Toronto, Ontario
Muzda Bakery: “What kind of bread is that?” “Just bread”. Shop touting Gujarati specialities and Indian biscuits offers fresh western style wheat loaves in a flat boule shape. Toronto east side scene of Chinese bicyclist in shorts asking for 3 loaves, a South Asian visitor dressed in white robes suggesting to buy 4, so I acquiesced to take home 4 loaves. (Muzda Bakery, Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170607Vicky Keith Point: Long route to Toronto Harbour Lighthouse, southmost tip of Tommy Thompson Park via the endikement road on the lakeward side of headland by bicycle, since the bridge on the more direct path is out. Loop road is ringed by rubble. some stacked in artistic ways by other visitors. CN Tower and bank towers of downtown Toronto across the water. (Toronto Harbour Lighthouse, Vicky Keith Point, Tommy Thompson Park, Toronto, Ontario) 20170608Fabian’s Cafe: Tidy German pastry shop serving wiener schnitzel and crepes for lunch, an out-of-the-way meeting place with friends further out on the east end. European style in a strip plaza with many South Asian varieties nearby, on the major suburban street. (Fabian’s Cafe, Markham Road, Scarborough, Ontario) 20170613Leaside Park: A few children climbing on brightly coloured playground equipment at the end of a long, empty sports field. City park just northeast after crossing the Constitution Bridge over the Don River ravine, (Leaside Park, Millwood Road at Overlea Boulevard, East York, Ontario) 20170614Taylor Creek Park: Paved bike path, view from above on Woodbine Bridge west, shows density of trees within the urban forest. Span over Taylor Massey Creek, a tributary of the Don River system flowing westward. Apartment towers in the distance are in the Flemingdon Park neighbourhood. (Taylor Creek Park from the Woodbine Bridge, O’Connor Drive, East York, Ontario) 20170615St. Joseph Street: Five lines of text in stainless steel, Eldon Garnet (2015) “Artifacts of Memory” 10 metres high. Installation comes into view just west of Yonge Street, unveiled in March 2016. Street art that is durable even in snows of Canadian winters. (St. Joseph Street, downtown Toronto, Ontario) 20170617Congee Queen: Father’s Day isn’t so important to me, so sons made it Grandfather’s Day by organizing lunch. Bustling Sunday crowds in popular Chinese family eatery. Succeeded in eating less meat and more vegetables this time, but the taste of salt still fills the mouth a few hours later. (Congee Queen, Agincourt Mall, Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario) 20170618Laneway demolition: Just up our street, one of the houses is having its garage demolished. The backhoe excavator was small, and the dump truck to remove the detritus was practically the full width of our laneway. We have construction at the top of our street, the middle of our street, and major plans coming for the bottom of our street. (Booth Avenue, Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170620York University Convocation Big Screen: Noah Ing, Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Information Technology, minor in Environmental Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University Convocation, June 20, 2017. Album of the day’s proceedings at flickr.com/photos/daviding/albums/72157682445003523 . Full name of Noah Peter Jin Ying Yee Ing has never been correct in the university registration. (York University Aviva Centre, Toronto, Ontario) 20170620York University Convocation: Cap and gown on our third son’s graduation day. Limit of three tickets meant only parents and grandfather were invited. (York University Aviva Centre, Toronto, Ontario) 20170620
Rees Street Waterfront: Massive stone inukshuk, Muskoka Chairs and picnic table facing Inner Harbour, with sailboats in the distance. Grassy knoll just beyond the Harbourfront canoe rentals, if you don’t own your own watercraft. Toronto Police Marine docks just to the east, HTO Park just to the west. (Rees Street Waterfront, Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario) 20170622Yorkville Park: Words Quartet @AmandaTosoff @TorontoJazzFest staged between 700 ton Muskoka granite outcrop and rain curtain. This project led by pianist who usually performs instrumentals, female voice enriches show with harmonic counterpoint. Compact venue is a welcome change from sprawling public plaza downtown. (Village of Yorkville Park, Cumberland Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170624Rorschach Brewing: Stainless steel tanks at back of craft brewery cofounded by chemical engineers extending the knowledge gained in university. Friendly east end venue for meetup on Cognitive, AI and Data Science. Group included many young people relatively new to the field. (Rorschach Brewing Co., Eastern Avenue, Toronto, Ontario) 20170626156 Booth Ave.: Across our street, two alarm fire at 3:30 a.m. called out 12 trucks and 45 firefighters. This morning, the exit out the front of our house was blocked as a crime scene. One neighbour has an exterior video camera capturing intruders on the scene in the night. Fire trucks are now gone, yellow police tape is around that property. Houses to the north and south both damaged. (156 Booth Avenue, Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170627Yorkville: Hazelton stage @TorontoJazzFest @crymmusic Chelsea and the Cityscape, the more pop-oriented group of bandleader McBride. She says that she would rather play radio songs than singing about her old boyfriends. (Toronto Jazz Festival, Hazelton Avenue, Yorkville, Toronto, Ontario) 20170627Heliconian Club: Intimate stage @TorontoJazzFest @phronesismusic trio playing for first time in town. Attentive, appreciative audience, venue full for early evening gig. Band reported short sleep and stressful journey on travel today, but performance was energetic and precise. (Heliconian Hall, Hazelton Avenue, Yorkville, Toronto, Ontario) 20170627
156-158 Booth Avenue demolition: The day after a two-alarm fire, an excavator is clearing the house on the property. Both 156 and 158 semi-detached structures are unsafe, so there will be reconstruction ahead. This view is from our front yard, technically inside the yellow taped zone with workers and investigators. (156-158 Booth Avenue, Riverside district, Toronto, Ontario) 20170628
Hazelton Stage: Moody @TorontoJazzFest @mtwstevens trio musicianship extended sometimes by programmed loops and electronic effects. Live performance with band members attentive to each other on original compositions. Noted that the guitarist bandleader chooses to play from stage right, not the center. (Toronto Jazz Festival, Hazelton Avenue Stage, Yorkville, Toronto, Ontario) 20170629
