Chester Hill Lookout, Toronto, ON

Last week BlogTO posted that the #6 makeout spot in Toronto was Chester Hill Lookout.

It caught our attention because it provides a great view of the city. When I'm driving down the DVP, I love rounding the corner and seeing this view.

Gord and I headed over there this afternoon to check it out.

It's at Chester Hill and Broadview.


It a cool spot to view Toronto.


There is a zodiac motif in front of the wall.

Here's Gord.

Here's me.


And here are me and Gord.


Of course, we had to have a smooch since BlogTO considers it a top ten makeout spot!

My furkids

Crumpet (five months old)

Morgan (nine years old)

Book ~ "Go the F**k to Sleep" (2011) Adam Mansbach

From Goodreads ~ "Go the F**k to Sleep" is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don't always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. Profane, affectionate, and radically honest, California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach's verses perfectly capture the familiar - and unspoken - tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, he opens up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations and laugh at their absurdities.

With illustrations by Ricardo Cortes, "Go the F**k to Sleep" is beautiful, subversive and pants-wettingly funny, a book for parents new, old and expectant. You probably should not read it to your children.

This has been on the Toronto Star's top ten books for a while so I thought I'd check it out.

It's cute and I imagine very true.

It's quite short ... only 32 pages. But it's a fun read.

Here's a sample (it's page 12) ... click on it to make it bigger.

Nikon D5100

As much as I love my Canon PowerShot SX120 IS (I bought it two years ago), I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to upgrade to a digital SLR.

It's been building and I knew that today was the day.

I went to Black's around the corner from where I work today and Alex helped me out.

He took out a selection of Nikon and Canon SLRs, let me hold and look at them and we talked about what I wanted it for. I don't need an upper end professional model but I wanted something that wouldn't be obsolete in the near future. I appreciated his patience.

I ended up buying a Nikon D5100.

I have a Nikon SLR that I got in the mid 1990s that I have zoom lenses for and I'm hoping they will be compatible.

I've got the battery charging and I can't wait to play around with it this weekend. Black's will provide me with a free tutorial to show me how to use it and I'm going to book it for next week.

I'm so excited!

Wanna come on a two hour/9km walk with me?

I wanted to get some exercise but I didn't feel like being stuck in the gym ... so I went for a long brisk walk instead. I ended up being gone for just over two hours and walked 9km.

I headed west along Queen Street W. It was jammed with traffic and pedestrians.

I crossed the bridge where Queen W, King W and Roncesvalles meet. There was lots of traffic heading into the downtown core.

I headed west along the boardwalk towards Sunnyside Pavillion.

There it is!

I turned around and headed east again along the boardwalk on the Waterfront Trail.

I came across a pink bike which is part of the Good Bike Project.

The trail then veered away from the water and hugged the Lakeshore.

Oh oh ... looks like someone got caught speeding!

The trail veered back along the water. Yay!

I paused to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

Back on the trail again and I came up to the Molson Amphitheatre. Selena Gomez and the Scene were playing there tonight.

Let's go to the Ex!

Though Inglis left the area in 1981, their sign still flashes inspirational messages. I hope they leave the sign there when they build the condos.

While I was walking, I listened to The Baddest of George Thorogood and the Destroyers and the Stray Cats' Built for Speed.

It was a great night for a walk!

Book ~ "The Accident" (2011) Linwood Barclay

From Goodreads ~ It’s the new normal at the Garber household in Connecticut: Glen, a contractor, has seen his business shaken by the housing crisis, and now his wife, Sheila, is taking a business course at night to increase her chances of landing a good-paying job.

But she should have been home by now.

Waiting for Sheila’s return, with their eight-year-old daughter sleeping soundly, Glen soon finds his worst fears confirmed: Sheila and two others have been killed in a car accident. Adding to the tragedy, the police claim Sheila was responsible.

Glen knows it’s impossible; he knew his wife and she would never do such a thing. When he investigates, Glen begins to uncover layers of lawlessness beneath the placid surface of their suburb, secret after dangerous secret behind the closed doors.

Propelled into a vortex of corruption and illegal activity, pursued by mysterious killers, and confronted by threats from neighbors he thought he knew, Glen must take his own desperate measures and go to terrifying new places in himself to avenge his wife and protect his child.

Bold and timely, with the shocking twists and startling insights that have become trademarks of this new master of domestic suspense, The Accident is a riveting triumph, a book that moves at a breathless pace to a climax no one will see coming.

I enjoy Barclay's writing and this is the ninth book by him that I've read in the last few years.

This book was good. I found, though, that it took me a while to get into it. The first half of the book wasn't all that exciting and kind of plodded along ... but once the second half got started, it really took off. Lots of action and twists and turns with every page I turned.

I was kind of confused about what was happening at first since Barclay was being coy. But once all was revealed, it made sense. And it didn't ruin the story once I knew what was going on.

The endings were satisfying. I didn't see them coming and I bought them. I thought all along that there was something funky going on with one of the people but I didn't have any idea it was as major as it turned out to be. Hard to say anything else without giving it away.

I'd recommend this book.

Queen West Music Fest, Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto, ON

Gord and I went to the third annual Queen West Music Fest at Trinity Bellwoods Park this afternoon.

It was a free festival showcasing indie music in Toronto and was a fundraiser for the Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation.

It was a licensed event so you could buy beer. You could also buy a burger from Hero Burgers or a pulled pork sandwich from Lou Dawg's.

We got there about 4pm and found a spot on the lawn. The first band we saw was Miss Emily. She was good and reminded me of Adele and Amy Winehouse.

There was a good sized crowd.

Gord had a couple beer. I stuck to my program and had a bottle of water.

Then Lazybones came on. They were a combo of roots-folk, bluegrass, country and "hillbilly reggae" and were very good. You've gotta love a band that has a banjo, mandolin, accordion and washboard! They interacted well with the crowd.

Even the kids liked dancing in front of the stage.

The final act was The Heartbroken. They are a country group that has been nominated for a 2011 Canadian Country Music award for best group and were good.

There was still a big crowd even at the end (7pmish).

It's the first time we've gone and it won't be the last. It will be on our calendar for next year.