G Ross Lord, Birkdale, Scarborough Museum success!

2 more weeks fly by – and we’re still out walking in the winter! Next up? Spring.

But first, we explored G. Ross Lord Park and then visit the Downsview Merchants Market and food court (only a brief visit… but there was cake!).

The following week, we visited Birkdale Ravine, which conveniently led us back to Scarborough Museum. This time, we went in to visit that museum. Our tour guide, Maddie, was informative and welcoming and made the history of the log cabin and the house vivid. Then (as not pictured here), we returned to Sammy’s for a delicious brunch. Perfect!

we start walking and immediately enjoying our visit to G. Ross Lord Park – without greenery, the forests are very interesting!

under the evergreens – a lovely circle creates a small forest “room”

the G Ross Lord Park mallard gang! happy in and out of the water

Connaught Labs building on Sanofi-Pasteur manufacturing/lab campus (Steeles/Dufferin)

cellular tower Steeles/Dufferin

Environment Canada’s great steel totem-sculpture is being restored! (We still saw the main framework, though… )

Downsview Park Merchants Market – busy, interesting weekend fun!

mmmmm, pupusas!!!! Enough said! 🙂

mmmm, Louise’s red velvet cheesecake birthday treat from Sweetnuthin’s

West Highland Creek in Birkdale Ravine – with a very thin coat of ice

Cornell House at Thomson Memorial Park (this is one component of Scarborough Museum)

bedroom, with rope bed, in McCowan Log Cabin

Hope and Healing Canada – red yarn installation (at the McCowan Log Cabin, Scarborough Museum), by artist Tracey-Mae Chambers

stunning, beautifully restored McClary’s “Pandora” stove, in Cornell House, Scarborough Museum

Maddie tells us a bit more about Cornell House, and also about tea importing, culture, smuggling…

keyboard and modern art, Cornell House

bible, Victrola and other collections, Cornell House

parlour organ, painted lamp, modern Scarborough photo, Cornell House

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

Jane’s Walk… it’s back!
The Don River Valley – upper and lower! (it’s never too often for The Don!)
The Moore Park Ravine
Sunnybrook Park
Withrow Park
Claireville Conservation Area – to be revisited!
The Leslie Spit (Like The Don: when can we go again?)
The Rouge River and beach – north to south! (or vice versa!)
The Humber… north, west, at the lake, the marsh, canoeing…
Back to Guild Park and Theatre (summer plans!)
And all sorts of other places!

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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What we seek and admire on our walks: gargoyles, historical buildings, modern buildings, public sculpture, parks, murals, art fairs, forests, trees, gardens, decorated shop windows, community centres, old signs, rivers, creeks, the lakeshore, stained glass windows, branches of interesting organizations, bridges, staircases, porches, fussy architectural details… and nifty cafés. We love an impromptu brunch, but are also happy just to find a great iced tea!

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Corktown and Beach – 2 more walks

We’re still winter walking. And loving the weather! Not too keen on the sometimes slippery sidewalks, perhaps, but… I’m now an advocate for hiking poles! Amazing what they do for the balance!

Recent walks included a great return to Corktown Common on an exceptionally cold and windy day. Brrrrrrrrr! The wind was at hat-removing gust speed! For some reason, I had thought (dreamed, I guess) that the small wetlands there might actually show little pre-spring signs of life. Or maybe a stubborn, non-migrating heron! What a thought! Well, certainly not, at wind-chill temperature of about -20° Celsius. But we had fun.

The following week, we returned to one of our original annual walks: Winter Stations, back on the beach again, this time. There wasn’t much snow left by then, but the breezes meant there was still some ice along the water’s edge: very beautiful. The installations were pretty nifty this year, once again. And against mostly grey skies, they looked quite inspiring. Terrific to see people enjoying a winter walk.

swaying mobile sculpture structure at Corktown Common: No Shoes by. Mark di Suvero (was originally in High Park) (walkers there unknown to us)

interesting clouds and sky over the wetlands area of Corktown Common – it was completely iced and snowed, so no herons today!!

view of interesting high rise apartment area from Corktown Common – some are very tall!

Garden of Future Follies, (Hadley+Maxwell) on Front Street East

a little Canary District iconography! The Aviary on Front Street East

The Water Guardians (Jennifer Marman, Daniel Borins) on Front Street East

untitled (Toronto Lamp Posts) (by Tadashi Kawamata) Front Street East

Yet more Canary District signage: Canaray Market convenience store

our great snack up on the Balzac’s balcony, Distillery District

not too much snow, but there sure was ice on the beach!

S’Winter Station – Ryerson group (an interesting “pavilion” made of concrete, beach towels, marine ropes) – very schwoopy!

Helena & Jan have fun in The Hive (Kathleen Dogantzis & Will Cuthbert) – Winter Stations – lovely igloo-like shape and chicken wire in the top is also beeswax-reminiscent in shape

ENTER FACE (MELT/Cemre Önertürk & Ege Çakır) – Winter Stations

Introspection (UofT Daniels Faculty of Architecture) – Winter Stations – Helena, Jan, Lori, Robbie, Su

two storms and light across the lake to south – eventually, we got horizontal snow!

One Canada (U of Guelph) – Winter Stations – beautiful Indigenous themes here

wonderful brunch at Green Eggplant – great company, too!

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

Ideas from this year’s Jane’s Walk list (two walks looking at modern “Facadism” sound cool)
The Don River Valley – upper and lower! (it’s never too often for The Don!)
The Moore Park Ravine
Sunnybrook Park
Withrow Park
Claireville Conservation Area – to be revisited!
The Leslie Spit (Like The Don: when can we go again?)
The Rouge River and beach – north to south! (or vice versa!)
The Humber… north, west, at the lake, the marsh, canoeing…
Back to Guild Park and Theatre (summer plans!)
And all sorts of other places!

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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Day and Night – 2 walks

Cold weather didn’t deter us!

James Gardens and Lambton Woods along the Humber, last week, and Harbourfront to see Nordic Lights, this past Sunday.

Wonderful walking and viewing, even if it was a bit on the chilly side! 🙂

Photos out of order due to a WordPress glitch! I think you’ll know which ones are where!

projection on Power Plant: GORZI (Outi Pieski, Finland) with soundtrack of yoik singer Hilda Lansman

PRESSURE (Hans E. Madsen/Frederik D. Hougs, Denmark) – wanted to spend more time with this one, too!

Jan, Helena, Robbie at Sense Light Swing (Alexander Lervik, Sweden)

Humber River on cool sunny day – I wanted to swim in that little unfrozen “pond”

Humber River near Dundas West – some frozen, some not! Lots of playful footprints and a few x-country ski tracks

Harbourfront Skating Rink – music and happy folks beside the lake

GREAT MINDS (Alexandra Stratimirovic, Sweden)

gorgeous tree on Edgevalley Drive – an oak? What a sky!

Empire Sandy tall ship awaits next year’s passengers – Billy Bishop Island Airport in distance

CONTROL NO CONTROL (Iregular, Quebec) – Jan had fun here!

CN Tower was all lit up with a Valentine’s show! sweet! yes, those are hearts!

back at James Gardens, we admire the mallards who are enjoying this little open pond on a frozen day

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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Weekoff/Lookback

Between snowstorms, work, family, and other fun, I just didn’t decide on a walk for last Sunday. So, we didn’t take one! Sorry about that. But two of us had a city walk, nearby, for fun – the next day. I didn’t take any photos. We just enjoyed the walk! Thanks, Jan!

Instead of documenting something new-this-week, thought I’d share a few favourites from our past walks. People have really enjoyed these occasional trips down memory lane. And they give me a chance to wish you all happy walks ahead, wherever you roam.

More familiar faces, next time!

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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Spadina arts

The winter weather has felt a bit difficult. The sidewalks have been a bit on the icy side. And after a snowstorm which some are saying was historically significant in its deposit, thoughts of exploring parks were replaced by a nearby urban street hike.

It was a grey day, but that made some of the art works appear brighter and more appealing. The Que Rock mural, representing Indigenous residential school children being escorted to the spirit world on the backs of eagles, is beautiful and moving. It must be amazing, when backlit, at night.

We progressed to a bit more art. And some treats. The discovery of some delicious Hong Kong Island coconut and pineapple buns contributed to lifting our winter moods!

Sorry, no photos of the pastries we enjoyed. But some very colourful donuts we saw in a window are pictured below. And that was sort of window art, was it not?

Transplant (by Yaara Eshet and Aya Rosen) in Fentster window gallery on College Street

Breathtaking Indigenous memorial window mural by Que Rock, on Daniels Architecture Building, U of T. This was the window art that motivated this walk.

El Mocambo lane – some new, some old murals

alas, the StanTec window gallery is unviewable on this day – dark inside and covered in road salt! check here: https://designto.org/event/in-the-midst-of-darkness-nature-persists/

wild pop-up donut joint at Fourth Man in the Fire on Dundas – didn’t get any, but ain’t they purdy?

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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Riverwood: first of many?

Yet another new park discovery, this one, out of town a bit… in Mississauga.

Highly recommended, The Riverwood Conservancy is a large park (near the size of TO’s High Park) governed by the City of Mississauga and the Credit Valley Conservation association. It follows part of the Credit River, and includes a couple of historical homes, a barn, an arts centre, a little bit of public art, beautiful forest, what must be lovely gardens in the summer… and a very sweet bird feeder trail, The Armstrong Wild Bird Trek. Feeders are filled regularly by volunteers, with seed donated by Armstrong Seed Mills.

The winter icy patches here and there didn’t deter us this time. When there were hills, we avoided them!! Oh, just kidding. Some of us didn’t have hiking poles, but that didn’t matter: there were branches aplenty to be assigned that duty. Handy! And made the going pretty easy.

We did see some of the birds that were attracted to the well-stocked feeders. Very cute squirrels, too… because that’s what happens with bird feeders. A more patient photographer, with a zoom lens, would have had more success capturing some images of them! It was a lovely walk and we will visit again.

Pine Sanctuary – The Riverwood Conservancy

The Riverwood Conservancy – gorgeous tall pine, near entry

The Riverwood Conservancy – MacEwan House

Parker/Chappell House -The Riverwood Conservancy

old farm wagon still on site – The Riverwood Conservancy

Birds of Prey, closeup – The Riverwood Conservancy

entering the Green Trail – The Riverwood Conservancy

owls carved into another dead tree stump- this one was a surprise! The Riverwood Conservancy

there were several very cute, plump, white-tummy squirrels… who hoped we’d feed them! Sigh!!! The Riverwood Conservancy

icy sparkly rushing Credit River – and Burnhamthorpe Road bridge in distance – The Riverwood Conservancy – a beautiful day!

PIne Sanctuary The Riverwood Conservancy

beautiful tree silhouetted by the sun – The Riverwood Conservancy

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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Earl Bales Park

Another winter walk, and a new discovery.

Earl Bales Park was a full and beautiful experience. Ravine trails along the West Don River, an historic house, an amphitheatre (thinking ahead to summer!), and the very moving Toronto Holocaust Memorial. There’s a ski hill (wasn’t open yet, but there was snow… ), an extensive kids’ playground, and excellent walking. I look forward to seeing it in different seasons.

beautiful tree roots on the ravine hills Earl Bales Park forest

Don River West, in Earl Bales Park – just a bit of ice at the banks

Earl Bales Park lonely ski-hills on a grey day

H J L at Earl Bales Park – really steep storm sewer drainage from that very high ravine edge – and cool fence art, too.

Earl Bales Park – the Toronto Holocaust Memorial

John Bales House in Earl Bales Park (Earl was John’s great-grandson)- bldg now houses Russian House, cultural centre

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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Snowy Riverdale Farm

What’s better than a walk on a snowy morning, first thing in the new year?

Well, maybe seeing some happy farm animals in that snow!

We went to Riverdale, knowing full well we wouldn’t be able to hike into the ravine from there. And that was fine. We said hello to cows, goats, and sheep, admired the snow covering trees of all shapes, and enjoyed seeing the historic buildings again. Then we crossed the street to walk through the Toronto Necropolis, too.

It was a relaxed morning, and we kept the walk fairly short because it was chilly. But it was beautiful!

A couple of us followed the walk with the world’s longest ever brunch. No photo evidence, though!

lovely snow-capped sign post with weathercock and graceful lamp, Riverdale Farm

a couple of Riverdale Farm sheep on a snowy day, with beautiful faces

And now, two! Goats at Riverdale Farm – eventually we saw three of them

stairs to the ravine were closed. Good thing!! Riverdale Park

The Residence (former zookeeper’s residence) at Riverdale Farm – lovely in the snow

Toronto Necropolis Chapel – a lovely building in the snow

ornate marker in Necropolis – In loving memory…

pretty lit up Christmas tree Riverdale Farm – a bit too bright out to really enjoy the lights, but the tree is incredibly tall and beautiful

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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Sidewalks near home

Busy fall days have turned into busy holidays and then busy winter days, so a short neighbourhood walk felt like a necessity.

Of course you know by now that, by “short,” I mean a few hours!

This was a zigzag wander north, west, south, east, south, west, just enjoying the Boxing Day feeling of leftover lights, a few new murals, sidewalk art, a very tasty hot chocolate in a traveller cup, and a pretty cardinal. Sort of!

Great way to spend a winter morning.

Carole Pope sidewalk stencil: “Everything is controversial until it is understood.”

Eartha Kitt sidewalk stencil: “Love yourself first and most.” (That’s what she said.)

Lily Tomlin sidewalk stencil: “I always asked, ‘Why doesn’t somebody do something?’ Then I realized. I am somebody.”

Nightbird sidewalk quotation: “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore to be happy.”

Winnie Ng sidewalk stencil: “Never settle for crumbs.” (That’s what she said)

lost cardinal Xmas brooch… pinned up in a tree

FUTURE DESTINATIONS to visit:

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Take excellent care of yourselves and have a great weekend! Go for a walk!

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Betty, Cora, Boreal, the Queen

I was out of touch…

So here are a few notes and pix to catch up!

Last week, we visited the Betty Sutherland Trail Park. In the snow. Highly recommended. Surrounded by tall suburban buildings, but wandering along the banks of the East Don River, this is a delightful walk. Especially on an early winter day. Animals encountered: a coyote (sorry, no photos), a cardinal (it was shy, but I tried!), and a moth!!! (That was surprising, in all that snow.) A few dog-walkers. And some nice people who recognized us when we passed each other again. The day was not too chilly but, despite that, we talked ourselves into a warm brunch at nearby Cora’s. Coffee, tea, fresh fruit with everything, etc. No arm-twisting needed.

Then, this past week, there was a Saturday trip to Guelph for a wonderful concert by folk trio, Boreal. A walk would have been brilliant, as downtown Guelph, with its older buildings and the beautiful Speed River, looks so interesting. But it was a cold and windy afternoon. And we were cozily tucked inside a café. We just left enough time to dash over to the concert at the River Run Centre. The longer walkabout will wait for another visit to that lovely city.

Sure enough, there was also a small but excellent Sunday morning walk, just because… one must walk! We went to see what was happening on Queen Street. Let’s say… it’s a bit torn up! Here’s hoping that streetcar track-replacement project won’t take as long as it looks like it might! Chunks of concrete and hunks of wreck steel track… everywhere.