I was all set to join a three and half  day workshop in Toronto starting on the evening of July 12th.  The workshop was to be given by a well known photographer and teacher who was coming in from Chicago.   My friend Sharon whom I had met in Costa Rica flew up from New Jersey to join me.  At the very  last moment the workshop was cancelled due to a family emergency -unfortunately for Sharon she was already in Toronto.  So she ended up staying at the house and seeing Toronto with us and on her own.  I might add that this was one of the hottest weeks of the summer and not conducive to being outside with the camera.   It was  fun having Sharon at the house and we definitely did more sightseeing because of our house guest. 

The first evening of Sharon's visit all seven of us went to a beach in Scarborough.  Unfortunately, Maggie was moving in this photo so she came out a bit blurry but you can see Sharon and Pam with their cameras and tripods.  So you could say we had our own workshop.  I just noticed that Doug and Ralph were wearing similar colour t-shirts as were Pam and Sharon.  

  I really liked the pink clouds in this photograph.  

A few people sitting on the rocks and  enjoying the nice evening. 

 This photo was taken in the other direction and you can see some nice colours in the sky.    You can also see the Pickering Nuclear station  in the distance.

The next morning, Sharon and I went to Casa Loma.  I had never been there before and had fun looking around the gardens and taking a tour inside as well. The castle has decorated suites, secret passages, an 800 foot tunnel, towers, stables and 5 acres of gardens.    

I brought my macro (close-up) lens so I practised taking close up shots of the flowers.  There were bees everywhere.

I thought the gardens were beautiful.  I also found out that you can go to the gardens at Casa Loma for no charge on Tuesday afternoons in the summer  from 4 to 8 PM.  

A pretty butterfly landed in front of me.

We decided to go over to Toronto Island in the evening.  I hadn't been there in a few years- it was a bit hazy but other than that, a beautiful evening.  This shot was taken from the ferry on the way over.

This shot was taken from Center Island.  I liked the reflections of the clouds in the water.  We just got to the Island  barely in time to eat dinner at an outdoor restaurant- hard to believe that the restaurants close so early on a Friday night in the summer (I think around 8 PM).   I can't imagine going to anywhere in the US and not being able to get food at anytime! 

Another shot taken from  a pier on Center Island.  

After dinner we walked through the gardens on the Island.

We  found a great spot overlooking the city and waited for the sun to set.  Unfortunately it was a bit misty so not a great sunset but still  nice.

We waited around for it to get dark.   Some of the best colours come after sunset.

Now I was getting some great colors in the sky. 

This was the last shot of the night.  I could have easily stayed longer but it was getting later and we had a ferry to catch.  I'm certainly looking forward to going back and spending more time on the Islands.