Saturday, August 18, 2012

The View From Up Here

Neighbouring gardens as seen from the balcony of our third-floor renovation
One of the unexpected pleasures of the new third floor is that the view from the window-wall and balcony is spacious. In truth, I thought it would be rather ugly. We don't live in a neighbourhood known for architectural homogeneity. The supremely hideous interacts with the mildly interesting and, occasionally, with elegant design.

But the sky seems vast up there. Fluffy cotton-ball clouds hover. The gaudy, faux-byzantine Greek Orthodox church looms strangely-large in the distance. We see dense pockets of trees where the parks are. Intersections of traffic where the residential slides into the industrial. We'll know when the ice-cream truck is coming, when the rain is coming. Never again will we have to climb out onto a pitched-roof to watch the air-show or fireworks on the lake.

Voyeur that I am, I love to view the gardens around me, bustling with squirrels and cats and people setting out their supper, the cyclist on the street, arguing with a careless driver. And I'm really seeing some interesting plant-life.

Mind you, everything loves you up in the green of summer. I wonder what the view will be come February.
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8 comments:

  1. materfamiliasAugust 18, 2012 at 1:18 PM

    Even the bleak February view will feel expansive, somehow, from that height, is my guess. Meanwhile, what a lovely sketch you've painted. Enjoy!

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    1. K.LineAugust 19, 2012 at 5:58 PM

      I hope so, but if you've ever seen TO in February, it is one ugly place.

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  2. KatyAugust 18, 2012 at 4:04 PM

    So much greenery - what a great view. I live on a new build housing estate so very little of this!

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    Replies
    1. K.LineAugust 19, 2012 at 5:59 PM

      Thanks Katy! It's a great view now, but I regret to inform you that it declines sharply when the leaves fall :-)

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  3. UnknownAugust 18, 2012 at 7:53 PM

    It looks lovely, sounds lovely. A good perch for people watching.

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  4. SeraphinalinaAugust 21, 2012 at 4:11 PM

    One of my clients has the top floors of their building around Yonge/401. One thing about being on the 22nd floor is that you realize how green a city Toronto is. The picture is lovely and your description is fantastic.
    And yes, it is not a pretty city in February.

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  5. K.LineAugust 21, 2012 at 9:32 PM

    It is much greener than people think. Walking around, I often feel that way, though there's more than enough of the industrial hideousness :-) Oh, February is some horrible kind of ugly. Hard to believe it's the same place in Feb as in August.

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