Photo: Snow Memorial

Toronto got a fair dump of snow a couple of weeks ago on Wednesday, the sort of snow I got used to in Central Ontario but which didn't seem to track down south all that often. University Avenue was a white mess, and not even the American Consulate had shovelled (shoveled?) its barrier-protected patch of sidewalk, and it made the entire area take on a winter cast that doesn't come around all that often. Here, the South African War Memorial stands solid against a storm-obscured skyline.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: Snow Squirrel

It's been a while since I posted a critter photograph, but the Toronto winter doesn't make the local critters any less busy. I found this squirrel dashing up and across trees at Mel Lastman Square in North York, during the flurries we had a couple of weekends ago. Most of the ones I took got compromised by motion blur, but I think this one works well.

Why am I posting so uncharacteristically late in the day, you might ask? To keep you on your toes, mostly!

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: More Than a Couple of Buses

The time I spent in Ottawa to attend Can-Con last year was the first opportunity I'd had to hang around the city for any protracted time, and parts of it left a bit of an impression on me. In particular, the state of its transit. The Transitway is one thing entirely--but for a city of a million people that relies almost exclusively on buses for its public transit needs, things can get a little backed up. This is, I believe, Rideau Street at 3:30 on a Thursday afternoon; I count some seventeen buses here, both OC Transpo and Société de transport de l'Outaouais, and there are undoubtedly more hidden behind that one on the right. There would be at least that many more waiting if this photo had been taken while looking in the opposite direction.

It beggars belief that the city government's allowed pressure to get to this stage without relief.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: You Keep Using That Word

I don't think it means what the people who've been pitching the big black garbage bags into it think it means. Low quality due to it being a smartphone photo taken at night, but really. I couldn't let this go unremarked upon. It's like an encapsulation of the world's problems in miniature.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: Encased

This past month's ice storm was the first one I'd experienced first-hand; while I remember the 1998 ice storm, it confined its punishment to Eastern Ontario and Quebec while I was living up in Barrie. What this one showed me is that ice storms can change the environment in ways that seem almost unreal even when you see it for yourself. To find the branch of a tree contained entirely in a sleeve of ice that follows its contours, as if the air itself froze, is a hell of a thing.

The property damage, like the fence in the background knocked down by a fallen tree limb, is also a hell of a thing--but in a different way entirely.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: An Abundance of Yellow Light

Last weekend, the Toronto Transit Commission held an open house up at its Hillcrest Complex; the Harvey Shops, the main maintenance base for the city's streetcar fleet, was thrown open for a morning and afternoon amid the first significant snowfall of the season for people to come and gawk around at. I didn't notice the brightly yellow cast of the lights while I was there, but the camera lens captured it well enough. Here, you can see five streetcars in various stages of maintenance--they've been running for more than thirty years now, and they've well outlived their warranties.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: Birds on the Move

Brief heat assaults aside, it's getting to that time of year when the birds are soon going to be making their way down south, if they haven't started to leave already. Earlier this summer, I caught a small flock merely repositioning themselves along the edge of Lake Ontario, flying along the shore and headed west. It's really a good formation, except for that one maverick bird up at the top right corner that obviously doesn't play by the rules.

Way to wreck the formation, bird.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: The Last Thing You See

Well, maybe. It depends on what sort of stuff you get up to.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: This Seems Strangely Familiar

While on my way to LoneStarCon 3 last week I had to change planes in Chicago, since there are no direct Toronto-San Antonio flights since that would be ridiculous. It did give me a brief chance to wander through part of O'Hare Airport between spells of cramming myself into a pressurized tube kilometers above the ground, at least. While there I encountered this skylit corridor that was oddly familiar--having had a chance to consider it, I think they may have done some filming here for Home Alone 2.

Though I can't help but notice the thematic qualities of the place as well. Notice all the national flags along the arcade; also notice the American flag that takes a place of prominence at the far end, which is mirrored on the other side. Interesting.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: Cutting Edge in the Year 5000

Despite the issues that are rightly being hammered on around the internet, there was plenty to see at Worldcon last week. One fresh appearance to the convention, in association with the TARDIS control panel from the 1996 Doctor Who movie, was K-9. He rolled around the display area of the convention, greeting passers-by and making comments where comments were to be made.

Only a cad would point out that K-9 was actually being remotely operated by the same guy providing the voice.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: Sunset Over San Antonio

I'm back after an unannounced posting hiatus, the reason being that I was off attending LoneStarCon 3, the 71st World Science Fiction Convention, down in San Antonio, Texas. I'll have a report of that online later--for now, if you want to know how it was, the most direct summary is "unrelentingly sunny with a high of TEXAS°." Because, you know, San Antonio gets pretty damned hot at the end of August.

I did have the opportunity to collect some pictures while I was there. For the first, here's one I shot from the SFWA suite balcony, on the 19th floor of the Marriott Rivercenter as the sun sinks past the Texas horizon. You may notice, looking closely, that there's a structure directly in front of it; a little research tells me that it is the Steel Eel roller coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio, more than twenty kilometers away.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: A Train Comes to Town, A Train Leaves Town

With GO Transit now running trains on the Lakeshore lines at thirty-minute intervals, it's become even easier to see two of them at once. At Danforth GO, the schedules are coordinated in such a way that if you see one train go through, you'll likely be seeing another one going the opposite direction in only a couple of minutes--assuming, that is, that the "one train" is the first of the two. Here, a departing eastbound train is a rolling wall of green and white as a westbound train chugs toward the station platform.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: Bronze Jack

It's been just over two years since the death of Jack Layton, the politician who led his party to the promised land of the Official Opposition but who couldn't go there himself. This past week a memorial statue of him was unveiled outside the ferry terminal to the Toronto Islands, depicting him on the rear seat of a tandem bicycle. There's a lot of symbolism tied up in this one, and really, there aren't very many other Canadian politicians actually worthy of being memorialized in such a way.

Thinking about it, though--I have to wonder if whether, at least in terms of image, it was for the best that Layton went as he did. Having gone out at the top of his game, leading the New Democratic Party to greater success than it had ever achieved before, becoming a symbol in and of himself: had he lived, perhaps to become Prime Minister in 2015, he couldn't have lived up to himself. No "transformative" politician can live up to their hype; witness the idea of Barack Obama against Barack Obama in practice.

The memorial is called "Jack's Got Your Back," and that can be true now. Jack Layton, as an idea, as a symbol, can't be battered by politics--he can't disappoint the people who follow him.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: Watching the Waves Roll In

Sure, it may be hot in Toronto now, but everyone in this city knows that at this point in history, summer is strictly a temporary happenstance. The same doesn't hold true everywhere. In December 2009 I was in Los Angeles, a trip which gave me the opportunity to do something impossible up to that point in my life: go to a beach, in December, and not freeze. As I recall, this shot was taken somewhere along Venice Beach. I like the way it turned out.

Fun fact, incidentally: this is the 697th photopost I've made to this weblog, and the file name that my camera originally assigned this shot was IMG_0697. What a synchronicity!

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: I Don't Think Anyone's Coming Back for These

Regretfully, another interruption--I was down with the sickness, which I choose to believe were retroactive symptoms of something I will get at LoneStarCon3 in San Antonio. I'm back now, though, with another photo. Along the Bay Street entrances to Union Station, particularly underneath the elevated tracks, you'll find an array of bike locks for the use of those who pedal for part of their journey. However, some of those journeys seem to have taken a surprisingly long time. How long does it take for a bike to get that rusted and dust-covered in open air, anyway?

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: The Yonge-Univeristy Shuttle Service

Things were a bit interesting, transportationally speaking, in downtown Toronto last weekend. As part of the TTC's ongoing signal replacement program as it works to make the ninety-second headways of Automatic Train Control a possibility, the entire Yonge-University loop south of Bloor Street was shut down. What did it mean but, of course, another crush of shuttle buses all lined up in a row; there are seven in this shot I took at Yonge and Bloor, and that's only looking in one direction!

From the look of them, though, you'd be forgiven if you thought that the subway shutdown and bustitution was a bit, well, harried. Take a close look at the fifth bus from the front: the one that proudly exclaims that it is a "Univeristy" shuttle, because spelling is hard. I first heard about the error's presence on Twitter well before I left for downtown, but I guess it takes time to switch letters around, or something. Hell, though--this is hardly the first time the TTC has committed an act of typo, after all.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: A Subway or A Hole in the Ground

This will be a brief post as I am making it from my phone today. Union Station, the linchpin of downtown Toronto's transit, is currently in the midst of a makeover. The subway station is getting a new platform, but in order to build it around the existing station without disrupting operations, there's a lot of tearing up that has to be done. Some might call it breakage, even.

Photo: A Moment on the Horizon

I know I'm not the first to post this sort of photo today--Karen Nyberg already covered this subject matter, and considering that she's an astronaut taking photos from space, it's not something I can equal with my point-and-shoot. Nevertheless, I take opportunities as I recognize then, and the moment of sunset isn't an opportunity that I stumble into often. I was only just walking into my apartment with the groceries yesterday when I realized the sun was literally in the middle of setting--a minute after I went out on the balcony and started snapping, it had sunk below the horizon. This is one of the last ones I managed; fifteen seconds after I took this one, it had finished slipping away.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: That Old Familiar Union

Given how things have been going recently, I thought it might be instructive to dig into my archive for a photo of Toronto gone by--not far gone by, mind you, but yesterday is no more changeable than 10,000 BCE. For me, some of the differences between Toronto of the recent past and Toronto of the present were made more stark from my time away in Vancouver--there was no gradually getting used to any changes as they happened for me.

Take Front Street. When I left in 2010, it was a fair, streaming road below Union Station's graven frontage, busy with taxis and buses and pedestrians and food carts all through the day and much of the night. When I got back in 2012 it was more appropriately "Front Trench," as the ongoing rehabilitation of Union Station has left it cordoned off, split up by temporary fences, and otherwise hardly there at all. It's the same way today.

Here, from the archives, is what Front Street and Union Station looked like in March 2010. Remember that? There's actually architecture behind those tarps they've put up!

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).

Photo: The End of the Road

This is where the Danforth ends. Considering that it's such a major street, it's astonishing, really, how quickly it changes states. The track of the old Bloor streetcar loop at Luttrell Avenue and the Scarborough border at Victoria Park shape the road dramatically, even now; east of Victoria Park the foot traffic drops off precipitously, and many more storefronts seem to be vacant than west of the avenue, and past Warden it transitions into a wide, tree-speckled, thoroughfare that would not be out of place in any suburb on Earth. It ends at Kingston Road without any fanfare--without even a crosswalk, at that.

It's a strange way for the Danforth to end.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

This means that you are free to Share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under the following conditions: Attribution (you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work), Noncommercial (you may not use this work for commercial purposes), and Share Alike (if you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one).