Uninhabited Spaces

We had a wonderfully romantic getaway to the famous gay resort community of Fire Island Pines and neighbouring Cherry Grove.  We were saddened, however, to learn that we had just missed Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, and Jim Parsons, who had been filming in the Pines for their new movie "The Normal Heart". Alas! It was a special highlight for us to be in the Pines during its 60th anniversary and it was made even more special when it was announced on Wednesday that section 3 of DOMA had been judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. The historic announcement came rather fittingly from the drag queen hosting a delightful show tune sing-along, the hilarious Marti G Cummings . The room went wild and we were so very happy for our American friends as they continue to fight for marriage equality. OUR GUEST HOUSE We stayed at the Madison Fire Island Pines , which you could classify as a B&B but it felt more like an upscale guest house. The hosts w...

The cute welcome sign when you get off the ferry Yours truly, posing on the steps of the reborn Pavilion Well, hello there! The entrance to the main section of our guest house, Madison Fire Island Pines View from second floor at the Madison Mark grabbing some breakfast in the gorgeous main room Mark relaxing by our guest house's pool Escape to the beach -- just 4 minutes from our room. In the heart of Cherry Grove View from our guest house's rooftop patio Look Ma -- no streets!! This is how you get around -- a network of charming boardwalks We spent a great deal of time staring at the ocean The sand was perfect and the beach seemed never to end The stunning beach and gorgeous beach houses The Fire island Pines harbor This is how you get your supplies around -- wagons! This is a wagon post. The legendary Pavilion, rebuilt this spring, had just opened when we arrived

U2 provide a gorgeous and moving cover of their 1983 classic "Sunday Bloody Sunday" for One, the advocacy and campaigning organization looking to solve extreme poverty. This video is part of One's agit8 campaign to raise awareness in advance of the next G8 summit.

Aerial shot of Fire Island, New York. Image credit: eMixPix.com. We are excited to announce that we've booked a getaway to the community of Fire Island Pines on Fire Island, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this month as the summer mecca for queer folk. Fire Island Pines ("the Pines") is about 50 miles north of New York City on a barrier island off Long Island. In an interview about the Pines in the New York Times , Andrew Kirtzman, a longtime Pines resident and real estate developer, said “My line to people is that the Pines is to gay people what Israel is to Jews,” He continued by explaining, “It’s the spiritual homeland. There’s just a sense of history in the air, almost tangible but not quite. You just feel like you’re part of some kind of grand creation meant solely for gays.” Not only is it the Pines' 60th anniversary but this special occasion is being marked by the re-opening of the stunning Pavilion , the community's longstanding so...

View of the WestJet Stage Harbour with Toronto Islands in the distance View of CN Tower from the Harbourfront The Simcoe wave deck just off Queens Quay Looking at the bridge spanning the harbour The Alexandra Yacht Club Friezes on the Tip Top Tailors Building (1929) Mark at the fountain at the Top Top Tailors Building The cityscape from Lakeshore Boulevard The cool bridge connecting two condos in CityPlace Walking through Canoe Landing Park inside our 'hood CityPlace.

The welcome sign as you arrive at Cabbagetown, Carlton & Parliament streets We finally got ourselves over to Cabbagetown this past Saturday. The local BIA claims Cabbagetown is home to one of the largest continuous Victorian housing areas in North America. We didn't wander too far off Parliament so we'll have to go back when there is a festival. You could see that the side streets are covered in lovely tree canopies and dotted with grand old homes. It all reminded us both of Kingston's lovely and historic Sydenham Ward. We had actually hoped to go for a meal at celebrated Butter Chicken Factory but, alas,  it does not open until 5 pm on Saturdays and it was only 3:30, so we decided to head back into downtown to see what we could find. Arriving in the St. Lawrence Market district, we ended up walking through Woofstock , which claims it is North America's largest festival for dogs. I have never seen so many dogs nor so many designer doggie clothing, food, se...

Sunday Antique Market, St. Lawrence Market Over the past two weekends we took in screenings at Inside Out , Toronto's LGBT film festival, with some friends. We really love shorts so we got tickets for two excellent shorts programs; the first collection of 8 films was themed as " We Found Love " and the second collection of 6 films was curated under the banner of " Art Therapy ". We were all impressed with the lineups of both evenings. The films were poignant, thought-provoking, hilarious, tender, moving, and very memorable. Hoping to find a wooden step stool for the kitchen we headed to the weekly Sunday Antique Market that takes place in the northern building of the St. Lawrence Market.  Alas, I did not find a stool although I did stumble across a copy of The Aylmer Road: An Illustrated History (1994) by Diane Aldred. Aylmer (Quebec) is my former home town, so it was lovely to come across a link to my family's history. In terms of checking out re...