A full Saturday in Toronto -- touring and cheering DC United on to victory

We woke up on Saturday morning and headed down for breakfast.  We were staying at the Jarvis House.  This was a modest hotel indeed – some spots on the walls unpainted, small cracks in the sink, and despite the assurance on the web site that there was be no noise from busy street, that was assuredly not the case.   But our room was a good size and the bed very comfortable.  Breakfast was prepared by our host (fresh fruit, eggs prepared to taste and two strips of bacon, in addition to provided cold cereal, bread and coffee/tea) , and when I was unable to print out the boarding passes for our flight home because the tray holding the keyboard and mouse for the provided computer got stuck, the host actually took the thumb drive onto which I had downloaded boarding passes the night before, and went back to her own home nearby to print them out.  So I recommend the Jarvis House as an inexpensive place to stay, so long as you can accept the limitations of the place.

The game was scheduled for early afternoon but we began our touring with a trip to the St. Lawrence Market, a daily market held about a mile south or our hotel. we did not have to walk, however, because Toronto’s mass transit company has a special deal on a weekend day-pass — for $10 two adults, or an adult and up to five children, can have as many rides as they want on any of the city’s subways, street cars, or buses. 

Toronto Transit Commission Day Pass

So we walked over to the Yonge Street subway line and bought our pass for the day, then took the subway down to King Street.  We could have ridden a street car along King to the market, we wanted to see the city so we walked. 

So we walked.   As we walked, we marveled at the number of recent office buildings and apartment buildings, apparently condos, not to speak of the amount of new construction.  Indeed, Toronto seemed to be experience heavy yuppification. One sign, in two days of walking, we saw a large number of dog parks but only one children’s playground — with five adults and one child — and only two schools.   A staff member at the Allan Conservatory with whom we chatted when we visited there on Sunday morning confirmed this impression.  For all the yuppiness, the city had a fine diverse feeling to it.  Might be a nice place to live if it weren’t so darn cold so soon!

The St Lawrence Market  itself consisted of two older buildings, across Front Street from each other, each jam packed with small shops featuring various foodstuffs and dry goods; the northern building also had a farmers market feature in Saturdays.  Both buildings were crowded with shoppers getting ready for the Canadian Thanksgiving, which was to be held on Monday (in retrospect, I understood why it had been so hard to find an moderately-priced hotel room even though I had tried to make reservations months in advance).

Inside St.Lawrence Market

Mural on the side wall of St Lawrence Market north  building

Looking west along Front Street past St. Lawrence Market

Vendor inside the southern building of St Lawrence market

We stopped at a small creperie inside the market for a snack before heading off to the game. 

We walked back to King and Jarvis to catch the street car, pausing next to this art installation

then rode the street car west along King Street. Taking advice from one of the passengers, we switched to a southbound streetcar on Bathurst – maybe a mistake, because streetcars ride in the leftmost lane on any street, and we got caught for maybe 20 minutes in a left-turning lane with time ticking away toward starting time.  Eventually the traffic cleared, and we rode the rest of the way to the stadium.   It was a nice stadium typically-sized for an MLS soccer specific stadium, and nicely situated with a view of Lake Ontario. Nice for the view, but not so nice for the chill wind that swept off the lake keeping us chilly throughout the game.

BMO field before the DC United game

Note the small red rectangle atop the roof above the “wall of honor” that’s the perch for a falcon, the tiny speck that can be seen atop the rectangle.  Apparently, seagulls are enough of a problem at the stadium that management has brought in a predator.

BMO field -- looking south toward Lake Ontario

The crowd, sad to say, was a real disappointment.  By the time I got to see a game in Toronto, the team was paying the price for years of total mediocrity.  There were thousands of empty seats, and if there was a supporters group I couldn’t hear them at all, or see them for that matter.   The fans were amazingly quiet throughout, except for a few kids who were energized by the DC United traveling contingent to call out “sucks” when our chants mentioned the name United.  The following morning, at the Allan Conservatory, we ran into a young military couple with their children.  They noticed my DC United scarf and said that they had become fans of United when stationed in DC, and had chosen to come to Toronto instead of Montreal for the weekend so that they could see the game.  Apparently, they had been sitting near some Toronto season ticketholders who were thoroughly disillusioned.

The traveling United supporters contingent was also rather small.  I was told that most of the usual suspects had chosen to go to see the United States play at Antigua the following week (a reasonable choice at this time of year).  With the group so small, I had an extra need to lend my voice, and I was hoarse by the end.  At least, the thuggish Barra Brava fellow who likes to get into it with opposing fans was also missing, although the local fans were so passive that he would have been hard-pressed to find an adult he could properly antagonize.

The game was also disappointing.  United played fairly aimlessly, with neither style nor rhythm.  The DC United supporters began to chant “we want Bosko,” a call for coach Ben Olsen to substitute in Montenegrin star Branko Boskovic.  Boskovich did enter the game in the second half, but United still showed no sign of scoring until just before the end of the game, when Maicon Santos took a speculative shot toward the goal right in front of us. Milos Kocic, a former DC United goalkeeper, botched the play by bobbling the ball; it squirted out at Hamid Salihi, our Bosnian striker, was right there to finish it off.  He came over to celebrate at the corner flag right in front of us.

Salihi and teammates celebrating the goal in front of our small traveling supporters section

Amazing – United had eked out three points on the road.  We had not been playing well, but perhaps we should console ourselves with the thought that a good team is one that finds a way to win even when they aren’t playing particularly well.  Later that day, Montreal managed a tie at Houston and Columbus could only tie at Kansas City, leaving United in excellent shape to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in several years. Indeed, we were left with a reasonable chance of getting a home game in the playoffs!

Afer the game, decided to take the advice of a Toronto resident to whom we had talked on the street car after the game, who suggested that we try the C’est What café back near the St.Lawrence market to sample some of its microbrews on draft.  But we decided to walk along the waterfront and then through the city to see more of the architecture.

These views of the skyline were all seen from Roundhouse Park, and inside a furniture showroom that occupies part of thew John Street Roundhouse around which the park is centered

Leon's Furniture inside the original roundhouse

Condos to the south of the roundhouse

Buildings seen north from Roundhouse Park

We proceeded to C’est What,  where we enjoyed some of their own brews – a caraway rye beer and “Steve's Dreaded Chocolate Orange” – as well as lunch dishes.  Nancy had the calamari, which was OK, and I had the "staggering pig," a pulled pork sandwich with a very nice coffee porter sauce.  As a bonus, we caught a live show of traditional jazz by a longtime Toronto group, the “Hot Five Jazzmakers”  – I particularly liked the one-per-set singing of the young bassist Tyler Thomson. If there had been space to get up and dance a bit (and if Nancy had been willing!) I would have been moved to do so.

Hot Five Jazzmakers performing at C'est What

The audience was unlike any other crowd we saw during our time in Toronto -- all older white folks.  Worrisome for traditional jazz if it appeals only to this demographic -- but maybe it was just the time of day and the fact that many of the audience seemed to know the band personally.

We headed back to the hotel to rest, catching a few more interesting building along Front Street and Yonge Street

West along Front Street toward the CN Tower

The Hockey Hall of Fame at Yonge and Front Streets

Office buildings looking north along Yonge Street

Then we took a streetcar west along Carleton and College Streets to Little Italy, when we had a nice dinner at La Forchetta.

The menu was a combination of traditional and nouvelle Italian – we had mostly the nouvelle, including a roasted pumpkin soup, a salad of organic field greens, a haddock fillet (although the potatoes served with it were reminiscent of tater tots)  and an excellent grilled sea bass with chipotle-citrus sauce.  Only the panna cotta for dessert was traditional

Wild Haddock Fillet with Mascarpone Sauce on the side

Grilled Sea Bass with an interesting mashed potato

Flying Up to Toronto to See DC United – Arrival on Friday Evening

I’ve been hearing for years about the excellent atmosphere and intense fan support for Toronto FC at BMO Field, so when Porter Airlines offered an inexpensive non-stop fare into an airport right in downtown Toronto, and Nancy said she’s be willing to come along for a weekend I jumped at the chance.  In the end, the game was an anti-climax, but the weekend was excellent.

Porter flies only propeller planes, and I am not wild about commuter flights in general, but I was psychologically committed to the trip by the time I recognized that we would have to fly on a prop plane. I don;t think I;ve ridden a propeller plane since I flew to Page Arizona forty years ago to go rafting down the Colorado, but in the end, the flights were fine, even if it was it was pretty darn bumpy flying home on Sunday.  The flight was out of Dulles, an inconvenient airport, but it went right into Billy Porter City Airport, which is even closer to downtown Toronto than National Airport is to downtown DC – it takes a ferry ride across a channel barely wider than a soccer pitch is long, and the ferry lands within a couple of blocks of a busy street car line.  An extra bonus was that we flew up on the same flight at Steve Goff, the Washington Post’s soccer writer.  He and I have corresponded by email over the years, and it was a pleasure to be able to chat in person.

As we arrived, we had this nice view of Toronto from the airplane window.

 

View of Toronto from plane arriving at Billy Bishop City Airport

 Looking at the AAA map, I could have sworn it was a reasonable walk to our hotel, so Nancy and I set off with our bags in hand.   A run of the Google map would have corrected this misapprehension – it was more than a three mile walk. Still, it was lovely as we strolled along the waterfront, and we got nice views of the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and the Toronto skyline.

CN Tower and Rogers Center

 
By the time we had walked north on Bay Street, then Church Street, and finally Jarvis, it was 8 PM and we were too tired to go across town for the dinner I had reserved.  The hotel host siad that some of her guests would buy food at Loblaws and bring it back to eat in the breakfast room, but we opted instead for we opted for my second restaurant choice, the Matagali, an Indian Thai place only a few blocks from our hotel.  The food there was good, if relatively unremarkable. The most interesting thing we had was listed on the menu as prawns pakora, actually several shrimp, lightly battered, marinated then fried, with a delicious flavor.

Prawns Pakora

On the way over, we had passed a large food store called Loblaw’s, located in an older building that turned out to be the former Maple Leaf Gardens

The former Maple Leaf Gardens, now home to Ryerson University and Loblaw

We were tired, but not too tired to satisfy our curiosity, so we stepped inside to find a huge food emporium that I can best refer to as Whole Food on steroids. in addition to ample aisles of regular groceries, there was a huge section of produce, ready-made foods of many varieties, a large cheese section, bakery, fresh candy aisle, and more.

Inside Loblaw on Carleton Street in Toronto

Inside Loblaw on Carleton Street in Toronto

From Mount Hood to Jeld-Wen Field

Saturday morning, we woke up at the Reed College Ski Cabin, a 14-bed facility in Government Camp where we spent the night.  Oddly enough, I had never been there as a student – and we ran into a couple of students who seemed embarrassed to admit that, albeit seniors, this was their first time there.   Although the facility is meant primarily for students, as an alum I could reserve a place there up to a week in advance, and I was glad to be able to do so.  Sorry, though, not to have had the time to luxuriate in the sauna or enjoy the nice living spaces more.  Next time....

Living Room in Reed College Ski Cabin

Porch of Reed College Ski Cabin

After breakfast, we did an easy hike up to Mirror Lake, and could not resist the temptation for a quick dip in the quite-cold waters.

Gingerly easing my way into Mirror Lake, with view of Mt. Hood

We did not have the time to hike up Tom Dick and Harry Mountain above Mirror Lake

Then we drove back to Portland, and had lunch at a farmer’s market across from the houseboat at the Bridgeview Moorage on Multnomah Channel, where friend Lorene Scheer lives. We could see Mt. St. Helens looming in the distance across the cornfields.

After a few hours on the houseboat – Lorene was working on her expense reports while I was working on this blog  –

   

Lorene Scheer's houseboat

Houseboat from the front

we headed into town where we had dinner a block away from Jeld-Wen Field with another TDU activist, Gail Francis, who had just finished hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail, and with Knute, a Norwegian fellow with whom Gail had hiked for a fair part of the way

Dinner was at an exceptional Thai restaurant in Goose Hollow, the Soi9 Thai Eatery; 

I had Pla Lui Saun, a crispy boneless trout with a spicy tamarind dressing

Pla Lui Saun

other notable dishes included Gai Yang Krati, a marinated and grilled Cornish game hen, served with som tum (papaya salad) and sticky rice,

Seafood soup (with drunken noodles behind)

Of all  the dishes we shared, only the drunken noodles were only ordinary.  This is an exceptional restaurant where I'll want to eat again on future visits to Portland.

The restaurant was full of Timbers supporters, as indeed were many other eateries around. In fact, I liked the whole vibe of a stadium in the midst of downtown Portland.

Then onto the game. Jeld-Wen is a lovely stadium, but it was not quite full as the game began, although the game had been advertised as sold out

The packed Timbers Army section at the far end was great

but I found the rest of the fans to be rather passive, very unlike my visit to the Sounders the year before, where the entire stadium was passionately behind the team from the very beginning.  Indeed, the Timbers fans near our seats almost seemed surprised to see a supporters section for the visiting fans.

At one point in the game the Timbers Army section all coordinated in a uniform movement – they would link arms together and shimmy slowly together to the right, then slowly together to the left. It was too far too get a good video, although Lorene shot this video of the cheering in our section.

As the game dragged on, I was distressed to see DC creating so few attacking chances, but then there was the dramatic penalty awarded.  I had not seen anything that looked remotely like a penalty, but Chris Pontius stepped up to the spot and converted emphatically. 


After that, Portland stepped up its game, and with barely ten minuted left they scored the tying goal. Green flares erupted from the Timbers Army end,

Flares set off by Timbers Army after Bright Dike scores the tying goal

but the entire stadium came alive, with fans standing, and cheering madly, and rooting their team on for the rest of the game, as they should have been doing from the beginning. 

Timbers fans come alive all around Jeld-Wen field

One of the Barra Brava fellows starting getting into arguments with some of the nearby Timbers fans, as if he wanted to pick fights with them.  It was the same guy who had engaged in similar behavior at with Sounders fans in Seattle, almost making me embarrassed to be in the same away supporters section.  His energy in supporting United is commendable, but he does not represent our team well when he acts this way.

The game ended in a 1-1 tie, which seemed to be to be a fair reflection of the game. Not the three points I had hoped for, but I expected we would be able to collect those in Toronto the following week.

As I flew home the next day, the sky was clear, and we had a great view of Mount Hood and Three Sisters beyond from the right-hand windows

Mt. Hood and Three Sisters seen from Alaska Airlines flight 764

Indeed, the views continued over mountains below for ninety minutes before the sky finally clouded over               

An afternoon and evening on Mount Hood --Cooper Spur and Timberline Lodge

I visited Portland in late September 2012 to experience the vibrant atmosphere of Jeld-Wen Field while rooting for DC United against the Portland Timbers, but first I wanted to enjoy a fall hike on Mount Hood. I was determined to try a hike on the east side of the mountain, a side I have never hiked before, so we headed for the Cooper Spur trail.  We got a bit of a late start, so that we lacked the time and energy to get to the top, but the hike was still beautiful and the views splendid.

We began our climb from the Cloud Cap parking lot at about noon.

After climbing steadily, we got some great views of Mounts Adams, Rainier and St. Helens to the north.

We stopped for lunch after a couple of hours, enjoying a closer look at Mount Hood above and the Eliot Glacier right in front of us.

Mt Hood and Eliot Glacier

 We climbed toward Cooper Ridge following a series  of switchbacks, enjoying closer views of the glacier

Cooper Ridge, our destination

Eliot Glacier seen from Cooper Spur

Eliot Glacier seen from Cooper Spur

Finally, we ran into a spot on the trail that was completely blocked by frozen snow.  We were only a half hour from the top of the ridge,but we were tired, and the road to Cloud Cap had been badly rutted in spots, and we did not want to drive back in the dark.  So here is where we stopped our ascent.

Switchbacks back down Cooper Spur

On the way back down, we paused for this photo of Mount  Adams in the distance:

As we reached the lower part of the hike, we took advantage of a partial loop along the Tilly Jane Trail, passing by Polallie Canyon, carved out by a now-melted glacier.  The canyon culminates in this bowl:

And here is the view across the canyon, with slivers of ice showing through the bottom of the canyon wall, and small springs emerging from the middle of the  wall

Polallie Canyon

Some  of the trees near the edge of the canyon had been feeling the effects of the winds

We reached the bottom of the hike at the Tilly Jane historic area, but still had a mile of up and down hiking past the Tilly Jane parking area, then back to Cloud Cap campground. By the time  we hit our car it was after 6 PM, and the darkness was gathering as we carried our bags up to the Reed College ski cabin where we were going to spend the night.  The moon was almost full as we drove up to Timberline Lodge where we had an exceptional meal.  We shared a salmon bisque, the soup of the day, and an argula salad with watermelon and a locally farmed feta that had a smooth taste and consistency unlike any feta I had ever  had before.

Salmon bisque and arugula salad at Cascade Dining Room, Timberline Lodge

For our main course, we had a salmon poached in a "verjus" served with fennel and other vegetables and fregola sarda a large couscous, and intensely flavored lamb T-bones accompanied by nice mashed potatoes and  amazingly flavorful cherry tomatoes.

I could not resist checking out the dessert menu, and we chose the lemon posset, served with a bittersweet chocolate ganache, a cranberry compote, and an orange-thyme  flavored, thin crisp.  Each element was delicious, and the combination made it a fitting end to an excellent meal!

A suggestion for friends approaching the Social Security "full benefit" age of 66

The following is a guest post from my old friend and colleague TDU National Organizer Ken Paff, based on his own experience and his calculations about how to maximize retirement benefits. Ken is one of the most amazing and dedicated advocates I know, having dedicated the greater part of his life, and almost the entirety of his working life, to the Teamster reform movement, which I was privileged to serve as the main out-house counsel for about fifteen years. I have added only a hyperlink to his text.

My Birthday Tip for Those Who Can See Age 66 in the Headlights

by Ken Paff

As the hair has salted, I’ve dabbled and even waded into the welfare state. 

Welfare state, you say?  Is that still around? 

It is. Not as robust as way back when I could live quite nicely on a teaching assistant fellowship. But it’s there, at least for the gray set. 

First thing I learned: the welfare state works best for the middle class.  How perverse that I needed computer-smarts, a well-studied partner, seven pounds of paper and even a professional “health care broker” to guide myself into Medicare. 

Speaking of Medicare, I received birthday greetings from them this morning. I clicked “delete.”  It was probably a reminder to eat more fiber.

Today is my 66^th birthday, otherwise known as the onset of Full Benefits in the jewel of the entitlement crown: Social Security.

Two days ago, I signed the papers. But not in the way I expected, and that development is what I’m here to explain.

I should mention that Social Security is better than you think, oh fellow cynic. What else do we have with a steeply progressive payout?  Low income folks get more back for what they paid in and thus greater income replacement, than those in the uptown brackets.

The Choice and How to Make it

At age 66, you can collect Full Benefits and still work. (Age 66 is a temporary plateau; in 2020 it will start creeping up and reach 67 by about 2027. Thank Reagan.) 

But Full Benefits is relative. You can choose Delayed Benefits, and your benefit level will grow by 8% a year till age 70, for a 32% boost over Full Benefits (The 8% is not compounded, hence only 32%.)

With Martha’s approval, I opted for the Full Benefits cash now, after calculating the advantage of taking the money and investing it.  I have other friends, including one who is freshly 66, who have opted to delay. They are probably planning to show off their fatter checks after they reach 70.

But then I learned that I could do both at once. The SSA doesn’t exactly hide this nifty option, but I had to go deep into the bowels of their website to find mention. 

In talking to friends, I find folks who could use this who are in dark. So I’m here to spread the news.

The punch line:  You can opt right at 66 to collect benefits based on your spouse’s social security record (or, as in my case, ex-spouse’s, if you were married 10+ years), and let your own account build up at 8% a year (SSA calls it 2/3 of 1% per month), and then switch later to your bulked-up benefit. 

Starting this month, social security will slip ½ of benefits into my bank account each month. Not ½ of my earned benefits, but ½ of based on that spousal account, which is a similar amount for most folks. Only in musicals do the rich and poor get married.

 The ½ is because spousal benefits are ½ of earned benefits.

And, at a later date – anytime I choose, but at least by age 70 – I will switch to benefits based on my highest 35 years average earnings, which will be 132% x  my Full Benefit + COL increases, if I wait till age 70.

Further, if you are currently married, you can both do this – eat half the cake baked by your spouse, while also letting your own cake rise. I think this double-dip effect works best if you have similar ages, but it works at least in part for the May-Decembers also.

The poor usually can’t afford to delay benefits to bulk up, while collecting ½ now. The welfare state indeed works best for the middle class. But do take advantage of it, while it’s still there.