Mimico creek

Mimico creek runs through a park behind our house and empties into Lake Ontario. We had heavy rains yesterday (badly needed here) so the water was deep and running very fast this morning when I took the dog for her walk.

A lot of place names around here come from the language spoken by the Mississauga peoples. "Mimico" apparently means "abundant with wild pigeons". Our neighbourhood within Toronto is called "Etobicoke" which means "place where the alders grow".

There are some great place names in Canada derived from native words. Canadian children's poet Dennis Lee wrote a poem that includes some of them in its refrain (with European names mixed-in too):
"Abitibi, Athabasca, Bona vista, Malaspina, Bella bella,
Bella Coola, Batchawana, Baie Comeau!"

Try saying it a few times as fast as you can...!