The main section of the Halloween display at his Forest Hill home which I have been showing you the last few days is this spooky graveyard. This area has the smoke machine, speakers, strobe lights, and other mechanisms which I think open and close the coffin lids. The kids must love it!
In this scene at the same house as yesterday we have a skeleton riding a skeleton horse with a skeleton foal behind while off to the right 3 dog skeletons have trapped a baby up in a tree. There is also a fire pit and strobe lights in this section. I really must go by this place after dark!
There seems to be more and more Halloween decorations around this year particularly large inflatable creatures and monsters. The house where I spied this spider and fierce canines is the most decorated I've seen with several different scenes played out along the sidewalk. I watched a guy constructing the whole thing over a span of several days as he installed props, speakers, smoke machines, and lighting. I'll show you more over the next couple of days. That spider is over 4 feet tall and really wide!
This is Barn 5 at the Wychwood Barns which is an old streetcar facility that has been turned into an arts, community, and environment centre. There were 5 barns attached along their length with all of them having different uses now ranging from artists studios to greenhouses and theatres. This one was constructed in 1921 and it has had its roof removed leaving the steel structure along the sides to create a wonderful arcade which is used for a farmers market on Saturdays, open air events, and also has some small community gardens along its length. And the remaining upper structures provide nice spots for pigeons to rest as you can see.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
I liked this view of the Soldiers' Tower at Hart House at the U of Toronto just peeking over the top of the trees with their long autumn shadows. The Gothic style tower was built in 1924 and contains a carillon of 51 cast bronze bells as well as having the names of students and alumni who lost their lives in war engraved in the walls of the ground floor passageway.
During the ceremony at the Ontario Fire Fighters Memorial the fire services used their ladder trucks to fly this huge Canadian flag on the roadway in front of the memorial. Those are some of the buildings from the U of Toronto in behind the flag.
At the ceremony at the Ontario Firefighters Memorial, after the bagpipers came the drummers each from different fire brigades around the province. They were followed by a parade of fire fighters who encircled the memorial during the event.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
At the beginning of October there was a ceremony at the Ontario Fire Fighters Memorial at Queens Park to honour firefighters who had sacrificed their lives in service to the people of Ontario. Most of the deaths were due to job related health issues which have become a real problem for firefighters. It was a very moving ceremony with pipers from many of the various forces in the province leading the parade. I'll show you a bit more for the next couple of days.
I spotted this painted utility box on Bathurst St and went back for a good look. It seems that the letters don't spell out any complete words and I'm thinking it may be an exercise in showing various fonts. The artist for this one is Troyboy.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
I hadn't seen one of these VW Beetle Dune cars and then saw 2 in one week. Apparently they were inspired by the 1960s Baja Bugs and come with a special suspension and a turbocharged engine. I'd take one in black please!
I spotted these 3 Furries along Bloor St during the Open Streets event in September. I know very little about this group of people who like to dress up as animals but it was a very hot & humid day and they still seemed to be really enjoying themselves. That is a bone in the mouth of the dog on the right.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more critters from around the world.
I've seen more and more of these water fountains popping up round the city lately. They are used to fill up your own water bottle rather than buying a bottle of water. The best ones have a drinking fountain attached too unlike this one. It is a great movement to help reduce the number of plastic bottles being produced and discarded.
This is the view from the top of the stairs leading up to Casa Loma, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. It is a great view and hundreds of pics are taken of it each day. We see the CN Tower towards the left and looking straight down Spadina Rd in the middle of the pic you can see a bit of Lake Ontario peeking through. And of course all of the trees in the Annex neighbourhood as well as the towers of the financial district.
I first showed a pic of the Bloor Cinema back in 2012 (HERE) bu the theatre has recently been renamed the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema after a $4million gift from the Ted Rogers Foundation. For the last several years it has been showing wonderful documentary films from around the world and is the site of many doc film festivals as well.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
I can't remember what the building on this spot was before but this nice modern home has sprung up recently. It is quite a contrast to the typical Annex style that you can see beside it but I like it.
This mural is found in the laneway on the side of the Dirty Bird Chicken & Waffles restaurant on Bloor St. I've never been in but apparently they serve northern-fried chicken with maple sugar seasoning on waffles as a speciality. It sounds good. This is another mural by Elicser who seems to be one of the most prominent muralists in the city now.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
On one of the nicest streets in the Annex neighbourhood filled with lovely large heritage homes this modern home has appeared. Interestingly though, it is hardly visible because its small front garden is so well reflected in the windows that it seems barely visible. It is just a few houses away from Margaret Atwood's home.
Male Cardinals always make a fine subject for a pic and we are lucky that they stay here year round as they look so nice in the snow!
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
I always enjoy seeing this house as I drive through the Chaplin Estates neighbourhood. This is the side entrance which I find so charming with the arch and the greenery. The front is nice but it is this view that I really like.
Among the vehicles at the vintage car event at the Veterans Centre at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre was this very cool pickup truck. It is a 1949 Mercury and is in pristine condition!
During an Open Streets event in September when parts of Bloor St & Yonge St (2 major downtown streets) were closed to vehicular traffic for part of the day, this Taekwondo space had these cool blow-up figures out in front of their space. They look like they are ready for anything!
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
They sure don't make cars like this anymore. There was a vintage car afternoon at the Veterans Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre last week and this beauty was one of them. It is a 1956 Buick Special Riviera. Fabulous isn't it?
A couple of weeks ago I happened upon a laneway which was the site of a mass mural painting sponsored by the city. Most of the places were garage doors but this laneway dwelling offered the artist a much larger canvas. I have to go back soon to view the finished pieces.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!
This is a view taken from Exhibition Place near Scadding Cabin (the old log cabin home) that I showed you a few weeks ago. From this spot we are looking out at part of Ontario Place which is a piece of land sticking out into Lake Ontario. At one time it was very lively with an amusement park, theatre, music amphitheatre and more but its future has been much debated over the last few years. One nice thing has been the recent conversion of a parking lot into a park! That is part of the Martin Goodman walking/cycling trail that you can see in the foreground.
This pic was taken a couple of weeks ago when were in the middle of a heatwave. Even the squirrels were finding it a bit too much!
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
Not all of the buildings on the Exhibition Place grounds are vintage. This is the Better Living Centre which was opened in 1962 and is one of several Modernist buildings found there. It was originally used to showcase cutting edge consumer goods during the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) but like most of the other buildings on the grounds it is now used primarily as an event space.
The Horse Palace which I showed you yesterday has many wonderful Art Deco details on its walls. I particularly like these low relief horse heads that are carved into the limestone!
This is one of the entrances to the Horse Palace at Exhibition Place. This heritage Art Deco beauty opened in 1931 to support the equestrian events at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and still today houses a private riding academy and provides space for the horses of the mounted unit of the Toronto Police. There are wonderful carvings in the limestone over the doors which may be a bit hard to make out in this pic. I'll show you a close-up of some tomorrow.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
We are still touring the grounds at Exhibition Place and this is the second major fountain found there. This is the Shrine Peace Memorial - the sculpture and bench were presented to the people of Canada in 1930 by the Shriners as a symbol of the peace and friendship between the USA and Canada. The fountain around it was opened in 1958 as well as a beautiful rose garden surrounding the whole thing. Very powerful don't you think?
Walking down Spadina Rd a couple of weeks ago I saw several people working on two murals, one on the ground floor and one up above on the large balcony. I'll have to go back soon to see what the finished pieces look like. The bottom one seems to have a First Nations theme but I'm not sure about the top one!
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
The October theme for the City Daily Photo Blog community is "Sensual" and for this theme I offer this pic of people Salsa dancing during the Salsa on St Clair festival. It is such a sexy dance! This couple was really good.
Taking part in the theme Sensual. For more examples from around the world click HERE.
