A Week of Art, Knitting and Play

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Mama Cormier

….starting with a visit and an open house on New Year’s Day

What a great way to bring in the New Year. Visiting a long time friend and catching up over wine and cheese and then going to a New Year’s open house at another friend’s house directly across the street from where we live. More wine and nibbles and great conversation, catching up with the news in the neighbourhood. Thank goodness I was able to walk to both venues and didn’t have to worry about driving.

On Sunday, I started participating in a new year-long on-line art class with Carla Sonheim. The interesting thing about this class is that Carla posts a new video every day for 365 days. I was hesitant to sign up for another class but I knew I would miss it if I didn’t. So far I’m not disappointed. The videos can be short mini lessons on techniques, supplies, quotes from celebrities and interviews from other artists. So far we’ve had a lesson on making your own cloud stencil, a quote from Alan Alda, an interview from Carla’s nephew who is a clown, a photography assignment, a blind contour assignment, a glue resist lesson and a lesson on quinacridone paints. I haven’t even checked out todays class.

It’s very interesting how some of the other 400 plus students interpret each video. Even when there isn’t an assignment many of them, including myself, play with the concepts from the videos and create a piece of art. My son sent me a small journal and I’ve been painting and drawing in it every day since the class started. It won’t be long before this one is filled and I’ll start on the other one another friend from school gave me.

I’ve also been knitting on my knitting looms. For my daughter’s birthday I knit her a large infinity scarf to match the hat we gave her for Christmas and I knit my granddaughter a hat and a small neck warmer. On Thursday I drove to Hamilton and brought my looms with me. While Winnie was sleeping I taught my daughter how to use the looms and left her one to make another hat. I even knit Winnie a little pot holder for her little kitchen.

When Winnie woke from her nap we played together while her mom and dad prepared lunch for us. She’s at the age where she likes to play peek-a-boo but she runs to hide behind a table or chair and then peeks out to see if I’m watching. When she wasn’t running she did sit with me for a minute and I read part of a book. After lunch we dressed up warmly and went for a walk over to James St. N. to look for fabric for a quilt that G wants to make and then to another store where she had a gift certificate from her birthday that she wanted to spend.

On Saturday I finally took down our Christmas tree and vacuumed up all the needles. I also put together the organizing unit that J gave me for Christmas and I’ve already filled it with my art supplies. I have one more shelving unit to assemble for my pens. Already my drawing table is much neater and ready for more art projects.

Today I’m hoping to get to the ROM to see the Chihuly exhibit. It’s the last day so I may not be able to get in but it’s worth a try. I still have a lot to do around the house and even though I had two weeks off it seems I never get to the mundane things like cleaning my bedroom. Having said that though, I did have a lot of fun and spent time with family and friends.

Cheers!

A Busy Week

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….a lot of driving, twice to Oshawa and twice to Hamilton

Since Christmas Eve we have been constantly on the go. This year we celebrated Christmas Eve in Hamilton and on Christmas Day we celebrated some more here at home. No turkey this year, another first.

On the 27th I drove to Oshawa to bring my Dad his Christmas presents from my family. In the move a few weeks earlier he lost the remote control for his radio/CD player and he had to unplug the machine every time he wanted to turn it off or change the CD. Our daughters, A & J picked up a new remote control from a store downtown close to where they work. Dad was so happy to finally be able to play his music properly.

Two days later we drove out to Oshawa again but this time the whole family went to celebrate with Dad. There were 11 of us and because his new apartment is so small we all met in the library of the retirement home. After opening presents we headed out to the restaurant to enjoy a meal together. Today my sister sent me a few more photos that I can share with you.

SONY DSC

Yesterday we were back in Hamilton to celebrate the birthdays of our twins. Our son, unfortunately, is not celebrating here in Canada but is with his new family in Iran. From his photos and messages it sounds like he’s having a great time. Our daughter opened her house for yet another celebration in less than a week. Our good friends A and W, who were unable to join us this year on Christmas Eve, made the trek to Hamilton as well. It was a lovely time with family and friends. Very low key and relaxed and of course the baby stole the spotlight again.

My Favourites

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….decorations that is

Over the years I have collected hundreds of Christmas ornaments and decorations. Some were gifted to me, many were handmade by my friends, my students, my children and by me. Every year I usually purchase one special ornament that catches my eye.

As my children grew up, moved out and started their own Christmas traditions I gave them some of my ornaments that had special meanings for them. I still have more decorations than I can possibly put on the tree, especially now as I buy smaller trees. This year I carefully chose ornaments that brought back wonderful memories.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Share Your World 2016 – Week 47 (Grateful List)

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….with American Thanksgiving coming up this week Cee has asked us to share what we’re grateful for

What are you grateful for in regard to:

Your home life?

….having a roof over my head and being mortgage free and having a wonderful place to go to in the summer

Your family?

…..that my children are all happily married and that my husband is on the mend
Your blogging community?

…..for my loyal followers who comment regularly
Your city or immediate area in which you live?

…..for being clean, vibrant and safe

The regional area in which you live?

…..that I live close to water that I can see every day and safely drink from

The country where you live?

….. for it’s diversity
You?

…..that I have a husband who loves me, three successful children and a beautiful granddaughter

Optional 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 an exceptionally beautiful week of warm and sunny weather; something that is very unusual for this time of year. I’m also grateful that I was able to get my snow tires on my car before the snow really begins to fall.

I’m looking forward to a three day camping trip with our grade five students. We’ll be travelling about 2 1/2 north of the city. Before you think I’m completely bonkers let me clarify that we aren’t sleeping in tents. We have cabins to sleep in.

I’m also looking forward to seeing my sister from Calgary on the weekend. She’s flying in with her husband to visit our Dad before this big move into the retirement home, spend some time with me, visit friends in Georgetown and visit her mother-in-law who lives in Ottawa. It will be a busy weekend for her.

A Persian Wedding in Assisi

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….the highlight of our trip to Italy was our son’s wedding to his beautiful Iranian bride

Talk about a destination wedding. What do you do when half your family lives in Canada and the other half in Germany and Iran and your friends come from all over (Canada, England, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, etc.)? You find a location that everyone is happy to travel to and won’t break the bank.

That perfect place was at Casa Rosa near Assisi. Az and B already had a connection to the place through a friend whose family owned the ‘farm’. It is actually located in the hills of Umbria about 10 kilometres away from downtown Assisi.

On the day of the wedding the family was very busy getting the spread called the “Sofreh-ye Aghd”ready for the ceremony. Traditionally the Sofreh-ye Aghd is set on the floor facing east, so when the bride and bridegroom are seated at the head of the Sofreh-ye Aghd they will be facing “The Light”.

On the cloth, the two most important elements are the mirror and the two candelabras on either side of the mirror. They represent the bride and groom and the brightness in their future. All the different foods on the cloth are symbolic. For example, the tray of seven multi-colored herbs and spices “Sini-ye Aatel-O-Baatel” guard the couple and their lives together against the evil eye, witchcraft and drive away evil spirits. The eggs and decorated almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts in the shell symbolize fertility. A bowl made out of crystallized sugar “Kaas-e Nabaat/Shaakh-e Nabaat” sweetens the life of the newly weds and a bowl of gold coins or money represents wealth and prosperity. its-all-symbols_27904572193_o
At the beginning of the ceremony the bride is hidden from the groom. In our case a group of women, friends and family, stood in front of Az while B (our son) sat on a bench in front of the Sofreh-ye Aghd facing the mirror. He lit the candelabras and was asked if he consents to marry the bride. In a loud voice he answered with a rousing yes. When the bride enters she sits on the groom’s left side and the wedding party holds a canopy over the couple’s heads.

This is where the fun begins. Az’s uncle was the officiant and when he asked her if she consented to marrying B her role is to make the guests and the groom uncomfortable by not answering the first time. Some of her friends then call out that she’s doing the laundry as an excuse. The same thing happens the second time she is asked. The officient asks a third time, and this time, the bride says ‘with the permission of my father and mother- balé!’ And everyone starts kelling (the loud lee-lee-lee-lee sounds all middle easterners make) and clapping in joy.

Az’s uncle did a great job explaining all the rituals and symbolism of this ceremony. One other interesting symbol is the needle and the seven coloured threads used to hold up the canopy or shawl above the couple. Figuratively it represents sewing up the mother-in-law’s lips to keep her from speaking unpleasant words to the bride! As you can imagine I got quite a bit of ribbing about that one.

After the bride and groom have consented to marrying each other, the groom picks up a jar of honey (asal) from the table. He dips his little finger into the jar of honey, and feeds it to his bride. She then does the same for him. This is to symbolize that they will feed each other sweetness and sustenance throughout their lives together.

In this ceremony Az took her shoe at the end and snuffed out all the candles. I can’t remember what that symbolized and I can’t find anything on line to explain it. Maybe some of my Persian readers could bring me up to date on this tradition.

As in western cultures the ceremony ended with the groom kissing his bride.

After congratulations were bestowed upon the newly married couple the guests and the wedding party made their way to grounds where tables of food and drink were set and photographers were busy snapping hundreds of photos.

The food at this wedding was amazing. Our son kept telling us to leave some room for dinner. The first round of food immediately following the ceremony were just appetizers and cocktails. I can’t even begin to explain or describe how much food there was and everything was so delicious. When dinner was served there were five more courses and dessert was served later. I never made it to dessert. In fact I never made it to the party. After dinner I was done and went to bed. In hind sight it was a dumb thing to do because I couldn’t sleep anyway. Between not feeling well from too much rich food and the noise from the party afterwards, sleep was impossible. The party went till 4:00 in the morning. Somehow I managed to fall asleep around 3:00. All in all it was a great day, one that I will never forget.

Share Your World 2016 – Week 46

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….thanks Cee for Share Your World

Are you a traveler or a homebody?

After this summer I would say that I’m a traveller. I can’t stay put for too long. Even at the cottage I need to get off the island for a few hours and visit the town or explore the countryside.

What kind of TV commercial would you like to make? Describe it.

I like ‘feel good’ commercials. The one that comes to mind is the Subaru Forester commercial with the puppies where the one puppy is left behind (but not for long). It has wonderful scenery and great music and the message is subtle.

Subaru

Describe yourself in a word that starts with the first letter of your name.

I’m creative, curious and conscientious.

List some fun things for a rainy day.

Here are a few things I like to do on a rainy day:

• read a good book

• bake cookies

• paint, draw or do some kind of art

• play board games with family and friends

• play cards

• play with my granddaughter

• do some kind of needlework (knitting, sewing, cross-stitch)

• talk on the phone to my sisters

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 a wonderful dinner at Mamma Martino’s with the boys that my husband coached this summer and fall. My daughter and daughter-in-law and the boys’ parents were also there.

I was also grateful for two wonderful days spent with my granddaughter. It wasn’t planned. On Saturday my daughter asked if we could come over to babysit so that she could get some work done and on Sunday they came to the city because my daughter had a lunch date with a close friend. At 13 months, Miss Winnie keeps us hopping. She runs everywhere and never seems to tire. I did discover that the best way to read to her is when she is sitting in her high chair. She’s more engaged when she’s strapped into her chair.

This week I’m looking forward to going out to dinner again with friends to celebrate a good friend’s 50th birthday. We’re also expecting a delegation from the Netherlands to come to our school to check the place out and observe some classes this week. The school looks pretty good and I’m curious to know what our visitors think of our education system. On Thursday night and on Friday we have parent interviews. I won’t be seeing too many parents, if any, and I’m hoping to get some work done in the library.

In the Hills of Assisi

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….my favourite part of my trip to Italy took place in Assisi

Part 1

I’ve saved the best part of my trip for last. As some of you know my son was married this summer. The family part of the wedding took place in the hills of Assisi. In June, B and A were officially married in the registrars office in London, England and the guests that attended were mostly friends and work colleagues who lived in England.

In July friends from Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy and family from Canada, Germany and Iran came together to celebrate the union of our son and his beautiful bride in a traditional Persian ceremony.

The family stayed in a beautiful hillside resort, Casa Rosa, above the town of Assisi. Originally all the cottages had been farm buildings. The cottage we stayed in was formerly the pig barn and then later the horse stables. The view from our patio was breath taking and the property was surrounded by olive groves, lavender, fruit trees and rosemary.

Our accommodations were very comfortable and you would never have known that some of the cottages previously housed farm animals. We were warned to watch out for scorpions, yellow spiders and asps but we didn’t encounter any of these creatures. We kept looking over the hills in hopes of seeing some wild boars but we didn’t see any them either.

We took a walk along some of the trails that surrounded the farm. The trip out was pretty easy because it was mostly downhill but returning was a little more challenging. We passed numerous pieces of abandoned farm equipment along the way.

On our first evening in Assisi we took a taxi ride into the town of Assisi and had a wonderful meal on the patio of a local restaurant. It was our first real introduction to the family of the bride. We pretty much took over the restaurant for the evening. I tried to take photos of all the entrees that were placed before us but sometimes they were so mouth watering that half the plate was eaten before I remembered about taking photos. All in all it was a great evening and a good start to the wedding festivities that followed the next day.

More about the Persian ceremony in a few days.

Ciao!

A Great Day for a Race

Posted on September 24, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….the conditions were perfect

Back in August I signed up for the Railpath Community Run. Initially I thought I would do the walk but every year for the last three years I end up running the course. I guess the term running is debatable in my case but once I start I don’t stop to walk. I’m not very fast, in fact I know people who can walk faster than I run.

On Thursday, my daughter and I made our way to the Henderson Brewery where the running packages could be picked up. This is the first year that the micro brewery, situated on the rail path hosted the event. We stayed and sampled some of the beer after picking up our numbers and t-shirts.

My husband has been coaching a group of boys, ages nine to thirteen, for the last four weeks to prepare them for this year’s cross country run at their school. We’ve known most of the boys for 10 years and we consider them family. Despite my husband’s current medical condition, going out two to three times a week to work with the boys has been a very uplifting experience for him. In his younger days my husband was considered a world class marathon runner.

This past week K has been flat on his back with debilitating pain in his knees and ankles. At the hospital they thought he was suffering from an onset of severe rheumatoid arthritis and they sent him home with a prescription for morphine and a phone number for a rheumatologist. To make a long story short, he was able to get dressed today and make his way to the race to watch his team run.

There were 13 of us from the ‘family’ running and I was the only one who had signed up for the walk, which was after the run. Instead of making everyone wait for me to finish the Community Walk I decided to do the run section instead. I learned a new term today that applies to me. I’m a ‘snurtle’ which means I run slower than a turtle. My only goal today was not to be the last one on the course.

Well I reached my goal. There were four women slower than me and I ran a personal best. The run is 45 minutes long and I was about 200 metres shy of the 5k mark. I figured I would have hit the mark in about 47 minutes. In past races I’ve never run better than a 50 minute 5k.

The boys all ran 8K, some faster than others but in the end three of them took first, second and third place in the under 18 category. Pretty impressive. My daughter, A, ran 8K as well and my daughter-in-law, J, ran 7K. We were all happy with our results and after the race we hung around and had a drink at the brewery. We also stayed for the draw prizes and three of the boys walked away with a gift and I won a prize. Not a bad way to end an event.

Next year I’m going to aim to get to that 5K mark before the 45 minutes are up. It will probably mean losing some more weight and running more often but I’m confident that I can do it. Who would have thought at my age I would become a runner.

Cheers!

Two Birthday Parties and a Trip to the Antique Market

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Mama Cormier

…..as promised in my last post, Last Four Days at the Cottage here is the rest of that weekend

Going to the cottage with A and J is always a lot of fun. This year my birthday happened to fall on the last of those four days. Our good friends and neighbours at the cottage were also up and they invited us over for dinner on the Saturday. It turned out to be a little bit of a celebration. They toasted A and J’s wedding which took place earlier in the year and to my ‘last year of being young’. This was in reference to the fact that next year I will be officially declared a senior. I personally don’t think that I will all of a sudden become old just because of a number attached to my age. I never tell the students at school how old I am because I know they will automatically think that I’m ancient. They think that 40 is old.

The next day, which was my actual birthday, we packed up to go home. I’m sure that my daughter was given instructions by my family to be back by a certain time. When we got to the ferry dock we were the last car put on the barge so we had enough time to make a few stops on our trip back to the city. We stopped at Wendy B’s in Lafontaine and picked up a few snacks to enjoy on the trip home and the girls picked up a birthday present for me from her small gallery in the back corner of her store.

This lovely bracelet also came with a pair of beautiful hand painted earrings.

On the way home we were approaching an antique market outside of Cookstown that I’ve always wanted to stop at but never have. This trip we decided that we had enough time to stop and have quick tour of the place. We weren’t disappointed. I love collecting old bottles and found a few to use as subjects in my paintings. I also found a rack of new linen tops that were on sale and I treated myself to a beautiful orangey button down blouse that I can also wear like a jacket. Here are some of things that we saw there:

When we got home there was a parcel waiting for me from my friend, D, from the cottage. She ordered me a new game called King’s Cribbage.

My daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law were already there. My husband and son-in-law were busy cooking up ribs. We had a glorious outdoor meal with the family. The baby is walking holding onto things but she has managed a few steps on her own. I received a gift certificate for an art store (always appreciated) and my husband combined my anniversary gift with my birthday gift and bought me a great macro lens (which most of you already know I’ve been using a lot).

Last weekend my husband and I made our final visit to the cottage to close the place up for the season. I know it’s early but this year is an exceptional year with milestone birthdays in October.

Cheers!

Opening the Cottage in August

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….I was dreading going to the cottage on my own to open up for the season

Before we left for Italy I was hoping to open the cottage so that it would be ready when we returned. Unfortunately that didn’t happen for too many reasons to go into to.

When we did return home from our amazing trip it took me a couple of days to recover from jet lag. My husband was still recovering from his gastrointestinal problems so a couple of days were spent visiting his doctor and then a specialist. One thing was for sure; going to the cottage meant going on my own. My husband didn’t feel well enough to be at the cottage, my daughters couldn’t make it until later in August and my friends were busy with elderly parents and health issues of their own.

Last Sunday I finally packed up the car and made the trip on my own. Leaving on a Sunday meant I missed all the weekend traffic and the line-up for the ferry (barge) was short. One of the other reasons I was hesitant about going up alone was because the regular car ferry had been taken off the lake forever and a temporary barge was transporting eight to twelve cars at a time (normally 20 cars were on the old ferry). The fear of the unknown kept me in the city longer than I had planned.

Everything went fairly smoothly crossing the lake. When I got to the cottage my neighbour’s adult children had already removed the plywood panel from the back door and had moved my propane fridge from inside to the deck outside. It was evident that the mice had moved in last fall after we left or early in the spring. It’s been worse. I quickly cleaned up the mouse poop in the kitchen and removed all the cushions from their protective storage bags.

Every day that I was there I tackled a new job or two. This way I didn’t kill myself trying to do it all in one day. After four days I had wiped down all the surfaces, washed most of the dishes I would need, swept and washed the floors on the main level and opened up the sofa bed to make sure nothing was living inside. Outside I raked the leaves from the pathways, swept the deck and set up the outdoor furniture and the barbecue.

While I was there I had some fun as well. I visited with my good friends next door, celebrated a birthday down the way with cake and a bonfire, learned a new board game, went for walks on the beach and actually swam in the lake, two days in a row when the water was calm. I was able to get some reading done and finished a novel I had started earlier in the year. I’m now on a second book that I hadn’t finished from a couple of months ago.

On Thursday when I left I luckily got the last spot on the barge for my car and had a leisurely drive back to the city. It felt good knowing that the cottage was somewhat visitor ready and that next time the trip would be less stressful.

The other fun thing that I found time for was taking photos that I will share with you over the next few days. You may have already seen some of the flower shots that I took of my neighbour’s garden.