Sue Llewellyn’s word a week challenge is featuring the word ‘boat’. Check out some other some other links over at A Word in Your Ear.
Word a Week Challenge – Boat
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Category Archives: About Me
Bike Culture in T.O.
…. wish we could be more like the Netherlands
Today city council will be discussing the future of the Bixi Bike Share program here in Toronto. It’s managing to cover it’s daily operating costs but can’t manage to pay back the loan. One of the problems here in Toronto is that the program isn’t big enough for a city of this size. We actually need to put more money into it to make it work properly.
My husband came across a great video from the Netherlands…..such a different bike culture. I wish we could be more like the Dutch but I can hear the arguments now….. “we’re too big, winters are too long, why should we subsidize bikes, bikes ’cause congestion'”, etc., etc… Our mayor actually believes that ‘bikes are a pain in the @$$’ and that there is a war against the car. Here’s a video of him when he was a councillor ranting against bike lanes.
My husband and I have used the Bixi bikes in Montreal, where the winters are usually colder and longer than here in Toronto. It’s a great system but I’m always concerned when I see people riding the Bixi bikes where I live in Toronto because there are no stations close by. I wonder if people realize that they’ll be paying more when they don’t return the bikes in the allotted time.
My son lives in the Netherlands and he rides his bike everywhere. As a tourist there’s a bit of a learning curve, especially in the bigger cities, when you’re walking and you have to cross a street. There are lanes for cars, bikes and pedestrians and sometimes special traffic lights for each lane but it works. One of the bonuses is that the citizens in the Netherlands are much healthier than North Americans. Here’s a great video from the Netherlands called King of the World.
Have a great day! Till tomorrow.
Walking, Waves, Water Foul and Wildflowers
…..I got up early enough to join my husband and Frances for our daily 5k walk
As you can see I’m not at the cottage. I decided to go see my doctor yesterday (yes, he was working on Canada Day) and get the results from my blood work. I’m happy to report that all the major things were in the good range (cholesterol, sugar levels, etc.). So why am I not on my way to cottage today, you may ask?
Last night my friend, D, called my from Christian Island and told me that she and her husband were coming home today and going back next weekend. I decided that there was no big hurry to get up to the cottage, seeing that I would be mostly alone, so instead I’m going into school today to clean up my library/art office. I was going to go in next week but I think I’m going to be too busy getting ready for our trip to Ireland.
After a quick cup of coffee, the three of us headed out on our walk. I almost always take my camera with me and today was no exception. I love the macro function on the camera and it came in handy today as I got down nice and close to the tiny wildflowers that we pass on our walk. Part of my walk turned in a run today because every time I stopped to take a picture I had to run to catch up to K and Frances.
The morning started out a bit overcast and there was a slight wind. If you saw the waves on the lake you might have thought there were gail force winds but not so. A few metres inland the pond was as still as ice.
This last shot is my favourite. As I zoomed into the these mini thistles I didn’t notice the blur of activity that was taking place on the stems of these plants.
I’d better get to school before the morning completely disappears. Till later!
Happy Canada Day!
…..what am I doing today?
I’ll probably start my day with a long walk with my husband and our dog. On Sunday we walked for 5.1k, and the day before 4.9 k. Here are a few photos from Saturday’s hike through Col. Sam Smith Park.
I’m not sure what else the day holds for me. I had thought of driving to the cottage but I might wait until Tuesday when I can stop and pick up a few groceries on the way. Everything is pretty much closed today. Anyway it’s one in the morning and if I want to get up early for that walk I’d better be off to bed. Till later. Good Night!
It’s morning now and my post didn’t publish. Don’t know why. This is another problem that I frequently encounter. I’ll try again. By the way I think my husband went for the walk without me. Sigh!!!!!
12 Likes and Only 3 Views?…
….how is that even possible?
Today I posted an article about Weber’s in Orillia and almost immediately I started receiving notifications of ‘likes’ for the piece. When I checked my stats, however, the numbers didn’t make sense. The box that displayed which post was read and the number of views for each post showed that ‘Weber’s’ only had three views but received twelve ‘likes’. Can anyone explain to me how that happens?
Weber’s: A Cottager’s Delight
…..or is it?
On this Canada Day weekend many cottagers who are heading north to Orillia and beyond will be making a pit stop at Weber’s, an Ontario landmark. All the years that I’ve been going to my cottage on Georgian Bay I’ve never been to Weber’s, mostly because it’s not on the way for me.
Last weekend I passed Weber’s on the way to a friends place and on the way home I decided I needed to stop at Weber’s, just to say that I’ve been there and experienced one of their ‘legendary’ burgers. 
Weber’s is a family run business that Paul Weber started in 1963. The burger hut became so popular that the Ministry of Transportation put up barriers between the south and north bound lanes on Highway 11 to keep people from crossing the busy highway. It was becoming a serious safety hazard. The barrier, unfortunately, seriously affected Weber’s business so they purchased a section of bridge from the CN Tower in Toronto and were given permission to erect it over the highway in 1983. To this day this is the only privately owned bridge, anywhere in Ontario, that spans a provincial highway. 
Travellers now can park on either side of the highway and have easy and safe access to Weber’s. Over the years the business has been passed on to Paul Weber Jr. and many new additions have been made to the property. There are two separate entrances and two separate grilling stations to reduce the line-ups and picnic tables have been set up in well kept park like settings. There is also a diner style car on the property if you want to eat indoors. 
I thought the line-ups would a problem for me but they have a very efficient system that gets you in and out very quickly. The burgers were good but I didn’t think they were any better than a Harvey’s burger or Southside burger. In fact these places have more options when it comes to toppings and choice of buns.
The organization has become so large that refrigerated box cars are on the property to store the meat and over 400 stores across Canada now sell Weber burgers. The weekend I went was before the long weekend in July, when the really busy summer traffic begins. I can only imagine that the line-ups will be considerably longer and the wait times as well. Would I stop there again? Maybe but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way for a Weber’s burger. I know there are people out there that would disagree with me but a least I can say that I’ve been there, done that.
For more information about the history of Weber’s you can check out this link.
Cheers!
The iPad or my Laptop?
…… which do I take with me on my trip?
Some of you may have noticed that there were a few days where I didn’t post anything. One reason for this was that I misplaced my power cord for the laptop. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to practise on the iPad. Unfortunately I experienced a few glitches.
One of the difficulties that I had occurred when I tried to tried to put photos into my post. I had a lot of photos to choose from but for some reason many of the photos had changed when they went through the ‘cloud’. Multitudes of them only showed an enlarged area of concrete or the corner of a building. I really didn’t know what I was looking at.
The other problem that occurred was that the photos that appeared to be okay just wouldn’t let me place them where I wanted them or they changed sizes on me. Sometimes the text feature would freeze and I couldn’t type anything. Are these problems related to WordPress. Heaven forbid!
I’m not sure that I want to use the iPad as my main photographic device but I don’t know how to get my photos from my camera onto the iPad without putting them into my laptop first. I really don’t want to take both my laptop and the iPad. I think I may be able to use the camera’s cable to upload photos but I haven’t tried that yet.
Does anyone have experience with an iPad? Have you ever had any of these problems? I would really appreciate some input from my followers. I’ll keep playing with it. It would certainly weigh less than my laptop and be much easier to carry on the plane. If all else fails I can try making an appointment at the Genius Bar at Apple.
So that’s why I hadn’t written in a few days. I tried but to no avail. The last few days have been hectic and when I’d get home in the evenings, I was exhausted. I actually started this post last night but fell asleep near the beginning of it. I can finally say “SCHOOL’S OUT“.
In Honour of Pride Week
…..a great video that Dorothy from Scotland shared with me this week
Dorothy from Jings and Things sent me an email this week with the link to this video. It looks like Scotland, in the very near future, will be joining the ever growing number of countries in the world that recognizes same sex marriages. Earlier this week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that legally married same-sex couples should get the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples and cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California. We can only hope that the remaining 37 states will give same sex couples the same rights.
A few months ago I shared with you the video of New Zealand’s parliament passing the bill that recognizes same sex marriages and how the visitor’s gallery erupted spontaneously into song.
The Month of June in Photos
Saturday, June 1st – Fun Fair
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- Our principal taunting the boys and girls
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- Professional griller
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- Inflatable slide
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- What a good sport!
Saturday, June 8th – High School Reunion
Sunday, June 9th – Girls on the Run 5k
Wed, June 12th – West Conference Girls’ Soccer Finals
Thursday, June 13th – Forest of Reading Celebration
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- Finished accordion journals
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- …. Luke’s journal
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- Drama workshop
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- Lunch…..pizza
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- Thanks for being expert readers
Saturday, June 15th – Opening the Cottage
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- View of the island from the dock
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- Enjoying first breakfast at the cottage
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- Taking a break after opening the cottage
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- View of the cottage from the lane
Wednesday, June 19th – Spring Concert
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- Folk Dancing
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- Line Dancing
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- Shaking those hips
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- Modern Dance based on a story that students chose to tell through movement
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- Grade 1/2 choir
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- ‘Modern Ruins’ dance
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- The Junior Choir
The report cards were printed, proofread, reprinted, copied, signed and sent home today. The grade 5s had their farewell ceremony yesterday and today were away for their fun activity day. Today the rest of the school had their Fun Day and a colleague and I spent the morning clearing out the computer lab so that construction crews can come during the summer to remove the wall and enlarge the library.
I’ve returned 90% of all the artwork that students produced in my art classes and students have returned most of the books that they took out of the library. I’ve started removing the books from the shelves that will be moved during construction. Only one more day with the children and then the staff party, followed by one more day of meetings and closing down our classrooms for the summer.
…….busy,busy and only a few things left on my to do list. Phew it’s almost over and then I can start planning for our trip to Ireland.
A Word a Week Challenge: Vibrant
I’ve always loved vibrant colours and when I see them on my walks I eagerly pull out my little camera and shoot away. I was delighted when I found out that Sue’s word of the week is ‘vibrant’.
To check out more vibrant photography go to http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/a-word-a-week-challenge-vibrant/
Mama Cormier 