The "Beaches" and on to Oakville

As I write am in the Oakville library. Very nice folks here (translated, that means they let me bring my bike inside where I can keep an eye on it!) No USB again! Spent most of yesterday navigating the streets and bikeways of greater Toronto. I've found getting into Toronto from the east is a challenge, getting out this morning from the west was a snap and very, very lovely.

After many miscues and much slow going riding on sidewalks (a lot), pushing the bike (a little) and trying to follow bike trails in parks that all seemed to turn to dirt or dead end, I made it to Queen Street, a very tony section of town. Numerous bike shops, coffee shops on every corner, trendy clothiers, sidewalk cafes, wonderful fresh food stores, even a Ben and Jerry's. I didn't want to eat alone in a restaurant so I bought an apple, banana, carrot/ginseng (for the memory cells, you know), bread, yogurt, and salted cashews and had a scrumptious picnic in Kew Park. Kew is home to a jazz festival later this month and has beautifully landscaped grounds, flowers galore, pesky pigeons, a ball field, play ground and much, much more. This section is called the Beaches with most of the commercial activity along Queen Street. I stayed the night a couple of blocks off Queen at Enid's B and B. Enid is English, about 70 I'd say, and as whacky as clay is dirt (now where did that come from?--too much ginseng!) I have pictures of the interior you wouldn't believe. Like something out of Alice in Wonderland. Unfortunately Enid forgot to give me towels, there was no drinking glass, the shower was painted totally black, and the cold water didn't work. Ouch, that shower was a scorcher!

Libraries. What treasures! Arriving, I stopped at the Taylor Library about 10 blocks from Enid's to inquire about accomodations, having seen none on my many hours of pedaling into Toronto. They in turn called the Beaches Library where I was headed anyway and told them I'd be coming. When I got there, the librarian had downloaded descriptions of 5-6 possibilities for accomodations and gave me directions and an information booklet about the area. Unfortunatley, Enid's page was on top and I was not very thorough. Well, so it goes.

It's getting on 2:30 in the afternoon. Will head to Burlington (not Vermont!) and will be at the head of the lake. Weather is beautiful. I have tons of pictures that I will make into a slide show. Right Corinne? Betsy, what's the picture capacity of the 2 memory sticks in the pouch? Help, I need a technical advisor!

Hi Kyle! Be good to your mom. Hi Emily. You get to have all of the blueberries this year. Enjoy. Love to all....Lowell