Care Package for a Four Year Old

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Mama Cormier

….every other day my husband and I have been making art for our granddaughter

Earlier in the week our daughter asked the family to send mail to her daughter because she was missing her family and friends. Kevin and I quickly pulled out our art supplies and started to make fun pictures and booklets. Winnie is very much looking forward to Easter so most of our projects have an Easter theme.

In our first package I made a video of what we put in the envelope but my storage space is full with WordPress so I can’t post it here. Those of you who follow me on Facebook may have seen that video. For the second envelope I made another video but I also made photographs.

Winnie and her Mom want to decorate the house for Easter so I made a bunch of hand painted Easter eggs on watercolour paper and Kevin drew her some more bunny pictures. So much fun. We hope she gets them soon. In the meantime I’ve been finding classic children’s stories on Youtube and have sent her the link so that she gets a story or two a day sent by her Oma (that’s me). She loved Strega Nona and The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Walking and More Baking During Covid-19

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Mama Cormier

….at times the streets are empty and it’s an eerie feeling

Today, however, was a beautiful sunny day. The dog walkers were all out and mostly they were alone with their pet. A few people that were walking together were clearly couples who were probably cooped up all day together anyway.

Everyone was very respectful of the acceptable distance between people and when someone came down the street in my direction, either I or the other person stepped off the sidewalk and continued walking on the road. Funny how a few months ago this would have seemed anti-social and weird.

Even in the grocery store people go about their business quickly. People seem to know what they need and they spend as little time as possible in the store. In my local grocery store there are no empty shelves and there was a lot of toilet paper today. The cashiers are all separated from the customers by plexiglass shields at the cash and they all wore gloves. There was tape fixed to the floor with six feet between strips and people observed the social distancing rules.

As soon as I got home I washed my hands, something that I’ve always done but now I’m super diligent about it.

The other thing that both my husband and I have started doing again is bake. Today we started the dough for bread that we will bake tomorrow and while I was in the mood I made an almond cake. We had the cake for dessert tonight with some strawberries and cream. Being aware of the Corona 15 (the 15 pounds that many people will gain during this pandemic) we ate only one slice and then I froze the rest for another day.

30 Day Creativity Challenge – Day 19

Posted on January 25, 2020 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Rainee for hosting the 30 Day Creativity Challenge\

I’ve been making art with my granddaughter again and making pizza with her. I’ve always loved her free style but she does have a vision and you don’t want to tamper with that. That was clearly evident when she decided to make her pizza in the shape of a ‘stop sign’. The adults kept wanting her to add cheese to her creation but she refused and when they didn’t listen she had a melt down. Oma and Papa to the rescue. Lots of dough left over so we started again. Here are our efforts from last Sunday.

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Happy Thanksgiving Canada

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….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.

Thursday Doors – Ancaster Mill

Posted on August 30, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….thanks to Norm for hosting Thursday Doors

This week I celebrated another birthday. They seem to come faster every year. My husband had to make a trip to Hamilton for a quick medical procedure so I went with him. When he was done he surprised me by driving to Ancaster to treat me to a wonderful lunch at the Ancaster Mill. It was a very easy and short trip from the hospital and the scenery along the way was beautiful.

The Ancaster Mill is situated beside a creek, with a large dining room built out overlooking the falls. It is the third oldest building in Ontario and has quite the history. Check it out here.

The mill is situated on a hill to take advantage of the waterfall so walking from the parking lot to the restaurant can be an issue for people with mobility problems. There is, however, a driveway by the doors to the main entrance where passengers can be dropped off.

Before our lunch we walked around the grounds for a few minutes before heading up the stairs past the mill.

After a very delicious lunch we continued up another set of stairs to check out the new wedding chapel and pergola that was still under construction.

I can’t recommend the mill any more highly for a special occasion or splurge. It’s well worth the drive from anywhere in the Golden Horseshoe area or GTA.

New Flower (August 28, 2019) – My Birthday Bouquets

Posted on August 28, 2019 by Mama Cormier

Both my father and husband have always given me flowers on my birthday. Several years ago my husband started buying me flowers every two weeks. Friends have always told me how lucky I am.

A Photo a Week Challenge – What’s for Dinner?

Posted on August 23, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Nancy Merrill for hosting A Photo a Week Challenge

My husband is wonderful cook and all of these meals were prepared by him in the last few months despite his ongoing illness (which is much better by the way).

How We Spent Our 44th Wedding Anniversary

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Mama Cormier

When one talks about celebrating a wedding anniversary we usually imagine flowers, a special dinner out on the town or maybe a gourmet home cooked meal and a nice bottle of wine. These are just a few ways that we’ve celebrated our anniversary in the past.

This year we celebrated 44 years at the hospital. We certainly didn’t plan this and I wouldn’t necessarily even have mentioned it except that my husband who is being treated for pneumonia asked a good friend to take our picture to commemorate this special day.

All visitors have to put on a mask and wear a gown before stepping into my husband’s room. It’s a good look, don’t you think?

For friends and family who know Kevin please be assured that he’s on the mend but he’ll need to be in the hospital for a few more days until his oxygen levels are stable. For now he’s resting and is in good spirits.

Slowly But Surely

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….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.

Wacky Bird Wednesday

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Mama Cormier

….’it’s a hummingbird’

According to Winnie this is a hummingbird. It does have a long beak, I’ll give her that. We finally heard back on her reaction to this week’s Monster Monday. She declared that monsters visited her room and this one’s name was Fred.