sign along the danforth - my little grandson asked: "when you give them cash they give you 4 gold?" good question, grandson. it seems that everyone now pays cash for gold. what would they do with all the gold, melt it and make it into a....?
yes, it's a real live chilean tarantula. this will probably give me nightmares just looking at this picture but it i've never seen one of these in person. it was in a container/cage but still, for a little thing, it is quite intimidating.
it was my six-year old grandson who noticed this box displayed on top of the bus shelter at the corner of bay and front street. i told him i had to take a picture and as he kept an eye on the traffic lights, he told me to hurry up. i had passed by this shelter a number of times in the past week and i never noticed this. trust a six-year old's keen sense of observation to discover those small, irregular things around.
the first snowfall, the one that actually stayed on ground (at least for a reasonably long while and made me slip and almost fell, that's what), happened this morning. it came hard for a good several minutes but soon after the sun came out and melted most of the white stuff, and only this remained to remind us that yes, winter is just around the corner, like it isn't already.
an almost clear sky. bright sunshine. don't be fooled, it's been so cold and today the windchill reached minus 5 celcius. the sure thing about winter: the bitter cold.
in post day 277 , i had the picture of birds on hydro wires. i had to go to the clinic again on broadview avenue and today, the wires were almost filled with birds. i noticed, too, that people wouldn't walk on the sidewalk right beneath those wires. good thing that there is a small parkette right next to it and the parkette has a brick walkway, kinda pissy having to divert for a few more steps, but if you're prone to bird doodying on you, it is but wise to take the extra steps, especially on a day when all the birdies are in there. bad birdies!
today i discovered a new japanese sushi restaurant on the danforth. it is called Sushi Friends . the interior is so simple - a long upholstered bench on the west side with about 8 tables and although the tables are good for four diners each, they are set up for two giving diners a lot of space. the dark wooden floors are well polished and the wait staff are so friendly and polite, and a tad overzealous with their jobs, but otherwise they're very good. 
a truck unloads its cargo: sacks and sacks of white onions. that's a lot of tears if you have to peel all of them. but if you just use one or two on pepper steak, that would be AWESOME, i say! AWESOME not to mention delicious.
today, it's miserable, windy and wet. and this tree at the coxwell parkette still has a few leaves hanging on. just like some people i know, no matter how much you encourage them to leave, they just won't. either they don't understand what i'm trying to tell them or they are just plain dumb (hahaha, i'm venting on my blog!)
we were at the pickle barrel tonight and they have this light fixture that looks so weird; if you have an active (make that crooked) imagination like me, you'd think this is something out of some smut magazines.
i was up early today to go to wal-mart first thing, then we went downtown to the st. lawrence market. the sunrise is reflected on the buildings and the buildings, including the CN tower, look like they are rising from slumber. so, good morning to you!
one of the banners promoting the danforth, this one on main street by the bridge.
outside one of the shops on danforth, there is a little planter garden with very sturdy autumn plants and this is the end part of it. i don't know what kind of plant these orange thingies are, but they are very attractive and colourful. i should go back and take a picture of the whole planter.
on day 229 , i took a picture of these four young trees on the danforth when they still sported their golden leaves. since then, rain and wind had battered them and this is how they look now. pretty soon, there will be the snow.
this is an intriguing plant, for me at least. i wonder if they are edible? i wonder how they looked like before they go to this stage? i think maybe i should take some lessons in plants and trees as my next goal.
"the last leaf clings to the bough, just one leaf that's all there is now..." that is a line from the the last leaf, a song made popular in the 1960's by a group called the cascades who perished in an airplane crash. apparently they only had made one album and i used to know all the songs in that album. 
these are leaves of a very young maple tree i found in the back alley of the townhouses near my building. the leaves were a tad diseased but i managed to find a few that were not which still looked good for photographing. the red colours really capture the essence of autumn's changing colours and i love this shade particularly.
it was foggy last night until this morning and the grounds were wet. at the little parkette on coxwell avenue, i noticed the reeds were the colours of faded gold. the bonus was they had beads of water hanging from their leaves.
i took a photograph of this tree 26 days ago when it still held so many golden leaves. this is how it looks now, nary a leaf on it. the next time there'll be snow on it!
on my way to the clinic, i would have to pass underneath hydro wires with all these birds perched on it. having had "trouble" in the past with these birds, i refuse to walk on that side of the street even though the clinic is just two buildings away so i have to cross the street then cross back again to get to the building. in fact today, there are not a lot of them, the first time i saw this, there was no space between the birds at all. shiver me timbers!!!
tonight, the totally unknown writers festival was held at the rivoli on spadina. i can qualify it as a success as the venue was quite full with people, with standing room only at the back. i introduced one of the new writers featured tonight and plugged my little radio show, life rattle.
the window of an old house on sherbourne street is covered with this large ivy leaves that are turning into fall colours. in fact, the whole house is covered with the red tinged leaves and in the middle of a busy section of the city, with run-down houses around it, this was a sight to behold. proof that there's always beauty where you least expect it.
it looks like the shadow is wearing sunglasses, non? this picture was a surprise because i didn't notice the shadow on the leaves as i was just focused on the leaves on the ground.
the sun shone brightly this morning and i walked down to eastlyn park so i could take pictures of the leaves on the ground. of the many i took, i think this speaks more of autumn.
at eastlyn park, there are still a few trees that haven't shed off their leaves. this one was just all golden with some tinges of red on the edges on the leaves facing east. there were people standing beneath it so i couldn't take a picture of the whole tree the leaves are just a beautiful yellow.
window of an old store - something nostalgic about the way the window valance is hung, the crude painting of the window's frame, the dirt accumulated through the seasons, the toys for sale inside, and the yard that is reflected in the glass panes. makes you long for the old days when life was simple and easy.
the morning sun on these bushes makes it look like moses' burning bush. nature never ceases to amaze me. the birds are still around, too many of them, and the leaves haven't all fallen yet. a lot of trees on the danforth are holding out. maybe the snow's never coming, just the uncomfortable cold every now and then. that wouldn't be a bad idea eh?
look, a rotary telephone! this is that heavy stuff which if you drop it on your toe, you will be on at least a short term disability. i used to use a pencil or a pen to dial the numbers. there were no 'redial' buttons so if the number you're calling was busy, you just have to re-dial the same number, again and again and again, until you get to memorize the number. so different from what we are used to now. and then there was the thing called "the party line". no, young ones, it's not a party party. hahahaha! in those days you share the line with another number. you get to snoop on your party line or they get to listen in on your conversations. well, in fact it's no different today. you sit on the train and all the people around you are on the phone blabbing as if they're alone, then you get to have the scoop on a lot of people you don't even know.
these berries (i don't know exactly what kind of berries these are, or even if they are edible or anything at all) are thriving in the cold, the only colour in the rather drab gray slabs and withered leaves. there were many of them, but i wouldn't dare touch them, lest they give me some allergies or somethin'.
