We arrived at the docks just a bit late for the ten o'clock ferry, but very early for the eleven o'clock, and had some time to kill on the waterfront.
As always when we are out walking, Bruce needed to find a cup of coffee and I needed to find a public washroom. While searching for those things, on the lake side of Queen's Quay we found this Myst-inspired cracked sphere. If you look at the Google map of the Toronto waterfront, the label says this sphere is a sundial.
But it of course is much more than that.
The interior is a magic cave.
And there were blackbirds everywhere, singing.
During my long ago brief, painful sojourn as a sole practitioner environmental lawyer, I represented a group of people who lived on the Island and I used to spend a lot of time out there. But, I think it's been at least ten years since I was last out on the settled sand spit created by the downshore transport of the Scarborough Bluffs.
Looking toward the city, a lot has changed in ten years. For example, there are 50% more buildings in the skyline. Looking toward the lake, nothing has changed. And a walk along the lake side of the Island is the same now as it was a decade ago. The remnants of the once-bustling Toronto harbour are there:
And the remains of the coffer dams used to build the retaining walls under the boardwalk (you can see just to the left of the light-coloured rock in the middle foreground a row of wooden posts):
And the cottonwoods - the biggest I've ever seen:
The few hundred people who live on the island don't have a grocery store or a bank branch or a movie theatre nearby. And their lives are run by the ferry schedules. But they are luckier by far than the rest of the people who live in Toronto. And their mere contested, controversial, and best-before-dated presence on the island is a really good example of what greatness might be achieved if you don't ask permission.
Have a great week!
Karen
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