Yonge and Temperance

The picture below is Yonge Street. looking north from Temperance St. circa 1903.

The photo is courtesy of the City of Toronto Archives.




There are no streetcar tracks down the centre of Yonge anymore, and all of the overhead wires are now buried; but there are still some buildings that are intact.

The building on the left with the sign designating that it is a development site can be seen in the first photo as "Dineen's Hats".
This site currently houses an optical store.

The obvious one, that has survived, is the building on the right at the top (situated at Richmond Street).

It's the Confederation Life Building that was built in 1890.

Kids

Pictures from the weekend....


This is Steve watching the kids play.



Leona, Len, Jennifer, Adam, Lucy and Liam.

Jennifer, Adam and Lucy

The kids playing.


Lucy walking.

Grampa and the kids.

Kids and Family

On the 14^th of this month my sister, Leona arrived from B.C.

The next night, we attended a 60th birthday party at Bruce's place for his sister Linda.

Then, the next day, Saturday, we drove out to Cambridge for Jennifer's 30th birthday.

There was a BBQ with all her family and friends, and, of course, far too many kids.

The Saturday before my brother spent time with his oldest daughter, as they celebrated Lucy’s birthday.

This is Lucy Anne who celebrated her first birthday on August 8
.

Last weekend, the family (the nieces and their spouses and kids) all gathered here for a brunch.

Leona made no-crust quiche with salad, seasoned spuds and iced tea.

Afterwards we moved to the backyard, and spread a blanket under the old maple tree.

Below is a picture of my sister, with Liam Hunter Wright, who will be celebrating his first birthday on the day Leona flies back home




Len and I will be driving out to Cambridge on Saturday for his birthday party.

The Necropolis

Established in 1850, the Toronto Necropolis is one of Toronto's oldest and most historic of cemeteries.


Its picturesque location, collection of sculpture and Victorian buildings also make it one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the city.
The Necropolis is the final resting place of such prominent individuals as Toronto's first mayor, William Lyon Mackenzie, journalist George Brown, founder of what is now The Globe and Mail, and John Ross Robertson, founder of the Toronto Telegram.
Also buried here is the world-champion oarsman Ned Hanlan.




Beautiful rose-coloured stained-glass windows grace the interior of the chapel (picture here).

Some of Toronto's finest examples of High Victorian Gothic architecture can be found in the recently restored cemetery entrance, chapel and office.

All pictures were taken today by me, while on a ROM Walk.

Don Valley Brick Works

My friend Marcia and I met here last Saturday afternoon  as part of "Doors Open".

The land has been leased by the City of Toronto to Evergreen for the princely sum of one dollar a year.

We were introduced to the plans by Evergreen to rejuvenate the buildings and surrounding land, so that it would eventually become a self-sustaining community.The first building, shown here is the Presentation Centre, with a 3D model of the site, as well as a video.
  We saw plenty of birds in the area, and some fish in the ponds, as well as a few painted turtles.


There were tours and storytelling, as well as a Farmers' Market.

We continued to walk around the site, and I took some more pictures.


We finally climbed up a very steep hill at the north end of the site, and found ourselves in Chorley Park, where an Ontario Government building once stood.

There is actually some interesting history behind this park; and you can find the background on the Toronto Heritage web site.

As well, there is a picture on Flickr of the original underpass for the carriage way.
This is the view from atop the hill.
From here we boarded the # 82 bus, that took us on a cook's tour through the streets of Rosedale.

M.M. referred to it as the "Nanny Bus"; and sure enough, as we meandered through the neighbourhood, the bus stopped to pick up quite a few nannies who had been working all day.