Over the Don Valley, Toronto
Posted: January 17, 2014 Filed under: Ontario, Toronto | Tags: Brick Works, city, don valley, expressway, nature, ravine, Toronto, urban Leave a comment
Looking out over the Don Valley, Toronto, January 15, 2014
After the big freeze and the rain and melt, this was all the snow left in Toronto the other day, although last night we had a dusting of snow. Here, I’m looking out at the expressway, the ravines and the Brick Works in the distance. I love this dramatic, though often windy, view showing urban life and nature together.
Parallel Worlds
Posted: August 22, 2012 Filed under: Animal Life, Ontario, Plant Life, Toronto | Tags: birds, Brick Works, Canada, cicadas, expressway, milkweed, natural setting, natural space, nature, shrubs, thistles, Toronto, trees, wildflowers Leave a comment
The Don Valley Parkway running through green spaces in Toronto, Canada, 2012
I went for more walks on the weekend and mid week to the Brick Works in Toronto, Canada to be in a natural setting. Each time, I took the usual route down a hill, then beside railway tracks. This part of town is very close to the Don Valley Parkway, a busy expressway. Yet there are natural settings all around: trees, parkland and shrubs.
Dried thistles and shrubs by train tracks near the Don Valley Expressway, Toronto, Canada, 2012
I love seeing the flowers and grasses that grow wild along the edges of railway tracks–those discarded places reclaimed by nature. The wildflowers here were profuse, with the yellows and whites now joined by purples. I could hear birds singing above the din of cars and the buzzing of cicadas. I was struck by what seemed to be the parallel worlds I was walking through: the thundering traffic where we are insulated in cars and trucks and the natural setting of plants, birds and insects. This is not a new observation; many people must feel this. However, it struck me more dramatically than it had before. I felt I was walking in a corridor between two worlds.
Wildflowers by the side of train tracks in Toronto, Canada, 2012
- Milkweed growing near train tracks in Toronto, Canada, 2012
of humans and nature 
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