Note: if you are uninterested in my bike "adventures" but desperately want to see the fabric I bought for #SewDollyClackett, scroll down to the bottom.
March Break is a wonderful time for getting stuff done. Or for sitting around playing this game. Same thing. However, I knew we were going to get more snow today, so I needed to get off my butt and run errands while it was still relatively nice out.
Especially after a long winter like this one, Torontonians go a little crazy when the thermometer finally creeps up above zero. Off come the heavy winter coats, scarves, hats, and boots. It doesn't matter if it's still kind of chilly outside. We're not covering up for nothin'! I saw people in cardigans. And faces! People have faces!
Sadly, traces of winter are still everywhere. This alleyway was still completely icy and unbikeable, as were some of the paths in Trinity-Bellwoods.
No cutting through parks for me today. The receding snow is showing all the new cracks and fissures in the streets. Some of them are doozies. I think we need to call Rob Ford and tell him the whole city is one big pothole.
The sun was gorgeous, so there's that.
My first stop was MEC for some more turtle bike lights. They're pretty cheap, so I don't mind if they disappear. I got a few to stick in my work pannier and another white one for the front in case Monday night happens again.
Then it was off to my new spiritual home: the fabric and notions stores of Queen St. West. I keep saying a sure sign of spring is that bike parking gets more and more difficult to find, particularly on Queen Street. The basket makes it hard to share with other bikes if they don't park just so. The Opus is a bit of a diva.
I stocked up on zippers for me and buttons for the DC at Neveren's Sewing Spls (aka the DC's notions guy), then hit the fabric stores in search of the one true Dolly Clackett fabric. I thought it would be a piece of cake, but no. I had much fun wandering through, feeling all the fabrics, wondering what the hell most of them were since many of them weren't labelled. I need a remedial class on fabric types, specifically knits. With swatches. How thick is knit ponte, anyway?
Unfortunately, somewhere in one of these shops are the buttons I bought for the DC. Turns out my bag as a button-sized hole in the bottom. Boo.
I finally found... not exactly what I was looking for, but better, and headed off to the library to pick up more goods. Passing Trinity-Bellwoods, I saw a veritable river flowing out of the gates.
It turns out I had a whole bunch of things waiting for me at the library. Have I waxed poetic about the library yet? I'm going to again. You can borrow almost anything* from them and pick it up at your home branch - for free! Question for Torontoites: have you ever seen a TPL van? There must be a fleet of them trucking books and DVDs around the city, but I've never seen one. Curious.
On my way home, I stopped to take this picture.
Exactly one week before, in the same location, it was snowing and cold. What a change.
Of course, it didn't last. Check out the weather today:
We're expecting 10-15 cm. And it's going to be cold tomorrow, too.
I plan to spend today and maybe tomorrow in my jammies. It'll be great. Thanks to today's errandonnées, I have much to read. And sew.
Some of the day's spoils. We've been on a bit of a Scott Pilgrim kick since we went to tea at Casa Loma.
Errandonée tally
Bike shop: MEC (4.1 km/2.6 mi)
Non-grocery shop #2: All the fabric/notion stores on Queen West (1.1 km/0.69 mi)
Library #2: Bloor/Gladstone (5.6 km/3.5 mi)
Mileage left: 23.7 km/14.8 mi
Categories left: 3
*There was one 1980s movie they didn't have, but I've forgotten what it was now so it can't have been really pressing.
ETA: I remember now. It was Top Secret. And I'm rather upset about that. Maybe I should request it.
March Break is a wonderful time for getting stuff done. Or for sitting around playing this game. Same thing. However, I knew we were going to get more snow today, so I needed to get off my butt and run errands while it was still relatively nice out.Especially after a long winter like this one, Torontonians go a little crazy when the thermometer finally creeps up above zero. Off come the heavy winter coats, scarves, hats, and boots. It doesn't matter if it's still kind of chilly outside. We're not covering up for nothin'! I saw people in cardigans. And faces! People have faces!
Sadly, traces of winter are still everywhere. This alleyway was still completely icy and unbikeable, as were some of the paths in Trinity-Bellwoods.
The sun was gorgeous, so there's that.
My first stop was MEC for some more turtle bike lights. They're pretty cheap, so I don't mind if they disappear. I got a few to stick in my work pannier and another white one for the front in case Monday night happens again.
Then it was off to my new spiritual home: the fabric and notions stores of Queen St. West. I keep saying a sure sign of spring is that bike parking gets more and more difficult to find, particularly on Queen Street. The basket makes it hard to share with other bikes if they don't park just so. The Opus is a bit of a diva.
I stocked up on zippers for me and buttons for the DC at Neveren's Sewing Spls (aka the DC's notions guy), then hit the fabric stores in search of the one true Dolly Clackett fabric. I thought it would be a piece of cake, but no. I had much fun wandering through, feeling all the fabrics, wondering what the hell most of them were since many of them weren't labelled. I need a remedial class on fabric types, specifically knits. With swatches. How thick is knit ponte, anyway?
I finally found... not exactly what I was looking for, but better, and headed off to the library to pick up more goods. Passing Trinity-Bellwoods, I saw a veritable river flowing out of the gates.
It turns out I had a whole bunch of things waiting for me at the library. Have I waxed poetic about the library yet? I'm going to again. You can borrow almost anything* from them and pick it up at your home branch - for free! Question for Torontoites: have you ever seen a TPL van? There must be a fleet of them trucking books and DVDs around the city, but I've never seen one. Curious.
On my way home, I stopped to take this picture.
Of course, it didn't last. Check out the weather today:
I plan to spend today and maybe tomorrow in my jammies. It'll be great. Thanks to today's errandonnées, I have much to read. And sew.
Errandonée tally
Bike shop: MEC (4.1 km/2.6 mi)
Non-grocery shop #2: All the fabric/notion stores on Queen West (1.1 km/0.69 mi)
Library #2: Bloor/Gladstone (5.6 km/3.5 mi)
Mileage left: 23.7 km/14.8 mi
Categories left: 3
*There was one 1980s movie they didn't have, but I've forgotten what it was now so it can't have been really pressing.
ETA: I remember now. It was Top Secret. And I'm rather upset about that. Maybe I should request it.
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