Summer Was Just Yesterday

It's snowing and windy today - the first real winter weather of the year. I'm not psychologically prepared for this! Thankfully, I find myself to be entirely unscheduled today for the first time in ages. Leisure! Pursue leisure. It feels imperative, especially today.

What better way to pass a cold, blustery November morning than by sharing some photos of a day in September? It was just two short months ago that my friend Sally and I ferried over to Toronto Island for a jaunt and I am enjoying remembering the sun and the water.

The city skyline is impressive though I couldn't help reflecting on how
much it's changed in the 30 years I've lived here.

Our friend's front door. We knocked intending a surprise visit.
 Alas. No one home.

Yep. I wore a bathing suit in public!
Not bad for a gal in her fifties.

Joy.

Subject To Dispersal

"One is not oneself. 
One is several, incomplete and subject to dispersal."

                                                                      Virginia Woolf

I have been struggling with my multitudes of late. There is so much I want to do, so many things I want to be. I am trying to knit, trying to write, trying to be a labour activist. Add to that my overriding, almost animal instinct to be a giving partner and mother. There are not enough hours to accomplish everything and I find that if I devote the majority of my focus on one aspect of my personality, I miss the others. So I practice a little of each and do none of them particularly well.

This feels urgent. Time seems to go faster as I age. Also, as I don't have what people call a "career" but rather just a boring job where I exchange my precious time for dollars, there is the shame and discouragement of that issue.

What's best? Should one focus intensely or be a scattered mess of activity? Where's the balance and how to find it?

This is just a meandering - an attempt to get it down. 

Here are some photos of weirdness on the Don Trail taken two Sundays ago when it was unseasonably balmy and we went for a muddy bike ride.

  

River Knitting

I rode out to the Humber River today. Well, not all the way at once. The distance is much further from my current home than from where I used to regularly make the trip and there are still all those hills to deal with. I had an appointment at about the one third mark - my original reason for heading in that direction. Then I stopped for lunch at approximately the halfway point. From there I did all the nasty hills involved in that particular westward trip. It was a whim really.

What a beautiful day! I watched this guy fish for quite a while. Perhaps the cool fall weather is the reason he or she was the most active heron I have ever seen. He caught two fish then disappeared.

The bridge. The distance is a very easy ride but
I usually stop here a while for the view then turn back.
I am always tired. Did I mention the hills?

Knit for about an hour on my Bombus until the sun became too direct and started to burn my knees. This blue looked so lovely in the outdoors. It makes me love this project even more than I already do.

Staycation and Good News

We are very lucky here in Toronto in that there is so much to do, especially in the summer. My partner and I are taking Stay-cation this week and we've done so many lovely things together, many of them free. We rode our bikes to my old neighbourhood of High Park on one day and up the street to Allan Gardens on another. We caught a play at Soulpepper Theatre (definitely not free but worth the price). We drove to Elora to look at the Gorge. Yesterday we walked to the local farmer's market where we bought our entire dinner, meat, veg and potatoes, from local sources. It's been a grand time. Admittedly, a  couple of days we spent lazing about doing nothing and that's been nice too!

Allan Gardens has been around since 1910. It's open all year providing a tropical oasis in the centre of the city.

"There's sometimes an egret in this pond," I said as we turned the corner of the bike path into High Park. And there it was! We watched it fish for several minutes until it caught a snack. 

I visited Taste of Regent Park on Wednesday as part of the local chapter of The Fight for $15 and Fairness. It was Bollywood Night. I had a delicious meal prepared by community members and bought some pea shoots from these young enterprising gardeners. This event continues every Wednesday for the rest of the summer. Come if you can!

And finally, good news! I found my missing sock. I had a chill last night and put on a hoodie. My heart soared to discover that the lump in the pocket was the dearly missed sock. Now how did it get in there?

Winter in the Port Lands

On my walk in the Port Lands yesterday, I noticed that some workmen had left the gate under the bridge unlocked. Naturally I went through it. I figured somebody would stop me if it was a problem. I did not wonder far as there was much on the ground to trip over. I just went far enough to view from a different angle, that upon which I had only looked down before. It was a windy and bitter cold day. I was the only person out walking

I think it's pretty cool that I only need to walk 20 minutes and I'm here. Sadly, I did spy more development notices so best to enjoy the view while I can.

My Cute Accessories Are Condiments

There is an interesting discussion going on in the comment section at Knitted Bliss. Her post about not participating in Slow Fashion October has obviously struck a nerve with many. Socio-economic privilege, aspiration "hipster" blogging, and yarn snobbery are all being discussed. Head over there to read the many fascinating comments. I especially enjoyed the link to Bristol Ivy's Instagram post on the subject.

The blogger comment I love the most states that she is,
"getting tired of seeing the same type of pics every single day: beautiful yarn with cute accessories around, or the legs stretched out on a beautiful blanket or couch, knitting."
I know exactly how she feels.

Well. Miss Agnes, here is my response: Me in my natural habitat - the local diner with a pint, a plate of food, maybe a book or two and, of course, knitting. The food is plentiful and cheap. The yarn was on sale. There are sports on the TV with the volume turned down so the gentleman in the corner can read his paper. The waitress knows my beer and brings it without being asked. I was a regular fixture there for years and no one thought it was odd to see an older single woman knitting away on a Friday night. When told him I was moving, the fellow at the cash, who always calls me My Dear, said to make sure to come back and visit. And I do. The other day I had errands in the neighbourhood so my Fall KAL Jamenson sweater and I lunched at my usual table.

A Beach, A Channel, Cables

With the passing of time, if one is lucky, or at least trying hard enough, one gets to know oneself. What I know is that when I get antsy and start to feel trapped, I need to get out, out, out. I forget this sometimes and let the negativity build up to a toxic level. Then it comes back to me - feet tramping on earth, air in lungs, open space - that's what I need. 

We have been blessed with unseasonably warm weather here in the city. It's October? Really?  So, yesterday, in a just a t-shirt, my favourite skirt, and a pair of sneakers. my bike, my knitting and I went for a wander.

House Museum

Theaster Gates in his current Art Gallery of Ontario installation How To Build A House Museum, asks who has the right to have a museum created in their honor? Why are some people's houses more worthy as candidates for museums? 
It's a thought provoking, immersive installation that takes the entire upper floor of the AGO. It presents as art, urban history in a socio-economic framework & constantly re-interprets the word "house" in changing contexts. House music. The bricks of the factory that built the neighborhoods (The George Black House) . The House of Muddy Waters.
Go see this exhibit if you can.

I visited a more traditional house museum yesterday - Spadina Museum and gardens. I've posted about the fabulous gardens here before. I visit these gardens often but yesterday, I took the museum guided tour.  Basically the house was owned by a very wealthy family for a very long time and is a museum on that merit. Still, it has been beautifully preserved and restored with most of the furnishings and artwork being original and the textiles and wall coverings being painstakingly reproduced. It's all very lovely and gives one a glimpse of past Toronto as it was known by the very few. Admission to the garden is free so provides an accessible refuge to all from the summer's bustle. It's a peaceful way to spend an hour in the city.

The greenhouse is still in use.

Looking at you from the drawing room.

Fine dining indeed. The painting is the wedding portrait of the matriarch.

The conservatory with it's exotic plants - an incredible luxury.

Pride

Well, this happened! I marched in my first Pride parade in solidarity with our LGBT sisters and brothers. The workers' right group for which I volunteer had a float and I got to wear the balloons!

When It's Hot Outside

It's cool and cozy in here.

Train Knitting

I went to visit my family yesterday. One of my favourite parts of this little journey is the commuter train trip. It's a one hour, air conditioned pause from hectic life; a chance to rest, knit, and listen to a book. 

On the mp3 player: Moby Dick courtesy of The Big Read
On the needles: Diagonal Rib Socks courtesy of Ann Budd

Home

So I mentioned already that I moved. It's a wonderful thing to find someone whose face you want to see every day.

Truth? I have been finding the adjustment difficult. This is a very different neighbourhood than what I'm used to. I've never lived high in the sky before. In fact I've never had to go down more than one flight of stairs to plant my feet firmly on Mother Earth. I'm also used to seeing old people and children. Cats and gardens. Here downtown in condo-land the population is pretty homogenous. I'm often the oldest person in the elevator.

Now, I don't want to focus on the negative. I am determined to find the quirks about this neighbourhood that I will love and the places I will feel comfortable. So, I take myself out exploring. Last week I rode my bike south, against a wind to the industrial port lands .

There is a huge Asian grocery a short walk away.
Yay! All my soy product needs will be met. I bought tofu, miso paste and bok choy.
Delicious stir fry was the result.

Heading a little further along, one finds some great industrial views.
 I am someone who needs beauty and this is beautiful to me.
My working class background? My daddy was a steelworker after all.
See that tall building in the centre distance. Yup, that's home.

Cool to be the only person on the shore.

Of course there must be bars cuz we all know I love a good bar.
It must be the kind of bar where a girl can hang out comfortably alone.
I like this one only when my fella is with me so it's not the one. Still searching.

Summer Album

Moan, moan. Complain, complain. It's all very well to fret on about being unemployed. Under-employed. Precariously employed. Whatever you want to call it. Yes, it is a serious problem, one with which I live daily and take constant action to try to change. However, it is time to step back for a moment and view some goodness. After the day's resumes have been sent and the emails answered, I often get the chance to get out and see the beautiful world around me. Not everyone gets to do that or is lucky enough to live in such a lovely part of the world. 

Today I just want to appreciate my good fortune on that count.

Early in the spring, I went for a walk in High Park and caught the tail end of cherry blossom season. This park is right next door to me. How lucky am I?

This glorious foxglove is at the High Park greenhouse.

I try to ride out to the Humber River a few times each season. This was 2 weeks ago.

Not sure which street this overpass is. 
This as far as I go. I rest here, then turn back

Knitting by the river. A bench. An apple. A bottle of water.

Last week my boyfriend took me for a drive through the Beamsville Bench wine country. 
I'd never done a wine tour before. It was a lovely drive on a hot day. Beautiful scenery. Friendly people. Some very tasty wines.

Our favourite stop was Hidden Bench.
We came upon it unexpectedly which made it that much more special.

Then on July 5, I marched in the Jobs, Justice, Climate march. Because life is not all wine and knitting. Sometimes you have to stick it to The Man.