day 224 - the danforth

it's a beautiful sunday morning here in toronto today and the danforth is so quiet. if this weather stays like this until march, we won't be complaining, would we? but we take whatever we can and so we will enjoy this day.

day 223 - "GO"

the transport of the suburbanites in coming to and from toronto: the GO trains. this was taken this morning, on my way back from my grandson's karate class.

day 222 - where's the bad apple?

"one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, girl!" goes the lyrics of a Michael Jackson song from the 70's (or maybe that was the Osmonds?). but these apples were in a large bin (at least three children could play in it and still have much room), and they were just all green apples. i wonder how in the world the store was going to sell them all without most of them getting rotten. as it was, these apples were selling for 25 cents a pound - you haven't seen those prices since, yes, the 70's!

day 221 - walls (happy birthday, little darren!)

"people are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges." i know i had posted a photograph of a wall some few weeks back. but i have a penchance for the ordinary things that others would not have noticed. for example this wall with its bricks exposed. i find poetry and romance in things like this, and today it's the picture de jour.

day 220 - more peppers

the green ones, this time. these are what they call the banana peppers. these are good sauteed with red onions and made as topping for a nicely grilled steak, then put some feta cheese on top. where i got this idea is beyond me because i am vegetarian in the first place. hahaha.

day 219 - peppers

red peppers...sweet red peppers. it's that time of year. i know. i have an italian friend whose family make the best roasted peppers. they taught me one time how to roast and freeze them; and how to prepare them for eating: sliced, then seasoned with some italian dressing, fill up a buttered panini roll and lined with thinly sliced prosciutto. ay! mamma mia de gracia!

day 218 - signs on the danforth

never noticed this one before but i do pass by this place everyday. i think they have those hookahs or waterpipes for their customers.

day 217 - a mosque's minaret

one of danforth avenue's many transformation is this minaret of a mosque near donlands avenue. the building used to be a nondescript but over the years had been transformed into this simple yet beautiful looking mosque.

day 216 - red cherry pepper

my grandsons and i were walking past the local vegetable store. i saw these thingamajiggers and i took a picture while wondering aloud what they could be. the 8-year old said, "they are cherry peppers." i told him how smart he was and that indeed the thingas looked like abbreviated peppers. i asked him how he knew it, and he simply pointed to the sign that said "cherry pepers" (sic) "79 cents/lb". smart boy for reading the signs. hah!

day 215 - doomsday?

no, it isn't! it's just heavy clouds and the setting sun over the danforth. but the scene does kind of look ominous.

day 214 - it's a-coooommiinnn'!!!!

yup, there's no mistaking it! the strong winds, the colder temperatures, the rain, the changing colours on trees. this picture is not that great, but yes, autumn is coming. and soon! and we all know what that means....

day 213 - just hangin' around!

this little critter was actually doing a chase-around with another squirrel. the trunk of the tree is quite wide and everytime i press the shutter of my camera, no matter how very low the clicking noise was, they just start to scamper. and this is the best shot i could get of the little bastards.

day 212 - what's going on?!?

that's what i wanted to know. there were 3 police cruisers (the third one hidden behind that passing red van) at the corner of danforth and monarch avenues at 9 in the morning. three officers were conferring with each other, while another two went inside the giorgio's restaurant.

i know, my photo is a bit askew, but it's like i'm spying on them, right?

day 211 - at the air show?!?

believe it or not, i brought the grandkids to the waterfront to watch the airshow and i ended up taking pictures of boats instead.

day 210 - CN Tower

yet again! we were driving around the city when i chanced to look up and there's the tower. in fact i've seen it so many times today in different places - it's like a stalker, really.

day 209 - foliage

this is an interesting tropical foliage. it's just stark white with shades and lines of green. would this be considered an albino plant?

day 208 - it's another weird friday

at least the sky is. this is the skyscape east of danforth avenue from my building - that red brick building. west of the danforth, the sky is just all blue and clear. we have all these weird cloud formations and they are almost always localized. i think we are going into the process of polar reversal.

day 207 - a healthy breakfast

not mine, but my partner jim's - bran flakes (yaiks!) with lots of strawberries and soya milk (another yaiks!). you can also say it's strawberries with bran flakes. my partner actually always eat healthy, he's 67 years old and suffers from NO diseases or illnesses. i will be long dead and he would still be plowing the earth.

day 206 - we're selling these

are you interested? leave me a comment, if you are.

day 205 - buy this! buy this!

all the hype over these vitamineralized water.

day 204 - for soon, too soon

there's a heat alert going on in toronto today and possibly tomorrow, but we are at the end of august and soon summer will be just a memory. for now, though, we take in whatever good weather we get, even if it means a heat alert. so let's look around and smell the summer flowers and admire nature's greenery, for soon, too soon, summer would pass.

day 203 - window to the past

window of an antique shop in the east end of toronto. "the old is new again" is the slogan outside.

day 202 - robotic beasts or men on stilts?

both! these beasts were one of the highlight acts at the buskerfest this weekend in toronto. technology has brought us very far really, in that these "robots" manned by stiltwalkers inside and at the same time the heads are controlled electronically, along with the movements of the eyes, the beaks, the way they turned, etc. playful little chaps, these three.

day 201 - reflectors

we were at the buskerfest toronto tonight with the grandkids. we were waiting for the "fire performers" to start their performance. i took a picture of this pretty young lady, one of the performers. it was dusk so i used my camera's flash, but this was the resulting picture - everything was dark and only the reflective decoration of the lady's outfit showed. if you look closely, you will still see the image of the lady and the people in the background. still, i thought this was a really neat photograph.

day 200 - a milestone

it's my 200th daily photograph so to me it is a milestone, and i will celebrate it by posting an old photograph that i have taken. well, actually it's not that old, it's about six weeks old. one of my dearest friends visited six weeks ago and we went to montreal to see some sights. i took this at the botanical garden. i could've easily taken a picture of a bottle of wine, but i thought why not post a picture of grapes on the vine, to signify the wine in its raw stage. i think that's a neat idea ergo i shall drink to that. here, here!

day 199 - is that a "van gogh?"

or probably just a knock-off, or a "wanna be" van gogh. at any rate, the painting looked attractive enough to merit being photographed and posted here. n'est-ce pas? and i doubt whether van gogh had been to toronto to see the flatiron building, which is the subject of this painting. oui?

day 198 - today

"while the blossoms still cling to the vine, i'll taste your strawberries and drink your sweet wine; a million tomorrows may all pass away, ne'er i'll forget all the joys that were mine, today." today was another beautiful summer day. when the weather gets this beautiful at this time of the year, you know, and i know, summer will soon be over. so, let's take it in while we can, for soon, for sure, the cold days are coming.

day 197 - black eyed susan

at the height of summer, or the start of the fading summer days, these black-eyed susans creep in between other plants to assert their beauty. there is no mistaking these cute little flowers.

day 196 - the boiler house

we had a "get together" with some old school friends. this was the first time i've ever been to the distillery district, and i liked what i saw. the brunch buffet wasn't bad either.

day 195 - relaxing at the harbourfront

sitting by the waters, taking in the beautiful sunshine, the cooler air (a change from the last several days when it was hot, humid and hot!), the scenic view of the lake and the island not far away; the boat was a bonus. don't be fooled by the beautiful waters though, it is still cold as hell!

day 194 - hibiscus

hibiscus, or gumamela in my first language, is one of my favourite flowers, along with tulips, crocus and lily of the valley. every time i see one, i always take a picture, like this yellow hibiscus. this is the first time i've seen it all yellow, with the same tone all throughout. i would've wanted to pluck it off the plant but i made great effort not to.

day 193 - skyscape

an extremely hot and humid day, just before sunset, and this was what i saw when i looked at the sky. i thought it was kind of quaint, wasn't it?

day 192 - CN from afar

we were way uptown and saw the downtown toronto skyline through the branches of old trees, with the CN tower right in the middle of that small space. i zoomed it in and this is the result. did you say 'WOW'?

day 191 - people build walls

instead of bridges that's why they are lonely. but sometimes, if you don't others tend to step their bounds and they step on you. so the solution when you are so fed up? build walls. lonely? then suck it!

day 190 - the view from above

that's the moon over toronto. i took this photograph as our plane made its descent at pearson international airport, coming back from jacksonville, florida. the city looked so beautiful what with the half moon over the city. another WOW moment.

day 189 - jacksonville sky

it is a particularly hot and humid day today i thought i was going to pass out. but soon this beautiful sky was replaced by a mass of gray clouds and the humidity just became unbearable. we were having an afternoon luau and a thunderstorm passed. this did not deter myself and a cousin to change into our bathing suits and just forego the food (for an hour or so) and swam in the glorious pool water.

day 188 - random tree

sorry, this picture comes late today but i couldn't get any WI-FI signal anywhere. in any case, i am in jacksonville, florida. my cousin drove us to see St. Augustine town and later we visited the alligator farm. we sat down afterwards and had cold refreshment, when i looked up and saw this canopy of trees above us. obviously i liked what i saw therefore i had to take a picture. these random thoughts and images sometimes say it all in summing up one day. this one says, WOW!

day 187 - life's a beach!

at least for this lifeguard at the jacksonville beach. i never knew until today how much i have missed the sun, sea and sand together. it has been a real while.

day 186 - a giant walks by

while waiting for our flight to jacksonville at chicago's o'hare airport, we came across this mural. it looked like a giant was walking by outside the terminal building whilst everyone inside seemed oblivious to it.

day 185 - quiet

a side street on the danforth on a quiet weekday morning, a rare occurrence.

day 184 - sunset in the city

today, the humidity was, or is, to put it mildly, a BITCH! felt like i was in the middle east, some 25 years or so ago. wow! the heat really pricks your skin. in the end, there's a little breeze, but still quite unpleasant. and yet, you'd really notice the days are getting shorter. hmmmm, we know what that means....

day 183 - bottled up?

found another ad just west of my building. this one's an advert for ontario's wine country. i figure i should walk the entire danforth avenue and take pictures of all the overhead advertisements. or probably not, that would be a really long walk. and especially not in this heat and humidity.

day 182 - hibiscus

hibiscus (or in my native language, gumamela) is one of my favourite flowers (the anthurium, tulips, and crocus being the others, not necessarily in that order). i was waiting for my sister outside a building this afternoon, when i turned my head and there was this tall hibiscus plant and this flower staring right at me. so i took my camera out and took a picture or it. reminded me of my young days back in manila when we had this large hedge of gumamela with bright red flowers and we took them for granted all the time.

day 181 - butt stop

says it all, doesn't it?

day 180 - just doing his job

another excellent image i captured from my walk - a bee on a flower. there was a lot of bees in that garden and i dared not linger around there for long, lest i had all of them on my back. plus i wasn't prepared to run anyway,

day 179 - flower bud?

another "unusual" find of mine in one of my forays around the neighbourhood: a flower bud. too big for a bud, you say? that's because it is a sunflower bud and the plant is probably 7 feet high! wow! indeed.

day 178 - poppy

i passed by a garden during my walk tonight and saw this lone poppy flower. things like this really make me recall the good old days, specifically high school back in the old country. that was when i learned the poem that goes...in Flanders field the poppies grow...one of my favourite poems.

day 177 - a hazy, lazy day of summer

today was hot and humid, hazy and smoggy. and the sun seemed to not want to move down, it's just hanging in there on the horizon like it's never going to set at all. the day felt like there was an impending doom. but of course there wasn't! it was just hot! hot! hot!

day 176 - exotic or erotic?

these are gourds indigenous to most southeast asia and other asian countries. they are mostly pulpy and watery, more like the zucchini and cucumber in the north americas. they come in shapes that are quite peculiar, obscene almost.

day 175 - captured aliens?

breaking news! this just in: the invading aliens have been captured and their plan to dominate the earth has been foiled. this photo shows the failed invaders being displayed from their prison. (that's my story and i'm sticking to it!)