Lenticular Fright

Location: Riverside neighbourhood

Date photo taken: 21 October 2020

The Halloween display at this Riverside home filled their yard and incorporated a nice mix of store-bought props and home made elements. Among the former were some engagingly frightful lenticular pictures of small girls that changed from pleasantly perfect to perfectly fiendish as you walked past them. This is the first year I've noticed these, and while I came across several houses displaying them, I loved that at this house they put them right out at the sidewalk where I could fully appreciate their creepiness without feeling like a creep myself.

St Michael slaying the dragon

Location: Courtyard off Nicholson Lane
Date photo taken: 16 September 2013

This sculpture of St. Michael slaying the dragon, by 19th century French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet, sits quietly in the corner of the Max Tanenbaum Courtyard Garden. Unless you're an opera fan, or fond of exploring the city's laneways and back alleys, you may not yet have discovered this space. The courtyard sits behind the Canadian Opera Company's building on Front Street, and faces the rather unimposing Nicholson Lane. The lane is so mundane that stumbling across this green and leafy space for the first time, with its decorative fencing and charming gazebo, felt quite magical. Fans of the series The Umbrella Academy may recognize the courtyard, and this statue, from the opening episode.

Eaton Mausoleum Decorative Glass

 

Location: Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Date photo taken: 14 July 2019

Stained or painted glass windows may not be the first type of ornamentation that comes to mind when thinking about cemeteries but they are a fairly common feature in mausoleums. If you're brave (or brazen) enough to walk right up and peer through the doors, you might just be rewarded with some colour and light. Mount Pleasant Cemetery has several beautiful examples, which provides just one more reason to visit this National Historic Site.  This particular window adorns the private Eaton family mausoleum which serves as the resting place of successful early Toronto merchant Timothy Eaton and 17 members of his family.

The Big Social: AR Edition

 

Location: Natrel Pond, Harbourfront Centre, Queens Quay

Date photo taken: 6 October 2020

If the fine fall weather that is about to hit the city entices you outside and you find yourself in the vicinity of Harbourfront Centre, make your way to the Natrel Pond to experience THE BIG SOCIAL: AR Edition. Using your own tablet or phone you can access a series of dance presentations brought to life on the pond right in front of you, thanks to this augmented reality experience presented by Fall For Dance North. I had initially intended to use a screen capture for the image here but decided that would be a spoiler! The show is available from dawn til dusk until October 18th and it's a great way to enjoy Toronto's arts and culture scene while socially distancing.