Stephanie and Sherman Falls

It was another beautiful week in Hamilton this week...though some cooler evening breezes hint that summer is indeed winding to an end.  With the days getting noticeably shorter too, I'm trying to take every opportunity I can to get out after work while there's enough light for some photography.

This week it was off to Stephanie and Sherman Falls in Ancaster (just west of Hamilton).  I'd never been to the Tiffany Creek-fed Stephanie Falls before and was thoroughly impressed by its beauty.

The majestic trees of the surrounding Carolinian Forest make for some pretty stunning scenery too:

Sherman Falls is fairly close by.  It's a much larger waterfall (17 metres compared to 9 metres) and is fed by Ancaster Creek:

I've said it before...but man oh man, I love this city!

Exploring Chedoke Creek & Falls

Last night I went on a hike and discovered the most amazing place - Chedoke Creek and Falls.  Beyond the breathtaking beauty of red clay cliffs, limestone boulders, and multiple waterfalls, the thing that makes this place utterly spectacular is its location - just steps from Hamilton's downtown.

Despite its proximity to the heart of the city, it's not the easiest place to access.  There's a side trail off of the Chedoke Radial Trail, just east of Chedoke Golf Course.  The trail only gets you so far, after that its a tricky hike along steep embankments and a rocky creek bed.  After a very dry summer, the water was very very low, so it made travelling along the creek bed a bit easier and a lot drier.

I brought my trusty tripod along and had lots of fun taking some long exposure shots of the water, giving it a silky smooth appearance.  Here are a few of my favourite shots:

The eroded clay banks and massive limestone boulders must mean this creek becomes a pretty powerful river in the rain-filled spring.

It's pretty neat to think that the bricks of our house are made from that very same red clay.  These next few shots are of Lower Chedoke Falls.

City of Lights - Hamilton's Skyline at Dusk

After talking about it forever, my good friend Ray and I finally ventured to the edge of Hamilton's Niagara Escarpment, near Sam Lawrence Park to take some photographs of the city's skyline.  We headed out just as the sun began to set and got some great shots over the city as dusk set in.

Ray is a far more experienced photographer than me, so it was great to get some tips about what settings to use to get the best shot.  We're hoping to make this a regular thing - with the escarpment encircling the city's downtown on three sides, there are countless vantage points to get a great view of the city from.

Here are my five best shots from the evening, in both black & white and colour:

Hamilton Harbour...by Boat!

After a busy weekend of painting the porch (we're almost done!), taming the gardens, laundry, and other not so fun chores, it was soooooo nice on Sunday afternoon to go boating on Hamilton harbour for a few hours.  This was the first time either of us had ever been on the waters of the harbour and it was pretty neat to see the city we love so much from a new perspective.

The weather was absolutely perfect and the harbour was filled with boaters.  The first thing we learned...all boaters wave when passing...weird, but friendly.  Hey look!  There's Williams...the perfect place for a beer and a panini after a boat ride, trust me!

City Love: Biking Up (& Down) The Niagara Escarpment

Tonight, I feel like I conquered the world.  For the first time ever, I biked up The Niagara Escarpment (or as it's known here in Hamilton, 'the mountain').  Maybe I wouldn't have been as intimidated by this feat if everyone didn't refer to it as a mountain, but let me tell you, now that I've done it, I feel like I've accomplished some sort of local right of passage.

For a route, I chose the Chedoke Radial Trail - a part of the Bruce Trail.  The sign's a bit ghetto, but oh well.  At least there was a water fountain right beside this sign, which was great because I forgot to bring along water...

City Love: Homewood Avenue

Welcome to Homewood Avenue - one of my all time favourite streets in Hamilton.  The stretch that spans between Queen and Locke is breathtaking and, even if it's slightly out of my way, I almost always find an excuse to walk down it.

It's leafy, filled with beautiful gardens and mature trees that enclose the street like some sort of city-sized cathedral.  The houses are both handsome and whimsical and I think it's their uniqueness that really makes this street stand out.  Along this two block stretch of Homewood there are Victorians, Edwardians, Foursquares, Georgians, and everything in between.

As the sun was setting this evening, I took a few shots of this beautiful Hamilton street:

These two Victorians remind me of something out of a Tim Burton movie, especially the one on the left.  I'd love to see what the rooms in those spires look like from the inside.

Magnolia Mayhem

After weeks of false starts, I think it is finally safe to say that spring is in full swing in Hamilton.  One need look no further for evidence than the masses of magnificent magnolias that have bloomed, seemingly overnight.  I swear, just a few days ago these trees were nothing but twigs and branches!

Even though it was a bit rainy this evening, I had to get out and photograph the bloom laden trees that line the streets of our neighbourhood.  If I have a chance, I'll re-shoot them in nicer weather...but even on a somewhat gloomy evening, these trees look brilliant!

This next one definitely takes the prize for most blooms!  It's a massive specimen indeed, nearly engulfing an entire house!

And check out these lovely neighbouring twins.  I wonder if fifty or sixty years ago when these guys were planted, did one neighbour copy the other?  Or maybe they challenged each other to a magnolia tree growing contest...who knows!  Either way, both look pretty amazing!

I really couldn't tell you what circumstances led to there being so many beautiful mature magnolias in our neighbourhood.  Perhaps the city planted some as a beautification initiative, or perhaps the neighbourhood just has ideal growing conditions for magnolia trees.  However they got here, they certainly are a welcome presence after a longer-than-usual winter!

Hamilton, Meet Linus.

Hamilton, this is Linus.  For the first time ever, these classic French inspired city bikes are available in Hamilton, carried exclusively by (what is in my opinion) the city's best bicycle shop, Downtown Bike Hounds (DBH).

Perhaps it was pre-destined, or perhaps it was serendipitous chance, but Linus came to Hamilton at the exact moment I began looking for a new commuter bike.  From the moment I laid eyes on Linus, I was transfixed and no matter how many other bikes I came across, the clean elegant lines of Linus remained entrenched in my minds eye. 

I researched, oh how I researched.  I learned about Linus' durable hi-tensile steel frame that would last for years and years, its shimano nexus internal hub that would mean little maintenance and exquisitely smooth shifting, the genuine hand-stitched leather grips, and the double wall alloy rims with stainless steel spokes.

On paper, Linus was perfect.  But how would it ride?  To find out, I went over to DBH for a test drive.  The store's owner, Sean, graciously lent me one of his shiny new floor models to take for a spin, a 3 speed Roadster Sport.  I kid you not, the moment Linus and I set out a grin spread across my face, a grin so wide that at the end of my longer-than-it-should-have-been test drive, my teeth actually hurt from the exposure to the cold spring air.  Oh yes, this was the bike for me.

I'll admit...I was hesitant at first.  Would 3 speeds be enough in a hilly city such as Hamilton.  After all, I was a youngster in the '90s when, for some reason, bicycle manufacturers convinced the public that mountain bikes were the way to go - and the more speeds the better!  At least 15, if not 18 or 21 speeds were needed, weren't they.  The answer is no.  Unless you are using your mountain bike to, uh, ride up and down mountains, chances are you don't need more than 3 speeds.  In fact, purists will tell you that a single speed is all you need.  Either way, I went with the 3 speed and now we are pretty much inseparable. 

Here we are at Hamilton's beautiful Bayfront Park:

And in front of the Gore Park fountain, right in the very heart of Hamilton's downtown:

And even though we didn't feel the most welcome, here we are on Main Street, separated from Hamilton's City Hall by 5 lanes of speeding one-way traffic :

Linus and I don't drive down this road yet, but we're hopeful that Hamilton's long-entrenched car-culture dominance will continue to subside, making way for complete streets; streets for everyone, whether young or old, motorist or bicyclist, walker or wheelchair user, bus rider or shop keeper.

Until then, Linus and I will happily ride (most) of Hamilton's streets.  And if someday you are driving your car and briefly get stuck behind me, feel free to wave (and not just with one finger).

-kyle

City Love: Diversity

So I wrote a whole post tonight with all this anti-suburbia stuff.  You know, all the arguments you've heard before...the suburbs are ugly...you have to drive your car everywhere...they're anti-social...they will slowly destroy your soul....and blah blah blah.

Then I figured, there's enough negativity out there and people have probably heard this stuff before.  So instead I decided to keep it positive and post something I love about Citified life:  Diversity!

Within a two block (300 m) radius of our house, there are:

• some more middle class homes like ours
• a few high-rise buildings with inexpensive rentals
• a luxury condo building
• a low-rise co-op building
• a facility where teenage moms can live, learn, and raise there children
• some of the most beautiful Victorian mansions you've ever seen
• 2 corner stores (perfect for when you run out of milk or cream and you have company over)
• a boarding house for men with mental health issues
• lots of houses that have been converted into multiple rental units
• a park with a great playground
• and probably even more, but that's all I can think of

This incredible mixture of building types and building uses means that our neighbourhood is very diverse!  There are couples like us, young families, university students, retired people, single people, people who like dogs, people who like cats, people with lots of money, people with very little money, people who need some help, and people who love to help.  It truly is a beautiful thing!

Why is diversity good though?  It's one of those terms people throw around as something that is good, but why?  Richard Sennett talks a lot about it in his book The Uses of Disorder: Personal Identity and City Life.  In it, Sennett talks about how within a diverse city, people are not forced into a community-wide mold, instead they are free to be themselves.  He argues that it is only in the diversity of a city that people can truly pass through adolescence and become complete adults.

Hmmm....that's pretty deep.  Am I more of an 'adult' since moving to the city?  Perhaps.  I can definitely agree that the city embraces individuality rather than sameness.  There's something beautiful about people from so many different backgrounds living harmoniously together in a close area and each of them being comfortable in who they are.

One thing's for sure, the diverse city is stimulating and inspiring.  In fact, shortly after famed modernist painter Piet Mondrian moved to New Your City in 1943, he painted this:

It's called Broadway Boogie-Woogie.  Many consider it to be his masterpiece - a culmination of his life's work.  And guess what?  It was inspired by the life, the diversity, and the vibrancy of city life.

-kyle