Dodgeville

This TTC schedule board (the same one that was put to different use on Torontoist yesterday) smiles at me every morning when I cycle past on my way to the office. Everyone else along the way looks pretty grumpy.

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I don’t understand why the mounting bracket of my new Cateye Strada Cadence bike computer looks so sad. Cheer up pal, you’ll get to tag along on rides to many interesting places every week.

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These houses quite literally look over the Gardiner Expressway from near The Queensway and Windermere. Just try to get a picture of them without being in a moving vehicle.

I rode my bike into this development a few weeks ago to get a picture and was surprised to find that only the houses that back onto the Gardiner have this particular arrangement of windows and rooflines; other similar houses that back into the interior of the development or onto The Queensway lack both the proper eye placement and distinctive eyebrows. These faces are mostly hidden from the view of passersby on Lake Shore Boulevard or the Martin Goodman Trail; you have to be on the Gardiner or a GO or VIA train to get the proper effect. When I first noticed these houses a couple of years ago, I was uncertain about whether the eye pattern was intentional or not, but now I’m fairly sure that it was a deliberate design choice.

I took this picture during last weekend’s Ride for Heart. One completely false rumour has it that I signed up for the 75 km course solely because the route took me to just the right spot on the Gardiner to pull over and snap off a couple of quick shots.

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This is one of the steps in the Vale of Avoca coming out of the ravine up to David Balfour Park.

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I almost felt guilty eating this watermelon last fall after noticing him staring up at me from the cutting board. Let this be a warning to vegetarians who say that they won’t eat food that had a face: by that measure, fruit isn’t necessarily safe.

I’ll add that this was by far the best watermelon I’d had in years: fresh, sweet, and dripping with juice the way I remember them being when I was a kid. It also had a zillion seeds and was grown right here in Ontario. After eating this beauty, I vowed never to buy another non-local, out-of-season watermelon again. I’ll even put up with all of the seeds if that’s what it takes to get a good, traditional melon instead of those bland, mealy-fleshed things that pass for melons in the supermarket.

I gave up on non-local strawberries years ago for the same reason: those enormous California berries look gorgeous and smell amazing, but taste like cardboard. What’s the point of having them year-round if they suck?

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These connections for the fire department are all over the city. Someone put a couple of eyebrows on this one near Chester Station to add a bit of character.

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These two fellows on Augusta north of Baldwin in Kensington Market looked worried about something a couple of weeks ago. They were probably anticipating the mounds of snow that would soon cover them.

Karlofun took a picture of a similar face in the same neighbourhood last summer; it seems to be a trend.

They look a little Ed Grimleyesque, if I must say.

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A big happy face was stomped into the snow of E.T. Seton Park earlier this year and was visible from the Overlea bridge.

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The retaining strap from my MEC handlebar bag always looks a little alarmed.

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I see faces. Some are deliberate constructions for all to see; some are accidental, the result of happenstance or coincidental placement of everyday items. Yet others are semi-hidden, perhaps as sly easter eggs created by playful designers. Today’s face belongs in the final category. You’re looking at the earpiece of an old Nokia 5190 cell phone with the faceplate removed. You can see the face in context in this picture at Wikipedia. I took this picture way back in 1999, knowing that I should document the discovery for future use someday. Today is that day.

Something about seeing a face—whether deliberate or accidental—in an unexpected place always makes me smile. You’ve got to know that whoever designed the Nokia 5190’s inner case smiled too as these started rolling off the production line.

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