The last weekend of the month is when I do my monthly review. What have you been up to in the past four weeks? Here’s what’s been happening in my corner of the world and what I enjoyed in May.
Family & Fleurs de Villes
My sister visited our Toronto family for ten days. The weather was mainly sunny during her stay. We did family activities together, including multiple outings, BBQs and a Mother’s Day celebration. The ten days flew by. I’m grateful for the quality time we shared.
While my sister was here, we walked the Fleurs de Villes Voyage floral trail on a beautiful sunny day in the Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood. We oohed and aahed over more than thirty incredible floral arrangements. It was my sister’s first time to a Fleurs de Villes event and she really enjoyed it.
I include a slideshow of ten of the floral designs below, five outdoors and five indoors. To me they are art and since the event is free, it’s public art. Click on the arrows to move through the slides.
Fitness & Friendship
It’s been lovely to get outside and enjoy spring. I continue my cycling, walking, strength training and yoga. After having so many beautiful bike rides and walks this month, I feel like a multi-millionaire. Spring is in full swing which means everywhere I look there are newly blooming flowers.
Some of my 8K walks are with friends. We choose a different route for each walk and since we are in a big city called ‘A city within a park‘, we often start and end in a park. I greatly appreciate our friendship and the green space to absorb the peace and natural beauty of the outdoors without leaving the city.
Travel: Montreal
Last weekend I traveled by train to Montreal for a three-day visit. As I was in Montreal more for family than tourism, most of my time was spent with family. I took walks every day and enjoyed being in this dynamic city.
In the following gallery, top left, clockwise: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, a National Historic Site of Canada; The Cathedral dome seen from Dorchester Park; Murals in Montreal Central Station designed by Toronto artist Charles F. Comfort and carved by Sebastiano Aiello depict Canadian life, cultures, industry and passages of the national anthem.
On The Blog
The weekly Weekend Coffee Share and Photographing Public Art Challenge continued to thrive in May. Thank you to all who have shared updates, comments and/ or photos from around the world. I wrote my three ‘Postcards from Portugal‘. Here’s the links for May’s posts in case you missed any and want to catch up:
I’m contributing this post to #WBOYC and #TheChangingSeasons link parties.
Weekend Coffee Share
I’d love for you to share what’s been happening, simple joys from your week and/ or favourite public art photos from around the world in the comments or Weekend Coffee Share linkup #120 InLinkz below.
Happy June!
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Natalie the Explorer 
A busy month for you Natalie! Looks like you had a fantastic ten days with your sister. I too enjoy walking with friends much more than on my own. Montreal looks such an interesting city and would love to visit Canada again, hopefully before I get too old 😁
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Ali, Here’s to more travel to wonderful places before we get too old 🙂 Montreal has plenty of European charm and gives you a flavour of French Canada.
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Sounds perfect
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Hi Natalie – I really enjoyed your slideshow from the flower displays, you and your sister must have had a great time – I bet it all smelt beautiful too. Great that you could get out and about now the weather’s warmer, and also enjoy some of it with friends – nothing like a bit of company to make the day even more special. Thanks for the link up – always good to join in.
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Hi Leanne, My sister and I enjoyed walking the Fleurs de Villes floral trail. The flower displays were all gorgeous and the weather was perfect for our walk. It’s beautiful and sunny here this week so I’m taking full advantage of the nice weather to be out and about.
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Those flower displays are lovely, as are the parks – you live in a beautiful city!
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Thank you, Sarah. I think I live in a beautiful city, too 🙂
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Sounds like you had fun. Beatiful photos. Love the little goslings.
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Thank you Ally for your comment. The goslings grow up fast. Within a week they look like ‘teenager’ geese.
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Montreal is so beautiful. Just visited once. I love way you expressed a city in a park . Isn’t spring beautiful. Here is mine for the week. http://specialmomsblog.mom/2023/05/26/the-season-begins-%e2%9a%be%ef%b8%8f/
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Thank you for your contribution. Spring has been beautiful here. I like Montreal a lot and have been there many times. I’m glad to hear you think Montreal is beautiful.
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You had a great month! I love the floral art. I think the floral dresses are my favorite, but it’s all stunning. You really do have some amazing places to walk.
Michelle
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Michelle, I’m glad you love the floral art. I’ve been to a few Fleurs de Villes events and every one of them is beautiful. The florists are creative and highly skilled. The floral displays are stunning.
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I love the Fleurs de Villes and your pictures are wonderful. I had a cousin visit me from Canada for 10 days and we had such a great time. I showed her around my part of Spain and we spent 3 days in Valencia. Always great to see family!
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Darlene, I’m glad you had a great time with your cousin. Valencia has some amazing art and architecture, plus delicious oranges. It’s great to have family visit and see local places through their eyes. Thank you for stopping by.
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What a beautiful month! Such wonderful flowers. It is a bit grey here so far this morning, so the bright colours on your post lifts the spirits.
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May is the month of flowers here. It’s like beautiful colour therapy every time I go outside.
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Hi Natalie, I love all the flowers and beautiful places you find to walk. You make everywhere you go the place to visit! We finally have some wildflowers blooming in Prescott. I must take back all the disparaging words I said about our beautiful town earlier in spring when it was still winter here. 🙂
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Hi Marsha, Spring has been beautiful here. I love walking or cycling outside so much, some of my indoor tasks are on hold. Have you been taking photos of the blooming wildflowers in Prescott? I’d love to see them.
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We are finally getting some wildflowers in Prescott. We were on the news 5-30-23 for something entirely different – mountain lions in neighborhood. There was a family of four roaming around neighborhoods. Fortunately I haven’t seen them to take their pictures, though!
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Four mountain lions roaming, yikes! Stay safe Marsha, and don’t leave any food outside that the lions can get to.
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Or worse, pets! That’s why they had to put these beautiful creatures down. They were starting to get aggressive to people as well as pets. The pets didn’t survive.
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Yes, I thought of pets as well. We have coyotes in the city and some of them have become aggressive towards people and pets. Mountain lions are next level.
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They definitely are. We had a coyote run across our front courtyard. Moji sat in her cat tree and watched it go by without blinking an eye. Our new patio screen is going to be mountainlion-proof. 🙂
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I’ve seen bear-proof garbage bins in the town of Banff (in Western Canada, the Canadian Rockies).
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Beautiful photos from your walks! So glad to hear you had a great time. Happy Weekend.
-Soma
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Thank you Soma for your comment. Happy weekend to you, too.
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Hi Natalie. I loved the floral slideshow and would love to have been able to experience the perfume. You and your sister must had had a lovely time seeing these works of art. I enjoyed catching up with your busy month.
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Hi Jennifer, My sister and I had a wonderful time walking the floral trail on a sunny day. The florists did an amazing job on each of the floral displays. Thank you for linking up.
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Hi Natalie what a glorious month you have had. The weather is perfect for staying fit, healthy and enjoying nature. You’ve had a busy month. I usually run on Saturday mornings so I don’t get to link up but I’m running Sunday this week so I can link up with you. Have a beautiful June xx
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Thanks for linking up to WBOYC, Natalie. xx
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Hi Sue, Thank you for hosting WBOYC and linking up with me this weekend. May has been a wonderful month. The weather forecast looks great next week so I look forward to being outside again. Happy June to you and Mike!
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How fabulous – I love Fleurs de ville. It’s such glorious art. And you have a lovely collection of pics this month (or I’m just sulking at NOT being out and about of late). On a different note, Grace Petrie is playing Edmonton Folk Festival so if you were going to that, make sure you check her out. She’s so fab!!
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May is the month of beautiful flowers here. I remember you went to Fleurs de Villes in Sydney. Thanks for recommending Grace Petrie. Edmonton is about four hours by plane from Toronto though.
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Hi, Natalie – I am always impressed by how much joy you focus on in your life and just how much you do. You are a true inspiration! I fully agree with you that family time is precious time. I also love seeing Toronto through your eyes.
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Hi Donna, Thank you for your kind and uplifting words. I try to focus on family, friendship, health maintenance and have fun every day. It’s wonderful to resume traveling to the USA and Europe this year.
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Hi, Natalie – I agree. I don’t think that anyone will ever take travel for granted again! 😀
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I haven’t been to Canada, but with all the places that you have been showing us, I am starting to like it more and more.
I have seen the Fleurs de Villes here in Melbourne but they are all indoors. I see that in there you have come of it outdoors…better that way.
Here is my ent try this week https://mywanderings.travel.blog/2023/05/27/random-public-art-in-the-philippines/
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The Fleurs de Villes events in Toronto and Niagara Falls have many outdoor floral displays that are placed along a route so it’s a walk to see them all. My sister and I saw more than 30 beautiful displays. I just shared 5 outdoor and 5 indoor in this post. Thank you for your PPAC contribution.
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I’m very impressed by your 8km walks. I’ve finally started doing some exercise but not yet regularly walking which I’d like to do, or even increase my incidental exercise. Oh and I love the Moet flower sculpture!
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Good for you to start doing some exercise. Usually it’s the start that’s the hardest. I’ve been living a car-free lifestyle all my adult life so I’m used to walking. Thank you for stopping by.
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The floral displays are just stunning, as are your pictures of spring. You’ve captured well the joy and hope that May brings.
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Gail, Thank you for your lovely comment and for linking up. Spring has been beautiful here. I’ll be over to your blog for a catch-up this weekend.
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Sounds like a wonderful month. I liked the photos of the floral show, though the photos of the parks and such were really nice. Hope you are having a great weekend 🙂
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Thanks, Trent. I hope May has been good to you. Have a great weekend!
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It sounds like you had a really rewarding month of May! So glad you spent so much time with family and friends.
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Astrid, Thank you for stopping by and joining Weekend Coffee Share this weekend. I hope all’s well with you.
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Thank you. Yes, I’m doing okay.
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Sounds like a great month. I love the Mounti mannequin, the turtles and the goslings 🙂
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Dan, The florist did a great flower arranging job on the Canadian Mountie mannequin. The red jacket was made of petals and the yellow stripes on the pants are small marigolds. The turtles and goslings provided me with hours of free entertainment, especially the baby turtles that try to get on a tree log and the log rolls so they all fall into the water and try again 🙂
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The babies are adorable. Those mannequins are amazing.
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Looks like another great month for you, Natalie! I love those flower displays. Enjoy the rest of spring in your fabulous city!
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Thank you, Liesbet. Toronto looks beautiful in May-June. I’m looking forward to enjoying a good stretch of sunny days ahead. I hope you, Mark and Maya are doing well in Ecuador.
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What fabulous parks you seem to have. May was a good month for you, I think (hope!)
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Margaret, May has been a very good month for me. I hope it’s been good to you, too. I count my blessings that Toronto has about 1500 parks to explore and enjoy.
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1500! 1500? That’s astonishing. And wonderful.
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Yes, we have a wonderful parks system with big and small parks all over the city.
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Natalie, You remind me that I soon need to find time to get about and enjoy some of my local art. It has been a while!
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Pam, Yes, I hope you find time to enjoy local art. Perhaps once you have summer break, it will get easier.
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I absolutely love the flower pictures!
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I’m glad. Thank you for stopping by.
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I oohed & aahed over the flowers too, so beautiful.
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The florists did a fantastic job and the flowers were fresh and beautiful.
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You really make the most of your city, Natalie, and what a city it is! Glad to hear you had some great family time and a wonderful month of May! Enjoy the holiday weekend.
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Thank you, Terri. I hope May has been good to you, too. Toronto’s parks are beautiful in spring and there are many free and fun events going on. I look forward to participating in your Sunday Stills June colour challenge (pink).
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I will look forward to that Natalie, have a great week!
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Your nature experiences this month are truly something extra! Spring is such a wonderful time of new life and growth. How wonderful that you also were able to spend time with your family. (In Sweden we celebrate Mother’s Day today.)
Thank you for your always positive posts, they brighten my weekend every week, and I am sure that is true for many others as well.
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Maria, Thank you for your lovely comment. I love watching the baby ducklings, goslings and turtles in springtime here. All the trees are leafed out and so green now. I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day. I’m so glad my blog brightens your weekend.
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Your flowers and family shots are lovely Natalie, there are so many creative people out there! Thanks for sharing your May highlights, I always love seeing what you’ve been up to 🙂
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Debbie, The florists did a fantastic job at the Fleurs de Villes Voyage event. I’ve been to a few FdV events and look forward to going every time. Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful week ahead!
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The floral pieces are incredible–especially the dresses.
I hope to visit Montreal one day. It looks amazing.
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The florists did a fantastic job creating those floral mannequins. Montreal is a great city to visit. It will give you a taste of French Canada.
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Those floral pieces are so amazing. Love them. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
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Thank you Patrick. I’m glad you love those floral pieces. Have a great weekend!
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Natalie,
Fabulous flower pictures. I love the Moet Bottle. I’m impressed that (1) you walk 8km regularly and (2) you’ve lived carless for your entire adult life. I can’t get away with being carless here, but I would if I could. Love your city! Joe
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Joe, The florists’ creativity and skills at the Fleurs de Villes event are incredible to see. I’m fortunate to live in a walkable city. Since I’ve been walking daily for years, 8km is within my normal range.
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Hello Natalie! It’s lovely to catch up with you, especially at a time when you are sharing so many beautiful pictures. The Fleurs de Villes Voyage looks amazing! I’m so happy to hear that your May was so rich. Here’s to an equally joyous June!
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Hi Christie, May has been good to me. I hope it’s been good to you too. Thank you for stopping by. I’ll be over to your blog for a catch-up.
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How wonderful to have all of those parks to explore. So pretty!! Sounds like you had a great month.
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The local parks look beautiful atm. I hope you had a great May.
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Those flowers! Sounds like a lovely May full of flowers, friends, family and fitness…
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Jo, The flowers at the Fleurs de Villes event and in local parks are beautiful in May here. It’s been a very good month. Thank you for stopping by.
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Another fun and full month! I can see why your sister was taken with those flower displays; they are incredible!
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The florists did an excellent job on those floral displays and the flowers were gorgeous.
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Sounds like May has rounded out nicely for you, full of family and art and gorgeous photos 🙂 I’ve never been to Canada but have recently learned I have lots of lineage in Quebec so it’s now been added to my Travel Bucket List 🙂 One day! Hope you are enjoying a wonderful week!
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Quebec is a beautiful province. I’m enjoying this week’s beautiful weather. I hope you’re having a great week. Thank you for stopping by.
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