Notice

In my 'hood, every other block or so, you see signs like the one above. This particular sign is at the intersection of Carlton and Yonge Streets, on the site of a building with a distinctive mid-century-era facade since obscured by advertising. You can see it next to the brightly illuminated Toronto Hydro building in the photo below, taken in February/March 1967.

The new 73-storey structure is going up across Yonge Street from another giant tower currently under construction and is one block north of the newly-built Aura tower, which is, for the time being, the tallest residential condominium in Toronto. That will change when a 96-storey tower, kitty corner to the Aura at the intersection of Yonge and Gerrard, is built. There's also a new tower going up one block north of the 73-storey structure, and another a block north of that. A seventh towering monolith is slated for development just north of the one currently under construction across the street from 2 Carlton. 

If each of these new towers holds about twelve hundred  people, that's 8,400 new people added to a four-block stretch of Yonge Street.

If all these people want to get around by car, the streets may get a bit congested. And that may explain the surmise in the sign below, that, even though only 2% of Torontonians currently ride their bike or walk to work, all of that is about to change.

Also Noticed

Early one Saturday morning, on my way to the gym, I saw this on the steps leading to the courtyard of the condo complex we live in.

Leaving behind something like a hidden object puzzle (can you find the sock, the hairbrush, the apple, the five syringes?), a local had strewn the contents of their bag, and their bag, on the steps.

This is not trash. People don't pick up litter in my neighbourhood, but by the time I returned home, all the pieces, and the bag, were gone. 

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!

Karen




  

Joy

I think I was in the Allan Gardens when I heard two people wish one another a “Happy December," an interesting avoidance of the whole denominational aspect of what people are celebrating this time of year.

I was definitely in the Allan Gardens, along with dozens if not hundreds of others, when I enjoyed the seasonal display in the fine old greenhouse.

On that day, through some arrangement of Toronto Parks and Recreation (I imagine) people from all over the city who had come to see the greenhouse could also take a sleigh ride through the unsnowy park.

Two draught horses and a grumpy driver with a wagon full of Muslim women having the time of their lives.

So here’s my version of “Happy December’

"May this season bring you the joy you’d feel on the very first sleigh ride of your life."

Have a Happy New Year!

Karen

Company

Visiting us last week: Lester (the red one) and Golda;
they brought along their humans, our friends Sylvia and Jay 

People who know me through LinkedIn heard recently that I have a "new job." Not the outcome of an exhilarating job competition or fortifying promotion, my new job is the result of a reorganization. I now have a smaller team and a less clear mandate. Neither of these things are terribly problematic. And, due to the reorganization and a few other shifts, I associate now with a whole slew of colleagues who have no recollection nor visual memory of me disabled by osteoarthritis. 

The thing I like best about this is I don't have to answer questions - like I do from colleagues who do recall my days with a cane - about my mobility. For all the new batch know, I was always as I am now.

Which is really what this post is about. I'm well past recovering from the operation and am now in the realm of feeling like I did before the osteoarthritis kicked in. This does not mean my leg is good as new. It will never be quite the same again. I have to be careful to avoid mystery injuries like the one I gave myself just before we went to Italy. But it does mean that I have the strength, stamina and energy levels I have not had since before January 2015.

Which means my Saturdays can include more than just blogging and sitting on the couch consuming unhealthy amounts of Netflix.

Today I've got company coming for lunch and tonight we're going out for dinner with friends. Then I'll need to sleep.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen

Ephemera

Queens Park Art: Harold Town

Along with distinctive pieces of large art out of doors, the MacDonald Block complex at Queens Park has pieces indoors of what was considered at the time the best the visual arts had to offer.

I walk by them every day.

MacDonald Block is slated for a massive multi-year renovation. The 50-year-old buildings will be gutted and rebuilt from the inside. 

I imagine someone has a plan for the careful removal and storage of these works. 

But, this is government, so maybe not.

I am unaccountably fond of these 70's remnants, so here are poorly lit, not always perpendicular shots of some of them. 

Just in case.

Turquoise glazed tile and terracotta boobs.

Geometric pattern in a technique reserved these days for billboards

Outside the cafeteria: mosaic with old Ontario Hydro logo, exploding planet and fish

Across from the Ministry of Transportation: the Stratford Festival

At the east end of the walkway between MacDonald and Whitney blocks: encased birds

Another blocky tree with triangular leaves, this time in metal

Perhaps the least dated-looking of the lot: fresh, contemporary, not falling apart.

Monumental ceramic by the Wellesley Street West doors: graveyard with avenging angel

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen

Sleepless

Problems with solutions: two solved puzzles. 

I'm having trouble sleeping these days. I can't really pin down when it started or why it's happening. 

Could be the trip to Italy knocked my circadian rhythm off kilter. Could be stress at work. Could be because I am so inexpressibly old.

The changes I have implemented to try and get more sleep: 

• remove caffeine from my life forever
• stop looking at a blue screen (like the one I'm looking at right now) for at least an hour before bed and
• don't drink any fluids for at least two hours before bedtime so I don't have to wake from dreams of fruitless searches for a bathroom.

These have kind of worked. I fall asleep OK but still wake up two or three times in the night. And I keep dreaming about that bathroom.

Happiness is a Sharp Knife

I was in Belleville last weekend visiting my sister and brother-in-law. On Saturday they took me to a shop selling kitchen supplies both for commercial operations and the public. I've been looking for a decent bread knife for a while now. This seemed a likely place. 

At the shop, I found a Heckels Twin bread knife at a good price and went to buy it. On the counter were a stack of Heckels Twin chef's knives, on sale for about a third of the MSRP, so I got one of those, too.

I have at home a collection of good knives, acquired over the years. I use them a lot and I thought, at least until I brought the new knives home, that I kept them sharp.

The new ones are scary sharp, practically atom-splitting sharp. Almost too sharp. My old knives (which I have sharpened) feel like I'm holding a tool; the new ones like I'm holding a weapon.

Thanks for reading!

Karen