Canada Life Beacon

Location: University Avenue, north of Queen

Date photo taken: 31 January 2017

In 1951, the Canada Life Assurance Company added an almost 100 metre tall beacon tower to the top of its stately building on University Avenue. The purpose of the tower was not to signal airplanes, but to transmit the weather forecast. Anyone in the know could look to the tower and decode the light signals to determine what was on its way, and in this, little has changed. The lights might be energy efficient LEDs now, but calls are still placed to the Environment Canada Weather Centre at Pearson several times a day to keep the beacon's message up to date, and the signals themselves are the same. The box at the top of the tower tells what type of weather is coming: steady green for clear skies, steady red for clouds, flashing red for rain and flashing white for snow. The temperature can be discerned from the lights on the support tower. If they are running up, expect it to get warmer, down means cooler, and steady means no change. 

Where's Waldo?

Location: ?????
Date photo taken: 21 January 2018

This one is just for fun. Does anyone know where Waldo is?

Beavers

Location: Lower Don Valley

Date photo taken: 2 May 2018

I often walk along the Don Valley Trail, but it's been awhile. On my last walk, my attention was grabbed by the sight of a tree with a big, light-coloured circle where the bark had been stripped away. Then I noticed that the tree beside it looked like this. As I continued my walk, I kept seeing more and more trees chewed or gone, with only the pointy stumps remaining. Surprise, surprise! It seems that beavers are at work along this urban waterway. It was a nice reminder that wildlife - other than squirrels and raccoons - still makes its home here in the city.

Spring Has Sprung

Location: Scotia Plaza

Date photo taken: 2 May 2018

After an unusually long wait, spring weather has arrived and parks and planters across the city are finally starting to show some colour. Trees are starting to bud and the daffodils and tulips are blooming - much to the delight of the local squirrels. I thought these purple and yellow combinations were particularly lovely.

Public Art at Pier 27

Location: Pier 27 development, Queens Quay

Date photo taken: 18 February 2018

The Pier 27 development is currently taking shape as part of Toronto's waterfront redevelopment. It constitutes a number of condo buildings on the plot of land between Yonge Street and the Redpath Sugar Factory. In the fall of 2017, the space between the buildings at 29 and 39 Queens Quay became the permanent home of a large art installation by American artist Alice Aycock. The forms, that of the cyclone, seen here, and the whorls of paper, glimpsed on the left edge of the picture, are reminiscent of her Park Avenue Paper Chase, which appeared in 6 locations along Park Avenue in New York between March and July of 2014.