day 620 - caught!

i was trying to photograph the dark cloud formation over lake ontario from inside the office and this air canada plane just whizzed by.

day 619 - brush strokes

reminiscing the good old days, i.e. two weeks ago. the trees had started to change colours and the temperature was so temperate and the sky was a gorgeous blue with wisps of clouds that looked like brush strokes.

day 618 - clouds over toronto

crappy weather we're having here this week. too fall, i say!

day 617 - spikey balls

went back to take more shots of the moon flowers from last month. but the flowers are gone. the bush had these spikey balls though. methinks the contain seeds. i wonder if there is flesh inside that is edible. hmmmm....interesting this plant is.

day 616 - gearing up for winter

piles of chopped felled trees at a cottage, gearing up for those cold winter nights (and probably days). imagine sitting by the roaring fire, listening to its crackling and the warmth it exudes, and you sitting on a lush rug with a hot cocoa and a bestseller that i have authored. i pushed it, didn't i?

day 615 - into the woods

beautiful walkway entrance to a golf course.

day 614 - in the badlands of ontario

discovered this during the drive in the countryside. it's called the badlands, a few acres of red earth formed into ridges surrounded by the gorgeous greenery (now turning to fall colours). those two boys just loved to slip down the quite steepy slopes of the ridges.

day 613 - gooseberries

i love these berries. whenever our office orders food for lunch, these show up on the dessert trays merely as a decoration. i pick them out because they are very delicious. try one today.

day 612 - sentries

this group of hydro metres look like star wars characters, ready to pounce at you anytime. well, they do, everymonth, at your pocket when paying your bills.

day 611 - in a hurry or too slow?

this young maple tree has a full head of green leaves, except for this few that had turned a stunning red against the rest.

day 610 - black cloud

on our drive to the countryside, we passed by this puzzling black cloud which came from one of the buildings at the international airport. as i was taking this shot, a plane slipped into view as it prepared to land. the black cloud, a smoke really, looked sinister and as it faded, it took on the shape of a dragon. well, that's how i saw it. me and my very fertile imagination!

day 609 - sunrise at the beaches

the fruit of my labour - labour as in waking up early and hauling my ass off to the beaches to take photos of the sunrise which i never did during the summer and thank heavens we're having a nice indian summer this early in the fall and i could still take this sunrise pic. yes, that fruit of labour!

day 608 - play misty for me

on the way to the beaches, partner spotted the mist in the park, turned the car around and like a movie director, started to direct me as to how i should photograph the mist. did i heed him? course not. i got the camera, therefore i am the star and i will take the photo i want. and this is what i wanted to shoot. parfaitment!

day 607 - autumn leaves

browned and withered the leaves maybe
the morning sunlight lends its glory

so all the humans may see

nature and all its beauty.

day 606 - another glorious day

the danforth on a very glorious beautiful morning.

day 605 - "1885"

this is the top of the building that houses the "hockey hall of fame", obviously built in 1885.

day 604 - drive by

we brought back our young grandson to the hotel after babysitting him for the night and passed by this park. partner was driving at least 60 kmph as i took this photo. a little blurry, but i thought it wasn't so bad.

day 603 - words

a display of words; these blocks apparently can make up a sentence - the upper blocks a sensible sentence, the lower blocks something that doesn't make sense. you turn the blocks to find the combination of words. interesting, isn't it?

day 602 - so where's the frog?

at the science centre where we took the grandsons, there was this case where a frog that has a long tongue resides. but i have examined the whole case and i see no sign of the frog, nor the tongue. can you spot it? :-)

day 601 - new beginnings

that's the name of this baby, moored at the harbourfront tonight. with sleek wood

trimmings. must be for private rentals. kinda cold today with a very strong breeze.

day 600 - a rainbow

i was giving my boss instructions (yes, that's what i meant to write) how to find his missing e-mails, when i turned around and saw this beautiful partial rainbow at the lake. he turned to admire it, too, but didn't believe me when i told him there's another one on the right. it may not be visible to anyone else, but when i processed it in negative colours, yes, there was a second one. here you could barely see it. but it's there, trust me.

day 599 - out of place but in season

found this very red maple leaf on the edge of the subway platform on my way to work. the whole platform was clean and then this lone red leaf was on the yellow line. was going to pick it up but the train was coming, certainly didn't want to lose my head over a leaf. so, since i have my camera, just take a picture, right?

day 598 - frosty greens

found on a patio fencing of a restaurant on front street - engaging little frosty green leaves. must not forget to take some clippings and root them for home.

day 597 - light as a feather

found on my walk along the beaches.

day 596 - back at the lake again

mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

day 595 - it's beginning to look a lot like...

fall! on the way to the beaches yesterday, i passed by the park and there are a few trees that had started to turn colours. this is a panoramic shot of the inner portion of the park.

day 594 - the flip side

and here's the other colour of the same flower plant. it seems the petals of this one is so delicate and thin.

day 593 - flower

found an unusual flowering plant at the park. very beautiful red colours of the flowers, with a stalk similar to a hibiscus flower. what makes it unusual? the flowers are huge! bigger than my face! for real!

day 592 - bird bath

just some birds who managed to get my attention as they played on a fountain.

day 591 - door mural

private entry to the restaurant's employees only washrom. the public ones are on either side.

day 590 - cock fight

the favourite past time and gambling choice of filipino men, especially those in the rural areas. these fighter cocks are a prized possession and it has been known that the men who own them would sleep with their cocks at night (oh, that didn't sound right, did it?) rather than with their wives. are you laughing yet? just like race horses, these cocks are bred with carefully chosen (i better be careful here, lest i come up with some smart-ass terms) hens, are watched so that there's not a lot of hanky panky going on with the hens. oh, for goodness' sakes, it's just cocks!

day 589 - rice harvest

this is typical of rice harvesting scene in the olden days in the philippines. families and neighbours help each other in harvesting their rice fields, and it is a chance to share stories (i.e., gossips) and partake of food. again, this is a photo of a repro hanging on the wall of a filipino restaurant.

day 588 - bibingka!

that's filipino rice cake, a delicacy made especially during the Christmas season in the philippines. this is a picture of a repro hanging on the walls of a filipino restaurant.

the bibingka is baked upside down on a clay pot/oven. it is usually baked on the spot, at little kiosks that dot the churchyards during midnight masses leading up to Christmas eve. it is usually served with freshly grated coconut meat and butter, and either a hot tea or hot chocolate to fully savour the taste of this delicious cake.

day 587 -birthday wishes

today, little darren had his birthday party, with cousins and friends. he had wanted a taro cake as it is his favourite. but of course, he was surprised by the design we had requested. that is 'sac boy' from his favourite game "little big planet".

day 586 - birthday!

today, little darren turns seven. i told him the story about how, on the day he was born, i visited him briefly in the hospital but had to leave right away, his big brother at the back of the van and i was driving like mad because i wanted to get back home and watch the finale of canadian idol.

he was surprised with the cake. he liked the idea of ice cream cones with ice cream scoops decorating his chocolate-chip-cookie-dough ice cream cake from baskin robins. i, of course, had been wanting to order this beautiful cake for ages but just couldn't find the reason. he had his official birthday cake (on us, his father's side) the next day.

day 585 - serenity now

a couple of ducks out for their early morning swim.

day 584 - empty boardwalk

it baffles me greatly. summer might be ending and it's a few degrees cooler but i fail to see why people would abandon such nice scenery. if i lived a little bit closer to here i'd be plying this boardwalk morning and evening. but, i prefer it when there's not a soul around, then i can enjoy the place more.

day 583 - moon flower?

i have an absolutely distorted mind so i will not comment on this mural lest i be incriminated :-)

day 582 - high moon

at the beaches waiting for a good photo op, but no such luck. only the moon and the boat anchored well away from the shore.

day 581 - "the moon is like a lovely tune..."

beware my foolish heart." the moon at dusk.

day 580 - at the end of the highway

you'll find the CN tower. taken at dusk, on my way from the beaches. the CN tower looms at the end of lakeshore blvd. i didn't realize it is visible from this vantage. and to think in june when i was taking its pictures i went everywhere else when in fact it was just in my 'backyard'. and that was the longest sentence ever written by me. no, not really.

day 579 - weird cloud formation

this morning, the skies generally looked like this. weird, eh?

day 578 - a space ship inside

i know, it's not a space ship, but it does look like one, doesn't it? it's actually a chandelier and this is the old office of an old canadian bank in their old building. that's a lot of olds.

day 577 - roadside

roadside beauties, marred by a styrofoam garbage.

day 576 - missed opportunity

this afternoon, the cloud formation looked weird. beautiful, but weird. apparently, when the sun was finally setting, these clouds turned deep orange against the blue of the sky. well, i just saw it on tv and in posts on the internet the next morning. i chose to have good food rather than looking out. that is what i call a missed opportunity. dangit!

day 575 - it's a boy!!

saw this on the front lawn of a house on coxwell avenue this morning during my walkabout.

day 574 - smart car?

this was parked in front of my building today. i don't think i'd feel safe riding or driving this car. i think i'd rather walk or take the bus.

day 573 - work in progress

here's another mural that john kuna is yet to finish. it's looking beautiful and i look forward to seeing the finished project.

day 572 - mural again

there's a sort of 'festival' of murals in the west end of the city. a lot of the business establishments had commissioned local artists to do murals on the walls of their property and they are all well done, like this one above. this is only part of one large mural.

day 571 - wind turbine

is that what it's called? in any case, this thing, when you're near it, looks so intimidating. there was a movie quite a while ago that featured a lot of these wind turbines, i think the title was 'here comes the langoliers', or something like that.