. . . with flowers & ribbons

Easter

[Show picture list]

The Lions Easter Parade along Queen St. in the Beach is one of the biggest in North America. When you consider this is just a neighbourhood event, this seems a little strange. But Beach is truly an urban village, with an amazing sense of community.

easterparade-13-of-47-medium easterparade-36-of-47-medium easterparade-15-of-47-medium easterparade-31-of-47-medium

The Parade usually draws around 50,000 people – maybe more this year in unseasonable summer weather, with temperatures well over 70F and brilliant sunshine.  The children bring baskets (or black bags!) to collect their Easter loot – eggs and candies flow freely.  Suddenly the Halloween trick or treat tradition makes more sense as part of a wider pattern.

Home owners in the area are proud of their neighbourhood and their homes. The Christmas lights, which brightened the winter evenings long beyond the festive season, have given way to wreaths of Spring flowers or eggs. I’m told this is not necessarily Canadian, but very specific to this area.  It also seems to be a lovely way of affirming season’s change, especially in the harsher years.

Video Clip Showing Highlights of the Parade:

(There are lots more photos of the Parade in the Events album so that you can click through at your leisure!)

Biking along the shore . . .

Leisure, , ,

Here are a few photos of my fancy new bike on one of our early bike rides! You can see the battery pack in the larger picture.

bike-1-of-4-medium bike-3-of-4-medium bike-2-of-4-medium

bike-4-of-4-medium

It has been slightly disorientating these last few weeks.  The trees say it’s still winter, with no sign of leaf. Yet the brilliant sunshine and  temperatures have been almost like summer, rising well over 70F over the Easter weekend!

Riding the Martin Goodman Trail

Leisure, Toronto, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Took my new bike out for a spin along the lake shore this evening – fabulous!

I am neither particularly competent nor particularly competent as a cyclist.  Additionally, I have had some issues with my back for a number of years. So we have splashed out on a power assisted Schwinn bike which we managed to catch at the half-price point at Canadian Tire (by explanation for non-Canadians, Canadian Tire are one of a number of stores that publish a weekly flyer featuring significant bargains if you are prepared to watch and wait!).  This is like having a security blanket – I know that if I get tired or feel a bit insecure I can cut the electric motor in, and it’s great for starting off!

dscn6907-medium

Shore reflections

So, for now, it’s goodbye skating, hello cycling!

There are lots of trails to explore within Toronto, as well as numerous Provincial Parks further afield. This means that, for now, I can enjoy the exercise and beautiful surroundings, without having to brave the traffic.  It would be nice, though, to be confident enough at least to ride down to the shore rather than load the bikes on the car, though I will be very glad of the battery to get me back up the hill if I ever reach this stage!

My first published article in Canada!

Art & culture, Community, , ,

is included in the March/April edition of surface & symbol, the newsletter of Scarborough Arts Council (see page 4).

As I have previously mentioned in the blog, we have been volunteering for Art of the Danforth, a community arts walk scheduled for the end of April.  When I was approached to write this article, given the nature of the publication, I was asked to try to go a bit further than the ‘what, when and where’. This gave me a wonderful excuse to talk to some of the many interesting people involved in the project!