summer wanderings — doors open

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It was Doors Open Toron­to at the end of May. We try to vis­it one or two build­ing every year. This year we decid­ed to take the long trek to Fool’s Par­adise, the for­mer home of Cana­di­an artist Doris McCarthy, who lived to be 100, and donat­ed her home to be an artist-in-res­i­dence cen­tre after her passing.

Her home was the first one built on this stretch of the road. She designed and draft­ed the blue­print for the house.

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As soon as we entered the front door we were greet­ed by this rug, made by McCarthy.

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Paper owl guard­ing her desk and all her tools still. “Like she nev­er left,” said the tour guide.

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“The Chap­ter Room”, which she built to write her mem­oir. It is the cozi­est room I’ve ever found myself in.

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Per­haps a sun­ny read­ing nook.

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Her beau­ti­ful chan­de­lier and her beau­ti­ful arc­tic landscape.

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The tour guide told us that McCarthy built all the cup­boards in the kitchen by mak­ing card­board mock-ups.

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Neigh­bour­hood chil­dren used to skate on this pond in the winter.

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And at the edge of the back­yard is the cliff of Scar­bor­ough Bluffs.

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There were vis­i­tors picnicking…

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And paint­ing :)

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After our own pic­nic we explored a near­by park. The dan­de­lions were like glow­ing orbs lin­ing the path.

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Look­ing down from the cliff. The water was so blue.

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Next time we’ll vis­it the bluffs from below the cliffs so we can see the lay­ers of sediments!

Hope every­one is hav­ing a good weekend!

 

4 thoughts on “summer wanderings — doors open

  1. You are an explor­er of the places peo­ple live their lives…such an inter­est­ing loca­tion, FOOL’S PARADISE, home of Doris McCarthy, whom I will google…thank you…

  2. What an inter­est­ing tour you’ve shown us; thanks for shar­ing! I love the col­ors in that last photo!
    Kate :}

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