The Beaches November 25 2017

The weather looked ominous. Thick grey clouds all over Toronto. Raining in some places. We headed over to the Beaches area anyway.  It turned out to be a very nice afternoon for a walk. The rain held off and the temperatures hovered around 10C.

Started at the RC Harris building (not my photo, I forgot to take photos except little library photos).

We met some great dog people running their dogs up and down the RC Harris grounds and on the beach. I didn't take a photo so here's my interpretation:

We saw dozens of Long Tailed ducks bobbing on Lake Ontario. They nest in the Arctic and some reside on the lower Great Lakes during the winter to feast on zebra mussel. 

Collected a couple of handfuls of beach glass. Looking for bits of glass turns out to be very focused and meditative. I didn't take a photo but this one gives a good idea of the bits and pieces we found:

Here are the 3 little libraries we visited:

Silver Birch Avenue

Kingswood Road

Fernwood Park Avenue

To finish off our walk we had coffee at the Remarkable Bean. Sat on the benches enjoying the warm November weather.

The Danforth Sunday October 22 2017

We were trying to get down to the Beaches area for some beach glass hunting, and then little library walking but got stopped by the Waterfront Marathon barricades. So went north to the Danforth area. We'd been here before for little library walking back in January. Since then more have been added to the map. We had a good weather day of walking and discovering new libraries, 25C and sunny.

• 17000 steps
• 10 new little libraries (and two revisits at 35 Eaton and  31 Muriel)
• Coffee at an indie espresso shop on Pape. Yeah!  

WS Map

Condor Avenue

Condor Avenue - left the 419 book and our usual WS booklet

Stumbled upon this little box on Shudell Avenue.

Myrtle Avenue

Myrtle Avenue. Left 3 books. Took the Small Gardens book.

A charming hobbit style little library on Harriet Street.
Tucked into the bushes and about 4 feet tall.

A bicycle sprocket for a window

This is what it looks like behind the hobbit door

A sweet little pink library on Hastings Avenue

Loved the title of this book

A beautiful frontscape on Prust Avenue,
with a blue glass tree sculpture

Walpole Avenue

Highfield Avenue

Stumled upon this Little Free Pantry
on Highfield Avenue. Nothing inside.

Gainsborough Road

Gainsborough Road little library. Nice set of tiles.

On the way back to the car we cut through
this nice community garden

Community garden painted walkway tunnel

Fielding Avenue

Stopped for delicious lattes at 808 Pape Social Espresso

Last one of the day was a quick stop on our ride back home.
This British beauty is on Burnamthorpe Road

Some Danish Hygge and Little Libraries in Oakville

We met up at the Gairloch Gardens at 1306 Lakeshore Rd E to stop and smell some roses.

Then we drove over to The Danish Pastry House 487 Cornwall Road,  for some baked goods and coffee hygge. 

We shared a Viking slice. Pastry filled with almond custard cream and slathered with a dark chocolate topping. Wonderful. 

Afterwards it was off for some walking and visits to local Little Libraries. Visited 5 today, didn't stumble upon any.  There was a section south of the Danish bakery that had 3 little libraries. As usual, each book box was unique and impressive. Wandering the Oakville neighbourhood was very nice, even in the rain. We didn't bring umbrellas but it was raining lightly off and on, until one point on our walk (see below)....  

Our first Little Library visit on Second Street

Didn't take anything. Left a Dr Who colouring book and our booklet. 

Douglas and Palmer

We thought this big little library was gone
as we stood on the corner scanning the streets.
Then we turned around and it was about 3 feet away. 

Inside the Douglas and Palmer dollhouse little library

This is the teacup style
little library in Grimsby. 

Maple Avenue
Looks like it came straight out of
Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
It's a similar to the one we saw in Grimsby.
Here's an article about this Little Library.

After the Maple Ave library we drove over to
Sedgewick Crescent to the French immersion school.
The library was filled with french language books. 

Village Wood Rd
We parked here and walked around the neighbourhood,
taking a trail through Chalmers Park and ending up on Riverview Street.

Then the skies darkened and it started to rain.
It rained hard. Teeming down.
Standing under a tree was lightning risky. Plus the tree wasn't doing much for cover,
so we ran over to this house and stood under the porch roof.

Then the door opened.
A daughter and dad poked their heads out and invited us in!
We were also greeted by a beautiful blond labrador retriever.
The young lady kept us company as we peered out at the rain.
She even offered us a ride back to the car if the rain didn't stop.
But the rain was letting up, so we thanked her for saving us from a drenching
then set out on our merry way.
What a great moment. One we won't forget.

Back to the car, and a drive back to the Danish bakery (where we left the other car).

We each picked up a rhubarb cake to take home, which I'm eating as I write this blog entry.

We stayed for more coffee, a couple of treats to share, and a gab with the Danish bakery assistant, comparing Denmark to Canada.

Danish Tree Logs Traestammer
Rum ball filling inside,
raspberry around the rum ball filling,
marzipan outer layer,
ends dipped in chocolate

Danish pastry with an apple custard filling and chocolate dip