Spiders

Location: Niagara - King West neighbourhood

Date photo taken: 26 October 2017

Spiders are big for me this Hallowe'en.  Not sure why. So here's a pic from a few years ago. I want to know where that giant spider lives the rest of the year.

If you want a good Hallowe'en read, I can recommend Web by John Wyndham. While not his best work, it's creepy and it sticks with you. 

Lest We Forget - Edith Cavell and Canadian Nurses

Location: Outside the University St. entrance of Toronto General Hospital
Date photo taken: 4 September 2018

Edith Cavell was a British nurse who served at a Red Cross hospital in occupied Brussels during World War I. While at the hospital, in addition to treating wounded from both sides, she also sheltered and helped arrange the escape of Allied servicemen and Belgian nationals of fighting age across the border to the neutral Netherlands. In August 1915 she was arrested and tried for treason. Found guilty, she was executed by firing squad, an act which caused outrage in Britain and many still-neutral countries such as the United States.

This memorial, which also recognizes the Canadian nurses "who gave their lives for humanity in the Great War", was erected by Societa Italo Canadese on November 11, 1922.

Note: At about the same time I chose this memorial to feature on NeaTO, I started reading Kate Quinn's The Alice Network. It was pure coincidence, but the novel features a female spy network in WWI and Cavell's death is referenced.

Clockwork Bees

Location: Queen St. E. at Saulter

Date photo taken: 5 January 2017

This gorgeous bee is one small element in a vibrant mural gracing a wall in the Riverside neighbourhood east of the Don Valley. The mural by artist Nick Sweetman blends two themes: bees and clocks. The bees represent the green spaces throughout the Riverside neighbourhood and the growing practice of bee-keeping in this area. The clocks and gears are a tribute to Albert Edelstein who worked as a clockmaker and jeweller and was one of the initiators of the Riverside Business Improvement Area. Disparate as these two themes may seem, their blending is explained as follows:  "...the Gears in the mural represent small things working together to make big things happen - like bees in a hive, or a community in a neighbourhood..."

For me, the moment I saw this mural, I was reminded of a book called Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway. You’ll have to read it to find out why. Don’t worry, you’ll love it! 

Project Bookmark

Location: North east side of the Bloor viaduct
Date photo taken: 11 April 2016

Project Bookmark is a unique project that takes passages from fiction and situates them in the real world. In this example, located at the eastern edge of the Prince Edward or Bloor viaduct, an early passage from Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of the Lion describes a nun being swept off the bridge by the wind. It's a scene, and a book, deeply rooted in place. Readers of this plaque can take a few steps and experience the bridge for themselves, take in its height and be exposed to the elements. Combining the fiction and the reality in this way increases one's appreciation of both. It was an excellent choice with which to launch the program. To date, 15 bookmarks have been placed across Canada, and the 16th will be unveiled in Hamilton on June 10.

Do you have a favourite book or passage that is situated in Toronto, or elsewhere in Canada? Project Bookmark wants to hear about it - suggestions can be submitted through their website.

Blind Date with a Book

Location: St. Lawrence branch, Toronto Public Library
Date photo taken: 5 March 2016

Blind Date with a Book is yet another of the Toronto Public Library's fun programs. While the idea didn't start with them, branches all over the city have adopted the idea and made it their own. These books from the St. Lawrence branch are wrapped in newspaper (more words!) to hide their identity, but one sentence taped to the front provides a clue to what you can expect when you get the book home. With the weather so rainy right now, it's the perfect time to set yourself up!

The Ward

The Ward: the life and loss of Toronto's first immigrant neighbourhood is a wonderful new book that is a must read for any student of history or of Toronto. Through a collection of over 60 bite-sized essays, the book tells the story of St. John's Ward, the densely populated downtown ward bordered by College and Queen, University and Yonge Streets, that was home to new immigrants and which eventually became a focus of civic concern. Contributors run the gamut from journalists, archivists and historians, to politicians, community workers, doctors and lawyers. The subjects covered are equally broad and some essay titles include "My Grandmother the Bootlegger", "Lawren Harris's Ward Period" and "Where the Rich Went for Vice". 

Last week Coach House Books held a launch party for The Ward. The event was held at Church of the Holy Trinity, the small gem of a church tucked in beside the Eaton Centre. The location was chosen because this institution played a significant role in the history of The Ward and is one of the few buildings from that period that remains.