Week 87 feels very un-momentous…pretty much just a week spent in Toronto doing regular, ‘life’ things. The weather is changing - temperatures are getting cooler and although we didn’t have a frost, we did have our first night with temperatures going below freezing this week so that will mean an end to the fall coloured leaves fairly soon now. The cooler temperatures, combined with a good-bit of rain over the past couple of weeks, drive the leaves off the trees quickly.
All that said, Monday this week was a spectacular day - sunny and about 15 degrees, so I jumped in my car and headed to Grimsby, a town about 100 kms away, around the western end of Lake Ontario, so it’s on the south shore of the lake.
I specifically went to Grimsby though, not because of its location on the lake, which is lovely, but because of what are colloquially known as its “gingerbread houses” - historic homes and cottages that make you think a Dr. Seuss book came to life! Many of the residences in this community have been around since the 1800s. From 1859 to 1875, Grimsby Beach was a Methodist meeting ground and campsite for prayer and worship. In 1875 they started to replace tents in the area with the cottages that still remain today. In the early 1900s, after the Methodist group that owned the park went bankrupt, the property was bought by an American who turned the area into an amusement park. The success of the amusement park was not long lived, and by the 1930s local residents took over the park area. Over the years, many of the homeowners have winterized their properties and transformed them into year-round living homes.
Sorry about the sun in this one but I knew I wasn’t going to be there long enough for the sun to move sufficiently, and I did love this musical themed little house, and garage.
Not the most intricately decorated house, but the colour was superb!!
The far western end of Lake Ontario is known as Hamilton Harbour. If you look carefully in the background you can see there is a large bridge over the harbour, and you can also see the many freighter ships in the harbour.
This sculpture is called “Rafaga - Unleashed” and in the background is ‘Theodore’. Theodore Tugboat was a Canadian children’s television series in the 1990s. The show originated and was set in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Theodore Too, the life-sized model based on the lead character, used to live in Halifax Harbour but in the summer of 2021 he sailed from Halifax to his new home in Hamilton Harbour!
The rest of this week’s photos were taken just while I was out and about, doing whatever I was doing.
“Caution - no diving” - probably good advice!!
Mackenzie House was the last home of William Lyon Mackenzie, Toronto first mayor, outspoken newspaper editor, and primary leader of the 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada. This home, built in 1858, now sits surrounded by skyscrapers in downtown Toronto.
All these wooden reindeer, ready to be bought and adorn people’s lawns.
I don’t think I ever really realized just how big sycamore tree leaves are. To give you some perspective, I’ve put ‘average’ sized maple leaves on top.
Thursday November 11, 2021 - Remembrance Day - marking the end of World War I in 1918. This year also marked the 100th anniversary of the wearing of the poppy, which began in 1921.
William Barker, VC (1894-1930) - the most decorated war hero in the history of Canada and the British Empire (entombed in the mausoleum at Mount Pleasant cemetery)
“Lest We Forget”
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