….after two busy sightseeing days today was a down day
After breakfast this morning I took a walk around the neighbourhood close to the hotel. I picked up some decorations, purple hair dye and candy for the kiddies.
Then I met with my daughter and we walked in the opposite direction and explored more of Moncton. She treated me to a lovely lunch before we headed back to her home.
Time to clean out the pumpkin, put up the decorations and get Winnie ready for trick or treating.
My little Harley Quinn
Of course I had to get into the spirit of dressing up so I put on a hat with purple hair and I let Winnie dye my bangs purple as well.
When Winnie returned with her loot bag filled with treats she dumped everything on the floor and then sorted it into categories. In total she had 180 chocolate bars, bags of chips and suckers.
Back at the hotel I brushed out my hair and decided that I actually liked that little bit of purple in my hair.
For dinner we decided to go to a seafood restaurant. Dinner was okay but the dessert made our day. Winnie wanted to try the Strawberries Flambé. We knew there would be some alcohol in the dessert and even though the alcohol is burned off we weren’t sure that she would like the taste. Her second choice was carrot cake so we ordered both.
The dessert was prepared table side. I had my camera focused on the server making the dessert and Gaelan had her camera on Winnie to catch her reaction.
Well wouldn’t know it, she loved the strawberries flambé and she ate half our carrot cake as well.
…I’m hoping to keep my blog going but if the site is empty for a few days it’s because I’m in New Brunswick
It’s not that New Brunswick doesn’t have the internet, it does, but my granddaughter might have other ideas about how her Oma should spend her time. I’m really looking forward to this trip but I’m also nervous. I always get nervous before getting on a plane and this is the first time I’m getting on a propeller plane. I know lots of people who love this airline but it is the first time I’ve flown with them. Wish me luck.
Hopefully I’ll have a few photos of the ocean, lighthouses and lobster rolls to share with you during the trip or at least when I get home. I’ll be back in five days. Here’s my little ‘monster’ that I’m on my way to see. She loves Hallowe’en so I don’t think she’ll mind the reference to ‘monster’, although I have no idea what she wants to dress up as this year.
Last year I was working on Christmas presents that I didn’t show on my blog because I didn’t want the recipients of these to see them. They have long been received so I can now share them with you.
My rooster tea cozy
DoBoy – grandson’s creation. I designed the pattern and sewed him up.
….this year it was more about the pumpkins, decorations and squash
Usually the turkey is a big deal but when it’s just the two of us, we tend to keep things simpler. Leading up to Thanksgiving we stopped at some favourite places and picked up some gourds for decoration, lots of vegetables and yummy butter tarts.
Gourds outside Wendy Bs shop in LafontaineInside Wendy Bs placePumpkins at Harris FarmsCream of the Crop SquashThanks for the spending the day with me, AndreaSunday night’s dinner prepared by my wonderful husband
Reviewing my day in Hamilton. Had I known that I was going to do this I would probably have taken more photos.
My daughter and daughter-in-law had appointments in Hamilton to get their hair done and the car isn’t very reliable anymore for long trips so I volunteered to drive them in my car. I haven’t been back to the downtown core of Hamilton since our daughter moved to New Brunswick.
The first thing I did was drop the girls off at the salon and then I drove to Denninger’s. It’s a German deli that has been in Hamilton since Rudolf Denninger immigrated to Canada from Germany with his wife. The family owned business has grown from the original store on King St. in Hamilton to 5 stores, a warehouse and a manufacturing facility, employing 300 people in southern Ontario. https://denningers.com/pages/about-us
The visit was bittersweet because so many things in the store reminded me of my father, who passed away almost two years ago. I picked up many things that had a special meaning for me. My father loved chocolates, herring and small oranges like clementines. The cashier asked me if I was all right because I had tears in my eyes. I told him they were happy tears. I spent way too much money.
After my shopping trip at the deli I drove back to Mulberry and MacNab because I knew that I could park there for free and I walked up James St. to the wool shop. I had some money left on a gift certificate from the Hand Knit Yarn Store. It wasn’t for a large amount but I thought I would check out the new merchandise. I haven’t been there since before COVID, over two years ago. Everyone was very friendly and using up the remainder of the gift card was no problem. Again I spent way too much money. https://handknityarnstudio.com/
After my purchase of yarns I walked around the corner to Arcana Salon https://www.arcanasalon.ca/ to check on the girls. Andrea had another 1 1/2 hours to go, so I walked back towards my car and my favourite coffee shop in Hamilton, Mulberry Coffeehouse https://www.mulberrycoffeehouse.com/. Along the way I stopped to take some photos of flowers and Interesting doors.
Once I was in the coffeehouse, I ordered a tea and a breakfast sandwich. It was very busy, as it always is and I was lucky to find a seat at a counter. I pulled out the book that I am currently reading but I didn’t get too far. Josie walked in with her new haircut and wanted to visit the Farmers’ Market which was within walking distance from the cafe. When I finished my tea we made the trek to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market and we were delighted to see that most of the vendors had survived the COVID restrictions and closures. I purchased two large bunches of basil and garlic after overhearing another customer talk about making pesto with his purchase. I thought it was a great idea. In the next post I’ll show you our busy day making and putting the pesto into jars.
Andrea met us at the market. We walked around a little bit more and I treated myself to a bunch of flowers. My Dad also enjoyed buying flowers for me and my husband used to do it weekly. We headed back to the car with our bags of produce in hand and then made our way back to Toronto.
That evening we shared a meal together and I cooked up the spaetzle that I bought earlier. Kevin had made a lovely beef stew that complimented the German noodles perfectly. To burn off some of the calories from our meal, the girls and I and Olive went for a long walk through the neighbourhood. What a perfect day!
When our granddaughter was here she went out every morning and picked the ripe and not so ripe tomatoes, peppers and beans. Now that she’s gone some of the bounty from my garden has been left too long on the vine. Miss you Winnie!
The textures here are wrinkled, withered, dried and ruptured.
Mama Cormier 