Catching up - Part Two !

Thanks to some autumn sunshine, October was a busy month. It began with the arrival of our good friends, Joan and Brian, on the train from Ottawa. I met them at Union Station which is probably one of  the worst ways to see Toronto for the first time. Carillion is one of the contractors rebuilding the station from below ground which is as tricky as it sounds, so the area is a complete shambles, then they got to experience rush hour on the subway! The train journey along the St. Lawrence Valley is pleasant but is no faster than driving; it takes over 4 hours either way so it doesn't encourage people to leave their cars at home.

As is customary on a visit to Doris Avenue their first outing was to the Islands followed by lunch on the lakeshore. The following day, Saturday, was a good opportunity to drive west into the farming district of St. Jacob's which has a huge market selling all food types and household items. You really can find anything here, much home-grown and home-made by the local Mennonite families. We even bought our bird feeder for our window here!

 

 

We had a filling brunch then a leisurely drive back to Toronto, via the university town of Guelph.

 

On the Sunday we went to St. Basil's Church then walked through the Queen's Park area to see the University and Legislature districts. Outside the John Kelly Library is this very interesting sculpture by a Toronto artist, William McElcheran: 'Great Minds in Conversation as the World Goes By'. The side facing the Library shows 31 great thinkers and a young female student, while the other side, facing away from the Library to the outside world, is a chaotic scene with the face of Jesus looking calmly out of the crowd.

Our walk took us downtown to the old Distillery district which now houses restaurants and shops but was once a thriving centre of beer and spirits' production. It is one of the few areas of the city to have retained some original buildings and has become a tourist attraction as a result. There are some interesting galleries here too which showcase new artists. One of my favourite shops contains quirky art: this is a portrait of Twiggy made entirely from recycled Rubik's cubes!



On their last day with us we had beautiful weather so we headed off to High Park for a walk and a coffee then over to Humber Bay Park East for a sunny Lakeshore walk.

 

A pair of North American wood ducks in High Park.












Condos are never very far away!

 















Down by the Lakeshore

Autumn colour.




















So after a day of sunshine and breezes Joan and Brian had finished the last leg of their Canadian trip. We made the familiar drive to the airport for yet another goodbye. Thanks so much for coming!



We often hear about people spending their weekends at 'The Cottage' and I could never quite see the attraction of owning a second home in the middle of nowhere. I recently saw this list of the downsides of cottage owning which summed it up pretty well: Packing - you might think not much of a problem but as so many cottages are miles from shops and services the owners end up packing all household supplies as well as food and drink, not forgetting the bikes, kayaks, etc., strapped to the roof! Pests - the worry of bugs and bigger critters like raccoons and bears! What might have moved in while you were gone? Driving and traffic jams - there are certain weekends when there are traffic warnings and the roads to 'Cottage Country' become totally clogged. The distances many families travel for a weekend are amazing! The  Neighbours - bad enough having neighbour trouble in town let alone at your family retreat too. Family - rifts arise due to the tricky issue of how to agree how to share time at the cottage and the younger members don't always want to inherit it - they'd rather have the money for other things! Repairs - twice the amount of DIY and housework, remembering to take tools, etc with you. Taxes - inescapable in life and death! And, on top of this, I'm afraid staring at the same patch of water and trees for more than a couple of days a year would drive me crazy!

Another Canadian institution is ice hockey. Sadly, for its thousands of fans, the season has not started yet due to a dispute between the owners of the League's franchises and the players' union, resulting in a lockout which means that there are no matches other than Junior hockey taking place. So many concerned parties are losing money, including the fast food and souvenir vendors, poor things, and considering that the NHL occupies many channels and hours of TV their advertisers can't be happy either. In fact, some sports bars are having to lay off staff as business is so slow. I can't imagine what would happen at home if the Premier League stopped football taking place! Of course it's all about money but I don't understand why they didn't plan ahead knowing that their collective bargaining agreement was due to expire just before the season started! Many of the players have joined clubs in Europe while they are waiting for the dispute to be resolved but if they don't reach an agreement soon the whole season may be lost.

 It's been a busy time with Newcomer activities. I like to join the monthly Walk Fit sessions which are a good work out. We walk at a good pace through one of the city's ravines which doesn't really allow time for stopping to look for birds or wildlife. I find this quite frustrating but we usually end up at a nice coffee shop so it's a good way to get to know people. The Brits are usually in good numbers on these walks. It was through Newcomers that I made friends with Gillian, from Hampshire. We have a lot in common, especially a love of Strictly Come Dancing!
 





Our most recent Neighbourhood Walk was a tour of the Art Deco features in the downtown Financial District. The guide took us in and around many banks that were built in the 1920s. This panel is a 'zippy pyramid' which decorates the Victory Building in Toronto. The construction of this building ceased abruptly with the crash of 1929 and wasn't resumed for 2 and a half years.

A building which housed the 'Toronto Star' newspaper offices was used as the model for the Daily Planet of Superman fame, by Joe Shuster, its co-creator, a Toronto-born writer. The building was demolished in 1972 but some of the stonework was saved and taken to Guildwood Park.




The view over Nathan Phillips Square from the Hudson Bay building.









It is such a pity that the vision that led to these early designs doesn't seem to be much in evidence now. Henry Falk, a New York entrepreneur and builder was responsible for many skyscrapers here and paid whatever was asked to get the artist he wanted on a project. One of his projects, the Concourse building, is decorated by mosaics designed by J.E.H. MacDonald of  The Group of Seven. 


The old Stock Exchange building is decorated with art deco reliefs designed in 1937 by Charles Comfort. They depict the twin themes of resources and industry. Numerous figures are shown hard at work, surveying, gathering, building, studying, riveting, shoveling, etc.

The most (in)famous image on the frieze  shows a top-hatted captain of industry who seems to have his hand in the pocket of a worker. Is that because he's being paid a fair wage for a fair day's work or is it an example of the exploitation of the workers by the bosses?

 

 
A popular feature of many buildings developed in the 1920s were Egyptian motifs relating to the discovery of the Tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922.

 



The Brookfield Centre is a complex of offices built in 1992. It was designed by a Spanish architect, Calatrava, and has a wonderful light and airy feel. It is sometimes described as the 'crystal cathedral of commerce'. I've often wondered whether any cathedrals would ever be built again but of course they are, but in a completely different context! It also contains the restored facade of an 1890s bank. This area is part of the PATH system which enables Torontonians to walk all over Downtown without going outside. It is still being expanded and Carillion is a contractor on the new section.

On the subject of construction I often hear from Eamonn about the role of the Unions here as they affect him at work. The Unions in general are still very strong here, the teachers' unions being among the most active. There is currently a dispute which has resulted in teachers cancelling all extra curricular activities and parent-teacher meetings because the Provincial Government has frozen their wages, withdrawn their rights to collective bargaining and changed the conditions concerning their (very generous) sick day allocation of 20 days, which they are no longer able to carry forward (!). Eamonn's experience is that all contractors, large or small, are required to use union-registered staff which causes problems, particularly when a non-unionised specialist might be needed. If a non-union worker is brought on to site the union will say that the job must be done by a union man and send him away even if he is the only suitably qualified worker available. However, if it can be proved that the job is specialised enough to require non-union staff then the Union might agree. Eamonn has recently been involved in negotiations which resulted in a non-union specialist supervising non-specialist union people which resulted  in some duplication of effort because of course the union men were inexperienced and not as skilled. On other hand, the Unions here do ensure that members must be trained in order to become a union member, so therefore unions are safeguarding their members by providing initial training. 

We have had Hallowe'en recently which, of course, doesn't affect us living in a condo but it's a different experience for other people. A friend at choir lives in the St. Lawrence area of town which is a mixed residential area containing the markets and has a reputation for being a great example of providing community in a city context. She told me that she has to be well prepared for 'Trick or Treat' because so many children who live in less safe areas or in condo districts are driven down to St. Lawrence to go knocking on doors! One year she actually had 400 children calling - she knew because she knew how many sweets she had to start with!

Of course, Hallowe'en is followed by the 1st November and this year Eamonn's birthday was a BIG one! He received a lovely collection of cards and greetings by email and pressies. We didn't go wild - we went to a broadcast of Timon of Athens via National Theatre Live after Michael and Gemma called on Skype. We'd never seen it before but it was so well done and the themes around money and debt seemed so appropriate for our times! That weekend we enjoyed a meal out with friends too. Recently we've heard that 2 more Carillion people are going home so we're a dwindling band here.


My December concert is getting closer and the music is coming together. I heard last week that the Echo Choir has a tradition of not singing carols - what a stupid tradition and what bad luck for me! Anyway, I hope to make up for it when I get home in 3 weeks time!


If you're wondering what happened to Boston I'm doing a separate blog to show you around.

So until then, hope you are all well,
With love from 
Mary and Eamonn

And finally,
Canadian saying about wisdom:
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.

Catching up - Part One!

Hello everyone! The clocks have gone back and the winter gear is out but I still have some images of late summer to show you. We've had a very busy time here since coming back but the cold winter days, now upon us, are ideal for catching up with the blog.

Back in July we visited Guildwood Park where there is an attractive collection of architectural features rescued from demolition in the city. The couple who bought this estate enabled these pieces to be salvaged and displayed here. Sadly the centrepiece of the estate, a very large house and centre for local artisans, is now derelict and fenced off; the plaque marking the achievements of this couple is also lying among the weeds inside the fence.

 

 

In September we made a return trip to Prince Edward County. Being a very rural area it was lovely to compare our memories of early spring with its scenes of fruitful late summer. We had great weather and spotted some varied wildlife.






















Here we have a cormorant, a giant swallowtail butterfly drinking, a water snake, a yellow-bellied flycatcher and a leopard frog!

 

We had a lovely time here at Long Point Bird Observatory as we came across a young Bristolian bird expert doing an identification session. The birds were weighed and examined and recorded before being ringed and then released. He had extraordinary knowledge of North American and British birds and gorgeous curly blond hair!

We had a lovely Labour Day / 36th Anniversary weekend enjoying the sunshine and fresh air, staying at Bayside B&B. The quality of the B&Bs here has always impressed us. These particular owners were about to retire from the business. Their huge property faced the lake and we could sit on the deck by the water - peace! The only thing missing in Prince Edward County are walking trails. It has a wonderful country feel and it would have been lovely to do some cross-country walking but the only way to see the area was by road.

Once back in Toronto we had
to prepare for our next visitor!


Nicky arrived on Wednesday, 6th September, and did very well to stay awake that evening so that she was feeling settled the next day. She had come to research the archives of Henri Nouwen, kept at the John Kelly Library in St. Michael's College - part of the University of Toronto. I took her into town and she quickly learned her way round, including using the subway system - which holds no fear for Londoners! We were able to fit some sightseeing in around her studies so on Saturday 8th we went to the Last Night of the Proms in our local cinema again. There was a big crowd and in front of us was an unnecessarily enthusiastic English woman who wanted to lead us in the sing-along bits but unfortunately she wasn't interested in listening to the music so she was completely out of time and out of tune! But having enjoyed the programme we walked to our local Italian restaurant to complete the evening. The next day we went out to Kleinburg to show Nicky the McMichael Collection of Canadian art by the 'Group of Seven' and strolled around the sculpture garden.

I've shown you Kleinburg earlier in the blog - it's a pretty, very small town, much favoured by wedding parties for photographs. So sure enough, we came across 2 groups: the first party had bridesmaids dressed in the fashionable black and purple (!) and the second smaller group were using more 'arty' backdrops as here with a flaking end wall of a closed down building. They could have found that kind of backdrop anywhere!

After a pleasant day out we came back, very keen to watch our recording of the Closing Ceremony of the Paralympics. A wonderful show!
The next day was Nicky's first visit to the Library and I was going to my first session on Art History through the Ages. I'd registered for this University of Toronto course, 2 hours a week for 8 weeks. I find it's important to have some fixed points in the week here to give my week some rhythm so that's why I enjoy going to Choir too. I was very keen not to miss the forthcoming December concert - deliberately not called a 'Christmas' concert thanks to the P.C. Canadians - so I've booked my flight home just after it on 11th Dec. But I was beginning to regret bothering as so many of the songs have miserable lyrics, mentioning death, pain, sorrow, etc and one song is even in Romanian about the horrors of Auschwitz! I'm never one to shy away from the realities of life but this seemed a bit extreme considering the occasion! The musical directors are a very talented couple, rather liberal and relaxed in style and ethos but they are also very good teachers and I enjoy learning with them - I just miss belting out some familiar songs from home!
However, our guest at this concert is a Canadian singer songwriter called David Sereda. He enjoys working with community choirs and has written a musical about the underground railroad, a secret network of routes and safe houses which helped 19th Century slaves escape to freedom in Canada. We will be singing some of his music too which is rather spiritual and melodic, including a song called 'Powerful Love'. I can recommend  this video of lovely images put to his song on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=bBHXL59lyU4

At the end of Nicky's first week of study we went for a walk on the Toronto Islands, one of our favourite spots. We had a lovely morning of walking and Nicky gave into temptation and had a paddle! That evening we had dinner in town in an 'Irish' pub with our young friends. Some of the young ones here have started to drift back to the UK. They want to be able to settle into family life back home which is quite understandable so this was to be one of our last meetups before they left. The next day, Saturday, we left early to get to Niagara Falls. I always enjoy seeing these Falls with visitors. We combined it with a drive back along the shore of Lake Ontario where we found a few little places to stop and admire the view.

 

 

Away from the Falls is 'The Pool' where the Niagara River turns at a right angle and creates a whirlpool effect. This was the first time we had seen this cable ride running - really didn't like the look of it myself! We also stopped in Niagara-on-the Lake, a very twee, touristy town which puts on Shaw plays throughout the summer. It seems there are very few 'real' shops here as they are all aimed at tourists with deep pockets but it does have some charm and it's a pleasant stop when travelling around this wine-growing area. The ice cream was great though!



On Sunday, again a lovely sunny day, we went to High Park for a walk and a coffee. Because there is not a huge range of things to do here it's a godsend when the sun shines because we like visitors to see our favourite places at their best.















 

There was some lovely colour here. You can see that this bed has been planted out as the red maple leaf.

We went on from here to Humber Bay Park which is a favourite bird watching spot and had a lovely walk by the lake.

I've been very busy at times with our Newcomers' activities. I'm responsible for booking the Neighbourhood Walks this year and our first one of the season was along the Lakeshore which took us to some newly opened up areas. It seems that the City Fathers have at last realised that all people want access to the lakeshore, not just those rich enough to buy a piece of it!

Our walk began at the Music Garden which holds free concerts in the summer and has planting based on a music theme. Our very knowledgeable guide lectures at the University on architecture and told us about the history of this part of town. I was too busy counting heads to take much in!



This is another memorial to the Fire Service here in the City:






 
This is a new beach area but without any signs of a shop or cafe.

 
















 
Further along was this boating area then 'Sugar Beach' with its splash pad. This latter attraction is beside the sugar refinery and yet more condo building but it has been laid out so that people can walk beside the water.
Another Newcomers' morning took us to a modern art gallery called The Power Plant (as it used to be), also beside the lake. We went to see a film called 'The Clock' by Christian Marclay. Unfortunately, I'd not done any preparation so was bemused to be going into a darkened room where a film was showing which happened to be referring to the time - and the time was exactly the same as it was on my watch! Coincidence? After watching some more of these film clips, all making some reference to time, either in dialogue or in the background setting, the penny dropped: the film was in real time and therefore was 24 hours long! Apparently this film has been a great hit in the art world and has won awards but it had us quite divided on its merits. It's a masterpiece of editing - the artist took 3 years piecing together 1000s of clips from films and in each clip there is a reference to time and there is some seaming together of action so at first we were waiting for the 'story' to emerge but of course there is none. The action reflects the things we do at certain times of day so when we were there characters were getting up or having coffee etc, so I thought it would be quite interesting to see it again at a different time - apparently there are strange goings on at 2 am! There have been special 24 hour showings. It was fun spotting faces and films that you had seen before but a bit irritating at the same time. I cheered when one clip showed a Barnet tube train disappearing into the tunnel! There are plenty of clips on YouTube for you to look at if you are curious and reviews in the press will explain it better.

View from the Panorama Lounge

Crawford Lake was new to us as well as Nicky. This is an interesting conservation area which has a reconstructed Iroquoian village. Research shows that this area was settled by native people long before the early pioneer Canadians. The extended families lived in 'long houses' where they slept, stored food and dried pelts. A ranger showed us how they lit fires which would keep their homes warm and enable them to cook. We saw monarch butterflies and snapping turtles here too.

On our way back we stopped to give Nicky a Tim Horton's coffee experience and spotted this shop across the road which she found much more entertaining!
In her remaining free time she and I went to The Beaches, a pleasant area of east Toronto but the main attraction for Nicky was the streetcar ride there and back. She even videoed some of the ride which made me laugh! We also had a good walk around the University and Legislature districts where we had a good cheap coffee in a student's canteen then stumbled across a small, free art gallery run by the University. We visited Trinity College chapel which has a lovely atmosphere and I much prefer in style to the Catholic Cathedral in town.
















Nicky had a very productive time in the Library and found that the staff there were quite chuffed to have a researcher from King's College, London researching their archives! She also had a few days away on her own at a nearby L'Arche centre where Henri Nouwen lived until his death in 1996.


In September I enrolled on an 8 week course, Art History through the Ages (Part 1), at the University which I really enjoyed. The tutor provided excellent material for us to look at in the lectures as well as online. It also served a purpose in getting me out on a Monday morning!








A walk through Yorkville took us past these whacky sculptures outside a gallery:






















and then past the Royal Ontario Museum which has this modern frontage attached to the older, more traditional building behind.

We had a really good time showing Nicky around and she was a very easy house guest! It was very fortunate that we were here just at the right time, enabling her to complete her research into Henri in the way she wanted. Henri's many writings say profound things but in a simple way; it is hard to choose just one quote but I thought it only right that I include something by him:


'Gratitude flows from the recognition that who we are and what we have are gifts to be received and shared.'

So it happened that Nicky and one of our young friends left on the same day to go back to UK. Hopefully we'll see them both at Christmas!

I'm ending Part One here and when I return I can tell you about our next visitors, my latest Newcomer jaunts, our trip to Boston and a BIG birthday!

See you soon,
Love from Mary and Eamonn