I was born in the geographical middle of Turtle Island, so I guess I’m native to this land. I might not be alive at all if an aboriginal couple had not shown my Icelandic ancestors how to survive a prairie winter.
Relations between cultures in proudly diverse Canada have been good sometimes, and friendly. Mostly not so good, though, let’s be honest. There’s still plenty of fear, dislike and ignorance abounding.
I don’t want to play the blame game, because my non-aboriginal side would lose. If we started over today, erasing all past mistakes, we’d still lose. It wouldn’t even be close. I wonder if we’ll ever get better?

The whole town is torn to pieces, orange traffic cones, cranes and dump trucks everywhere. The messy, dusty chaos precedes an attempt to get the city spruced up for the Pan Am Games next year.
This week, we host World Pride. First time ever in North America. A huge population of decorators and stylists will be among the visitors. For them, an unfinished mess is OK, but we’d better be neat when the jocks arrive.

Here’s an article that appeals to me. its conclusion: “Let’s shut down the Chicago love-in and be proud of who we are.”
Exactly, but not so proud that we ignore our need to keep improving our waterfront, our transit system, our public spaces and our architecture. We are just beginning to express our potential.

No, not Stephen Harper. (Good guess, though.)

How about a machine that ties a necktie and then unties it?

Here’s a nice 5 minute relaxer. My sister lives in the Rockies and she’s mastering a new camera. Great, sharp pictures and very soothing bird songs.
Watch for Mary waving her arms, reflected in the blue orb at the beginning. joni is shooting in her friend Mary’s garden.

Terry O’Reilly’s entertaining radio show/podcast on CBC reminded me about this excellent piece of advertising. Dreary, formulaic messages do work, but when the point can be made with style and originality we are looking at art, folks.

It was perfect weather in a lovely park but the large tent city in the Beach Kew Gardens held little interest for me today. I think I’m arts-and-crafts faired out for a while.

I got back on my bike and headed for the water’s edge. Always a refreshing restorative. Uhhh, maybe not on sunny Sundays though. Too crowded with strollers walking 4 abreast on the cycle path. Better save that trail for weekdays.

I’ve never seen the park fenced and gated with security guards before. Looking past guests whose bags were being searched, I could see something inside ominously called the “Grilling Tent”. I ran away PDQ from the BBQ.

Photo credit: “The Flaneur” by John Robert Colombo
John and Ruth Colombo showed me one of those nifty places that you’d never find on your own … a real Italian kitchen with buffet-style serving. The front of the place is a grocery store, so a casual passerby wouldn’t even realize that lunch was happening in the back. A popular place with the locals. Lucky we were there early enough to get a table.
My choice: Spaghetti and meatballs, with a big, fresh bun, mineral water and a capaccino. There were salads, fish, soups, calamari and loads of other choices, too.
This post is primarily to remind me how to get back there. 1224 St. Clair Avenue West, near Dufferin.