Margin Notes: Their Way, Birds, Plinky

A "their way" sign seemed to have taken the place of a "one way" sign at the foot of Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario on 14-August-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Sometimes it's better not to be able to read road signs. I have no idea what to make of the above one-way sign, seen looking west on College Street at the south end of Queen's Park Crescent. Is this a political statement about what goes on in the Legislative Assembly? Am I allowed to go "their way" if I want to? Does this mean I can go the other way if I don't like "them"? I'm pretty sure that sign doesn't appear in the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) for Canada.

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Continuing in the theme common on this blog of never knowing what you'll see next in on the streets of Toronto, I decided to walk on Gerrard Street this afternoon west of Yonge, which is not an especially busy street. On the sidewalk, I found a man in a wheelchair clearly enjoying some pot. I knew what city I was in!

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A great white egret flew high above the Humber River in Toronto, Ontario on 18-August-2010

It's easy to forget that one is in the city when walking along the Humber River. On Wednesday night, I was treated to quite a variety of large birds, with a great white egret choosing to make several fly-overs and a great blue heron perching in a tree right across the river from me before it decided to head downriver. For some reason, the sight of the herons in a tree never ceases to elicit from me a degree of awe.


A great blue heron took off from its perch in a tree along the Humber River at dusk on 18-August-2010

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Dave Wetherald was at the throttle of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre's steam locomotive #3, in front of steam locomotive #6213 during a test run on 7-July-2009

Those bird pictures are unlikely to ever appear beyond this blog, but the picture above is in today's Toronto Sun. Mike Filey asked for an appropriate picture for an item on the 6213 steam locomotive from the Toronto Railway Historical Association, and they ended up sending the above photo. However, Filey's column does not appear to be on-line anymore, so the only evidence will be a physical copy of the Sun.

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I've noticed more and more posts on various blogs citing Plinky prompts. Plinky markets itself as a service to overcome writer's block by asking provocative questions. I have no problem with people using Plinky, but if I ever suffer from writer's block, I will simply not write something on this blog for that day. As the past nearly two years have shown, this does not happen very often--in fact, probably not often enough for most readers.

Culture: The Humber Inuksuit

Those walking along the Humber River north of the Old Mill have been treated to this impromptu art display in the river, seen 6-August-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Sometimes the best public art is not commissioned, but is a spontaneous act of an individual or group who sees an opportunity to improve the appearance of something and just goes for it. Some consider this vandalism, but on rare occasions the result is so amazing that a clear consensus emerges that not only is it art, but it should be preserved in its own right.


These inuksuit in the middle of the Humber River seen on 6-August-2010 were the work of local resident Peter Riedel

Such is the case with a group of 39 rock sculptures (a reporter counted; I didn't) in the middle of the Humber River that suddenly appeared earlier this week, just a short walk from my residence. Some resemble native inuksuit, other resemble animals. At first, some people thought they had gone up overnight on Sunday night (as reported in the initial Toronto Star article), and there was all kinds of wild speculation about how many people it would take to erect them and even whether glue had been used. After it appeared in the newspaper, the actual story came out.


This sculpture resembled a seal in the middle of the Humber River north of the Old Mill on 6-August-2010

As reported in the Toronto Star, photographer Peter Riedel actually made the sculptures in about four hours on Sunday afternoon, and he had an audience. He's made rock sculptures before, using them as a chance to document them photographically before they naturally degrade from the elements.


The artist's favourite of this set of work--resembling the egrets common in this stretch of the Humber River--was observed on 6-August-2010

Yet, there seems to be a large number of people that don't want to see this set of sculptures disappear. Rather than being victims of vandals, these sculptures are substantially maintaining their form. When I visited today, five days after their construction, I could find only one that was clearly no longer in intended form. Nature will take its course, but it's not being helped along.

Peter Riedel has given us a fine example of the best of impromptu art.

Culture: A Weasel Friend?

A weasel stopped by to say hello along the banks of the Humber River in Toronto, Ontario on 27-July-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - I spend a fair amount time along the Humber River, which runs not far from my residence. The Humber once marked the western edge of Toronto, and amongst other honours holds the title of being the only Canadian Heritage River accessible by subway, at the Old Mill stop. While the river is one hundred kilometers in length, running from the Oak Ridges Moraine to Lake Ontario, I am most often found in the segment between Bloor Street and Scarlett Road in Toronto. Sometimes I'm just walking for exercise and pleasure, sometimes I'm hoping to take pictures of a Canadian Pacific train crossing the river north of Dundas Street, and sometimes I'm actually on my way somewhere and managed to work the scenery of the river into my route.

Over the years, I've gotten used to seeing wildlife along the river, and these sightings sometimes have made the margin notes of this blog. I've seen ground hogs, beavers, a deer, a salmon that managed to make its way past all the weirs, and all kinds of species of birds, from Cardinals to Great Blue Herons. Yet, lately, I haven't seen anything particularly interesting. It seems like the time I've spent around dusk near the river during past summers has been most conducive to seeing something new, so I was starting to wonder if all the wildlife has left town.

Earlier tonight, I was along the shore of the Humber, waiting for the evening Expressway train to pass at sunset, as it often does this time of year. I was thinking about my lack of wildlife spottings, listening for any interesting bird calls, and watching for any motion amongst the branches. The water itself attracted my attention, though. I thought I saw some bubbles surfacing downriver, and wondered if maybe I had missed a duck diving in the area.

Pretty soon, I noticed strange wave patterns near the shore on my side of the river, slightly closer than the bubbles had been, but no noise. Ducks are never that quiet when they dive, so between that and the fact that I hadn't seen a duck in some minutes, I figured I was probably dealing with a quiet mammal. Soon, there was another wave pattern emanating just slightly closer to me. Whoever it was, he or she was headed my direction.

As I focused in on the shoreline in front of me, I wondered what it might be. The waves didn't seem to be big enough to be from a beaver; it seemed to be a pretty small animal. I had yet to hear a noise at all, and more waves were noticed, now perhaps only eight meters away. I started to watch the shore line about four to six meters away, figuring I'd be able to see whatever it was from there.

Suddenly, I looked a little closer and found a little face looking at me from not much more than a meter away in some bushes. The little guy was so wet that I wasn't sure what I was looking at, especially as it soon sat up and seemed to give me a closer inspection. I started to take pictures, which was tolerated for about fifteen seconds, and then the animal apparently tired of the attention and almost noiselessly slithered away inland.

Studying the pictures afterward, I think what I must have seen was a weasel, probably a long-tailed weasel. I did manage to get a picture of a portion of its tail as it disappeared into the underbrush, and it was definitely a furry tail, not that of a rat. He or she was pretty small, not more than the size of a domestic cat, perhaps even smaller.

My wildlife drought was definitely over; I had never seen a weasel along the Humber River before, and I had not been visited that closely along the river even by birds in a long time. I wonder where the weasel was going--will he be back to say hello again?

Margin Notes: Lights, Winter, Pretzels, Palin

The Toronto Railway Historical Association's Whitcomb diesel #1 was nicely lit by new LED lights at the John Street Roundhouse in Toronto, Ontario on 28-November-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - As the John Street Roundhouse and surrounding Roundhouse Park here continue to look more and more like a legitimate public attraction, LED lights have been installed outside the roundhouse doors that shine toward the center of the turntable. The result is a very attractive illumination of the Toronto Railway Historical Association's switching locomotive, Whitcomb #1, sitting at the center of the turntable as seen above.

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The early winter scene at the Humber River in Toronto, Ontario was observed as Canadian Pacific Expressway Train #122 passed on 29-November-2009

Such views are possible earlier and earlier in the evening as the winter solstice approaches. It may not technically be winter yet, but in terms of foliage, it already looks like winter. Compare the Humber River in mid-October with a view taken earlier today, with same train passing.

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The winter season is a travel season for many people, and some of you may have noticed the overhaul of the Amtrak web site in the United States. As I looked at various travel possibilities, I found one thing very confusing, the symbol used when snack service was available on a given train. It took me a long time to figure out that the symbol was supposed to be a pretzel--not a butterfly, a Mardi Gras mask, or Sarah Palin's hair.

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I've been avoiding any mention of Sarah Palin since I just don't think she warrants attention at this time, but the CBC satire show This Hour Has 22 Minutes did make her relevant to Canadians. In a piece of ambush journalism (18 minutes into the program), the show managed to get Palin to state that she thinks the Canadian health care system needs more private enterprise. Sigh. I suppose that's her advice for Dubai and Somalia as well?

Heritage: Hurricane Hazel Night

Newspapers from 1954 covering the ravages of Hurricane Hazel in the Toronto, Ontario were on display at Hurricane Hazel Night at the Lambton House on 16-October-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - I walked along the Humber River near my residence earlier today and found the water level to be lower than average for this time of year. That was not the case fifty-five years earlier, as Hurricane Hazel caused the Humber to rise to record levels and leading to the loss of dozens of lives. Those events were commemorated at Hurricane Hazel Night at the Lambton House earlier this evening.

Technically speaking, Toronto was not hit by a hurricane on 15-16-October-1954. The storm which had been Category IV Hurricane Hazel was an extratropical storm that had merged with a cold front and stalled right over the Greater Toronto Area after traveling more than a thousand miles across land from the Carolina Coast of the United States. Still, it was a hundred year storm for the Toronto area with sustained winds of 80 mph (reports were not in the metric system then) and 5.4 inches of rain collected at Malton Airport in 24 hours.


The editions of the Toronto Star on 16- and 17-October-1954 showed some of the damage from Hurricane Hazel, as seen on 16-October-2009.

Much of that water flowed into the Humber River, causing serious damage all along the river's length, with the most serious losses of life in Woodbridge, Weston, and along the border between York and Etobicoke (the latter three all parts of Toronto today). The Humber was the chosen focus by historians Madeleine McDowell and Michael Freeman, who made the presentation tonight at the Lambton House. They set out to record the human stories that occurred along the Humber River during the hurricane, many of which appeared on a DVD produced some years ago. Portions of that DVD and some more recent interviews were presented tonight.

One of the best-known stories was told on the DVD by a fireman working on that night. A teenage couple that Friday night had been caught by the rising waters of the Humber not far downriver from Dundas Street, and a group of five volunteer fire-fighters had gone out to try to rescue them. The rising waters trapped those fire-fighters, and another team from Etobicoke tried to go in to rescue them to no avail, barely escaping themselves. The first fire truck was found after the waters receded near the Old Mill, and metal from the truck was used for a plaque that now sits where the truck was consumed by the flood waters.


The original broadsheet from 16-October-1954 was compared with a 2004 reproduction at Hurricane Hazel Night held at the Lambton House on 16-October-2009

Another of the displays this evening were all the major Toronto papers from the days after the Hurricane. I was especially drawn to a story covered in several papers of a man, identified in the Star as lineman Gerard Elliott, age 33, who was hanging from a willow tree over the Humber during the storm. While police radio traffic reported in the Globe and Mail made it sound like nobody thought he would hang on, somehow he did until the water receded enough for him to safely drop out of the tree and wade to safety; he was a survivor. 81 other people across Ontario were not as fortunate. Bodies washed down the Humber were found all the way on the New York side of Lake Ontario.

One of the things I had wondered about was what routes were actually open with all the damage from the storm, and this was well-covered by the newspapers. With all bridges below Highway 7 out except St. Phillips, Dundas Street, and Bloor Street (and a hastily-constructed Bailey bridge for buses and pedestrians at the Lakeshore), traffic was a mess for a week (and beyond) and the Canadian National reported 14,000 people taking trains across the Humber into Toronto instead of the normal 1,000.

The Lambton House is always collecting more stories about what happened during Hurricane Hazel. If you have a story to share, please contact the Madeleine or Michael at the Lambton House. And, rest assured that there will be another Hurricane Hazel night to collect stories next year.

Photos: The Humber River

The marshes of the Humber River were observed during the Simcoe Walk on 26-September-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site features the tenth anniversary of the designation of the Humber River as a Canadian Heritage River, celebrated by a variety of events this year. Pictures from the Simcoe Walk on 26-September-2009, the Heritage Toronto Bâby Point walk on 30-August-2009, a festival across from the Old Mill on 19-September-2009, and the Heritage Toronto Weston walk on 19-September-2009 combined with many individual visits to capture the Humber River and the parallel Toronto Carrying Place from the river's marshes to nearly the north city limits in Toronto.

Margin Notes: Birds, Bees, Simcoe Cats

A bumble bee enjoyed a flower near The Junction in Toronto, Ontario on 24-September-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - I wore a jacket for the first time since a late July shower on Friday. It was a sure sign that summer has indeed ended in the last week. Summer may be over, but there are still a lot of flowers around Toronto inviting insects to pollinate them. At times this week, I almost thought it was spring--for example when catching the above bumble bee near The Junction or when walking with Governor Simcoe along the Humber River.

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Governor John Graves Simcoe came out of the forest near the Humber River in Toronto, Ontario on 26-September-2009

At least, it sure looked like I was walking with Simcoe. On Saturday, a "Simcoe Walk" was held re-enacting the first day of a 1793 walk that the Governor took north from Fort Toronto along the aboriginal Toronto Carrying Place to his first campsite located near what is now near Eglinton Avenue and the Humber River in Toronto. A local--and I mean local; he lives in Swansea not far from the Carrying Place--historical actor played the role of Simcoe during the walk.

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Walk leader Madeleine McDowell did not miss a beat as a cat decided to steal everyone's attention early in the Simcoe Walk on 26-September-2009

During the Simcoe walk, people came and went (mostly went as the walk was over five hours), but the most amusing moment may have come when a cat decided to check out what was happening and crashed one of the talks along the Humber River. The feline soaked up a lot of attention during that stop, but didn't follow along the Carrying Place.

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One of the largest groups of birds I have ever seen in Toronto was noted above the Humber River near the Eglinton Flats on 26-September-2009

If the cat had stayed with the group to the end, she might have scared away all the birds encountered near the camp site. It may be migration season, but the sounds and sights of the sheer number of birds encountered north of Eglinton Avenue along the Humber River was something I had personally never experienced in the city.

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The birds may have been high, but the CN Tower at 553 metres is higher and still resides in the Guinness Book of World Records. Recently, Guinness recognized the CN Tower as the tallest communication tower in the world, since it is no longer the tallest free-standing structure. However, as communication towers in China and Japan are planned to exceed 600 metres, it won't be long until the CN Tower is only the tallest concrete communications tower in the world.

Heritage: An Urban Heritage River

Guides from the Weston Historical Society paused to provide background on the Humber River at Cruickshank Park in the former Town of Weston in Toronto, Ontario on 20-September-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - As part of the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the designation of the Humber River as a Canadian Heritage River, the Weston Historical Society and Heritage Toronto put on a walk along the Humber River in the former Town of Weston, now part of Toronto.


The Humber River flowed quietly through the Weston neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario on 20-September-2009

The walk traced the Humber River from the former Canadian National bridge over the river (currently single-track, planned to be replaced with a four-track bridge for expanded airport service) northwest of Weston to Raymore Park, south of the town, a portion of the river that I had never explored before.


Weston's old town bell was located in Cruickshank Park along the Humber River on 20-September-2009

The theme of the day was mill sites--the entire length of the walk was once contained them, many of them built or owned at one time or another by the Holley family. The major park, though, traces its lineage to the Wadsworth family, later succeeded by the Cruickshanks, who donated the land to the city in 1928, creating Cruickshank Park. By 1952, the city had purchased land between Cruickshank and Sunset Parks, creating today's longer Cruickshank Park along the Humber.


An ossuary (large pit burial ground) was located somewhere near this site in Lions Park near Weston in Toronto, Ontario on 20-September-2009

Pre-European history also is prominent in this section of the river, as near Lions Park is the location of an ossuary. In 1911, human remains dating from the fifteenth century had been found here, and aboriginal groups had gathered them an interred them in a large pit, called an ossuary.


The remains of the older Raymore Bridge destroyed during Hurricane Hazel in 1954 became a monument next to the new bridge over the Humber, seen 20-September-2009

Of course, the most prominent history in this area was the damage caused by Hurricane Hazel in October 1954. The Humber River had crested at 30 feet above its base in this area, sweeping away--amongst other things--an entire street of fourteen homes. The remains of the old pedestrian bridge at Raymore Drive marked the end of the walk at the replacement bridge.

The chance to see a portion of Humber River with references to every era of its history was a great way to celebrate its tenth anniversary as a heritage river.

Heritage: Humber River 10th Anniversary

The Humber River flowed past the festivities at Étienne Brûlé Park (at right) in Toronto, Ontario celebrating its 10th anniversary as a heritage river on 19-September-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - On 24-September-1999, the Humber River was officially designated as a Canadian Heritage River over its entire length from the Oak Ridges Moraine and the Niagara Escarpment to Lake Ontario. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority put on an event celebrating this decade of heritage status this past Saturday, 19-September-2009, in Toronto's Étienne Brûlé Park along the river near the Old Mill subway station.


Various native and early settler artifacts from all along the Humber River were on display during the celebration in Toronto on 19-September-2009

The history of the Humber River clearly started in a time (at the end of the last ice age, when the glaciers withdrew) when only native peoples were in the region, and they were well-represented on Saturday with musical and dance performance groups, speakers, and a variety of artifacts on display. In their introductions and speeches, there was a major emphasis on respect for other groups (native or otherwise) at the celebration, which set a very nice tone for a day honoring a changing piece of the landscape.


The Humber River Shakespeare Company portrayed a conversation between French explorer Étienne Brûlé and a member of the Huron tribe during the Humber River celebrations on 19-September-2009

The European history of the river was introduced by a series of performances by the Humber River Shakespeare Company. The first few acts focused on French explorer Étienne Brûlé, who definitely spent time in the river's watershed whether he actually followed the river to Lake Ontario or not. The actors did a good job of portraying both Brûlé and early missionaries as somewhat naive about the realities of life along the river.


A Harris Hawk would perform in a raptor demonstration during the Humber River celebrations on 19-September-2009

The natural world was far from neglected at the event. A pair of hawks were on-hand for a raptor demonstration, and there was a lot of talk about the fish ladders to be constructed at several weirs so that salmon runs could be more robust up the river. Personally, I've only seen a single salmon above the tall weirs on the lower portion of the river.


A model of the fish ladder to be built next to the largest weirs on the lower Humber River was on display on 19-September-2009

I would have liked to stay for the whole show, but there was another event to attend celebrating the river going on that day, a Heritage Toronto-Weston Historical Society joint walk farther up the river. Coverage of that event is forthcoming.