Changing Seasons – January

I’m back for year 2 of Cardinal Guzman’s monthly photo challenge of the Changing Seasons.  The Cardinal has introduced 2 versions of this monthly feature and I encourage you to check out the Cardinal’s post and the rules here.

January has been very kind to us so far this winter.  After the brutal cold of the past 2 years, we were due for a break, and this relatively *mild* weather is exactly what I hoped we might get.

In spite of this gentler winter, I seem to have wrapped myself up in a cocoon and have spent most of the month hibernating.  The one day I did venture out for some exploration, it snowed, and all my pictures reflect that greyness and white *fluff* in the air.

Todmorden Mills is an unmistakable landmark along one of the major highway arteries of Toronto – the Don Valley Parkway.  I’ve passed it a million times in my travels around the city, but I’ve never actually visited this historical site before now.

It was a chilly, windy day and I had the area completely to myself.

Todmorden Mills is a heritage site containing four original buildings – the lumber mill, brewery, and 2 homes – from this small industrial complex dating back to the early 1800s.

It is now a small museum open to the public with nature trails surrounding the area. Nestled between city highrises on one side and a busy highway on the other, it is a peaceful step back in time.

I often wondered why a mill would be located so far from a river.  I had not realized that the Don River had been re-routed in the early 1960s during the construction of the Don Valley Parkway.

What remains of the river near the mill is an elbow of spring-fed water which is now home to a wildflower conservation area which attracts considerable wildlife in the heart of the city.

Special thanks to Ontario Camper for introducing me to Todmorden Mills and its nature trails.  It is a pretty area that I’ll be interested in revisiting again in the spring.