More fall foliage, haul out, and Ireland Park

I went out with the phone today since the usual camera is currently in many small pieces in a sandwich bag until the new part arrives.

Let me get this out of the way: I have no idea why I apparently lean to one side while taking photos.  I'll work on that, but if you start to feel dizzy, just sit down a moment.

This shot is out across the marina shared by the Alexandria and National yacht clubs.   I thought (I really did) that I was getting an interesting picture of the cranes and slings that have been set up for haul-out this Fall but um...  I can't really find much like that in the photo.  I'll try again some other time.

Haul out is starting.  End of the sailing season.

The trees are all a lovely yellow down along the Western Gap.

More autumnal colours.

This is where the camera phone really shows its limitations.  I really like these little weeds -- they're called "Butter-n-eggs" or "Toadflax", which is a great name.  Again, I promise to do better another time.

A very blurry toadflax.

Out along the eastern side of Little Norway Park, this little maple tree has turned an awesome fiery red.

Pretty red tree!

I also went along the quay to Ireland Park.  Geese and gulls were clustered there, and I can't blame them -- the water's really choppy and cold today.

Geese at Ireland Park.

From the last picture, the whole of Ireland Park is to the right -- five statues and a granite monument.  I have some close-ups of the statues I took earlier in the week that I'll post another time, along with more information on the park itself.

The monuments at Ireland Park.

At the back of the park is a construction fence where they're working on the tunnel to the airport. But there was this bushy yellow flower inside -- this was as close I could get.

Yellow flowers, but I have no idea what sort.

So yeah, the camera phone is definitely blurrier.  I got a shipment notification on my new CCD for the proper camera today, but no tracking information at all -- I fear it is (quite literally) on a slow boat from China.

Foliage, flowers, and flaws

So I replaced the batteries in my camera today only to still have some of the same issues.  Now I put this camera in a box on a shelf some years ago because it was acting up and I had access to a newer camera then so I didn't worry about it.

But I don't have that other camera anymore, so I dug my old one out and it seemed to work fine for several days.  Then I started getting odd purplish photos with some strange digital blur in them.  I thought "batteries must be dying" and believed that replacing the batteries would resolve the problem.

Eh, not so much.  Some photos turned out mostly OK.

Fall colours along the northern side of the small
"wetlands" area near Spadina and Queens Quay.

And others just get totally messed up.

Yellow flowers.  Really. Just green and yellow.

As it turns out, there was a serious CCD (image sensor) problem with many digital cameras some years ago, and I have, sadly, missed the free repair period from Canon (which lasted all of 3 months and 3 weeks in 2012).   Blah!  The problem is described as causing the affected cameras to capture images "with extreme distortion and severe purple or green color casts".  Sounds about right.

Oh well  I've ordered the new part -- only 17-28 business days for normal shipping.

Fall colours and dying batteries

The colours of Autumn are beginning to show all along the waterfront.  The Playfair has moved today to moor alongside the Harbourfront Community Centre, and the maple trees along the quay there are turning a brilliant red.

Maples turning red by the malting silo.

But there my batteries gave out.  I took several more shots only to get home and find they all looked pretty much like this:

I'm not on acid, honest.

So, I'll definitely change those things before heading out next time.

It tried to hit me with a fish …

The dog had a morning appointment to have her eyes checked, so we got out a little earlier than usual today.  That can be nice -- the streets are filled with commuters who are very much interested in getting where they're going, so it's almost like being out without other people around at all, in a way.

After the vet visit (eyes doing better!), we meandered through HTO Park West, where I saw that the Caledonia is indeed for sale: asking price only $5.5 million US.  So, if you were looking for something to spend your nest egg on, there you go.  I mean, maybe you've had some sort of post-apocalyptic survival-at-sea fantasy thing going on for you.  I'm not judging.

The Caledonia is for sale!

We wandered generally south through the park to the water's edge and I was watching the Western Gap thinking it might be fun to try to get a picture of the ferry crossing and a plane landing at the same time (no go, one or the other for the time I was there):

Looking west, through the Western Gap from Toronto Harbour.

And I was sort of aware of the sound of squabbling seagulls overhead -- but that's just what seagulls appear (to me) to spend most of their time doing, so I wasn't paying much attention until I heard a splat just behind me.  Sure enough one of those bastards had nearly hit me with a fish.

I dislike seagulls more all the time.

I'm honestly not sure what sort of fish that is (was). Sunfish?  A partial perch?  I just can't tell since I know nothing about fish and ... ew, squicky!

Heading back west, along the Spadina wave deck, I saw one of the new five-segment street cars in commission.  They've only re-opened the Queens Quay line this past week (I'm really happy about it -- the busses have been fine, but the street cars are really preferable, if you ask me).  One day they'll take down all the construction fencing and I'll get a better picture.

One of Toronto's new segmented street cars at Spadina and Queens Quay.

Turning back south into the Music Garden, this season's rose hips are pretty much done for:

Nearly-gone rose hips at the eastern edge of the Music Garden.

And I wouldn't ordinarily have put this photo (from the south side of the Gardens) in due to the weird coloration and blur (I dunno what happened but I suspect my batteries are getting low), but I noticed that I'd inadvertently photographed one of the season's last Monarchs hanging out amid the lavender and freshly-planted kales (I don't know what the third flower in there is).  But I was happy to see the butterfly.

A end-of-season Monarch amongst the flowerbeds.

Rainy Day Apologies

Apologies for the lack of anything interesting today.  It was 7℃ and rainy with winds, and the dog got quick and uninteresting walks.

Totem Pole, Boats, and a Dead Raccoon

Today we meandered westward, heading up through Little Norway Park.  Along the park's northwestern edge is a large totem pole.  There are no plaques, and I've never seen any explanation of the totem pole.  The park itself commemorates the World War II training ground of the exiled Royal Norwegian Air Force.

Leaving the park, we wandered south and west until we ended up at the Western Gap.  From the end, you can see the Petro-Canada refinery in Oakville, out in the hazy distance.

I managed to spot a cold-looking seagull or two (it was 9℃ at 11 AM, and no one looked very warm):

Plus a few ducks here and there out in the channel, probably enjoying the relative peace of fewer-than-usual boats going to and fro:

About a month ago, I saw a (freshly) dead raccoon in a hollow in the edge of the quay, and when I looked today, he was still there, though a bit worse for wear:

From the Gap, if you turn and face southeast, you'll be looking right at Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ); the ferry there goes back and forth every few minutes since it's the only way to reach the airport itself (in fact, there's a bit of a beat-up today in the Star today about the cost of customs and immigration officers at the airport).

My main problem with the place is that there aren't flights from it to anywhere near any place I ever go, so even though it's a quick walk from my apartment, I've never flown out of it.  Well, that and their truly annoying ad campaign.

Further east, along Marina Quay West, I saw the Jubilee Queen (one of our many faux paddleboats) getting ready for  a party -- you can always tell because the galley window will be open and there will be a bunch of seagulls, ducks, and geese hanging about.

A Short Walk to a Malting Silo

Today's walk wasn't very extensive, though I did snap a view of the malting silo I live by.  I always liked the falling-down decrepitude of it.  The most recent plans for the structure are, I believe, to turn them into a museum.  Demolition of some of the smaller added-on buildings has been taking place on the far side for a while, but this side is still nearly intact.

There's a good picture of it on Wikipedia, too, where you can see the Jubliee Queen nearby.  And the plans for it are over at Metronome Canada (but note, they've been talking about this for several years now and I've seen nothing, really, developing).  These guys went inside and took some photos.

And since all the birds I saw today were too far from shore for good photos, here's a picture of the big wire goose sculpture in front of my building.

 Who needs real geese?  These don't even crap all over the place.

In other news: I started a second blog for less photographic stuff, which you can find here.