The Week That Was #13
February 8th to February 14th, 2026
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Week That Was, a collection of images that I’ve taken the previous week.
You may find that this post is too long for you to read in your email. So, to see it in all of its glory, you might have to view it in your browser or via the Substack app.
The good news is that, finally, it’s starting to warm up a bit. Temperatures are now hovering around 0C and the snow is slowly melting. Of course, there’s always the risk of more snow on the horizon but the warmer temperatures are very welcome. I have to say that I’m getting rather bored with photographing snow in the city. The snow’s becoming very dirty and not particularly photogenic. Unfortunately, I haven’t had any opportunities to get out to any rural areas which would, I’m sure, be much prettier.
So, here’s some photos I took from a walk along the harbour front. The inner harbour is pretty much frozen over with the exception of some routes created to allow for the passage of the ferries that service the islands.
Along the waterfront is the Music Garden. The design of the garden was inspired by Bach’s First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello. Each section of the garden represents a dance movement from the suite. Sadly, you can really tell at this time of the year. However, it is a lovely place to visit in the spring, summer and fall when the gardens come alive. And, because it’s called the Music Garden, concerts are held there during the summer.
The photo below is of HTO Park. HTO is a play on H2O and T.O. (for Toronto, Ontario). Beneath the snow is a sandy beach.
Another Harbourfront park is Love Park, a 2 acre area of green space that was once an offramp for the Gardiner Expressway. In its centre is a heart shaped pond with a small island with a tree, the pond currently frozen over and covered in snow. Scattered around the park are a variety of animal statues and here’s a few of them.
That’s all for now, folks. Hope you have a great week.
Great set of images Mark! Love the colored chairs and umbrellas!
Hey Mark, I just realized I've been so busy the last weeks I didn't even take the time to look at what my Substack friends have been up to! Luckily now I do have some time, so I'm catching up. Although your first paragraph is about the weather warming up, I don't get that impression looking at the photos of those boats in the harbor, those look pretty cold to me. The concept of the music garden appeals to me; I can imagine how marvelous it must be to celebrate a summer evening with open air-concerts, which I love. And the design inspired by a Bach cello suite! The shapes I see there are much more to my liking, especially the pole with the plant-like ornaments.
HTO and Love parks probably look better in the summer, which for sure is the case for the (snowy here) sandy beach. It almost looks surreal with snow.
It seems the animals to adorn Love park have been chosen for their public image, or maybe their cuddliness, although the squirrel seems to be eating away at the red tiles, The rabbit looks great next to the bench! I'm happy to see some real wildlife (well, the urban version of wild) too. The second one of those, the wide angle one at Humber bay, offers a wonderful view of the city. The trumpeter swan juvenile is a good image to close with (to me, as a bird afficionado at least).