Photo of the Day: Fantastic Photos and Videos from Toronto’s Parks and Gardens, and the Ismaili Flag is Restored to Full Mast at Aga Khan Park… plus an Idea for Apricots Grown in Hunza!

by MALIK MERCHANT
(Publisher-Editor, Barakah, Simerg and Simergphotos)

VIDEO: The Astonishing Mercedes Benz Crawler

I try and walk every single day, and being armed with a camera gives me a good incentive to cover more ground, and go way past the 10,000th step.

I always hope that there will something new to capture with my camera each time I go out, and while I may say “it was my lucky day,” the blessing of luck is given, more often than not, when one is patient and keeps on trying.

On my most recent visit to a stream at Edwards Gardens that extends into the neighbouring Wilket Creek Park, “I lucked out” sitting on huge bark that was cut from a tree. I carry with me a “Save & Soft” Foam Seat Cushion for seating comfort for long periods of time.

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VIDEO: Beautiful Mallard Ducklings

For days, I had been seeing a couple of male and female mallards swimming in the stream at Edwards Gardens at about the same location. This week was different! Births had taken place. I saw a female mallard with her 4 new ducklings swimming downstream and coming from the opposite side was another female with 5 slightly larger ducklings. Just as the ducks crossed each other, there were some simple formalities, unlike the excitement dogs generate when they meet up. After taking a few videos and many many photos, I was walking back to my car when I encountered a gentleman who was setting up his red Mercedes Benz crawler to do much more in the stream than what a 4×4 can do. He told us that he had bought the crawler for a base price of $850.00, and had added $1000.00 of upgrades to it! Was it heavy? Yes, around 30 lbs. It was a thrill to see him negotiate his amazing toy in the waters through some tough terrain.

With 3 hours now up, as street parking time is restricted, I returned to the car, quite excited by what I had seen. As I turned on the car, I intuitively felt that the flags at Aga Khan Park were now at full mast. For weeks the flags had stayed at half mast in observation of national commemorative dates, to mourn the passing of public figures and to mark tragedies, such as the discovery in May of more than 200 children whose remains were found buried at what was once Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school. We now have more bad news this week with the discovery of more indigenous graves.

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An Apricot, and a Thought…Importing the Fruit from HUNZA!

When I reached Aga Khan Park, the Ismaili flag along with flags of Toronto, Ontario and Canada were at full mast. The breeze made the flags fly beautifully. Click click, of course! With energy from consuming a large sweet apricot, the size of a peach, that I bought from St Lawrence Market a day earlier (at $3.99 a pound), I spent an hour or so at the park. It was late afternoon.

I returned later to see the moon rise (illumination 99.1%) just before the sun set. I then stayed until darkness to take a photo or two of the full moon. It was at a higher elevation and behind the dome of the Ismaili Jamatkhana.

And yes, what about the apricot? Imagine supermarkets all around North America offering a fruit from Hunza, where it is grown in abundance. “Fair traded organic apricots from HUNZA,” the labels on the fruit shelf would read. New Zealand kiwis, South African oranges, Australian apples, Moroccan and Spanish clementines, Mexican ataulfo mangoes (better than India’s alphonso, in my opinion) and lots of other tropical fruit from Latin American countries. Now how about apricots from Hunza! Imagine its impact on the livelihood of farmers and their families in the Northern regions of Pakistan!

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Video: The Swan at Toronto’s High Park

The natural world is a gift of God to mankind. I quote Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, on nature: “The Qur’an refers very often to nature as a reflection of Allah’s power of creation, and it says, look at the mountains, the rivers, the trees, the flowers, as evidence of Allah’s love for the people whom he has created. Today, I look at the environment and I say to you, I believe Allah is smiling upon you, and may His smile always be upon you.” — Rushan, Badakhshan, May 27, 1995.

And the Aga Khan Park, with its adjoining Aga Khan Museum and the Ismaili Centre, is the gift of His Highness the Aga Khan to his community and all Canadians as well as people all over the world. I talk to visitors regularly, and they say “what a blessing this park is to our community.” Enjoy the photos.

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Photos from Aga Khan Park: Flags at Full Mast, Children and Balloons, The Sunset, Full Moon and More

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Photos from Parks and Gardens of Toronto: New Born Ducks, Birds, Crawler, the Swan and More

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Last Photo, with a Trivia

How many flags of the world bear both red and green colours (exclusively or in combination with other colours)?

(a) 17-20
(b) 64-70
(c) 42-48
(d) 55-60
(e) 7-10

Answer below, after photo.

Answer to trivia: (c) 42 to 48, 44 to be exact (more on the subject and the Flag of the Ismaili Imamat in an article to be published in Barakah, week of July 4th, 2021).

Date posted: June 26, 2021.
Last updated: June 29, 2021 (new photos from June 28 added to post).

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