While walking through High Park on Sunday I stumbled across this wood sprit carving on a dead tree and I have since learned that the City of Toronto had commissioned carver Colin Partridge to create 4 of these in 2006. Partridge, a retired RCMP officer (Mountie), used special chisels, a chainsaw, and other tools to carve into stumps and dead trees and then stained the works to hopefully protect them for awhile. I will have to go back and look for the other 3 as it is said that to see a wood spirit brings good luck!
I go past this building all the time and just a couple of weeks ago noticed this mural which I think is new and replaces some flowers or something that had been painted on the wall. Judging by the imagery, it would seem to be a first nation artist who did the piece but I have been unable to find any info on it so far. I love all the bright colours especially during the grey winter!Taking part in Monday Murals. For more murals click here.
It is a beautiful sunny day here with a temperature of +3˚C and no wind so I went off to High Park which is the largest park in the city. There were thousands of people there - walking dogs, skating, playing tennis, hiking the trails, and just sitting in the sun. It was also a good day to pull out the vintage car and here we have a 1955 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer hardtop parked in front of one of the skating rinks in the park!
Another example of abandoned bikes is this one locked to a bike stand which is out in front of an antique lighting store in the antiquey far-west area of Parkdale. A few years ago someone locked 2 bikes to a stand in front of my place so that no one could use the stand and he would come by and to check them every once in a while. The city eventually (after several months) cut the locks and removed them after leaving a note for the owner giving notice of removal - the fellow went ballistic when he next came by to check! It's too bad this bike stand is so obscured as it is an especially nice one!
I find this mask bike stand to be one of the most striking of all of them - so graphic and strong! This bike has been there every time that I have gone past and I think it must be one of the ones that some odd people park around the city and abandon - they seem to come back and check that the bikes are still there and get quite upset if the city removes them - very weird fixation! Does that happen in your city?
I thought I would show some more of the Parkdale bike stands since there are more than 20 of them (although 4 are identical to each other). It is interesting how they decide to leave some of them to rust for a different effect rather than galvanizing the whole thing - this guitar seems to have stainless steel strings to go with its rusty frame. It is never too cold to stand out and have a cigarette!
I love the simple elegance of this sign which I found on a restaurant on Queen St West in Parkdale when I was out hunting for more bike stands (which I still have a lot more of to post). The Sister used to be called Mitzi's Sister when it was first opened by the owner of Mitzi's which is a small restaurant/gallery on a near-by residential street but after a refurbishing the younger sister dropped the Mitzi's and is doing her own thing which includes local art on the wall, live music on the weekend, and a busy brunch scene!Taking part in Signs, Signs. For more signs click here.
