serene spring

serene spring, originally uploaded by jgrantmac.

This is in High Park. Not by me! It reminds me of the kind of photos in those old Photo Ideals books my grandmother used to collect - very sentimental.

Mural off Queen West

Mural off Queen West, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is in the fashion design district area, hence the theme of the mural.

I love this artist's murals. He has another one on College Street.

Industrial Ontario

Industrial Ontario, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I'm not sure what this is exactly. Big tanks? Bundles or boxes of something, they are part of the industrial landscape you can see when you take the Go train from Toronto to Mississauga.

Skyline Restaurant

Skyline Restaurant, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Restaurant on Queen Street in Parkdale with a cool sign. A very old style and non-trendy kind of place.

High Park Trees

High Park Trees, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Trees and shadows in high park. Soon this will be a very shady area when the trees get their leaves.

Toronto at Night

Toronto at Night, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Not a photo, but my first painting of Toronto in a long time.

streetcar doggie

streetcar doggie, originally uploaded by bilgemonkey.

Dogs are allowed on the TTC but only if it's not rush hour, and they have to bring a human with them. I don't know if they have to pay a fare.

Early Spring in Toronto

Early Spring in Toronto, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Manipulated photo.

Club Matador Dancing

Club Matador Dancing, originally uploaded by Melsky.

A cool old metal sign on Dovercourt, near College Street. I wonder how long it's been since anyone danced here. There's a hand written sign on the building that says it's open from 2-5 AM, but I think that's got to be a joke.

Spiritualism

Spiritualism, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is on College Street in Toronto, and the church is still active!

Fran's Special

Fran's Special, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is a window sign from a little convinience store/deli on Bloor West, not to be confused with the more famous and more expensive Fran's on College Street.

From the looks of this place, I would not want to eat there. It looks dingy. But it's such a cool sign!

The Thing on the Rom

The Thing on the Rom, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is a new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum, supposed to look like a crystal dropped on an old building. It's under construction. It is supposed to be finished in June.

I don't like it. I wish they would put art museums in simple, quiet buildings. It seems like every art museum wants to be part of the artwork, screaming "Look at me, look at me!" so loud that it distracts from the art.

The Bar at the Cloak and Dagger Irish Pub

The Bar at the Cloak and Dagger Irish Pub, originally uploaded by Melsky.

We went out last night, to the Abbey Tavern first to watch hockey. That was fun except the wrong team won. Then we went to the Cloak and Dagger, which is a great place, very small and dark with live music.

I wish it was around the corner from my house. But really it's not a bad streetcar ride home.

Tap Phong

Tap Phong, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Tap Phong is an amazing housewares, restaurant supply and hardware store in Toronto's Chinatown. It's very entertaining just to look around.

I wrote a food blog entry about Tap Phong.

After Closing

After Closing, originally uploaded by Melsky.

These are businesses in Kensington Market that are closed for the day, with interesting paintings on their metal night gates.

The painting on David's store is by Sati, it's his dog Chango.

Construction

Construction, originally uploaded by Melsky.

These are buildings near Sorauren Park, seen from an overpass on Dundas Street.

Breakfast Grill

Breakfast Grill, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is around Queen Street East and Parliment Street. My husband took this photo. I don't get to the East Side of Toronto very often but my husband likes to take walks there.

He ate at this restaurant after taking the photo and said the food was great and inexpensive but the place was crowded, the tables were too close together.

Old Buildings, New Buildings

Old Buildings, New Buildings, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Old industrial buildings being converted to residential lofts. These are the Sorauren Lofts and/or Condos. Note the old Columbia records ad on the side of the buildings.

Rainy Sunday

Rainy Spring Sunday, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Spring is here, and we are getting rain. This is the corner of Brock Avenue and Dundas Street, taken from the car. The distortion is from water drops on the car window.

master lock

master lock, originally uploaded by jgrantmac.

Ok, this photo does not really cry out "Toronto" it could be anywhere. But I like it a lot so it goes in the Toronto photo blog anyway. And it is in Toronto. The lighting and detail are amazing. It really glows.

Ah, to be in Toronto now that spring is there

Ah, to be in Toronto now that spring is there, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Huge, icky piles of filthy partially melted snow adorn the Dufferin Mall parking lot. Even the part of it that mostly looks like mud is snow.

Since the weather has been pretty warm and it's raining today, all that is probably gone by now.

On the other side of the parking lot is The Beer Store, a store that only sells beer from Ontario. It's run by the brewers of the beer. In Ontario, you can only buy alcohol from he LCBO (Liquor License Board of Ontario) which is the government store, or from the producer of the alcohol like at a winery or at one of The Beer Stores or The Wine Stores.

You can also see Penningtons, the large size store for women.