Joy of Writing - Remember

 The road was deserted when he pulled out of the driveway, and looking down the expanse of empty asphalt he decided to let the old Road Runner really go and he floored the throttle. The back tires broke loose and the howl from the tortured rubber was a thrill to him. It wasn’t very often he could do this anymore. The roads were filled with compact foreign vehicles and their drivers probably couldn’t remember what it was like to actually have more power under the hood than you needed. Then there were the proliferation of the electric cars that did not even make any noise at all. Really?

The Road Runner with it’s 426 hemi engine was definitely old school. It even still had the original 8-track in the dash, although it was hard to get any tapes that actually worked in it. 

He ran the car to redline in second gear and slammed it into third, breaking the tires free again with a chirp. Looking at the speedometer, he realized that he was well over the speed limit already, but the road was still clean so he pushed the gas pedal down hard again as the car hit 90 mph. 

Then with a sign, he took his foot off the gas and let the car slow, shifting down again into third to at least hear the engine growl as it slowed the car.

God that felt good!

He woke with a start as his wife poked his - “Bob, you really have to try to stay awake or I”m going to make you drive next time. This new electric Tesla just seems to put you to sleep every trip!”

Sometimes the Trees Win

 I have noticed that trees and fences do not get along so well. If a fence is put up close to a tree, the tree grows and often begins to encroach on the fence. If the fence is light weight the tree will just push it out of the way, but a heavy duty fence such as put up around parks and cemeteries do not budge easily and sometimes the tree is forced to grow around the part of the fence close to it. On my explorations around cities I often find examples of trees and fences that have become merged, the tree growing around the metal of the fence. I started taking pictures of these interactions between trees and fences and sometimes the trees win the confrontations but often the trees ended by damaged to the point of having to be cut away from the fences. It does however make for some interesting photos. 

I think this fence lost

This tree lost his battle!

Kindness of Strangers 2026

 Toronto was sunny and hot on a Saturday when I decided to take some visitors from the Netherlands on one of my special “Toronto Walking Tours”. One of their requests was to visit Toronto’s  St. Lawrence Market, so after walking around the our neighbouthood, we took a bus ride downtown and  arrived to a VERY busy market with six thirsty tourists. Getting something to quench their thirst was not a problem, but finding someplace to sit and enjoy it was simply impossible.

However as an experienced ‘tour guide’ I knew that a short walk down a side street would find us a place with both drinks and seating. And sure enough we found a little  cafe with empty seats. As a bonus, there was a jazz band setting up in the venue. Perfect!

It was an odd spot, and we discovered that is was a summer “Pop-up” that made use of an unused parking lot, and always featured jazz music all summer. However, although we could see that there were lots of unoccupied chairs , finding enough for all of us out of the hot August sun took some doing. Finally, seeing an elderly gentleman sitting at a large table by himself we asked him if we could join him. 

“Of course, I only need one chair for my granddaughter who will be joining me.”

He told us that the band that was setting up was a regular at this venue and that although it was only a “summer event”, it had been operating in the same spot for 35 years. Waiting for our drinks we chatted with him about many things, and he had us looking forward to hearing the band. 

The band started playing and his granddaughter arrived, and the band was every bit as good as he said, so we stayed longer than we had expected to enjoy the music. 

Then as the band leader singled out our table host we discovered that indeed he had been attending the event for 35 years and had started bringing his granddaughter to enjoy it since she was five years old. It was so nice to share the table with him and sing along with the special song the band played just for him. Just another example of the kindness of strangers; thanks for sharing your special table with us. 

Joy of writing - Story 10 - Discovered

She found the plant at a local flea market, reduced for a quick sale as things were closing up for the day and she decided it would be perfect for in her kitchen window. She carried it home, stopping to pick up some new potting soil and a nice green pot to put it in. 

She lovingly repotted it, noticing that it seemed to have a healthy set of roots and the new pot gave it plenty of room to grow. And she was right, it did look very nice in her kitchen window. 

The plant seems to agree with its new home and it grew rapidly, doubling in size quickly, and required a bigger pot and more soil. It’s leaves spread and it was soon blocking out the light coming in the window. She decided to move it to the patio door where it would get the full benefit of the afternoon sun. 

However it soon because a nuisance because she could not longer even open the patio door to get out to her back yard. So since the weather had turned out warm and pleasant she moved her plant out onto the back patio where she planted it in the garden and it really thrived, soon towering over the fence. 

That was when she discovered what her new plant actually was. The police officer who knocked on her door questioned her about whether she had a licence to grow marijuana for her personal use. 

But its just about Cloth . . . .

You remember that great book I was writing about months ago, 111 Places in Toronto That You Must Not Miss? Well one of the suggested places was the Textile Museum of Canada. But really what would be interesting about a museum about cloth, so I always found other places here in Toronto to explore that sounded more exciting. Now I do sew myself, and I had very cool  embroidered bell-bottomed jeans back in the 60’s, and I have friends who are skilled artists in cloth, so I should have known better but this place got skipped for a long time. 

But after three years here, I have pretty well seen everything in the book that was easy to reach. I have actually explored 72 out of the 111 places in the book, so really, the useful utility of the book was wearing thin, and most of the ones I have not seen are in out of the way. places. So, one day in early spring, with nothing else planned, the Textile Museum got moved up the “to-do” list and we decided to go check it out. It is described in the book as, 

The Textile Museum of Canada is a small, niche museum that is big on beauty and colour - Renowned internationally for it’s diverse and relevant exhibits in addition to it’s innovative programming, a visit here is both educational and entertaining.”

Now I admit, I didn’t actually read the description before I decided to go or I might have made up my mind earlier, because that does sound pretty interesting; I saw “Textile Museum”, thought “cloth” and skipped to the next item. 

Checking the address, we found that it was conveniently located downtown within walking distance, just off Dundas St, between the AGO and city hall, so it was easy to find. It is located down a side street and in a building that appears to be an apartment building. You enter and climb upstairs to the second floor and are greeted warmly by enthusiastic volunteers.  

And the museum is not just cloth and thread, it contains an amazing collection of items and not all of them are even made of Textile. How about a child’s waterproof suit sewn entirely out of fish skin; I expect that would keep the rain away, or a tapestry created by an entire village featuring thousands of tiny beads. There were hooked rugs, elaborate wedding outfits and simply amazing textile art work. Some of the things on display literally had me staring in awe - how could they do this?

I discovered an entire section on rug hooking and my grandmother did some amazing hooked rugs that she created using wool from her own sheep that she dyed herself and as kids we actually watched Scenes from Nova Scotia as we climbed the stairs to go to bed when visiting her. I found her old worn stair climber when cleaning out her attic and I have kept it,  so I even spoke to some of the volunteers about donating some of her work. 

There are pieces from all over the world, and most are really beautiful and truly amazing. Not only do they have a wonderful collection of textile artwork on display, they also maintain an extensive  collection in storage, and as you finish your tour you emerge to a workshop where weaving, rug hooking and other textile workshops are held. 

So if you are visiting Toronto and have any interest in textile art, the museum is certainly worth a visit. 

One Shoe?

What do you do with Just one shoe? I see many odd things as I explore the streets here in Toronto, but one of the things that always intrigues me is when I find single shoes sitting somewhere. One lonely shoe all by itself, it’s matching one no where to be seen. How does that happen? Someone is walking down the street and a shoe falls off but they don’t notice and continue on without it. I suppose it might have been a pair of shoes in a backpack that was left open and only one fell out undetected. Possibly that one shoe was just hurting the foot it was supposed to be cradling comfortably and the wearer got mad and took it off and threw it away and hobbled home on one single shoe. 

It does make one wonder? What happened that one single shoe got left on the streets of Toronto all by itself?

Well yes there is one actual pair here.

Joy of Writing -Story 9 - AI

The computer was a great deal, only $500.00. She had never heard of the name before but the salesman told her all about it and it sounded like a really quality machine. He made a big deal about the built in AI, which was quickly explained as “Artificial Intelligence” when she questioned what AI was. That sounded really good, since she had to admit that any extra Intelligence was welcome since she had to admit that she did not catch onto things quickly and it always seemed to take her longer to learn new things. She figured that having a computer that could help her think about things would be a real bonus in her life. 

The salesman told her that it was very easy to set it up and all she would have to do is give it basic information and the computer would do most of the setup for her. This was mostly true, and she typed in her name and her address, and the computer asked her for her network name. Duh . .  how was she supposed to know that, her boyfriend had set that all up for her, but this did not seem to matter since she was presented with a list of available networks and she was able to recognize the one she used. Although the computer did question her about it, saying that it was not the network in her exact location and was in fact from across the hall.

“Well of course, I don’t have my own network, we just borrow from Martin across the hall, he doesn’t seem to mind.” She said, not really expecting the computer to actually listen to her, but it replied immediately.

“That’s not strictly legal you know, but I can work with that. Let’s see if I can get the password?” Came from the speaker on the kitchen counter. 

In seconds the computer came online and she watched her e-mail suddenly scrolling down the screen, and then suddenly her boyfriend's favourite porn site flashed up. 

“No No I don’t want that!” She said, now knowing she was in direct communication with this new toy.”

In fifteen minutes the computer rebooted and a message appeared telling her she was all ready to go and all was good. 

And it really was good, this was a quality computer; it was excellent. It fixed her spelling on her e-mails and the paper she had been trying to write for her university class was suddenly finished and although she barely understood most of it, it sure sounded great. 

After a week, the computer had learned to control her HVAC system and she came home one day to a nice hot meal waiting at the apartment that was from one off her favourite restaurants. When she lost her job at the coffee shop, the computer suggested she apply to another office job and it provided a much better resume than the the one  she had written a few years ago - only a few sections were slightly exaggerated but it got her the job. 

Things she did not even know she needed started appearing from Amazon and they all seemed to fit exactly into her life and she quickly realized she should have had them months ago. 

She came home one day and the computer had an e-mail inviting her to take part in an experiment in Artificial Intelligence, and since she had acquired this computer she actually did feel intelligent, so she went. 

The sessions were fascinating and the more she went the more she realized how much she loved her new computer. Then it suggested she upgrade to a newer model at no cost. That was too good to pass up and and it offered something called a Neural connection which she thought sounded like a great idea, and slowly she spent more and more time on the computer. 

Her friends started calling to check on her and she never really seemed to have time to talk to them. Her boyfriend had given up on her months ago. She no longer seemed to have to go to work and the computer kept the money coming in.

Six months after she got the new computer, her brother came to visit, but he got no answer at the door. Using the key he had been given years ago he let himself in and was shocked to find her mummified body sitting at the Kitchen table with a cable connecting her to a computer glowing in front of her.