CNE Fair Photos

Welcome to the CNE fairgrounds. You enter here, through the lovely Princess gates.

First stop was the petting zoo. This photo doesn't fully capture the intensity of the horse's stare. He wanted some of those Nom Pellets, right now! Yes, that's me under the hat.

I believe that llamas were invented by Jim Henson.

Look at that smile on the smallest piglet. I wonder what she's dreaming of.

Aaaaaaaaah! Attack of the zombie beasts!

The lovely, placid burro. His lips were very fuzzy.

These birds are from the Canadian Raptor Conservancy. (Raptor means a bird of prey.) This little kestrel is called Andre, after Andre the giant.

There was some audience participation.

This is Harley the owl. Ain't she a beaut?

There were also dozens of rides, games, and a huge indoor mall, but all our best photos were of our furry and feathered friends.

Butterflies

Yes, there will be beautiful, inspiring butterfly photos, but first there will be some whining. So bear with me, because I've been saving it up for a while.

I've been feeling progressively more crappy for almost four weeks now. Just, tired. Then tireder. Then too tired to function. It started with the walking. I'm a big walker. I don't have a driver's license, but that's fine by me, because I love to walk, almost anywhere, in almost any weather. My commute to work is like this: 15 minutes of walking, 10 minutes on the bus, 15 more minutes of walking. My second walk of the morning is the best part. It takes me by the side of a huge, beautiful park, filled with trees, wildflowers, and songbirds. I look forward to that walk.

Three weeks ago I found that I was just too tired for it. I could make it to the bus stop, and then after my usual bus ride I had to wait at the corner for The Infrequent Bus to take me the last three stops to my office. It killed me to get on that stinky bus and get driven past my beautiful park. I fought it, I did. But I was too tired.

I had trouble at work. Mornings were the worst. I tried to hide it when other people were watching, but I was shuffling around the office. Couldn't lift my heavy feet off the floor. And cranky? Man, I was cranky. There were a lot of times when I felt the need to go back to people and apologize. But there was so much to be done. I took a Friday off to try to recoup; stayed at home that weekend for three days, just resting. Otherwise, I pushed through. I'm willful, if not wise.

The week that my assistant was away, I felt I absolutely had to go in. I had a lot of help from loyal colleagues to do my own job and hers. I pulled some very intense long days and got even crabbier. I started to dislike myself for being such a grump.

I woke up in the mornings feeling like I couldn’t catch my breath

Finally, this weekend, I cracked. I couldn’t push through it any more. I crashed. And since then I’ve been almost too tired to move. I’m so done in that I’m actually going to see my doctor tomorrow, which is unusual. I’m not one to run to him for ever little thing. But I’ve been resting for a few days, and I’m still so tired that it actually feels like a significant effort just to put together a blog post. I’d rather just lie around and stare at the TV, or even the ceiling. But then, like I said, I’m willful.

The last normal thing I did, in a well-meaning attempt to Think Positive and energize myself through exposure to beauty, was go with Ken to visit a butterfly conservatory. I’m not sorry that I went, even though the drive was long and the adventure exhausted me further.

The photos can't describe how fantastic it was to walk into the 5,000 square foot greenhouse filled with dozens of big, tropical butterflies. They were everywhere, flying within inches of my nose, decorating every surface. The sensation of being surrounded by a constant flurry of colour and life was transporting.

Ken flinched when they came too near to his head. I wasn’t worried. I figured they’re programmed to fly accurately. If they miss us by such a close margin that we feel the whoosh of their wings, that’s just a sign of their fearlessness. At least that’s what I thought until a big one, each wing the size of my palm, flew thwap into my face. Then suddenly I was all AAAAAAHMAHGAHD! GIANTBUGGETITOFFME! Outwardly I just yelped, but after that I started dodging when they got too close.

Another time I was pointing out a new type of butterfly to Ken, when another butterfly spontaneously landed on my pointing finger. It was so unexpected that I reflexively shook it off, and then immediately regretted my reaction as it flew away.

This is a Blue Morpho eating lunch. Why is it called a Blue Morpho?

Because the tops of its wings are blue.

An Emerald Swallowtail:

This one is either a Rice Paper Butterfly or a Wood Nymph, I'm not 100% sure which:

This is the nursery, where freshly hatched butterflies dry their wings among chrysalises that are still waiting for their turn.

I'm not sure what these are, but dang, they're pretty.

Here's a shot of the interior of the conservatory. Ooh, a waterfall!

There were also birds, turtles, big goldfish in the pond, giant African snails, and at least another dozen types of butterflies. I have around 60 photos that were worth keeping. These are all you're getting because it's taking Blogger around 5 minutes per photo to upload right now. :-pppp

Enjoy! And I'm going to go back to lying around. Here's the bright side to being a little feverish: when our AC can't keep up with the afternoon sun and the temperature creeps up to 80 degrees, I feel cool as a cucumber. Anything under 78 and I'm reaching for my fleece blanket. If it wasn't for Mr. Sweaty here (sorry Ken) I'd turn the AC off completely. But I guess the healthy person gets to set the standard for a healthy environment. Especially when he's taking care of me.

Photos!!

You may be disappointed to see that there are no photos in this post.

However! Do not despair. If you are someone I have had an online relationship with for a decent amount of time, through commenting or on Twitter, you most likely qualify for this special offer of FULL PHOTOS WITH HEADS INCLUDED!

That's right. I can't bring myself to decapitate my wedding photos, but if I believe you are trustworthy then you can get the real, unedited photos for your viewing pleasure. And not only that, but if you respond now, you'll get not one, but TWO sets of photos, one from the greenhouse and one from the church.

All you have to do is send $ 19.95 CAD for shipping and handling to me at

Ha! Nay, I jest. All you have to do is send me a request by e-mail, from your current e-mail address, to

sparkling red red red AT h0tmail D0T c0m

Got that? Or you can give me your e-mail address in the comments, if you don't mind the exposure.

I will reply as soon as possible. Probably sooner than 6 - 8 weeks.

Queen and University

Toronto sure does make an effort to pretty up the downtown for the benefit of tourists. This little park, complete with benches and flowerbeds, is on a concrete island between the northbound and southbound lanes of traffic on University Ave., just south of Queen St.

This location is only a few blocks west of Bay Street (Canda's Wall Street/financial and business centre), a few blocks south of the University of Toronto Campus, and a few blocks north of the giant, retractable-domed stadium previously known as Skydome (now officially "The Rogers Centre"). The brand new Opera House is on the southeast corner. The club district is to the southwest. It's really right in the middle of everything.

The dignified gentleman honoured in this memorial statue is Sir Adam Beck. He played a major role in the development of Ontario's power infrastructure. He was knighted in 1914 and died in 1925.

This is the view facing south...



...and here's the view facing north.



A close-up of the angel statue. I believe this is a memorial to the fallen of one or both of the World Wars. Didn't quite get around to checking... thought I could
Google some keywords and find out online... no such luck. Still, it's a pretty statue (with a fountain at the base).



*UPDATE* A commenter has just kindly provided me with a link to information regarding this monument. Thank you K.!

The historic Canada Life Building, constructed between 1929 and 1931, stands at the northwest corner. This photo shows only the tower at the very top of what is a large office building. (You can see the bottom corner in the 2nd photo above.) At the top of the tower is a weather beacon. It's difficult to see the lights in the daytime, but at night it stands out for miles. Red lights warn of rain, white lights forecast snow, and lights running up or down the beacon indicate a corresponding change of temperature.



A few blocks west on Queen St., on my way to a dark chocolate crepe, I stopped to catch these agile robots clambering up onto the roof of the Active Surplus building. Their signs says "We Buy and Sell Anything." Next time I'm there, I'm going to buy me a robot.

Etobicoke Park in the Rain

The way this summer is going, if I waited for sunny weekends to go to all my favourite parks, I wouldn't get far. This weekend it rained pretty much non-stop, but darned if that was going to keep me from going to my favourite park in Etobicoke by the lakeshore. As you can see, it was a mite gloomy.



For you non-Torontonians, "Etobicoke" is pronounced with a silent "k". Say "Ee-TOE-bi-coe". Very good.

The ducks weren't bothered by the rain.



Nor were the Canada geese.



If you peer into the mist, waaaaay across the lake you can see a skinny little spike right in the middle of the photo. That's the CN tower, the world's tallest free-standing structure. It doesn't look like such hot potatoes from this distance, does it?



I wasn't the only one desperate to squeeze some summer fun from the rainy day. Here are some brave folks swimming in Lake Ontario. Personally I wouldn't put my face in that water. I'd be scared of getting pink-eye. I hear the storm drains are prone to overflowing on very rainy days, floating a dose of raw sewage into the lake. Even wading seems kind of dicey under those circumstances.



Here's a dog shaking himself off after a dip. His owner is still front-crawling off the left edge of the frame. I was surprised that the dog showed no interest in chasing any of the five swans who were paddling along just in front of him.



This is a hint of how pretty the park is in brighter light. There are huge swaths of wildflowers, trees, and swampy areas. The place teems with wildlife. We saw birds whose names we didn't know, and several fancy butterflies.



If I get a chance to go back on a sunny day, I'll get some photos that'll knock your socks off. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with these soggy offerings.

That's all for now, folks!

Until next time, goodbye...

Annapurna

When life's been really hectic, I crave the calm atmosphere and yummy veggie cuisine at the Annapurna Vegetarian restaurant. Lucky me, I got to go this weekend. Here's what it looks like inside. Yes, that is a trickling fountain in the foreground.



The restaurant is run by people who follow the spiritual teachings of Sri Chinmoy . All the servers are adherents of his philosophy. I don't know if it qualifies as a religion, because I'm too busy sucking back delicious soya milk smoothies (soy milk, banana, dates, cinnamon, and honey - woo!) to do in-depth research while I'm there. I do know that they teach meditation classes and sell books by the cash register.

Sri Chinmoy's sayings are posted on the sugar packets, and also on the walls under interpretive paintings. They are inspirational and soothing. Here's one:



"Peace is the indomitable response to life's every challenge." I can buy that! Then there are some that are less accessible to the uninitiated...



"The sex of peace is just inside your mind's silence-sky." Err... That one goes over my head, but it sounds promising. I might have spent some time thinking about it, if I weren't so preoccupied with my enjoyment of the fabulous curry lunch special plate (chick-pea and spinach curry, veggie curry stew, and rice with cashew nuts - mmmm! Fabulous.)

On the walk back to the car, I saw some flowers. I'm not so good with flower names. This one is a tiger lily perhaps?



And these unusual flowers - I don't believe I've ever seen them before. What do you suppose they're called?



Phallus Blossoms, maybe?

Mysterious Tub

I found something else on my walk. A giant plastic tub of blue stuff. It's about 9 feet high.



I don't know what's in there, but there's room for 2500 gallons of it.



I find it troubling that this mysterious vat is sitting out in the open, within the reach of children and mischievous teenagers. It could be raspberry Kool-aid, but somehow I doubt that. It's within a stone's throw of the community centre pool. It's probably filled with dangerous chemi-kills.

Could they not have come up with a more secure means of storage? Methinks this must be in violation of safety bylaws. If not, we need better bylaws.

A walk

Come with me on a walk in my neighbourhood. I love how green it is in the summertime.



The houses are divided into two types. The older homes are almost all bungalows. This one is cute.



Some are quite modest, like this one.



And then there are the new monster homes. Here's a mansion with a two-story foyer and three garages. It's a popular style.



There are also a lot of homes like these, with stone exteriors and metal accents. The metal looks like copper when it's being installed, but it doesn't turn green, so maybe it's brass. I'm not sure.



On every block there is at least one site where one or more old bungalows is being torn down and/or a giant mansion is being built. Here's an odd couple side by side. The monster home looms over the little bungalow.



I like the bungalows. I hope that some of them are preserved. They allow for more greenery, with pretty gardens in front instead of giant parking pads.

Car Overboard

Sunday morning, just before 10:30 am. Ken and I are on our way to church. Two blocks away, we hear sirens approaching our area from several directions. A fire truck zooms past. I have that passing thought: I hope the church isn't on fire... But of course it won't be. It's always someone else's emergency.

Except this time. We round a corner to find several emergency vehicles converged on the church parking lot. There are two fire trucks, an ambulance, and a police cruiser. A handful of people are clustered together, looking at a hole in the wooden boards bordering the parking lot. All the emergency personnel are gathered around this hole.

On the other side of the wooden boards is a giant hole in the ground. A condo development has been hard at work excavating. We can't see how deep the hole is, but we assume it's enough to accomodate at least two layers of underground parking.

The firemen work together to rip the top sections of the damaged boards away from the rest of the wall. As the gap widens, the tail end of a car becomes visible, barely sticking up out of the hole. Rumour has it that an elderly couple and their grandchild, a baby, are in the car, moments away from sliding nose-down into the depths of the pit. The driver hit the gas instead of the brake while parking, and they blasted straight through the wooden hoarding.

Now, in a scene straight out of a Hollywood action movie, they are poised on the brink.

As more and more people arrived for church, the crowd grew. Yellow police tape was put up to around the scene. More rumours flew through the crowd. We all watched anxiously as the crews formulated solutions. I put my head down and prayed.

Finally we were called into the church to pray together.

Fortunately, all the occupants of the car were safely evacuated. They had bruises from hanging face-down in their seat belts, and the driver was understandably distraught, but it was as good an outcome as anyone could have hoped for.

By the time the service was complete, the Big Tow was there, winching the car up out of the hole.



The angle of the car in this shot is the same angle at which it was "parked" at the edge of the hole.



They gently lowered the car down until all four wheels were once again on horizontal ground.



The guy with the camera is from one of the local news shows.



I was pretty shaken up by the incident, even though I didn't know the people in the car. I found out later, from the evening news, that the hole was only as deep as the car was long. They weren't in any danger of sliding into an abyss, as we all assumed. That impression certainly added to the drama!

All's well that ends well. Thank God.

Hooters

What? Don't you have a pair of giant owls roosting by your local primary school?



And now a complete change of subject:

By the end of this week, I was totally fried. Lots of crap has been going down in my life. I'm not going to get into it here, not so much to spare your delicate sensibilities, but to save myself from having to think about it all.

On Friday evening, if you had rested the tip of your nose against the tip of my nose, stayed completely quiet, and looked into my eyes, I bet you could have heard the hiss of static in my brain, and seen grey snow drifting in the depths of my pupils.

Part of my needing to put the brakes on my mad blogging related to this mental burnout. I love to write about the ridiculous, sweet, funny, and tragic little details of life, but it's not possible to attend to these details when one is buried under a thick haze of psychological static.

On Saturday I took a day entirely for myself. As per my personal priorities, I divided the day equally between staying at home in my pyjamas and an afternoon of enthusiastic retail therapy. Seriously, there's nothing better for re-establishing a sense of control than shopping. I see the shoes. I want the shoes. I buy the shoes. It's simple! Minimal thinking is required! I get exactly what I want without an argument!

The balance of the universe re-establishes itself, slowly. The static begins to clear. And seriously, I spent less money than I would have on an hour of professional talk therapy.



Whooooo's the wise one now?