…..Happy Easter everyone
New Flower (April 4, 2015) – Mini Daffodils
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Category Archives: Celebrations
Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge – Day 1
I was invited by Elizabeth from teandpaper to join the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge.” Elizabeth is a fellow Canadian who lives close by but never reveals exactly where.
I’ve decided to write a piece of prose based on some art that I’ve created this week. Hope you enjoy it.
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Spring Awakening
The last of the snow has vanished
But the wind reminds us that
another flurry or two is still possible
The earth is brown and hard
but the birds chirp each morning
singing of warmer days to come
Small green shoots push hard
to break through the frozen crust
to savour the sun’s light
and longer days
The Easter season is upon us
Children dream of the Easter bunny
and egg hunts and parades
while the elders flock to church
to observe the holiest weekend
of the year
Cloudy days and rain will become the norm
for awhile
and trees and the Earth’s carpet
will begin to green
The animal world comes alive
and offspring will soon be abundant
The cycle continues,
one season moving on to the next.
(Property of Carol Cormier 2015)
I’m nominating Boeta and his mom and dad from Our Rumbling Ocean to take up the challenge. They live in South Africa and post wonderful photos and stories about their corner of the world.
A Week of Highs and Lows
….I haven’t posted in days
My lows include not posting for a number of days. I had over 500 emails that I hadn’t opened and I tried to read as many as possible. I deleted many of them without reading them so I apologize if I missed an important message or one of your better posts. If I made a comment or ‘liked’ your post you know that I read it. I actually do read your posts and I feel unusually guilty if I have to pass them over. I’m trying to read my emails daily but there are over a hundred in my inbox again.
It’s been a tough week with the kids at school. I’m sure that it’s partly due to the time change. Everyone was tired and a bit cranky and with March Break in front of them many found it difficult to focus. There was a lot of excitement and anticipation for this holiday.
I also haven’t done any art for myself. Every day this week I planned to spend some time on my art and it didn’t happen. I’m planning on fixing that during my time off.
Now that March Break is here, I’ve come down with a head cold. Wouldn’t you know it! I’m not sick all year and on the first day of the break I have a scratchy throat and runny nose. Oh well, I have 9 days to rest.
On the high side I managed to get more of the books in the library labelled and shelved and I finally put in an order for supplies and more books. I know that may not seem like a high for some of you but I always feel good when I can get something accomplished.
Last Sunday I took my family to see Ray Cattell’s art show at the Arts and Letters Club. I’ve know Ray for over 25 years. His daughter, L and I work together and have been best friends for all those years. Ray is now in his 90s and it was nice to see the range of work that he has produced from the 1960s to the present day.
The temperatures have finally warmed up and the snow has started to melt. In fact so much of the snow has melted that I’ve finally been able to go outside without my winter boots on. A few crazy people have also been seen wearing shorts in Toronto. Plus 4 is hardly warm enough to go outside without a coat never mind wearing a t-shirt and shorts.
I also went to a concert this week. It was part of the Music in the Afternoon concert series put on by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. The concert featured Jens Lindemann on trumpet. I had no idea what to expect but it ended up being one my most favourite concerts to date. I’ll write more about this in my next post.
I also spent time with my friend CL who I hadn’t seen since Christmas. We had lunch together and then headed downtown for the concert. Afterwards we stopped for coffee and continued to catch up on what we’ve been doing for the last three months. As with most of my friends she asked about my retirement and gave me some food for thought as to what I might want to do when I finally take that step.
On Wednesday a group of us from school decided to have a bit of a staff social and we went bowling and then out for dinner. Most of us are not very good bowlers but it was a lot of fun and we vowed that we would plan another outing after March Break.
Last night my daughter and her husband came over for an impromptu dinner of homemade pizza and salad. My husband and I are very spontaneous and we love it when things like this just come together.
To top off my highs for the week my husband bought me another fresh bouquet of flowers.
100 Day Museum
…..today we celebrate the 100th day of school
Every year the grade 1s make projects that contain 100 objects to celebrate the 100th day of school. Today they hosted the 100 Day Museum and invited their parents and all the students in the school to come and enjoy their projects. Here are a few of the highlights.
Crazy Hair Day
…..fun day at school
Last Thursday we had Crazy Hair Day. I wish I had more photos but my iPhone ran out of juice. The kids love it when the teachers play along. A couple of scrunchies and presto you have ‘crazy hair’.
Many of children used the spray that adds colour to your hair and some of them discovered that the colour runs when it gets wet. During dance class a few students had coloured sweat running down their foreheads and a couple of students stayed in during recess because it had started to snow and they were afraid that their hair creation would run onto their snow suits.
A New Milestone – 1000 Posts
…..I can’t believe it
Thirty three months ago when I started this blog I couldn’t have imagined writing 1000 posts. When I first hit the keys I wanted to record and track my weight loss journey, write about my past, share recipes and have a platform to air my feelings about retirement. Well here I am almost three years later and I’m still going strong.
My focus has changed somewhat. I managed to lose 32 pounds and today I’ve kept a good chunk of it off but it’s a struggle every day.
I don’t share many recipes. Others do it much better. I’m still working and I don’t bring up retirement very often. My colleagues won’t hear of it but I have to admit that I am getting closer to that day. I don’t talk as much about my past and most of my personal posts reflect what’s happening in the present.
What is surprising is how my blog has morphed into an art and photography journal. I started teaching art to more classes shortly after starting the blog and I started to share my student’s work.
I also started to do more of my own art and I took a number of on-line art classes.
I’ve always liked taking photos but recently I discovered that I was pretty good at it. I enjoyed experimenting with my little digital camera and later my iPhone and I started to participate in a lot of photography challenges here on WordPress.
I also started to dabble in writing poetry. For someone who hated poetry in school I’m somewhat surprised that I enjoy writing free verse and Haiku as much as I do. I guess I like writing in general.
When I look back on my first dozen posts, I wonder what kept me going. There wasn’t a lot of feedback. Many of my first posts had no likes what so ever. Reading over them I couldn’t fault the writing but there were only a few photos in the beginning and I didn’t always ‘tag’ those pieces. Some of them I wrote for my children so they would have a record of their mother’s past (here, here, here, and here).
The one thing that I was pleased about was that many of my early followers are still with me. Hats off to Michael Lai, oneanna65, Domestic Diva, MD, Uthamz, The Ranting Chef, Lesley Carter, Ellis Nelson, Conor Cullen, Dorothy, Anne, Paul. Beth, Baz, Dina, Island Traveller, Bert, Lee, Jeanne, Maia, Frizz, TK Morin, Masqua,Leanne, Art Expectations, Rosemarie, Viveka, Donna, Michael, T.J., Melissa, Ann, Neal, Woolly, Mrs. Euken, Dan, Mark, Brenda, and in the last year many more followers have come my way. Here are some of the regulars: Cee, Megan, Lisa, Ab, Jennifer, Joe, Rachel, Chris, Geraint, Miranda, Trisha, Janaline, Hello, Fig, Elizabeth, Marsha, Ayse, Folly Girl, Judith, Sarah, Ronovan, Seb, Audrey, B, Kimmi, Conrad, CJ, Boeta, Peggy, Debbie, Colline,……
A special thanks goes to the people who like to comment on my blog, a lot,……Dorothy, Viveka, Rosemarie, Leanne, Colline, Judith, Cee, Elizabeth and Mark and my sister Chris. I know that my FaceBook friends also read my blog and when they comment it’s usually on FaceBook. I’m sure I’ve missed a few people and for that I apologize. I am about 40 people shy of reaching 1000 followers and I hope by my 3rd anniversary in April I can reach that goal as well.
Cheers!
Share Your World – 2015 – Week 1
…..wow a new year of Share Your World with Cee
How do you get rid of pesky phone calls from telemarketers?
If I hear dead air for a second or two after I say Hello I know it’s a telemarketer and I hang up. Simple!
What are you a “natural” at doing?
I don’t know if anyone is a natural at anything. I know that people might think I’m a natural when it comes to art or public speaking but it wasn’t always that way. I had to work at it to gain confidence and even now I still have doubts about my abilities but I am always willing to try new things and take some risks.
How often do you get a haircut?
When my hair is short I try to get it cut every 6 to 8 weeks. When it’s longer it might be every two to three months.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “fun”?
Fun for me is creating art and being around friends.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Last week I was grateful for having my entire family home for Christmas and having everyone together to celebrate B and G’s birthday. I also loved visiting and spending time with friends.
This week I’m looking forward to some quiet time with my husband before he has to go back for more surgery on his thyroid next Monday. I’m also looking forward to starting a new on-line year long art class with Carla Sonheim and Lynn Whipple called Year of the Spark.
I can’t upload my Year of the Spark poster that I made. How frustrating!
Share Your World (2014) – Week 51
….thank you Cee for another week of great questions….will there be a week 52 or do we start with week 1?
Would you prefer snowy winters, or not, and why?
I’d like something in the middle. A little snow (maybe one good blizzard) and when there’s no snow I’d like mild temperatures. We had a lot of snow back in November but for the most part by the time December rolled around most of it had disappeared and we ended up with a green Christmas. Today is Dec. 31st and we still don’t have any snow but it’s become bitterly cold. I like to walk but when the wind blows and the temperature drops it makes for a bone chilling experience. What a difference from last year!
So, you’re on your way out and it’s raining. Do you know where your umbrella is or do you frantically search for it all over your apartment/house?
Rain? The umbrella is always in the car. A lot of good it does me when I have to run through the parking lot at school in the pouring rain to get to my car.
Do you prefer your food separated or mixed together?
I like both but when it’s separated I’m not one of those people who can’t stand to have the different foods touching. That’s just weird. Sorry to those people who feel that way. I also love casseroles, soups and stews. When I need comfort food the latter mentioned meals hit the spot.
…..filled with lamb and a side of fesenjoon (ground walnuts with chicken)
What is set as the background on your computer?
On my computer my background is a photo of the city of Toronto that I took from the park west of the city. This is what I see every day when I walk to the park with Frances.
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 having my entire family home for Christmas and being able to spend another Christmas with my Dad.
This week we celebrated the birthday of my twins and I am looking forward to going to my friends 60th birthday levi on Thursday and bringing the family together one last time on Saturday before my son and his fiancé fly back to London, England.
Happy New Year, everyone. All the best in 2015!
Birthday, Brunch, Books and Best Buys
…..Dec.30 is the birthday of my twins, G and B
Today we celebrated a birthday. Thirty-three years ago I gave birth to two healthy children, a girl and a boy. We celebrated at G’s place where she treated us to a wonderful brunch of homemade bread, homemade ricotta cheese, jams, honey, coffee, fresh fruit salad, kale and goat cheese frittata and a delicious green salad. Everyone contributed to the meal but the bulk of the work was prepared by G.
Gifts were exchanged earlier in the day and then again at the brunch. Our son loves books and our daughter collects cookbooks. Yesterday G ordered B a very special cookbook that he had expressed an interest in and surprisingly it was delivered while we were there. Now that’s service!
After brunch we (our oldest daughter, our son and his fiancé) drove north on Yonge St. and stopped at Super Khorak to purchase some special food items for dinner. Our future daughter-in-law is Iranian and we wanted to purchase some authentic Iranian food. My son and my husband literally cleaned their bowls and the food containers with the flat Iranian bread that we bought. There wasn’t a morsel of food left over. It was definitely a ‘best buy’ today.
New Flower, Dec. 30, 2014 – Red Rose
….Happy Birthday to my lovely twins….I can’t believe my babies are 33 years old
Mama Cormier 