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
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