Friday, June 30, 2017

My Town Shootout

My Town Shootout

Jun 30: Around the house - What is your favorite thing to do or see around your home.

First of all, welcome!


Since we downsized in 2012, we have lived here, on the 27th floor. There are 46 floors and if you look really closely you will see the workers on a scaffold WAY up there at the top.
One of the great things about living here is having all the maintenance, work and repairs taken care of by someone else. 






We have a balcony, not every unit does.





We love to travel and then select one photo from a trip to frame.


Traveling means buying things like these cushion covers from Mexico.



Typical me, watching a show online and knitting.






A corner of our kitchen.



The spare room, office or den, which is not usually this tidy.


Our bedroom.


My reading corner.




And at the end of the day we are often treated to great sunsets.




Jul 7: Summer Drinks - Share with us your favorite summer drinks and beverages served in your town.

Weekend Green

Weekend Green
http://mascha-colorofhope.blogspot.de/


In celebration of Canada's 160th birthday on July 1, I'll share a couple of green spaces within Toronto.

Allan Gardens - even in the middle of winter it can feel like an oasis.






The Music Garden at Harbourfront.










Friday Finds

1. Starts with Z
2. Week's Favorite
3. DESSERT

The first two will be the same, except we’ll work our way through the alphabet. The second can be a favorite image or activity from the week. The third will be different each time.
Friday Finds ABC Wednesday A-Z Guidebook

Letter  For this alphabet I attempted to find cities/towns we've visited. I excluded Canada and the US from this round.

There is a running list at the bottom of the Friday post.

Finally we have reached the most dreaded letter! I have spent more time than I should have looking for this letter!!!

The only place I could find that we had been in was Zapopan, and it is stretching it, as it was the town we stopped at before reaching Guadalajara Mexico in 2016.
As evidence I have the schedule posted as we waited for the bus. Now if John had only moved his head an inch we could see three Z place names.


Or we have this sign I snapped on the drive from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta also in 2016.


Or this sign in Bucerias Mexico 2016.


Week's Faourite - at my cousin's wedding shower, making a wedding dress out of toilet paper.




DESSERT we visited Castle Kilbride on the weekend and serendipitously this plate was on a table.



 

ALPHABET AROUND THE WORLD

  1. Alice Springs, Australia
  2. Bratislava, Slovakia
  3. Cartagena Columbia
  4. Delft The Netherlands
  5. Edinburgh Scotland
  6. Florence Italy
  7. Giverny France
  8. Hong Kong China
  9. Istanbul Turkey
  10. Jamaica
  11. Kalambaka Greece
  12. Lagos Portugal
  13. Melbourne Australia
  14. Normandy France
  15. Old Head Kinsale Ireland
  16. Prague Czech Republic
  17. Queenstown New Zealand
  18. Rudesheim Germany
  19. Singapore
  20. Tlaquepaque Mexico
  21. Ulrich Russia
  22. Vienna Austria
  23. Windsor England
  24. Yulara Australia

Weekend Reflections

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Posting at Weekend Reflections.


June 2017 - Toronto ON

In honour of Canada's 150th birthday July 1 I am posting a reflection from Toronto.

CN Tower and Union Station reflected in the glass of the RBC building on King St.









Thursday, June 29, 2017

Thursday Doors

Linking up at Norm's Thursday Doors.


Since Saturday is Canada Day, I must feature something Canadian!! 

Toronto has so many fabulous buildings, I am only giving you a sample here.



The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is an art museum. Its collection includes more than 80,000 works spanning the first century to the present day. The gallery has 45,000 square metres (480,000 sq ft) of physical space, making it one of the largest galleries in North America. Significant collections include the largest collection of Canadian art, an expansive body of works from the Renaissance and the Baroque eras, European art, African and Oceanic art, and a modern and contemporary collection. The photography collection is a large part of the collection, as well as an extensive drawing and prints collection. The museum contains many significant sculptures, such as in the Henry Moore sculpture centre, and represents other forms of art like historic objects, miniatures, frames, books and medieval illuminations, film and video art, graphic art, installations, architecture, and ship models. During the AGO's history, it has hosted and organized some of the world's most renowned and significant exhibitions, and continues to do so, to this day.


Osgoode Hall is a heritage building located at 130 Queen Street West. This historic site is the focus for legal activity in Ontario and has garnered attention for over 170 years. Osgoode Hall occupies six acres and was acquired by the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1829. The name Osgoode Hall honours William Osgoode the first Chief Justice of the province. Osgoode Hall withstood more than ten major restorations.
The front facade maintained its originality and is basically unaltered to reflect the 1860 design.

Click here to go inside for a tasty lunch.


In the heart of Toronto’s financial district, each day thousands of people pass the Old City Hall. The reverberating sound of the bells in its clock tower has rung out across the downtown for over a century. Today, the building bustles with more activity than at any time in its history, as it contains numerous law courts. Its hallways are crammed with lawyers and those who must appear before the judges for their various misdemeanors.

I've been inside but no photos are allowed so click here to see more outside photos.


One of the oldest universities in Canada, it was founded in 1836 in Cobourg, Ontario, by royal charter from King William IV, Victoria federated with the University of Toronto in 1890. It comprises Victoria College, an arts and science college of U of T, and Emmanuel College, a theological college associated with the United Church of Canada.

Click here for a glimpse inside.


The First Church of Christ, Scientist is the oldest Christian Science congregation in Toronto. It is located at 196 St. George St.. It maintains a Reading Room at 927 Yonge Street north of Bloor. The church is a branch of The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

The congregation was founded in Toronto in September 1889 soon after the first Christian Science services in Canada were held informally in a private home in the city . The group referred to itself as Church of Christ, Scientist until December 1893, when it became First Church of Christ, Scientist to distinguish itself from another congregation which had also begun to meet in Toronto.




Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Train of Thought

June 2017 - Toronto ON

I was in the area of the CN Tower and on impulse went over to Roundhouse Park.

I found the information below at the Roundhouse Park website.
This great mural is hidden away in an unused area.



Roundhouse Park was created in 1997 on top of the southern expansion of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Encompassing some of the most valuable real estate in Canada, the park once saw little public use other than as a pedestrian shortcut between the Skydome and Lakeshore Boulevard. 

Today there is entertainment all around you. There is the CN Tower, Rogers Centre which hosts concerts and Blue Jays baseball, Ripley's Aquarium, Metro Convention Centre and numerous restaurants.





There is even the Steam Whistle brewery where you can get a beer and sit outside.


And of yesterday, The Rec Room opened. Cineplex Entertainment is opening its second the Rec Room location this summer, in the historic John St. Roundhouse, right next to the CN Tower, Ripley’s Aquarium and the Rogers Centre. The 40,000-square-foot space will fuse multiple types of entertainment with food and is geared toward millennials and baby boomers.



The Toronto Railway Historical Association is using the park as a permanent home for a live steam miniature railway and other outdoor exhibits illustrating Toronto's railway heritage. 


The western portion of the park closest to the Roundhouse features the original, fully restored and operational 120-foot long locomotive turntable. Immediately north of this is a carefully chosen collection of full-sized railway equipment. 


John Street Roundhouse could maintain 32 locomotives at a time. 32 bay doors make up the inner rounded facade of the building and face the 120 foot turntable. This turntable was the largest used by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and was constructed by the Canadian Bridge Company. The exterior and interior of the building is mostly composed of brick and glazing. Each of the bay doors is of wood construction and can be left open to reveal a floor to ceiling glass wall with a regular sized man door inset. Natural light floods the interior space from the curved loft space and all exterior facades. Refurbished wooden columns also stand within the interior of the structure.



In its prime, the John Street locomotive facilities contained 43 structures and several miles of track and covered nearly 16 acres of property. 

The John Street Roundhouse was built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1929-31 by Anglin-Norcross to replace the earlier John Street roundhouse built in 1897. Trains were so properly maintained at this location that railroaders recognized them by their "John Street polish." When diesel run trains began being used, business was slowed at the Roundhouse and the building was last used for its original purpose in 1986. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company donated the roundhouse to the City of Toronto. It is the only remaining roundhouse in downtown Toronto (the CNR Spadina Roundhouse was demolished to make way for construction of the SkyDome now called the Rogers Centre). One third of the original structure was dismantled, to allow construction of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, then reconstructed (1995) by Hotson Bakker Architects and is now home to Steam Whistle Brewing.







Only two auxiliary structures from the days when the Roundhouse was in operation still exist in the park: the 60,000-gallon water tower adjacent to the brewery and the 650-ton concrete locomotive coaling tower near the intersection of Bremner & Rees streets. The water tower is in its original location while the coaling tower was moved at great expense prior to the construction of the Convention Centre parking garage upon which the park is built. Both structures feature interpretive signage and exhibits to explain their past functions. 



Moving to the east of the Roundhouse, the park visitor finds several items from the City of Toronto's collection of historic buildings, including the Don station and Cabin D. 

The Don Station was built in 1896 by Canadian Pacific Railway and was originally located at the Don River and Queen Street East along the western bank of the river. In 1969 it was moved to Todmorden Mills. For many years while it was there the station was boarded up and not open to the public. Upon its relocation to the Roundhouse park, it was repainted and repaired and opened to the public to purchase tickets for the Roundhouse Park Miniature Railway as well as a small gift shop.



Cabin D is a wooden interlocking tower built by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1896. For almost a hundred years the tower was located at the railway junction west of Bathurst Street and was used to coordinate the track switches and signal lights controlling the junction. In 1984, Cabin D, along with some other smaller auxiliary buildings, was relocated to the Roundhouse where they received restoration.


I decided to check out the Railway Museum. It isn't big but it only charges a nominal fee and is worthwhile.
The Toronto Railway Historical Association (TRHA) was established in 2001 and is now incorporated as a federally registered charity. Its primary focus is the development of the Toronto Railway Museum (TRM).










In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Canada, arriving at Wolfe's Cove, Quebec, on 17 May 1939. This was the first time that a reigning monarch had visited Canada. The King and Queen took a tour of the country by rail. The CPR and the Canadian National Railways (CNR) shared the honours of transporting the royal train across the country, with the CPR undertaking the westbound journey, from Quebec City to Vancouver. The steam locomotive that the CPR used to pull the train was numbered 2850, a 4-6-4 built by Montreal Locomotive works. Specially painted in silver and blue, the locomotive ran 3,224 mi (5,189 km) across Canada, through 25 changes of crew, without engine failure. The King, somewhat of a rail buff, rode in the cab when possible. The King was so impressed with the performance of 2850 and her class, that after the tour, the King gave the CPR permission to use the term "Royal Hudson" for the semi-streamlined locomotives of the class (numbered 2820-2859, 2860-2864 were built one year later as Royal Hudsons) and to display Royal Crowns on the running boards. This was the first, and last time a locomotive outside of the United Kingdom was given royal status by the reigning monarch



This building is now an LCBO, Liquor Control Board of Ontario store which pays homage to its heritage.


Some photos I had from that LCBO.





Back to the museum.




First class travelers on C.P.R. steamships and railways ate off of distinctive lines of china and silverware, and had the opportunity to purchase C.P.R. souvenirs, such as dishware, picture frames and diaries to fill in the memories of their journeys.