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Paddled up the Humber

Saw an egret ( I think) on the Humber River

played with us for a while..

And it had enough of us.

Birds-eye view of Jane's three Jack Russells.

My son David took this shot up on Manitoulin Island. A bit funny but a bit sad too. Makes you wonder about the dreams that fell apart with the house.

I wonder how Katerina is doing. It's been over a year since she visited Canada from Denmark. She had so much energy..

She bounced right out of the shot.

By the pond. This is what photographers do on their days off. Since we always carry our cameras, who can resist taking quirky shots of random weddings?

Sore feet

Wedding party escapees

Jump

Every once in a while there's nothing quite like sitting in some civic garden and watching the circus unfold. Wedding after wedding coming through and battling for territory. Very entertaining.

Ashbridges Bay in the fog

horses at the lakeshore

Blue installation on Queen near Dufferin. About 25 feet tall. Interesting.

Anyway, the reason for the foray to Queen and Spadina was to pick up some more of our favourite street art. This is Mike Parsons, and he definitely does not belong on the sidewalk. His work should be on gallery walls and your walls. Go down to Queen Street east of Spadina and find Mike. Check out his stuff, he's so amazing.

Perfect end to a perfect evening. Here's a spot I hope you never find yourself. The impound lot under the Gardiner at York St. I've lived in this city my whole life and this is the first and last time I've ever had my car towed. Expensive lesson. Do not park illegally anywhere around Queen and Spadina, especially Peter Street. You'll get towed too.

Queen West

Is this blog becoming a record of my pigging out? Dinner at Fresh on Queen at Crawford.

Dress shop window on Queen West

After trying to get some half decent shots (of the hospital building) to use for a collage for the Toronto Police Mounted unit calendar for Sick Kids Hospital, we stopped for lunch down the street at my favourite restaurant the King's Cafe in Kensington Market.

Here's the funniest thing about shooting in Toronto. If you're in New York City and taking photographs on the street, people either ignore you completely or put their hand up to block your shot or some variation on the theme.In this city when you're trying to get a shot of anonymous city dwellers scooting past in a blur or whatever, people are so darn polite they will either stop and wait till you're done taking the picture or duck down like this guy so as not to ruin your shot. Funny.

Mallory's tattoo, on the small of her back

This is Charlene

Remember Charlene Chartrand? Toronto actress/model, I've shot her a few times and her pics are everywhere in my biz site and blog sites. Well, turns out she's a terrific artist. We're photographing her work so she can put it on her website. Here's my favourite.

Beautiful blue flyer at Boyd

Michel Beaupre and Luc Laine standing in the old growth forest at Boyd Park. These ancient trees are going to be destroyed by the road planned by the Town of Vaughan. This is all being implemented so that a few Woodbridge residents can get to work a few minutes earlier every day. We really don't deserve this planet.

Michel Beaupre, lawyer, and Luc Laine, cultural liason, both of the Wendat nation travelled here with Heather Bastien to witness first hand the archaeological evidence of First Nations heritage sites at Boyd and Rouge.

Heather Bastien, Elected Member, Circle of the Wise Men and Women, Huron Wendat First Nation of Wendake travelled all the way from Quebec to visit First Nations Heritage sites that are in danger of disappearing.

the frog

Richard, photographing frogs

One of my favourite secret gardens

Slices of sky

John Cavanagh, who helped run the Riverboat in the glory days of Yorkville, in fine form.

For anyone old enough to remember the TV show the Forest Rangers here's a treat for you. It's Ralph Endersby, aka Chub, still with that impish grin and still working hard.

Some fun with Trevor Hall

Trevor

Toronto actor Trevor Hall. A real presence.

This is what Ricardo does in his spare time. The horse and rider shall remain anonymous to protect their identity. ;-)

Rummaging through some old files and found this photo of the boys and I halfway across Lake Ontario about ten years ago.

It's TimBit's birthday week. Hope Nina remembers how many whacks.

Andraya

Dropped by the Distillery on Friday night to hear some jazz. It's part of the Toronto Jazz Festival now.

His name is Rob Christian and he's the most amazing sax and flute player I've heard in a long time. It occurred to me as I was watching him that he looked kind of young, but then a lot of people look young these days. ;-) Then he finished playing and he walked past the sound board and said "Mom, I'm just going for a coke." to the lady standing beside me. Turns out he's fifteen. What a prodigy. I bought his CD and played it all the way home.

My favourite new artist

Queen and Spadina

The music and the energy was great. Considering the temperature of the air, even at this time of the evening, I don't know how they did it.

On the corner of Soho and Queen in Toronto. This is capoeira, which I'd never seen before so I Googled it and I'm attaching the snippet I found on capoeiraperfomancearts.com.

"Capoeira is a 400 year old Afro-Brazilian art form that was developed as a method of expression and self defense by the African slaves in Brazil. Today it is Brazil's second largest sport after soccer, and is fast becoming a global recognized art and sport form. It's distinctive blend of martial arts, dance, ritual, music attracts people of all types. It's emphasis on functional core strength, flexibility and balance makes it an ideal workout.

Capoeira is called a "jogo", or game, in Portuguese, the language spoken in Brazil. This game is played in a circle of participants, the "roda". Inside the roda, two players will play capoeira - using rhythmic movements, kicks, sweeps and evasions. They play capoeira to the music created by other players, who use instruments specific to capoeira - the Berimbau, (the stringed bow), the Atabaque (the floor drum) and the Pandeiro (a tambourine). The music sets the tone for the type of game to be played."

Amazing street artist on Queen near Peter St. This guys stuff is better than a lot of the work I've seen in galleries around town, the Distillery etc. I bought two of his originals. Love them. Each of his works is a capture of someone who has walked past on the sidewalk.. the essence of urban disconnection.

Mommy, can we go out and play? ;-)

Queen Street fire eater

Real or fake?

Queen Street fashionistas

Having fun with store mannequins

Waterfront

Lakeshore rider

shopping in the market..decisions, decisions... the white shirt or the white shirt?

Prickly fruit

Peppers in Chinatown

Back in Kensington Market again today and met this very colourful and sweet young woman at a shop called Dancing Days which is like some kind of amazing treasure chest of colours and textures.

Craig Lane, fantastic Aussie actor.

Coco

Right about now I think everyone would much rather be enjoying a SHADY BAR. A month of record-breaking heat with no relief in sight here in Toronto.

A certain Mr. Cooper was on TV tonight. He got to meet all the gang at CityTV down at the studio on Queen St. His buddy Diana took him down for a segment on professional dog-walkers.

This old gentleman ended up in about a dozen of my shots. In different parts of the market. I think he felt every piece of fruit and veggie on every single stand.

Cantering along the shore

Lion

My Saturday morning shoot was a real picnic. Frank and Barry were the best!

Richard and I were down near Sunnyside yesterday, shooting more pics for the Toronto Police Mounted Unit calendar. All proceeds are going to Sick Kids Hospital. I was getting my dream photos of the horses running through the water as the sun went down, so I was willing to lay on my belly in the wet sand for as long as it took. We had a super time.

The temperature was hellish and the horses were glad to cool off, I think. Both the officers, P.C. Ron Gilbert and P.C. Kris McCarthy got soaked to the skin but never complained once. I only hope they didn't swallow too much lake water. :-(

Hydroplaning

It was great. The reason for the "chopped off heads" of the riders in a lot of the pics is that the focus in the calendar will the horse, not the human.

and on the way home we stopped at our neighborhood pub for a pint

and had some snacks as the sun went down.

My new addiction. UrbanZenTea. It's so yummy, with green tea and ginger or apple. I found it at King's Cafe in Kensington but I'm sure you can buy it other places.