night lights & sweet treats

the end of summer is nigh.  we Torontonians come to this realization when the CNE opens.  personally i'm fine with the departure of summer, it's a been a wet one, and i'm ready for fall leaves and cozy sweaters.  yum.  so last night a group of us headed through the gates for an end of season tradition.  i love carnivals, all the twinkling lights and mechanical sounds of rickety rides, the smell of popcorn and sugar coated everythings.  it was a chilly-ish night and pretty windy, kind of perfect i thought. 

damian and i got there before everyone else so we wandered the grounds and came across a creature dressed for the festivities lying on a quiet piece of alleyway.  it was quite big, the biggest dragonfly i've seen.  it looked like a carnival with wings with all of those colours adorning it.  the poor thing was on it's back so we flipped it over but it still wouldn't fly away.  damian picked it up and put it in a lush planter filled with the same shade of green that was on its little vest.  we hoped there would be a happy union between insect and leaf and walked off.

we met up with everyone and travelled the midway for a bit admiring the glitter.

there's a real novelty with food at this place.  most of it comes on a stick.  there are your standards like corn dogs, candy apples, candy floss and whatnot.  then there are you newer and in some cases, more challenging items like pickles, meat balls, and pizza.  yes, pizza on a stick! the newest odd snack however did not reside on a stick, a plate was needed for this creation.  i felt photographic proof was needed for whomever's brainchild this was.  would you believe me without it?                       

can you imagine a pig walking by and seeing this poster?  do you suppose he would shake his head and say "is this what we've been reduced to?" or do you think he would feel celebrated?  i mean chocolate IS pretty delicious.  

after the horror of the choco-pig heart attack snack wore off we headed into the buildings to see what sort of treasures we could find.  i liked all the plants and Nick insisted on taking the standard "pretend you're stealing something right in front of the "no stealing" sign (with added illustration of handcuffs to really send the message home).  we're so clever it hurts. 

the first building was the "Useless Crap Nobody Needs And Will Most Likely Break After 2 1/2 Uses" building.  or the "As Seen on TV" building if you prefer brevity. if you've ever doubted the Germans talent when it came to making shammies well, doubt no long for the proof is in the sign baby.  right next to the Slap Chop!  Vince wasn't there though which was an upset.

things were closing up so it was time to leave, but not without a bit of decadence first.

that's right, the Scottish known treat (which we never did find while we were in Scotland last month) of a previously naked and boring chocolate bar dipped into batter, fried, then dusted with icing sugar.... on a stick!  

it was definitely time for drinks.  we headed over to The Academy of Spherical Arts for a bit of atmosphere and cocktail loveliness.  i love this place and have not been there in ages, this would be one thing i miss about living in the city.  we used to live walking distance from it and although it is a bit on the pricey side, sometimes you just need to treat yourself to fancy.  my favourite room was closed, the basement room called "La Belle Epoque".  *click the link and take the virtual tour to get a, well, virtual idea of the ambience*  i feel like i should be sipping absinthe with dearest Toulouse Lautrec when i'm in that room.  the low light, the candles, the art nouveau scrolled onto the exposed stone walls.  it's heaven in a cellar.

instead we headed upstairs into the Samuel May room.  this is Damian's favourite room.  it reminds him of an old fashioned gentlemen's club where you sip scotch and discuss politics.

after a few rounds we ran through the recently formed rain storm to Nick's apartment for a few more drinks.  the evening ended with a tug-of-war match between a rope, a pug named Lucy, a miniature American Bulldog named Oakley, and me.  the dogs won, i was outnumbered. 

Damian and i stayed in the city last night, we got a sweet deal on a room at the Westin.  this morning we decided to go back to the Ex for a second round.  we weren't able to see everything last night so we thought "hey, we're in the city, why not?"  today we came across a mini exhibit of the paranormal history of the CNE, right up my alley!  they had old photos from the turn of the century, stories of ghostly encounters, bits of history that would have resulted in the unrest of the ghosts (for example, the midway was the site of one one the bloodiest battles during the war of 1812.  people died there and now they're selling chocolate covered bacon to crowds of adventurous sweet toothed meat eaters.  hmm.)  there were photographs of gypsy fortune tellers in 1912 and this lovely lady.  actually she's kind of creepy since she doesn't have a face. even still, i wanted her caravan.

 

look who else was there!  those cute as a button Scottish designer boys, Colin & Justin.  look at those Canadian kilt ensembles, Oo La La gents.  i want them to heist my house, i wonder if they would travel north of the city to this little village?  in fact maybe they could heist the whole village!  you know, get those cars on people's lawns off the blocks etc.  *apologies for the shameful quality of the photo, the lighting in that building is the pits*

so, a pretty fun time was had. trinkets and treasures were purchased (Damian spoiled me and bought me all sorts of bits & bobs) and sugary bad for you food was consumed.  everything a trip to the carnival should be.  i picked up the cutest strands of red flower lights from a Thailand booth to hang in my studio.  photo to come once i hang them.

look what else i got, a fabulously glorious new hat.  isn't it simply divine?  i like to wear it on a slight angle to dress it up a bit more, to stand out from the crowd.  i feel so feminine in it, like a classy woman staring at you from the pages of a fashion magazine.  i blow kisses to you all from beyond my gauzy vignette.