There is no Monday Murals meme this week but I always do a mural on Mondays so here is another. This celebration of colour is on the side of an entrance to a nightclub on Bathurst St and it feels perfect for New Years Eve. I hope everyone has a wonderful evening!
You can't see it very easily but the wreath in this window has a peace symbol of birch branches in the middle of it. A perfect gesture for the season! I think this house which is near the U of Toronto campus used to be a store possibly a book store but it looks nicely converted now.
These two birds are hard to catch being still on their own and I almost got them both at rest in this pic but the Chickadee was still moving a bit. The White-breasted Nuthatch seemed to be looking right at the camera and it took off right after this.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
I was the only person in this darkened church the week before Christmas. It felt very solemn to have complete silence around me in such a place.
These two characters have appeared on the rooftop deck and it feels as if that snowman is creeping closer to the door every time you look out!
Blinky the police car is used by our police force to visit schools and talk about safety. The car itself used to talk but I'm not sure if it still does. This pic was taken on Bloor St as the car waited to be part of the Santa Claus Parade and you can see Gus The Other Barber in the background. This barber shop has been on Bloor St for over 50 years now although it has slowly moved along the street a few blocks as rents go up. Its devoted clients just follow to the next location.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
I hope all of you who celebrate it have a Merry Christmas!
This is one of the most beautiful stained glass windows I have ever seen and I have photographed it several times in different light to try to capture the same beauty one sees with the naked eye. I've done it in sunny light, rainy light and this one was a cloudy day but I may try again some other day. It is found in St Clement's Anglican Church and was dedicated in 1928 by the children of a congregation member. It certainly has the look of the 1920s and it feels like a beautiful angel is perfect for Christmas eve.
I think this counts as a mural and am linking it up to Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
Most of the work has been done and the toys are leaving Santa's workshop to be sorted for the big day ahead. Toys R Us is still alive and well in Canada unlike in the US and it seems suitable that this was their float in the Santa Claus Parade.
Who would have guessed that penguins liked pizza but judging from this float, they do. I love the little guy on the right with his selfie stick catching a few shots.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
These polar bears on the float sponsored by McDonalds seem to be really enjoying the winter season but the penguin is at the wrong pole! I wonder if the two bears on skates twirled around during the parade.
I am not really up on the latest kid's books but there seems to be a whole series revolving around an elf and a companion with a cuddly toy included with the book. The St Bernard is the latest pet in the series and I'm sure this float was popular with the kids. You can see that there was still a rope stabilizing the dog during the float's journey from the assembly location to this marshaling area for the parade. It was later removed before the parade began.
These three women were taking turns taking pictures of each other in front of this float at the Santa Claus Parade when this nice policeman offered to take a pic of the three of them together. The Scotiabank Centre is where our beloved Toronto Maple Leafs play their home game and that is their mascot, Carleton the Bear, playing hockey with the kids.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
Indigo books is the largest chain of bookstores in Canada and they always have a large section of books and toys for kids. This float features both of these. I'm not up to date on kid's toys but I do like that unicorn. That red book at the front is a Robert Munsch book and interestingly he is the most stolen author at the Toronto Public Library system.
I loved this garage when I happened upon it in a Little Italy laneway. I've always liked paisley patterning and this one certainly has those elements. There was no artist signature unfortunately. We will be back to the Santa Claus Parade tomorrow.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
These cheerful Pokemon characters were a real hit with the kids who were wandering around early with their parents to look at the floats and get their pics taken by them. The two of them seem to be waving hello to everyone!
I liked this lion who had just skied down the hill from the Canada Olympic House on the float sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada. They have an extensive program of athlete support so this is very suitable. When the parade started there would have been kids standing at the top of the hill and more sitting around the lion.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
This float was sponsored by Tim Hortons which is a Canadian institution being the largest fast food chain in the country. It is most famous for its coffee and donuts and the float features little Timbits playing a variety of sports. Timbits are the tiny donut balls made from the holes of regular donuts and kids love them! The baseball player has a broken arm here which they later fixed before the parade began.
I liked this float showing the gingerbread people heading off on a trip with all of their colourful luggage. I hope they were heading somewhere warm as we Canadians like to escape from winter for a bit if we can. Apparently the CIBC is the official bank of Toronto Pearson airport, hence the travel theme.
This float at the Santa Claus Parade was sponsored by Maple Leaf Foods which is a large company producing meat products. Kids love hotdogs so I bet this was a popular float with the dancing sausages and the happy bacon.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
This float from the Santa Claus Parade was sponsored by the TD Bank and celebrates the joy of reading with its depiction of various characters jumping from the pages of a book. The bank sponsored a summer reading program at the Toronto Public Library and 2 kids from the program road on the float during the parade, one dressed as an astronaut and the other as a pirate. That bright phoenix certainly stands out on a dull day!
I'm interrupting the Santa Claus Parade pics to take part in Monday Murals showing another mural from the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood. This painted utility box sports a nice big jar of candies and if you look closely towards the bottom you will find a couple of the famous Trinity Bellwoods white squirrels. The artist for this one is Rosalie Lam.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
This is Mother Goose around 30 minutes after yesterday's pic. She has wings and is ready to lead off the Santa Claus Parade. During the parade there will be little kids sitting on those small stools which you can see along the float but with 3 hours to go until the start the kids are kept warm inside a nearby community centre until takeoff. I also like the little tea party taking place at the back of the float with bird friends.
This was the 114th annual Santa Claus Parade here and the Mother Goose float is the traditional first float every year. She is too wide with her wings to make it from the secret parade assembly location to Bloor St so her wings are attached after she arrives. This is the first attempt at assembly but they have the wrong wing for this side so had to do a quick switch. I'll show you her all ready to go in tomorrow's post.
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
I couldn't resist one more pic of the seating along Bloor St for the Santa Claus Parade. These colourful little chairs were placed in front of a child care centre on the street so it is safe to assume that they are reserved for some of the kids who attend the centre during the week. Once again you can see how polite everyone is - the chairs are there and no one touches them. I'll start to show some of the parade floats tomorrow.
This is another shot of people positioned to watch the Santa Claus Parade along Bloor St and since the parade was still over 3 hours away they had come prepared. Not only did they bring a small tent but it looks as if that might be a small heater of some kind on the ground by the curb. I hung around the floats for a couple of hours and was really cold by the time I left, partly because I kept removing gloves to take pics!
Our Santa Claus Parade took place a couple of weeks ago and the floats line up along Bloor St near Christie St during the night and the parade begins from there at 12:30 pm. I go down early every year to get up close to the floats and take pics. The floats are not the only things that line up along Bloor St in Koreatown. This pic was taken at around 9 am with the temperature around 0˚C. People come out early to claim a good spot and set up chairs with sleeping bags, blankets, etc and then return later to take their spot and view the parade passing by. There is a strong honour system to not interfere with anyone's space.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
I'm still in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood to show these classy looking semi-detached homes. The black trim looks so good against the bricks and the whole look of an Ontario Gothic Revival cottage is wonderful. And to top it off these homes back onto the park itself!
Yesterday I showed a wonderful house from the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood, an area that surrounds Trinity Bellwoods Park on the north side of Queen St W. The park is extremely popular and has ball diamonds, tennis courts, a dog off-leash area, etc but one its most famous attributes is the colony of white squirrels that live there. You can occasionally spot them in the area outside the park but the park is home base. I spotted this mural on the back of a bakery which is beside the park and while I was taking it a black squirrel ran by me with a pink macaron in its mouth - too fast to catch a pic!
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
Last weekend I was wandering around by Trinity Bellwoods Park on Queen St W admiring all of the lovely Victorian homes. This beauty was built in the 1890s and looks like it has been lovingly restored. I always love a nice balcony looking out onto the street like these ones. The estimated value of this house is over $4.5 million so I won't be sitting on those balconies soon!
The December theme for the City Daily Photo Blog community is "Joy" and when I saw this float at our Santa Claus Parade a couple of weeks ago it reminded me of the joy of tobogganing each winter as a kid. Doesn't that little guy look thrilled? I also liked the creatures on the float looking up at the action and in particular check out the wee squirrel who is hanging onto the scarf! I'll show more from the parade later in the month.
Taking part in the December theme. Click HERE to see more examples of Joy from around the world.
Also taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
In this pic we have left yesterday's quadrangle at Hart House and are heading back down the tunnel to the entrance I showed you on Wednesday. I love the arched ceiling.
This pic was taken from the middle of the Hart House Quadrangle looking back towards where we entered in yesterday's pic. It is a lovely calm space and is often used for wedding receptions in the summer. That is the Soldiers Tower peeking over the wall from the left - I'll show you pic of that in the next few days.
I showed you a couple of interior pics of Hart House at U of Toronto last week and thought I would show you a couple more pics, this time of the exterior. The beaux arts Gothic Revival building was constructed in 1919 as a student activity centre (which meant only men until 1972) and continues to be until this day. This is the west entrance to Hart House which leads to some common rooms and out into the centre quadrangle. I'll show a bit of the quadrangle tomorrow.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
When I was wandering around in Hart House at U of Toronto I spotted this lovely wooden door in one of the hallways. There was no indication of what might be behind it but whatever it is is certainly safe. I love the door surround too.
I spotted this painted utility box on College St on the U of Toronto campus. The artist for this one is Keight MacLean, a recent art school graduate whose work shows where "historical influences meet modern techniques". It does remind one a bit of the old masters - not what you expect to find in such a location.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
I was wandering around the downtown U of Toronto campus a couple of weeks ago and took this pic inside Hart House showing some of its Gothic Revival charm. Hart House is a student activity centre which was completed in 1919 and continues to be a vital part of the university.
This black squirrel took advantage of all of the flags at the Veterans Centre at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to scurry around the grounds like a stealth creature. He seemed to keep low and never poked his head up the whole time that I watched him!
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
During the night before Remembrance Day on November 11 volunteers placed over 47,000 Canadian flags at the Veterans Centre at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre. The flags surrounded the centre and ran throughout the gardens so that when the vets got up in the morning this is the kind of sight they saw.
This is a closeup of the carvings found on the columns in yesterdays pic of the entrance to the Royal Conservatory of Music. I love the craftsmanship that you find on older buildings, something that is rare today.
This is the entrance to the historic hall of the Royal Conservatory of Music on Bloor St. This part of the conservatory was built in 1881 as McMaster Hall and renamed Ihnatowycz Hall in 2005. There has been a wonderful renovation and restoration of the building as you can see from the condition of the brickwork around this entrance. I'll show a bit of detail tomorrow.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
I found this great doorway on an old factory building which now houses studios, at least for a little while until a condo probably pops up here. It would be hard to miss the entrance.
This is the other side of the painted Bell Telephone utility box which I showed you yesterday. I can't help thinking how nice these bright colours will seem as we approach the dull colourless days of winter. Once again this was found along College St in the Little Italy neighbourhood.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
This painted Bell Telephone utility box was spotted along College St in the Little Italy neighbourhood. What a difference it makes to see these boxes painted up like this. I'll show you the other side tomorrow.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
I spotted this grey squirrel at the Veterans Centre at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He was happily hanging on with no intention to leave until that feeder was empty!
Taking part in Saturday's Critters. Click HERE to see more creatures from around the world.
I was trying out the panorama setting on my camera and took this pic from high up the hill looking down into Bickford Park which is just south of Bloor St and west of Bathurst St. You wouldn't know it to see this view but a long buried creek runs below here. Garrison Creek starts just north of Davenport Rd and runs about 8 km to Lake Ontario through the west end of downtown. The whole creek has been buried since the 1920s and the only sign of it now is the ravines that have been left and which are the location for several parks along the route. There is a move afoot to open the creek up in areas but that seems doubtful.
I spotted this little fence in the Annex neighbourhood and liked the fact they went to the trouble of making it a little unusual. And one can never have too much Art Deco flavour around.
This Vietnamese restaurant is found in Chinatown along Spadina Ave. In this front view Anh Dao looks very narrow but we must assume that it widens out when you get inside. I've never been in but it seems to have good reviews especially for the pho.
Taking part in Signs, Signs. Click HERE to see more signs from around the world.
This is the last of the murals painted on the Old Mill subway station supports by First Nation artist Philip Cote, at least for a week or two. The are a couple I couldn't get to because of muddy and wet conditions but I may try to get back there soon with some rubber boots to get them. This seems like a fine place to end off for now - right by the parking lot for walkers using the trail along the Humber River.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
I think this may be my favourite of the murals painted on the supports of the Old Mill subway station by First Nation artist Philip Cote. The imagery is so wonderful. I will have one more of these murals tomorrow.
Taking part in Monday Murals. Click HERE to see more murals from around the world.
