not quite ripe, on a raspberry canes

There is even a large raspberry bush but by the looks of it, only the birds and insects have found it!

A map, screenshot from google maps, of West Don Lands and vicinity.

A map of the area today. The red X marks the spot of the new park.

When the park opened in 2013, urbantoronto.ca had an article about it. You can read about it here

Some wonderful aerial views of the area can be seen in another wordpress blog

******

facing outward from the wall

Posted: July 18, 2014 in graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, city, downtown, dude, face, faces, garage, graffiti, graffiti faces, head, lane, laneway, people, photos, spray paint, street art, tags, Toronto, urban

Graffiti faces seen in alleys and lanes recently.

A street art painting of a bust of a woman, all white, looks like white marble Greek or Roman statue, very classical looking

White bust on a wall near Bathurst subway station. She has been here for quite some time now; it’s good to see that no one has tagged over her

Large black & white & grey face of a famous black musician, probably jazz or blues but I'm not sure

musician – and my apologies because I am not sure who it is.

A small black & white & grey face made on paper, surrounded by green , yellow, blue & oranges squiggly lines

colourful face

A street art painting of a woman's face. Her eyes are closed and her head is tilted upwards

Closed eyes between the garages

Graffiti, or street art, on a blue background, of a little black and white animal with a spray paint can in his hand. Beside him is a tag in yellows and olive greens.

Love Spraying Dude, a colourful little guy

A few small trees are growing in front of an older building that has been painted white. Two brown figures have been stencilled onto the wall.

Hiding behind the trees

*****

alley animals

Posted: July 14, 2014 in graffiti and street art
Tags: alley, animals, beaks, bird, bunny, city, cranes, dinosaur, doors, downtown, elephant, garages, graffiti, hummingbird, lane, mural, pig, rhino, rhinocerous, street art, tags, Toronto, urban

A selection of the graffiti animals that I have encountered in the past few weeks.

large mural on the side of two storey building of a rhino surrounded by large birds

rhino and his feathered friends, parking lot off College St.
This is only part of the mural…. more below.

mural of many large birds in blues and greys, they all have long curved necks and large beaks

large beaks, large birds
This is only part of the mural…. more above.

oink, oink
A mural by ACS murals

A white outline drawing of a dinosaur painted on a green door that is locked

guardasaurus to watch over the door

a red and white painting of a floppy eared stylized rabbit on the side of an old garage. Other garages with tags on them are also in the photograph

posr rabbit tucked in beside a garage – hiding from those who are hunting rabbits

large mural street art piece painted on the side of a one storey building of a beaked creature with wings

Creature with scales and a tail, Willis St., near the northwest corner of Queen and Bathurst streets.

elephants in threes, but you can only see two of them in this pic. The elephant on the right didn't fit in the photo.

Elephants herd of three, but you can only see two of them in this picture. The elephant on the right didn’t fit in the photo…. but it looked just like the one of the left except it’s facing the other way.

painted graffiti of a hummingbird that looks like it is coming into land, hovering near vertical

hummingbird hovering beside a garage door

*****

slaps in the alley

Posted: July 14, 2014 in graffiti and street art
Tags: balaclava, bandana, brown brick, city, College St., dog, downtown, graffiti, licking, persevering, phinite, photos, purple, purple flower, rabbit, slaps, socks, stickers, street art, thanks, Toronto, urban, window, woman

In a small alley running behind the south side of College St., west of Bathurst, we discovered a large number of sticker graffiti pieces.

brown brick wall with a window that has been boarded over and painted the same brown colour. In the window, and on the window frame, are a large number of sticker graffiti pieces.

once it was a window, now it is a canvas of sorts

close up of some of the stickers that are in the window. One has words on it that asks if you have thanked yourself for persevering. Another is a red lizard with the words No Pipelines written on it, and another is a dog that is licking socks.

persevering thank you very much, while the dog licks the socks

A woman wearing a light purple cloth over the lower part of her face is holding a large white sign with the letter A inside a circle on it. Beside her is a large purple flower. Both are sticker.

partially obscured with purple and purple flower

An assortment of some of the stickers. These are the ones that were on the top part of the window. A person wearing a balaclava, a black haired girl with the lower part of her face covered in black, an outline drawing of a rabbit,

I did what I could with this photo as it was taken looking upward into the shadows of the window. Strange angle too – being much taller might have helped!

A black and white sticker on a yellow pole. The words on the sticker say Rad Brad. It is weird looking two legged creature.

Rad Brad hanging out on a yellow pole

******

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.

.

.

.
.

.

.

…

St. Enochs Square

Posted: July 10, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: black and white cat, boy, brick wall, cat, city, dandelions, downtown, EGR, EGRart, Elicser Elliott, lane, mural, painted wall, people, rejuvenation, Shuter, St. Enochs Square, street art, Toronto, urban

St. Enochs Square, between Massey Hall and the back of the stores facing Yonge St., just south of Shuter St.

This mural was painted about a year ago as part of a project to rejuvenate this alley. It was a collaboration between EGR and Elicser Elliott.

entrance to laneway, red brick building on the left (Massey Hall), mural painted on the wall on the right. Mural shows a woman & a boy blowing the seeds from white puffy dandelions.

entrance to St. Enochs Sq. on Shuter St.

A woman is holding an infant and a small child. Another child is clinging to her. A man is to her right and a girl is to her left. The infant is ugly and may not really be an infant but instead be a little roly poly old man... or a hybrid of the two

left side of the mural

a large black and white cat is looking at the viewer. It is wearing a little crown. Beside the cat is a boy in a blue and white striped shirt who is blowing the seeds off a puffy white dandelion.

blowing dandelions

panorama of the mural

summer in the city

Posted: July 7, 2014 in general Toronto, people
Tags: aquarium, baseball, bikes, downtown, Dundas Square, enjoying, fish, food, food trucks, Kensington, kids, people, photography, photos, Ryerson, street, streets, summer, sunny, Sweet Alibi, T-shirts, Toronto, Uncle Smokes, walking, warm, waterfront

Summer in the city – although the summer feels like it’s only just begun!

A cyclist and his bike are sitting at the edge of Lake Ontario, behind the chain fence. It is evening and the sky is strating to turn pink

Early evening rest at the waterfront

Two food trucks are parked on the street. People are buying food, or sitting on the conrete bench (low wall) that runs parallel to the sidewalk

Ice cream, slushies, hot dogs, chips, poutine…. food trucks on Queen Street in front of City Hall.

Two people are standing behind a table that is covered with a red and white checkered table cloth. The menu is written on a chalk board in front of them. The last item on the menu is love, and it's cost is free.

Uncle Smoke gives away free love! Pulled pork with beans, corn bread and veg will cost you $10 though! Pedestrian Sunday, Kensington Market.

A man is sitting beside a stroller in the foreground. Behind him is a pool of water and then a large glass building. On the wall of the building are black and white images of some famous people including Andy Warhol, JFK, and Albert Einstein

Under the watchful eye of a few famous people – Ryerson Image Centre building.

Some people are walking towards the camera as the cross a street including a couple who are holding hands. He is wearing an orange Tshirt that says Cool story babe, Now Make me a Sandwich.

“Cool Story Babe, Now make me a sandwich.” Any replies ladies?

A girl is standing very close to one of the tanks at the aquarium, she has her hands open and on the glass.

hands on at the aquarium

Dundas Square with many people sitting on chairs, under red umbrellas, watching a band play on stage

‘Sweet Alibi’ plays at Dundas Square

A large group of people, inlcuding many kids, are walking towards Rogers Stadium for a Blue Jays baseball game. Most of them are wearing blue Blue Jays shirts.

game day, Jays fans

******

Canada Day!

Posted: July 1, 2014 in events
Tags: Canada Day, celebration, fireworks, Harbourfront, Lake Ontario, lights, Toronto

Happy Canada Day everyone!

large display of fireworks over Lake Ontario

fireworks at Harbourfront, Canada Day Eve, June 30

*****

pride parade

Posted: June 30, 2014 in events, people
Tags: asses, bananas, bare asses, bare bums, Bloor St., bums, chaps, colours, cops, crowds, fun, gay, girls, guys, laughs, men, parade, people, police, pride, rainbow, raunchy, silly, smiles, topless, Toronto, wigs, women, Yonge St.

Shooting the pride parade was a lot different from shooting the dyke march! The pride parade is much bigger and by necessity much more tightly controlled. I was able to walk alongside the women in the dyke march but the streets were barricaded and non-participants kept off the route for the pride parade.

crowds are behind barricades along the streets, policemen on motorcycles are waiting at the end of the street. parade hasn't started yet

looking west on Bloor towards Yonge.

I walked the first part of the route, along Bloor Street, just before the parade started. Lots of crowds were behind the metal bars; a few police were watching/ignoring me. When I turned the corner at Yonge St., I realized just how controlled the crowds were! I chose not to continue walking south on Yonge. A policeman opened the barricade enough to let me out. After that I walked amongst the crowds….. and saw nothing of the parade! Too many people! But they were interesting people and I enjoyed walking amongst them. …. until Dundas when there were so many people and no one could move. That’s was my cue to exit stage right.

So here’s a salute to all those who joined the fun. A little raunchy and a little over the top at times but all good.

Two women in banana costumes posing for the camera.

Kudos to these two ladies who showed up in banana costumes! I asked them if they were part of a group, but no, they’re just fruity they said. I hope they joined the parade had fun (and didn’t get too hot!… unless they peeled…. )

Two women, or men dressed as women, one in black and one in white. The one in white has a large black & white clockface behind her

timeless

A group of people are standing behind metal barricades waiting for the parade to start, some are waving and some are smiling. A group of three girls are wearing pink boas.

pink, with smiles, waiting for the parade to begin

A group of policemen and policewomen pose for a group shot before the pride parade

Before the parade started – They were actually posing for someone else… but I suggested that they look a little livelier, wave their hands or something…. thanks for obliging!

viewable, & captured, from all angles

One guy in red underpants (with Christmas bells attached to the front) is pointing to the bare bottoms of his two male friends. He is making an exaggerated facial expression of surprise and shock.

boys just wanna have fun

Two older men dressed in white are under a rainbow striped umbrella. One has a white boa, the other has a red boa.

keeping the sun away. These umbrellas were great – very photogenic!

A woman with very large and almost bare breasts. Her face is decorated

Two men are standing beind, and leaning on, the barricade. They are wearing multicoloured beads, incuding some very big beads that look more like balls for a Christmas tree

big grins! The one in blue was more game than his partner…. you could almost say that one in grey is grimacing more than grinning. Thanks guys!

A group of men are standing behind barricades.

He had such a wonderful smile and he seemed so happy that I couldn’t resist taking his picture.

four girls, each with a different coloured mask, like the ninja turtles TV characters wear.

ninjas, mostly unmasked

a boy is sitting on his father's shoulders

a better view!

many people lining the route of the pride parade on Yonge St.

The crowds at Yonge and Wellesley just as the parade reached that part of the route.

A row of people wearing hats in the foreground, looking across an empty street to a very large crowd behind barricades

How does one even start to calculate how many people were there?

A quick shot – he saw my camera, turned and quickly posed, and I got the shot. It wasn’t until I downloaded the photos that I saw the marvellous juxtaposition!

a group of four girls wearing rainbow curly wigs, frilly short skirts and rainbow striped socks are walking up the street between two rows of parade watchers

almost their own little parade!

streetcars at the intersection of Yonge & College, all corners are packed with people

stopping the parade to let the College/Carlton streetcar through

Two people are standing on the window sill of a large window. The woman is wearing a striped dress. She is texting. The guy beside her is topless, wearing grey shorts

She doesn’t seem to be having fun – standing in the window of Starbucks at College & Yonge.

Wall to wall people at the intersection of Yonge and Dundas. All you can see in the photo are people's heads.

I walked the parade route at about the same speed that the parade went. An hour and a half later, I reached Yonge & Dundas where the crowds were so thick no one could move.

Two boys are standing on a window ledge so they are above a crowd of people. The small boy doesn't look too happy.

At the corner of Yonge & Dundas – by the time I made it to this intersection, I was beginning to agree with the boy in green!

Two topless women are painted in big rainbow colours. Two clothed women are posing for a photo with them.

posing with the body painters – Body Art by Tania was the booth on Church St., near the start of the parade.

actoronto – AIDS Committee Toronto

*****

as I walk Toronto

Recently added

Previous posts

Categories

recent flickr photos

facebook

Instagram

Meta

Posts Tagged ‘Toronto’

yogathon

from pork to park

facing outward from the wall

alley animals

slaps in the alley

Centennial Park conservatory

St. Enochs Square

summer in the city

Canada Day!

pride parade