You can take paddling lessons and rent a kayak right in the city along the Humber River and even though the temperature is cooling off they are still open. It looks intriguing but with my luck I would end up down at Lake Ontario and need a tow back. The bridge in the background is carrying Bloor St across the river.
This is one of two lions belonging to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) that were for many years outside in the Chinese Garden along Bloor St but were then moved inside when the garden was taken over by the Daniel Libeskind Crystal addition. After living indoors for several years they have now been placed out in the fresh air beside the newly reopened entrance along University Ave. Apparently they have special coats in the winter to protect them from the elements - I'll have to check that out.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
I thought I would show you a couple more of the Provincial floral emblems formed from sneakers in the window of the Bata Shoe Museum. On the left is the Trillium which is our emblem of Ontario and to the right is the Blue Flag Iris of Quebec. I liked the reflection of the buildings along Bloor St in this one.
This is a close-up of the window that was below yesterday's sign at the Bata Shoe Museum. Their window is showing the Provincial Floral Emblems of Canada made up with coloured sneakers and these three flowers are from our northern areas. On the right is the emblem of Nunavut, the Purple Saxifrage which is the first flower of spring in the Arctic. The middle one is the emblem of the Northwestern Territories, the Mountain Avens a part of the rose family. To the farthest left is the emblem of Yukon, the Fireweed which flowers in the Arctic from July through September. I'll show you a couple more tomorrow.
Almost across the road from the owl mural that I showed you on Monday is the Bata Shoe Museum and during my Open Streets walk along Bloor St I spotted this poster for a current show. This is a travelling retrospective show of Manolo Blahnik shoes spanning 45 years of work and this is the only North American stop. I haven't seen it yet but it has had great reviews and the museum itself is a really interesting place.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
When wandering along the middle of Bloor St during the Open Streets event, look who I spotted atop the hoardings near the old Honest Ed's site. Spiderman was doing a great job entertaining the kids but I couldn't help thinking how hot he must have been in that suit since it was a very warm & humid day!
While walking along Bloor St during the Open Streets event I spotted this new mural on the side of the Kimpton Saint George Hotel which is located at St George St and used to be a Holiday Inn until an extensive renovation and a new launch in June of this year. The artist is Birdo whose work I have shown you before (click on the Birdo label below). Apparently there is a lot of art in the hotel so I will have to go back to check the interior out.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
It is always a thrill to find the doors of a church open during the day and last weekend during our Open Streets event the Church Of The Redeemer at Bloor St and Avenue Rd was open. I have shown you the exterior a few years ago HERE and HERE but have never been inside. Built in 1879, the church has been extensively renovated and it was wonderful to see that marvelous hammerbeam roof and the interesting configuration of the interior. During the Open Streets a large section of Bloor St and Yonge St were closed to traffic for a few hours on Sunday so that you could wander down the middle of the street.
Last weekend was very hot & humid here and this little sparrow took full advantage of the waterfall fountain at the Veterans Centre at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He kept going in and out of the water having a great old time.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
Having given up on a hot walk through the ravine at Edwards Gardens this was my exit route back up to the top. I was about half way to the top when I took this and I was happy to see the switchbacks which made the walking a lot easier!
After I left the Toronto Botanical Garden having viewed all of the sculptures I decided to continue along where it runs into the ravine of Edwards Gardens thinking that it might be cooler. The shade of the trees felt good but the heat and humidity still made it uncomfortable. There is a string of connected parks that reach right down to Lake Ontario running along tributaries of the Don River.
I don't drink coffee but I still had a good chuckle when I saw this sign outside a cafe!
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
There were still a lot of Monarch Butterflies fluttering around last week when I spotted these two gathering some nutrients. The weather is really changing now so most of them will have headed south towards Mexico this week!
It turns out that the artists for the murals I have been showing for the last few weeks are all the same. Calling themselves Insect Cabaret, they are sisters Aisha Ali and Andalah Ali. I love their detailed work and the wonderful colours that they use. I probably should have moved the garbage bins here but I like to shoot things as I find them. Once again I have no idea what the message is here but it seems to be positive.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
This is the last of the sculptures that I will show you from the ZimSculpt exhibition at the Toronto Botanical Garden. Titled "Swing Me Mama", it was done by artist Dominic Benhura, again out of springstone which seems to come in various colours. This was one of the tallest of the small scale ones and also the most expensive.
This is another of the sculptures from the ZimSculpt exhibition at the Toronto Botanical Garden. Titled "Cormerant", it was done by artist Zacharah Njobo out of springstone which is the same material as yesterday's piece. It is interesting to me that once again we see signs not to touch the artwork and not to step into the garden. One can only imagine the number of signs necessary in the tourist hotspots of the world that are required to protect the surroundings.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
This pretty lady was the first sculpture that I saw as I entered the Toronto Botanical Garden to see the ZimSculpt exhibition. Titled "Smelling The Roses", she was sculpted by artist Laknos Chingwaro out of springstone. I really liked this one!
One of my reasons for visiting the Toronto Botanical Garden was to see ZimSculpt which is an exhibition of hand-carved stone sculptures by contemporary Zimbabwean artists. The pieces are displayed throughout the gardens and came in all sizes. This was probably the largest of the pieces. You can see where they have had to put a temporary barrier around it to keep people from climbing onto it! The exhibition is here for 2 months and during that time there are 2 artists displaying and working on pieces. I'll show you a few more pieces for a couple of days.
The Toronto Botanical Gardens are located in a ravine that connects into several parks along the Don Valley eventually ending at Lake Ontario. If you walk south from the gardens you go through Edwards Gardens and then through Sunnybrook Park which was the location for the Sunnybrook Stables until a horrific fire in May that killed 16 horses. I have no idea if the stables will be rebuilt in the future and there doesn't seem to be any info available about it. Obviously this sign sculpted from plants has been in the Botanical Gardens for a long time and has been maintained in the meantime. Those ropes had to be installed to keep people from standing on the sign to have their pics taken.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
A couple of weeks ago on a very warm and humid day I decided to visit the Toronto Botanical Gardens. It was lovely to see all the flowers but it was really too warm to wander around for a long time and it was actually quite crowded with people despite what it looks like in this pic!
I have no idea what this mural that I found on a garage means but I love it! It is hard to tell if the blue creature is gathering birdhouses or if they are being installed but I will go with the latter. The colours are so wonderful and such lovely details. And once again no artist name.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
For some reason I don't wander around in the High Park neighbourhood very often although I should since there are some beautiful homes in the area. I love this one that I spotted one morning last week.
I spotted this young bunny on the lawn at Casa Loma a couple of weeks ago. He didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that there were tens of tourists wandering about all around him and would stay still for pics and only went back into the bushes if someone got too close.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
A couple of weeks ago we had a very spooky sky overhead late in the evening. The moon kept appearing and disappearing behind dark clouds as they trailed past it across the sky. Very eerie!
The perennial Hibiscus bushes are flowering all over the city. They must have loved this hot summer that we had because there seems to be bigger and more flowers on them than I have ever seen. This one is about 10 inches across.
This pic was taken about 20 minutes after yesterday's pic as we headed across the Toronto Harbour back to downtown. I couldn't resist showing another skyline shot!
At the end of my evening on the Toronto Islands I waited for the ferry to arrive as the sun was heading down and the clouds were rolling in. It did start to rain later just as I was pulling into my garage. The ferry that came was too full to fit everyone so we all had to wait about 30 minutes until it came back for us.
These are not the kind of creatures that we find in Lake Ontario but they do make for a colourful garage. The talented artist left no signature on this one unfortunately.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
This home on Ward's Island looks as if it has had very little done to it on the exterior over the years. There are several elderly people who have lived their whole lives on the Island and have no intention to leave. It is a complicated system to buy a home there - the land belongs to an Island trust and the homes can only be purchased through the trust. The waiting list to buy a home sits at its maximum which is 500 and it can be years before even one comes up for sale. The people at the bottom of that list will probably be elderly before their name comes up!
The September theme for the City Daily Photo Blog community is "Teach" and I chose this carving of a book which is found on the old Ontario Government Building on the Exhibition Grounds downtown. The building was finished in 1926 to be used for displays during the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) but is now an event space known as the Liberty Grand. The wonderful carvings on the building have been wonderfully maintained and I thought this was a good one for teach.
Taking part in the theme "Teach". Click HERE to see more examples of it from around the world.
