Cleaning up.

The parks department was out in Coronation Park today cleaning up a lot of dead wood and trimming the trees.

Apart from that it was really windy, and the wind was cold.  Is it Spring yet?

Signs of Spring

One of the first signs of Spring is here: buildings downtown are changing the plants in their planters.  No more evergreens and shiny decorations.

King's Landing had these out today:

And yes, the building's really called King's Landing.

Sunny but freeeeezing.

It's really cold out today.  It doesn't look like it, but boy is it ever.

HTO East had two lonely sunbathers, wrapped up in parkas but facing the sun most hopefully.  It's a testament to how cold it is that there are so few people out in the sun.

The (mostly empty) beach at HTO East.

The seagulls were enjoying having the place all to themselves and squawked loudly at the dog and me as we ambled through.

Unhappy with my presence.

On the way past the Marine Fire unit, I noticed one of their boats out for work.

I like the orange cones behind it - you know, just in case you hadn't
noticed the big red boat you were about to smack into.

Where once were sidewalks.

It's been a misty day here in Toronto, misty and snowy, but I'm trying to ignore that last bit.  Didn't happen, didn't happen, didn't happen.

CN Tower from the quay at Ireland Park

Nearer to home, they've begun work on the sidewalks.  I think they're intending to replace the poured ones with red and whitish bricks as they did along other parts of the harbourfront.

Just this morning there was an actual sidewalk here.

It's been cold again.

Well, it felt like spring for a few days, but then the temperatures dropped into the negatives again and, good grief, the wind is shockingly cold.

This gull was being all zen about it, though.

Just chilling.  Not even bothering to sit in the sun.

Well that's just confusing.

This has been like this a few days.  Wonder who I report it to?

The Ice is Retreating

The ice has been retreating in the harbour and in the marinas, and now it's just in the shallowest and most shaded parts.

Again a lone seagull keeping an eye on the longtail ducks.

Over at Spadina Quay Wetlands, the pigeons were having some sort of congregation at the little paved bench area.

And on the eastern edge of the Music Garden, these trees looked kind of neat against the concrete wall.

Rhododendron and turtledoves

Today I followed a path in the garden that I usually don't take (because it ends up in a dead end, and you just have to walk the same path back out again), and noticed a remarkably green cluster of (what I think is) rhododendron.  I'm hoping for blooms sometime soon.

Further along, I spotted a mourning dove/turtledove hanging out and watching me.

Up amongst the conifers, a pair of them were foraging on the ground.

Just one turtledove pictured here; the other kept ducking behind
some old weeds so the camera couldn't focus on it.

Traffic and Parks

We spent the better part of the morning listening to Very Important (impotent?) Motorists honking at one another. Looking down the road the problem seemed to be that the driver of a rather large truck found that making a tight u-turn was really not in the cards for him today. (You see, with the road construction going on here for the last 18 months, his lane ends right where he is and he has to make a tight turn around that street car and come back out in the nearby lane).

But you know what turns out not to help so much with this situation?  Blowing your horn, you infantile creeps.  Just stop already!

So I went for a walk down to Coronation Park, far, far from the noise and exhaust fumes.  It's looking mostly snow-free today, if somewhat mucky.

The blue skies over the lake are also wonderful.

Don't know what's up with the traffic the last two days, but it's been ridiculously heavy and backed up on my street, and on the block north of me.  Ah, Spring thaw — all the people who can't follow detour signs are back on the roads, I guess.

Under the snow.

One good thing you can say about snow: it covers a multitude of ugly.  Now that the snow has mostly melted away, my walks with the dog are a lot about "Hrm.  Wonder how long that's been there?"

A partial hubcap collection at Dan Leckie and Lakeshore.

Ducks

Most of the snow is gone from the land portions of the waterfont, but the harbour still has its layer of ice and, atop it, some slushy snow.

So today, I got you a photo of a pair of mallards in the marina.

Foggy

Really foggy today.  Like, this foggy, all day long:

So, not much to see.  Except these, behind the old malting silo:

The Borderlands player in me really just wanted to see a Badass Brute walk into those then have one of them shot.  Somehow I think the real-world effect would be different.

Open water and blue skies.

Today's yet another above-freezing day, and it's been super nice to be able to get out of the flat and into the outdoors for a bit without facing bitter cold.

Today I saw this novel approach to putting plants out in front of your building:

At least you don't need to water those.

Anyway, the birds are definitely enjoying the warmer weather.  This tree was full of them chirping madly away.

Down along the marina, the mute swans were hanging out and not budging for anyone:

And up on the quay, the mallards were likewise disinclined to move from their sunny spot, no matter how close I got.

Out where there was a little open water near one dock, there were mallards and redhead ducks enjoying life (along with a solitary ring-billed gull).

Positively balmy

It might not sound like it to people in warmer places, but it was all of 7C today, and it felt positively balmy.  There were people out in just sweaters — no coats, even — hanging out on benches at the waterfront and soaking up the sun.

It's still slushy in some spots.

And icy out in the harbour.

But along Spadina Quay Wetlands, the bushes were full of birds making happy Spring noises.

Cabbage no more.

It was 1C today!  1!  That's above freezing.  Can you imagine the joy?

The Music Garden was full of people sitting on benches, and taking selfies.  It's amazing how a little "warm" weather really brings everyone out.

There was even a little open spot of water where the ducks were enjoying themselves.

The cabbages, however, did not fare so well this winter.

Footprints in the marina

In the few moments I wasn't hurrying along to get back inside before the wind froze me solid today, I looked out through the marina and saw footprints everywhere.  

I guess when a shortcut presents itself, you take it.

Snowy March

Toronto got yet more snow dumped on it yesterday and last night.  Just when we thought March might mean Spring, nope: more slush.

It's at the point that you are really drawn to any colors you see at all when outside, even if they are an rental truck near a weird building.