Margin Notes: Winter, Celebrations, Birds

Snow fell in what looked like a significant snow storm as viewed from my bedroom window on 22-February-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Winter finally came to visit the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario this week, but despite nearly a week of mostly snowy weather, the total accumulation on the ground has never exceeded four inches, rain showers keep clearing roads and sidewalks, and officially there are only about three weeks of winter left. I think Torontonians are going to make it through the winter in stride!

* * * * * *

I'm not sure that Torontonians would have taken a defeat in today's Olympic men's hockey final in stride. Celebrations broke out almost immediately after Canada defeated the US in overtime, 3-2, for the gold medal today which gave Canada a record 14 gold medals in the winter games. Having lived through local--not national--Super Bowl and World Series victories in New England, I can attest that I heard as many horns blaring for as long a time today as after any of the Patriots Superbowls or even after the Red Sox victory, and not only did people gather downtown at Yonge-Dundas Square, they gathered in neighbourhoods as well, including in my own Bloor West Village near Runnymede station, blocking traffic on Bloor and Runnymede. I haven't seen anything like this since Italy won the World Cup in 2006 and Torontonians of all ethnic backgrounds gathered in Italian neighbourhoods. It makes one wonder what would happen if the Maple Leafs actually won the Stanley Cup again... but I probably won't ever see that.

* * * * * *


A Hairy Woodpecker couple was noted flying around the Humber River near Dundas Street in Toronto, Ontario on 28-February-2010.

Maybe they were getting ready for a celebration, but I was surprised to see a Hairy Woodpecker couple near the Humber River today. It had been months since my last significant wildlife sighting, so it was a real treat that these birds decided to spend time in a tree not more than 30 feet from me today. Of course, maybe they were just curious why I wasn't at home getting ready to watch the hockey game.

* * * * * *

There weren't any doves by the Humber River today, but for the past few weeks, Dove for Men had been giving out free samples in the Skywalk near Union Station in Toronto, and I had collected a fair amount of product. I was actually somewhat disappointed that nobody was out to give out samples yesterday, and then I realized that the auto show was over, and that was probably why they had been there. It would be nice if their William Tell overture-based commercial would disappear now also.

* * * * * *

A different kind of musical connection was on my mind earlier this week when I stumbled onto a recording of Indeep's "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" from 1982. What struck me is how much the musical style resembles today's rap--it had never occurred to me just how deeply disco influenced rap, a fact that has never been lost to musicologists. I guess I just wasn't paying attention.