Share Your World – January 23, 2017

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Mama Cormier

Do you prefer juice or fruit?

I’m definitely a fruit person. I stopped drinking juice a long time ago when I found out how much sugar is added to juice and how much of the fibre is removed. Eating one piece of fruit is much more satisfying than drinking a glass of juice (equivalent to 2 or 3 pieces of fruit).

Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?

I grew up mostly in a large city. For a period of 4 years I lived in a smaller town and I have fond memories of playing in the neighbourhood and riding my bike. When we moved back to the big city I lived directly across from the skating rink, the park, my school, the tennis courts and the outdoor swimming pool. I loved it. There was always something to do.

If you were to paint a picture of your childhood, what colors would you use?

I would use bright colours like blue, red, pink and green.

Ways to Relax List: Make a list of what relaxes you and helps you feel calm.

• reading a book

• knitting

• painting and drawing

• having tea with friends

• enjoying a cup of coffee after dinner with my husband

• doing yoga

• going for long walks with my husband

• going out for dinner

• lying on the beach at the cottage

• having a pedicure

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that my father is adjusting to living on his own again and finding a new purpose at the retirement home where he resides. I spent time with my family this weekend and was introduced to our daughter’s new dog. She’s a beautiful French bulldog. A and J named her Olive. Winnie wasn’t too sure about this new addition in her aunts’ home but I’m sure both baby and puppy will adjust and get used to each other in time.

I’m looking forward to finishing my report card comments this week and doing some more art assignments from Carla Sonheim’s 365: A Year Long Class.

Share Your World – Jan. 16, 2017 (Getting Back to Normal)

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Mama Cormier

….a slightly different format this week for Cee’s Share Your World

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?

I have sliding mirror doors on my closet and I tend to keep them closed.
Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?

Absolutely! I figured I paid for them so I might as well take them home. I like them when I go away for short trips where they might not supply those things.
What is your usual bedtime?

I try to go to bed by 11:30 but often I’m up till after midnight. Not a good thing when I have school the next day and I have to get up at 6:30.
Do you like to use post-it notes?

Not really. I find they often don’t stick well enough to whatever you’re sending and they often get lost.
When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?

I have a second cousin in Germany who doesn’t have a computer so recently I wrote her a letter and sent her photos of the wedding from the summer. I would probably write her more often if she had a computer.
Any phobias?

This may sound strange but I’m afraid of bears. I’ve never had a confrontation with one but many years ago I went camping with my husband and I swore I heard a bear sniffing around outside of our tent. I was terrified. It was probably just a racoon.
How tall are you?

I am 5′ 5″ or 165 cm tall. When I was growing up I was considered average height but now I have to buy petite length pants or take them up at least three inches.

As you can see I am the shortest of the three sisters.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week we had a death in the family. My father’s wife of 22 years passed away quite suddenly. She had been ill for awhile but we didn’t know how ill she was until last Christmas when she stopped eating and drinking and didn’t get out of bed. On Jan. 9th, just a few hours after being diagnosed by the doctors at the hospital and taken off all life support she died. We thought it would take weeks and my father was preparing to go to the hospital every day until it happened. In many ways it was a blessing in disguise.

On Friday we had the funeral and I offered to speak on behalf of my father. I didn’t realize how difficult that was going to be until I started walking up to the podium. Luckily I managed to get through my speech. At the beginning and at the end I had to take deep breaths but the sobs and tears came anyway. Once I got going I was fine and the my family appreciated the effort.

The good news is that my father is doing very well and is already planning a trip to Germany to see his brother one more time and in the spring he is flying to Calgary to visit my sister. He has resumed playing cards with his friends from across the street and he is making new friends in the retirement home. For this I am grateful.

This week I returned to work and I’m looking forward to seeing my family on Saturday. My youngest daughter and her husband and baby are coming into town and we’re having lunch at my oldest daughter’s place. My husband is feeling much better and he’ll be joining us as well.

Other than that I have to work on my report cards, which I’m not looking forward to but they will be the last term 1 reports I will ever have to write. Hooray!

A Week of Art, Knitting and Play

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Mama Cormier

….starting with a visit and an open house on New Year’s Day

What a great way to bring in the New Year. Visiting a long time friend and catching up over wine and cheese and then going to a New Year’s open house at another friend’s house directly across the street from where we live. More wine and nibbles and great conversation, catching up with the news in the neighbourhood. Thank goodness I was able to walk to both venues and didn’t have to worry about driving.

On Sunday, I started participating in a new year-long on-line art class with Carla Sonheim. The interesting thing about this class is that Carla posts a new video every day for 365 days. I was hesitant to sign up for another class but I knew I would miss it if I didn’t. So far I’m not disappointed. The videos can be short mini lessons on techniques, supplies, quotes from celebrities and interviews from other artists. So far we’ve had a lesson on making your own cloud stencil, a quote from Alan Alda, an interview from Carla’s nephew who is a clown, a photography assignment, a blind contour assignment, a glue resist lesson and a lesson on quinacridone paints. I haven’t even checked out todays class.

It’s very interesting how some of the other 400 plus students interpret each video. Even when there isn’t an assignment many of them, including myself, play with the concepts from the videos and create a piece of art. My son sent me a small journal and I’ve been painting and drawing in it every day since the class started. It won’t be long before this one is filled and I’ll start on the other one another friend from school gave me.

I’ve also been knitting on my knitting looms. For my daughter’s birthday I knit her a large infinity scarf to match the hat we gave her for Christmas and I knit my granddaughter a hat and a small neck warmer. On Thursday I drove to Hamilton and brought my looms with me. While Winnie was sleeping I taught my daughter how to use the looms and left her one to make another hat. I even knit Winnie a little pot holder for her little kitchen.

When Winnie woke from her nap we played together while her mom and dad prepared lunch for us. She’s at the age where she likes to play peek-a-boo but she runs to hide behind a table or chair and then peeks out to see if I’m watching. When she wasn’t running she did sit with me for a minute and I read part of a book. After lunch we dressed up warmly and went for a walk over to James St. N. to look for fabric for a quilt that G wants to make and then to another store where she had a gift certificate from her birthday that she wanted to spend.

On Saturday I finally took down our Christmas tree and vacuumed up all the needles. I also put together the organizing unit that J gave me for Christmas and I’ve already filled it with my art supplies. I have one more shelving unit to assemble for my pens. Already my drawing table is much neater and ready for more art projects.

Today I’m hoping to get to the ROM to see the Chihuly exhibit. It’s the last day so I may not be able to get in but it’s worth a try. I still have a lot to do around the house and even though I had two weeks off it seems I never get to the mundane things like cleaning my bedroom. Having said that though, I did have a lot of fun and spent time with family and friends.

Cheers!

Share Your World 2017 – January 2, 2017

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks Cee for continuing to host Share Your World

Would you prefer to receive a unicycle, bicycle, tricycle or motorcycle?

I already own a bike and a unicycle is impractical. I think owning a Vespa could be fun.

photo courtesy of : Just Bikes. in

What is one thing you’d like to accomplish this year?

One thing I’d like to do this year is continue to lose weight and get healthy before I retire in June.

What was one of the highlights of 2016 for you?

There were two highlights for me and they were the weddings of two of my children.

Would you prefer to fly a kite or fly in a hot air balloon?

I’ve flown kites and I like the sensation of getting your kite airborne but I’m curious about hot air balloons. The problem is I have a fear of heights and I’m a bit of a nervous Nelly.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for time spent with my family and being able to talk to our son on the phone. This week I’m looking forward to some quiet down time. I’m hoping to do some art, read a book and visit my granddaughter.

The Best of 2016

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Mama Cormier

…..despite the terrible events that took place in 2016 on a personal level it was a wonderful year

Most people would agree that 2016 had to be a terrible year for natural disasters, untimely deaths of beloved celebrities, horrendous terrorist attacks around the world, the Syrian refugee crisis, Brexit and a nasty election campaign in the U.S.

Even on a personal note, 2016 hasn’t been all sunshine and roses but there were many memorable and special moments.

In January our son ended up staying with us for an extra week before heading back to London, England. The circumstances of his extended stay aren’t exactly positive but we did have him with us and for me that was special. By the way, at the end of December of last year, he slipped on the ice and broke his upper arm and he required surgery. The surgery was successful and he was released from the hospital on January 1st.

In February my friend M celebrated her 64th birthday and my niece, S, her 26th.

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The biggest event in February was our daughter’s wedding to her first love and partner of 10 years. They met on Feb. 10th so they decided on their 10th anniversary they would make it official and tie the knot. What a special day!

In March while we experienced snow, our future daughter-in-law was sitting in an outdoor caffe in Assisi planning her wedding.

In May we celebrated Mother’s Day with the family in the backyard (a little chilly) and at school we had our Forest of Reading celebration, Jump Rope for Heart and our annual Fun Fair. Winnie also had her first swimming lesson and her Daddy started Go Cart racing. Also A and J and their brother-in-law, G, ran the Sporting Life 10k.

In June two of my colleagues retired from teaching, my very good friend, A, celebrated her 75th birthday and our son and his love were married in London at City Hall.

Our school choir also sang at a Blue Jays game and we put on our annual outdoor extravaganza at school.

July was the highlight month of the year for our family. We took a trip of a lifetime. My sister and her family from Calgary and my two daughters and their families and my husband and I travelled to Italy to celebrate the union of our son, B, and his beautiful Iranian bride, Az. We travelled for the first 11 days visiting places like Venice, Florence, Bologna and Lucca and then we all met in Assisi where the actual wedding took place. After three days in Assisi we made one more stop in Rome before flying back home.

In August I was able to open up the cottage and spent about 5 weeks there off and on. My husband and I celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary and I had another birthday.

September brought a new school year and my last first day of school. My husband had been coaching a small group of boys from our extended family to get them ready for this year’s cross country team and they were all entered into the Railpath Community Run. In fact there were 11 of us from the family that ran that day. I was happy to do 5k without stopping in 45 minutes. At least I wasn’t the slowest person on the course. The boys did really well and some of them walked away with some prizes.

October was another busy month with a lot of milestone birthdays. My husband turned 65, my dad 90, my son-in-law 40 and Winnie celebrated her 1st birthday. I also organized and ran my last book fair school. We raised the largest sum of money ever. I now I have the fun job of buying books and supplies for the library and classrooms.

As you can see I am the shortest of the three sisters.

In November my oldest daughter, A, celebrated her 37th birthday. Where has the time gone? My younger daughter, Winnie and I attended the Royal Winter Fair and I, along with five other teachers took 59 students on a three day overnight winter camp in the Kawarthas.

In December my Dad moved from his apartment to the retirement home across the road. We held our annual craft night at school, held a Christmas concert and had our staff party at a local restaurant. Christmas was a three day affair; one day in Hamilton, another in Toronto and the third in Oshawa. On the 30th of the month we celebrated the birthdays of our twins who are now 35. As my principal and friend M would say ‘Carol you’re old!’

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So as you can see there were lots of bright moments in 2016 for me and the Cormier family. Wishing you all a bright, happy, healthy and prosperous 2017.

Cheers!

A Busy Week

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….a lot of driving, twice to Oshawa and twice to Hamilton

Since Christmas Eve we have been constantly on the go. This year we celebrated Christmas Eve in Hamilton and on Christmas Day we celebrated some more here at home. No turkey this year, another first.

On the 27th I drove to Oshawa to bring my Dad his Christmas presents from my family. In the move a few weeks earlier he lost the remote control for his radio/CD player and he had to unplug the machine every time he wanted to turn it off or change the CD. Our daughters, A & J picked up a new remote control from a store downtown close to where they work. Dad was so happy to finally be able to play his music properly.

Two days later we drove out to Oshawa again but this time the whole family went to celebrate with Dad. There were 11 of us and because his new apartment is so small we all met in the library of the retirement home. After opening presents we headed out to the restaurant to enjoy a meal together. Today my sister sent me a few more photos that I can share with you.

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Yesterday we were back in Hamilton to celebrate the birthdays of our twins. Our son, unfortunately, is not celebrating here in Canada but is with his new family in Iran. From his photos and messages it sounds like he’s having a great time. Our daughter opened her house for yet another celebration in less than a week. Our good friends A and W, who were unable to join us this year on Christmas Eve, made the trek to Hamilton as well. It was a lovely time with family and friends. Very low key and relaxed and of course the baby stole the spotlight again.

Good-bye 2016

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….December 31, 2016

On my morning walk with Frances I took a few shots of the neighbourhood. The grey morning reminded me of the sadness that the world experienced this year. I know a lot of people are happy to see the last of 2016.

The longer we walked I noticed that the sun was trying to shine through the clouds. I saw this as a glimmer of hope that 2017 will have it’s bright moments. From a personal point of view 2016 has been a wonderful year for our family with some ups and downs but mostly ups. I will be sharing the positive memories of 2016 later today.

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The Perfect Gift

Posted on December 29, 2016 by Mama Cormier

…..besides being with family over tshe holidays

I know that in a previous post I declared that presents weren’t important to me and that family was everything. Despite that sincere sentiment I did have some very thoughtful and welcome gifts given to me this year.

Anything to do with art is always most appreciated. This Christmas my secret Santa gifted me a five drawer rolling organizer and a desktop marker organizer. Hopefully this will help me get my supplies neatly organized and free up my work table so that I can actually create some art. She also gave me a new set of Pigma pens and artist’s hand soap. My son in London sent me paper and a beautiful set of pencil crayons.

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Last year my husband gave me a very nice camera, a Panasonic Lumix, DMC-GF7 and for my birthday he gave me a macro lens to go with it. Unfortunately the camera has so many features that I frequently get lost trying to use it. My brother-in-law who is very proficient with all types of cameras, confirmed that I had a very fine camera. When he was here in October he gave me a quick lesson on how to use some of the features. As soon as he left the camera malfunctioned. No one seemed to know what was wrong with the camera. When my brother-in-law returned in November he brought me one of his old zoom lenses that he no longer uses and that fit my camera. The problem with the camera, however, had not been resolved at that point so we couldn’t try it out.

Eventually we found someone who knew how to solve the problem. It turned out to be a quick fix. Now I have a working camera with two amazing lenses and I still don’t know how to use them. Voila….the perfect present arrived. My husband enrolled me in two camera classes. The first class takes place in January and I will learn all about the ins and outs of my camera and the second class in February will teach me how to get the most out of my camera and how to use the camera in some creative ways. I can’t wait.

Since my husband and I are foodies the other gifts that are always most appreciated are items of food. This year I received homemade tomato sauce, chill sauce, relishes, jams and a variety of condiments and spices. Of course chocolates are always present in our stockings and under the tree. I love dark chocolate and anything filled with marzipan. p1020167

The last gift that was very special was a beautiful Pandora leather bracelet with a silver charm with our granddaughter’s initial. This was also from my husband.

As nice as all these things were I still find time with my loved ones the most precious gift of all. Today we travelled as a family to visit my father in Oshawa. Eleven of us went to his new apartment in the retirement home. His wife is very ill at the moment so he showed off his new place quickly and then gave us a tour of the facility. Everything is very new and beautifully decorated for the holidays. We ended up visiting in the library on the main floor. We were the only ones in there. It was the perfect spot where our granddaughter could run around, look at the fish tank and play with the soft decorations and remote controls. For the adults there were comfy chairs and a fire place where we could visit and talk. After opening a few gifts we headed over to the restaurant where we enjoyed a family meal together.

After describing all the fantastic gifts I received this Christmas I’d have to say that having my granddaughter wiggle out of her mother’s arms to run over and hug me today was my most ‘perfect’ gift.

Did you have a perfect gift or a special moment to share this holiday season?

More Collage Art

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….from a different grade 3 class

I love how unique each piece is. This class started this assignment when I was away. The concept of creating a cityscape of buildings clearly wasn’t on the radar for some of these students but I can’t fault them when I wasn’t there to give them the instructions. Some of them also created more of a fantasy land with flying turtles and smiling buildings but I love that too.

My Favourites

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….decorations that is

Over the years I have collected hundreds of Christmas ornaments and decorations. Some were gifted to me, many were handmade by my friends, my students, my children and by me. Every year I usually purchase one special ornament that catches my eye.

As my children grew up, moved out and started their own Christmas traditions I gave them some of my ornaments that had special meanings for them. I still have more decorations than I can possibly put on the tree, especially now as I buy smaller trees. This year I carefully chose ornaments that brought back wonderful memories.

Here are a few of my favourites: