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!

Christmas Spirit and Hot, Spicy Wine

Nothing is like December! I'm not a winter person, but December brings out that holiday joy and Christmas spirit all over the place.

And I'm not viewing this from religious point of view - whatever religion you're in, or if you're not religious at all, I'm talking about the unique feeling of holiday atmosphere.

Holiday lights on the streets, ornaments on Christmas trees, the general look of the city at this time of year, everything sparkling and smelling of cider and wine - the whole Christmassy feel.

You can hear Christmas songs everywhere, see ideas for presents in every store you walk into and feel that special warmth of red, gold and silver colors, so significant for these holiday moments.



Even though the commercialization of Christmas holidays has taken it too far, with companies decorating and pushing gifts sales already in November, and people feeling pressured about the whole thing, it still doesn't diminish that very holiday sensation that's spreading like a virus as soon as you see the first holiday lights on the streets.

The best place to enjoy the atmosphere in Toronto, at this moment, is definitely the Distillery District.

With the Toronto Christmas Market that is held there every December for the whole month, up until Christmas day, Distillery District becomes a magical place (magical more than it usually is).

Various artisans and vendors are participating and there's nothing you can't buy in their little booths.

You can find hand-made ornaments, gifts, candles and other Christmas merchandise. If you're hungry, you'll be able to enjoy German sausages, roasted nuts, baked goods and plenty of other seasonal stuff.



To keep yourself warm, I strongly recommend the popular mulled wine - which was delicious! So very tasty, just like the wine from back home, which my family used to make every Christmas and which we regularly enjoyed during the whole Christmas season.  I really missed that so I made sure I got enough. Don't overstep your boundaries though - it's stronger than it tastes :)

All in all, a very nice evening out - I loved it! If you're around, make this place a number one on your visit list. Soon.  Even the holiday hater will enjoy :)

The only thing that's missing is snow, to make the whole experience more fulfilled. But, until then, this is the perfect place to hang out one of these evenings, before Christmas, while there's still mulled wine available...



Oh and yes. A huge Christmas tree :) Who doesn't love that?

Cheers! Xoxo

It's getting cold!

Yes, the winter is coming. It's not really so tough, considering we're in Canada and still haven't had a proper snow.

One would say it's unusually warm for this time of year.  I'm actually glad because for once, Croatia is full of snow, and we're not :)

Still, getting colder and colder every day.

That means my cat doesn't want to spend nights outside anymore, and wants to curl up on my bed to sleep there.

That means making tea occasionally and dishes that you eat with the spoon.

That means less walking and less nature photographing. Hence, more hamster and indoor stuff.

I was just cleaning Shelly's cage the other day, so while she was out, I decided to take a few photos again.

The only apple I had in house was huge, and she was obviously overwhelmed with the size.

I had to bite it off so she could continue nibbling it.
Surprisingly, she showed more interest towards my camera than the apple.









We also had another photo shoot in the garage, with a beautiful model and a great make-up artist. Again a great experience. Lovely girls. Had issues with the lights again though. How I wish it was summer and we can shoot outside...

The other day, it was nice and sunny, so I wanted to get some fresh air.



I took a walk, and the path that I'm usually taking surprised me with great reflections in the lake, that I haven't noticed earlier.

I have also been dealing with the domain and the website, so beachofhope exists no more. I have a new website that you can see here.

Still working on it though, don't be judgy.

Considering I have no idea what I'm doing, it getting along pretty good. :) I had some help from my hosting service agent who was kind enough to make my day. Thank you, Colton!

So, with all that was happening, between the work, photo shooting, little business I started on the side which will stay top secret (literally, it's better if you don't know), new website and all - it was a pretty busy week. 

It's time to think about Christmas holidays and presents now.

Stay warm!

XoXo

Santa and some raw art

This was a busy week. With all that's normally going on, there was a Santa Claus Parade in downtown Toronto, last Sunday, which I wanted to see. Also, I went to see the Raw Artists exhibition on Thursday.

Santa Claus Parade was, well... fun. For all those under 10.
Nevertheless, it was nice to see it once, get some shots and leave it at that. I was surprised by how many people were there. It was a nice, warm day so I guess that contributed a lot.

The streets were closed, security guys everywhere, children jumping around, parents holding thermos bottles with coffee sitting on sidewalks, cushions, blankets, strollers, sandwiches and lots of reindeer horns on people's heads.

Apparently, people arrive early in the morning to save the spot for their family, so that they can sit in front row and see the parade.

The parade alone lasts for couple of hours, but to have a nice watching spot, you should be there hours earlier.





To be honest, it was actually more interesting before the parade showed up, because of all the people and kids mingling on the streets. Put some children on the middle of the empty street and give them some crayons and there you go. Art as you've never seen it.

I didn't wait to see the Santa though - it was enough for me to witness Frozen characters, clowns, girl with the goose, people in dog's costumes, Lego figures and other, I must say, lame and totally unrelated characters to something that's called Santa Claus Parade. 

The only thing they all had in common were Christmas songs. I didn't see a single reindeer :O or one of Santa's elves, for that matter. Or anything related to actual Christmas holidays. Too many commercial banners and sponsor signs for my taste though. It was like watching commercials on TV.

However, it was obvious the children were enjoying it. They don't care about rules or names or commercials or appropriate costumes. They spent the day dancing and drawing in the streets of Toronto. What can be better than that?

For something more to my liking, I visited a more adult event going on in MOD Club on College Street this week.


There was a Raw Artists Uprising event with numerous artists showing their work. Some of Toronto's photographers, painters, jewelry makers, make up artists, film makers and musicians were presenting their best pieces and had fun in connecting and browsing thru other spheres of art. It was quite interesting to be mingling around some extraordinary individuals. Here's more on that, where you can see the artists involved and some of their work.

All in all, a fun week. I was surprised by some snowflakes yesterday, and that doesn't seem like fun at all. Soon enough it'll be snowy and (more) cold and I'll have to stay in and shoot the hamster again...

Stay warm!

Toronto skies and one cut off tree

I've mentioned couple of times how clouds here in Toronto can be spectacular. I don't know why exactly, but there are times when they make the sky look awesome.

Sometimes there's overcast everywhere and there is still sun shining thru.
Sometimes they're just ripped like cotton pieces all over the blue skies, and when the storm is coming, it sometimes feels like two worlds are colliding.

I used to hate clouds (seriously, I had a huge problem with them at one point in my life), but then you grow up and get used to them, and eventually, you might even start liking them.

Especially if you're right here where I am.

One autumn afternoon, the skies were so colourful that I had to take a photo.

But, the problem was I was working so I couldn't exactly just leave. Also, I'm in industrial area with huge buildings around, power cords and trucks so getting a clear shot was almost impossible.

And it was cold outside so too, so I kind of wanted to stay in.

There is one spot I found to shoot the skies, but the certain tree had to be in the picture.

And not even the whole tree, the top is missing because of the power cords and the bottom because of the street, buildings and traffic.

So, I settled for the next best thing and took a picture of cut off tree, from inside, thru the shop window.

The next afternoon the skies were even more interesting, so I took another photo from the same spot.

So I did the next day as well.

The fall here makes the skies, on late afternoons when sun is setting down, quite unusual.


And every day they look different. So I ended up having a whole set of the cut off tree in front of different backgrounds. Not bad for a cloud hater.

Once the winter passed by and spring came, the sights like these became more rare. But, Canadian summer is already half way gone so the fall will be here soon again with it's spectacular colors.

Finally a farmers' market!

I was having a problem finding a farmers market in my area. I've been searching for a long time now, and yes, it was winter and all, but I had to find something that works all year round and has fresh stuff.

Until now, I haven't found anything in that sense, except for a few very yummy shops (but that's another thing).

Here's the deal: they're either closed now (open only during the summer), they operate when it's impossible for me to get there, or they're very far away.

There are numerous lists online with farmers markets around Toronto and Etobicoke, but somehow nothing worked for me.
So in order to find out where am I going to buy apples and stuff, I talked to some Canadians about it and they all said the same thing: "There are some farmers markets around you could go to, but there's nothing there. It's winter!".

So?

Don't cows make milk during the winter? And I mean the real cows. Aren't there foods that are the best in late fall and winter and early spring? Maybe Canada, with the winter so cold, doesn't have seasonal stuff? Maybe the cows are so cold that they strike during the winter. So that felt weird.

But, I found one. Since the summer is getting closer, I guess there will be more of them closer to me, and I'll check them out.

The one that is fairly close to my area just opened the season yesterday - and that's Sorauren Farmers' Market in Parkdale. And I couldn't wait to go and see it for myself.

You see, back home, in Croatia, there are farmers markets everywhere. Of course, it's not like I used them every day. Who does, when there are supermarkets around? But still, I used to go once a week to get some fresh stuff, healthier food and meat that was not fed by the other same kind meat.

I was hoping to find the same thing here. The Sorauren farmers' market looks like something similar, with a few differences.

Back home, we have all kinds of food at the markets. Whether is summer of winter, you'll always find fresh seasonal food, bakeries with fresh baked bread and dairy booths with butter, milk, yogurts and cheese, home made spreads, salads, legumes, spices, eggs, everything from small, independent farmers. In a Croatian farmers market, you'll find Croatian food.

Here, I've seen a lot less products, but also, you could find multicultural food and flavors from different countries. There's Canadian foods and then there's foods from the rest of the world.

However, it was kind of small and I expected it to be bigger. But, I did find some neat stuff, like home made cosmetics, all kinds of honey, awesome chocolates, some real looking potatoes (I'm a sucker for potatoes) and a fresh basil in a pot. I just hope the basil won't die on me like the rest of the plants I've had this year. I'm not much of a plant person.

Must say, it's a bit pricey. I paid 6$ for a half of chocolate bar. But, you get what you pay for. When I'm spending money in Croatian farmers market, I know I'm getting the good stuff. Only there, often the good stuff is cheaper than stuff from supermarket. That's one of the advantages of a economically screwed up country.

I hope that here's the same deal (regarding the food quality), as it should be. I'll know soon enough, when I get those potatoes from the oven later and spice everything up with that sweet basil scent.

For Croatians and Canadians: two lands in a nutshell

Don't go to Canada, they said.
It's cold there, they said.

Well, they were right.
I'm freezing my ass here instead of spending some quality time on a beach, wearing only flip flops and a bathing suit.

Home Sweet Home

I come from Croatia - a small Mediterranean country where we have mild winters, long and beautiful springs and falls and hot summers. For over four years I lived on the coastline - in a small place where you go everywhere by foot and the sea is right underneath your apartment - so you can smell the salt while standing on a balcony, as well as glorious scents of rosemary, lavender and pines.

Here, I can mostly smell McDonald's and fuel (mainly because I eat a lot of MCD and I worked at the motorcycle shop.

HOWEVER (and this is a big "however"), Toronto is awesome.

First of all, it's big. Toronto itself has about the same amount of people as my home country.
And those people are great - they're good-hearted, honest and hardworking. They're kind.
Sometimes, too kind.
Here's an example: I'm at my workplace, middle of spring, I got a crowded showroom and zillion of customers waiting to be served (by me), and the phone doesn't stop ringing (for me). And every time it's like:

Guy: "Good morning, how are you today?"
ME: "I'm good today, thank you, how are you?"  (to be polite, of course)
Guy: "I'm very good, thank you for asking."

------PAUSE----- (my blood pressure is rising)

ME: "How can I help you, sir?"  Just cut to the chase! And my nerves are so thin sometimes....

But then again, how can you blame him? It's nice after all. It's how people SHOULD talk. It's my fault I'm not used to it, because I come from a country where yelling at customers is a sales strategy.

Park in winter & Lake Ontario

The second, and let me be clear on this one: the winter in Toronto is not as tough as people think.  It's just long, and that can be frustrating sometimes. It's a lot colder than back home, but it's also a lot more beautiful. Because of the low temperatures, snow doesn't melt right away and stays white and crisp, therefore there's no mess on the streets. The lake gets frozen and there's plenty of places worth photographing during the cold months. The only thing that bothered me was the dry air during that period - I can't sleep or breathe without my humidifier, few wet towels hanging from the wall and huge amount of water on my heating thing, so my bedroom looks like a circus tent.

The city offers variety of things, and there is hardly anything that you can't find. Toronto is home to so many different nations and cultures, brought up together with no prejudices.

View to the west from the CN Tower

It's different - the things we're used to are different here. That's what it makes it so interesting.

People here eat meatballs on spaghetti. They generally don't like sauerkraut, they drink orange juice only in the morning, and they eat potatoes for breakfast. They eat Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice cream and chicken bacon. They have cooking oil in spray and powder eggs. There's no spice or ingredient you can't buy - the world wide variety of foods is undeniable.

Back home, we have stray cats and dogs on the street (in more than a year that I've been here, I haven't seen a stray once on the streets of Toronto). Here, you can see ducks and geese crossing the highway with the help of the police patrol, and squirrels fighting for a doughnut leftovers in parks. If you have a back yard, consider yourself lucky if you don't have to call wildlife patrol once a year to move the raccoons out of it (you're not allowed to touch them, capture them or god forbid harm or kill them). The sea gulls are the same as ours back home. I must say, it's weird tough, to hear them when there's no sea around. They should be called lake gulls.

Ducks and gees, scared racoons in our garbage containter and a squirrel

As a biker, I was struck with the driving policies - in my home country, it's perfectly normal to ride between the cars, especially while they're stopping for the traffic lights. It's not legal, but it's common. Here, it's very forbidden and nobody does it. But then again, here you're allowed to wear "beanie" helmets, whereas back home we wear full face ones.

Burn'em

It's kind of hard to seize that privilege, knowing that beanie really has no use. Seriously, come on. How can a beanie protect you when you fall off the bike at high speed? The fact that insurance rates (both for the bike and for you) are enormously high, probably has something to do with that.  But we do love a good burn.

Things are cheap, labour is expensive. Girls, you can buy an awesome pair or pumps for $60 and then pay the same amount to someone to put the rubber soles on them, so that you can actually wear them here, in the land of eternal ice. The same amount goes for sewing repairs, hair cutting, spa treatments (not the happy end ones, those are more pricey) and alike.

Ribfest 2014

Liquor can be bought at one place, and one place only: the holy LCBO (except for beer - you can buy it in a Beer Store). It kills me though, to stop in three different stores to get stuff - one for groceries, one for alcohol and one for smokes. Back home, one grocery store - and you got everything you need for a relaxing evening. Smokers: Canada is not the place for you. The only area where you can smoke is your home (if it's yours, and not rented), your car and while walking on the street (walking, not standing).

However, Canadians have all kinds of festivals, one of which is The Ribfest - a whole parade of meat to celebrate the glorious ribs, where you can eat, drink and even smoke (at certain marked points, outside the fence).

I can often hear people complaining about "Canadian administration". If you have never been to Croatia, you have no idea what you're talking about. Back home, our secretaries have secretaries and you'll be asked by clerk to provide the very same document that you're there to get, from another institution, so that this one can issue a new one, from his institution. And it won't be enough, you're ALWAYS one paper short. Our birth certificates are valid for 6 months only, even tho we're only born once. We pay taxes on taxes on taxes, like the usual 25% of original taxes is not already high enough. Buying and selling? Have fun. Public notary will suck life out of you as well as half of your monthly salary to verify a document. Here, you can get an affidavit from a local veterinarian or the neighborhood patrol cop.

Today is going to be great

Canada is simpler, easier and gives you more opportunity to make something, whether that's work, hobby, leisure or life.

Canadians don't bother themselves with stupid and unimportant things. They don't waste time and money to fool somebody or to divert from something. They mostly mind their own business and they work for themselves and their families. Sure, it's not perfect, but it never is. There's no country in the world that doesn't do something wrong. If you're a Canadian and you think I'm wrong about that, you should visit Croatia. It's an amazing country, probably the most beautiful in the world, but economically speaking, it's a country of absurd. Don't get me wrong, not everything is bad - there's plenty of opportunity there. But you have to be tough, lucky and with nerves of steel to succeed.

We should learn from Canada. There are things Canada can learn from my country as well. They can both set good and bad examples for different things. We should strive to get to the level of awareness that Canadians have and be less concerned about neighbor's greener grass, but work on our own lawn.

But who am I to say - I'm just having fun in another man's land. Taking photographs, observing and writing posts. I'll do that for as long as I can, before I decide to escape that badass Canadian winter and move to Hawaii.

My everyday view