Lilacs

Location: Riverside neighbourhood

Date photo taken: 24 May 2021

During COVID and especially during the most recent lockdown, my walks have been more about the need to get out and move and less about exploration. Covering the same local streets over and over again, things get pretty familiar. Thankfully, the city is now in bloom. These days I find myself taking pictures of flowers more often than murals. A huge thank you to all of the gardeners out there who plant and tend these beauties! Lately I've been pretty much walking from lilac bush to lilac bush, pausing to inhale deeply at each one. While I have a standard route designed to provide maximum lilac exposure, I deviated on the weekend and discovered this gorgeous specimen. I looked it up and it's called a Sensation lilac. I'd say that's pretty apt. Some other things I learned are that lilacs are not native to Canada - they're from Eastern Europe and Asia originally - and are in fact related to olive trees. They can live to over 100 and come in shades of purple, pink, white and yellow.

Treegators

Location: all over

Date photo taken: 9 July 2019

As I've mentioned in a previous post, the City of Toronto is working to expand the number of trees in our city. As part of this, they regularly plant new trees. Like all youngsters, new trees can be quite fragile and conditions during their first few years can have a big impact on how well they settle in and grow. In particular, adequate water is needed to help their roots establish themselves. That's where these neat green bags come in. Called Treegators, they allow for a long, slow release of water to the roots of the tree. This saves both time and water. The double-walled bag is filled in minutes allowing city staff to move on to other tasks, and the slow release over many hours, through small holes in the bottom of the bags, reduces water loss due to run-off and evaporation. The City zips them around all newly planted street trees.

Otter and Turtle

Location: alley south of 189 Booth

Date photo taken: 8 May, 2021

This otter and turtle form part of a long mural that covers the low wall around the south and west sides of the new building at 189B Booth Avenue in Riverdale. It was painted this spring by Philip Cote. He was commissioned by the Red Door Family Shelter to create something that would "educate, inspire and imbue healing energy to our clients, staff, volunteers, and supporters for years to come”. According to Carol Latchford, Executive Director of Red Door, they also plan to create “programming opportunities for children, and adults too, to learn and understand the stories associated with Philip’s mural.” The Red Door Shelter provides sanctuary to women, children and families in need, with 64% of their residents being children. In this new space, they will be able to provide each family with their own bedroom and washroom, a first for the organization. 

The Faces of 77 Elm

Location: 77 Elm Street

Date photo taken: 27 March 2021

It's funny. I've always liked the building at 77 Elm Street. Built in the early 1980s, it's rather stark and monolithic, but there is a playfulness there too. Take the detail above. Panels like this are arrayed along the ground floor, facing the street. To me they remind me of the moai of Easter Island, patiently standing, watching the city as it passes. I was surprised then to learn that the building is sometimes referred to as the Nightmare on Elm Street. One critic I read gave it a grade of D- and used phrases such as "arbitrary and inappropriate" and "the architectural equivalent of a black hole". 

Known as the Alan Brown Building, it provides rental housing specifically     for physicans, nurses and other professionals working at SickKids.