I've been captivated by woodblock prints for sometime and finally made my way to the ROM Friday night to see their exhibit Drama & Desire: Japanese Paintings from the Floating World. This is the last weekend the exceptional collection is on display. While the pieces are predominantly from the early period, before colour technologies blossomed, it is a great starting point to learn about the art and history of Edo.

Before there was Tokyo, there was Edo, a scintillating place for artists, actors and musicians to celebrate life, sex and nature, oooh, and clothing, beautiful clothing. While in Tokyo I'd once seen a portrait, a slice of Edo, of several women floating around in a boat, drinking sake in lavish kimonos, celebrating the arrival of cherry blossoms and the changing seasons while monkeys performed and musicians played. If only I could be transported back in time to enjoy this rich and poetic culture.

In 2000, I was living the good life in Australia, enjoying a routine which brought me into the water, almost daily, either to surf, sail or scuba dive. Getting into the water was fabulous but getting to the bottom was even better. This growing desire to see what lay beneath the surface pulled me into a small Brisbane bookshop one day. On display was an issue of National Geographic with a shipwreck on the cover, a female figurehead carved into the wooden bow of a ship within its yellow border. A whole new world was opening up to me and this was just the beginning. I hoped one day to see the ship up-close and wondered where in the world it was.

I was astonished to learn the ship lay close to home, in the dark green depths of Lake Ontario. Flipping through the glossy pages, photos and scans revealed amazing detail of TWO battleships, the Hamilton and the Scourge, upright on the lake bed, mostly intact and still waiting for action. Just after midnight on August 8, 1813 these two American naval ships, both which boasted successful assaults on York, now lost their final battle.

Up until Saturday Roger had been covering all the action at Wakestock and I was getting anxious to get over to the islands to see what was in store for the event's 10th anniversary blow-out. We learned the first day that the ferry is probably the worst way to get to Centre Island (water taxi was 10 bucks) but my friends and I waded through the lineup and got aboard a ferry within an hour.

Over at Centre Island things were heating up and getting messy. Kids were already passing out and Bud Light cans littered the grass but all eyes were on the ladies at the Miss Reef bikini contest. Roger got some awesome shots of the ladies shaking their moneymakers. When the drool contest was over, the winner was declared, then it was time for the crowd to shake it too. Roger and I worked our way through Wakestock catching most of the music and action too.

Read on for more highlights of our Wakestock Weekend MashUp.

This is part 6 in a series of profiles on places we visited during Doors Open Toronto in May.

It was a rainy day in the Beaches as I set out to find out more about solar energy at the Beach Solar Laundromat. Though I'd read a bit on the subject I'd never seen it in practice and this was the perfect opportunity. Alex Winch, the man from Mondial Energy, would be there to walk me through it.

I arrived in the middle of a tour as a huge group, bursting with enthusiasm, was asking Alex question after question. He showed them his real-time online stats for various commercial buildings throughout the city and offered up details on how he's made it all happen.

This is part 2 in a series of profiles on places we visited during this past weekend's Doors Open Toronto.

Down at the Distillery District the doors were thrown open to buildings few of us ever get to see inside. Within the dusty Scale Tank Loft (above & below) we checked out the tanks and scales used by the government to measure and ultimately tax the booze which flowed out of Gooderham & Worts until the 1990's.

On a recent night Jerrold, Sameer and I headed up to Woodbine racetrack for a night under the big top with Cirque Avaia. Happily forgoing candy apples for a nice drink, we strolled into the main tent to see what the Kantemirov Family - the Russian family dynasty who'd created the show - had in store for us. With horses billed as a big part of their act I could only imagine something like Medieval Times but I was hoping there was more to it than childish role-play.

The show opened on a somber note, with curious bohemian clowns in an underwater scene while sonic rain began to fall on our heads. As Cirque Avaia continued we were awed by the lavishness of it all, massive horse breeds danced around the ring while acrobats in lush costumes flung overhead. The loose theme seemed to be a journey through time and place lingering in medieval eras, but this was no Medieval Times, instead I felt like I'd come upon one of George Lucas' transient villages. I was both curious and a bit unsure.