[PHOTO] Eight photos from the Steps of Old Lake Iroquois

My Dupont Street lies south of Davenport Road, which lies at the bottom of the escarpment that marks the ancient shoreline of Glacial Lake Iroquois. This, an Ice Age version of Lake Ontario distended by the ice dam that prevented the lake from draining down the St. Lawrence, covered what is now downtown Toronto, changing the geography of the modern city irrevocably. The Scarborough Bluffs, the Toronto Islands, High Park's Grenadier Pond, my home, even--all that and more are products of Lake Iroquois.

My curiosity in the changed landscape is what made me leave yesterday morning for "The Steps of Old Lake Iroquois", one of the weekend's many Jane's Walks. Leader Gary Shaul ably guided a gaggle of people all along the escarpment, from Spadina Road and Casa Loma almost all of the way west to Dufferin.

The walk began at the Baldwin Steps, at the foot of Casa Loma. The view looking south, along Spadina Road towards Spadina Avenue and the downtown, is beautiful.







Spadina House is currently being repaired.



The Tollkeeper's Cottage, currently located on the northwest corner of Bathurst Street and Davenport Road, is a vestige of the time when Bathurst Street was a toll road. Note the steep escarpment behind the building.





This flight of stairs descending to Christie Street was steep.



The Glenholme Steps, east of Dufferin in the Regal Heights neighbourhood, are much longer.



More photos from this walk, relating to specific elements and neighbourhoods, will appear here later.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• 'Apostrophen's 'Nathan Burgoine links
• to an interview another author conducted of him.


• Beyond the Beyond's Bruce Sterling notes the graphic human devastation of the battlefield of Magenta in northern Italy in 1859.


• The Dragon's Tales links to a paper that classifies Kuiper belt objects based on their collisional history and their density.


• The LRB Blog notes the importance of Sadiq Khan's election as mayor of London.


• The Map Room Blog has a roundup of map content on the Fort McMurray fire.


• Towleroad notes that evangelical Christian Franklin Graham has condemned the recognition of the Stonewall Inn as a national historic site.


• Window on Eurasia notes the catastrophic lack of property rights in Russia and argues that while the Donbas is under Russian control, Ukraine should resist Franco-German pressure to give the Donbas a special status.

[NEWS] Some Sunday links

• 3 Quarks Daily notes a Financial Times article on the rebirth of brutalism.


• Bloomberg looks at the Polish opposition's upcoming protest and notes the promise of North Korea's leaders not to use nuclear weapons first.


• CBC notes the likely permanent displacement of many from Fort McMurray and reports on the failure of Marvel's movies to be as progressive as the comics.


• The Globe and Mail wonders if the NDP will survive.


• MacLean's notes the Parti Québécois' planned leadership convention this fall.


• Scientific American notes that global warming makes fires like Fort McMurray's more likely.


• The Toronto Star notes the likely role of surveillance and predictive policing in the future.


• Universe Today notes that Enceladus' water jets seem to occur when the moon is furthest from Saturn.


• Wired notes the lack of an official Google Play desktop app in an article about people who designed a desktop app themselves.

[URBAN NOTE] On my three Jane's Walks

Especially if you include my Friday visit to the Jane at Home exhibit, this weekend has really been one dominated by the legacies of Jane Jacobs. As my aching feet remind me, this Jane's Walk weekend I did three different walks, each taking me around a different part of my broader neighbourhood.

• Saturday morning, as I mentioned, I did "The Steps of Old Lake Iroquois" along the shoreline of that ancient lake. Guided by Gary Shaul, I had a great time seeing the still-steep hilly shoreline. I posted some photos from that walk this morning, and will be posting more in the days ahead as time permits.


• Sunday morning, I did "Walk the Green Line: Infrastructures of Park Space". For two hours, led by Netami Stuart, I was part of a group of several dozen people exploring the chain of parks, parkettes, and narrow hydro corridor passages connecting Earlscourt Park to my northwest with Geary Avenue just north of me. It was a fun expedition, one that reminded me of the extent to which I have not explored much of my own neighbourhood's hinterland.


• Sunday afternoon, I walked west on Dupont to meet up with the rest of the group at "A Time Travel Adventure at Galleria Mall!". Led by Shari Kasman, this touring of the neighbourhood of the Galleria Mall was interesting, but I was particularly interested by the glimpse at future plans for the area's redevelopment. My neighbourhood is going to change.

I will be posting more from these walking tours later, photos mostly.