First month at the place where the alders grow

I love it here! We live in a part of Toronto called Etobicoke, very close to lake Ontario (300 m). With a beach. With loads of geese (I love geese!) and other birds. The apartment is on the east side of our building, but nevertheless it gets fairly hot on days of 30 degrees and above… It is also very humid here. In other words: I'm loving it!!!!

We have visited one of the 3 (!) ikeas more often than is probably sane (it's 10 minutes away, and they have cheap food…). It takes either 50 minutes or 20 minutes to get downtown depending on choice of transportation (bus+subway or train). My supervisor visited last weekend, and during the day we worked together at the University of Toronto, she showed me around. Before then, I had only seen the Astronomy building (which is wonderful!!! openable windows, an AC you can turn on and off yourself, and are asked not to use unless absolutely necessary, a HUGE lounge, plants en masse, large windows, and view south, with the CN tower in direct view) - and now I got to see a little bit more of campus. What a wonderful campus!!! I need to bring my camera and post some photos! There are lots of old buildings in gothic style. Just a few block south of where I'm located, there is a street (Baldwin) with a plethora of super cute restaurants. We went to one, and the food was just wonderful!

There is obviously an immense amount of things to do here, which I'm saving for when my brother comes over for a visit in September. Because - the thesis has priority #1 for now. But that doesn't stop me from simultaneously enjoying the weather, the location, the apartment, evening walks to the beach, being together again, the rides to uni on the subway, watching people, being in a big city, still having lots of nature nearby, seeing stars and planets over the lake, existing…

The lake in the morning

This little girl had flown all the way from Brampton in 3 days (about 20 km away), and stayed one night with us before I got in touch with her owners who came to pick her up. Just as well, thought my own budgies, who found her a bit bossy... 

The Toronto temple - only 30 minutes away (!!!). I had some fun experimenting with HDR. 

Trip to Toronto

It has almost been a month now since I ended my 6 year long sejour in Winnipeg, and went east. So it's really time for an update on things. All bonds with Winnipeg are not cut yet though - the thesis is yet to be defended. And edited. Of course it would have been amazing to have all that behind me, and that was indeed my plan. On the other hand, it is nice to move in gradual steps.

The trip over was really wonderful - a 3 day camping trip, with husband and birds, trailer and tent, traversing a distance the length of Sweden (2060 km). We had a fair bit of rain the first night, at a camp site called Wolf River, a little bit east of Thunder Bay. But the tent did not leak, and it was ultra cosy to listen to the rain. All three days were rather warm, but our little Golf managed excellently! The second day consisted of lots of ascending and descending major hills bordering lake Huron, and it was pretty - of what we could see, a lot of time we were in thick fog. We camped a little bit east of Sault Ste Marie, in a wonderful spot just on the beach. We got our first swim for the year (about time…) and it was wonderful.

The last day felt never-ending.  We arrived into Toronto just before 3 pm, after an 8 hr drive (instead of the anticipated 6.5 hr), I think on the hottest day of the three days. The traffic was intense, but it was fairly easy to get to our new abode. Some serious unpacking commenced. It took 3 hours in all. It was at least 30 degrees and rather humid - I don't think I've ever sweated that much for such a prolonged time!!

I left winnipeg scrubbing and cleaning, and I started out in Toronto scrubbing and cleaning - the previous tenants had not cleaned out the place. Yeehaa… The caretakers had done a great job cleaning the grossest details - stove, fridge, toilet, so they were in excellent shape (to our great relief!!!), but floors, walls, cupboards, etc, needed a thorough scrub. It was a long day…