Red maple leaf, Bolton Avenue south of Dundas

Where are you now, red maple leaf? Where did October’s winds take you?

The winds that whipped up the clouds, sending them careening across the skies like a band of junkies frantically searching a maze of back alleys for a score.

The winds that buffeted a flock of black starlings until they landed in a ragtag ...
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Footprint on the dirt track at Riverdale Park East

Dear 35-year-old body of mine,

After our outing to Riverdale Park on Sunday to take a few laps of the dirt track, I realized that perhaps a friendly letter to you was in order, a letter to introduce myself and help us get better acquainted. At first blush this may seem an odd request ...
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Broadview Mansions sidewalk mosaic, Riverdale

“Oh … Shit.”

In addition to her cry and the dull thud that sounded as Lorraine’s body slammed into the concrete, there was the metallic jangle of her keys as they arced through the air and landed out of reach on the path ahead, and the rattle made by the contents of her black faux–patent leather handbag — ...
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Leaked car oil on Broadview Avenue

“We’re running out. And we don’t have a plan.”

It’s not the first half of the subtitle for A Crude Awakening, the Swiss documentary about the Peak Oil crisis we watched last night, that worries me — I’ve been living with the grim reality of hydrocarbon energy depletion in my own mind ...
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Address mosaic on Euclid Avenue, The Annex

I photographed this whimsical address mosaic embedded in the sidewalk moments before coming across the pictograph door featured a few posts back — it was a good day for city sight-seeing on Euclid Avenue that November afternoon.

While downloading the day’s images from my camera, I felt my brain groping for a connection between ...
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Entrance to George Brown College, 200 King Street East

It’s 10:45 on a Friday morning in late November. After a blessedly short commute — ten minutes on the 504 King streetcar — I arrive at the George Brown College St. James campus building at 200 King Street East. My colleague is waiting for me just inside the main doors, squeezing in ...
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Toronto’s millennium year sidewalk stamp, Bolton Avenue

Michael nodded. “Yeah. They’re everywhere.”

This in response to my excitement one night as I browsed through a series of photos I had taken earlier in the day. It was a warmish afternoon in late October, and I had arrived at an appointment nearly a half an hour early. Rather than sitting inside, I decided to ...
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