Vacationing in Ontario: Toronto Weekend

In a way, it was a bit of a staycation.

Unlike our big vacation, this time last year, DW and I were in familiar territory. There was no town or city that we hadn't visited before, although some we hadn't been to in 29 years. But while we spent the first few days of our vacation where we've been to several times already, this year, we tried to do as many different things as we could.

It was a vacation to see family and friends, and not a single day went by when we didn't see either. And it was marvelous.

As with vacations of the past, I thought I would share the highlights with you over the next few days. Sound good?

We packed up our car on the Friday night, and early the next morning, we drove down to Toronto and went straight to Kid 2's apartment. She had moved a couple of months earlier, and while I had seen her new place when I had helped her move, DW hadn't seen the place nor the neighbourhood. We had a quick tour, reunited with Kid 2's cat, Lily, and then headed for lunch.

We drove down to Toronto's harbourfront and stopped at Amsterdam Brewhouse. While I've had many of their brews over the years, I've never actually visited the brewery. The restaurant part is huge and bustling, with good service and tasty food. I tried a refreshing NEIPA, Neon Haze, and it was perfect with my smoked brisket sandwich.

After lunch, DW, Kid 2, and I wandered the harbourfront and generally tried to spend as much time with Kid 2 as possible. We took her grocery shopping at a Loblaw's next to our hotel and told her to take advantage of having her parents in town, and to fill up the shopping cart as much as possible.

Because downtown parking in Toronto is expensive for two days and our hotel wanted to charge us an additional $70 to leave our car with them, we took advantage of the fact that Kid 2's house has a parking lot that no one uses. It cost DW and me a combined total of $13.20 to ride public transit to drop off and pick up the car, and it tended to take more than a half hour to get from the downtown core to the Corso Italia neighbourhood, it was worth it.

And we also learned that you can now tap your debit card, credit card, or smartphone to ride the TTC, which was a huge convenience, as neither DW nor I had a Presto card and we didn't have to deal with tokens (does the TTC even still use tokens?). I used the Google Pay feature on my smartphone for the very first time and felt like I was one of the cool kids.

(I know, as soon as you think you're cool, you're not.)

Kid 2 had to bid us an early evening because she had to be at work for 6 am the next day, so we joined one of our friends, Tamara, who lives off the Danforth, for a cultural evening of Nuit Blanche, which was being held throughout the city's downtown. We wandered for several kilometres, seeing light shows, sculptures, displays, and dances, and heard bird squawks through speakers. We even interacted with a silent disco, where we heard music through headsets and danced with people who were listening to the same channel as us (a red or green light on the headset indicated to others the channel to which you were listening).

Where our walking tour ended.

On Sunday, DW and I spent the morning at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and took in a photo exhibit by German photographer, Wolfgang Tillmans. His work is interesting and he had a few images that inspired me, and others that had me scratching my head (what do I do to get famous??). But all of his photos had me thinking.

AGO stairway.

Looking south from the AGO.

Reflection of Dundas Street on the front of the AGO.

For lunch, DW and I found a Korean restaurant that served our favourite meal, dolsot bibimbap, a rice and veggie dish that is served in a firey-hot stone bowl. It was authentic but did not quite take me back to the meal I had in Chŏnju, in 2019. But it was very good, the staff were outstanding, and they seemed amused by my attempts to speak Hangul.

Kamsa-habnida—thank you.

Majiseyo—delicious.

Pey bulayo—I'm full.

Annyeong—bye.

Kid 2 had a recording gig in the afternoon, so DW and I joined a walking tour of the old newspaper district in York, Toronto's first neighbourhood. We walked along King Street East, from where the Globe and Mail offices stand, all the way to Victoria Street. We learned a lot about the history of this area and our guide shared some interesting stories. The tour ran about two hours and was well worth it.

For the evening, DW and I once again joined Tamara, plus our friends, Mari and Pete, from Mississauga, for a dinner in the Kensington-Chinatown neighbourhood, where DW and I dined again on Asian food at the House of Gourmet, a large and lively Chinese restaurant.

Afterwards, the five of us walked along Dundas Street, across from the AGO, to the Village Genius Pub (formerly, the Village Idiot, until someone complained—idiot!) for some drinks and more catching up before we all went our separate ways for the night.

We checked out of our hotel on Monday morning but had them hold our luggage until noon so that we could explore the downtown core one more time. DW and I walked east, along Carlton Street (it's so hard for me to not add an E to that name), until we came to Allan Gardens, which has some Victorian-styled greenhouses and is a great stop for photos. But part of the park is filled with tents with homeless people, and so not to disturb them, we decided to continue along Carlton Street, into Cabbagetown.

I had given up coffee, in February, because of adverse effects, but when DW wanted to stop in at JetFuel Coffee for more of her morning fix, I decided to risk trying a small espresso. And much to my good fortune, the strong brew didn't send my heart rate soaring. We were good to continue after this welcome break.

We wandered the neighbourhood and further east on Carlton Street, which was now in a residence that reminded us of parts of the Glebe, in Ottawa, with the old and well-kept houses. I'll have more to say about them on Thursday.

Carlton Street ends just before the Don River, at a large park and a working farm, Riverdale. This is a part of Toronto that we've never explored and knew nothing about. Who thought we'd see sheep, goats, chickens, and horses in the east end of Cabbagetown? (We had never been to Cabbagetown before, either.)

We explored the barns, farmhouse, and other buildings, which are a great place to take kids (we saw a lot of them with their caregivers and parents). I also had a beautiful, friendly black cat visit me while I was sitting on a Muskoka chair, waiting for DW to come back from the washroom. He even hopped onto my lap, unsolicited.

We had to get back to our hotel and get back on the road, so we took a street car back to our hotel, retrieved our bags, and transferred onto the subway to make our way back to Kid 2's place, where we treated her to lunch before we said farewell.

(Luckily, we'll see her again this coming weekend, as we're bringing Kid 1 and my parents to visit Toronto for the Thanksgiving long weekend.)

We retrieved our car and made our way to Mississauga, where Mari and Pete offered to put us up for the night. We had another great visit before continuing on with the next leg of our road trip.

I'll share that part on Friday. Stay tuned...

Now, My Heart is Full

I don't know if I can explain but let me try to.

It was a warmth that came over me but it wasn't from the fire pit that was in the centre of the circle of chairs, each one occupied by a friend and their spouse. My head moved around the circle, my eyes fixing a gaze on each person's face and seeing that their eyes met mine.

A smile, and then I would move on to the next person without making it obvious that I was doing this gesture.

A friend who I had known since the sixth grade. A friend I had made in high school. Another friend, who I met on my walk to high school, in grade nine, who became my best friend and, later, my best man. And a friend who I've known since the third or fourth grade, who invited DW and me to spend the weekend, and who was hosting this reunion.

It had been eight years since DW and I were last in Guelph, Ontario, and it was the perfect end to our vacation. The weather couldn't have been better: in fact, except for a bit of rain, briefly, one morning, the whole week—the first week of autumn—was summer-like. We couldn't have chosen a better time to take our time away from home.

Our hosts in Guelph, Karen and Steve, were not only generous in opening their door to DW and me, they offered to invite our friends, who we all knew in high school, to a homemade dinner and reunion. I had avoided my high school's 50^th anniversary reunion because, I had told myself, the only people with whom I wanted to keep in touch were the very people sitting around me at this backyard dinner party.

Looking around the patio, I could see myself sitting in our student lounge (The Red Room) and seeing the younger version of these same people, and it warmed my heart.

I had seen my dear friend, Karen, and her husband, Steve, in Ottawa only about two months earlier, and DW and I made a decision to head down to Southern Ontario and pay them a visit, in Guelph. They generously offered a room to us, and we humbly accepted. They said it would be nice to see some other high-school friends, who also lived in Guelph, and I said that I would reach out to them.

I hadn't seen my best friend, Stuart, in more than five years. When I called him, it had been the first time in more than a year. But it was as though time hadn't passed at all. We laughed over how I had actually seen his wife, Alicia, less than a year ago, in Lisbon, Portugal, when DW and I were vacationing and she was at a conference.

Small world.

I last saw my friend, Ed, a couple of years ago, when he visited Ottawa to see his mother, but his wife, Renée, hadn't joined him.

The last time that all four couples had been together was in 2015, in this very backyard, the last time DW and I came through town. But on this visit, we had a surprise guest.

Though I've seen her brother, Pete, many times this year and over the years (he and his wife, Marianne, were in the same high-school year as DW and have been close friends all these years), I haven't seen Suzanne and her husband, Doug, in at least 15 years. I couldn't even remember if I had seen her since before DW and I moved to South Korea.

But it was wonderful to catch up, this weekend.

The people who attended my high school's reunion are now basically strangers to me. These folks at the reunion in Guelph are the people who mattered to me the most over those years and are the only ones who still matter to me now^*. And sitting around a fire, seeing their faces, seeing everyone engaged like time was only an abstract construct, it filled my heart.

The whole vacation was amazing. We spent time with our daughter, who now lives in Toronto. We saw friends in Toronto and Mississauga (including Mari and Pete); we met up with some of our Ottawa friends in Stratford and had three wonderful days together; and it all came to a climax at the reunion in Guelph.

I can't thank Karen and Steve enough for their warm hospitality and generosity. I wish we had more time to spend together but I know that we'll see each other again.

Soon, I hope.

^* To be absolutely clear, I do have dear friends from high school who still live in Ottawa and with whom I still keep in touch, including my friend, Nina, who joined us in Stratford with her husband, Brian. The people who matter to me know who they are.

A Guy and His Cat

I've never been a dog person but I've been a cat person for as long as I can remember.

After all, cats rule: dogs drool.

I may have given DW the impression that I liked dogs because, while we were dating, she had a Sheltie and I was nice to him. But after he was gone, I let her know of my dislike of dogs.

Our first pet that we owned, together, was a white and grey tabby who chose us, more than we chose him. He literally pushed other cats out of the way, at the Humane Society, to get to us. And once he was in my arms, purring his little brains out, there was no way that I was leaving the institution without him.

Leo was a social cat who always wanted to be around DW and me, whether we were watching TV, eating dinner, or sleeping. He wasn't demanding but he was always present.

For the years before DW and I moved to South Korea, Leo lived with us in our apartment on Deerfield Drive. He loved joining us on the balcony, watching people and birds from this view. He'd often sit on a chair or, when either DW or I set up our hammock, curl up on us as we lounged.

1994, on our Deerfield Drive balcony.

It was hard to leave him behind, when we moved to the other side of the planet, but he was in good hands with DW's folks. And we were more than happy to take him back when we returned.

I miss that little guy. He was such a good cat.

Happy Thursday!

September in Toronto

No Longer the Product

I was very disappointed when Hootsuite changed it's rules, many years ago, and stopped allowing Facebook to be a stream on its platform. And in turn, that may have been the beginning of the end of my Facebook presence.

Hootsuite, which I used to send notifications about my blog posts on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, was a convenient one-stop shop for scheduling posts. And while I also used it as my main desktop platform for viewing my Twitter feeds, it was a great tool for social media.

But then it dropped Facebook, and I had to duplicate my posts manually to that platform. It became a bit of a pain for me, as I would set up my posts for all platforms on Hootsuite before I went to sleep and I wouldn't have to worry about my blog notifications for the rest of the next day.

Except, now I would have to duplicate a post for Facebook, manually, every time I wanted to announce a new blog post.

And then, about a year ago, I learned that Hootsuite was going to force you to upgrade and pay if you had more than one platform. It was at this point when I stopped using it. It no longer suited my needs. I'm cheap and I don't like to pay for these services.

I thought I was the product, after all.

I've been using Bitly to shorten my blog Web links ever since I started using Twitter, and it made sense to do so. With its original 140-character limit, including links, space was at a premium. I have thousands of Bitly links going back more than 10 years.

Even after Twitter stopped counting URLs as characters, I continued using Bitly because it had become a habit. But no more.

I learned, this month, that I had a limit to the number of Bitly links I could create in a month. It's 12. Not nearly enough to cover my blog posts, which is usually around 18 to 20 per month. My last Bitly link was on September 18.

Because I'm no longer on Hootsuite (nor Twitter, nor Facebook, and barely even on LinkedIn) I have to manually post a blog announcement on my main social-media site, Mastodon, and then I copy that post and paste it into my Threads feed. If I remember, later in the day, I repost that announcement on each platform.

My process is no longer automated.

Since when did we stop being the product for these sites?

It makes no sense for me to continue to use Bitly in October, once my 12-link allowance starts again. I may as well use the link for my blog posts directly. There's nothing to be gained by shortening a link.

How about you? What services did you use regularly but have stopped because of limiting factors?

I understand that these are businesses that want to make money, and I've been benefitting from a free ride for years. But because I don't make any money from my blog, I can't justify an expense to notify my followers when I can do it myself, for free.

At The Brown Knowser, you've never been a product.