…the vegetable and fruit stands are overflowing with beautiful produce from our local farmers
On my way home from the cottage last weekend I stopped at one of my favourite farms to buy some vegetables to take home. I wasn’t disappointed. So colourful and so varied.
…..to all women who are mothers at heart to their families, friends and colleagues
What a beautiful day. A day to be celebrated by anyone who is a mother, has a mother or knows a mother. I am blessed to have known my mother for 40 years, been a mother for 42 years and have so many friends who are mothers, step moms, godmothers, sisters, cousins, nieces and aunties.
To all those family and friends who did make it into this collage please know it’s only because I ran out of space. You are all loved and I’m thinking of you on this special day.
….no kidding, it was a pop up clinic in the middle of a parking lot
Last Thursday I decided to go to one of the many pop-up clinics that are showing up in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario and try to get my booster shot a little earlier. I had managed to get an appointment for January 6th but with the kids coming over at Christmas I thought I’d try to get an earlier appointment.
When I got to the outdoor plaza at Dixie and Dundas, I wasn’t sure I was in the right place but I eventually saw the GO bus where the clinic was being held. After I parked the car I walked over to the line where people were masked and socially distanced. It was hard to tell how many people were ahead of me because the line snaked around rows of parked cars. Luckily it was a mild and sunny day.
Soon after I arrived someone came around handing out tickets to make sure they had enough doses and they announced that they had run out of the free testing kits. Half the line behind me left when they heard that. I quickly got to know the lady behind me and saved her place in line so that she could find a washroom. Most of the people in line were in their 60s and knowing where the closest washroom was was essential. We quickly got to know the couple in front of us and for the next five hours (I kid you not) we chatted up a storm. Not sure I would have stayed in line if I had known that the wait would be that long. When we got there they told us three hours, which was bad enough.
Did I mention that the sun was out and it was 15 degrees celsius when we got there? It was but it changed over the next five hours and it became cloudy and very windy. We prayed that the rain wouldn’t start because there was no shelter in the line. At about the 4 hour mark our legs were becoming quite numb and we started jumping up and down to keep the circulation going and warm up our feet. After five hours I finally I got my booster shot that took all of five minutes. I said good bye to my new found friends, Suzanne, Jackie and Warren and we all went our separate ways.
Am I glad that I got my booster shot? Maybe glad is the wrong word but I am relieved. It is one less thing to worry about for me and my family.
,,,thanks to Sandy for hosting this week’s Friendly Friday Photo Challenge
Summer traditions may be on hold this year as we’re still not allowed to go to the cottage. Hopefully we’ll hear in the next few days when Christian Island opens up to lessee holders. When it does there will be quite a few restrictions, like no friends and only immediate family will be allowed on the ferry.
Having said that we’re still able to barbeque in the backyard and go for walks through the parks. Some of these photos are from years past.
Community Corn Roasts (cancelled this year)
Driving Through the Country
Ice-Cream with Winnie
Swimming at the Lake
Summer Fun Runs (cancelled this year)
Sunsets on Big Sand Bay
Walks Along the Beach
Sharing a Meal at the Cottage
The CNE (cancelled this year)
Relaxing on the Deck at Friend’s Cottage
BBQ in the Backyard
….and Happy Birthday Onkel Günter, Winnie and Brendan
It’s been a busy weekend. Not only did we celebrate Thanksgiving here in Canada but we had four birthdays in the family on the same weekend. In fact in October we celebrate birthdays for my husband, my father, my granddaughter, my son-in-law and his brother, my father’s brother and my cousin. I’m sure I’ve missed someone.
This weekend our granddaughter turned four. Andrea, our oldest daughter volunteered to host Thanksgiving and the birthday party at her house. I was most grateful for that, especially after spending five hours in emergency with my husband on Friday. Before you become too concerned let me just say that he’s much better and gets better each day. Thankfully I had made my contribution to the dinner the day before.
The other thing that I did before going to Andrea’s for dinner was volunteer at the Inn to help with the outdoor oven for a workshop that was being put on by George Brown College. At the workshop the students were instructed in baking pizza in the wood fired oven. Everyone got to make two pizzas, one to eat and one to take home. I couldn’t stay for the whole event because I had to be at the dinner. After I left they also baked pita bread and a cranberry loaf. Dale manned the oven and took the pizzas out when they were ready.
Dinner at Andrea’s and Josie’s was spectacular but the highlight, especially for Winnie, was celebrating Winnie’s 4th birthday. Seeing all the presents was too much for her so we decided to let her open her gifts before dinner.
All in all it was a wonderful weekend, with way too much food and drink. I gained about six pounds but I’m determined to take it off as quickly as possible.
….turrets is what Winnie calls the playscape in High Park
Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my granddaughter so that her mom could spend some time with her father in the hospital. She was very excited when she found out that I was taking her to High Park.
The Jamie Bell Adventure Park was a community built playground and very popular with families. In March of 2012 the place was torched by a suspected arsonists. The community quickly rallied and raised enough money to rebuild the structures and the adventure park was reopened in August of the same year.
When Winnie and I arrived there were ‘hordes’ (the word used by Winnie) of children there enjoying the space. Even though Winnie is not yet four she didn’t let the crowds deter her from having a good time. I got quite the workout running after her so I wouldn’t lose sight of her.
The only way I could get her away from the turrets was to bribe her with ice-cream.
Afterwards we headed over to the zoo to see Fred the peacock. She calls all the peacocks Fred but unfortunately none of them were displaying their tail feathers. She did like this goat standing on the rocks overlooking his harem.
Like the goat Winnie wanted to sit up high above the rest of us and she convinced Oma to lift her up onto this massive stump on the walkway.
After a very long walk back to the car she collapsed onto the cool grass and had a wee rest.
These are the special moments that grandparents live for.
By the way, my husband was released from the hospital and is now resting at home.
This has been an extremely busy week. It started with a trip up north to visit our youngest daughter and her family at the camp where they are living for the summer. The next day I attended a garden party at the Women’s Art Association of Canada house in Downtown Toronto. Last year I volunteered to take over the position of library chairperson and in appreciation for the work that I did along with other new volunteers we were each presented with a rose.
The meal was outstanding and my only regret is the I didn’t take any photos of the event. The president, however, did take photos and she sent me one the same day. I thought that she was only taking a photo of the band but she managed to capture me next to the balloons where I stopped so I wouldn’t get in front of her shot.
….it seems that my granddaughter is going through a growth spurt
I was blessed this weekend to have my daughter and granddaughter stay with us for the weekend. On Friday they will be moving to the summer camp that my son-in-law is in charge of and unless I go up there during the summer there’s little chance of seeing them for the next two months. Hopefully I will find the time to drive up and spend a day or two, here and there over the summer months.
So this weekend was very special to me. We started the day with lunch on the deck and Winnie enjoyed a sandwich, juice and strawberries. She discovered that dipping strawberries into almond butter made for a tasty treat.
After lunch Mommy left to visit a friend for a couple of hours so Winnie and I walked up to the Lakeshore where a grilled cheese festival was taking place. Before we got there she was already declaring that she was hungry again so the first thing we did was purchase a grilled cheese sandwich. She didn’t eat it all but she did want to take it home (which she finished later). Then we went to the yarn store and the owner kindly offered both of us a drink of juice with ‘strawberries’ in it. Of course Winnie loved it.
When we left the yarn store Winnie once again said she was hungry so we headed towards the ice-cream store. She ordered a ‘strawberry’ cone and I had a cup of ‘sweet cream’. Her cone had a very generous scoop of ice-cream for a kiddie cone but she had no problem finishing the whole thing.
In between all the treats Winnie bounced around in the Bouncy Castle and played several games where she earned some coupons for a few small prizes. All in all it was a wonderful afternoon that I will always cherish.
….the temperatures go up and then they go down but surely Spring is in the air
On the weekend we attended a soccer (football) game. The tickets were gifted to us by our daughter and daughter-in-law who had other plans and couldn’t use them. The forecast wasn’t very promising but we decided to bundle up and bring along a stadium blanket to keep us warm.
The seats are very high up in the stadium but the view is spectacular.
I wish I could say that the game was exciting and that we were victorious but TFC was off its game and we were quite disappointed in how they played. In the second half my husband wasn’t feeling well and just couldn’t get warm. We left when the game was tied 1-1 and made our way to warm restaurant for a meal. There were TV screens all through the place and by the time we got there the game was over and Toronto lost 2-1.
On Sunday, the temperatures were up slightly but the best part was the sun and no wind. I took a walk through Col. Sam Smith Park and took a lot of wonderful shots of the lake, the beach and the trees and plants that are getting ready to erupt with colours of green, pink and yellow. You know when the weather is good because everybody and their dogs are out walking.
Mama Cormier 