A Bit More Detail

I was walking last weekend west past Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church, in the west of the neighbourhood of Parkdale, when I saw this statue of the Virgin Mary. I had wanted to take a photo of the tatue, framed so nicely by the window behind it and with a coat painted in an earnest sky blue, for aesthetic reasons. I also recalled the old tradition of asking the Virgin Mary to intercede with Christ for mercy in--for instance--times of plague.

This image has turned out to become one of my most popular photos on Instagram, largely because of apparently Lebanese users finding the image via hashtags.

Friday afternoon, I took myself on a leisurely walk south, down Dovercourt Road and then--above Bloor--down Ossington Avenue to Queen Street. It was a fine summer walk, taking me through an ever-changing string of neighbourhoods that is still familiar, ending with the Antikka coffee shop on Queen. The final photo was taken to the west of this, at the Lumber Loop where Queen streetcar passengers need to transfer to get to Long Branch, the towers of Humber Bay Shores always visible just beyond.

Early Thursday afternoon, I took an extended walk west along 'a href=Èhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Street_(Toronto)#Yonge_to_University">Queen Street</> from Yonge towards Dufferin. Spring is here, but it is not here just yet; the grass is green but the trees have not yet sprouted new leaves. Can it really be only two weeks until the first cherry blossoms appear?