Mont Avila

This is a view of St. Sauveur des Monts, Quebec that I've seen many times and appreciated, but also taken for granted. After this year, I will not see it for a while.

Winter Living in Les Laurentides, Quebec

During winter, residents in Les Laurentides spend time taking care of their rooftops

picture by Gillian Lee

and protecting their cars from snow

Office Windows

In Toronto

In Barcelona

Pets

I don't normally photograph pets but she deserved a shot.

Winter Solstice in Toronto

The Winter Solstice is celebrated in Toronto on December 21 with the the Festival of Lights in Kensington Market. While this tradition of saying goodbye to the shortest day of the year in Toronto is only 20 years old, the event gathers a fantastic mass of locals and performers, including musicians, puppeteers, stiltwalkers and firebreathers.

Despite the limitations of my point and shoot camera, and the numbness from the cold hitting my exposed fingers, I think I captured the magic of the night. Cheers to longer days!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Summer Solstice in Copenhagen

In Denmark, Sankt Hans aften, (St. John's Eve) or Summer Solstice has been celebrated on June 23 since 1770, with festivities starting the evening before the official holiday. Whether in parks, on beaches or water all over the country, Danes come together for picnics, speeches and traditional songs. A bonfire is made to ward away evil spirits, the tradition being that a witch made of cloth and straw is burned, sending away all worries to the mountain"Brocken" in the Harz region of Germany where the great witch gathering was thought to be held.

(Some Danes also told me that evil spirits are sent to Sweden)

In 2006, I celebrated Sankt Hans in Faelledparken, Copenhagen.

Close-ups

December White Out

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Josh and Lizzi

Josh and Lizzi from Australia came to visit during the winter storm. During their weekend with me, they experienced snow for the first time in many ways.

In a snow bank...

By taste...

On a toboggan...

And at twilight.

Winter Cycling

Bike parking buried in snow

Yesterday, I had to walk to work and home. The recent snow storm in Toronto had abruptly hindered my December cycling days. That was, until some cyclists passed me by.

Tonight, a slushy and wet road pulled the back wheel of my Pashley into the streetcar track on Adelaide street at rush hour and I flew out into the road with oncoming traffic.

It seems that sustaining a long-term bond with my Pashley is like a relationship. There are times when a break is necessary if I want to have more good times with it later. For now, my winter boots will be my best friend in the next few months ahead.

Why Denmark?

Denmark... why move to a country where taxes are as high as 59%? Why leave Toronto with a reputation as one of the leading cities in multiculturalism, for Tiny Copenhagen, not known for easily integrating outsiders and immigrant culture? Is it the Danish bicycle culture I love, the cosy, "hygge" way of life or the goal to provide 30% of the country's power through their wind-turbine program. All questions I, also ask myself...

The Toronto Star published an interesting article on Sunday, December 16th titled, What we can Learn from Denmark. Having been actively involved with Architecture for Humanity Toronto in the last year and frustrated by the urban planning struggles in Toronto, this piece of writing by Christopher Hume sums everything up quite nicely.

There are so many reasons why I am interested in Denmark. Take for instance, the VM houses (main photo from the Star article) which is a brilliant example of pushing the limits to embrace change, not to mention an architectural site I got to visit and tour through!

Off course, not much will beat the firsthand experience I had there summer of 2006. Add to that, the number of inexplicable reasons that only make sense to me and the number of concidential experiences that happened the last few years.

So, skal to future Danish adventures! Copenhagen, here I come soon enough. Vi ses snart.

Random Photographer

In conversation with Julia

Photograph by Julia Gotz

Saturday night was the perfect and rare kind of evening in Toronto. The air was cold and the snow storm fast approaching, but winter weather didn't matter. Life and a buzzing high energy filled the streets with the kind of surealism hard to describe. The holiday season is as good an excuse to celebrate as any other.

On College street, there they were, laughing on the corners, drunkenly going to party number 3, others catching cabs home, ....or wandering into John's Classic Italian for that spontaneous late night pizza slice.

There was Julia. She introduced herself as, at joolya.ca, not julia.ca because it was already taken. She noticed us, as we stumbled into John's, bringing life back to the place after the 1am lull. Me, I noticed her, the lady with camera, out on this perfect Saturday night filled with right moments. A rowdy crowd of partiers passed by the window. Julia was up, her eye up to the camera in hand, shooting the commotion, then out the door for less reflection.

She wanted to photograph us. She told me she does not shoot professionally, because photography becomes stale when you shoot to make money. I don't want to believe that. From her photoblog, she is Julia Gotz. That night she was Joolya, the photographer sitting at the table by the window with a camera, poised to record it all for the blogpost titled "Snowstorm, John's Classic Italian.

The random encounter hit me, where was my camera?

Green Building in an Urban Setting, an AFHTO Success

Outside of my 9-5 job, I have been working hard for a non-profit group, Architecture for Humanity (AFH)Toronto. On Monday, November 26, our organization successfully hosted the first of four lectures on "Building Sustainability", this one focusing on "Green Building in an Urban Setting".

(To see more photos of this event by Alan Joson, please visit his site.)

The lecture took place at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts where we were fortunate to have the use of the beautiful Terrace Room.

The turn-out for the evening blew us away when 150 people arrived despite the heavy rain and wind. The line-up to sign-in grew quickly and even though we rushed 40 extra chairs in, we hit the maximum capacity allowed in the space and are very sorry to have had to turn 40 people back out into the rain.

(The following photos were taken by Laurence Bortnick)

Finally, at 6:45pm, we started with introductions by the fabulous and well-spoken David Snaith,

followed by an interesting and inspiring talk by Dr. David Moses.

Here is a recorded podcast of this lecture, courtesy of the Gardiner Museum.

The evening ended with a question and answer period.

In collaboration with the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition, The next lecture "Manufacturing Neighbourhoods" will take place on Monday, February 25. Hope to see you there, and please come early!

Acknowledgements: Thanks to...

AFH members Lee, David , Bruce, Lisa, Chris, Claire, Mar Mar, Rachel, Abril,and Heather for all your dedication. The hours of time we all spent to work through the publicity, fund raising, sponsorship, flyer making and all other extraneous details is well rewarded. I think I can say the meetings weren't for nothing.

Diane, Siobhan and Liz from the Gardiner for all their help in promoting the event and ensuring that the evening went off without a hitch.

The Toronto Society of Architects and lecture attendees for their support and contribution.

Jeremy for videotaping the event, and Laurence and Alan for the photography.

All my friends who made it in early and got a seat. It made a difference to me to have you there. Special acknowledgment to the ECS clan for making it to the front door. Next time I promise you won't get turn away.

Our website is finally up. Please visit it for more information about Architecture for Humanity Toronto. We welcome you to join our mailing list or become an active member.

501 Streetcar Ride

As a cyclist, I have to admit that I rarely take the streetcar. Why sit on a 2km/hr moving vehicle when I can sail freely past traffic. But with a winter storm warning for the night and a destination further west along Queen street than I was used to wandering to, I opted to take public transportation, the 501 Queen streetcar.

During this slow journey, I sat bundled, lost in thought in my single seat, half cold from the draft coming through the door and half warm from the heater blowing at my feet. Frequently, the automated voice would speak, announcing stops, but not breaking the moment as I looked at Toronto through a window with traveller's eyes.

In recent months, the inefficiencies of the 501 Queen streetcar have been a continuing debate in Toronto. Problems include long wait times, irregular service, and frequent short turns. User groups have since started a petition calling on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to improve the service of the most frequently used route in the city.

Birthday Snow Storm

For some people, bad weather like this means staying warm and dry indoors. Me, I choose to be outside in this wonderful photo opportunity. It is a good thing drivers are going slowly and can stop before hitting the silly woman with a camera taking photos in the middle of the street.