Guildwood Village on the Lake ...

West Rouge Park walk on Boxing Day ...

2011-12-27T07:38:00.002-05:00

Participating in Watery Wednesday

More pictures cna be found here:

http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

It doesn't matter if it is spring, summer, fall or winter

this part of the Rouge Park is always a beautiful site to visit.

Yesterday, on Boxing Day I didn't join bargain hunters in malls across the City of Toronto.
I visited one of my favourite Parks...

Rouge Park

The entrance for cars is now closed until spring,

but visitors can enter the park by foot and enjoy the quiet surroundings.

The surface of the large pond area is frozen.

Waterbirds frequent the open water spaces and enjoy the sun.

"In every walk with nature one

receives far more than he seeks."

- John Muir

Today the weather forecast calls for rain and wet snow.
Perhaps after weeks of very mild temperatures we will see some colder weather in our area. Perhaps the next time I can take some snowy pictures!!
Let's wait...
links:
West Rouge community website http://westrouge.org/

Poison Ivy plants with berries on Copperfield Rd.

2011-12-23T07:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday while walking along Copperfield Road to East Point Park I discovered an area with Poison Ivy berries!!
Watch out...
Poison ivy can be a small, erect shrub, a low ground cover or a vine. It is good to learn to recognize it in all stages. During the spring, summer and fall, poison ivy will show the classic “leaves of three” – actually compound leaves with three leaflets. The edges of the leaflets can be smooth, wavy, lobed or toothed.
During the winter look for white or grayish berries on mature poison ivy plants. These are attractive to birds.

Poison ivy often has surprisingly beautiful fall color. Leaves are brilliant hues of yellow, gold, orange or red. Don’t pick these for your leaf collection though. The irritating oil that causes the poison ivy rash remains active throughout the fall and winter, and can even last for several years after vines are dead.

Bluffers Park in December ....cold, windy and beautiful

2011-12-13T16:57:00.003-05:00

Bluffers Park features a very nice Restaurant and Bar.

Bluffers Park and Lake Ontario
Bluffers Park has sandy beaches, picnic areas, walks, and lookouts.
The park is located beneath the Scarborough Bluffs, an escarpment formed by the erosion of packed clay. I love to visit the park during the year. Watch birds, walk around and enjoy the early morning hours at the lake. At his time not many visitors come to the park, it is quiet and very peaceful.
Dog walkers greet each other and disappear after a while.

Scarborough Bluffs

Today it was very quiet in the park only seagulls circling above in the sky.

Bye, bye...

time to go home...

December walk through Guildwood Park...

2011-12-06T05:54:00.001-05:00

“The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

From Guildwood Park view over Lake Ontario...

December walk along the path very soon covered by snow...

Very interesting - large rock trapped in a fallen tree

broken tree stump ...

trees, water and sky...

On my home I took some pictures of two sculptures in our Guildwood Park.

Forgotten and neglected...

Today, I didn't find any interesting fungi but very nice green moss

covering a broken tree.

There are about 12,000 species of moss on record.

Excellent reference can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss

I hope you enjoyed my walk with me through our Guildwood Park.

Until the next time...

Today we are both happy...

2011-12-02T19:54:00.000-05:00

I met Molly over 10 years ago. She belongs to one of my neighbours. Molly was the most beautiful Labrador puppy I have ever seen. Together, we explored our parks and walked along the shores of Lake Ontario. Molly loves swimming, catching a ball or sticks. Now, she is older and not so quick anymore. But from time to time we still walk together. There is no rush, we enjoy our time together.
*********
Ich habe Molly vor über vor 10 Jahren getroffen. Sie gehört einem von meiner Nachbarn. Molly, war das schönste Labrador Puppy, das ich je gesehen habe. Zusammen, haben wir unsere Parks erforscht und sind am Ufer vom See Ontario entlang gelaufen. Molly liebt zu schwimmen, einen Ball oder Stöcke zu fangen. Jetzt ist sie älter und nicht mehr so flink. Aber ab und zu wandern wir noch zusammen. Es gibt keine Eile, wir genießen unsere Zeit zusammen.

Wild flowers,
golden rod and blue pincushion flowers are still blooming.

That smells interesting...

Birch fungus on growing on a tree.

Great view over Lake Ontario from Grey Abbey Park in December 2011.

And now it is time to go home...until the next time my old friend.

********

Und nun ist Zeit nach Hause zu gehen.. bis dann mein alter Freund.

Ontario parks our treasure - unser Reichtum...

2011-11-22T16:59:00.000-05:00

There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time.
There is always something to see, something to hear.
In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.
- John Cage

East Point Park, Toronto Canada

The Province of Ontario includes 330 parks with over 9 million hectares.

I love to visit and explore our parks and discover nature at its best.

Just look at my pictures...

*************

West Rouge Park, Toronto Canada

Grey Abbey Park, Toronto Canada

View from Grey Abbey Park, Toronto Canada

View west to Doris McCarthy Trail, Toronto Canada

Autumn in Morningside Park, Toronto Canada

Highland Creek in Morningside Park, Toronto Canada

Guildwood Park in winter

pictures shown by © guild-rez
Links:
www.OntarioParks.com

Guildwood Village Community Town Hall Meeting

2011-11-04T07:09:00.000-04:00

The Guildwood Village Community Town Hall Meeting

tookplace on Thursday, November 3, 2011.

City Councillor PaulAinslie invited Guildwood residents to attend and discuss any communityissues they may have. Many residents attended the meeting.

PaulAinslie informed Guildwood residents about the latest news concerning the GuildInn (Bickford Residence) and Centennial College.

CentennialCollege latest proposal to purchase the GuildInn property to build condominiums, restaurant and other facilities in thepark

has been rejected by the City of Toronto.

Anew RFP - Request for Proposal to interested parties

willbe issued by the City of Torontovery shortly to

includea restaurant but no boutique hotel at the existing site.

Deadline for the RFP isscheduled for May 2012.

Canthis heritage building be preserved or rebuild?

Questions from the community included and answered:

Will the City of Toronto pave walking trails in Grey Abbey Park?

No trails will be paved in the park or across the sports field area!!

My question:

Does the City of Toronto has by-laws in place to restrict cyclists in our parks?

No, cyclist have unrestricted access to any parks in the City of Toronto!

I am posting an official cycling map for our Guildwood Village area for your perusal.

Let me extendmy gratitude to City Councillor Paul Ainslie and his stafffor organizing the Guildwood Village community townhall meeting.

I believe that it isin the best interest of all Guildwood residents

to have the opportunityto discuss any community issues in public.

Update ...Meadowcliffe Drive Erosion Control Project by TRCA

2011-11-03T21:45:00.002-04:00

October 2011 pictures from Lake Ontario shoreline In Guildwood.

Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA) is preparing to undertake remedial erosion control works along a portion of the Scarborough Bluffs at the Lake Ontario shoreline, in the City of Toronto. The project site spans approximately 600 m of shoreline between Bluffers Park and Bellamy Ravine (also known as Gates Gully).

2011 TRCA construction site below Doris McCarthy trail.

Project Update

Notice of Construction

August 8, 2011 - Please be advised that Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) has initiated in-water construction work along the Meadowcliffe Sector. This construction work will involve the placement of clean fill material to create a series of shoreline stabilization structures. As in-water construction continues, TRCA will continue to employ the latest best-management practices to ensure that minimal impact is caused to the natural environment. The in-water work is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2012. TRCA anticipates that restoration efforts to return the construction access route and backshore area to park-like conditions will continue in the following year.

TRCA continues its commitment to allowing public access to the shoreline service road for recreational purposes on public holidays, weekday evenings (between 5:00 pm and 7:30 am) and weekends (from 4:30 pm on Friday to 7:30 am on Monday). In the interests of public safety access along the main entrance road off of Guildwood Parkway and westerly along the base of the bluffs will be restricted to construction staff and equipment, during hours of work.

For more information on the Meadowcliffe Drive Erosion Control Project please contact:

Mark Preston,
Senior Construction Supervisor
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
Phone: 416-392-9722
Email: mpreston@trca.on.ca

Background of Project

At the request of several homeowners who expressed concern over the loss of property and the potential long-term risk to their homes, TRCA began monitoring erosion rates on Meadowcliffe Drive in 1985. Several studies have been completed along this shoreline sector; however the most significant report was a geotechnical report conducted on behalf of TRCA by Terraprobe in 2006. This study concluded there would be a loss of property and infrastructure, as well as a risk to public safety if mitigative measures were not undertaken along the Meadowliffe shoreline sector.

The area is closed to Guildwood residents during the week and only accessible on weekends.
Please compare the pictures I took from the same area in 2002, 2010 and 2011.

Source: TRCA
pictures: guild-rez

October walk along the shoreline of Lake Ontario

2011-10-28T07:46:00.000-04:00

"Take only pictures, leave only footprints, bring back only memories."

Dog-strangling Vine (DSV) compromises our Guildwood parks and gardens

2011-10-27T14:33:00.000-04:00

I wrote on Saturday, January 10, 2009 in my blog:

'Dog-strangling vine invades our parks and gardens in Guildwood'.

Dog-strangling vine (DSV)also known as Swallow-wort, describes two invasive plant species, Vincetoxicum nigrum and Vincetoxicum rossicum, from Eurasia that are members of the milkweed family.

Since that time the very invasive weed has

continued to spread through our community.

and reduced the biodiversity in many naturalized areas.

The only solution I believe is to cut back or pull the Dog-strangling Vine before it goes to seed.

Guildwood residents can do their parts to help to restore our parks as well.
I am proposing that the Guildwood Village Community Association is hosting in 2012 an 'Invasive Species' event to help to control invasive plant species such as the
Dog- strangling vine in our neighbourhood.

2009 -2010
After intervention by City Parks staff Sylvan Park featured wildflowers, grasses as well as healthy trees and shrubs. The area was visited by insects, butterflies and birds again.

October 2011

I visited the Sylvan Park again.

Unfortunately the Dog-strangling Vine has regrown and is compromising the Park again. My picture collage shows the devastating effect of this vine.

Paved bicycle path in our parks??

2011-10-23T13:38:00.000-04:00

Please visit this link to the Cityof Toronto website.

Fill out the questionnaire andvoice your concerns.

http://www.toronto.ca/parks/engagement/parksplan/consultation.htm
Meeting is scheduled for

Date: November 7, 2011
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Location: Warden Hilltop C.C.
25 Mendelssohn St M1L 0G6
Scarborough ON

I strongly believe that parksshould be off limit to bicycle users.

Our parks are visited by seniors, parents with small children and dog walkers.

Parks are used for picnics and other gatherings.

To introduce bicycles riders in our peaceful parks is not necessary since many

public roads are available and better suitable.

Don’t let the City pave over walkingpath and hiking trails.

It is so much better to walk onnatural trails than on concrete.

Our green spaces including parks and ravines are the
last sanctuary for our wildlife.
We all enjoy watching foxes, deer, coyotes and birds in our parks.
Our wildlife comes first and must be protected.

Please attend the public meetingsto be informed about

City of Torontofuture plans for our parks.

This trail is a quite narrow trail leading along Grey Abbey Ravine to the park area below.
To share trails similar with bicycles is not the right thing to do.

A few years ago the City of Toronto replanted and re-naturalized this area to combat
Dog-strangling vine and other weed infestations.
Today the area provides wildflowers and native trees for wildlife and visitors to enjoy.
On the other side of this space is a polluted pond fed by a small spring.
An old water drainage pipe is installed under the proposed path.
The pipe connects to Grey Abbey Ravine for drainage as seen below and Lake Ontario. If the City of Toronto is going ahead with installing a bicycle path through this area
I hope there will be an environmental assessment resulting in
cleanup and restoration of the pond and surrounding park land.

drainage pipe below Grey Abbey Park - ®guild-rez

The quiet conservation crisis....

2011-10-22T10:25:00.003-04:00

Every time I walk through parks and along our shores lines,
I find discarded bottles, coffee cups and plastic bags.
Do people not care about our environment ?
Or just love to talk about it?

“We stand today poised on a pinnacle of wealth and power,

yet we live in a land of vanishing beauty, of increasing ugliness,

of shrinking open space and of an overall environment

that is diminished daily by pollution and noise and blight.

This, in brief, is the quiet conservation crisis.”

- Steve Udall

“Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife
are in fact plans to protect man.”
- Steve Udall

Poison Ivy in Guildwood

2011-10-14T10:33:00.002-04:00

Toxicodendron radicans, better known as poison ivy
(older synonyms are Rhus toxicodendron and Rhus radicans),
is a poisonous North American plant that is well known for its production of urushiol, a clear liquid compound found within the sap of the plant that causes an itching rash in
most people who touch it.

Please be careful while walking along the shoreline or in our parks.
My collage below shows Poison Ivy with flowers in spring
colourful leaves and berries in the fall.

Poison ivy grows throughout much of North America, including the Canadian Maritime provinces, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and all U.S. states east of the Rockies.

Update ...Emerald Ash-borer from Paul Ainslie, City Councillor

2011-10-13T21:38:00.001-04:00

Emerald Ash Borer

On September 21, 2001 Paul Ainslie introduced a Notice of Motion to City Council entitled:

"Canadian Food Inspection Agency Forest Pest Compensation Regulations on replacement grants for Emerald Ash Borer".

The item was referred to the Parks and Environment Committee: If you have any comments on this item to be added to the item when it appears at the Parks and Environment Committee please email: pec@toronto.ca.

Notice of Motion

The City of Toronto along with other municipalities is experiencing the negative effects of the Emerald Ash Borer across the City. The City of Toronto is investing to replace city owned trees to preserve our tree canopy. The city does not have the means to replace trees on privately owned properties.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recently introduced Forest Pest Compensation Regulations to include replacement of trees infected with EAB.

The compensation referred to on the CFIA website is for trees that were removed or ordered to be removed by CFIA. The CFIA is however not ordering the removal of ash trees. Homeowners are removing ash trees to avoid hazards not because the CFIA is trying to prevent further spread of the insect.

The regulation although good intentioned covers only the trees the Canadian Food Inspection Agency orders to be cut down, as the agency is not ordering removal of trees, residents who require compensation are not eligible for the replacement grant to cover the cost of planting new trees.

The City of Toronto is seeking assistance from the Federal Government to compensate Toronto residents. The City of Toronto could work with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency by entering into a purchase of service agreement to conduct the investigation and issue orders for removal of trees infected with emerald ash borer enabling property owners to become eligible for the replacement grant.

In the case of Asian long horned beetle owners of trees close to the deemed infested areas were given orders to remove their private trees, the CFIA removed the trees

and offered compensation to help owners with the replacement.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. The City of Toronto's Parks Forestry and Recreation division enter into a purchase of service agreement with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to order the removal of ash trees infected with Emerald Ash Borer,

2. Parks Forestry and Recreation report to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on the removal orders issued to property owners making them eligible for the replacement grant offered through the Forest Pest Compensation Regulations,

3. Parks Forestry and Recreation further approach the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to request that City of Toronto owned trees also be eligible for the replacement grants.

City Councillor Paul Ainslie 2011 October report - Guild Inn

2011-10-13T21:21:00.002-04:00

Just received an update from City councillor Paul Ainslie regarding the Guild Inn!!

Guild Inn:

NO condominiums on the grounds of the Guild Park & Gardens by Centennial College!

After being elected in 2006, I created the Guild Park Advisory Committee (GPAC) to actively look for a proponent to redevelop the Bickford Residence within the Park.

Membership on the Committee included people from the executive of the Guildwood Village Community Association, as well as the Guild Renaissance Group.

We established a set of parameters we felt the community at large would accept for anyone wishing to occupy the Bickford Residence.

During the search process we turned many different potential applicants away.

The GPAC settled on Centennial College which said it recognized the significance of the Park to the community and its history.

Representatives of the school expressed a strong desire to work with the City of Toronto as we developed the Culture Precinct around the Bickford Residence.

Centennial's plans were outlined as a two phase project including office space for its world renowned Culture & Heritage Institute, a restaurant, banquet facilities, a spa, and boutique hotel in the second phase of construction.

Centennial College signed a Letter of Intent with the City of Toronto and never wavered from what the school intended to build..until this year when I and City staff started to pressure the College as they began to miss deadlines.

After reviewing a hotel feasibility study, and a fund-raising study the College began to raise concerns they may have which would delay and may even need to revise their proposal.

Between March and June 2011 the scope of their project changed from purely office space, to potential classrooms, maybe needing to build some condominiums to help finance the hotel, to finally a project which completely eliminated any discussion of a hotel, and constructing and selling condominiums to the general public to finance the project.

As I said at the beginning I will not support condominiums being built in the middle of a City park. Such permanent residences could and will have a huge impact on any public use of the park land.

It is a complete 360 degree change from Centennials original proposal. If they had made this presentation to GPAC in 2007 the Committee would have completely rejected such a project and accepted another proponent.

Needless to say, this change in scope will cause delays in seeing a successful project constructed on the grounds. I feel if we had approved another proponent we would see a working entity on the grounds of the Guild.

If Centennial is unwilling to revisit their plans the City of Toronto under my direction will be asked to release another Request for Proposals for the Bickford Residence for a restaurant & banquet facility.

It goes without saying I am deeply disappointed in the change by Centennial College.

I think it portrays a deep lack of respect for the Guildwood community, and a misunderstanding of what all interested parties see as the proper utilization of the Guild Park & Gardens.

Cultural Precinct

The Culture precinct is the area surrounding the Bickford building (Guild Inn), the work to bring the area back to its original function as an artist colony is essential to the parks integrity. The Precincts plans for redevelopment have been a separate project from the rehabilitation of the Bickford itself. The City's Culture Division and my office are the lead on Cultural Precinct re-development; plans are still going ahead and have not been stalled.

On June 27^th, 2011 a Guild Park Advisory Committee meeting was held where the City's Manager of Culture Affairs updated committee members on the Cultural precinct plan for Guildwood Park.

Plans are continuing to move forward. A Request for Proposals was issued on June 30, 2011 to hire an architect to design the Guild craft studio building through the renovation and expansion of Building 191. The City received five submissions from architectural firms by the deadline of August 12, 2011.

City staff are currently reviewing the submissions and checking references. Staff, in Cultural Services will recommend a winning firm to City Purchasing by the end of October 2011. When complete, the building will include studio space for ceramics; kiln casting; fine metal work; textiles and the appropriate support spaces.

This recommendation will then go through the City's approval process including the execution of a legal agreement with the winning firm. It is anticipated that the chosen architect will be able to begin work on the design of the Guild studio building by the end of 2011.

Further information can be obtained here:

Guildwood Village Community Association website: www.guildwood.on.ca

The Guild Renaissance Group (GRG): http://guildrenaissancegroup.com/

Another proposal for the Guild Inn??

2011-08-22T06:18:00.047-04:00

The Guild Inn ...Once a beautiful property overlooking Lake Ontario now a desolate place.

For over 10 years the Guild Inn has been boarded up and neglected by the City of Toronto.

Few years ago before the security fence was installed I stepped through the open front door of the building to take a look around.

The vandalized interior and foyer was appalling.

The wooden staircases to the upper level where covered with dirt from animals and large amounts of mold. When mold spores are present in abnormally high quantities, they can present a health hazard to humans, potentially causing allergic reactions, producing mycotoxins, causing fungal infection (mycosis). Furniture where damaged and graffiti on the walls was visible.

Asbestos presents another problem in the Guild Inn. In previous years security guards hired by the City of Toronto did not enter the building because of health hazards. The guards remained in their cars parked in front of the Guild Inn. 2009 the Guild Inn Hotel tower was demolished and is now a parking lot.

The remaining buildings should be condemned and demolished as recommended by the City staff report from March 9, 2005
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/2005/agendas/committees/sc/sc050531/it004.pdf
More references:
http://www.paulainslie.com/FILES/MAY2007GUILDUPDATEBACKpage.pdf

City of Toronto news release August 7, 2009
City Council approves Centennial College redevelopment plans for the Guild Inn

Toronto City Council has approved an important initiative that will create a vibrant new future for the Guild Inn site in Scarborough. An agreement in principle has been reached between the City of Toronto, Centennial College and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority that allows the college to construct a new home for their Cultural and Heritage Institute.
BACKGROUND
TRCA is the owner of the Guild Inn and leased the buildings and lands to the City of Toronto. Under the terms of the lease, the City of Toronto assumes all responsibility for the 88 acres of Guild Inn lands and buildings to September 1, 2083.

The city has sought proposals for redevelopment and revitalization of the Guild Inn on several
occasions, most recently from Centennial College.
The city is proposing to enter into a binding letter of intent whereby about 6.76 acres of the 88
acres will be subleased to Centennial College. Centennial College will operate its Institute of
Cultural and Heritage Management from the site using the Bickford Residence. Centennial
College will partner with a city approved developer/hotel operator to build a 120 room hotel,
spa, restaurant and conference centre. The new centre involving an investment of about $30
million will also create workplace and learning opportunities for students in Centennial's School
of Hospitality and Tourism.

RATIONALE
The city has negotiated a mutually satisfactory term sheet which will lead to the signing of a
binding letter of intent to enter into a sub lease with Centennial. The City of Toronto
Government Management Committee has approved the project and a recommendation will be
before City Council in July, 2009.
TRCA will have an opportunity to review with City of Toronto staff the project as proposed and
to consider any implications for the adjacent lands. As proposed, the Centennial College
project is superior to other proposals considered by the city in terms of protection of natural
areas. Among aspects of the project of relevance and importance to TRCA are:
􀁺 approval of site plan, boundaries, regulatory limits, access routes, walkways and access to
the bluffs;
􀁺 financing arrangements;
􀁺 protection of TRCA interests in terms of insurance, indemnities and security for construction
and other matters;
􀁺 TRCA release from any damages arising from erosion of the bluffs; and
􀁺 TRCA in its capacity as landowner and as a statutory regulator.
TRCA and its solicitors will work with city staff to ensure that TRCA interests are protected.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Under the terms of the Guild Inn lease with the City of Toronto, and consistent with the
management agreement between TRCA and the city, the city is responsible for all costs related
to the management and development of the Guild Inn. TRCA will incur modest legal costs to
ensure that TRCA interests are protected.
TRCA staff have also met directly with representatives of Centennial College who have
indicated an interest in TRCA continuing its stabilization work along the Scarborough shoreline
and the provision of trail connections to the Guild Inn property from the east and west. The
gap in the waterfront trail along the Scarborough shoreline of Lake Ontario is the most
significant within the TRCA's area of jurisdiction. TRCA staff are preparing funding estimates for
future federal and provincial infrastructure stimulus programs to begin to address this work.
http://www.trca.on.ca/

.August 2011
After failing to secure funding for the project Centennial College proposes now to restore the remaining Guild Inn (Bickford Residence) and build condos in the park.
The Guildwood community is waiting for City Councillor Paul Ainslie to announce a public meeting in September 2011 dealing with this new proposal.

Centennial College released a drawing of a site plan containing a condominium building with about 100 units, seven or eight storeys high, with 50 parking spaces underground.

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/1058711--centennial-college-proposing-condominium-residences-for-guild-inn

10 years of Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup in Guildwood and East Point Park

2011-07-28T16:31:00.009-04:00

Every September, Canadians from across the country head to their local shorelines to make a positive impact in their community including me. My project 'No litter on our shoreline' started over ten years ago is now coming to an end. During this time I have organised many shoreline cleanup events and invited students from our local schools in Guildwood to participate.

At the annual Green Living Show in Toronto, I spoke to many visitors about the
Vancouver Aquariums environmental program:
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
Over 80% of the litter we removed from our Lake Ontario shoreline in Guildwood
originates from land based activities.
Careless thrown away coffee cups, styrofoam food containers, bottles and beverage containers including
shopping carts can be found littering the beaches we share with our wildlife.
The impact can be seen in my pictures!!

I am very grateful to everyone who participated and removed large amounts of litter from our shoreline!!
Without you I couldn't have done it. Thank you!!

"Natural objects themselves,

even when they make no claim to beauty,

excite the feelings, and occupy the imagination.

Nature pleases, attracts, delights, merely because it is nature.

We recognize in it an Infinite Power.

- Karl Wilhelm von Humboldt

Guild Inn Toronto - what a desolate place

2011-05-28T06:08:00.000-04:00

Centennial College wants to restore Guild Inn's glory??
Let's wait and see!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_Inn

take action for life...Conservation International - Weltnaturschutzkonferenz vom 18. bis 29. Oktober 2010

2010-10-19T06:58:00.003-04:00

The world’s species are disappearing – fast.
Around the world, a species goes extinct every 20 minutes. We need these species if we are going to thrive.
The threat to biodiversity is stronger than ever. Human activity is destroying the ecosystems inhabited by critical species around the world.
Join me in taking a stand to protect species – by protecting the places where they live. Support a global agreement to protect and effectively manage at least 25% of Earth’s land and inland waters and 15% of marine ecosystems by 2020:
Thousands already have signed this petition, sending a message to world leaders at the CBD:
We are taking action to protect biodiversity. And so should they.

Please visit this website to sign the petition... I have!!

www.conservation.org/2515

****************

Weltnaturschutzkonferenz vom 18. bis 29. Oktober 2010

Die zehnte Weltnaturschutzkonferenz findet vom 18. bis 29. Oktober in Nagoya/Japan statt. Auf sie kommt im Internationalen Jahr der Biodiversität besondere Bedeutung zu. Das Scheitern der Weltgemeinschaft am 2010-Ziel, das Artensterben deutlich zu verlangsamen, ist allgemein eingeräumt worden. Nun geht es darum, aus der Blamage zu lernen, neue Ziele zu definieren, Maßnahmen zu vereinbaren und vor allem die Finanzierung dafür zu sichern.

Der NABU ist vor Ort, um gemeinsam mit seinen internationalen Partnern konkrete und zielführende Beschlüsse der Regierungen einzufordern.

http://www.nabu.de/themen/naturschutz/vielfalt/cop10/index.html

autumn colours and visiting Doris McCarthy - Fool's Paradise

2010-10-14T08:10:00.002-04:00

Very often we drive along Meadowcliffe Drive in Scarborough until we reach Doris McCarthy a famous Canadian painter's residence called the Fool's Paradise. A few day ago I stepped out of the car and took a few pictures of her house, the garden and looked down at the Lake. 1998 Doris McCarthy designated her residence and studio to the Ontario Heritage Foundation. She celebrated her 100. birthday in 2010.

Bellamy ravine or Gates Gully, is a ravine in Scarborough that runs from Kingston Road to the shore of Lake Ontario. The trail and ravine is now known as Doris McCarthy Trail, named after the renowned Canadian painter who built the first house to occupy the bluffs above this site. Just a few metres up the beach is another (steep) trail that climbs up the side of the bluffs, leading to Sylvan Park in Guildwood. Very often I have climbed the trail and looked over to Doris McCarthy's residence.
Watched deer, coyotes, foxes and birds along the Bluffs; enjoyed very quiet and peaceful moments.
A paradise indeed...
At the bottom of the trail is a very intetesting sculpture honouring McCarthy called 'Passage' - a work commissioned by the "Friends of Doris McCarthy" from Marlene Hilton Moore.
For more information about the sculpture please visit www.ruthard.ca/art/scarborough/passage.html
Other sources:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_McCarthy
pictures by guild-rez 2009 and 2010

Autumn in the forest and from Lake Ontario

2010-10-10T16:18:00.001-04:00

I created this picture collage from moss, leaves,
tree fungi from our Guildwood Park and a beautiful carving from Belize.

.
The Autumn picture collage reflects the colourful trees and landscapes
in our neighbourhood parks and Lake Ontario.

Autumn in Guildwood and pictures from South Marine Park...

2010-10-10T06:42:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch
and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air."

- Eric Sloane

pictures by guild-rez 2010/10/09

Change of colours - change of season in Newcastle, Ontario Canada

2010-10-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

Daytrip to Newcastle, Ontario along the Waterfronttrail to Presqu'ile Provincial Park.
http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/pres.html
As fall arrives with the changing of the leaves, Ontario has some of the best scenery for trips and hikes through our beautiful deciduous forests. Driving along the waterfront of Lake Ontario I noticed many trees have dropped their leaves because of dry weather and windy conditions during the summer and fall.

Thirty Thousand Islands - Dreißigtausend Inseln...Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada

2010-10-05T07:50:00.001-04:00

"This is land for people who love nature,
who believe that the best of the environment should be saved
and want to create a family legacy that can be passed to future generations unchanged,
unspoiled, and naturally beautiful."

Georgian Bay is about 320 kilometres (200 miles) long by 80 kilometres (50 miles) wide.
It covers over 15,000 square kilometres (5800 square miles), making it almost as large as Lake Ontario. Eastern Georgian Bay is part of the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, granite bedrock exposed by the glaciers at the end of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago.
The granite rock formations and windswept Eastern White Pine are characteristic of the islands and much of the shoreline of the bay. The rugged beauty of the area inspired landscapes by artists of the Group of Seven. The western part of the bay, from Collingwood north, and including Manitoulin Island, Drummond, Cockburn and St. Josephs Island, borders the Niagara Escarpment.
I love Manitoulin Island and we visit the island every year,
purchase fresh fish and collect fossils.

Many Islands and cottages can be reached only by boat.

Viele Inseln und Häuser kann man nur mit dem Boot erreichen.

Die Georgsbucht (engl. Georgian Bay, franz. Baie Georgienne) ist eine große Bucht in Nordamerika,

die vom Hauptteil des Huronsees im Nordwesten durch die Manitoulin-Insel und im Südwesten durch die Bruce-Halbinsel abgeteilt ist. Sie gehört zur kanadischen Provinz Ontario.

Ich liebe die Manitoulin Insel und wir besuchen sie jedes Jahr.

Die Georgsbucht ist etwa 200 km lang und 80 km breit. Sie bedeckt eine Fläche von 15.000 Quadratkilometern.

Die Bucht liegt am Südrand des Kanadischen Schilds, das durch den Rückgang der Gletscher zum Ende der letzten Eiszeit vor rund 11.000 Jahren geprägt worden ist.

Der westliche Teil der Bucht mit der Bruce-Halbinsel gehört geologisch zur Niagara-Schichtstufe.

Guildwood Park ...fall has arrived

2010-10-01T07:48:00.000-04:00

Impressions from my afternoon walk in our Guildwood Park.

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on,
and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Thank you to the students and teachers from Jack Miner Senior Public School ...

2010-09-29T06:39:00.001-04:00

"Get all the education you can; then add the learning."
- Jack Miner

At Jack Miner Senior Public School, in conjunction with the whole community, we promote the development of lifelong learning by providing a wide variety of challenging experiences in a positive,

safe learning environment where cooperation, participation, and respect for all are valued.

Jack Miner Senior Public School opened in 1970.

The school receives its name from Jack Miner, the great Canadian naturalist and conservationist,

who promoted the process of banding birds and studying their migratory habits.

Jack Miner School is located by the beautiful Scarborough Bluffs overlooking Lake Ontario.

The students attending Jack Miner come from a variety of community K-6 schools.

Special Programs
Jack Miner also hosts a number of special education classes that draw from a larger area of Southeast Scarborough. We currently have two Gifted classes, one Mildly Intellectually Disabled Class, and a Behaviour M.I.D. class. Jack Miner is also home to a Continuing Education program for Adult English as Second Language Learners.

Emerald Ashborer news: Minnesota is about to unleash the stingless wasp...

2010-09-26T06:10:00.002-04:00

The emerald ash borer has killed millions of ash trees in southwestern Ontario, Michigan and surrounding states. It poses a major economic and environmental threat to urban and forested areas in both countries.

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/

More and more trees in our neighbourhood show signs of the Emerald Ash Borer infestation.

If I read news about a potential remedy against this very destructive beetle I hope it is not too late for our trees I love and cherish.

ST. PAUL, Minn.--

The dreaded emerald ash borer may soon meet it's match.
Minnesota is about to unleash the stingless wasp, a new weapon in its fight to slow the spread of the destructive ash borer.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) its partners will release the stingless wasps in rural Houston County Wednesday morning.Emerald Ash Borers are an invasive beetle threatening ash trees across North America.
Biological control, or biocontrol, pairs a pest species with natural enemies that restrict the pest population in its native range.
MDA will release two species of stingless wasps that were tested and approved by the USDA for biocontrol to limit the EAB population.
The metallic green beetles have killed tens of millions of trees in other Midwestern states, and now threaten to devastate Minnesota's estimated 900 million ash trees.
They were first discovered destroying trees in St. Paul last year, and then in Minneapolis and Houston County earlier this year.
The Houston County site is an island in the Mississippi River.
Representatives from the MDA will meet at Blackhawk Park on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River.
The park is located 30 miles south of La Crosse and three miles north of De Soto just off Wisconsin State Hwy. 35.
(Copyright 2010 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)

Emerald Ash Borer infested tree

Common Snapping Turtle, Chelydra serpentina... Schnappschildkröte

2010-09-19T20:52:00.002-04:00

The Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) is a large freshwater turtle of the family Chelydridae. Its natural range extends from southeastern Canada including Ontario, southwest to the Rocky Mountains, throughout Mexico, and as far south as Ecuador. This species and the larger Alligator Snapping Turtle are both widely referred to as snapping turtles or snappers. The Common Snapping Turtle, as its name implies, is much more widespread overall.

Common habitats are shallow ponds, shallow lakes, or streams. Some may inhabit brackish environments, such as estuaries. Common Snapping Turtles sometimes bask—though rarely observed—by floating on the surface with only their carapace exposed, though in the northern parts of their range they will also readily bask on fallen logs in early spring. In shallow waters, Common snappers may lie beneath a muddy bottom with only the head exposed, stretching their long necks to the surface for an occasional breath (note that their nostrils are positioned on the very tip of the snout, effectively functioning as snorkels). Snapping turtles are omnivores, consuming both plant and animal matter, and are important aquatic scavengers; but they are also active hunters that prey on anything they can swallow, including many invertebrates, fish, frogs, reptiles (including snakes and smaller turtles), unwary birds and small mammals.

Common snappers are noted for their belligerent disposition when out of the water, their powerful beak-like jaws, and their highly mobile head and neck (hence the specific name "serpentina", meaning "snake-like"). In some areas they are hunted very heavily for their meat, a popular ingredient in turtle soup. These turtles have lived for up to 47 years in captivity, while the lifespan of wild individuals is estimated to be around 30 years.

Die Schnappschildkröte (Chelydra serpentina), auch Amerikanische Schnappschildkröte genannt, ist eine der drei Arten der Gattung Chelydra aus der Familie der Alligatorschildkröten. Man findet die Schnappschildkröte in Nordamerika, Süd/Ost Ontario, Kanada, Mexico and auch in Ecuador.

Die Schnappschildkröte lebt in langsam fließenden Gewässern, schlammigen Seen, Teichen und Tümpeln mit morastigem Grund. Die genutzten Gewässer weisen alle einen dichten Pflanzenbewuchs auf. Schnappschildkröten liegen meist versteckt im Schlamm oder zwischen Pflanzen. Schnappschildkröten unternehmen gelegentlich Wanderungen von einigen Kilometern über Land, oft auf der Suche nach neuen Gewässern.
In ihrem nördlichen Verbreitungsgebiet überwintert die Schnappschildkröte eingegraben im Gewässerboden. Der Stoffwechsel ist (aufgrund der tiefen Temperaturen) stark reduziert; der Gasaustausch geschieht über die Haut.
Schnappschildkröten verbringen viel Zeit auf dem Grund von Gewässern, teilweise in Schlamm vergraben, auf Beute lauernd. (Siehe Foto) Daneben sind sie aber auch gute Schwimmer, die aktiv Fischen, Amphibien, Reptilien und Wasservögeln nachstellen. Schnappschildkröten gehen gelegentlich nachts an Land, wo sie auch kleine Säugetiere fressen; daneben nehmen sie auch Aas.
___________________
first picture by Rob Holz 2010
collage by guild-rez 2010 - Brick Works, Toronto
reference wikipedia

2010 Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup area in Guildwood

2010-09-14T21:35:00.002-04:00

Google Earth Map shows our Guildwood shoreline of Lake Ontario.
My name is Gisela Bach and I am your site coordinator.

Please join me and other volunteers to cleanup our area.
Date: September 18 & 19, 2010
Time 10:00 - 14:00 hours
Location: Guild Inn parking lot - left side

All year long, organizations and individuals across the globe take part in Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup to remove trash and debris from the world's beaches and waterways, identify the sources of that debris, and change the behaviors that allow it to reach the ocean in the first place.

Shoreline litter comes in many forms and sizes. It can be plastic, metal, glass, cloth or paper. It can be as small as a plastic resin pellet or as large as a couch. Whether discarded accidentally or deliberately, all of the shoreline litter we find in Canada is the result of human activities.

Everyone who participates in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup records the type and amount of litter they collect on data cards. This data is then compiled and used to determine which kinds of litter are the most prevalent throughout the country. It also illustrates what types of behaviours people need to change in order to decrease the amount of shoreline litter and eliminate it at the source.

On these data cards, participants categorize litter items
according to the activities that produce them.

In our area trash we collect are most likely from :
Shoreline and Recreational Activities:

Every year, the majority of litter items we find originate from shoreline and recreational activities.

As you can see this category includes things like food wrappers, beverage containers, plastic bags,

caps, lids and aluminum cans. This type of litter is created from beachgoers, picnickers, sports events, festivals, barbecues and other outdoor events. Most of these activities take place on land, and the items are either blown into the water or are carried by creeks, rivers and storm drains to the shoreline and onward.

Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup - Guildwood Village

2010-09-08T06:33:00.000-04:00

Trash doesn’t fall from the sky, it falls from human hands.
And human hands have the power to stop it.
You and your friends, neighbours, family, and colleagues can truly make a difference
by joining me for this year Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup in Guildwood.

WWF-Canada article

2010-08-29T10:11:00.000-04:00

complete article can be found here:
http://blog.wwf.ca/blog/2010/08/25/shoreline-cleanup-super-site-coordinators-gisel-bach/

Landowner's Guide - invasive woodland plants

2010-08-13T14:36:00.002-04:00

Most of the invasive woodland plants presented in the guide can be found in our Guildwood Village except Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum, also giant cow parsley).

A very similiar plant and poisenous plant Water-Hemlock, also Cowbane (cicuta maculata)
grows in some of our parks close by.

Guide table of content:
Common and Glossy buckthorn (Guildwood)
garlic Mustard (Guildwood)
Dog-strangling vine (Guildwood)
Norway maple (Guildwood)
Giant hogweed
Japanese knotweed (Guildwood)
Armus, Morrow and Tatarian honeysuckle (Guildwood)

Summary:

Landowners strategy

This very valulable booklet is published by the Government of Canada, 2004

Second printing in 2009

Invasive Alien Species Strategy for Canada.

Environment Canada

The booklet is available in pdf format:

http://www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca/files/LandownerGuideInvasives_web.pdf

Other useful sides:

I received the copy of my printed guide from the office of our City of Toronto Councillor Paul Ainslie.

Paul, thank you for your ongoing support.

The Guild... Alive with Culture

2010-08-07T12:46:00.000-04:00

Saturday, August 7th, 2010 and Sunday, August 8th, 2010
from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM on both days
Location:
The Guild Inn Gardens
201 Guildwood Parkway

Sylvan Park - thank you to Cara Webster, City of Toronto

2010-08-02T06:55:00.001-04:00

Two years ago I visited Sylvan Park located in our Guildwood Village.
I wrote about the devastating impact of the very invasive Dog-strangling vine in the park.
No wildflowers, birds or butterflies!!
The area around the trees and bushes where overgrown by the weed.

Last week I walked through Sylvan Park again.
The park looks so much better now as shown in my picture below!!
Would love to see more wildflowers besides goldenrod.
But I noticed goldfinches and other birds, insects and butterflies again.
Thank you to Cara Webster, Natural Resource Specialist,
City of Toronto, Parks, Forestry & Recreation Urban Forestry
for listening and responding to my concerns.

Please join me for my Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup events in Guildwood!!

2010-07-23T08:47:00.000-04:00

Trash found along the shoreline of Lake Ontario, below East Point Park, Toronto.

We have to keep our lakes and rivers free from trash to protect oceans far away.
Our oceans drive and moderate our climate, help provide the water we drink,
the air we breathe, and much of the food we eat.
The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico shows us how precious our oceans are.

You can do your part and help to protect our lakes, rivers and oceans.

Please join me in September for my
Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup events in Guildwood!!
http://shorelinecleanup.ca/en/take-action/be-a-part-of-the-solution

Crinoids, Nautiloids and Burrow trace fossils

2010-07-20T07:23:00.002-04:00

Crinoids are unusually beautiful and graceful members of the phylum Echinodermata. This is the phylum that brings you starfish, sea urchins, and sand dollars. The crinoids are a breed apart however, they resemble an underwater flower. Some even have parts that look and act like roots anchoring them to the ocean floor. They are commonly called sea lilies. Their graceful stalks can be meters long. Other varieties have no stalks or root like parts. They are commonly known as feather stars. Unlike the sea lilies the feather stars can move about on tiny hook like structures.
***********
Nautiloids are a group of marine mollusks in the subclass Nautiloidea, which all possess an external shell. They flourished during the Early Paleozoic era, where they constituted the main predatory animals, and developed an extraordinary diversity of shell shapes and forms. Some 2,500 species of fossil nautiloids are known, but only a handful of species survive to the present day.
***********
Burrows Trace Fossils, also called ichnofossils are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings (bioerosion), urolites (erosion caused by evacuation of liquid wastes), footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities.

Reference: Manitoulin Rocks
Rocks, Fossils and Landforms of Manitoulin Island

Trace fossils at Emory University, by Anthony J. Martin
http://www.palaeos.com/Palaeo/TraceFossils.htm

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is part of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s preeminent museum and research complex.
http://paleobiology.si.edu/

Pictures by Gisela H. Bach
Fossils found on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.

Manitoulin Rocks..

2010-07-18T20:55:00.001-04:00

During my recent visit to Manitoulin Island I continued to search for more fossils.
The book "Mantoulin Rocks" provides valuble information to identify the collected items.

Approximately 500 million years ago, salty seas invaded the area and deposited vast thickness of sediments.
These sediments now constitute the fossil-rich limestone and
dolostone bedrock of the island and are magnificently exposed in the Niagara Escarpment.
Dolostone is a sedimentary rock very similar to limestone,
but is composed primarily of the mineral dolomite, rather than calcite.

Coral fossils collected on Manitoulin

Extensive glaciation in the last Ice Age, followed by glacial melting,
were largely responsible for the present landforms and topography.
Glaciers eroded deeply into the bedrock and transported vast quantities of sediment
that were eventually deposited either directly from the glaciers or from their meltwaters.

I found invertebrate corals [tabulates (colonial) and rugose (solitary)], stromatoporoids, bryozoans, and echinoderms (crinoids), mulluscs (nautiloids, bivalves, gastropods, cephalopods),
brachiopods, echinoderms (crinoids) and many more.

summer break - sommer pause

2010-07-12T06:22:00.001-04:00

misquoted?? "Plan in place to control Scarborough Bluffs erosion"

2010-07-03T08:58:00.001-04:00

In response to Mike Adler's article in the InsideToronto edition from June 30, 2010
"Plan in place to control Scarborough Bluffs erosion"

Do I support the erosion control project West of Sylvan Park? the answer is a resounding YES.
So what is my beef?
Well, I think that access via the Guildwood Park service road is ill advised
and has the potential to expensively damage existing facilities,
not to mention negatively impact wildlife.
Access from Bluffers Park facilities would be far more practical and should be given preference.
That is my message, please don't misquote me.
Gisela Bach

Happy Canada Day ..July 1, 2010

2010-06-30T07:46:00.001-04:00

Emerald Ash Borer - Agrilus planipennis or Agrilus marcopoli (EAB) update

2010-06-28T14:07:00.000-04:00

During my recent walk through the Kay Gardner Beltline Park in Toronto

I discovered many ash trees infested by the beetle.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will have a better idea by the end of summer whether the emerald ash borer continues its eastward march across southern Ontario.

The agency has deployed 150 traps in Waterloo, Wellington County, Haldimand County, Brant County and Oxford County that are designed to attract the pest and capture it.
The five municipalities are of interest because they are the only ones in south-central Ontario where emerald ash borer has not been detected.
No traps will be set in Norfolk because an infestation was discovered at a campground near Turkey Point several years ago.
The insect is believed to have arrived in a load of firewood from outside the area.
Hundreds of trees in the vicinity were cut down and burned in an effort to contain the infestation.
CFIA is not conducting ground surveys in Norfolk to determine whether the insect has spread.
Allison Barr, CFIA's regional program officer for Central Region, says there is no point in looking for infestations on foot.
"We know ground surveys are very limited in their effectiveness," she said.
"You can be standing under an ash tree, hack into it and find nothing. Yet the tree will be loaded."
Death comes suddenly to trees that are infested.
A tree can harbour ash borers for years and appear healthy before suddenly collapsing.
Ash borer larvae kill by eating the entire circumference of the cambium layer beneath the bark,
effectively girdling its host. Please view my pictures!!

The cambium is responsible for transporting water and nutrients from the roots to the rest of the tree.

The traps are baited with distilled ash essences. Insects drawn to them are captured on sticky pads.

Emerald Ash Borer devastated ash stands in Ohio, Michigan and other states south of the border before entering Ontario. CFIA has imposed wood-moving restrictions in Essex County, Lambton County, Chatham-Kent, Elgin, Middlesex, Huron and Norfolk counties. Restrictions are also in effect in Niagara Region, Hamilton, Halton Region, Peel Region, Toronto, York and Durham.

In Guildwood we have some infested trees as well!!

CFIA will confiscate wood that has been cut and transported beyond a regulated zone.
Individuals can be fined as much as $400 for violating quarantines.
Companies can be fined as much as $4,000 and face prosecution in court.
Barr said quarantines are Ontario's best chance for containing the bug.
However, she is surprised how many people are unaware of their responsibilities in regulated zones.

Proposed regulations could spell end for wind farm off Scarborough Bluffs

2010-06-26T10:20:00.003-04:00

Province to call for turbines to be located
five kilometres from shore!!

Proposed regulations could spell end for wind farm off Scarborough Bluffs.
The wind anemometer to test wind speeds in Lake Ontario has been set up by Toronto Hydro, southeast of East Point Park in Scarborough, 1.1 kilometres off shore. Testing will continue for the next two years.

Provincial guidlines on wind turbines released recently are calling for them to be five kilometres from shore when placed in water.
Proposed offshore wind turbine regulations released Friday afternoon by the Ministry of the Environment could mean the end of a possible wind farm in Lake Ontario off the Scarborough Bluffs.

The provincial government issued a press release seeking input on the proposed rules, which include "keeping them at least five kilometres from the shoreline."

Please read more here:
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/839574--proposed-regulations-could-spell-end-for-wind-farm-off-scarborough-bluffs
Toronto Hydro is currently testing wind speed and direction with the construction of an anemometer 1.1 km off the shore of East Point Park.
If the two years of testing provided the data to make the case for a wind turbine, the proposal was to install up to 60 turbines from Ajax to the Leslie Street Spit two to four kilometres offshore.

A five-kilometre setback would likely kill the project as it would be too costly to erect the turbines that far out as the shoreline drops off past the four-kilometre area.

This would include addressing potential impacts to endangered and threatened species and their habitat, significant wildlife habitats, users of Crown land, flooding and erosion.

Dates and locations will be available soon at
http://www.ontario.ca/

Wind turbines on Wolfe Island in Ontario has claimed the life of over 600 birds in 6 month.
The Scarborough Bluffs area is considered as a major migrating bird area and protected by provincial and federal laws.

Let's protect our wildlife, their habitat and our source of clean drinking water. Lake Ontario is providing drinking water for millions of people in Canada and United States of America.

.

Guildwood's shoreline - habitat loss for many plant and animal species

2010-06-11T07:26:00.004-04:00

Among the greatest threats to the diversity of natural life is the loss
and destruction of habitat that sustains plant and animal species.
During a recent walk along the shoreline I found the first signs of damage done to
our environment by trucks piling large amount of rubble too close to the lake.
Hiking trails are muddy and wildflower areas are destroyed.

Bird and wildlife:
In spring when migratory birds arrive at the Guildwood Bluffs and Lake Onatrio this is a very busy area.
But not this spring...Only a few swallows and other birds remained at this site.
Red-winged Blackbird colonies in many wetland areas are deserted and only a few birds are left.
I will visit the bird nesting sites and take a look at their nests.

Wildflowers:
Anemone canadensis, Asclepias or milk weed, Leucanthemum vulgare or marguerite,
wild roses and vines and many more will be lost for many years during the construction.
No flowers - no bees
No bees - no flowers

The Canada Migratory Birds Convention Act and TRCA Meadowcliffe Drive Erosion Control Project

2010-06-06T07:19:00.002-04:00

Please read the prevoius article:
Guildwood's waterfront and wildlife habitat compromised by TRCA - Toronto Region Conservation Authority

The Canada Migratory Birds Convention Act is a significant statute for watershed protection, due to the fact that many migratory birds rely on aquatic habitats for their survival.

In Guildwood our shoreline is used by migratory birds; and our ravines, parks and beaches are frequented by migratory birds.

The Act can therefore be raised in support of a concern that a development like the Meadowcliffe Drive Erosion Control Project is going to alter or harm our shoreline of Lake Ontario to the detriment of the ecosystem and life that is supported by the waterway.

An important point to note is that the Act does not explicitly or directly protect bird habitat;
however, if it can be shown that
a development will have a significant, negative impact upon migratory bird populations because of pollution of the waters or land frequented by them,
the Act can be raised as an argument for protecting the significant habitat.

Guildwood's waterfront and wildlife habitat compromised by TRCA - Toronto Region Conservation Authority

2010-06-01T16:31:00.155-04:00

The Guild Inn and Guildwood's waterfront is a unique treasure to be cherished and preserved??

After many years of walking by the neglected and boarded up Guild Inn
I have enjoyed my early morning walks along the shoreline of Lake Ontario.
Watched the sunrise over the lake and loved the quiet and peaceful moments.

If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
- Vincent Van Gogh

Now, I witness firsthand the destruction of our beautiful waterfront.

TRCA finished the Guildwood Erosion Control Project below Sylvan Park in 2002.
My first picture was taken in the fall 2002 from Sylvan Park and shows the beautiful landscaped areas
and walking trails along the Lake Ontario. A great addition for our Guildwood Village community.
Wildflowers and trees started to grow and wildlife returned to this area in the following years!!

The first time I became aware of the Meadowcliffe Drive Erosion Control Project

from an article in the Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/article/483484 published Aug 22, 2008

Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA) is preparing to undertake remedial erosion control works along a portion of the Scarborough Bluffs at the Lake Ontario shoreline, in the City of Toronto.

The project site spans approximately 600 m of shoreline between Bluffers Park and Bellamy Ravine
(also known as Gates Gully)

The Toronto Star writes:
Ward 36 Councillor Brian Ashton presents a bigger problem. "To move into the next phase, one of the issues we're facing is: to do the work, how do we access the water's edge?" he said.
"It's a sensitive political issue."
On the west side are the dramatic Cathedral Bluffs, formed because erosion has been left to take its course. The shoreline is unprotected. Trucks filled with armour rocks or seedlings wouldn't be able to pass. The only way to build a road would be to build a beach, which would destroy the cliffs.

On the east side, is the Guildwood region; Ward 43. The erosion project will take years to complete and it's not an easy task to ask residents of a different ward to get on board with extensive construction work.
Who has ever asked any Guildwood residents?? Nobody...

"The environmentalist will say – `No you don't stop erosion. If you want the Cathedral Bluffs, you don't construct erosion works.' But this is in the face of the people who have been allowed to build homes along those zones," said Ashton. "So right now, I'm sort of teetering on the edge of the bluffs."
***************************
In January 2010 TRCA published a notice in our local newspaper to invite Guildwood and Meadowcliffe residents to discuss the Meadowcliffe project.
The meeting date and time was made public one week befor the event took place.
Only a few Guildwood residents attended the meeting!!
At the present time many of my neighbours are not aware of the project.
After the full impact of the project was known to Guildwood residents as well as the
Guildwood Village Community Association wrote letters to TRCA to oppose and reject the project.
http://www.guildwood.on.ca/Waterfront_project_files/TRCA.pdf

The TRCA Environmental Study Report can be viewed here:
http://www.trca.on.ca/dotAsset/76475.pdf

I received no response from our City Councillors or TRCA.
In the meantime TRCA has started the project and is using our Guildwood Village,
the finished beautiful waterfront and hiking trails as access road to the Meadowcliffe area.

What a waste of money to destroy 3000 meters of our shoreline to build 600 meters of erosion control below Meadowcliffe Drive!!

The Meadowcliffe Drive Project undertaken by TRCA for many years to come is displacing and destroying the habitat of our wildlife such as turtles, deer, coyotes, foxes and many more.
As dust settles over nesting areas used by shorebirds, migrating birds and wild flowers, monarch butterflies depend on, will be lost.
The migration route of monarch butterflies in this area will be severely impacted as well.

The picture below shows the dramatic impact and pollution on our shoreline!!

Project Update
Notice of Construction
Please be advised that Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA) is preparing to commence the stockpiling of rubble material in anticipation of the commencement of the "Meadowcliffe Drive Erosion Control Project".
The Meadowcliffe Drive Erosion Control Project was approved under the Environmental Assessment Act on April 2, 2010.
Construction of this project will commence in the summer of 2010, pending the receipt of all other neccessary approvals.
The stockpiling is anticipated to begin mid-May with construction anticipated to continue into late fall as conditions permit.

TRCA remains committed to allow public access to the shoreline service road for recreational purposes on public holidays, weekday evenings (between 5:00 pm and 7:30 am) and weekends (from 4:30 pm on Friday to 7:30 am on Monday). Why???
Who wants to walk on dirt roads and admire the dumped building materials along the shoreline anyway??
In the interests of public safety access along the main entrance road off of Guildwood Parkway and westerly along the base of the bluffs will be restricted to construction staff and equipment, during hours of work.
For more information on the Meadowcliffe Drive Erosion Control Project please contact:
Mark Preston,
Senior Construction Supervisor
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
Phone: 416-392-9722
Email: mpreston@trca.on.ca

Meeting with the Honourable Jim Prentice....

2010-05-18T06:08:00.002-04:00

Meeting with the Honourable Jim Prentice, Canada's Minister of the Environment.
Visiting the Brick Works Park, Toronto, Ontario.
Visiting Kay Gardener Beltline Park, soon to be renamed to Robert Bateman Park,
announced by Mayor Miller of Toronto.

***************

Pictures of our beautiful Scarborough waterfront.
I have lived here in Guildwood for over 22 years and love our waterfront.
The Guild Inn and Guildwood's waterfront is a unique treasure to be cherished and preserved.
Now I witness firsthand the destruction of our beautiful waterfront.
______________

Over the long haul of life on this planet, it is the ecologists,
and not the bookkeepers of business, who are the ultimate accountants.

-Stewart Lee Udall (1920 – 2010)

Trillium flowers in our Guildwood Park - "the herb True Love of Canada."

2010-05-11T21:11:00.002-04:00

Trilliums start flowering between late April and early May, depending on local conditions, typically in mature, mixed hardwood and like forests. Spectacular beds of them can sometimes be found, notably in Ontario's provincial parks, where large areas of their woodland habitat remain intact.

Under Ontario's 1937 Floral Emblem Act, the trillium grandiflorum, or the white trillium, gained its revered status as the "floral emblem" of the province, adopted after a special committee of botanists recommended it to the Ontario Horticultural Association.
According to the federal department of Canadian Heritage, a British botanical work published in 1760 references the trillium as "the herb True Love of Canada."
Although the white trillium is not rare, some varieties, such as trillium flexipes or the drooping trillium, are found only in southwestern Ontario, and make the endangered list, nationally and provincially under the Ontario's Endangered Species Act.
The government offers tax relief to landowners who can show that more than 0.05 acres of their land is determined to be habitat for the species.
The trillium is slow growing flora. It typically takes seven to 11 years to mature.
The young plant grows a single "bract" (the trillium's leaf) that provides the plant with energy. For the first few years, a lone leaf grows larger each year; then the symbolic three leaves appear.
Between the seventh and eleventh year, the trillium will produce its first flower. After that, it will bloom every year, the bud emerging and blossoming in the woods before the leaves on the trees above come out. A "spring ephemeral," the plant withers back as the forest canopy grows lush and closes off sunlight.

The average life span of the plant is 20 years,
and the flower's white blossom may tint toward pink on an older plant.

The flowers draw bees that sip the nectar and pollinate them. They produce green, berry-like seeds in the summer as the plant shrivels back. The seeds, coated with a sticky oil mass, fall to the ground; the oil attracts ants, which then carry the seeds away and eat the oil, placing the leftover seeds around their nests, where they often germinate.
Jim Eckenwalder, professor of botany with the University of Toronto, adds the ultimate no-pick incentive: "If you pick the flower with the shoot and the three leaves,
it is not able to re-supply its underground stem with nutrients, and dies."

But suburbs and sprawl pose a bigger threat to Ontario's emblem flower.
Loss of habitat due to development around London, for instance, is what's threatening the drooping trillium, according to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Although the white trillium is not as vulnerable as the drooping one, climate change may affect it. It could make forests drier and that change in conditions would open up the woodlands to invasive species.

pictures by guild-rez
information: selected references

Yellow-throated Warbler (Dendroica dominica) Goldkehl-Waldsänger and flowering Trilliums

2010-05-07T15:05:00.000-04:00

This picture was recently taken in our Guildwood Park!!

Yellow-throated Warbler:
Medium warbler with gray upperparts, yellow throat, chin, and upper breast, white underparts with black spots on sides.Head has black face patch, white eyebrows. Wings are dark with two white bars.
Tail is gray with white spots near corners. Bill, legs, and feet are black.
Range and Habitat
Ontario Canada, south to Missouri, Texas, the Gulf Coast, and northern Florida.

Spends winters from the Gulf Coast states southward.This area is now polluted by the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.Preferred habitats include forests of pine, cypress, sycamore,
and oak, in both swampy places and dry uplands.
**********
Der Goldkehl-Waldsänger (Dendroica dominica) ist ein kleiner Vogel aus der Familie der Waldsänger (Parulidae).Goldkehl-Waldsänger haben eine gelbe Kehle und einen gelben oberen Brustbereich.
Goldkehl-Waldsänger brüten von Zentraltexas bis nach Zentralflorida,
von Südkansas bis in den Norden von Ontario, Canada und den Osten von Pennsylvania.
Den Winter verbringen sie im Süden von Florida, auf den Bahamas,
im Osten von Mexiko bis nach Nicaragua.
Die Golfküste ist zur Zeit von der Ölpest im Golf von Mexiko betroffen.

2010 International Year of Biodiversity...Das Internationale Jahr der Biodiversität 2010

2010-04-27T10:19:00.002-04:00

You are an integral part of nature;

your fate is tightly linked with biodiversity,

the huge variety of other animals and plants, the places they live and their surrounding environments, all over the world.You rely on this diversity of life to provide you with the food, fuel, medicine and other essentials you simply cannot live without.Yet this rich diversity is being lost at a greatly accelerated rate because of human activities.This impoverishes us all and weakens the ability of the living systems, on which we depend,to resist growing threats such as climate change.

The United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity,and people all over the world are working to safeguard this irreplaceable natural wealth and reduce biodiversity loss.

This is vital for current and future human wellbeing. We need to do more. Now is the time to act.

The International Year of Biodiversity is a unique opportunity to increase understanding of the vital role that biodiversity plays in sustaining life on Earth.

I support Nature Canada - http://www.naturecanada.ca/

*************

One morning walking along the shoreline of Lake Ontario
I found this beautiful swan standing in this pile of garbage searching for food!!
Please join me in September 2010 during the annual Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
Our wildlife depends on us!!

Das Internationale Jahr der Biodiversität 2010

Das Jahr 2010 steht im Zeichen der Biodiversität. Doch was ist das eigentlich und was geht es uns an?
Unter Biodiversität versteht man die Vielfalt des Lebens auf der Erde.
Sie beinhaltet sowohl die Vielfalt der Lebewesen auf Organismen-Ebene sowie auf genetischer Ebene als auch die Vielfalt der der Lebensräume auf der Erde.
Die weltweite Artenvielfalt ist zum Beispiel durch die Abholzung von Wäldern oder die Überfischung der Meere massiv gefährdet. Nur gesunde Lebensräume und intakte Lebensgemeinschaften sichern unsere Zukunft. Und das geht uns alle an!

Sunrise over Lake Ontario and Guildwood Village

2010-04-25T06:34:00.002-04:00

I really believe that there are things like this beautiful sunrise over Lake Ontario
that only a few would see, if I didn't photograph them.
Love to get up early in the morning and a few minutes ago I captured this beautiful sunrise.
Enjoy my pictures!!

I love to visit Presqu'ile Provincial Park..

2010-04-23T06:38:00.000-04:00

Presqu'ile Provincial Park

A mecca for birdwatchers every spring and fall, this peninsula south of Brighton, Ontario Canada
is a major flyway for migrating birds, home to waterfowl and shorebirds,
and a staging point for Mexico-bound monarch butterflies.
A long boardwalk crosses wetlands where marsh birds live and fish spawn.
On islands to the west, colonies of gulls, cormorants, terns and herons nest.
At the tip of the park are Ontario's second-oldest operating lighthouse
and the original lighthouse keeper's cottage.

Pictures from my last visit to Presqu'ile Provincial Park taken along the Boardwalk Trail.
Right now it is quiet and peaceful.
Only a few birdwatchers are present like myself.

Not uncommon spring sightings in and around Presqu'ile include many birds of prey, among them a Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Snowy Owl and Barred Owl. Also seen are Wild Turkeys, Pileated Woodpeckers, Northern Shrikes, Common Raven, Pine Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, Pine Siskins, Hoary Redpolls, Brown Creepers, American Robins, Snow Buntings and Golden-crowned Kinglet.

***************
Natural objects themselves,
even when they make no claimto beauty,
excite the feelings, and occupy the imagination.
Nature pleases, attracts, delights, merely because it is nature.
We recognize in it an Infinite Power.
-
(Karl Wilhelm von Humboldt)

Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup results for 2009

2010-04-23T05:28:00.000-04:00

Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup results for 2009

2,457 km - Distance cleaned
160,914 kg - Weight of litter removed
Top 5 litter items:

367,010 - Cigarette butts
116,138 - Food wrappers
74,276 - Plastic Bags
63,471 - Caps, Lids
40,799 - Cutlery and Dishes

Love your shoreline, love your community

Join the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
September 18 – 26, 2010

Sign up for a shoreline cleanup and join Canadians from coast to coast who are helping to keep Canada’s shorelines healthy.

Earth Day 2010

2010-04-21T21:46:00.000-04:00

It was not until we saw the picture of the earth, from the moon, that we realized how small and how helpless this planet is -
something that we must hold in our arms and care for.

- Margaret Mead

Wind farm opponents blocked again

2010-04-20T06:11:00.003-04:00

Executive committee sidelines motion opposing offshore turbines

Opponents of a proposed wind farm off the Scarborough Bluffs huffed and puffed at city councillors Monday but failed to get even a symbolic call for a halt to the politically charged project.
The executive committee of council heard more than three hours of deputations, mostly from Guildwood residents vehemently opposed to a Toronto Hydro proposal to install about 60 turbines in an offshore ribbon from roughly the Leslie Street Spit east to Ajax.
One after another, they beseeched the 12-member committee to pass along to full council a motion by Scarborough councillors Paul Ainslie and Brian Ashton to ask the Ontario government for a moratorium on wind-power development in Ontario.

Energy Minister Brad Duguid has said such a motion would have no impact on the province’s drive to boost green energy production. But the wind farm opponents, thwarted so far at every turn, gave it everything they had.
John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario and a challenger in the city election for Ainslie’s council seat in Ward 43, Scarborough East, said that nowhere in the world are there so many turbines so close (2 to 3 kilometres offshore) to a populated shoreline.

Nobody really knows the turbines’ effect on human health, on fish habitat or on shore erosion, he said.
“We need this council to act. You own this problem. You can stop Toronto Hydro,” which is owned by the city, he said.

Anthony Haines Toronto Hydro’s chief executive, said the utility won’t decide whether to install the 140-metre-high turbines until it gets at least two years of data from a wind gauge and tries to address the residents’ concerns.

“You have our commitment that that process will be full and complete and open and transparent,” he said, noting Hydro has pledged to find 500 megawatts of renewable energy from sources including wind, solar and biomass. Why not Waste to Energy??

“I think it is important, however, to understand that this (wind farm proposal) is a very important piece of achieving our target,” he said.

Another Scarborough councillor, Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre), made a successful motion to refer the matter to the Toronto Environmental Office, which is to report back to committee after Hydro has the results of its wind tests.

De Baeremaeker said he understands only the aesthetic argument against the turbines. “I think they’re grand. I think they’ll be a tourist attraction, and
boats are going to weave in and out of them.”
I am sure many boats are weaving in and out of them ...maintenance boats!!

..............and adding to the pollution of the lake.
Thank you Mr. De Baeremaeker!!

Source: Toronto Star
With iCopyright you can quickly and easily reuse copyrighted content.

What is better than walking?? Nordic walking ..join Toronto Trails Festival 2010

2010-04-18T06:23:00.000-04:00

Ontario Walks -
http://torontotrailsfestival.ca/

2010 Season Launch Walk -
Guildwood Park
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Start at 10:30 a.m.
Location:191 Guildwood Parkway, Scarborough
Distance: 5 to 8km

Nordic Walking

The concept of Nordic walking evolved from Finland and Norway!
Nordic walking allows for a total body workout without the need for snow!

Walks are usually conducted as a group, or on a one to one in a personal training session, led by a qualified instructor. Strength, core stability, balance, co-ordination and stretching work are all included so the workouts can be as challenging as they need to be for any given group.

Health aspects and training effects of Nordic walking

The benefits attributed to Nordic walking are impressive, below are some of the facts:
Nordic walking can generate an increase of energy consumption by as much as 46% when compared to normal walking. This is due to the activation of up to 90% of your whole body musculature.

The increased stability and reduced joint loading provided by the poles has the potential to improve the exercise experience for many individuals who may experience pain during other forms of exercise.

Heart rate is generally 15% higher with Nordic walking when compared to normal walking – but it actually feels easier because your upper body takes on a significant amount of the load.

Nordic walking does not aggravate joints and knees.

Nordic walking burns 400 calories an hour compared to 280 calories an hour with normal walking.

Using the upper body during Nordic walking can increase bone density, improve postural strength and develop increased core stability.

More info?? Please visit:

http://intraspec.ca/nordic-walking.php

Sunrise over Lake Ontario - Bluffers Park

2010-04-11T17:23:00.000-04:00

pictures by Rob Holz

Biogas facility for Toronto Zoo

2010-04-01T07:42:00.000-04:00

Zoo’s Poo Could Fuel a New Toronto Biogas Facility

The Toronto Zoo says their 5,000 animals produce enough dung to easily cover the costs of the proposed $13 million biogas-to-power facility within five years.
City Council of Toronto approved the construction of a biogas facility at the Toronto Zoo
with construction conditional on zoo management reporting back on any unexpected budget impacts that become apparent during the construction bid process. The goal of the project is to generate clean, renewable energy from organic waste (fuel) in order to meet the zoo's goal of becoming carbon neutral. The project will be designed to demonstrate to visitors the benefits of biogas technology in producing heat and electricity.
The plant would produce enough electricity for not only the zoo, but thousands of Toronto households. Similar operations that convert farm animal and human waste into biogas are already in place across the world.
But where does a zoo come up with $13 million dollars? Outside financing?

The project, according to a staff report issued to council in May 2009,
"is financially superior to the `do nothing' alternative."

Why not build more "Waste to Energy" plants and use City of Toronto's garbage to genearate electricity?

Definitly easier to install and to maintain than wind turbines in our lakes.

Waste to Energy installations can be found around the world as well.

sources Toronto Star
picture from www.jaunted.com/tag/Zoos/2

Conservation Heroes ....Vancouver Aquarium Magazine "Waters"

2010-03-23T10:39:00.001-04:00

I am very grateful to Ann Collette, Editor of
the fall and winter edition of the Vancouver Aquarium Magazine "Waters"
writing an article about "Conservation Heroes".

Ann, thank you writing the article, I feel honoured.
The article can be viewed here:
http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/Waters-magazine/waters_fall09_cwm54525/2009111001/3.html

2010 World Water Day ...Clean Water for a Healthy World

2010-03-22T07:47:00.000-04:00

Today March 22, 2010 is World Water Day.
Worldwide water quality is declining mainly due to human activities.
Increasing population growth, rapid urbanization, discharge of new pathogens and new chemicals from industries and invasive species are key factors that contribute to the deterioration of water quality.
Major risks are the lack of water quality data and monitoring worldwide as well as lack of knowledge
about the potential impact of natural and anthropogenic pollutants on the environment and on water quality.

80% of all the trash found and collected along the eastern shoreline of Lake Ontario originates from land based activities!!
Many of my pictures in my blog show the increasing amount of items polluting our lake.
For many years I have been involved in annual shoreline cleanups in our Guildwood Village and East Point Park. The illegal dumping of yard waste and other trash over the Scarborough Bluffs, ravines and our parks have continued by far too long.
Tires and shopping carts are littering our shoreline again and again posing danger to people and wildlife.
Today on World Water Day;
I am calling for stronger commitments by the City of Toronto and Province of Ontario
to protect our environment and drinking water in Lake Ontario.

Clean Water for a Healthy World
Every year, 1,500 cubic kilometres of wastewater are produced globally. While waste and wastewater can be reused productively for energy and irrigation, it usually is not. In developing countries 80 percent of all waste is being discharged untreated, because of lack of regulations and resources. And population and industrial growth add new sources of pollution and increased demand for clean water to the equation. Human and environmental health, drinking and agricultural water supplies for the present and future are at stake, still water pollution rarely warrants mention as a pressing issue.
To do something about that UN-Water has chosen Clean Water for a Healthy World as theme for World Water Day 2010. The overall goal of the World Water Day on 22 March 2010 campaign is to raise the profile of water quality at the political level so that water quality considerations are made alongside those of water quantity

Eagle killed by wind turbine - Windrad - Kampf der Giganten

2010-03-21T16:06:00.001-04:00

This video was published October 28, 2009 in Germany by BILD.de a German daily newspaper.
Large Eagle was unfortunately executed by a wind turbine.

http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/2009/10/28/windrad-trifft-geier-unfall/kampf-der-giganten.html
please copy and paste link

Canada Migratory Birds Convention Act and proposed wind farm

2010-03-20T11:10:00.000-04:00

The Canada Migratory Birds Convention Act is a significant statute for watershed protection, due to the fact that many migratory birds rely on aquatic habitats for their survival.
In Guildwood much of our coastal area is used by migratory birds; and many City creeks, rivers and ponds are frequented by migratory birds. The Act can therefore be raised in support of a concern that a development like building an off-shore windfarm is going to alter or harm our shoreline of Lake Ontario to the detriment of the ecosystem and life that is supported by the waterway.

An important point to note is that the Act does not explicitly or directly protect bird habitat; however, if it can be shown that a development will have a significant, negative impact upon migratory bird populations because of pollution of the waters or land frequented by them, the Act can be raised as an argument for protecting the significant habitat.

CN Tower visit, beautiful view and great Dinner..

2010-03-15T21:06:00.000-04:00

Beautiful view from the tower...

The CN Tower, located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a communications and observation tower standing 553.3 metres (1,815 ft) tall. It surpassed the height of the Ostankino Tower while still under construction in 1975, becoming the tallest free-standing structure on land in the world for the next 31 years. On September 12, 2007 the CN Tower was surpassed in height by Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai). It remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, the signature icon of Toronto's skyline, and a symbol of Canada, attracting more than two million international visitors annually.
**********
Der CN Tower (Canadian National Tower) in der südlichen Innenstadt Torontos ist ein 553 Meter hoher Fernsehturm und Wahrzeichen der Stadt. Er war von 1975 bis 2009 der höchste Fernsehturm der Welt. Gleichzeitig war er von 1975 bis 2007, als der Burj Khalifa eine Höhe von 555,30 Metern erreichte, das höchste freistehende und nicht abgespannte Bauwerk der Erde.[1] Er dient der Telekommunikation und der Verbreitung von über 30 Fernseh- und Rundfunkprogrammen.
Die Bauzeit des Fernsehturms betrug nur 40 Monate, was, besonders für damalige Verhältnisse, eine ungewöhnliche Bauleistung darstellte. Der Turm wurde zur Verbesserung der Funkübertragung errichtet und sollte ursprünglich nicht für die Öffentlichkeit zugänglich sein. Heute ist er touristischer Hauptanziehungspunkt der kanadischen Metropole und verzeichnet mit seinen verschiedenen Ebenen, Aussichtsplattformen und dem Drehrestaurant jährlich bis zu zwei Millionen Besucher.
Der in der Fachwelt architektonisch als gelungen angesehene Turm entwickelte sich im Laufe der Jahre zu einem Symbol mit nationaler Bedeutung für Kanada und wurde 1995 von der American Society of Civil Engineers in die Liste der Sieben Wunder der modernen Welt aufgenommen. Seit seiner Fertigstellung war er oftmals Schauplatz für spektakuläre Stunts und Rekordleistungen.

Ice skating rink and sailship

Sundown over Toronto

Please support motion request - Government of Canada not to industrialize our waterfront

2010-03-12T10:17:00.004-05:00

Received from our City Councillor Paul Ainslie.

Dear Resident,

I have put a motion forward to Scarborough Community Council to be heard on April 27, 2010 entitled "Prohibiting the Industrialization of Crown lands".

I have requested to the Clerk for Scarborough Community Council to have the item heard during the morning session. This will provide deputants an opportunity to plan to attend the meeting.

This motion seeks support and approval from the Scarborough Community Council Members to protect our Scarborough waterfront by not permitting the Federal Government to industrialize Crown lands on or in our waterway.

The full text of the motion is attached to this e-mail.
Your support is needed.
In order to push this motion forward your voices and written word are required. It would be beneficial for our community if you could make a to make a short presentation in front of Scarborough Community Council on April 27, 2010.
If you are not able to appear in person send your comments to the City Clerk's office in a letter.
In order to register as a deputant you need to telephone: 416-396-7287, Fax: 416-396-4301 or e-mail scc@toronto.ca. Comments are to be faxed or e-mailed to the same contact as well.
Sincerely,
Paul Ainslie, City Councillor
Ward 43

Scarborough East
Tel: 416 392-4008
Fax: 416 392-4006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 10, 2010

Councillor Mike Del Grande
Chair, Scarborough Community Council
& Scarborough Community Council Members
150 Borough Drive
Scarborough, ON M1P 4N7

Dear Scarborough Community Council Chair and Scarborough Council Members,
This motion requests that we as Scarborough Councillors, who were elected to represent the people of Scarborough, and protect their interests, do so by asking Toronto City Council to request that the Government of Canada not be permitted to industrialize any Federal Crown Lands and/or adjacent waterways along the Scarborough Bluffs, waterfront or escarpment.
The Scarborough waterfront sits on the shores of Lake Ontario providing some of the most spectacular views in Southern Ontario.
Along the escarpment sits a natural habitat which is home to many species and wildlife including birds, deer, fish and many plants. Parts of the area boasts a Carolinian forest which has become a haven for bird watchers; a list of the wildlife and plant species present in the forest can be found at http://www.carolinian.org/SpeciesHabitats_RepSpecies.htm.

Realizing its majestic beauty all three levels of government in 2001 dedicated $1.5-billion to the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization
Project to create a 46-kilometre path so residents could walk from Etobicoke to Scarborough along the waters edge.
The City has been working with citizen groups to enhance the waterfront. Citizen volunteers have dedicated their time to ensure the waterfront is beautified; the federal government’s assurance to them not to industrialize the crown lands would enhance their hard work.

By 2011 the investment of $29 million will have been spent to complete the Port Union Waterfront Park for 3.6 kilometres of trails, shoreline and wetlands from the Rouge River to Highland Creek on Lake Ontario.

In 2010 City Council adopted a motion to initiate an environmental study for the removal of the Gardiner Expressway for the 2.4 kilometre stretch from Lower Jarvis Street to east of the Don Valley Parkway at Logan Avenue, for a boulevard style highway; in an effort to beautify our waterfront while making it more accessible. The estimated cost sits at $300-million. On the City of Toronto’s website John Campbell, Waterfront Toronto chief executive states, "Toronto's waterfront is our front porch to the world. With the right kind of investment, the waterfront will become a necklace of green, with pearls of activity; people living, working and enjoying it with pride and passion. The new Toronto waterfront will offer the quiet joy of strolling along miles of wetlands, parks, boardwalks, promenades and heritage foot trails. It will offer the excitement of arts festivals, bike and boat races and activity-filled public squares."
This is the track which I believe we should remain steady on. In order to do so, I am suggesting we ensure our investment remains true to its goals which would include protecting the Crown Lands which abut our waterfront.
Without this protection we as the City of Toronto do not truly have control of our waterfront revitalization goals.
I look forward to your support so that we, as Scarborough Councillors, may protect the interests of our residents while protecting the City of Toronto’s investment towards the Scarborough waterfront.

Sincerely,
Councillor Paul Ainslie

almost got stuck in the mud..

2010-03-10T06:37:00.000-05:00

Hiking along the waterfont of Lake Ontario
from East Point Park to Guildwood I was challenged by dirt and mud.
My hiking poles helped me to walk through this area.
The ongoing shoreline work untertaken by TRCA is causing a very muddy road below
Galloway Park and Guildwood Parkway.
Please be careful !
More information about this project can be found on TRCA new website:
http://trca.on.ca/protect/environmental-assessment-projects/guildwood-parkway-erosion-control-project---phase-2.dot

The beautiful and ugly sights along the shoreline of Lake Ontario ...

2010-03-06T08:06:00.000-05:00

This planet is not terra firma.

It is a delicate flower and it must be cared for.

It's lonely.

It's small.

It's isolated, and there is no resupply.

And we are mistreating it.

- Scott Carpenter, astronaut

Free event for gardeners ..Scarborough's Seedy Saturday

2010-03-04T10:16:00.000-05:00

Swan and Trash... Guildwood, Lake Ontario

2010-02-25T12:04:00.001-05:00

“We stand today poised on a pinnacle of wealth and power,
yet we live in a land of vanishing beauty,
of increasing ugliness, of shrinking open space
and of an overall environment that is
diminished daily by pollution and noise and blight.
This, in brief, is the quiet conservation crisis.”

- Stewart Lee Udall

2010-02-22T15:58:00.000-05:00

My buddies ...
Molly, black Labrador and Bailey, golden Retriever.
What really helps motivate me to walk are my neighbours dogs, Molly and Bailey, who are my best pals.
They keep me honest about walking because when it's time to go,
you can't disappoint those faces.

City to spend millions on Guild Inn in Guildwood

2010-02-17T21:17:00.001-05:00

City to spend millions on Guild Inn
Goal is to turn grounds back into the art colony it once was.
One question remains.... When??

The Greek Amphitheatre on the Guild Inn grounds will among
items updated inplans to return the site to its former glory as an artist's colony.

about the Guild Inn

2010-02-10T05:59:00.000-05:00

Currently, Bylaw 266-1999 designates the west half of Lot 13 in Concession C which is the most significant area of the Guild property.
The log cabin is designated separately and while the main bylaw includes the original Bickford residence (1914) it also very clearly includes the architectural fragments and sculptures owned by the city and about which Smith is concerned. The list also includes the Guildwood Parkway gates and the Greek Theatre.
The bluffs are a natural, ever-changing issue which is protected by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and while the floral gardens and the forest are not specifically listed, they require a special heritage landscape policy which the city has yet to finalize.
When that is completed, the preservation committee will then be able to deal with that specific concern.
It is unfortunate that the studio was destroyed by fire but it was only part of the whole designation. The six-storey hotel, now demolished, was not part of the original reason for designation.
Regardless of what is designated on paper, preservation relies heavily on the property owner and/or tenants taking proper care to protect what is listed.
Since this is a city-owned property, Toronto council is ultimately responsible for the site's protection and overall maintenance. Hopefully, when final lease arrangements are made between the city and Centennial College, the whole property will once again become a heritage show piece.

foxes in our neighbourhood...

2010-02-08T07:19:00.000-05:00

My friend Rob Holz took the pictures and he writes..
I managed to get a few pictures of a fox reclining on the roof of a garden shed.

Great shots Rob, thanks a lot.

Coyote attacks dog during walk in Guildwood Park

2010-02-07T07:31:00.000-05:00

Coyote attacks dog during walk in Guildwood Park
A woman's dog was attacked by coyotes as they walked along Lake Ontario on Sunday -- and although the dog is OK, its owner is worried the wild animals are getting increasingly fierce.
Patricia Hornyack was walking her Labrador retriever in Guildwood Park, near Kingston and Markham Roads, when a pair of coyotes approached the dog.
Hornyack was able to scare away the coyotes, but not before her dog suffered a couple of bite marks to the ear and leg.
Toronto police patrolled the area for several hours following the attack.
People in the area have seen the animals before and say they are growing fearful because they are becoming more aggressive.
At this time last year there were a number of coyote sightings in the city's east end.

There are quite a number of coyote dens along the Scarborough Bluffs in Guildwood and East Point Park.
During my walks in our parks I have seen coyotes many times.
I leave the area very quietly and keep an eye on my surroundings.

*******************
In an effort to coexist with wildlife, consider the enormous hardships these intelligent and fascinating wild species encounter because so much of their habitat has been destroyed.
Each year they are forced into closer contact with humans and must compete with us for food, shelter and space. With a little understanding, patience and a few precautions and common sense steps,
we can all enjoy the wonderfully interesting wild animals who share our backyards and cities.

Coyotes have a tremendously positive impact on an area's biodiversity and ecological integrity and it is time for humans to start seeing these animals as co-inhabitants of the earth, rather than as adversaries. By taking precautionary measures and being intelligent about our interactions with coyotes, we can learn to co-exist peacefully.

(information from various internet sites)

A Ripple Effect - the 11th Annual Stewardship Forum

2010-02-05T09:49:00.004-05:00

Please attend the...

The 11th Annual Stewardship Forum

A Ripple Effect...

Presented by:

City of Toronto,

Parks, Forestry and Recreation

Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)

Join us to learn more about our greatest resource: water

Learn what's happening in our global oceans, our provincial lakes,

and our local watersheds from a variety of engaging and exciting speakers.

Date: Saturday, February 27, 2010
Location: Toronto Botanical Garden,
777 Lawrence Avenue East,
Toronto
Time: 9:00am to 2:30pm

Help us spread the word and tell a friend!
If you received this posting through friends and want to be added to the Stewardship Forum Mailing List, please email greentoronto@toronto.ca or call (416) 392-LEAF.

Blog break - Pause

2010-01-04T06:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.toronto.ca/livegreen/

2010-01-02T06:50:00.000-05:00

More about City of Toronto "Green" initiatives can be found here...
http://www.toronto.ca/livegreen/
My contribution has been and will be to keep our parks and shoreline litterfree!!
Join me for Earthday 2010 and the TD Great Canadian shoreline cleanup
at the shores of Lake Ontario.

Happy New Year ...

2010-01-01T08:30:00.001-05:00

2010 Earth Day and trash...my thoughts about it...

2009-12-29T06:58:00.000-05:00

Trash doesn't fall from the sky... it falls from peoples hands.

Any trash left behind in our parks will eventually reach our shoreline of Lake Ontario.
Adding to the pollution of our drinking water millions of Toronto residents depend on.
Paper coffee cups can be recycled and placed in the blue bin garbage bin without the plastic top.

Please help your own environment..keep it clean!!

Along our streets, highways and parking areas thousands of coffee cups including plastic bottles are visible.

Tim Horton's coffee cups found in our Guildwood Park.
During 2008 I collected 489 coffee cups thrown away by people who don't care about the environment!
Remember the garbage strike in Toronto??
Who actually won??
Definitely not the environment including wildlife.
In many areas I still find trash dumped, left behind and hasn't been picked up.

40th Anniversary of Earth Day in April, 2010
What are you waiting for??
Start to day to pick up trash where you see it.

Trash is not always visible like bike lanes or wind turbines
Toronto's Mayor Miller spoke about in Copenhagen.

But Toronto's trash smells all the way to Michigan, USA.

afternoon walk in the Guild ...

2009-12-27T16:26:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas..

2009-12-17T06:45:00.000-05:00

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
Thank you so much for your visits and comments.

From home to home, and heart to heart,
from one place to another
The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.

Christmas decorations in Toronto

2009-12-13T06:15:00.000-05:00

“With nothing hot to buy in decorations this Christmas,
many stores started selling two weeks earlier than ever before,
beginning in mid-September.
Many stores skipped Thanksgiving altogether and went from Halloween to Christmas.”

I am sure many children are visiting this house close to Old Kingston Road
to admire this funny Christmas display..

2010 Rouge Park winter bird count..

2009-12-11T20:39:00.001-05:00

Picture shows West Rouge Park,
one of my favourite Rouge Park areas !!

If you like to participate please contact:
Sheryl Santos
Stewardship Coordinator
Rouge Park
Phone: 905-713-6007
Fax: 905-713-6028
sheryl_santos@rougepark.com
birdcount@rougepark.com
www.rougepark.com

Reflections ..stunning pictures from "up north"

2009-12-09T13:18:00.000-05:00

My friend Rob Holz took this great pictures from Pigeon Lake area, Ontario.

The Pigeon Lake is normally frozen around this time
and a Beaver is going for a swim in the open water.

It's getting colder...

2009-12-08T08:01:00.000-05:00

Are you ready for the first taste of winter-like weather?

from Doris McCarthy Trail - Guildwood

2009-12-07T10:27:00.000-05:00

Nature is painting for us, day after day,
pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.
John Ruskin

Pictures from my friend Robert Holz..

2009-12-05T07:20:00.000-05:00

Robert wrote:
After a recent camera show, I bought a number of slide films for use in 35mm cameras.
I shot them all off and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I recently was able to get a bunch of them scanned.
Many were taken in Morningside Park on Highland Creek.
There are a lot of waterfalls along the creek between Morningside Avenue and Centenary Hospital.
Sunrise over Lake Ontario ...early morning picture was taken on the top of the bluffs at Cudea Park.

from the newsletter of City Councillor Paul Ainslie

2009-12-02T22:21:00.000-05:00

Guildwood Parkway Beautification: to keep your tax dollars in your
community I requested the installation of street planters at the
intersection of Livingston Rd and Guildwood Parkway. The funds used for
this project are part of the clean and beautiful program available to all
wards across the City. Funds are set aside for all wards for enhancement
projects, if the funds are not used in one ward they are transferred to
another. The Guildwood Pkwy project is one of many which have been
implemented in Ward 43 in the last 3 years.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!!

Landscaping in Guildwood

2009-11-23T06:35:00.000-05:00

After many weeks the project of new planting areas
at the intersection of Livingston Road and Guildwood Pkwy. is now finished.

The use of massive concrete planting areas at this intersection has received a lot of attention
with mixed reactions from Guildwood residents.
Creating and using a well-planned design is the first step towards an environmentally friendly landscape.
What do you think?
Is this a well designed and an environmentally friendly landscaping project?

Please comment!!

Guildwood park ...once a beautiful cottage..

2009-11-17T06:13:00.002-05:00

...now neglected, boarded up, vandalized and forgotten.

Lake Ontario - quiet conservation crisis

2009-11-14T06:48:00.001-05:00

“We stand today poised on a pinnacle of wealth and power,
yet we live in a land of vanishing beauty,
of increasing ugliness, of shrinking open space
and of an overall environment that is
diminished daily by pollution and noise and blight.
This, in brief, is the quiet conservation crisis.”
- Stewart Lee Udall