A Trip to the ROM - and the 360

I had a day at the ROM recently.  I didn't go to see anything particularly special - just to wander wherever my feet took me.  I let mom have the camera, and so we have one of her favorite subjects: Madonna and Child. 

There is a surprising variety of them at the ROM, in the European section, along with some really fabulous altar pieces and, for later eras, a lot of glass work and furniture that's worth staring at and pondering.

I also had occasion that week to have a sunset dinner at 360, the rotating restaurant at the top of CN Tower.

There was a throw-away line in an episode of Frasier once where it was insisted that one should never eat in a restaurant that floats or revolves.   I really wouldn't go that far, but the price would've been extremely high if not for the view (tickets for the view, alone, would've otherwise cost half the price of the meal itself).

The service was OK, but tended to fawn on the men at the table and ignore the women -- while the men's glasses were always full, I and the other woman at the table had to seek out our own refills, they mixed up the two women's entrees as if we were interchangeable, and generally gave us service I would certainly not have tipped for while the guys had to practically shoo them away.  That one has kinda stuck in my craw since then.  I'm not bitter.

It was weird and off-putting to have to go through a metal detector on the way in, and to be forced into a pre-dinner photograph that none of our party wanted to do while on the way to the elevator.  Yes, yes, terrorism and tourism, but there has to be a better way than seriously annoying your very-much-overpaying guests. 

The food was fine.  I had a seasonable vegetable medley in pasta shells which was good four bites out of five (it was weird, but every now and again I got something really foul tasting in it - the first couple times I thought something was up with me, but no, there was some unidentifiable veggie cubes in it that just tasted off - picking them out made the whole thing better).  The others in my party enjoyed their food, ranging from prime rib to roasted duck.  Desert was delicious.  The wines were appropriate if not stellar.  It was worth it as a one-off occasion, which is likely their bread and butter - I mean, who would dine at the top of CN Tower on the regular? 

Flow

Things have been very wet since March.  We really counted on those April showers to bring some May flower and all, but, frankly, it's June and it's still raining at least every other day.  We're a bit tired of it.

The Toronto Islands are closed, and I'm betting they won't be opening at the end of July considering the rain has barely let up at all.

I took most of these photos at the beginning of May, when I returned to Toronto from a visit to Ohio — and twice had my return flight cancelled due to problems with rain and construction at Pearson.

the "wetlands" area of the Spadina Wetlands 

looking south, from the Spadina Wetlands area toward Toronto Island

looking west, along the quay at the Toronto Music Garden

one of the benches, which only ducks use these days

Marina Quay West, at the southwestern area of the basin;
there are normally a few more steps visible leading down

Waterfront Campus

This past week I had reason to be further east along the waterfront than I normally go these days, between Jarvis and Sherbourne at the George Brown College waterfront campus.  I took a few snapshots of the swanky building and its views.

The area surrounding the campus, particularly to the north, leaves a lot to be desired.  It's grimy and industrial feeling.  In the last half-dozen years, a huge number of condo buildings have been started along this section of Queens Quay, but most are still under construction, so the roads are muddy and deeply pot-holed from the constant construction equipment passing over them, and the noise is oppressive.  The Redpath refinery is just next door too, leaving the constant sticky-sweet smell of heated sugar in the air.

Looking northward

But, inside, the building is very nicely deigned with panels of coloured glass, and large open areas of wood, polished concrete, and windows:

A study area, looking down from the fifth floor.

The views out the back of the building are great, looking out over the harbour and the island (if you don't look eastward, where it is industrial wasteland and gentlemen's clubs):

From a rear stairwell.

Overall the building is very nice indeed, and as the area develops to the point that the construction equipment finally goes away, it's going be a great gem in a newly-developed and vibrant area.

Since then...

I know I've been increasingly quiet here.

I have done my walking and photographing for this blog with my dog, Moo, who has been with me since 2000.  She died this past month, after becoming increasingly frail over the last year.

She still liked being taken out, but as the year wore on could spend very little time walking.  I'd still carry her through the parks, and stop when she wanted to get down and sniff something or investigate an area of heavy squirrel activity, but by the end of October, she just had very little energy and ability to get around.  The soul was willing, but the body just wasn't capable.

I leave you with a silly video of her from when she was nine years old, playing with my father's cat in my old bedroom there.

October already?

Yep, it is - would you look at that?  Time flies when you're swamped with pointless busywork.

Well, it crawls, but you are so busy you don't get anything else done.

Never fear, though - I've still been taking silly photos when I remember to take my phone with me.

We'll start with this stunning Sheldonesque suit I saw in a window downtown (sorry for the reflections - it was a bright afternoon).  I still can't convince the Mr. to get it, but I think it's truly awesome:

Next up, I just wanted to share that I spend far too much time on my daily commute staring at glass-breaking hammers behind glass that needs to be broken.  It's a conundrum.  Shouldn't there be a smaller hammer alongside to help you get the bigger hammer out?

Then this terribleness!  Walking the dog in the park, there's an area that's got a lot of dropped crabapples and it's got a yellow jacket problem right now.  The poor thing got stung on the back of her thigh, top of her toe, and back of her heel before we could kill the wasp and scoop her up.

(She's recovered now - the swelling only hasted a couple days, and she was using the foot again by that evening, though gingerly.)

Again walking downtown, I sometimes pause to wonder what "eggs" are, and where they come from:

And last, but not least, it's cabbage season again here in Toronto.

[Off Trail] Carolina Beach

Last week I was lucky enough to take a few (too-short) days and get some time down in Carolina Beach.

We've been going there for family vacation since I was a little kid, so when the opportunity popped up to spend a long weekend, I really couldn't resist.

Sunrise walks on the beach.

And the sunsets weren't bad, either.

In between there were sand castles ...

... laughing gulls ...

... blanketflowers ...

... Carolina anoles ...

... the boardwalk carousel ...

... and lunch at Pop's.

The Redpath Tallship Festival

With my low tolerance for people, I end up at very few festivals, but I could not help but wander down to HTO West this weekend because there were tallships in port.  Despite them being absolutely crawling with people, and hard to take photos of, I tried.  Really, I did!

The one that I could see from Ireland Park (and so which got me headed toward the tallships) was El Galeón de Andalucia, out of Seville.  She sailed over from Cadiz on June 29th (I'm sure her two 380 HP engines helped with that!) and she's pretty awesome to behold.

El Galeón de Andalucia

It was hard to get closer and get any detail though.   Here she is from alongside the starboard bow, looking back - you can see her anchor tied up there above the cannon ports.

This is a close up of her stern, with the Virgin painted upon it.

Behind the Galeón was the Pride of Baltimore II, but it was impossible to see her behind the swarms of people:

Pride of Baltimore II

But the best surprise was the Draken Harald Hårfagre (the Dragon Harald Fairhair), out of Norway.

Draken Harald Hårfagre

Really lovely!  Here's her prow:

And here she is prow-to-prow with the Galeón:

Viking longship, nose-to-nose with Spanish galleon

The fun thing to know about the Viking longship is that she has a crew of 33 and no below-decks - there is a tent on deck that sleeps 22, and the crew sleeps in three watches of four hours work and eight hours rest.  They galley is open to the weather.

Later in the day, they took a sail around the harbour:

The Pride of Baltimore II, under sail.

The Draken Harald Hårfagre, under sail.

El Galeón de Andalucia, under (solo) sail.