High Park Cherry Blossoms: 2012

One of my favourite signs of spring in Toronto is when the High Park cherry blossoms come out to play.  The first time I went to see them was in 2010 - but now that I've moved into the High Park area of the city, I've made it tradition to go every year.  This year, the weather was kind of iffy.  The weekend called for rain, and most of the week was a bit chilly.  I ended up going on a warm, but windy mid-week night, and I was surprised at the amount of people that were at the park that night.  Without further ado... here's some beauty to bask in:

    

  

  

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Spring has Sprung: The High Park Cherry Blossoms!

One of the certain signs of spring in Toronto is the blooming cherry blossoms in High Park. The trees were a gift from Japan to Toronto in 1959, and were planted in appreciation of Toronto accepting re-located Japanese-Canadians following the Second World War.

Before this year, I had never seen them in person. The flowers only last for a very short time, before they blow away and turn into the summer leaves.

Last weekend, I packed up my camera gear, met up with a friend, and headed down to High Park to appreciate the blossoms first-hand, for the first time. (Unfortunately, I think 90% of the city had the same idea... it was packed!)

I am very pleased with the results! Here's a few of my favourite shots:

For more of my photos from that day, check out Cherry Blossoms on Flickr.
What are the signs of spring in your neck of the woods?

Happy Earth Day!

So, today was Earth Day. All around me, people were doing things to the contrary of what Earth Day is supposed to inspire. Like using the world as their ashtray. I was very annoyed. I guess it just hasn't caught on (even though it's been around since the '70s... I guess Hallmark hasn't found a good way to capitalize on it, so there's no sense in promoting it). I really don't get the sense of entitlement that some people seem to have. They think the world owes them something, and that they don't have to give back. Sorry, life just doesn't work that way.

Or maybe it does, if you're blissfully ignorant.

But seriously. I mean, I'm not all 'love mother Earth, hippie chick' ... but it's fairly obvious that throughout my generation, and the generations before, we have been doing some serious damage to the world. The fact that I got a sunburn today (in APRIL. In TORONTO), and gasoline is now up to $1.20 a LITRE has got to say something about the current state of the world.

In any case. Today, I chose to spend my Earth day seeing some of the best of what nature has to offer. I took a stroll through High Park... just me, my camera, my iPod and my Starbucks iced white mocha (in my own mug that I brought from home). It was absolutely lovely. There were tonnes of people out. I was stopped by a lady and her daughter who asked me what I was taking a picture of, and we chatted for a while. It was really nice to be alone, but still feel like part of a community. I haven't really been feeling much love for Toronto lately, but being in High Park definitely perked me up a bit.

Here's the pictures: