High Park Cherry Blossoms 2017!

This past weekend, I went on my annual pilgrimage to see the flowering cherry trees in High Park.

According to the High Park Nature Centre website, “the Japanese ambassador to Canada, Toru-Hagiwara, presented 2000 Japanese Somei-Yoshino Sakura trees to the citizens of Toronto on behalf of the citizens of Tokyo” in 1959.

“The trees were planted in appreciation of Toronto accepting re-located Japanese-Canadians following the Second World War. Many of these trees were planted on the hillside overlooking Grenadier Pond (southwest of the Grenadier Café) and around the east shore of the pond.

In 1984, a grove of Japanese cherry trees were planted along a pathway west of the Children’s Adventure Playground in High Park. The trees were donated by Yoriki and Midori Iwasaki as a special gift to the people of Toronto and “a joyful symbol of life”.

Through the Consulate General of Japan in Toronto’s “Sakura Project”, 34 Yoshino ‘Akebono’ and Kwanzan ‘Fugenzo’ Sakura trees were donated to High Park in 2001 on the east shore of Grenadier Pond near the Maple Leaf garden.

In 2006, 16 additional Yoshino Sakura trees were planted near the original 1959 planting site.”

The park was quite crowded as the trees were in 100% bloom.

Despite the crowded atmosphere, seeing the cherry blossoms remains an important tradition for a lot of Torontonians – myself included.

Many other beautiful signs of spring were also on view at the park.

Here is a young mountain goat at the High Park Zoo.

I have saved the best for last…the baby capybaras.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie were born to parents Bonnie and Clyde in late winter 2016. As you may remember, Bonnie and Clyde are the two capybaras who escaped their enclosure in the summer of 2016 and spent most of the summer on the lam in the High Park woods. Despite efforts to catch them, they remained elusive and were often seen swimming in the park’s ponds.

They were a media favourite and became town heroes of a sort. They were finally recaptured in the fall and have since settled into domestic family life.

Have you seen the cherry blossoms in High Park, or at another location? Had you heard about Bonnie and Clyde’s escapades before now? Please share your thoughts in the comments section!

Stay tuned!

Sources:

https://www.highparknaturecentre.com/high-park-cherry-blossom-watch/history/?doing_wp_cron=1493808152.7276589870452880859375

Vancouver! Part Two: Lynn Canyon, Stanley Park, and the Seawall!

It rains a lot in Vancouver…practically every single day from November to March. Almost every shop sells umbrellas, and rubber boots and rain jackets are fashionable street wear.

So when a sunny day came during my trip, I took the opportunity to go hiking at Lynn Canyon Park in North Vancouver.

“Lynn Canyon Park officially opened to the public in 1912 and has been a popular destination among tourists and local residents ever since.

[It] has grown from 12 acres in its early years to 617 acres today. [It] contains second growth forest with most of the trees aged approximately 80 to 100 years old.

Lynn Canyon…offers a selection of walking and hiking trails that connect to other parks in the region such as Lynn Headwaters, Rice Lake, and Inter River Park.

The Canyon has also become world famous for another reason: cliff-jumping.

According to ctvnews.ca, “the mayor of the district of North Vancouver is warning thrill-seekers against cliff jumping in a local canyon that has gained an international reputation via social media.

Lynn Canyon Park has become a global destination for adrenaline junkies.

Videos uploaded to YouTube show people ignoring warning signs as they rush down one of the canyon’s natural waterslides, before free falling off a nearly 11-metre waterfall.

Rescue crews spent much of the [August 2015] long weekend at the canyon, attending to the injured.

Many visitors to the canyon ignore the warning signs:

Meanwhile, the district is considering uploading its own videos of rescue workers helping the injured to try and combat the allure of cliff jumping.”

….what do you think? Would you take the risk?

(I wouldn’t 😦 ….)

I visited the Seawall and Stanley Park on another day, which happened to be cloudy and rainy (well, at least I had one sunny day during my stay.)

At 28 km long, the Seawall is ” the world’s longest uninterrupted waterfront path.

Perfect for a walk, cycle, or jog, it is the most popular recreational spot in the city.”

A large section of the Seawall runs around the outer edge of Stanley Park, “Vancouver’s first, largest, and most beloved urban park.”

“Designated a national  historic site of Canada, Stanley Park  is a magnificent green oasis in the midst of the heavily built urban landscape of Vancouver.”

Stanley Park is 400-hectares of natural West Coast rainforest.

It is definitely worth a visit any time of the year, including the rainy season!

Stay tuned for my next post, where I will show you all the fantastic costumes I saw at FanExpo Vancouver!

Sources:

http://www.lynncanyon.ca

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-cliff-jumpers-warned-after-5-rescues-in-a-day-1.2502793

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/seawall.aspx

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/stanley-park.aspx

The Graveyard of Lost Facades – Guild Park

 

I had read about this place in a book on Toronto a few years ago, but it seemed almost too fantastical to be true.

Then, a couple weeks ago, I saw a write-up about it in the NOW magazine. I became convinced that, first, this was an actual place that you can visit, and second, that I must go there as soon as possible.

 

 

This sign greets you on your way in, but this park is nowhere near King West. It is in Scarborough, at 201 Guildwood Parkway.

 

 

This location was formerly the site of a stately home called “Guildwood” owned by Rosa and Spencer Clark. They bought it in 1932 and made it the home of an arts and crafts collective. In the 1950s, they began collecting “fragments of Toronto buildings demolished during a modernist building boom, when there was little concern for heritage architecture.

 

 

 

Sixty years later, what is now Guild Park is a graveyard of Toronto’s architectural past.”

 

Imperial Bank of Canada, 1928 – 1972, 802 Yonge Street.

 

 

 

 

“Most impressive are the remains of the Bank of Toronto designed by Carrere and Hastings of New York….

 

 

…modelled on the Paris Bourse and completed at King and Bay in 1913.

 

 

 

 

In 1967 it was demolished to make way for the black towers of Mies van der Rohe’s TD Centre.

 

 

At Guild Park the remains of the Bank of Toronto’s Corinthian columns and arches, with heads of Hercules in the skin of a lion, are reassembled into a Temple of Heaven that provides a stage for weddings and Shakespeare performances.

 

 

Death with dignity, rebirth or reincarnation?”

 

 

Among the facades, the park’s impressive gardens grow…

 

 

 

 

 

…and other beauties flourish on a much smaller scale.

 

 

 

 

 

You can see a portion of the Scarborough Bluffs and Lake Ontario at the edge of the park.

 

 

 

Guild Park was an unexpected gem that I will be sure to visit again!

Stay tuned!

Sources:

Quotes and information about Guild Park is from the article “Graveyard of Lost Facades” by Richard Longley. https://nowtoronto.com/news/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

 

 

 

High Park Cherry Blossoms 2016!

So you might have heard that there were no cherry blossoms at High Park this year due to weather conditions (i.e. an unseasonably cold March and April, with just a few warm spells). There was supposed to be a few blooms on a couple of trees, but that’s it. No large crowds this year to admire the trees, and no photos of yourself beside an unbelievably beautiful sakura loaded with huge pink blooms 😦

I decided to go there anyway – not only for my annual cherry blossom pilgrimage (perhaps I would see one or two blooms to photograph), but to see spring in High Park.

Buds had changed into tiny leaves….

 

 

…and some early flowers had appeared.

 

 

 

The old magnolia tree was in full bloom, however, and it always puts on a stunning display.

 

 

 

I also saw this fellow begging some park visitors for food… 🙂 but as everyone in Toronto knows, you (unfortunately) don’t have to visit a park to see a raccoon. You can see them in your garbage can every Friday.

 

 

I had already passed the main cherry tree area, and there was not one bloom in sight. I knew of another small area with a few cherry trees, so I headed there…hoping….

 

 

I was glad to see that there was a few on some of the smaller trees.

 

 

This was the extent of the blossoms…. 😦

 

 

It was getting late in the day, and I had just headed up a hill on my way out of the park when I felt compelled to turn around for some reason. Suddenly, I saw an enormous cherry tree just covered in huge, beautiful blooms.

 

 

 

This tree, along Centre Road,  is not on a trail or in an easily accessible area. It’s on the side of the road among thick woods.

 

 

 

I have no idea why it bloomed so abundantly when the none of the other cherry trees in the park seemed to be able to manage any at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone have any theories as to how or why this could happen…? …or any life-affirming metaphors that describe this situation? (haha)

Stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

High Park Cherry Blossoms (Sakura) 2015!

On Monday (May 4th), I went to High Park to see the sakura (cherry blossoms).

It was a cloudy day,

but there were quite a few people out enjoying the beautiful blossoms.

….click on any photo to see a larger image!

I am always amazed by how spectacular the trees are when they are in full bloom.

On Monday, only about half the trees in the park were blooming.

If you happen to go tomorrow (Friday, May 8th) or over the weekend, all the trees should be in full bloom.

I also saw a reindeer calf in the High Park Zoo that couldn’t have been more than a few days old. She was still a little unsteady on her feet 🙂

Like all new babies, she was very sleepy.

There were also two West Highland calves.

A face only a mother could love …?

Dad was watching from the far end of the pen.

I also spotted this wood duck pair in Grenadier Pond.

This fellow was keeping an eye on me.

The cherry blossoms should be out for one more week…try to go and see them if you have a chance!

For more photos and information about the sakura in High Park, visit:

http://www.sakurainhighpark.com/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/high-park-cherry-blossoms-approaching-peak-bloom-1.3063866

Stay tuned!