A Fruitful and Musical Day

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….ran 4.4k, walked over 11,000 step, and enjoyed the Junction Market and Music Festival

I started my day with a trip to my daughter’s house and we both walked to the Railpath and started to run for 45 minutes. Next week we’re both doing the Railpath Fun Run. I was hoping to run at least 5k in 45 minutes but I only managed 4.4k. For those of you living in Toronto there’s still time to register.

All proceeds from this race will benefit The Stop Community Food Centre.

After our run we got in the car and drove over to the Junction to meet up with K who rode there on his bike. I actually didn’t even know that the music festival was on. Nice surprise but it did make it more difficult to find a place to park. We luckily found a spot on a side street and we walked over to the Farmers’ Market.

It was a gorgeous day but for some reason the wasps were everywhere, especially around vendors with food. I’ve never seen it quite so bad. We sat in a cafe by the window and the wasps came right into the coffee shop. We decided to ignore them and luckily none of us got stung.

The market was very busy and we bought some beautiful kale and green and purple peppers from Wheel Barrow Farms. One of the unique things that we saw on Saturday was a mobile cafe. I wonder how much one of those cost? I should check out the website on the side of the truck.

A few musical acts were set up on the side streets but the big show didn’t take place until later in the day. All in all it was a great day.

Share Your World – Week 35

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….can’t believe that it’s already week 35…check out Cee’s Photography for more great posts of Share Your World or join in

Have your blogging goals changed?

I think they have. I started as an incentive to lose weight and record stories from my childhood. I still do a little of both but now it’s become a venue for sharing my art, photography, and life’s adventures and challenges.

If you were to perform in the circus, what would you do?

I don’t know why this came to my head first but I thought clown. I’m not a big fan of clowns but I do like to make people laugh.

If you could go back and talk to yourself at age 18 what advice would you give yourself? Or if you are younger than 25 what words of wisdom would you like to tell yourself at age 45?

I would tell myself to pursue my interests, take risks. I was very practical and played it pretty safe at 18 but I was also somewhat romantic and probably naive. My biggest piece of advice would be to put aside money for retirement and not touch it. I’ve been lucky to have a job with a great pension plan and to own a house in the city. Not everyone is as fortunate and sometimes I think we could have been better prepared.

What is your favorite comfort snack food?

My favourite comfort foods are ice-cream and cheese. Not at the same time. When I want something sweet it would be ice-cream and for my savoury moments it has to be cheese.

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 a wonderful birthday week with family and friends. I spent the day with one of my oldest friends at the spa earlier in the week. My good friend L took me to the nail place and she treated me to a pedicure. My aunt and cousin sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, my sisters sent me gifts through the mail, my son called me long distance from the Netherlands, my daughters and I spent time together at the CNE, my husband cooked a magnificent meal for six of us and my dear friends at the cottage prepared a birthday lunch with cake done in the BBQ and gave me a set of beautiful earrings. WOW!

I’m looking forward to using my new Jawbone Up (a gift from my family) to record my fitness and sleeping patterns and learning some new songs on my ukulele from the ukulele book that my sister sent me. I’m also looking forward to going back to school (believe it or not) to catch up with my colleagues and meet my new students. Getting the library up and running is number one on my priority list. I just hope I get some help doing it.

My broken birthday cake. It didn’t travel well on my husband’s bike.

Things That Can’t Be Carried on a Bike

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I follow a blog Urban Simplicity that regularly posts Things That Can Be Carried on a Bike

Well last week we discovered something that definitely doesn’t travel well on a bike. As you may know it was my birthday and my husband was in charge of the meal and the birthday cake.

The meal was a fantastic five course Indian spread that K made completely from scratch. It was fabulous and there was enough left over for another meal for two. The only problem was with the cake. My husband is also a good baker but time ran out so he rode his bike to the local Italian bakery to buy a German Black Forest cake. I know….Indian, Italian, German?

Anyway San Remo makes wonderful birthday cakes and it’s always our go to place when we don’t have time to bake. K didn’t think carrying the cake would be problem because he has a flat carrier on the front of his bike and he was able to strap it in place so it wouldn’t slide around.

I guess the ride must have been a little (or a lot) bumpy because when he got home and opened the box this is what he saw:

As you can see he was a little embarrassed. No need. It was delicious just the same.

Have you experienced anything that CAN’T be carried on a bike?

Share Your World – Week 34

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….more great questions from Cee’s Photography

What is your favorite smell? What memory does it remind you of?

My favourite smell has to be cinnamon. I love the smell of Christmas baking. Another smell that I really like, especially in a perfume scent is lemon or a citrusy smell. It reminds me of a perfume my mother always used to wear, 4711 or Tosca.

Name a song or two which are included on the soundtrack to your life?

The songs that come to mind are Let it Be by the Beatles and Your are the Sunshine of my Life by Stevie Wonder. The later was the song that my husband and I danced to when we were dating and on our wedding day.

Do you play video/computer game? Which one(s) or most recent?

The only game I play on-line is Scrabble. I’m addicted. I play with my sisters and a few good friends.

Which of Snow White’s 7 dwarfs describes you best? Plus what would the 8th dwarf’s name be? (Doc, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey)

I think I’d be Doc, the voice of reason. Although not perfect and often mixing up this words, Doc is kind and keeps the other dwarfs in check. If there was an 8th dwarf his name would be Techy because in today’s world the dwarfs would need someone who can tinker with modern technology.

Photo courtesy of: http://statici.behindthevoiceactors.com/behindthevoiceactors/_img/chars/thumbs/char_17116_thumb.jpg

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 a nice weekend at the cottage with my husband and daughter, A and her partner, J. We finally had decent weather. I’m also grateful for everyone’s help getting the outhouse properly set over the new hole and that it is no longer sitting on an angle but is perfectly level.

This week I’m looking forward to having lunch with my friend, AB and going to the CNE with my daughters. I’m also looking forward to celebrating my birthday on Thursday with my family.

Update on my Ongoing Saga

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks to all my concerned followers; here’s where things stand today

My son-in-law has just come out of surgery and the surgeon is 99.5% confident that all is well. My husband’s visit to the surgeon this morning confirmed that the thyroid has to come out and they set a date for October 9th. He just called me from the hospital and he’s waiting to see my aunt. Apparently they took her downstairs to put a tube into her chest to drain the liquid that’s been building up and she should be feeling somewhat better. He said that the Hagen Das ice-cream that he bought her was melting in his bag. I suggested that he take it to the kitchen across the hall and put it in the freezer until she is well enough to eat it.

I’ve just picked up our daughter’s dog, Lucy, so that they have one less thing to worry about. Now I’m worried because didn’t she grab a toadstool and swallow it before I could get it away from her. She seems okay but I’ll have to keep a close eye on her.

On my way home from picking up the dog I ran into a lot of construction and I ended up making a wrong turn. In hindsight it was probably a blessing because I ended up on the highway north of the city and it was moving quickly. Unfortunately I exited too soon and I came down the street that runs by the school. I decided to quickly stop by and check out the library situation. The good news is that someone has put all the shelves back on the wall. The bad news is that they didn’t return the books, the heavy wooden book cases haven’t been put back in place and my office is still jammed with boxes and furniture. I guess I should be thankful for small blessings and hopefully sometime this week the book cases will be returned to their rightful places. With lots of help I can deal with putting the books back on the shelves.

Lucy looks okay (basset) and Frances doesn’t seem concerned.

I’ve just checked the internet and vet sites recommend inducing vomiting. Great! I’ll call our vet and see what she says.

The fun never stops!

Two Different Ideas of a Good Time

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..this weekend my husband and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary

Last Friday we loaded up the car with our doped up little dog in the back and headed up north for a nice quiet weekend at the cottage. When we arrived it was slightly overcast but the rain held off until later in the evening. The next day (our anniversary) it poured rain for most of the day.

We decided to not let the weather interfere with our time together or prohibit us from doing things we enjoy. My husband was bound and determined to get out on his mountain bike this weekend and come rain or shine he did. As it turned out it rained on Saturday but he enjoyed his soggy trip through the woods anyway. He returned covered in mud and his clothes were drenched with rain water. Today it didn’t rain but when he returned he was still covered in mud from all the puddles he rode through and he came back with some new scratches from riding next to the thimbleberry bushes. This is my husband’s idea of a good time.

Look who’s wearing a helmet. Yeah!

Scratches from today’s ride.

Look how happy he is.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love to ride my bike as well but I’m more of a city rider.

My idea of a good time is baking in the rain. As you may or may not know, we don’t have electricity at the cottage so all my cooking is done on the BBQ. Every once in awhile I like to bake and seeing I had 5 very ripe bananas and it was our anniversary I decided to create a new recipe using what I had in my cottage kitchen. I really wanted the recipe to be gluten free because I wanted to share the banana bread with my neighbour (outhouse hole digger) who has a gluten intolerance problem. The final product turned out quite well and I will share the recipe with you later this week.

Baking in the Rain.

The finished product. Yummy, oatmeal banana bread.

As you can see our ideas of a good time don’t always go hand in hand but we both enjoyed the banana bread and after 39 years we’ve learned to let each other pursue our individual interests and hobbies. Later in the day my husband played his mandolin and then read his book while I sat down at the table and worked on some drawings of birds. I’ve never done this before but it was part of an assignment for the on-line summer art camp I’m taking. I really enjoyed the process and I think I will work on my drawing skills some more. I honestly didn’t think I could draw birds. The second assignment was one I’ve done with my own students and it’ll be nice to have a couple of samples to show them if I decide to do this with them again.

An Unusual Summer

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….instead of lounging on the beach at the cottage I’ve been spending a lot of time in the city

I was really looking forward to my summer holiday this year. I opened the cottage later than I would normally and when I returned to the city I spent 3 days in school cleaning up my office and packing up books so that the new carpet could be laid down this summer.

In the second week of the summer I went to visit my aunt. She lives by herself about 20 minutes from my house. She never calls me but she is always happy to see me. Unfortunately, she stopped answering her door or picking up her phone. Two years ago her daughter found her very ill and admitted her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with congested heart failure.

The day I went to see her, my cousin was already there and she said she had a bad night and she was still in bed (3:00 in the afternoon). After a short conversation we went to check on her and she didn’t look good. To make a long story short we called 911 and she was admitted to emergency. At around midnight, after numerous tests, x-rays and blood work we were told that she has double pneumonia.

For the next six days I was back and forth to the hospital. Five weeks later she’s still in the hospital. Her pneumonia has cleared up but now she has a multitude of other problems. Every time I come back from the cottage I go to see her and when I’m not there my husband drops in.

Last week my husband’s car had to go into the shop so he’s without a car and I’ve been driving him everywhere his bike can’t take him. This week he went in for his routine CAT scan and next week he has two more appointments.

Our dog, Frances is presently at the vet clinic having her teeth fixed. Unfortunately the problem is more complicated than we thought and she has to see a specialist to fix the under lying problem. We pick her up this afternoon and will learn more details as to when her next procedure has to be done.

Next week my son-in-law is going into the hospital for surgery so I will be dog sitting Lucy and keeping my daughter company during the procedure.

I’ve also been helping my friend A organize her basement and garage so that she can get ready to sell her house in the near future. Last weekend I also cleaned out our garage but with lots of help from family and extended family members. Normally I like to be at the cottage but when people offer to help with big jobs you kind of have to work around their schedule.

I did go up to the cottage right after the clean-up and I took our youngest daughter and Lucy with me. We only stayed a couple of days because I had to get back into town to get Frances to the vet.

It turned out to be a beautiful weekend but again my cottage neighbour offered to help dig a new outhouse hole so I spent hours on Sunday digging and then hauling sand out of the hole.

This week when I got back to the city I got a call from my friend G who called to warn me that my classroom was a bigger mess than we anticipated. I went in yesterday to check it out and was blown away by what I saw. Painters had come in July and it was decided that they would tackle one long wall. Of course, not knowing that this was happening, none of the books on that wall had been cleared. All the books were removed from the shelves and stacked on the tables and then the shelves were taken down. Were they put back? No!

Upon arriving to school the caretaker tried to prepare me for what I was about to see. The shelves that were moved to lay down the carpet were not returned to their original space. More shelves behind my desk were emptied because they were too close to the floor and the shelves themselves were dumped in my office.

When I left in July I had cleaned out my office so that nothing was on the floor and the counters and the table were clear so that the surfaces could be properly washed. Yesterday I couldn’t even get into my office because everything was pushed into that room. I took pictures so that my principal could forward them to the powers that be and hopefully someone will come in in the next two weeks before school starts and try to clean up the mess.

I spent a few hours yesterday locating some of the shelves, washing them and putting them back on the wall. I also clean off my library desk moved it back up against the wall so that I at least have a place to sit without looking through a mountain of stuff.

Not everything about being in the city has been bad. I did enjoy spending time with my family and taking in some of the World Cup games, especially the final when Germany won.

I’ve spent more time in my garden and reaping the benefits of time well spent.

I also saw part of the Caribana parade and spent some quality time with my husband walking, running and riding our bikes.

This summer I have produced a lot of art thanks mostly to Carla Sonheim’s on-line Summer Camp. Some of it I worked on at the cottage and the rest here at home. I’ve got lots of great ideas to share with my students when I go back to work in September. I think I’m happiest when I’m creating art.

Acrylic paint on 8 x 18 inch cedar shim.

Share Your World – Week 32

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..more great questions from Cee at Share Your World

Do you prefer ketchup or mustard?

I like both but over the years I’ve grown to like mustard more than I did as a child. Now I prefer mustard on my meats and ketchup on my eggs, fries, grilled cheese and mac and cheese.

If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction?

This is a tough question. It certainly wouldn’t be an action or science fiction film. It would have to be a combination of the first three genres. The romantic comedy would be my teenage years and my relationship with my husband. The comedy portion would include the years raising my children and my years teaching children. Finally the drama would occur when dealing with the deaths of parents, friends and colleagues and the break-ups and disappointments suffered by our children and the divorces of friends and family. Luckily there is more comedy than drama in my life.

If you could be given any gift what would it be?

The gifts I would most cherish would be peace of mind and happiness.

For potlucks or parties do you cook it yourself, buy from a grocery store, or pay for catering?

This depends on the day and the time of year. If the party is on a week night and I’m working I will purchase something special from a deli or take away from a restaurant. I will cook something myself if the party is on the weekend or in the summer when I’m not working.

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

I am grateful for time together with my daughters and their significant others. G and her husband had dinner with us last Friday and A and her partner came by the house on Saturday and helped us clean out the garage. Cleaning the garage and taking everything to the city transfer station was a huge job and I can’t thank J and her family enough for all their hard work.

Later on Saturday G and I drove up to the cottage together and spent a couple of days enjoying each other’s company and the fantastic weather. I’m also grateful to D at the cottage for helping me dig a new outhouse hole.

This week I’m looking forward to visiting my aunt again, helping my friend A organize her basement and garage some more and seeing my friends G and L. I’m also looking forward to working on more art projects from my on-line summer camp.

It’s also our 39th wedding anniversary this Saturday and I’m looking forward to anything that my husband and I will do to celebrate.

My First Ever Caribbean Carnival Experience

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..or as it is more commonly known, Caribana Toronto

Today my husband and I got on our bikes and headed east toward the city. Trust me when I say that there was no better way to get around today than on your bike. The Gardiner is still under construction and Lakeshore Blvd. was closed for the Caribana Parade.

We decided to make a number of stops on our journey today. First, we parked our bikes at the Humber Bay Farmers’ Market and picked up some kale, flowers for my aunt and the best samosas in the city.

We continued along the bike path, heading east and turned north on Windemere and then east again along the Queensway. Traffic was already backing up and we passed numerous cars as we sailed through on the bike lanes. When the bike lanes ended we were at our destination anyway so our trip to the hospital was smooth sailing all the way.

Our second stop was at St. Joe’s to visit my aunt. We gave her the small bouquet of flowers that we picked up at the market and we spent about an hour with her. I’ve really been enjoying these chats with her. Outside the hospital the sounds from the Carnival were bouncing off the walls but inside, especially in her room it was very quiet.

When we returned to our bikes after the visit my husband was having second thoughts about going to the parade. I convinced him to humour me for at least a 30 minute stay down by the parade. We headed west and then south towards Sunnyside Park. Lakeshore Blvd. was like a parking lot as people waited to get onto the Queensway.

As soon as we hit the park I suggested that we sit in the shade and eat our lunch of samosas and mango chutney. They were delicious. After cleaning up we got back on the bikes but now even moving on the bikes was slowed down by the pedestrian traffic heading toward the parade. To my husband’s credit (he hates crowds) he offered to park the bikes and sit with them while I made my way to the parade so that I could get some photographs.

I didn’t have to walk far but I do think that most of the parade had already passed by but there were still some interesting floats and sights to be seen. At one point I found myself on the other side of the fence where most people were standing. There were other people there as well and I was able to get pretty close to the floats. On my way back I realized that I had walked into a secure area, which the police were barring people from entering. Like I said earlier I wasn’t the only one and no one said anything to me or for that matter anyone else about being where I was.

The place was jumping and the music was so loud that when I stood in front of the speakers I could feel the sound bouncing off my chest. It was a party and the women of all ages, shapes and sizes were scantily dressed in feathery, glittery and shiny bits of fabric. The colours were amazing.

Along the parade route people were selling souvenirs, consisting of Caribbean flags, umbrellas with flag motifs, and t-shirts. Vendors were also selling island food and a couple of men were peeling stalks of sugar cane with large knives for people to purchase and eat.

The parade is only one of many events that happen this weekend. The real party starts later today. As for me I’m happy to have finally experienced a little bit of Caribana and I won’t be fighting my way through traffic to participate in any of the remaining festivities. According to Strava, we rode for 20k today and supposedly I burned off 2300 calories. Is that even possible?????

Caribbean Bike Ride

The Summer is Half Over

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..so much I wanted to do and can’t seem to get to

I’ve been to the cottage three times and the last time it was down right cold. I haven’t been swimming once this summer. Hopefully August will be warmer.

I’m back in the city at the moment. I’ve come home to visit my aunt in the hospital, catch up on my emails, start on my ‘Summer Camp’ art projects and do a little more gardening. This morning I started my day by going for a walk with my husband and the dog. I actually ran for the first time in about a year when we got to the rugby pitch. I only ran 1k but it’s a start. In total I walked and ran 4.9k.

This weekend is the long weekend in Ontario (civic holiday) and I’m going to avoid the rush to get back to the cottage. I will probably head back up on Sunday when some people start returning to the city. I actually like spending time in the city on weekends. There’s always a lot to see and do. This is the big Caribbean festival in the city that attracts over a million visitors. I’ve never attended this event because I’ve always been at the cottage. Maybe this year I’ll change that.

I can’t believe I forgot the main reason for coming back to the city when I did. I just got a call from a good friend of mine, reminding me that we were suppose to meet at her house so that I could help her clean out years of stuff. In the next year or so she wants to sell her house and move to a smaller place. In the meantime she has to start parting with some of her accumulated treasures.

Well I’ve loaded up my car with some of A’s things that she’s willing to part with. Tomorrow morning I will drop them off at the Goodwill and next week I’ll come back to the city and help her get rid of more things. We also checked out a couple of antique places today that may be interested in some of her belongings. I’ve promised A that I would take photographs of some of her more interesting pieces and send them off to these stores to see if they’re interested in purchasing them.

I didn’t get over to see my aunt today. After tomorrow’s walk I have to drive my husband to our daughter’s place to pick up his bicycle (we were there for dinner tonight) and on my way back I’ll stop off at the hospital to visit with my aunt. Hopefully I can start on some of the art projects that I’ve missed. I’ve read about 100 emails today but I still have 110 to go. As for the gardening maybe I can pull a few weeds tomorrow.

Till tomorrow, cheers!