After a day off for Remembrance Day, on Thursday I take another early-morning walk in Prospect Cemetery. This time, I’ve downloaded an app called Seek that helps to identify plants (and animals). I use the app to take a picture of a plant, and the app identifies it and records my observation. Since it’s designed to be used by children as well as adults, it’s simple, easy to use, and requires no sign-in or registration.
It seems to work quite well; two times, it manages to get the genus but can’t identify the species, but it gets a match every other time. Of course, I have no idea if the matches are correct, but they all seem pretty reasonable.
As I enter the cemetery, I pass between the St. Clair Mausoleum on my right and the Mausoleum of the Last Supper to my left and start around the first loop. This is probably my least favourite part of the cemetery, because it’s full of newer graves, so plastic flowers and plastic-wrapped wreaths abound.
Farther into the cemetery, there are more upright graves and beautiful, old trees, and fewer tributes.
Finally, on my way out, I do the last thing I came for, and visit the grave of one of my own veteran relatives. My mother’s grandfather fought in the Great War, but he’s buried with my great-grandmother in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. His brother, however, also fought in the War and is buried in Prospect Cemetery.
Later on, after my last student, I find I still need a short, brisk walk to reach my goals for the day. I’m kind of tired, so I walk up Dufferin from Bloor Street to the Galleria Mall at Dupont, then take the bus two stops instead of walking up the hill.
Currently, the Galleria is being slowly demolished to make way for a new development project. Except for the FreshCo grocery store and Rexall Pharmacy, most of the indoor stores have closed and the interior gutted. It’s true that the mall was old, unpopular, and very outdated, but I’m really skeptical about having huge condo towers replacing it; I’m not looking forward to the gentrification of my neighbourhood. Not to mention that, as old and tacky as it is/was, the Galleria is part of my childhood, which now feels like it’s being erased.
Unobservant Bird 