Bits and Pieces : March 2014

Hi! Here is the monthly post where I put some pictures taken during the previous month, that didn't find a home in any other story. I try to be selective and make them interesting ... I hope you enjoy! Oh yes, and I'm happy to say that all the snow has now melted.

↑↑ ( 1) White on White - I love the effort whomever made this fence took to make it fancy. It's been there forever and its neighbours are sleek new fences made of dark wood ... the new trend in fencing around here seems to be to attach the slats horizontally rather than vertically. It looks nice, but this old gal is still my fave.

An Old House Stands its Ground

I recently wrote this post about one of the oldest houses still standing in the Queen Street West neighbourhood to Toronto. The pictures in the post depict a cute little yellow place on the verge of being torn down to make room for a new condo development.

But it's not all 'knock down the old and build something new' around here and today I'd like to show you an example of a different old house, no more than a five minute walks away from the one previously discussed. It is slightly newer than that other house but still steeped in the history of the area. It would have been built on land that was previously forested, towards the end of the 1800s, making it more than a hundred years old. (Not very old in comparison to more ancient cities around the world I know, but Toronto is a relatively young city, and this house would be among the oldest.)

As you can see by the photos, it has a twin attached to its side. They were probably built to house a couple of new families (perhaps relatives?) willing to move to the 'new frontier' as there wasn't much out this way at the time and land in this part of the city was essentially being given away, in an attempt to get the area going.

If you walk along the streets around here you might notice some very old looking houses right next to ones with a completely different and slightly newer style. That is because the houses were first built with very large yards, with room for vegetable gardens. But those extra gaps between the houses were filled in over the following decades, leaving a patchwork of very old places interspersed with newer 'old' ones. These two would have been some of the oldest ones.

There are also some examples in the neighbourhood (but fewer than you'd think) of considerably newer houses that would have been built in the past 50 years, after the original houses had been torn down and completely replaced. That appears to have been the case with the big grey one beside these two which looks to be quite new.

I took these shots last week, on two different occasions a couple of days apart, in case you're wondering why the (gorgeous) door was open in some and there is a big dumpster out front of others.

Making Something From Trash : An Orange Crate Becomes an Indoor Flower Box

c="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/diy-indoor-planter-box-made-from-trash.jpg" alt="DIY indoor planter box made from an orange crate" width="640" height="960" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-22919 blk-brdr">While walking along Queen Street a week ago Friday, I passed a table of potted flower bulbs out for sale in front of a small store. I was with Nick and after walking by for a long block I told him to continue on home and I turned around and went back. I needed to take a better look at what was in those pots.The shop is one that sells mostly cigarettes and chocolate bars, and probably the emergency quart of milk now and again. I have no idea what its real name is, even though I've passed it hundreds of times on my way somewhere else. But we do know this store and appreciate having it in the neighbourhood because to us it is 'The Berry Store'. Even though they carry very little in the way of fresh produce the rest of the time, for a month or so every year they always have the nicest fresh Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries and Blackberries. It is an odd thing for them to sell in comparison to their usual wares, and bringing in such perishable goods is clearly an effort on their part so we make a point to give all of our fresh berry buying business to The Berry Store.It is not berry season here now however and the display table where they will be in a few months time has stood empty all winter long. And then suddenly there were these little plant pots set out, a tray containing no more than a dozen in all. They didn't look like much and I had to read the little cards stuck into the dirt to know what they were, since all I could see were a few leaves and the odd bud poking up out of the soil. The sign said they were two for $5 so I wasn't risking much if they didn't bloom and I chose a couple, some daffodils (charmingly called 'Mini Daffs') and a Purple Hyacinth.

Cuteness Overload : A 3 Month Old Puggle Pup

This is Ranger, a young Puggle (Pug and Beagle mix) pup I met yesterday. He was all bouncy and tail-waggy and I melted a bit inside because the level of cute was just so intense.

ass="aligncenter size-full wp-image-22904 blk-brdr" src="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/puggle-pup-3-months-old-01.jpg" alt="puggle-pup-3-months-old-01" width="640" height="640">