WPC – Tour Guide of Toronto

….thanks to Word Press  for a theme close to my heart

People always ask me if I’ll move away from Toronto when I retire. I can’t imagine living anywhere else right now. I live in the southwestern area of Toronto more commonly known as New Toronto or South Etobicoke. I love being 15 minutes from downtown (depending on the time of day) and being able to take advantage of all the city has to offer. On the other hand, I feel blessed to live where I do. A century ago people used to travel to this neighbourhood from downtown because they had cottages here on the lake. A few of those old structures still stand today but they are quickly being eaten up by renovators who appreciate the value of the land.

My father recently moved back here after living in Oshawa for 20 years. He feels like he’s come back home. Nothing beats the view of the city skyline that I see everyday at the bottom of the street where I’ve lived for 39 years.

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I love the nature trails and beautiful parks that you can find all over the city. The big one in my neighbourhood has wonderful hiking and biking paths that wind through Colonel Samuel Smith Park and the Humber College grounds. Part of it is a naturalized area with a pond in the middle and Lake Ontario at the south end. We have more wildlife here than we do at my cottage. It’s not unusual to see coyotes, foxes, beavers, turtles, o’possums, racoons, skunks and the occasional deer. We have birds and waterfowl galore. In the summer many people come to the park to take advantage of the beaches that line the eastern side of the extension to get relief from the heat or to paddle or kite surf.

If you’re not into nature the city offers the best in museums, art galleries, aquariums, recreational sports and the best restaurants.

 

Share Your World – February 5, 2018

….thanks Cee for bringing us Share Your World every week

What would be your ideal fantasy way to spend Monday?

In an ideal world I would get up and go for a brisk walk for an hour, take a few photos along the way, come home to a nice hot cup of coffee and a breakfast of bacon and eggs and then settle in with a good book for an hour or so. After that I’d putter in my art studio and work on some sketches or tackle a paint project. This could take an hour or several hours. Later in the afternoon I might go for another walk or get in the car and browse at a few stores. My husband would cook a magnificent dinner (which he does most nights) and settle in for some TV watching afterwards. If there’s nothing on TV I’d probably phone some friends and have a good gab and make plans to get together during the week.

The reality is that the weather has been so cold that my walks have suffered lately. I did finish reading a book yesterday and after dinner I talked to a friend and we made plans to get together on Friday.

What one person that you are out of contact with would you like to say thank you to?

I need to write to my friend Mike from university. Every year we exchange Christmas cards (well he sends me one and I sent one this past Christmas) and when he was in town he used to call us from the airport on his way back home. This year Mike surprised us with a poster that he sent through the mail. It wasn’t just any old random poster; it was one that my husband had designed and silk screened when we were at university together. It was in pretty good shape and we had never saved a copy for ourselves. At the time we all belonged to a theatre group called Curtain Call and every year we wrote and produced a play that we performed for the student body. Thank you Mike for thinking of us and sending this wonderful poster. I’m thinking for having it framed or mounted.

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List your favorite toys or games as a kid?

Games

  1. Mensch Aegere Dich Nicht (a German board game similar to Sorry)
  2. Monopoly
  3. Chinese Checkers
  4. Snakes and Ladders
  5. Dominoes
  6. Cards
  7. Hide n’ Seek
  8. Red Rover

Dolls – a baby doll that you could feed and she would wet herself – I named her Dorothy-my younger sister was more into Barbie dolls

Slinky

Etch A Sketch

Yoyo

Easy Bake Oven – I don’t think I owned one but I had friends who did

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

Last week I helped my neighbour by feeding her cat everyday while she was in the hospital and then on Saturday I picked her up and brought her home. Later that day I also went with my daughter to visit another good friend who’s in a rehab hospital. We sat with his and watched a movie, Mama Mia. He loved it and said so several times. It was a joy to see him  so content and I remarked that he was just a romantic at heart. He turned to me and said, “Yes, I really am.”

Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge – February 2, 2018

….thanks Cee for hosting the Which Way Photo Challenge

It’s Groundhog Day. Which way did Wiarton Willie from Ontario go? Back in his hole. Six more weeks of Winter for us. Ugh!!!!!!!!

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Not surprising. It’s freezing outside and the forecast calls for more snow this weekend.

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WPC – Beloved

…..how would you interpret beloved?

On our 42nd wedding anniversary.

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Sisters-in-law

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Mother and Daughter

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Newly Weds

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More Newly Weds

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Fathers and Daughters

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Puppy Love

365 Days of Art – Random Pig

….day 30

Yesterday’s prompt from Carla Sonheim was ‘random pig’. I’ve wanted to paint a pig for awhile now so I searched the internet for pig images. I made two drawings a Micron pen. In the first one the eyes were too far apart and the face wasn’t long enough. I’m much happier with my second attempt. I’m that much closer to using paint for my next pig project.

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Share Your World – January 29, 2018

….thanks to Cee for posting more interesting questions on Share Your World

If you had an unlimited shopping spree at only one store, which one would you choose? Why?

I would choose a store where I could buy a variety of items, like clothing, household items, accessories, toys, and make-up. Even though I’d have unlimited amounts of money (I’m assuming that’s what an unlimited shopping spree means) I still think of Marshall’s first. Maybe I should be adventurous and say Nordstrom’s.

What is the worst thing you ate recently?

I tend to avoid foods that I don’t like and there aren’t too many of those. I would have to choose something that was badly prepared or didn’t meet my expectations. The only thing I can think of is the oatmeal my father made and he wanted me to try it because he had some left over. Is it possible for something to be too salty and too sweet at the same time? Well it was and I politely declined to eat the rest. My Dad doesn’t read this blog so I’m not too worried that he’ll be offended.

Name five things you like watching…

  1. Watching my granddaughter playing
  2. A game of professional soccer, rugby or lacrosse
  3. The Olympic Games, summer and winter
  4. Live theatre
  5. On TV – Coronation Street, The View, Young Sheldon, Survivor, The Crown and most British detective stories

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

This week I managed two visits to Hamilton to visit my daughter and granddaughter and my oldest daughter came over with her Frenchie, Olive on Sunday. Time with my family always makes me smile.

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Photo credit goes to my daughter-in-law who took this photo back in November.

On Sunday Olive and Frances had a great time playing together and we were able to go for a nice long walk.

I’m also happy that I finally got my art studio in working order last week. I put together the last piece of furniture and started filling up the drawers. Even though I’ve been doing art almost every day since the beginning of the month, I can now do it in a neater and more organized space. fullsizeoutput_6c5b

In conclusion I need to thank my husband for taking me on one of his business trips this week. It was only up to Collingwood but I had an opportunity to take some photographs of the town and together we enjoyed a wonderful meal before heading home. We had such a nice time that we’re thinking of doing this once a week or at least twice a month. Any suggestions where we should go next? No more than two hours from Toronto, please.

Cheers!

365 Days of Art – Day 29

….making up for my non-painting days

Carla Sonheim’s post the other day had us use the scraping method to make a random blob shape onto watercolour paper and then look for shapes or designs to bring out with marker. This was a lot of fun.

For some reason I saw birds and cats. I hate drawing cats, only because I don’t think I’m very good at it, so I did the two birds first. In the first blob I saw an eagle with a fish in his mouth and the second one was a random mythical bird with an angry look. Then I tackled the cat drawings. One is of a cat sleeping and the other is a cat from the back side.

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365 Days of Art – Days 27 and 28

….finishing with my renovation and painting beets

One of the things that I needed to do was finish putting together my set of drawers for all my art papers and art pads, palettes, plexiglass pieces, paper trimmers, assorted papers and magazines for collage and the 101 bits and pieces of stuff that I have collected over the years for my art. So one of my art days was taken up with assembling the drawers and organizing my materials.

Once that was done I was able to sit down and paint another pattern from Lisa Congdon’s class over at Creative Bug. This one is a pattern of beets. On the weekend I finally purchased a set of gouache paints. They’re a little more opaque than watercolours. These patterns aren’t as easy as Lisa makes them look. I definitely need more practice.

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Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge – January 27, 2018

….thanks to Cee for hosting the Which Way Photo Challenge

A flash from the past. That’s me coming down the stairs from our home in Toronto when I was three years old.

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…..and more recent shots taken last Wednesday

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