Well it’s now been a month since I arrived in Toronto and finally the weather has started to improve. Got to take a walk around my new neighborhood this morning with just a sweater and no jacket!

I have now moved into my permanent residence here, a loft in the St. Lawrence district of the city – vry dynamic area with lots going on and just a short walk to the office.

Tromp d’oeil, Flatiron building Front Street Toronto

Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 lens, 1/1000th sec @ f5.6 ISO 200, hand held

Tomorrow I am flying back to British Columbia to collect Jean, the dogs and the rest of my ‘stuff’ then heading back on the long cross-country drive to Toronto – probably a five day road trip.

St. Lawrence Market, Toronto

Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 lens, 1/200th sec @ f11 ISO 200, hand held

I m very close to the famous St. Lawrence Market, reputedly (by National Geographic no less) to be one of the finest fruit, vegetable, meat, fish and cheese markets in the world. I can see my wife Jean spending a fair bit of time in there!

Toronto is a curious mixture of some of the oldest building in Canada, the East coast being the first area settled and a frantic rush to build another Manhattan type skyline with new buildings being erected everywhere one looks. In fact the PanAm Games themselves are creating a series of new building projects to aid in hosting what will be the biggest multi-sport event ever seen in Canada. In terms of numbers of sports a,d competitors, the PanAms are considerably larger than the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but more of that to come in future posts.

Street car passing St James’ Cathedral

Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 lens, 1/1250th sec @ f5.6 ISO 200, hand held

St. James Cathedral has a dog walking park around it so this will be a regular walk each morning before heading to the office. St James is the site of the oldest church in Toronto, the original wooden building having been erected here in 1803, still a far cry from the medieval churches of Europe.

Melanized Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), St James’ Cathedral Grounds

Nikon D3, Nikkor 80-200 f2.8 lens at 200mm, 1/400th sec @ f2.8 ISO 320, hand held

Toronto’s parks are full of Gray Squirrels the majority of them a generally unusual black variation (hence the melanized in the name). Now spring is here they are busy digging up their store of nuts.