Christmas Day Walk at the Guildwood

Had a nice Christmas eve and morning with my kids. Later in the day, went for a little walk/hike through the Guildwood Inn Park. It was surprisingly mild day, that began as a sunny one, but did get overcast later on, closer to 2 or 3pm.

We have not been to the Guildwood Park since about 2013, in winter. It's lovely and sort of moody. Old Toronto architecture pieces have been brought there, standing now as monuments to what remains of the historic Toronto.

There were quite a few birds there, mostly gathered just in from the beginning of the path where people had left a lot of seed.

We saw a Spotted Towhee, a White Crowned Sparrow, Chickadees, Blue Jays, lots of Dark Eyed Juncos, lots of Downy Woodpeckers, Yellow Finches, and 2 gliding Red Tailed Hawks.

We called it Double Day because in several instances, we spotted twosomes of things :-)

End of Fall, Still Lovely

I love Fall seasons that are still so gorgeous that it feels like a bonus Summer. It's so much more delicious than real Summer even.

This past weekend, Sunday, was like that. The Sunday before, I thought was it, it was the most beautiful Fall weekend this year, but Nov 13th came close.

We went to Birkdale Ravine, on Ellesmere, late afternoon. The light was stunning. There were so many beautiful little things. Some I did capture, others we just looked at and experienced.

The little stuffed anime critters on the dash of a car and the super moon were a bit of a special bonus :-)

Back to Painting

After a bit of a too long break from my recent portrait undertaking, about 5 weeks or so, I got back to it.


It still has a ways to go, but it is getting there.

Worked again in the face today, some of the hair, neck, and began establishing the sweater (which will be Hard as hell).

Hopefully over the Christmas holiday time, I can get about 12-15 hours into it.

Fall 2016

Well, this was a bloody fast Spring and Summer, that's for sure. It's now well into Fall. I love Fall, it's such a pretty season. There are a lot of birds to see too, migrants heading back south, and raptors making their journey too. It's always sad to see in a way, because it means waiting 7 months to see them all back here again, in March. But, we shouldn't wish our time away too fast, even if winter is not as pleasant and enjoyable as Summer can be :-)

Some early October prettiness from our favourite close by walking area, Birkdale Ravine.