….also from the bouquet from my husband
New Flower (February 20, 2017) – Pink Mums
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Category Archives: husband
New Flower (February 19, 2017) – Red Carnation
….from a new bouquet gifted to me by my husband
Shopping, Shopping and More Shopping
….after our long walk this morning we decided to go out and buy food for the weekend
Not any old food, mind you. We were shopping for food for our family get together on Sunday. Four of us are driving to Hamilton to celebrate Family Day at G’s and B’s home (parents of Winnie). I suggested that we do a pot luck lunch and everyone quickly agreed.
Our contribution is going to be a charcuterie platter and then some smoked pork chops, German style (Kassler rippchen). To get all the ingredients we needed we drove out to Mississauga and went to the Brandt Meat store. What a treat for all the senses.
We left with 5 different meats and three cheeses for the platter, 8 smoked pork chops and meatloaf for tonight’s dinner. As we got back into the car we decided that potato salad would be a nice addition to the chops so I went back inside and bought a few containers of ready to eat salad.
Hard to imagine that I couldn’t find everything that we needed in this one amazing store but we did need milk, cream, fruit, vegetables and dog food so we made another stop at our go to No Frills grocery story just down the road from our home. I love the produce aisles in this store. It is so bright and colourful and everything is very fresh.
After we loaded up the car with more groceries than we had planned to buy my husband thought of another thing we forgot to pick up. Batteries. Instead of going back into the same store he suggested that I go over to the Dollarama which was next door.
Here’s another store that appeals to the eyes. Bright and colourful and kind on the pocketbook. The line-up was pretty long so I decided to take a quick look around and took a few more photos of some of the merchandise. You can tell that St. Patrick’s Day and Easter are just around the corner.
The teacher in me wanted to buy numerous items for my classes but I resisted temptation. Besides my husband was waiting in the car and if I had returned with anything but batteries he would have given me a questioning gaze.
As soon as we got home we put away the groceries and I started dinner. For those of you who know me well I did it voluntarily and without any coercion from my husband. Once in awhile I still like to cook.
Hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend. Mine is just beginning. Hopefully I’ll have more photos and stories about our Family Day get together tomorrow.
Cheers!
Happy Family Day Weekend
….in most of Canada we’re celebrating Family Day on Monday
What a wonderful way to start a long weekend with a 6k walk. The weather was perfect. Sunny and mild. A great day to take photographs. Here are a few shots that I took this morning.
New Flower (January 26, 2017) – Pale Pink Mum
….part of a bouquet from my husband
Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – Ground II
….I enjoyed part I so much I decided to do a different twist on Cee’s challenge for ground
As I was searching for photos of the ground I discovered photos with different perspectives of this week’s theme. Here they are:
Flying Above the Ground (over Italy)
Walking Under the Ground (tunnel under Humber College)
Dug Up From the Ground (ruins outside Florence)
Drawing on the Ground (drawing in Assisi)
Running on the Ground (Frances at the park)
Eating from the Ground (Horse in Florence)
Walking on the Ground/Grass (for the first time)
Playing on the Ground (Camp Kawartha)
Jumping on the Ground (Jump Rope for Heart)
Sitting on the Ground (in Rome)
Lying on the Ground (in Rome)
Examining the Ground (Stuck in the mud in Assisi)
Shadow on the Ground (in the park)
The Best of 2016
…..despite the terrible events that took place in 2016 on a personal level it was a wonderful year
Most people would agree that 2016 had to be a terrible year for natural disasters, untimely deaths of beloved celebrities, horrendous terrorist attacks around the world, the Syrian refugee crisis, Brexit and a nasty election campaign in the U.S.
Even on a personal note, 2016 hasn’t been all sunshine and roses but there were many memorable and special moments.
In January our son ended up staying with us for an extra week before heading back to London, England. The circumstances of his extended stay aren’t exactly positive but we did have him with us and for me that was special. By the way, at the end of December of last year, he slipped on the ice and broke his upper arm and he required surgery. The surgery was successful and he was released from the hospital on January 1st. 
In February my friend M celebrated her 64th birthday and my niece, S, her 26th.
SONY DSC
The biggest event in February was our daughter’s wedding to her first love and partner of 10 years. They met on Feb. 10th so they decided on their 10th anniversary they would make it official and tie the knot. What a special day!
In March while we experienced snow, our future daughter-in-law was sitting in an outdoor caffe in Assisi planning her wedding.
In May we celebrated Mother’s Day with the family in the backyard (a little chilly) and at school we had our Forest of Reading celebration, Jump Rope for Heart and our annual Fun Fair. Winnie also had her first swimming lesson and her Daddy started Go Cart racing. Also A and J and their brother-in-law, G, ran the Sporting Life 10k.
In June two of my colleagues retired from teaching, my very good friend, A, celebrated her 75th birthday and our son and his love were married in London at City Hall.
Our school choir also sang at a Blue Jays game and we put on our annual outdoor extravaganza at school.
July was the highlight month of the year for our family. We took a trip of a lifetime. My sister and her family from Calgary and my two daughters and their families and my husband and I travelled to Italy to celebrate the union of our son, B, and his beautiful Iranian bride, Az. We travelled for the first 11 days visiting places like Venice, Florence, Bologna and Lucca and then we all met in Assisi where the actual wedding took place. After three days in Assisi we made one more stop in Rome before flying back home.
In August I was able to open up the cottage and spent about 5 weeks there off and on. My husband and I celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary and I had another birthday.
September brought a new school year and my last first day of school. My husband had been coaching a small group of boys from our extended family to get them ready for this year’s cross country team and they were all entered into the Railpath Community Run. In fact there were 11 of us from the family that ran that day. I was happy to do 5k without stopping in 45 minutes. At least I wasn’t the slowest person on the course. The boys did really well and some of them walked away with some prizes.
October was another busy month with a lot of milestone birthdays. My husband turned 65, my dad 90, my son-in-law 40 and Winnie celebrated her 1st birthday. I also organized and ran my last book fair school. We raised the largest sum of money ever. I now I have the fun job of buying books and supplies for the library and classrooms.
As you can see I am the shortest of the three sisters.
In November my oldest daughter, A, celebrated her 37th birthday. Where has the time gone? My younger daughter, Winnie and I attended the Royal Winter Fair and I, along with five other teachers took 59 students on a three day overnight winter camp in the Kawarthas.
In December my Dad moved from his apartment to the retirement home across the road. We held our annual craft night at school, held a Christmas concert and had our staff party at a local restaurant. Christmas was a three day affair; one day in Hamilton, another in Toronto and the third in Oshawa. On the 30th of the month we celebrated the birthdays of our twins who are now 35. As my principal and friend M would say ‘Carol you’re old!’
SONY DSC
SONY DSC
So as you can see there were lots of bright moments in 2016 for me and the Cormier family. Wishing you all a bright, happy, healthy and prosperous 2017.
Cheers!
Travel Theme – Snowy
….thanks to Ailsa for this week’s travel theme
The beautiful and unusually balmy days of November appear to be behind us. With the forecast of cold and possibly snowy days in the coming week, especially further north, I decided I couldn’t put off installing snow tires on my new car any longer.
On Friday morning I woke up at 5:30 so that I could get to tire department at Costco by 6:30. The evening before the nice man at the counter after giving me a couple of quotes for snow tires strongly suggested that I arrive no later than 6:30 even though the place didn’t open until 7:00. I walked through the doors at 6:35 and found myself 14th in line. When the gate was finally lifted, promptly at 7:00 the second man in front of me was informed that he was the last person to be guaranteed getting his car back by noon. The rest of us might have to wait till 8:30 in the evening before we could pick up our cars.
Feeling that I didn’t have much choice in the matter I decided to leave it and I walked to work. Luckily it was a PA day and I didn’t have any classes to teach. It took me about two hours to get to school but I did stop for a coffee and bite of breakfast at a Tim Horton’s. Later in the day a friend drove me home and I no sooner stepped in the door when the phone rang and I was told that my car was ready. The same friend drove me back to Costco. I am now ready for those ‘snowy’ days ahead.
I know you’re thinking that this is a pretty cheesy way of getting to the theme of snowy but I do have some photos that are snowy white to share with you. Seeing that we haven’t experienced any snow yet I’ve gone into the archives to find some appropriate ‘snowy’ shots.
The photos include whitening the feathering on a Clydesdales feet with chalk, the snowy white marble of the Trevi Fountain, my granddaughter’s snowy white yogurt face, a lovely creamy white ball of buratta cheese, a snowy white peony from my garden and snowy days from last winter.
Are you ready for the onslaught of snowy days? It’s coming!
Cheers!
The Changing Seasons – October 2016
…..thanks to Cardinal Guzman for hosting Changing Seasons
October has been a month of birthdays in our family and all were special birthdays. We started with my husband’s 65th birthday, then my father’s 90th birthday, my granddaughter’s 1st birthday and my son-in-law’s 40th birthday. October also saw the colours finally change and mostly towards the end of the month. Finally the month ended, as it always does, with Hallowe’en and what a glorious day it was for trick or treating.
In the Hills of Assisi
….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!
Mama Cormier 