Specific Sports Prohibited

Specific Sports Prohibited, originally uploaded by Melsky.

No hockey, baseball, football, cricket or soccer. But feel free to have a nice game of rugby, polo, volleyball, lacrosse or any other sport not named on the sign.

It's spring!

It's spring!, originally uploaded by Melsky.

The first spring flowers I've seen this season. I saw robins today too, but they were very shy and didn't want to be photographed.

The it's nice to be able to walk around without boots and sweaters on.

Neatly Written Rant

Neatly Written Rant, originally uploaded by Melsky.

On a utility box near Queen and Spadina, Toronto
This person frequently posts these observations about the police department. I find it unusual in that they are handwritten so neatly and organized into little boxes. It's kind of like poetry.

Text:

Fantino is a liar

Heard just yesterday he did not tell all cops for his bro in law. How did he do that and when?

Cops may now have been told or think that they should go along with this

An excuse to do nothing and for a reason?

Do they think they are all going? Wives? Left them at home alone? Miller & police board: is someone guarding them?

No one – No one would apologize at any time…

H.Q. knows what can happen to some court cases…

2 or 3 weeks ag outside H.Q. detectives mentioned this. One said “not going to stick his nose in mine”
I used similar words long way back

Mayor, police board, McGuinty, attorney general dows nothing about this?

Anyone charged by cops from at least 52 div. could have case thrown out..

At least one (maybe more) lawyer is thinking of overturning his clients conviction because of this.

And nobody does anything about them? This?

Charge McGuinty & attorney general Blair too-
Blair can be charged with a whole lot of things under the police act…neglect of duty for one…

Fight Back? Riding around at night on a horse.. going to fight back from the top of a horse?

Lions of Toronto

Lions of Toronto, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Lion statues on a fence near Queen West. I love these. Sometimes you find houses in Toronto with tons of statues and decorations in the yard.

Much nicer than my neigbours across the street who have three old toilets in the yard! I'm getting really tired of looking at those.

Sonia's Advertising

Sonia's Advertising, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Should I hire Sonia to advertise my business?

This is on Bloor Street near Christie Pitts park.

Linux Caffe

Linux Caffe, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I've been curious about this place, but I haven't been there yet. I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to try Linux again, maybe I've gotten smarter or it's gotten easier.

New Moon Variety

New Moon Variety, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I love these kind of old metal signs.

This is a pretty typical Toronto Corner Store. They sell cigarettes, but no alcohol. You can only buy alcohol at the provence-run LCBO (Liquor control board of Ontario).

HBC

HBC, originally uploaded by Melsky.

For some reason I really like this graffiti drawing.

Streetcar Turns Onto Ossington

Streetcar Turns Onto Ossington, originally uploaded by Melsky.

They have re-routed the Dundas streetcar onto College Street. Here it is turning onto Ossington. It always seems odd to see a streetcar turning in the wrong spot.

Warp Speed on College Street

Warp Speed on College Street, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I stablilized my camera on a Toronto Star Newspaper rack.

This is a TTC streetcar and some other traffic rushing by. The buildings are new condos.

No Parking

No Parking, originally uploaded by ~EvidencE~.

Amazing!

The Mod Club and Camões, The One-Eyed Poet Of Portugal

The Mod Club and Camões, The One-Eyed Poet Of Portugal, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is the Mod Club Theater, it's near my house but I've never been there. They always have events where they have tons of surly looking teens hanging out and vans from radio stations and such.

The statue in front is Camões, The One-Eyed Portugese Poet. Last summer they had a play about him in Dufferin Grove park.

This is around the part of College Street where it goes from being Italian to Portugese.

Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers, originally uploaded by Melsky.

So far the spring flowers are only in the shops. I took this on Saturday the 17th, a sunny day but it had snowed the night before and I was standing in slush. And as I write this on Monday morning, I'm watching snow swirling outside my window.

St. Patrick's Day on College Street

St. Patrick's Day on College Street, originally uploaded by Melsky.

The calm before the storm - this is 7:00 in the evening, looking into the bar Ted's Garage. You can see all the empty tables with green glitter hats on them, waiting silently for the crowd to arrive.

In the reflection of the window you can see College Street, including my husband's favourite CD store, Soundscapes.

Found Art in the Alley

Found Art in the Alley, originally uploaded by Melsky.

These look like concrete castings, they were sitting in an alley by my house near a shed that I always admire the color of.

Later I walked by again and they were still there, but facing the wall. Maybe the people in the house across the way got sick of being stared at.

Spring Thaw

Spring Thaw, originally uploaded by orbz.

Here comes spring! Except they said it might snow tomorrow. But spring snowstorms are usually very wet snow that melts quickly. i've already seen some tiny green things coming up from the ground.

Even though I like cold, winter and snow much more than most people, I still am excited by Spring.

Municipal Code

Municipal Code, originally uploaded by Melsky.

In Kensington Market, Toronto.

They do actually have the English version of this sign on another pole. It says not to dump garbage in the park.

Overpass

Overpass, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Bridge over Brock Avenue, Toronto on the way from my house to the LCBO and library.

The LCBO is the province run store where you can buy alcoholic beverages. They don't sell liquor in supermarkets and corner stores like they do in California.

March Sidewalks

March Sidewalks, originally uploaded by Compley.

It's the beginning of spring, and it seems like all the snow is melting.

Last year we did not have a dramatic spring thaw like this because we didn't get a snow pack like this year. Today everything was just drip drip drip. I stayed at home most of the day though David went on two long walks.

Cigarette Butts in Front of a Bar on Bloor Street

Cigarette Butts in Front of a Bar on Bloor Street, originally uploaded by Melsky.

You can't smoke in bars at all anymore in Toronto, so for bars with no back patio people go out on the sidewalk and smoke, throwing their butts on the sidewalk when finished.

In the warmer months it's very unpleasant to walk in front of some bars because there's a row of guys out in front smoking, who being drunk freqently act very rude. I plan my routes to avoid these places.

the red ice to Toronto

the red ice to Toronto, originally uploaded by jgrantmac.

A shot of Toronto through a ice covered bush at Humber Bay Park.

Really nice shot! Sums up winter pretty well.

Toronto on Ice

Toronto on Ice, originally uploaded by photo71.

Ice on Lake Ontario. I wonder how the ferries run durring the winter when it's icy like this. It doesn't seem like they would be able to but people live on the islands so they have to run in the winter.

Smokestack

Smokestack, originally uploaded by Melsky.

It's probably not smoke, just steam. At Yonge and Gerrard.

Another cold day today, but not as cold as yesterday. I took my first long walk since being sick. It's good to be back walking. I went to the Vietnamese Restaurant Ginger with my friend Michelle, and that was pretty good, and cheap.

College Streetcar

College Streetcar, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is College Street in the winter. In the background you can see the Steeple of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Anglican Church. The square tower is part of the fire station.

ugly ads

ugly ads, originally uploaded by mdintoronto.

The ads are ugly, but this is a beautiful surreal shot!

Fran's Restaurant

Fran's Restaurant, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is a very well known 24 hour diner. The food is OK, pretty typical greasy spoon fare. It's an interesting place to people watch. Dave and I woke up hungry one day at 4 AM and went there and we had fun picking out which people had been up all night vs the ones that got up early. We think they were mostly all nighters.

Toronto Indoors where it's warm

Wine Glass, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Bar at the Drake hotel, Toronto

Roncesvalles Mural

Roncesvalles Mural, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Roncesvalles Avenue in Toronto on a cold winter day.

Storm Damage

Storm Damage, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Yesterday's snowstorm turned into ice rain and high winds at night. Very hard to sleep with the wind howling and the frozen rain clattering at our windows.

This morning we got up and a big branch was blown off one of the trees, hitting and crushing the soccer goal post in the schoolyard across the street. Good thing no one was playing soccer in the middle of the night!

Our neighbour's roof was damaged by the storm too. A lot of guys are up there now hammering away.

You can also see my neigbours have moved out and left a chair, hassock and coffee table. From across the street they look like they were in good condition, however they are probably now all ruined because of sitting out in the snow and freezing rain. I wish people would use freecycle or freeTOreulse (a local group similar to freecycle) another similar service when they have stuff like that. I hate to see furniture ruined and turned into landfill, especially since Toronto is taking most of their trash all the way to Michagan.

March 1 Snowstorm

March 1 Snowstorm, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I'm too sick with a bad cold to go out and take any photos of the snow, so here's one from the inside. This was a much heavier storm than I expected. The weather forecast just said a little ice rain. Instead we got about 15 CM of snow and heavy winds. The snow has stopped for now but it's still blowing around.