It's been a while....

... but just because it was quite busy around here.

After the motorcycle show, it seems like winter is no more (when it comes to business).

However, it's still very wintery outside and I've been mostly out, taking photos, trying out stuff and just having fun. Who could blame me? :)

With all that is going on (my car broke down, visa issues, tripod issues, business issues) it's been impossible to take care of everything at once.

Nothing really interesting happened, but I did enjoyed my walks. This year I do have a proper winter jacket (I couldn't ignore the fact that I live in Canada any more) so I finally understand how nice taking a walk can be on -10 :)

We had some snow that melted quickly, but for a few days  everything looked amazing. The lake froze partially, so did the Etobicoke creek I sometimes visit.

In the Humber park there are always birds to see. And even though I have plenty of bird photos, somehow you can never get enough of them. Especially when they're crowded like this, fighting for the food.

Larger geese are constantly attacking little ducks and making their life harder in finding the crumbles. Cruel nature.

There was a lady feeding them. It's incredible how close the brave birds can come when they know there's a bag full of crumbles in the old lady's hands.

The swan immediately came close and was begging (well, demanding) for food, reaching all the way in her plastic bag. Geese are not as tall so they couldn't do the same thing. That just reminded me on the story of a fox and stork.

There was other kind of attacks too. This little guy on the right has no clue what's about to happen.

The beach was empty, of course. No people, no dogs and a big warning there are no lifeguards on duty.

Funny.

But then, I remember last winter guy surfing on the ice, so I guess the sign is here for a reason, after all...

There were little loons swimming in the lake, but I couldn't catch them with my lens.

They were babies, and looked like little penguins, being all black and white. Quite a sight.

I need to get a tele lens.

In the meantime, I'll make lemonade with the lemons I got.

Have a nice week everybody! Enjoy the winter while it's still here! (Did I just say that?)
I'm becoming Canadian.

Xoxo!

Walkin' downtown

This was an awesome warm weekend and of course, I wanted to spend it outside.

I haven't been downtown for a while and I really wanted to take a serious walk and get out for a whole day. Since I have a guest here (her majesty, Ana Flo), we decided to use this nice weather and go somewhere I usually wouldn't go alone.


I wanted to go apple picking, but Ana didn't feel like it. So we agreed upon spending some time in High Park and some time downtown. I haven't been downtown for a while so we were curious at what's there to see.

Turned out, there's plenty to see, especially if you're bored and yearning for a little city hype.

I wanted to visit Brookfield Place to see a World Press Photo Exhibition, so we headed there first.


Some nice, some interesting but mostly sad stories told thru photographs by award winning artists and photojournalists made a strong impression on both of us. I recommend to go and see for yourselves.

We took a walk towards the lake and on our way there we stopped at Union Station - the place I've seen only from the outside until now, so we decided to walk in and take a peek at what's in there.

Outside, hungry pigeons chilled on the Union Station sign.



Soon enough we found ourselves by the lake and enjoyed the sun and warm breeze.

We entered the Power Plant gallery where we took a look at three standing exhibitions, but I was most impressed by "Black Cloud", an installation by Mexican artist Carlos Amorales. 30000 black moths cut out of paper and placed on the walls of the gallery made a splendid view.

More about him and his moths you can find here

After coming back towards Eaton Center and a huge meal, we needed a break so we had a coffee on Nathan Phillips Square. Plenty of people was there, despite being the Thanksgivings day, and they laughed, took pictures by the Toronto letters, posing for selfies, smiling, chattering and enjoying a beautiful afternoon. I do love to look at people sometimes. When they're happy.

We spend some time in High Park (as if that was a fair alternative to apple picking), but it was nice. Crowded, but nice. We barely found a parking spot after a while of driving around, just before we almost gave up. I swear, half of Toronto was there that afternoon.

We even made it to the Cherry beach.

It was a good weekend. I hope this weather will last.

I want to make an apple pie, so I still have to go apple picking...

The Toronto Summer Dawn

Yes, I woke up at 5.00 just the other day. No alarm clock, just me. As I became aware of the time, it dawned on me that I could use that to go out and get some shots of the sunrise.

I was actually thinking of doing that the day before, so my inner clock made a decision instead of me and decided to go with it, thus conveniently wake me up at 5.00 am.

I got my coffee and warmed up the car and soon was on my way.

There is a nice spot relatively close to me where you can sit on the lakefront and enjoy the view of the cityline, so I headed straight there.

What I learned here, in a huge city like Toronto, is that whatever crazy thing you do, you won't be alone in it.

Accordingly, there was a couple sitting on the very same spot I was going to sit, I guess waiting for the sunrise too. So I sat down 10 feet away. Just me and them and ducks. A bit weird. And we're all waiting.

Turned out the spot where I was sitting was a great one, as the sun was positioned right next to the CN tower silhouette. So the sun began to rise and it was quite a view.

I don't see the sunrise often, even though I am an early bird. There was a mist or a light fog around, but the colors were still nice.

On my way back, a snail blocked my path so I shot him too, quite a few times. Good thing he's not really  a cheetah so I had time to put on my macro lens before he vanished.


I didn't feel like going back home so instead I headed over to my favorite bridge to see what's happening there at 6 am. 

People walking, bicyclists bicycling, runners running, dogs on a leash snooping around. 

I'm always amazed by that bridge and it feels nice standing in the middle of it. 

Never been there so early in the morning, but it's as alive as thru the day, and the sight is even more beautiful.

There are little parks around and butterfly sanctuaries, but I haven't seen any yet.

On my way back, I saw weird flowers - they looked like they were withered, but still hanging in there. I just thought they looked pretty. 

My excitement didn't really last long after that and I started to think about the nap. I felt like I could use the rest of the sleep, or another cup of coffee to stay awake until noon, at least. I guess this early bird got lazy lately...

First day of summer in Toronto

Oh yeah. Summer is finally in Toronto, and it arrived with style.

First day of summer was hot and heavy around here (mostly because of the famous Canadian humidity in the air).

Even though the weather forecast announced storm and rain all Sunday long (forecast is always wrong when I'm making plans and I'm used to it by now), the day was beautiful.

Toronto-style cloudy (kind of cloudy where sun is never behind actual clouds), hot and breezy.

So, instead of staying inside and watching movies I've already watched before, I actually enjoyed being outside most of the day.

First I made a mistake in the morning (well, because I do listen to the weather forecast after all) and went for a walk in my tennis shoes and pants and almost died of the heat.

People are out there taking walks, kayaking, sitting in shade and talking, sleeping on the benches, doing photo shoots, eating ice cream, sunbathing on the beach, looking at dead fish at the beach and pulling their kids away from it, playing with their dogs, barbecuing and fishing.

They also wear flip flops and shorts because they don't listen to the forecasts like I do.



So, after I realized there's not going to be any rain that day, I changed to flip flops and bikini and I actually went to the beach... just to be there.

To lie on the sand, to walk barefoot and to soak up the sun.

Nothing better on a lazy, first day of summer afternoon.

I was just about to start enjoying the sounds of kids and dogs playing around when I noticed the dead fish right in front of me. It was huge, half eaten and I still don't know how it got there.

I even got into the lake, which was freezing - still around 16 C.

There were some people actually swimming, but mostly dogs and little kids enjoyed the water. I was surprised how many children were there standing and playing in the lake, and even more surprised by the parents who let them do that, or actually encouraged it. I mustn't forget, I am in Canada though, and the kids are apparently born and raised to be little polar bears.

The kids seemed to be happy in the lake though.

The dogs seemed to be happy in the lake.

The surfing (or whatever he was doing) guy was happy on the lake.

The view on a dead fish was spectacular.

The only thing better than the sun was the hot wind blowing. That's the real thing. That's when I know the summer's really here. Hope it'll stay for a while. Or at least till end of July, when I'm leaving to feel some real salt on my skin at the Adriatic Sea.