My Home Town, Toronto for Matador U
I have been posting my MatadorU articles on another site, however, I thought that this was a fitting post for what we are feeling as we prepare to leave for our travels through Central Asia. This assignment was to write about my hometown in 500 words or less. At first I struggled with the assignment. I wasn’t really sure where to begin, but once I found my narrative the story came together. At least for me.
Toronto, My Home Town
“Damn it. Our ties have come loose.”
Dave is not thrilled to have to pull over to secure the lids of our storage bins in the back of our truck. The rain is coming down harder now and there is a definite chill in the air. We are moving our contents to Woodstock, two hours outside of Toronto. It is time to say good-bye to our beloved city. Who knows when or if we will ever live here again?
High Park Winter
I will never forget that beautiful winters day in 1991. Dave and I were graduating from college and we were moving to Toronto together from the town of Oakville. I was a small town girl growing up in Otterville. Dave was my big city hero raised Burlington Ontario.
Two young dreamers had made a union. Everyone thought we were crazy moving in together so soon but here we were driving around High Park Village on a cold February day searching for the perfect spot to start our new life together.
High Park is beautiful in the winter. Snow drapes over the sleeping maple and pine trees that line the Humber River. Large mansions tower over its banks and bright bakeries and delis are filled with locals shopping for dinner.
Winters are cold in Canada, but High Park is alive with energy. Boys play hockey in the outdoor rink, kids toboggan on its steep hills and families hike through the trails with their dogs. They stop for hot chocolate and warm up by the fire at the Grenadier Café located right in the centre of the park. It feels as if we have entered a Norman Rockwell Print.
Winter in High Park
We fell in love with Toronto’s West end that day and 18 years later we are still here. We have seen changes indeed. Prohibition has been lifted at the Junction of Dundas West. A strange technicality left a small corner of the city alcohol free until 1998. Since then, the rundown block just north of the park has opened up to pubs, bars, restaurants and condos.
We have left the city and province to try new places over the years but we have always been drawn to Toronto and its culturally diverse West End.
Home to Little Poland, Portugal, Italy and Malta, Toronto’s West End still has a feel of a bygone era. Fresh fruit is displayed daily at the local market, old men gather in front of businesses to discuss politics and history and people speak their mother tongue at the local shops.
High Park Village is the perfect amalgamation of new integrating with the old. No skyscrapers or nightclubs are allowed in these parts, but wine and martini bars are welcomed alongside the old Irish pub and Schnitzel house.
High Park, Winter Walk
We love the West End and today we are leaving it for the first time with uncertainty. In the past, we knew that we would be back it has always been our home.
A quick adjustment of the straps and we are back in business. “Good to go” Dave says as he shakes the raindrops off of his jacket.
We merge onto the highway with a quick glance back.
19 Responses to My Home Town, Toronto for Matador U
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I think you are right, Deb, the story did come together. I like the way it’s topped and tailed by the ties on the storage bins, giving you a space in which to reflect on Toronto. It was an evocative piece, both of Toronto itself, and of your feelings about leaving. I like the idea of “sleeping” trees, and this sentence, “I was a small town girl growing up in Otterville. Dave was my big city hero raised Burlington Ontario.”, is great – loads of information implied in those few words. I’m a bit sad I don’t know who Norman Rockwell is, though!
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Great post!! Gotta say winter is not my thing but those pictures are gorgeous!
.-= Amy @ The Q Family´s last blog ..Biltmore Estate Photo Tour =-.
Toronto is also my home town although I grew up in the East End (Scarborough) and now live in the Richmond Hill (Northern suburbs). I can really relate to your article! Even though we complain about winter and all that goes with it, it really is a beautiful city in the winter.
Enjoy your adventures! Know that Toronto will always welcome you back. Hey that’s the kind of city we are!
Melanie
.-= Melanie´s last blog ..Oct 8, How about a Fall Weekend Getaway to Vegas? =-.
This is fabulous, Deb.
I loved it.
About MatadorU, I am seriously thinking about taking the course and would love your input about it. You can respond here or email me at rhooda(at)comcast(dot)net
Thanks for your wonderful article. I have visited Toronto only once, and that was in the spring of 1997. I was there only for a day, visiting my sister-in-law and doing some souvenir shopping. Honestly, don’t remember much, but your article is tempting me to go there soon.
.-= Rasheed Hooda´s last blog ..26 Years and Counting… =-.
Thanks for the feedback Nick. I have posted a link to Norman Rockwell. That is definitely something I will be more aware of in the future to describe who I am referencing.
Amy, winter is not my thing either. But I do love days right after a fresh snowfall.
Rasheed, I will definitely give you some information on MatadorU. I am only in week three. I think that things change a lot after week three. This is the week that the money back guarantee ends and finally the week that we will be getting feedback from people at Matador.
Cheers!
Melanie, Richmond Hill is so beautiful. When I first moved here to spend my summers working as a singer at Canada’s Wonderland, most of my friends were from Richmond Hill and I spent a lot of time there.
Yes, we do spend a lot of time complaining about winter, but when there is a fresh snowfall it is beautiful
The trees look beautiful in winter there
.-= AdventureRob´s last blog ..Whitewater Rafting in Borneo =-.
Lovin’ the photos and the way it was written. Very well done. We just started to get our first few inches of snow here in Regina, I’ll agree it’s beautiful, but I’m really hoping I can escape the snow, at least for a few more weeks. I’ll probably be driving through Toronto within the next couple weeks thoe. Hopefully I can spend some time checking out the area. The way that was written makes it sound enticing.
.-= Corbin´s last blog ..The history behind ‘Un Canadien Errant’ =-.
I’m not a winter person, but this post had me wishing for snow. I like all the warm details (hot chocolate, high energy in the park)in contrast to the cold season. And of course, the photos are gorgeous!
.-= neha´s last blog ..Alone with Rome =-.
Lovely, lovely photos! And good story. Makes Toronto seem very tempting. I was especially drawn by the part where people speak their mother tongues at the local shops.
Hi Rasheed, I will definitely be sending you information on MatadorU. Will probably review the course when I am finished as well.
So nice to see a fellow Canadian! I’ve just recently started exploring Canadian territory (I’ve only seen Ottawa outside of NL…seriously), but Toronto is way up there on the list. I feel like it’s probably Canada’s most important urban spot.
Loved the ending too, a lot implied in just a few words…
.-= Candice´s last blog ..$126??!!!!!!!!!! =-.
Hi Candice, thanks. I hear you, it is so hard to see Canada. We tend to travel outside of the country more than within. I think that it tends to be because we travel in the winter mostly. We like to go somewhere warm. We haven’t made it out to the East Coast yet, but it is high on the list. I think that when we come back from Asia, we will take a little road trip to finally explore Atlantic Canada. Thanks for the comments!
I really enjoyed this piece. It kept me wanting to read more and the story had a lovely flow. I think you did well to convey a sense of place as well as your feelings about Canada. It made me want to visit.
Thank you Ashley. I am glad that it made you want to visit, it is difficult to write about your home town. It is so much easier to write about another more exotic place:)
I love High Park, although I can’t say I’ve seen it in the winter light! We have recently moved to the area (around Lakeshore), since my husband works at St. Joe’s Hospital. I can’t wait to spend our first winter in this area – maybe with a cup of hot cocoa at Grenadier Cafe!
.-= jen laceda´s last blog ..The Spider House Project: Life in the Last Two Years =-.
Truly arresting winter shots there. Did you actually take the first one? Unbelievable. Norman Rockwell ain’t got nothin’ on you…
Makes me miss the Winters I spent in the Midwest.
Thanks for the compliment. Yes all of the shots on the website are ours. It looks great but the cold gets bone chilling:-)