Second Pandemic Summer in Toronto

Bill and I continued our photo-walks this summer.

Bill has developed a radar for good murals and graffiti.

Pho Hung restaurant on Saint Andrew Street.

I'm always looking for something abstract.

Here's something!

And here's a doozie! Detail of Douglas Coupland's "Monument to the War of 1812".

One morning in Kensington Market we stood mesmerized by this talented musician. Bill got the picture.

When I came out of my trance I saw this little face at my feet.

Now for some Toronto vernacular. Bill's shot of a private back garden. A garden? Under those tarps?

Bill calls this "the narrow house".

This little old shop is called the Winners Lotto Mart.

I looked at the back of this sunflower for some time and decided that this thing is seriously over-designed.

Ragweed or goldenrod? One causes allergies the other does not. Sure hope these are goldenrod because they are thriving on every corner.

Is it old age? I find myself warming-up to this mid-century brutalist building on Yonge Street. Sure is abstract!

The city has taken down a construction fence near Grange Park and we can now get the Sharp Centre for Design and Above Ground art supplies in one shot.

In a service alley near Palmerston I was lining up this garage door on my phone. Bill said, "Don't move. I'm taking your picture." And that was our summer.

Potting Season

Every year, about halfway through May, Bill decides it is safe to plant on our balcony.

He favours two small nurseries on Dundas Street.

We had a spell of summer weather last week. For the first time this year I was able to sit on the balcony with a book. Bliss.

But I was happy to clear the table and let Bill get some planting done.

He plants. I clean up. That's our deal. Later I spread my books out again.

I think Bill's recycling looks like contemporary sculpture.

I also love the look of his "drainage" bits.

His broken pottery shards look like artifacts on "Digging in Britain".

Pottery shards cover drainage holes.

So the water doesn't collect in the bottom of the pot. 

On the weekend we bought some lobelia

Bill planted them around the zinnias in the long pots.

Then I settled in with a new crop of books.

I had a look at the zinnias. They look happy.

April in Toronto

April in Toronto has been wet and cool.

We even had one last snowfall which was very pretty before it politely disappeared.

But Bill and I are always pleased to see the return of the sun.

We have set aside a half hour per day to walk around Toronto taking pictures with our phones

so interesting sights have begun to put themselves in our path.

This is Bill's picture of a domestic front yard. I love the surprise depths he found.

Bill and I often pass by this house -- once a home to Felecian Sisters. He told me that he always wanted to buy it and if he had bought it he would have let the Sisters stay.

Looks like they are keeping only the facade of this building on Queen West. 

We know the pâtisserie Aux Merveilleux from Paris. Pleased to see a branch open in Toronto.

This little guy must be disappointed to be approached by a random photographer off the sidewalk rather than his beloved master.

The Sanko store at Queen and Clairmont sets a high standard for murals in this town. Bill's pic.

Bill has also had luck with graphic details on our photo walks.

We've walked past this ghost in Kensington Market many times. Bill finally got the picture.

My eye always gets caught by what I think of as "texture".

The sun raking across brick -- texture!

Waiting for Bill to do his banking in Chinatown I was looking for something to look at. A scene coalesced around this hand-painted barber sign. Then Bill joined me and we walked on.

A Third Wave of Postcards

A year into the pandemic we seem on the brink of a third wave of global isolation. So lets confront the darkness head-on and try and have some fun. Movies help. By the way - the working title for this post was Postcards from the Pit.

"What's wrong?" -- Dominique Sanda in Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (The Garden of the Finzi Continis), Vittorio De Sica, 1970.

"I don't believe in pals." -- Juliette Mayniel and Gérard Blain in Les Cousins (The Cousins), Claude Chabrol, 1959.

"I don't believe in friendship." -- Joanna Shimkus in Montparnasse-Levallois, Godard, (from Paris vu par... (Six in Paris), 1965.

"I hate great passions." -- Élodie Bouchez and Gaël Morel in Les roseaux sauvages (Wild Reeds), André Téchiné, 1994.

"Nothing means anything in the long run..." -- Birger Malmsten in Sommarlek (Summer Interlude), Bergman, 1951).

"No-one ever comes back again. " -- Stefania Sandrelli in Io la conoscevo bene (I Knew Her Well), Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965.

"I didn't expect it to hurt so much." -- Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung in 花樣年華 (In the Mood for Love), Wong Kar-wai,  2000.

"I'm a little bit afraid." -- Solveig Dommartin in Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire), Wim Wenders, 1987.

"I can't play at being in love just to please you." -- Guillaume Canet and Adèle Haenel in L'Homme qu'on aimait trop (In the Name of My Daughter), Andre Techine, 2014.

"All the women around Maurice attempted suicide." -- Judith Chemla in L'Homme qu'on aimait trop (In the Name of My Daughter), Andre Techine, 2014.

"Go ahead and have a good cry." -- Franco Citti in Mama Roma, Pier Paulo Pasolini, 1962.

"You're a little terror!" -- Amanda Langlet and Melvil Poupaud in Conte d'été (A Summer's Tale), Éric Rohmer, 1996.

"Bravo. Giulia, did you ever see your husband laugh?" -- Jean-Louis Trintignant and Stefania Sandrelli in Il conformista (The Conformist), Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970.

"Human sacrifice has gone out of style." -- Takashi Shimura in 醉いどれ天使 (Drunken Angel), Akira Kurosawa, 1948.

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More posts like this:

Thirteen Postcards in a Pandemic, May 2020. 

A Second Wave of Postcards, October 2020.

A Fourth Wave of Postcards, January 2022.