…..a couple of fun images from yesterday’s Fun Fair
For more odd ball photos check out http://ceenphotography.com/2014/06/01/cees-odd-ball-photo-challenge-week-14/
Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge: Week 14
14
Category Archives: Celebrations
Reading, Playing My Uke, Gardening and Partying
….the only thing missing is painting
What a perfect day. I woke up early and started reading the book The Silent Wife. After a couple of chapters I made myself a cup of coffee and then started practising Somewhere Over the Rainbow on my ukulele. I’m hoping I can play it well enough to accompany the kindergarten class at this years school concert at the end of June. I then made myself an omelet and prepared fresh berries for breakfast.
My husband wanted to start planting in his new raised bed but we decided that it needed more soil and it needed to be sectioned off with string. So I made a quick trip to the dollar store for twine and the nursery for more soil. When I returned home I found that the front lawn had been mowed but now I could see where the dandelions were starting to expose their yellow heads. I donned my gardening gloves and pulled the weeds from the flower beds and the dandelions from the lawn. Then I took my trimming shears and trimmed away the long grass around the tree, at the edges of the flower beds, sidewalk and driveway and around the telephone pole…..all the areas that were missed by the lawn mower. 
It took me hours but it felt good to get out in the sun and fresh air and the yard looked so lovely and groomed. It was almost 3:00 before I finished and I had a party to attend at 4:00. I quickly showered, washed my hair, blew it dry and dressed for the afternoon birthday celebration.
It was a perfect day for a backyard get together. It was warm enough for people to sit outside and I got to meet M’s sisters and friends. M was celebrating her 70th birthday. She looked stunning and her son did a fantastic job organizing the entire affair. His friends did all the serving and bar tending. A great time was had by all.
The day’s not over yet, Maybe I’ll get a little painting in as well.
Cheers!
Happy Mother’s Day
….in Canada we’re honouring our Mothers today
My daughters and their significant others treated me to a wonderful day on Ward’s Island yesterday. G made a fantastic meal that included a rabbit and apricot terrine, homemade sour dough bread, cured salmon infused with beet juice and cheese cups with hot pepper jelly and those delights were the appetizers.
After a bit of nourishment we went for a long walk and explored the beaches and neighbourhoods of Ward’s Island. I’ll post more about this amazing community in the coming week. When we returned to the little cottage that G’s mother-in-law was renting we enjoyed part two of our Mother’s Day Extravaganza.
For the main course we were treated to chicken legs, a faro salad and green beans and snow peas garnished with chopped hazelnuts. Dessert was a delicious panna cotta topped with rhubarb.
At the end of the meal the table was cleared and we played a family game of Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun but apparently I’m not very good at it. Either my answers weren’t clever enough or they were too embarrassing.
This morning my husband surprised me with a very special present…..a brand new ukulele. What a nice surprise. I guess I’d better learn to play better than I play now. After a nice breakfast, also prepared by my husband, I connected with my son and his fiancé in the Netherlands via Skype. After some minor glitches with the volume we spent 35 minutes catching up on the news and sharing plans for the future.
All in all it was a perfect way to spend Mother’s Day weekend!
Happy Earth Day
….it should be more than spending one day picking up garbage
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that we make children aware of their environment and how to keep it clean but maybe we need to be more diligent about making sure that it stays clean so that we don’t need community clean-up days.
For me Earth Day should be about celebrating the wonders of nature and respecting our environment. Nothing burns me more than seeing people dump their garbage from their cars onto the road, sidewalk or parking lot especially when there’s a garbage bin a mere 20 feet away. There’s a sense of entitlement that I find offensive. If you say anything to these people you know you will be accosted with profanity and rude gestures.
Now that the weather has finally turned around we need to get out and breathe in the fresh air and look up, down and all around us and take in what this beautiful world has to offer. Listen to the sounds of the birds and observe the wildlife that inhabits your backyard. Our environment is precious and we need to savour it and protect it.
Signs of Easter and Spring
…..chocolate, Easter bunnies, tulips and sunshine
Happy Easter, everyone!
Happy Birthday, Sis!
….even though her actual birthday is in December we celebrated on Friday
Last Christmas my sister’s husband surprised her with a gift certificate for a dinner for three at the Chef’s Table. That was only half of her birthday gift. The other half included flying her two sisters from Ontario to Calgary to join her for the dinner. It was as much a gift for her as it was for her sisters.
We arrived in Calgary on Wednesday and the dinner took place on Friday. After a long afternoon of shopping at the outlet mall we returned to C’s home and showered and dressed for our special dinner.
I’m not really that short. I wore flats while my sisters had on heels. C’s husband drove us to the restaurant. We arrived at 7: 00 and were seated immediately. For the next four hours we were treated to a five course meal with a wine pairing for each course. The sommelier took extra care to explain each course and the reason for his wine selection. We were truly pampered.
We had a wonderful evening with great food and wine and we loved reminiscing about our childhood together. I started to photograph each course but at times I was so anxious to try each course that I forgot to take pictures of some of the plates. I truly savoured each dish and was surprised that I didn’t finish first. This is not something I’m proud of. I tend to eat too quickly but for some reason that didn’t happen on Friday. At the end of the meal C’s husband picked us up. It was nice not to have to worry about drinking and driving.
The Perfect Day for our Winter Olympics
….freshly fallen snow and temperatures just below freezing
Tuesday morning I arrived early for basketball practice. I assigned a couple of students to sweep the snow off the adventure playground and I drew a couple of targets on the brick wall in preparation for the event that G and I were in charge of, the biathlon. In total there were 11 activities that were being set up for our Winter Olympics.
Shortly after the bell rang students waited to be called to the gym where they would find out which country and team they would be part of. We were hoping to start the first activity at 9:00 but organizing 420 students into 22 teams took longer than we anticipated. The older students were the flag bearers and held up their flags which also had a number of letter assigned to it. Before the students arrived their teachers wrote a number or letter on their hands so they would know where to go when they got to the gym.
The challenge was placing the kindergarten children with the older children. It was the first time that the younger children participated in a fun day with the whole school. I think that their teachers were a little more anxious than the kids themselves. The grades 4 and 5 students did an excellent job looking after their younger team members. They assisted them with the activities and ran with them when necessary but most importantly no one was lost or misplaced during the entire morning.
Every team rotated through at least six activities before the morning ended and then everyone returned to their classes where hot chocolate and cookies were waiting.
After lunch all the students went to the gym where all the choirs were called to the front of the room to perform the songs that they would be singing later in the week and in the following week for Kiwanis. This is a music festival that our school participates in every year. It’s a competition where schools compete against each other in different categories. This year we’ve entered a primary choir, junior choir, grade 4 homeroom choir, grade 5 homeroom choir and a boy’s choir.
After the choirs performed we had our closing ceremony for the Olympic games. At lunch G and I tabulated all the scores from the morning’s events and we determined which countries would win the gold, silver and bronze medals.
We asked the flag bearers to pick up their flags and after the Olympic torch and the banner with the Olympic rings entered the gym I called on each country to enter the gym with their flags held high. The spirit in the room was amazing.
Then it was time to announce the winning countries. The winner of the bronze medal was Denmark. Silver went to Sweden and the gold medalists came from Germany.
Enjoy the photos while you listen to
ThePianoGuys – Let It Go (Disney’s “Frozen”) Vivaldi’s Winter
Burning the Midnight Oil on the Weekend Preparing for the Winter Olympics
….my weekend wasn’t all fun and games with the family
Of course when I say ‘the Winter Olympics’ I’m referring to our fun day at school where we organized a variety of winter games for the boys and girls to participate in. Last week a group of us quickly assembled a committee to plan for a Winter Olympic extravaganza that involved the entire school, from JKs to grade 5s. Not knowing how much longer the snow would stay on the ground and knowing that the temperatures wouldn’t be in the polar vortex zone we decided to host the games on the Tuesday right after the Family Day weekend.
The committee came up with 12 different sporting events, from the ‘Biathlon to Luge to Hockey, that teams could compete in. The sign up sheet went up in the staffroom and all the staff signed up for an event. Two teachers volunteered to make hot chocolate for 420 children and two of the kindergarten teachers wanted to make the Olympic banner with the Olympic Rings.
My colleague next to the library worked with me and her class to make 22 different flags from some of the countries that actually participate in the Winter Olympics. After making the paper flags we decided that we needed to laminate them so that they wouldn’t be destroyed when they were taken outside. That job was done mostly during our prep time and after school and G took some home to finish off the remaining ones after we ran out of the Mack Tack that we were using.
I volunteered to make the 60 medals on the weekend and I had started to make paper dowels for the flags but I hadn’t made nearly enough before I left for the weekend. I also wanted to make an Olympic torch but I wasn’t quite sure how I would tackle that because of course I wanted it to look like the one that was used in Sochi.
Over the weekend I spent some of my time shopping for ribbon for the medals and silver spray paint. A parent at school donated enough CDs for 60 medals and a can of gold and bronze spray paint.
After spray painting the CDs gold, silver and bronze I wrote on each of them, Rosethorn’s Winter Olympics 2014 and then I attached a ribbon big enough to fit over a child’s head. I debated whether to hot glue the ribbon at the ends or sew the ends together. On Monday night I opted for a quicker method and I taped the ends together.
Once the medals were finished I made 36 paper dowels to attach to the flags so that the children could carry them high in the air and then I taped them to the back of each flag. This is what my dining room table looked like Monday night.
One night over the weekend I was up till 3:00 in the morning working on the medals and on Monday I was up till 1:30. Before I went to bed the night before school I decided at the last minute that I really needed to make the Olympic torch as well. I quickly traced out the shape of the torch that they used in Sochi and then transferred the design onto 3 pieces of cardboard that I glued together and spray painted white. In the morning I added the red trim and glued some tissue paper at the top to represent the flames. When we did the closing ceremony I chose a little boy in kindergarten to carry the torch into the gym. He was the perfect choice.
To be continued……….
Spending Family Day With the Dogs
….and my daughter and son-in-law
Today was another sunny but cold day in Toronto and it is Family Day. It is an official holiday in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. As the name implies it is a day to celebrate families.
Yesterday my husband and I went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) with out oldest daughter, A and her partner, J and saw the show, The Great Upheaval: Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection, 1910 – 1918. I loved it. It’s not a huge show but it featured some amazing artists from the past, such as, Picasso, Kandinsky, Matisse, Chagall, Franz Marc, Kupka and Miro. There must have been at least 30 different artists whose works were on display. It was fascinating to see how this era of new technologies ( film, photography, planes, telephones, electricity, etc.) and the presence of World War I affected the art world. If you’re in Toronto the show goes till March 6, 2014. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed at this show so I don’t have any original photos to show you. The Great Upheaval.
After seeing the show we browsed through some of the other galleries at the AGO, where you are allowed to take photographs. Here are a few highlights of our morning.
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- View from a small balcony above the gallery
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- Lauren Harris
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- Jean Riopelle
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- Peterson Ewen
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- New addition: The Italian Gallery
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- View of the upper beams
Today, my husband, Frances and I arranged to meet our youngest daughter and her husband and Lucy at High Park. We took both dogs to the off leash area. We’ve had so much snow that all the paths are packed solid with snow and ice. Luckily K brought his cleats for his boots and our walk was relatively uneventful, falling that is. We did see a few people wipe out but no serious injuries happened.
Frances and Lucy had a great time, running and wrestling with each other. We got a good walk, as well, probably close to 4k. The humans got tired just watching those two dogs darting back and forth.
After looking at all this snow it’s hard to imagine that another storm is approaching us tonight and we’re expecting another 10 cm to fall. Sigh!
Cheers! Hope everyone had a great Family Day!
A Happy Day
….busy, too many treats and a great dinner made by my husband
After surprising my husband with breakfast and his heart shaped donut this morning I left the house extra early to pick up three dozen “I love you” donuts from Tim Horton’s and then I continued on to school for another early morning basketball practice. When I got to school I discovered that my coaching colleague was also there so I took the time to pack the donuts into the specially decorated paper bags and started to deliver my little gifts to the staff.
People were surprised and delighted to find that the donut inside the bag was in the shape of a heart. This was the beginning of an onslaught of treats throughout the day. I don’t have the heart to say ‘no thank you’ to the boys and girls who offer me their specially made treats but I did resist the snacks that were in the staffroom. For most of the treats I took a single bite and when no one was looking I discarded the rest. If I didn’t do that I’m sure I would be suffering a ‘sugar induced headache’.
For lunch our principal treated us to pizza and not just any old pizza but pizza from Mamma’s. There were 7 different varieties to cater to the different dietary needs and individual preferences. I had one piece with the crust and after that I only ate the toppings. You might think that is odd but I’ve learned over the years that it’s the bread dough that plays havoc with my weight.
Tonight when I got home my husband had prepared the most amazing dinner. Shrimp cocktail and a glass of champagne to start, followed by a medium rare filet mignon, Brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes and red wine. It was the perfect amount of food and delicious to boot.
Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not I hope you had a fabulous day, filled with love and laughter.
Mama Cormier 
