[PHOTO] 880 Ossington Avenue, from the east

[URBAN NOTE] Seven Toronto links

• I do hope Toronto does something with the abandoned foot court on Queen West and John. blogTO reports.
• blogTO looks at the new Villiers Island set to occupy the mouth of the Don River in the Port Lands.
• An Ossington laneway is going to be repainted after a botched improvement project destroyed its public art. The Toronto Star reports.
• Steve Munro fisks a defense by the Toronto Board of Trade of the proposed Ontario Line, here.
• Andrew Cash, sadly not elected in my riding of Davenport, writes in the Toronto Star about the importance of Toronto having active local MPs.
• National Observer looks at how the City of Toronto is encouraging residents grow gardens for pollinators.
• Samantha Edwards writes at NOW Toronto about how the long-closed Paradise on Bloor theatre is set to reopen in December.

[PHOTO] Twelve photos from a walk down from Dupont to Queen

Friday afternoon, I took myself on a leisurely walk south, down Dovercourt Road and then–above Bloor–down Ossington Avenue to Queen Street. It was a fine summer walk, taking me through an ever-changing string of neighbourhoods that is still familiar, ending with the Antikka coffee shop on Queen. The final photo was taken to the west of this, at the Lumber Loop where Queen streetcar passengers need to transfer to get to Long Branch, the towers of Humber Bay Shores always visible just beyond.

[URBAN NOTE] Six Toronto links: Light tunnels, waterfront, Ossington graffiti, Dufferin Mall, police

• blogTO notes a few of the holiday light tunnels up, from Yonge and St. Clair south to the waterfront.
• Rabble asks a useful question: How much does the Toronto public know about plans for the waterfront?
• John Lorinc at Spacing fears much may go wrong in the development of the Toronto waterfront, between a flawed auditor-general’s report and the new Ford government of Ontario.
• I must go to this graffiti-lined alley paralleling Ossington starting north of Queen. blogTO reports.
• There may yet emerge a substantial condo development on what is now the parking lot of the Dufferin Mall, to the northeast of the mall proper. blogTO reports.
• Happily, the Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal by the former policeman convicted of killing Sammy Yatim. VICE reports.

[PHOTO] Five photos of Dovercourt Village at twilight

Wednesday evening at twilight, I took a stroll with intent through Dovercourt Village, east on Dupont and then south on Dovercourt Road. The quality of the light was superb.

[PHOTO] Looking north on Ossington at Dupont

[PHOTO] Eleven photos of Ossington Avenue at night, from Dundas north to Dupont

I took a walk north along Ossington Avenue to home this night, starting with two drinks at Communist’s Daughter on Dundas just west of Ossington at half past midnight and strolling om up to Dupont. It was a glorious night, just chill enough to catch one’s attention while still being above freezing.

(As an aside, I really think I should do more night walking on general principle. It expends calories and generates steps, true, but more importantly it offers rare perspectives on the city.)

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[PHOTO] Sixteen photos of art from Toronto Revealed, at the TD Gallery (#tdgallery)

As I promised yesterday, here is some more of the art that I saw at the TD Gallery’s Toronto Revealed exhibition. Although some of the works (paintings, today, mostly painted in oils) depicted scenes predating my arrival in Toronto or even my existence, like that showing the excavation of the Eaton Centre, most of the others were scenes that I recognized with delight from my daily life. One, of a nondescript gas station, was based on a location at most a lazy ten minutes’ walk from my home.

More details on the individual works–their names, their painters, their dates–can be found by clicking through to my Flickr page.

[BLOG] Some Thursday links

• D-Brief notes that the opioid epidemic seems to be hitting baby boomers and millennials worst, of all major American demographics.
• Hornet Stories shares one timetable for new DC films following Justice League.
• Joe. My. God. notes a case brought by a Romanian before the European Court of Justice regarding citizenship rights for his American spouse. This could have broad implications for the recognition of same-sex couples across the EU, not just its member-states.
• Language Hat reports on a journalist’s search for a village in India where Sanskrit, ancient liturgical language of Hinduism, remains the vernacular.
• The Map Room Blog links to a review of an intriuging new book, Nowherelands, looking at ephemeral countries in the 1840-1975 era.
• The NYR Daily looks at the textile art of Anni Albers.
• The Planetary Society Blog explores the navigational skills of the Polynesians, and their reflection in Moana.
• Roads and Kingdoms reports on the widespread jubilation in Zimbabwe following the overthrow of Mugabe.
• Rocky Planet notes that Öræfajökull, the largest volcano in Iceland if a hidden one, has been showing worrying signs of potential eruption.
• Drew Rowsome reports on House Guests, an art installation that has taken over an entire house at Dundas and Ossington.
• Starts With A Bang’s Ethan Siegel looks at the story of how the quantum property of spin was discovered.
• Window on Eurasia suggests new Russian policies largely excluding non-Russian languages from education are causing significant problems, even ethnic conflict.
• Arnold Zwicky considers music as a trigger of emotional memory, generally and in his own life.

[PHOTO] Reddening maple in evening light, Dupont at Ossington