Cheryl's Travels: Pandemic response

Week 36 has not been the best week for Toronto as it was announced on Friday that we, and a couple other hot spot areas in the province, are moving back into lockdown. The move wasn’t exactly unexpected by anyone as our daily case count numbers have been going up and up and up for the past 2/3 weeks, but hearing the words made the seriousness of the situation seem that much more real. And the part that many, or at least I am struggling with, is the fact that this lockdown period is 28 days which will take us to at least December 21st...and possibly longer...making holiday preparation very difficult - and it drives home the fact that I am going to be alone for Christmas this year. I know in the grand scheme of things that will be fine, but I’ve struggled a bit these past few days coming to grips with that reality.

Obviously now that I’m back at work, my time and frankly energy to go for walks is much more limited. In theory I know I could go for a walk in the evening when I get home, but in reality I’m not going to. It’s already dark by the time I get home, and although my working reality now does not have nearly as much stress or evening work involved, by the time I do get home I’m just more inclined to relax, have a drink/dinner, and unwind for the day.

As a result, photos for the next few weeks will be mainly from walks I go on during the weekends - and this week I did manage an after school appointment in the downtown core area so a couple of photos from there to start.

Starting to put up the Christmas decorations - can you see the stars hanging from the arches?

Similar to Macy’s in New York City, our Hudson’s Bay Company always does a series of display windows during the Christmas season. They were newly assembled for this year when I was downtown last Tuesday...with all the necessary reminders for this particular Christmas season. What I can’t show in these photos is the fact that each one is a moving window - and for many families coming to see the windows is an annual holiday tradition.

This is the Ontario legislative building, completed in 1893. It, and the surrounding park lands are colloquially referred to as “Queen’s Park”.

Soldier’s Tower is a bell and clock tower at the University of Toronto commemorating members of the university that served in the world wars. Construction was completed in 1924 and it houses a carillon of 51 bells.

I cut through the campus of the University of Toronto this week - here are a couple of other photos from there. The university was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King’s College, and is the oldest university in Ontario. There are some beautiful, old buildings on campus.

I walked a little portion of Taylor Creek Trail this afternoon. Taylor Creek is one of three tributary rivers that meet to form the Lower Don River. Taylor Creek, also known as Massey Creek (with the Taylor and Massey families being two prominent families in Toronto) is 16kms long and its watershed exists entirely within an urban setting.

The Elevated Wetlands are functional sculptures, symbols of the integration of the plastics industry, art, and environmental stewardship. These sculptures, and tree plantings, are part of a created eco-system to form a natural buffer area beside a major highway system that runs alongside the Don River.