On a recent Friday morning, when our cleaning lady, Lucy, was scheduled to visit, my husband Peter and I set off on another adventure. And, once again, we found a unique neighbourhood right in the middle of this great big metropolis.

Wychwood Park had called out to us from a book: Old Toronto Houses. It was not too far away, at the northwest corner of Bathurst and Davenport. We drove there and discovered that the roadway was closed to cars but a pedestrian gate stood unlocked. After we parked the car nearby, we stole through the gate and up a steep hill. And there they were, a gathering of historic homes, surrounding a pond. It was idyllic.

A plaque on the side of the road told us some of the history: naming the area after a forest in Oxfordshire, England, the original settler had an artists’ colony in mind when he built his house in 1874. Marmaduke Matthews, a painter, envisioned a group of “cottages” overlooking the city. There was no CN Tower, and no high rise condos in the way, and the views of Lake Ontario must have been spectacular.

Slowly other artists joined Matthews, along with well-to-do businessmen who were drawn to an oasis away from the hustle and bustle of downtown. In 1906 artist and president of the Ontario College Of Art, George Reid, built “Uplands Cottage.” A couple of years later a prominent lawyer, Ernest Du Vernet, built one of the grandest homes in the area, complete with a ballroom. In 1911 Eden Smith, architect, designed a home with one of the first attached garages. Soon others followed suit, designing and building about 60 homes along the banks of Taddle Creek Pond.

Since the early 1900’s many of the homes have been passed on to the next generation, but several prominent Torontonians have also found their way there. One of the most influential was Marshall McLuhan, media guru, who shared the neighbourhood with the likes of financial minister Joe Oliver, Hudson’s Bay CEO Bonnie Brooks, and journalist Libby Znaimer.

Peter and I spent a very pleasant hour walking along the forested roadway that cirlces the pond and nearby tennis courts. We were not alone; several residents said hello as we passed by. One woman asked us if we had ever been there before. Feeling like interlopers, we admitted that we had not. She quickly reassured us that many people dropped by often to take advantage of the beautiful neighbourhood. She gave us a quick overview and wished us a good trip.

We followed the meandering roadway uphill and around the pond as we admired the unique homes, some brick, some stucco, all with unusual architectural features. The pond, originally a shallow puddle, was dredged out by the locals and is now the scene of hockey tournaments in the winter, and 2 swans, Oscar and Felix, in the mild weather.

After we got home, we decided to find out more about this distinctive enclave. Well, looks can be deceiving and Wychwood Park, like many other neighbourhoods, has had its share of characters and conflicts. An original trust deed, created to get residents to pay for common expenses, is often challenged, and bickering among neighbours is commonplace.

The biggest scandal involved one resident, Albert Fulton, who considered himself the steward of the area. He became upset when people started parking cars on the sides of the road instead of in their driveways. One night in 2008 he took his rage outside and began slashing tires. He was caught and, while waiting for his sentence to be pronounced, he drowned himself in Lake Ontario.

So this winter, when you walk around your neighbourhood, enjoy the architecture and natural features. And be kind to your neighbours, because you never know who might be dealing with loneliness or grievances, during this stressful time.

Sue

Back a while, I brazenly announced that November was the worst month of the year. Now everyone is thinking that January might be in the running.

The days are dark, cold, windy, and short. The streets and paths where we walk are sometimes icy, and nobody wants to start 2021 with a broken hip. And there will be days of minus 20 where even thermal underwear won’t keep us warm enough, so sometimes we’ll be forced to stay inside.

There is an emotional let-down after the high of Christmas. Even though we didn’t spend time with our families, many of us put up decorations and lights which we now have to pack up and store away. And we need to figure out what to do with those gorgeous red poinsettias which have no January relevance but extremely long lives. Left unchecked they can last until Easter.

Then we have to deal with the gifts we received. Those size Medium pyjamas, which might have fit us before we ate all that Christmas baking, now have to be exchanged – online. And what to do with the gifts we don’t want? That tacky sweatshirt with the covid sayings, or the plastic palm tree intended to cheer us up? We can’t even go to a Salvation Army store to drop them off.

But surely we can find some good things about January?

Despite the cold and dark, the days Are getting longer. Do you know that today is exactly one minute longer than yesterday? Yesterday the sun set at 4:55 and today it sets at 4:56. We can’t waste that extra minute feeling sad.

While we are putting away the holiday decorations we have the perfect opportunity to clean out cupboards, tidy up the basement, maybe even sort out filing cabinet drawers. We can set up the unwanted palm tree in a corner, order a load of sand, and have a beach party for two. Well OK maybe I am getting carried away…

When the weather allows, there are some interesting places to go on foot. If you live near the Junction, you can explore the Window Wonderland by walking along Dundas between Keele and Quebec Ave, enjoying the art work in the store windows. If you live near downtown, you can head over to Nathan Phillips Square, buy a hot chocolate, and watch the skaters. If you live near Lake Ontario you can visit after a windy day and see the gorgeous ice sculptures formed on bushes by waves splashing up near the shore.

January is a new beginning for online activity too. Unlike last spring when everything shut down, many lecture series, bridge clubs, and courses have been revamped to an online platform. And sports are once again on TV. Even though the audiences are pathetic cardboard figures with canned applause, the broadcasts still give us the chance to cheer on our favourite teams.

There is one big attribute of January for me: both of my children were born during this month, only (3 years and) 2 days apart. When they were little this was a problem. Because one was an older girl and the other a younger boy, they did not want to share a party. They felt that Fairy Princesses did not see eye to eye with Luke Skywalker. It meant 2 parties. Now that they are grown up they usually agree to share. So in a couple of weeks…wait for it… another party in the garage! Looks like I’ll be hanging up those plastic table cloths again.

And finally, January is a time for making New Year’s resolutions. This year, forget about the usual ones – losing 20 pounds and exercising every day. Instead, go for something more attainable, like remembering all the joy in our lives: good food, a warm home, friends and grandchildren to facetime with, and the possibility of a vaccine sometime soon.

Sue

The top story on the news yesterday? Not Trump, not the terrible bomb blast in Nashville, not the covid numbers. No – it was dog smuggling!

During this long, lonely pandemic, people are reaching out for something to cuddle, to talk to, and to force them into exercising. Dogs are the perfect answer. If you can find one. Several friends and relatives have their names on very long lists and their chequebooks ready in case they are lucky enough to find a dog that is the right breed for them. For some people, Any breed is the right breed.

Between us, my husband Peter and I have 4 grand children and now, with the pandemic, we have 4 grand dogs too! This number recently increased from 2, and both of our new grand-puppies joined us for Christmas – in the garage.

Once again we moved our cars out, and hung up the white plastic table cloths to hide all the junk. And this time we added festive red bows. The kids wanted us to set up a tree too, but their visits were going to be very short, not worth the effort of a decorated tree. Instead, we set out their gifts on tables and invited everybody to drop by to pick up the gifts along with Christmas-Dinner-To-Go. Visits at a distance – with no hugs, but at least we saw their faces!

And their new dogs. First came Finnegan, an adorable beige Huskie-Akita mix, with a cute curly tail and perky ears. He accompanied us to the park where the kids let off steam having a snowball fight. Finn was in heaven – balls to chase! He seemed shocked that they disintegrated in his mouth when he tried to chew them. Soon he and his family felt it was time to go home and get a real ball.

After Finn left, Teidi arrived with his family. Teidi (Irish for Teddy Bear), is a furry black and white Newfie. Right now he is a manageable size and loves cuddling. I wanted to hold him on my lap but he hasn’t yet figured out that I am his Nana and he has a duty to get up there. But he did snuggle up to my legs and kept them warm.

We have to admit that the garage is not a great party facility. The heating is negligible and the plastic table cloths hiding the junk are not exactly elegant, even with the red bows. But it is a great venue for dogs that aren’t yet housebroken. The concrete floor is very forgiving. Knocked-over drinks, muddy paw prints, and accidental pees are all easily washed away with the hose.

Now that the grandchildren are past the toddler stage, we have gotten used to good behaviour. They don’t even climb on the furniture any more! And, before the pandemic, they would go into our guest bedroom and play quietly together. Dare I saw that it was boring? So we are glad to welcome 2 new puppies to entertain us. Despite the fact that they are both going to be very Large, we have our hopes pinned on puppy training classes.

What I do know is that last Friday a warm hug, albeit a doggie one, was the perfect way to celebrate a pandemic Christmas.

Sue

As you finish decorating your home for the holidays, don’t forget to put red or green food colouring in the toilet bowl, to give your bathroom that added festive touch.

Only Joking! Sorry! I was just trying to take your attention away from the deviant virus strain and the impending lockdown. Despite all this bad news, there are still lots of worthwhile things we can do to celebrate. Readers pointed out that I had neglected to mention some important ones in previous posts:

First of all, giving to charity. This is an annual tradition with many readers, and one that is especially important during these pandemic times. One thing I missed this year was putting $5 into every Salvation Army drum I came across while I was Christmas shopping. It always made me feel less guilty as I was buying expensive and sometimes frivolous gifts for friends and family This year donations can be made online, if we remember to do it.

This year too it’s good to remember the extra effort from our essential workers: the clerks arriving at our favourite grocery store an hour early to welcome seniors; the technicians working overtime in our medical labs; the waiters at our local take-out restaurant who are trying desperately to stay afloat. A bigger tip, an extra thank-you; both go a long way these days.

Then there is Christmas music. Some of it is religious, some secular, and some, like Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, downright tacky! But it all lifts our spirits. Since we can’t join others to sing this year, we can turn on Alexa and sing as loudly as we want. There’ll be nobody to hear our wrong notes with the kitchen windows closed.

One of Toronto’s long-standing musical traditions, the Star’s Christmas Concert at Yorkminster Church, is always sold out. Patrons line up a couple of weeks ahead to get tickets. This year the concert was virtual. Since choir singing is definitely forbidden during an airborne onslaught of germs, the choir songs were taped from previous years. But there were two well-known Canadian musicians, Jim Cuddy and Measha Bruggergosman, to spread holiday cheer. It wasn’t as good as being there in person, but we could sing along in the privacy of our homes.

And don’t forget the Christmas light shows. Check them out with a casual stroll around your neighbouhood, wearing your thermal underwear of course. People this year have gone overboard with outdoor lights, trying to bring a little brightness into our dark world. And we see a new trend this year – larger decorations on front yard trees. It seems that many people have traded their indoor trees, which nobody will see anyway, for larger outdoor ones instead.

Finally there are our traditional indoor gatherings with friends and family, which are strictly forbidden as the covid numbers skyrocket. Last week my husband Peter and I decided to try a park party with some friends. We chose a big park with tables and washrooms, and agreed to meet mid-day, before the dark and cold set in. The tables had attached metal sets which were so chilly that most of us stood, and nobody dared venture into the washrooms. But we managed to exchange Secret Santa gifts from a distance, and to have a Christmas toast with our water bottles. It was the shortest Christmas party on record!

As the big day approaches, I wish all my dear readers the best possible Christmas under the circumstances. Sing out loud in the kitchen as you prepare your tiny turkey, go for a walk in your neighbourhood to admire the lights, and call your family on facetime or zoom. And definitely try not to get run over by a reindeer.

Sue

Now that the days are shorter and colder, we are finding joy in our back yard. No, we’re not sitting out there, bundled up, on my red swing; we’re watching from our kitchen window. And we could learn a lot of life lessons from the creatures out there.

The centre of activity is the bird feeder. It’s dozens of years old and sits on a pole, armed with a baffle to keep the squirrels out. The birds congregate there daily around 9:00 for breakfast and then again around noon. There is a definite “pecking order:” the bigger the bird, the closer to the front of the line. The jays are pretty bossy so they go first; the tiny chickadees are the last.

The cardinals are a bit skittish. They wait in a nearby bush until the coast is clear. Then they eat with one eye on the food and the other one watching for danger. Who can blame them, wearing those bright red coats? One day recently I was looking for a photo for the front of our Christmas cards. We usually use a trip photo but, of course there are none of either trips or photos this year. So I thought a bright red cardinal on a snow-covered bush would be perfect. But would they sit still and pose for me? Not on your life! I finally managed to snag a picture but you almost need a magnifying glass to see him.

Every once in a while the feeder needs to be refilled. Peter finishes his morning coffee and then heads out. But one day he was late. There was a tapping at the kitchen window. We rushed over to see a woodpecker, pecking away loudly, telling him to get the heck out there and fill it!

Minou, the neighbours’ cat, loves the birds too. She doesn’t just watch, though. She has a plan. She lies under the feeder until she is invisible, covered by falling snow. Then she rises up, ghost-like, and pounces! Sometimes she even catches one. But the truth is she’s a picky eater, so she lets the bird go. Then she jumps up on the kitchen windowsill and meows for store-bought cat treats instead.

But the most entertaining by far are the squirrels. Somehow they manage to get up on the feeder. But how? One day there were Two of them up there! We are truly baffled by their agility.

When they figure out that the feeder is full, they begin their quest. First they try to climb the pole, but they get caugt by the baffle. You can only see their tails twitching below as they inspect the baffle ceiling for holes. Next they climb up on top of the swing and, after gathering up their courage, they make a flying leap for the feeder. Usually they miss, and spread out like a magic carpet, landing softly on the ground. After picking themselves up and shaking off, they climb up the magnolia tree on the other side of the feeder. Gingerly they test out the highest branch and make another flying leap. Oops – missed again!

But sometimes, when our backs are turned, they make it! We have spent hours watching, trying to figure out how they do it. How do they get way up there? Then one day Peter yelled at me from the kitchen window: “I saw it!” A very athletic black squirrel had done a running high jump from the patio, landed on the top of the baffle, balanced itself while reaching up and grabbing the feeder ledge, then hauling itself upwards. Success!

During these pandemic times, squirrels know that patience and perseverance pay off.

Sue

Every second Friday my husband Peter and I escape from our house so that Lucy can come in and clean. What destination could be better than Paris? No, not That Paris – the other one. The one about an hour’s drive from Toronto.

In the fall, I enrolled in a University of Toronto architecture course that covered heritage buildings in small towns of southern Ontario. We studied different architectural styles and periods. Several of them are represented in Paris. We decided to go exploring.

As we drove there, Peter asked about the name. Were we going to see a copycat Eifel Tower? In fact the name comes from something far less sophisticated: one of the town’s natural resources – plaster of Paris! Tons of gypsum, which was originally found in France, is now mined along the banks of the two rivers, the Nith and the Grand, which converge in the centre of this small Ontario town. So no Eifel Tower, no Louvre, no Notre Dame cathedral. But lots of other interesting architecture to see.

Our first discovery walk was into Lower Town where several landmark cobblestone buildings are still standing. Levi Boughton, one of the early settlers, arrived from England in 1838, armed with first-hand knowledge of cobblestone construction. When he found the perfect stones along the banks of the two rivers, he was in heaven.

A close look at the construction of these places – a church and several private residences – shows that building them was labour-intensive for sure. Cobblestones, we learned, are about the size of a fist; bigger than pebbles and smaller than boulders. Each smooth round cobblestone was carried up from the riverbanks and painstakingly placed in neat rows of gypsum/plaster. They have withstood the ravages of Ontario weather for years.

Then we walked along the Grand River to Upper Town, the city centre. The original hotel, the Bradford built in the 1850’s, is still in use today, renamed the Arlington. Just up the street is the Romanesque-style Presbyterian Church built in 1893. The wheel window, ornate brickwork, round towers and terra cotta detail are hard to ignore. The town library, paid for by Andrew Carnegie in 1904, conforms to his specifications of a stately front entrance with an imposing staircase. Unfortunately this building was not accessible, so the original entrance has been blocked off, and the main entrance is now around the corner at street level.

As you would guess, the mansions are located in Upper Town too, along an aptly named street: Grand River St. These homes were originally built by the town’s wealthiest and most influential citizens. Norman Hamilton, who made his millions from a distillery and a pork-packing business, designed one of the earliest stately homes, a beautiful Regency “cottage,” Hamilton Place, in 1884. Even for such a large structure, he chose cobblestones.

Other large homes have been repurposed to suit the needs of modern Paris residents. Captain Peter Cox, a military man from England, built an ornate Italian Villa on Grand River Street. It’s now a funeral home. Hiram Capron, known as the town’s founder, built a huge mansion on the banks of the Grand in 1887. It was later purchased and extensively renovated by John Penman who also built a huge business out of men’s underwear. This imposing mansion is now a retirement residence. It looked pretty good to us!

In modern times this place is often referred to as “Ontario’s prettiest little town,” and we could see the potential on a warm summer day. The two rivers meet at a park in the centre of town where benches invite strollers to sit and enjoy the view. Small boutique shops line the streets. We were tempted to do some Christmas shopping there, but we were interlopers and didn’t want to scare the locals who might fear our potential Toronto Covid germs. So we ate our sandwiches in the car and then headed back down the highway to our clean house, happy to have had such an interesting glimpse of the past.

Sue

As we turn our calendars to the December page and watch winter arriving on our lawns, we are reminded that the annual change of seasons is one reason we all love to live in Canada. Yes, really – we do!

Think of all the excitement! We change our eating habits and get out new menus. No more salads with all that chopping. No more driving to the country farm for fresh corn. No more cleaning the BBQ every night. Instead – comfort food! Hot creamy soups and rich stews with big chunks of beef swimming in thick gravy. That fresh fruit now baked into a warm cobbler with whipped cream on top. A cup of hot chocolate or apple cider served with roasted chestnuts in front of a crackling fire. Yum!

Then there is our “new” wardrobe. We put away our shorts and tee shirts, clothes we wore for the last several months, that no longer fit due to all the extra snacking. Instead we think of snuggling into that big turtleneck bought on sale last February. Top it off with a (fake) fur-lined coat, that unflattering hat pulled over our ears, and the high boots with the tire tread. It’s a whole new look!

Our activities change too. Since we’re sick of walking on the same trails, we can put on snow shoes and travel into forests and other out-of-the-way places. We can go skating on recently-opened ice rinks. And, with golf courses closed down, we can ski across the fairways and check out the view from the tee boxes. For even more exercise – we can shovel the driveway!

December also gives us everybody’s favourite season – Christmas. Despite the pandemic, there are many things to celebrate about Christmas. First off, we get to decorate our houses differently. Add a welcoming wreathe to our boring front doors. Put some scented pine boughs on the mantle. Find that dancing Santa and feature him on the dining room table. Add twinkly lights everywhere. Hide those indoor plants and bring in the Christmas tree!

During a pandemic our Christmas cards are going to be more important than ever. When we check our mailboxes, we’ll find something better than ads for duct cleaning and real estate. And those personal messages will warm everyone’s heart. As for gifts – we can still go shopping online, something we are all accustomed to by now. We can help our local business as well. Browse their online catalogues and choose the perfect gifts for everyone on our list. During covid this is pretty easy: books, sports equipment (with thermal underwear), or chocolate are all good because they give people something to do.

Visiting with family and friends during the holidays? Well, unfortunately that’s a tough call this year, and options are extremely limited. We still have Zoom. Or drive-bys where we wave from the car windows while throwing unbreakable gifts onto the driveway. OR… well my husband Peter and I have been looking at our garage/party room again. What? You don’t want to read about us putting up the white plastic sheets for the 3rd time, even if we decorate them with red bows? Well we don’t want to do it either! Last time it was chilly in there, even with the heater. Think of how frosty it might be on December 25th!

As we figure out these challenges, we all need to stay safe so we can celebrate Christmas properly next year. Meanwhile, if you have any Christmas thoughts or suggestions, send them along.

Sue

As we try to survive another lockdown, we’ll be looking once again to our new best friend, Zoom, to help us through.

Zoom and other online connection platforms are not the only new technologies ready to help us with distractions throughout this time of isolation. Take the recently developed shower head with a built-in speaker. It gives you up to 7 hours of music via Bluetooth, so you can sing while you are soaping up. That’s extra practice time for your new singing career! You can also connect to other speakers in your home so that family members in another room can sing along. Fortunately there is no camera involved.

Then there is the trendy new vacuum, Roomba, which vacuums your whole house and replaces your cleaning lady who might have covid germs. But consider my husband Peter’s recent purchase, meant to scare away the squirrels and skunks who are digging up the lawn. A black box called Yard Gard, it operates on a high-frequency signal which scares the creatures away. Then we realized we had nothing to watch in the back yard! So we sent it back.

But, as the dark winter looms, without even the joy of a family Christmas to plan for, we need more than just singing and animals to distract us. We need mental health support! Online courses provide some relief, and there are many options.

Blog readers talk about book clubs, exercise classes, and bridge lessons online. Other readers tell us about lecture series that cover many different topics, from art to history to science. These courses and lectures are especially good if you have your wine and potato chips on your desk. I am even considering an online course in Italian for the winter. If I don’t know the answer to “comme stai?” I can turn off my camera and pretend I went to the bathroom.

Do these platforms work perfectly? Not really. Peter and I took part in our university 50th reunion online recently. It was informative but it wasn’t personal. Many beloved classmates weren’t there, and opportunities to chat were limited. Nothing replaces that face-to-face meeting where we can see smiles and other body language. And of course wrinkles. Then we can ask ourselves, “How did those Other people get so old?”

A while ago Peter and I tried to turn a Zoom performance into a face-to-face meeting, and we got into trouble. We had been invited to watch a performance of a grand daughter who was taking an online acting course. We eagerly signed onto the Zoom platform, a new experience for us. And there, on the screen, were the Other grandparents, people we know quite well, all the way over in New Zealand! Without thinking, we waved frantically and called out to them in very loud voices: “Hi over there! How are you doing??”

Almost immediately our phone rang. It was Peter’s daughter telling us to “mute” our mic NOW because we were ruining the performance for everyone else. Oops! Where was that mute button anyway?

Sometimes we oldies are not to be trusted with technology, even during a pandemic.

Sue

Celebrating special events during a pandemic is tough. Never mind Easter, Thanksgiving and Hallowe’en, which will all happen again next year. What about milestone birthdays, once in a lifetime?

We have had several of these in our family during the last 8 months. This means that everyone is getting older, which beats the alternative, and we have figured out small ways to celebrate. Gift drop-offs with clapping, outdoor picnics in parks, and garage gatherings; all indicate that at least the event has not gone unnoticed. Honouring a 75th birthday was our latest challenge.

Some parts of this celebration were easy to arrange. Gifts for my particular 75-year-old, aka Peter, are not hard to find. He is one of a generation of men who seem to feel that clothes don’t matter. Wear that holey shirt to the store? Who will notice? Put on worn-out suit pants to do the gardening? Why not? Old shoes that are scuffed and leaking? Perfect for cleaning out the garage! “Reduce, re-use, recycle” is their motto and it is mostly a good one.

In a perfectly timed request the other day, Peter asked me to mend his hiking pants. “Just a tiny hole” he said. It was not exactly tiny and it was not on a seam, so it couldn’t really be mended in the usual way. I got out an iron-on patch. Oops – it seems the hiking pants were made out of a material that melts and the “tiny” hole was now Huge. I hid the pants and thought about what to do. Then one of the “kids” called, asking for birthday gift ideas. Phew – saved!!

Setting up the garage for a family drop-in was easy too. I still had the plastic sheets left over from the last garage party and they transformed the space into a festive banquet hall. Well that may be a slight exaggeration, but I did add balloons to cover up the gaps between the sheets. And we got a new, heavy-duty heater. We were ready for the masked guests to arrive, one family at a time.

Nine-year-old Agnes and her parents came in the morning, wearing warm coats and bearing a birthday cake which Agnes had baked herself. It was a tasty work of art and we made a huge dent in it. They also brought new hiking pants as a gift. Yea! After an hour they were getting cold and it was time to leave. We waved good-bye from a distance and went inside to wait for the next guests.

In the afternoon Peter’s 2 other sons arrived separately, with our other grandchildren and 2 dogs. They all had jackets on (although the dogs forgot theirs). We sat across from one another and tried to stay warm as the winds howled outside and the darkness moved in. We watched Peter open more gifts: a warm sweater with a sheepskin lining, and a box with 2 merino wool hats. How useful! He quickly stashed them behind his chair.

Gradually everyone got up and started moving to keep warm. It was difficult trying to dance around one another while staying 2 meters apart. Eventually even the heater, the hot apple cider, and the jackets were not enough. Fearing for the safety of his new sweater and hats, Peter suggested it was time for the party to end. As the shivering guests headed for the warmth of their cars, we all agreed that it was a birthday we would remember for a long time.

But it’s getting harder to imagine a Christmas in the garage with the snow blowing in. We’ll have to add another feature to our party venue. If anyone sees red blankets on sale at a good price, can you let me know? I’ll need several.

Sue

When my husband Peter and I moved from the country to the city a couple of years ago, one of our reasons for moving was so that we would have more to do. We didn’t know then that we would be doing it during a pandemic.

These times are testing our ability to be creative, to find new and interesting things to keep us active and engaged. That challenge is definitely easier in the good weather. Think how wonderful the last few days have been. With the sun shining and the breezes warming our faces, those long walks and patio lunches filled our souls with joy. But can we keep doing that during the colder months? I think we can!

The busy main street in our neighbourhood has been growing outdoor patios for the last couple of months. They are sprouting up all over the road, separated from noisy cars whizzing past by only a small fence and a concrete abutment; not really conducive to conversation or fine dining. But there are some ingenious restauranteurs who have branched out. One pub owner created a patio out of a back-door parking lot by building an arbor and covering it with fake vines . Another high-end restaurant owner climbed up his stairs to the roof and voila – a “high”-end patio! These places need only add some outdoor heaters and their season can extend through November at least.

On two of our recent walks, Peter and I came across a couple of other patio gems. One day we drove to a parking area near Ontario Place, and walked around the grounds. We spent a couple of hours reminiscing about the good old days when Ontario Place was open and we visited with our young families, taking in concerts, movies in the Cinesphere, and the beach on Lake Ontario. These days the buildings are closed but the grounds are open, and some washrooms too.

After wandering around, we headed north through the deserted CNE grounds and up towards a street that would take us back to our car. There, unexpectedly, we came across a patio. It was in a large sunken courtyard with tables well-distanced, and there were heaters near each table. The aroma was enticing and suddenly we were starving. Well not Third World starving, just hungry. We spent a very enjoyable hour eating a late brunch and staying warm at the Big Rock Brewery.

On another adventure we set out to explore Corktown. This is an area in the south-east end of the city which was the original landing place of settlers from County Cork, Ireland, or so the story goes. This part of the city seems to be the original Toronto settlement: the very first parliament buildings of Upper Canada were situated here until they burned down, one after another, three times. Part of the land is on the Don River floodplain, so building there is forbidden. Instead, a wonderful new park was created in 2013. Walking trails, fountains, a children’s playground, all fit into the gently rolling hills of Corktown Commons.

There were a number of industries here too, built during the 1800’s, mostly related to the distillery business. And so we now have – The Distillery District. And guess what? Lots of patios! Peter and I wandered along the streets, inspecting them and trying to decide where to sit. We settled on El Catrin, a Mexican place. The food was excellent, and the heating was extensive. A huge fire pit in the centre of the patio radiated heat out to the nearby diners. Above each table a dual-purpose chandelier sent heat downwards. And as back-up there were several electric heaters on stand-by. We were toasty warm as we ate our tacos.

These visits have given us hope. if we could find two patio treasures like these without really trying, there must be more. Are there enough to get us through to Spring? We’ll find out!

Sue

One