Book Lovers Welcome

Every year Toronto takes part in the Word On the Street

book lovers celebration.   Major cities in Canada hold

their own versions of this festival at different times of

the year and Toronto's is always towards the end of

September.

In past years we've gone to it when it's been held in

the grounds of Queen's Park .... location of the

Ontario provincial government building (of the same 

name) .... where the festival was set up beneath a canopy of 

trees, the tents used by the participants placed along the 

pathways that wind through that location.

But this year the event was staged down on the shores

of Lake Ontario at Harbourfront,  former industrial

lands that have been turned into a public space that hosts 

numerous events,  and such things as art galleries,  docking 

space for boats offering tours of the harbour,  a 

place to rent kayaks,  kid friendly activities and places 

for musical performances. 

Word on the Street is dedicated strictly to 

Canadian publishers and authors (as well as

anything else you can think of relating to books)

At the risk of sounding anti-Canadian I admit 

that I do wish that the event celebrated books and

authors and publishers from all over the world

because we don't really have any other major

book festivals like it here that covers all books,

not just Canadian.

There are lectures and book signings by successful

authors including Kelley Armstrong (above) who

appears here fairly regularly.

Some celebrities do make special appearances,

including Poke-a-roo who is the star of a 

long running kids TV program here called The 

Poke-a-Dot Door

I went with my friend Darlene and we 

spent much of the day wandering around the

tents taking in all of the things offered for

sale,  for discussion or for edification.

We ate our lunch sitting next to the water,

watching the sailboats, kayaks, island

ferries and airplanes (the Toronto island

airport was close by) going past us.

It was such a gorgeous, sunny and warm day,

more like summer then the early days of Fall.

As a matter of fact by mid afternoon we were 

regretting the lack of shade at Harbourfront that 

the trees at Queen's Park would have given us in

previous years,  but once the sun began to go 

down the temperature cooled off quickly.

I didn't go too wild buying books, tempted though

I might have been.    I didn't want to be lugging a

heavy, awkward bag (bags?) of books around all

day, not to mention hauling them all the way back

home to Georgetown on the bus afterwards.    

Not far from Harbourfront is a lovely place called 

The Music Garden and when we were ready for

a change of pace Darlene and I walked there and

explored around and along it's meandering pathways.    

Of course at this time of year the flowers are thinning 

out and gardens are getting tired looking but still this 

place was lovely and peaceful and being right by the lake 

made it even nicer.

Speaking of flowers .....  I posted a few weeks ago about

my first attempt at picking and drying flowers from our

garden.    I'd put my chosen bits of flowers and greenery

into my flower press and then had to wait for about

three weeks to see what the results might be.    

I'm happy to report that everything survived and dried

out nicely.   Most retained their colours quite well 

and I was amazed at the details that were able to 

remain after the drying process was complete.  

I will use these to decorate the pages of my stitching/

scrapbook.

And speaking of my stitching/scrap book ..... I 

worked on two more pages for that this week

including this Halloween Quaker piece that I 

really, really love.

And a Christmas design from Lizzie Kate.

I still have a hard time calculating and measuring

and cutting the openings for these pages and 

there are times when the air in my craft room turns

an unbecoming shade of blue ... ahem ... but I

keep at it until I get it more or less right.

And I'm still doodling and drawing and

zen-tangling with pen and markers and

paper.     Obsessed?   Me???   Nah!!!!

Found this in the grocery store this week

and of course I had to have it.   Drawing

techniques plus pages to colour, and craft

projects to try.   It's very cool with much

fun to be found/had!

I recently re-read a favourite historical fiction

author who's books I adore.    Judith Merkle

Riley wrote delightful,   often magical

(literally) novels that feature historical accuracy

 wonderful, colourful characters and a knack for

creating a fascinating storyline.

She also had a delicious, sometimes wicked sense 

of humour that I love.   Sadly the author passed away

some time ago but the six books that she wrote are still 

available for purchase and I recommend them all.      

Thanks for visiting.   

Cheers!