brick by brick

Today was lovely.

This weekend I was keen to go and experience a new part of Toronto and I've found three already!

I went with Sarah and Ash to some old brickworks which haven't been used since the early 1980s... they have been taken over by a conservation organisation called Evergreen, which take over thse kinds of sites and turns them into amazing eco-happy green spaces.
http://ebw.evergreen.ca/
The brickworks buildings have been tarted up and in some places gutted... there's a plant nursery, gift shop,  cafe and on Saturday mornings they have a farmer's market which includes a bunch of stalls with great food to eat on the spot. Out the back we found small lakes with wildflowers and trails we could walk through; we saw turtles and fish swimming in the water, dragonflies buzzing over the lilypads and even a family  with small nets catching butterflies! The sun was shining and there was barely a cloud in the sky. Yes, it was so fantastic and serene it was ridiculous.

Sure, it was a pretty middle class affair (we keep getting the giggles at all the purebreed dogs! not a mongrel in sight!) and the tour of the site we'd been looking forward to was so bad we quietly slipped out early, but it was a great expedition and I was very happy to bring home a prolific basil plant which I will be able to use for my cheese and crackers when I'm outside on my porch :)

After the brickworks we went and grabbed icecream and strolled up a street which, it turned out, was Greektown! Amazing shops and places to look at, and we even saw two guys who were 100% dressed up like the mafia. Or maybe pimps. Or maybe just a blast from the past. They were oozing so much testosterone it was like a tidal wave of masculinity splashing up the road. Or something like that :)

And finally, after Sarah and I came home to sit on the porch and have a drink while the sun went down, we walked along to a great place a couple of blocks from here which had outdoor seating and made amazing burgers.

All of these different parts of the city, and many more besides, make up Toronto. Brick by brick, and neighbourhood by neighbourhood, this city is made up of all of its parts.



Meanwhile, if I was at home this weekend I would have gone with my Mum and sister to the AGM of my iwi trust... my tribe is also made up of its various parts, each of us adding a dimension to the collective. Since our settlement with the Crown in 2008 we've been working on building something together... well, that's the theory anyway. In practice this is slow heavy work, carefully placing bricks and keeping an eye on those who are more interested in taking bricks home than building something together. And yet, it is important to keep being a part of it all... taking along bricks, making bricks, planning things we can build.