Cherry Blossoms

Don't forget to get out and about and check the pretty blossoms that are reminding us to stop and smell the flowers. You can find out about the famous High Park Cherry Blossoms on this blog.

There are also apple blossoms and the large magnolia blossoms sprinkled throughout the city so keep an eye out for the beautiful signs of spring.

Toronto Runs, Walks and Rides for Charity

Toronto is generous in it's support of charities and hosts quite a few run, walk or ride events to raise money to find the cure for so many things or to help others. Not only do the purse or wallets come out but so do the caring people that actually have to do all the running, walking or biking. The pictures here show the crowds at the 2006 CIBC Run for the Cure filling Nathan Phillips Square.




Some of the events are wickedly unusual and require a lot of courage just to take part in - like the Underwear Affair and the Walk and Mile In Her Shoes.

Toronto, get ready for:

Run for the Ride - Cancer (April)
Father's Day Walk/Run - Prostate Cancer(June)
Becel Heart & Stroke Ride for Heart (June)
Ride to Conquer Cancer - (June)
Heel 'n' Wheel-a-thon - Crohn's and Colitis (June)
Telus Walk to Cure Diabetes - Juvenile Diabetes (June)
Rick Hanson: Wheels in Motion - Spinal Cord Injury (June)
Walk Now for Autism (June)
Underwear Affair - Cancer below the waist (August)
Terry Fox Run - Cancer (September)
Shoppers Drug Mart Weekend to End Women's Cancer (September)
CIBC Run for the Cure - Breast Cancer (October)

There is also Polo for Heart - Heart and Stroke (June) and many golf tournaments around the city for charity so there are plenty of ways to get active or help others financially.

Photo Vault - Don Valley Brickworks

I visited the wastelands that were the Don Valley Brickworks a few times over the years. The longtime maker of bricks shut down and the site gradually fell into ruin which made for exciting visits. I can see why quite a few people make it a hobby to explore abandoned places - just remember to be safe.

Climbing in through the fences and openings in the buildings you walked through a massive complex of buildings full of steel stairs, colourful graffiti and old kilns. The large cavernous buildings were full of remnants of the past where sunbeams cut through holes in the ceilings and highlighted small sections of the interior. You could even find rooms full of bricks scattered on the floors.






The Brickworks lasted a long time starting in 1889 and finally closing in 1984. Then in 2002 they decided to try to make something of the historic site and have been fixing it up. It is now called the Evergreen Brick Works and they will celebrate their grand opening in September 2010.

Massey Hall - red light

The big neon sign at Massey Hall fills the surrounding Victoria street with a bright red glow. The big old box which opened in 1894 is a perfect venue for watching concerts and I remember watching the crowd throw boxes of Craft Dinner at a Barenaked Ladies concert.

Both Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall are run by a not for profit charitable corporation and "Massey Hall was a gift from the Massey family to the city of Toronto in 1894. For over 115 years, its famous red doors have welcomed audiences to a stunning array of events, personalities and artists. It has earned a unique place in Canadian music history."

TV with TV's Jonathan Torrens

TVtropolis’ host of TV with TV’s Jonathan Torrens was out in Toronto doing some interviews with his crew when I broke in between filming and asked for a photo – he was happy to oblige.  He even asked me to do an interview but I had to decline.

 

I remember watching him when he was the young co-host of Street Cents – which was a great show. It was funny and a little off beat which made for good entertainment. Born in PEI, Jonathon has moved on from Street Cents and did quite a few acting jobs including his own show Jonovision, appearances as J-Roc on the series Trailer Park Boys and now with his own series again. Even his commercials are funny so I was happy to run into him today. He said we don’t have too many celebrities in Canada but I think he is one.

 

Toronto Islands Ferry

Now that the Toronto Islands are no longer big chunks of ice it's almost time to visit the chain of former Scarborough Bluffs erosion debris and which is now a great destination for sports and entertainment. Here are the Bluffs just waiting for their turn to swim west and join the fun of the islands.



Although you have to take a ferry boat to get to the islands (routes to Hanlan's, Centre and Ward's Islands) you can also bring your bikes or roller blades to get around on the extensive bike paths.



Enjoy the many beaches (swim buck naked at Hanlan's Point clothing optional beach), picnic areas or spend some time in the island world Centreville Amusement Park on Centre Island or the small and free Far Enough Farm petting zoo.

Don't forget to turn around and look back at the City and it's fabulous skyline.

Avatar at Union Station

Workers were busy installing Avatar's Hometree deep in the heart of Union Station. I was looking around for some unobtanium so I started to cut down the big fake tree and for some reason the guys got mad. Oh, the ironimium!



April 22 is the date of the Blu-ray and DVD release.

Another sign of Spring at the Square

I was glad to see the fountains in the Yonge-Dundas Square spraying out water, welcoming Spring and kids that like to play in the water.

Also in the square was the small, older guy who loves to sing karaoke. He is a very energetic singer and it is too bad that his voice is so bad. I have heard him many times with his boom box and microphone. You can see people walk near him and realize that someone is singing quite badly and they look around for the source of the music, thinking it might be a joke. But no, he is quite serious. He doesn't do it for money - just for the enjoyment.

Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion

Built in 1922 the Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion, just steps away from a big body of water called Lake Ontario, is undergoing a major rebuild of the large, outdoor swimming pool. The pool or "Tank" was heated and originally built in 1925. There is a lot of history including an amusement park, buildings out on piers and a stadium in this area and only the Pavilion has survived the years of change.


Joe Fresh took a picture of me at the gates at the entrance to the Pavilion.



In the summer you can find plenty of sunbathers and swimmers on the beach, in the lake and in the pool. Right now all you can find are birds like swans and seagulls looking for food.

Dirk Hayhurst and The Bullpen Gospels

Blue Jays’ reliever Dirk Hayhurst was in the downtown Sears today at noon signing copies of his new book The Bullpen Gospels. Dirk is currently on the Major League Baseball 60-day disabled list but that did not slow down his autographs signing speed. Even with the long line-up of people gathered for the signing he still had time for his fans.

 

Dirk’s website: http://www.dirkhayhurst.com/Dirkhayhurst.com/Welcome%21.html

 

The Bullpen Gospels is No. 19 on the New York Times Paperback Nonfiction Bestseller List. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/books/bestseller/bestpapernonfiction.html?ref=bestseller

 

Don’t forget to enjoy the Blue Jays Opener tonite. http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=tor

 

Toronto International Airport - watching the planes

Many people are fascinated with the large jet planes that take us around the world on exotic journeys and vacations and we are lucky to have the Toronto International Airport (Airport Code: YYZ) in our own backyard.


On streets and parking lots around the airport you can usually find plenty of cars and people, called Airplane Watchers or Plane Spotters, looking or photographing the planes land and takeoff. Airport Road has a number of places such as Wendys Restaurant (Airport at Orlando - just south of Derry Road) which are right under or near the flight path of approaching planes. Many locations along the street are no parking or no stopping to discourage people from Plane Spotting.



As the planes start to come in you can see them lined up waiting, lights on, for their turn to touch down with a puff of smoke as their tires hit the runway. Even if you are not a die hard plane fan it is still fun to watch the big planes take off or land just over your head.

Chickadees

During a walk in the woods we came upon some Chickadees. If you have bird seed or peanuts you can often get these birds to take food from your hands.

Spring Motorcycle Show

Spring brings motorcycles back to the roads and the Spring Motorcycle Show was held at the International Centre to get everyone back in the mood for some choppers and other assorted two wheeled vehicles.



Shiny chrome and sweet paint jobs, beautiful models, colourful helmets and leather chaps make for happy riders and happy shoppers.




I ran into CBC celebrity and host of The Hour - George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos. He is always nice and agrees to pose for pictures - the last time was when he supported Fashion Cares in 2007.

IZOD Indycar Action - Live Streaming

Sunday April 11 brings the Indycar series and it's third race of the season to Alabama (the land of Dixie).

Here is the remaining schedule for Alabama.

Qualifying Session
Sat, April 10th
10:20am - 11:50am ET
Warm Up
Sun, April 11th
9:40am - 10:10am ET

Indy Grand Prix of
Alabama presented by
Legacy Credit Union
Sun, April 11th
3:00pm ET

Don't forget to register (it's free) and sign in to the IZOD Indycar website Race Control and watch free live video streaming of the Indycar racing action during the season. The video is crisp, clean and colourful. I was just watching Dan Wheldon and his National Guard car spin off the track into the sand pit during qualifying.

Glee: singing in the rain

There was a large group of students downtown today holding umbrellas and singing in the rain to promote the upcoming season start of Glee. The group were at the corner of Yonge and Dundas right outside the Eaton Centre. The season premiere of Glee is Tuesday, April 13, 2010 on Global TV.

Now I ain’t saying she is a gold digger, but she was a pretty good singer. Actually they all were. I really like the series, along with three quarters of my family, and I was sad when last years short season of Glee ended. I even watched them when the cast appeared this week on Oprah! 

And since it was wet here is a water reflection shot.

Television: Flashpoint

The television series Flashpoint is currently filming seasion 3 around Toronto and the GTA and the crew was in Yonge-Dundas Square with a bunch of cameras and extras. I was disappointed not to see series star Enrico Colantoni while I was there but it was still interesting to see the work and equipment that go into television and movie production.



Toronto works hard to sell the city for filming with location images and information on their Toronto Film and Television Office (TFTO) website. You can even see the productions being shot around the city (updated every two weeks) at this link where I see that Saw VII is being filmed and will soon scare people in the theatres.

Concerts at the ACC

My daughter joined a lot of young ladies at the Air Canada Centre (ACC) to watch the April 5 Hedley concert and they had a great time - I was surprised they still had their voices after their night of screaming and singing. The opening acts were Boys Like Girls, Fefe Dobson and the Stereos. Here are some pictures of the band Hedley by Erin Hamilton - she loves Jacob Hoggard, the lead singer.





The Centre is located south of Union Station at the corner of Lakeshore and Bay Street and is easily accessible by the GO Train/Bus, subway, TTC, highway and walking. We parked at Lakeshore and Yonge Street and walked two blocks over to the Bay Street and the ACC.



The sound and the sightlines are just fine for concerts and I have been to a few concerts there myself - even in the seats behind the stage. I try to avoid the floor seats because a lot of people tend to leave their seats and stand at the base of the stage, then everyone else stands and you can't see anything. At least if people stand along the sides of the building the slope of the seats still allow for good visibility. Here is a link to a seating map.

We watched the girls go into the building then went walking around the area while they were enjoying the concert. The building is wedged between the downtown core of office towers and the Gardiner Expressway and is just a few minutes walk south down to the Lake where you can find the Toronto Ferry Docks and Captain John's floating restaurant.

Toronto Media Layoffs – Does Life Go On

Traditional Toronto media has taken a lot of hits lately with recent layoffs of some of our favourite local news personalities, cuts at the Sun and Star newspapers and local TV is in a battle with cable TV over money. Money that the local TV stations say they need to survive. Are the layoffs helping, are the media personnel getting hired back in their field and where is Larysa Harapyn?

More and more people get their information from the internet while fewer people pay for a daily newspaper or watch the local news. Advertisers who are the heart of the traditional information delivery systems have noticed this trend and have cut back on advertising and have been further restricted due to the downturn in the economy. Less advertising money means less content and less content means less reporters and editorial staff.

The numerous cuts at the Toronto Sun are even lamented in a blog called Toronto Sun Family (http://torontosunfamily.blogspot.com/). Reported job cuts also occurred at many media outlets from the Toronto Star, Rogers/CityTV, Canwest, CTV Globemedia, CHUM, Sportsnet, and the Globe and Mail.

For newspapers the combined impacts of free newspapers, reduced advertising and internet and mobile computing have produced major declines at traditional paid circulation newspapers. Newspaper circulation data from the CCAB Daily Newspaper TRAC (http://216.41.211.36/bpaww_com/HTML/dailies/CCAB%20Newspaper%20TRAC%202009.pdf) show the following.

Star weekday average 2009 circulation 390,163 (unpaid/free 105,988), average weekday circulation in 2008: 419,070 a -6.9% decline.
Sun weekday average 2009 circulation 178,461 (unpaid/free 41,630), average weekday circulation in 2008: 184,473 a -3.2% decline.
Toronto’s free newspapers had 2009 average weekday circulations of 247,236 for 24 Hours and 258,858 for Metro.

Shockingly just these four newspapers put out 653,712 copies of free newspapers, which exceed the paid weekday circulation of 568,624 for the Sun/Star combo. With free newspapers and free newspaper websites why would you pay for newspapers anymore?

Local television has also been impacted by declining ad revenues, available internet alternatives and low or no revenues derived from being carried in cable TV packages. With nothing but cuts to media around the world can anyone get a job in their field after a layoff? Media can look for jobs at such sites as media Job Search Canada (http://www.mediajobsearchcanada.com/jobs.asp?c=56) but it would be a tough search. Owners of media are cutting costs, taking unpaid interns and less expensive talent.

I keep searching but I don’t see Larysa’s face on the television or on the web. Where are you Larysa?

IainBaxter& - No. 9 and ECOARTVAN

What I love about spring in the city? Warm spring days, excitement and events everywhere, buskers working their magic (like Copper Cowboy back out at Yonge and Dundas) and things to contemplate.

I was out contemplating when I almost ran into a green luggage bag parked in Nathan Phillips Square on Wednesday, March 31. I new it was luggage because it had a handle at the top. The bag had windows on two sides and contained within were a bunch of trapped and pickled stuffed animals.



I nearly cried at the horror of it all when I realized that this was art! Actually I didn't realize it was art until I read the large poster on the back of the bag.

The poster said that this was a work by IainBaxter& (no, that is not a & mistake) called ECOARTVAN commissioned by No. 9 Contemporary Art and the Environment.

No. 9's website says "The IAIN BAXTER& ECOARTVAN will park in each school’s yard for one or two days, and will be accompanied by No. 9 educators. No.9’s educators will lead hands-on workshops with Grade Four students using a special education package designed in collaboration with BAXTER& and focused around the artist’s concern for animals and their habitats.

WWF-Canada has generously contributed 2500 Adoption Kits, so that each Grade Four student who attends the workshops will receive a kit focused on an animal whose habitat is endangered. These kits enable tactile learning and ensure that the students have an opportunity to continue their engagement in environmental issues once the project concludes."

I liked the idea of the WWF adoption kits more that I liked the idea of the pickled animals.