(Not on the Trail) Local Nativities

Just a couple front-yard nativity displays today.

Looks like the wind had its way with that one — or that wiseman is really fond of the other one.

This one is still waiting on its Christ child.

(Not on the Trail) Nativity

From West Water Street:

I have a soft spot for these things — you'll probably see more in coming days.

(Not on the Trail) Christmassy

T'is the season, y'all.

(Not on the Trail) Plane stuff

Rainy morning, just before dawn, at Pearson:

Sun up and blue skies over the Great Lakes:

Underwater

The marina and quay area was very still today, and it was possible to see straight to the bottom.  The  photo is a little hard to make out still:

But after a simple filter ...

Oh neat - someone lost a bike!

I took a second photo of that thing on the right.  Did someone really lose a boat here?  That would suck.

Tires galore, too.

It finally stopped snowing yesterday afternoon, and so things are now pretty wet and slushy.  The streets are swampy... and I can't find my boots, so that sucks.  Time to clean the closet.

The snow is still pretty in some of the harder-to-get-to places, though, like this rock:

And this lamppost:

And those red berries I photographed earlier in the month are pretty well hidden now.

Snow day part 2

The grasses out front of the building are still standing, but if the snow has its way, it won't be for long.

Snow day

It's been snowing pretty much non-stop since about 1:30 in the morning.

Can't even really see the airport or Toronto Island. It's actually really lovely, especially for how quiet everything is.

Gack.

They don't run the little harbour cleaning boats as often in Winter as they do in Summer,   As a result. crap starts to really pile up in any available corners.

Also known as "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Toronto, Part II".

Dried up flowers

Some of the purple flowers in the garden (that I could not formerly identify) have changed to little white fluffy things.

The lavender that shares their flowerbed still seems to be doing its thing there.

Refinery

Walking in HTO West today, I was surprised to be able to see Petro-Canada's Oakville refinery so clearly.

Don't let the color of the skies fool you — it was only two in the afternoon.

Withes and Squirrel

The high winds have been really punishing on the local willow trees.  The ground beneath them is covered in withes.

I got to use the word "withe"!

And this squirrel, who hangs out behind the community center, seems to be eating pretty well this fall.  Today he's found what I think is a doughnut.

Rose hips

The roses down at Spadina Quay Wetlands have lost most of their leaves, but it just makes their rose hips look even larger and more impressive.

I made them my blog background (for now).  Makes me want to try a rose hip jelly, though I'm fairly sure we're not supposed to go harvesting down there.

Construction, Bike Share, and Canoe Landing

The new buildings going up along Dan Leckie Drive are getting some of their exterior finishing in place.  I am always skeptical of colourful accents on these things because it seems to me that it always ages really badly (and the colour choices tend to get dated really fast).  I guess we'll see.

The next building over uses blue accents.

Looks like the city of Toronto has taken over the bike share — these, up on Fort York Boulevard, are all moved over to the city Bike Share branding.

Toronto Bike Share bikes.

The actual take over was done in December of last year, and the new branding announced in March.  I hear the annual membership (for unlimited 30 minute trips) came down from $97 to $90.  Might be something I consider, come Spring.

And walking back, I got this photo from just below Canoe Landing.

Add caption

I could be wrong, but I didn't think the fence was there when the sculpture went up originally.

Diving ducks and berries

I saw a different kind of diving duck today, but couldn't get close enough to try to ID it.  It's bill is certainly different to the Long-tailed Ducks that are occupying the harbour lately.

 The long-tail ducks were having their own gathering.

 Meanwhile, it looks like recent high winds might have been too much for the newish "safe fish to eat" sign.

 Closer to home, the berry bushes have lost their leaves.

All the leaves are ... well, gone.

A late update -- I actually took this photo at Coronation Park on the first of the month, I'm just still working out a method for moving photos from my camera to my laptop in a timely manner.  It's not as easy as the phone (which had bluetooth). . .

Anyway, it was a lovely day and the trees were very stark against the sky.

The grass is still surprisingly green.  Maybe this week's predicted snowfall will deal with that.