Island Day

Toronto is a great city. Last Wednesday we had an all-day team meeting that we decided to hold out of the office. We hopped on the subway and streetcar, or bikes, and headed for the Ferry Docks. There we hopped on a boat...

... left the city and its light late summer haze in our wake...

...and about 15 minutes later pulled into a cool green island:

Walking along the shoreline we saw a kingfisher and a green heron. Don't strain your eyes looking for them in this picture; they're not there. But it's a pretty picture, no?

We settled in for the day at St. Andrew's-by-the-Lake, an Anglican Church. The Archbishop of Toronto used to have an ornate summer cottage next to the Church. It's long gone and I assume that more recent Archbishops cottage with wealthy Anglicans in Muskoka.

A lunchtime walk revealed any number of beautiful things. Choke cherries and goldenrod make a nice, sneezy combination:

The rocks and the water:

Old boats tied up alongside homes.

These homes are offered on some kind of complicated leasehold arrangement with the City. There's a waiting list that opens up once every twenty years or so. Not worth counting on as a retirement location.

A very symbolic firehall clock:

I have no idea what it means but it's quite striking.

Some family came by at the end of the day to join us for a potluck. The theme was sausage. A colleague's husband tends a vast asssortment of bratwurst, farmer sausage, Italian turkey and smoked Mennonite sausage. Mmmm, those Mennonites are tasty.

And then we took the ferry back home to our beautiful city.

It would be nice if our politicians, despite themselves, managed not to mess it up.