Hudson's Bay Christmas windows return for 2020

The major Canadian retailer on Queen Street West brings back last year's Christmas decorations without the fanfare of previous unveilings. Cute little snowmen make snow angels, while Santa's computer spits out the naughty and nice list.

The toy soldiers say "Be safe. WEAR A MASK"

See more of the windows after the jump.

Berczy Park at night

Lying in the lee of the flatiron building, the park is tres suitable for chillin' even though the dog fountain is quiet and the Christmas lights haven't gone up yet. I don't think they turned on the water this year and therefore no one could pour soap into the fountain and have bubbles spill out into the street.

The warmer weather brings people to this spot like moths to a candle. I wonder how many people work downtown and travel back and forth to Union Station and don't even know this close-by park exists?

Toronto Distillery District Winter Village 2020

Covid precautions have forced the cancellation of the historic Distillery District's Christmas Market but the lights and decorations are still going to be installed as part of their Winter Village. You won't be able to find vender cabins or live entertainment this year but the shops and restaurants will be open and the light installations are magical.

Art is Love sign

Lighting up the Christmas tree

From the district's website, "Join us this holiday season at Toronto’s historic Distillery District and enjoy starlit canopies, a Grand Christmas Tree in Trinity Square, and festive music throughout as part of our charming Winter Village experience from November 12 to March 31. All of your favourite Distillery District shops, galleries, and restaurants are open, offering a unique blend of specialty gifts, art, cuisine and fashion in our open-air, safe environment of pedestrian-only streets – perfect for your holiday shopping!"

Entrance will be free however the capacity of the neighbourhood will be monitored to ensure safe physical distancing during the busy Friday to Sunday time period. You can find live updates on their instagram feed @DistilleryTO.

Santa's elves are moving the giant candy canes into position

Coronavirus can't slow down Christmas

We might not be able to party and gather in crowds, but we can still decorate Toronto like Santa Claus is coming to town. Early sign s of the upcoming holiday season are popping up all over the city including down at City Hall, Commerce Court and in the historic Distillery District.

The illuminated, aluminum trees are up at Commerce Court

Putting up the Christmas lights at City Hall. The tree is still to come

And now the tree is up

From the city's website, "The City of Toronto has extended the cancellation of City-led and City-permitted outdoor major events through December 31 due to COVID-19. All outdoor special events, including Cavalcade of Lights, are cancelled during this time period. Cavalcade of Lights is an annual event that marks the official start to the holiday season in Toronto. It features the lighting of Toronto’s 50-foot (15-metre) Christmas tree, live musical performances, a skating party, and a spectacular fireworks display."

BigArtTO Dia de los Muertos

Toronto's free public art exhibition continues with Day of the Dead at the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant from November 4-7, 2020. Outdoor temporary art exhibitions put on by the city with projections onto buildings and landmarks from September 16 to December 5 throughout Toronto.

From the City's BigArtTO website, "Created by Toronto artists, the projections will play Wednesday through Saturday in each of Toronto’s 25 wards allowing residents access to artwork without having to leave their neighbourhood." I caught a previous illumination at Christie Pits in October.

November 4 – 7, Ward 20 – Scarborough Southwest. Time: 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
“Dia de los Muertos” by Emma Lopez and Pedro Narvaez, with OCAD student collaborators including Mohammed Abdullah, Rebecca Van Fraassen, Simone Northey, Peter Rahul and Gabriel Masewich.
Location: R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant, 2701 Queen St. E., M4E 1H4

Art Toronto 2020

Covid-19 is bringing the international fair for modern and contemporary art to the internets. Canada's 2020 art fair takes place from October 28 to November 8. Art Toronto is Canada's largest art fair and has been taking place since 2000 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre that now, due to Coronavirus precautions, has become an online and in-person events across Canada.

From Art Toronto website "This year, Art Toronto, Canada’s largest and most coveted art fair, will combine the boundless reach of a digital landscape with the excitement of seeing artwork in person. For the first time in its 21 years, the fair will showcase virtual and in-person installations and programming across the country. Traditionally occupying a single location at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Art Toronto will take place online and nationwide in art galleries including; Monte Clark Gallery (Vancouver), TrépanierBaer Gallery (Calgary), Georgia Scherman Projects (Toronto), Bradley Ertaskiran (Montreal) and many more across Canada. This unique model is the first of its kind for North American art fairs that have quickly adapted to online exhibitions, Canada’s art fair will take place throughout October 28 to November 8, 2020. Canada’s art fair will take place October 28 to November 8, 2020, kicking off with a virtual Preview on October 28, in support of the Art Gallery of Ontario."

You can scroll through the artworks (the pictures are screenshots from the website), visit the gallery exhibitions and watch video discussions.

Art/TO PopUP tour# 2 from Stephen Bulger on Vimeo.

I must admit that I do miss the atmosphere of the setup in the conference centre, wandering the aisles and seeing the amazing art and installations. However, everyone must make sacrifices to keep everyone safe, so online it is. 

Rad Power Bike and Ontario Bicycle Trails

Now that I have an ebike I have been actively seeking out bike trails for some outstanding day trips that combine exercise and great destinations. An ebike allows you to go faster and farther that you probably go on a regular bike unless you are a Tour de France rider - just the ticket for me as I continue to age.

Biking inside the covered bridge

Kissing Bridge in West Montrose

I tend to bike a lot around Toronto because you can find one place to park (and save on multiple parking fees) and travel around the city without the hassle or expense of taxis, ubers and the god awful traffic. Bike lanes are the best by the way! As I get older and also as I plan to travel in Canada by RV I wanted an ebike that I could take on my travels and make my current biking a lot more enjoyable.

In Ontario you can buy bikes that not only provide power assist but will also propel the bike without pedaling. Power is limited to 500 watts while speed is limited to 32 km/hr. Available bike choices include versions that look like scooters, mini bikes or those that look like street or mountain bikes. When I started looking it seems that two power levels are generally sold; the lower, cheaper option is 36 volts & 350 watts, the more powerful and more expensive option is 48 volts & 500 watts. I was looking at getting the bikes at Costco the cheaper 350w version was about $1500, the more expensive 500w was about $2000, but every time I went online they were out of stock so I finally had to give up on that store.

Next I checked local bike stores, which was difficult during the times of Covid, and found that the bikes were huge and selling for $3-6,000 per bike which was a little outside of what I was willing to spend. So we went back online and found Rad Power Bikes. My criteria was the 48V, 500w, no fat tires and the bicycle had to look like a typical mountain bike. They had a suitable model and their price was $1,999 for the RadCity bike. We picked up two, which included one that was a step-thru for my wife and at the time we got $200 off when we bought two. They shipped the bikes, which took about a month to arrive, partially assembled. It didn't take much to finish the assembly, plug in the batteries and go for a ride on the same day as delivery.

It blew me away when I first tried out the ebikes. The power assist really kicks in fast and our models came with 7 gears and 5 levels of power assist along with a throttle that powers the bike without the need to pedal. The throttle really makes it easy to get started when you are in a higher gear. The higher the power assist, the less you can travel under battery power. Keeping the lower assist level (level 1) and the occasional use of the throttle up hills, you can go really far as the specifications say up to 72km. Our longest ride to date was 76km and we still had a little battery power left, over time this may drop. The amount of hills on your ride will also impact how far you can ride before the battery is discharged. The battery takes 5-6 hours to fully charge.

You really notice the bikes weight when you have to move it up and down these staircases that comes with a bike chute

I love the RadCity bike and the amount of power available. It was the most expensive bike I have ever bought and hopefully ebike prices will start to fall. It is a heavy bike weighing about 70 pounds so if you use a bike carrier you need a strong one and can probably only carry up to two at a time. I wouldn't recommend that you mount the bikes on your roof because of the weight. Remember that you need to wear a bike helmet and the bike comes with the required safety features of headlight, tail and brake light and a bell. Also great is the display panel with odometer, speedometer, wattmeter and remaining battery life indicator.

With these bikes you will want to go on more cycling adventures, taking trips that are longer that you previously are used to. One option to be safe is to keep off the roads and look for bicycle routes. Many bike trails are former railway lines that have fallen out of profitability and sold to regions, counties, municipalities and conservation areas. The beauty of these trails is that they go through fair sized towns, have low grades and are located away from vehicular traffic.

Kissing Bridge Trailway map from Guelph to Millbank

The circled X means that the railway bridge that crossed the Grand River no longer exists so you have to use the Kissing Bridge bypass anyways

Standard trail gates at intersections with adjacent roads

We have tried out a few trails this year: Welland Canal from Lock 3 to Port Colborne, Elora Cataract Trailway - Bellwood Lake to Elora, Elora Cataract Trailway - Bellwood Lake to Terra Cotta Conservation Area, Friendship Trail -Port Colborne to Fort Erie. And thanks to a great website called Ontario Bike Trails we have just started exploring trails like G2G - Guelph to Kissing Bridge in West Montrose. The website lists the rides, shows maps and provides information and reviews of the many trails in Ontario. Trails are identified for Mountain Biking, Rail, BMX and Parks. We are planning to ride the Oro - Medonte Rail Trail from Barrie to Orillia next year.

A friendly cat named Sandy came to us at the Kissing Bridge

Cottontail Road Trail shows the route to Elora

Dribs and drabs in Toronto

There are many interesting things that you can find around Toronto, you just have to be open to art and be in the right place at the right time. 

Sending out major love still up in Trinity Bellwoods Park

There are a lot of graffiti murals in Graffiti Alley, enjoy them before they get tagged

Queen Street West art installation near Trinity Bellwoods Park

Not sure what it is though

Graffiti in Kensington Market

Nuns in an advert for Devils in Loudon

Pop-up park at the Toronto CN Tower

If you look up too much to see the wonder of the CN Tower you might miss the pop-up park at the base of the tower. U of T partnered with the tower to install an educational pop-up designed by Perez-Amado and U of T John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design students, supported by Sidewalk Labs.

The park named Pebbs and Hex opened Saturday, July 25 and will remain until early December and features CNC-milled wooden seats and planters as part of the tower's desire to bring variety to the downtown core.

Pebbs and Hex, an educational pop-up park designed and built by Perez-Amado and a team of Daniels Faculty students, is now taking visitors at the base of the CN Tower, Canada's most recognizable urban landmark. The park opened to the public on Saturday, July 25th, in the plaza located immediately to the south of the tower's base. It will remain on display until early December.

From the CN Tower's website, "Pebbs and Hex consists of a series of CNC-milled wooden "pebbles" — rounded seating structures, accentuated with kinetic, solar-powered lighting elements that move with the wind. The "hexes" are modular hexagonal planters that hold a gallery of native trees, including burr oak, black ash, sugar maple, and poplar. A series of explanatory plaques will educate visitors about the different tree species and the important roles they play in Ontario's ecology. The park’s elements were fabricated in the Daniels Faculty’s digital fabrication laboratory."

“We are excited to partner with University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design to bring the Pebbs and Hex pop-up park to life at the base of the CN Tower,” says Peter George, the tower’s chief operating officer. “With its beautiful array of trees that are part of the city’s natural canopy, the installation is one of many ways the CN Tower is helping Torontonians fall in love with their city all over again, and we’re so pleased to provide our community with a refreshingly green urban space to enjoy.”

For Robert Wright, interim dean of the Daniels Faculty, an installation in the CN Tower's plaza represents an opportunity to bring design excellence to a wide audience. "I'm proud of The Daniels Faculty’s support of this activity and Victor's work on this project," Wright says. "Pebbs and Hex is both beautiful and educational. And it's an incredible showcase for the Daniels Faculty's design expertise and fabrication technologies."

Due to the latest Covid spike remember that "Effective October 3, the CN Tower will suspend its operations to do our part to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and hopefully help to flatten the curve. The health and safety of our staff and guests is our priority. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and we look forward to welcoming guests back to the Tower as soon as public health authorities and Canada Lands Company determine that it is safe to do so."