Toronto a day in the life 12

What I learned about Toronto one Saturday
Where to fly kites and see men in dresses
By Kris Scheuer

The kite my dad bought me April 24. It will look more impressive in the sky. Where should I fly it?

I can’t remember flying a kite as a child in T.O in the ’70s and I don’t see much kite flying in the city now.
So it was sheer joy as I watched four young children and one man, perhaps a father of one of them, flying kites on a windy afternoon Saturday April 10.
The spot was Cedarvale park where Humewood Dr and Heathdale Rd meet, off Vaughan Rd north of St. Clair Ave W.
This section of the park has a bowl like valley free of trees and seemed to be a perfect spot for the group to run to catch the wind in their colourful kites and then lie back on the grassy hill and watch them dance in the sky.
The scene captured me. Later I mentioned it to a friend who told me as a child growing up in Barbados he often built and flew kites. He’s promised to build one we can fly. I can’t wait.
A week ago, I asked my dad where to get supplies to build a kite. Then an hour after posting this story on April 24, I went to visit my father and he surprised me with this Spiderman kite. Sweet, right?
Perhaps there are better places to fly kites than Cedarvale park? Let me know…

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See Toronto like a tourist

If you had just four days, where would you go in TO?
Trying to pack in the best of the city in short span, a challenge
By Kris Scheuer

If I can swing it financially, I am going to Europe this fall specifically to Paris, Rome and London.
No this is NOT a blog post about my trip – it’s about Toronto.
One of the challenges of this vacation, besides money, is how to see these historical, romantic, cultural European gems when I may have just three or four days in each of these world class cities.
And it got me thinking…if I had only four days and nights in Toronto what would be on my to do list?

Toronto a day in the life 4

My observations about Toronto in the past 24 hours
By Kris Scheuer

Well when I wrote on Friday about my home city, I mentioned that weekend festivals are what summer in this city are all about.
So that’s exactly how I spent my Sunday.
I had a blast at Buskerfest at St. Lawrence Market near Front and Church. I lucked out and happened to be there to see a husband and wife acrobatic team from Australia here to perform in the annual street performers’ fest. They were called Dream State Circus and were awesome. They showed off strength and showmanship. They did tricks like having Sophie stand on top of her husband Jacob’s head while they both juggle three wands of fire a piece.
My friend and I also stopped to listen to a four piece rock band playing at the fest.
Then we spent some time at Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington Market near Nassau and College. There were at least four different musical acts going on simultaneously in different areas of the market. My fav was a salsa percussion group. It was Samba Elegua and tehy have a lot of energy and had the crowd grooving to their sound.
It was a great way to spend a cool Sunday in the city.

Toronto a day in the life 3

My observations about the city I call home
By Kris Scheuer

Here are three things I learned, heard, was told or observed about Toronto in the last 48 hours.

HOUSING
The city is possibly on the verge of getting$200 mil in stimulus funding from the province and feds for new affordable housing. I interviewed Sean Gadon, director of the city’s Affordable Housing Office yesterday. By Sept. 30 council will have voted and submitted a short list of projects for about 1,500-2000 units of new housing worth about $200 mil.
The city is also applying for a portion of the $704 mil senior levls of government are handing out to repair existing social housing. Again the city is seeking about $200 mil and should here next week. If the city gets the cash, it will help with the current backlog of $200-250 mil to fix Toronto’s social housing.