Share Your World 2015 – Week 28

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..week of July 14th

What is your favorite comfort snack food?

At the cottage I’d have to say that my favourite comfort snack food is hot freshly popped corn with a little drizzle of melted butter. I have a special cast aluminum pot that I inherited from my mother-in-law over 40 years ago. I don’t know how old it was when I first got hold of it but it’s probably from the 50s. It makes the best popcorn but it stays at the cottage so I never have access to it when I’m back in the city. Therefore my second favourite comfort snack is cheese. I love cheese and a little wine on the side doesn’t hurt.

If you had to spend one weekend alone in a single store but could remove nothing, which store would you pick? (except food or beverage)

I like Cee’s answer (Ikea) but I think I might get bored. There are nice comfy beds to sleep on and the food there is also pretty good but I think I’d choose a Chapters Book Store. Most of them have a Starbuck’s on the premises and their chairs are comfortable enough for sleeping. I’m assuming I can take books off the shelves as long as I return them. I could really get into all the art books and decide which ones I’d like to own and maybe I could bring my knitting and find some great patterns that I could experiment with.

What was the largest city you have been to? What is the one thing you remember most?

The largest city I’ve ever been to is probably the one I live in. Toronto is the largest city in Canada. The next largest city I’ve been to would have to be Montreal. The things I remember most are how the city is divided into old, historic Montreal and the new modern Montreal. In old Montreal there are great cathedrals and churches and in modern Montreal there are fantastic restaurants and great shopping.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.designsponge.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/montreal.jpg

Photo courtesy of: http://www.cmdai.org/images/montreal.jpg

Finish this sentence: It has recently come to my attention that ….

…..my husband is going to have more surgery in August. After all the tests and the indecision and differing opinions of numerous doctors, the tumour board has decided that surgery was the best option. We’re actually happy that a decision has finally been reached and we will find out exactly what it is in his lungs that keeps showing up in his scans.

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 week spent at the cottage. Now that the place has been opened and cleaned future trips will be much easier and there won’t be any hesitation about going up there. I’m also grateful for time spent with my daughters and husband and being able to take part in the Pan Am Games experience.

This week I’m looking forward to going back up to the cottage and hopefully the water will have warmed up a bit so that I can go swimming. My husband has another doctor’s appointment on Friday but I hope he can find the time to join me on the weekend.

The Lake is my Muse

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….this week’s Word Press Photo Challenge is muse

I am attracted to water and because I live in Ontario most of my water photos are of fresh water lakes. I live 100 meters from Lake Ontario, 100km from Niagara Falls and my cottage is on Georgian Bay.

Share Your World 2015 – Week 24

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….here is the new format for Cee’s Share Your World

It’s pretty much the same but instead of 4 random questions there are now 3 and one list question.

What’s your favorite charitable cause and why?

I think my favourite charity has to be the Heart and Stroke’s Jump Rope for Heart event. I’m probably a little biased because I’ve been running this event for the last 16 years at our school and we’ve raised well over $100 000.00. This year alone we took in almost $10,000.00. I like this charity because it makes children aware of heart healthy activities and how the money they raise is used for research. The best part is the day that the whole school comes outside and jumps rope for an hour. We have music, games and prizes and everyone, including the teachers get involved.

What color do you feel most comfortable wearing?

I love wearing red and royal blue and white.

If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be? (guest can be dead, alive, famous or someone you just know)

My first three guests would be Pablo Picasso, my father, and Jon Stewart.

List: What are at least five places you’ve enjoyed visiting?

• Amsterdam and Rotterdam

• Dublin, Westport and Howth

• Munich and Oberaudorf

• San Francisco

• Stowe, Vermont

• Hawaii

• Banff, Alberta

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 resolving some of my iPhone and computer issues on Sunday and for a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon with our daughter and son-in-law in Hamilton. Even though my husband’s test results are still inconclusive I’m grateful for the wonderful doctors and technicians who we’ve dealt with in the last few weeks and hopefully we’ll have a better idea which option to choose this coming week.

This week I’m looking forward to our school production which we do on an outdoor stage in front of the school. We’re all hoping for good weather. Last year it started to rain part way through but the parents wanted us to continue. The stage helped keep the children dry but the audience sat under umbrellas and tarps.

I’m also looking forward to getting together with both my daughters and their significant others on Father’s Day. We’re hoping that our friends A and W can also join us and with any luck we may be able to visit with my Dad as well.

When a Busy Weekend Keeps You From Walking

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..3 days in a row of over 10 000 steps and then the weekend comes along

Usually the weekend is a great time for walking but this weekend proved otherwise. On Saturday I squeezed my newly pedicured feet into a brand new pair of high heels and wore them for the next eleven hours.

We left the house shortly after 12 noon and arrived at the church just in time for the wedding. The service wasn’t as long as we had expected and now we had 3 hours to kill before the reception. We thought about going home but opted instead to go to a restaurant close by and have a bite to eat. We ordered a couple of appetizers and sparkling water. Well that took less than an hour and we still had time to spare.

We decided to find some stores to browse through but we were in the middle of box store city with lots of pavement and parking lots to walk over. Not very good for someone in 3″ heels. In hind sight it seems ridiculous but we drove from store to store. My husband hates malls and box stores so we didn’t spend too much time ‘shopping’. We didn’t actually buy anything.

We didn’t have any coffee when we were in the restaurant earlier and we were now in need of a caffeine fix. Back in the car, we now drove around looking for a coffee shop. After a couple of missed turns we finally found a Star Bucks and sat down, again, for a cup of coffee.

We arrived at the reception hall exactly at 5:00 and there was no one else in the parking lot. We wondered if we had the right place but within minutes the families of the bride and groom showed up and slowly the guests stared arriving as well. I guess showing up on time is an old fashion custom. I couldn’t believe how late people walked through the door.

After the cocktail hour, dinner was served and for the next four and a half hours we were in our seats as the courses were served with speeches and formalities in between.

I was hoping we’d get to do some dancing but by the time the last speech had been delivered it was already 10:30 and we realized that our poor dog had been alone since noon. We said our good-byes and headed home. By 11:00 o’clock we arrived at the house and the first thing I did was take off those high heels. My husband took the dog out for a quick pee. I was just too tired to go for a walk. I had only logged 3400 steps.

On Sunday I slept in and then read my book for a couple of hours. I had booked an appointment with the Apple store to sort through some issues I was having with my computer and my iPhone. My husband came with me so that we could leave right from the mall and drive to Hamilton to have dinner at our daughter’s house. That’s right, my husband was in a mall, two days in a row. What a sport!

Unfortunately today was a very rainy day and when we arrived in Hamilton our plans for walking to a new area to explore were altered. The rain had let up briefly but our daughter didn’t think it was a good idea to walk to our destination because the odds of a downpour were pretty high. She was right. We drove to a quaint shopping area on Locke Street, parked the car and walked up and down the street. We stopped for coffee and a bite to eat because dinner wasn’t going to be early as we had anticipated.

There are some great little stores, coffee shops and restaurants in this area of Hamilton. I’ll be sure to return on a future visit. When we returned to our daughter’s house I went out for another short walk over to James street but most stores on Sunday close between 4:00 and 5:00, if they’re open at all.

When I returned to the house G had put out a lovely spread of cheese, dips and crackers and shortly after they served us a scrumptious dinner of ribs and a watermelon salad. I suggested going for a walk before dessert was served but it was decided that we would play a board game first and then go for a walk. Well we never did get out for that walk and in total I only logged 4000 steps for the day.

A Blue Woman and Coffins

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Mama Cormier

Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge 2015 – Week 23

……an impromptu visit to the museum earlier this week furnished me with some very odd ball photos for Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge

The nice thing about having a membership to the museum or the art gallery is that you can walk in at anytime and spend as much or as little time as you want and not worry about getting your money’s worth. Last Monday after my husband’s procedure at a downtown hospital we met our oldest daughter and enjoyed a nice lunch with her and then proceeded to walk to the museum to see if there were any new exhibits. We checked out an exhibit of Mexican textiles and then discovered a floor with African and South American masks, tools, sculptures, paintings and other artefacts. The blue woman sculpture and the specialty designed coffins from Ghana, I thought, made excellent photo subjects for this week’s odd ball challenge.

A south Asian sculpture using teak and indigo to represent the region.

Coffins in Ghana are specifically designed to honour the deceased’s past while alive.

The owner of this coffin may have been a car dealer or used a car to earn his living.

This coffin was designed for a fisherman. My husband said that his coffin would be a guitar case.

Share Your World 2015 – Week 21

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..Cee has changed up the format for this week’s post

Instead of four questions, Cee has asked us to choose topics and list at least four items for each topic. Here are my choices:

Favorite Songs

Favorite flowers or plants: Gerbera Daisy, Sunflowers, Tulips, Gladiolas,

Favorites types of tea
Favorite types of animals: dogs, elephants, snow leopards, zebras

List of favorite blogs
Stuff that makes you laugh: silly jokes, funny movies, my husband, absurd answers that kids write on tests
Movies to cheer you up
Favorite actors/actresses
Good restaurants to eat at
Best desserts: anything with fruit and whipped cream, creme brule, real Black Forest cake, ice-cream

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

Games to play with friends
Fun things for a rainy day: playing board games, reading, painting, talking on the telephone, baking,
Books I want to read
Things I want to have in my home (paintings, hot tubs, book cases, big screen tv etc)
Places worth shopping
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 that I was able to organize the activities for Monday’s Forest of Reading Celebration. On the weekend I made my samples for the hand made journals, shopped for the gift bags and purchased some books for the students that had done an outstanding job with our reading challenge. I’m thankful for all the help from two of my colleagues, M and B who stayed late on Friday and helped me set up the supplies for the workshop. A special thanks to R for running the drama workshop and my boss, M for purchasing the pizza lunch for all our reading experts and the 40 students who qualified for our special day.

One final thanks goes to the parents and the school council for making this program possible with their generous contribution. Without their financial support we wouldn’t have been able to purchase the books for the program and hire the author who came to speak to the boys and girls on Monday.

This week I’m looking forward to our Jump Rope for Heart activity on Friday and to the Fun Fair on Saturday. This year the goal was to sell at least 400 wristbands before this Saturday. If that happened I agreed to go into the dunk tank. The children have been taunting me for weeks that I was going down into the tank but I replied that unless they sold those wristbands that wasn’t going to happen. Today they met the goal. My principal is over the moon that it’s going to be me this year and not her going into the tank. Stay tuned. I’ll keep you posted as to how I survive the ordeal.

I leave you with a few images from last week. On Saturday my husband and I took a trip to the Junction to check out the first day of the weekly Farmers’ Market. I looked up and photographed some of the interesting facades of the older buildings in the neighbourhood and we checked out a few interesting stores and of course stopped for coffee.

Share Your World 2015 – Week 20

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks Cee for four more thought provoking questions

What is the most important thing that you ever learned? (I bet it’s not something you learned in school)

I learned early on in my adult years that not everyone you meet will like you. The first time I discovered that someone really didn’t like me it took me for a loop. I get along with most people so when someone dislikes you for simply being yourself it can be somewhat hurtful. I don’t let it bother me anymore and figure that the problem lies with them.

I also learned that friends you make in school won’t necessarily be your friends later in life and sometimes if you’re lucky you can rekindle old friendships as you get older. In recent years I’ve been fortunate to be able to do that.

What feeds your enthusiasm for life?

I love to learn and try new experiences. I get joy from reading, doing art, teaching art, taking photographs and spending time with family and friends.

What’s your most memorable (good or bad) airplane commercial or private flight?

My most memorable airplane flight took place last year when my brother-in-law treated my middle sister and me to a complimentary flight, first class, to Calgary. The seats were comfortable, the food was good and our wine glasses were never empty. The flight took place on Air Canada.

If you were a great explorer, what would you explore?

I would explore all the great museums and art galleries of the world. That of course would take me to the most amazing cities in the world as well so I would check out all the historic sites and local markets and artisans.

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 spending an interesting day in Hamilton last week. I discovered a whole slew of interesting stores, restaurants and galleries in my daughter’s new neighbourhood. I can’t wait to go back and check out some of these places more closely.

I’m grateful that my husband’s biopsy went smoothly and that there weren’t any complications. The results were inconclusive so we have to wait for another test.

This week I’m looking forward to watching the girls play in their soccer tournament and meeting the author that I booked for the students’ activity day. Forty students met their goal of reading at least ten books in the last five months and earned a special day where they are excused from class to attend a drama workshop and bookmaking workshop, are treated to lunch and in the afternoon spend time with one of the authors whose book was nominated for the 2015 Forest of Reading Collection. It should be a lot of fun.

I’ll end with some photographs that I took the last few days.

From Winter Straight Into Summer

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….after months of complaining about the cold we can now complain about the heat

We never get much in the way of Spring weather here in Southern Ontario. It is usually very short lived and then we’re straight into summer. This year April was unseasonably cold and May has started out with very warm…..no high, temperatures.

This Mother’s Day weekend, my husband and I and our daughter, A, and her partner, J, drove to Hamilton to celebrate Mother’s Day with our other daughter G and her husband BT. It was so hot that I brought a change of clothes in case what I was wearing was too warm.

After our lunch at a local restaurant (we stayed inside where it was air conditioned) we took a walk to Bayshore Park where we saw people fishing, wading in the lake, cycling and having picnics. The ice-cream trucks were out and people were applying sun screen to their arms and legs.

There were lots of birds in the park and the mating rituals and bird chatter were abundant. The geese and seagulls were hovering close to the picnickers, as they always do and the dog walkers were out in droves. Most of the trees were in full bloom here and some were already losing their blossoms. Tulips were also in full bloom but the daffodils were already finished for the season.

Today my husband cut the grass for the second time this year and is now starting to get the vegetable beds ready for planting. Normally this would be too early here but these unusually high temperatures are saying otherwise.

I hope everyone has had an enjoyable Mother’s Day weekend.

Cheers!

A New Farmers’ Market in a New Home Town, a Visit From One Sister, Washing the Car and a Children’s Concert

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..needless to say it’s been a busy weekend

On Saturday my husband and I drove to Hamilton to return my daughter’s husband and dog (see yesterday’s post). It was probably the warmest day we’ve had this season. Both my husband and I were uncomfortable with the sudden heat. I’m not sure if Hamilton was warmer than Toronto but it certainly wasn’t that warm when we left the big city.

When we arrived our daughter was in the process of putting away dishes in the kitchen. There are still a lot of boxes that need to be unpacked. I really thought we were going to help with this massive job but G and B had other plans for us. B and I drove up the mountain to the paint store to pick up paint and G and her Dad walked up the street to pick up some lunch.

After lunch K and I walked to the end of the street to check out the Farmers’ Market. It was pretty big and there was a great selection of produce, meat, fish, cheese, baked goods, coffee and spices. There were also a number of vendors selling crafts.

When we returned B was already prepping for painting. I guess until the painting is done there isn’t much that can be done in the way of putting things away. We had a feeling that our help wasn’t really needed. We enjoyed a cup of coffee that we picked up at the market. It is literally only a five to ten minute walk from the house. When we left, B was well into painting the living room.

On Sunday, my sister from Chatham dropped by before heading back to the farm. She was in town to visit her two children. Her daughter was suppose to leave for Nepal this week for a three month co-op placement. She needs this in order to graduate. Fortunately for her the trip was cancelled because of the earthquake. Actually she was very disappointed but my sister was relieved. I’m sure the school will come up with another placement.

It was nice catching up with my sister. We didn’t even see each other at Christmas so one of the reasons for the visit was to pick up her Christmas gift which had been gathering dust in the corner of my living room.

I’m embarrassed to admit it but Sunday was the first time since the fall that I washed the car. It was also the first time that I took the car to one of those do-it-yourself car washes. It was the best $4.00 I ever spent. If I’d had more change I would have washed the floor mats and vacuumed the inside of the car. Next time!

On my way home from the car wash I got a phone call from my friend L and she reminded me of the children’s concert that we had talked about earlier in the week. I had completely forgotten about it but luckily it was being held in the neighbourhood at the Assembly Hall. I quickly fixed dinner and then I walked over to the college. The concert was put on by the Etobicoke Children’s Chorus. It was a special night because it was the farewell performance for the choir’s choral director.

As you can see it was a pretty busy weekend. In between all the fun things I’ve written about I also managed to do a little gardening, I cleaned up the kitchen, started cleaning the refrigerator, did some laundry and drove to Canadian Tire to pick up some household items.

More Snow, Cuban Food, Cheese, Tarts and Jazz

Posted on February 22, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….despite the snow it was a very full and delightful day

On Saturday we woke up to more snow. Lots of snow. We had made plans earlier in the week to meet up with friends for lunch and because we had already cancelled the last get together because of illness we didn’t want to cancel again. Luckily the drive wasn’t too long.

We had lunch at a very popular restaurant on Roncesvalles in the west end of Toronto. The weather certainly didn’t keep people from going out for a meal. The place was packed but our wait was relatively short. La Cubana specializes in Cuban delights and because we were there on a Saturday the brunch menu was being served.

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The food was very tasty and the service very friendly. I would definitely go back. We hadn’t seen our friends, D & D, since New Year’s Day so we had a lot of catching up to do. They talked about their recent trip to Singapore and shared some beautiful photographs of this island country. We brought them up to date on K’s recent surgery and his even more recent accident. You can see from the photograph that he’s healing nicely.

After lunch we said our good-byes, scraped off more snow from the car and then carefully drove off. On the way home we decided to stop at one of our favourite cheese stores in town, The Cheese Boutique. It was a good day to go. We sampled some delicious organic olive oil from Turkey, were served some hot turkish tea and met a lovely lady who was promoting her homemade lemon curd tarts and butter tarts. I asked her if she lived close by and she told us about her store and bakery on the Queensway called the The Tartistry. She also told us about the live jazz band that played there every Saturday, all day long. Seeing it was on the way home we decided to stop in and check the place out. Before we left we picked up some great cheese that was on sale, a free range chicken and a nice big steak to share for dinner.

The Tartistry is a small store, crammed with beautiful antiques, jewellery, art work and of course tarts. We sat at a small table and ordered two pots of tea and because we hadn’t had dessert with lunch we also indulged in the best tarts I’ve ever eaten. The jazz band was very good. The place was pretty quiet, probably due to the bad weather, but I can see how on a nicer day the place could be very busy. I would definitely go back here again as well.

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After spending about an hour listening to jazz we finally drove home, stopped to pick up some fresh vegetable to go with the steak and quickly shovelled more snow and took the dog for a walk before preparing dinner. Actually, we were pretty full from our mid afternoon snack so we waited quite a while before making dinner. The steak was amazing and even though one steak is normally enough meat for both of us my husband did wish he had an entire steak to himself (only because it was so good). We laughed when he said that because when we have in the past eaten a steak each he usually complains that it’s too much meat.

All in all it was a wonderful day. Full of new and unexpected and spontaneous adventures.