Labour Day – The End of Summer?

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….I think not

For many Labour Day signals the end of summer; children return to school, cottages are frequented less often, new TV seasons begin, fall classes are opening up and the days are becoming shorter. The weather, however, is anything but fall like. In fact, we’ve been experiencing very hot and humid conditions. I feel sorry for the teachers and students who returned to school this week without the benefit of air conditioning (most schools here don’t have it).

Traditionally the Labour Day is the final day of the CNE and the last day of the Air Show. I attended the CNE on opening day and I watched the Air Show from the park at the end of my street, along with dozens of people from the community. It wasn’t the best day to watch it but I had been at the cottage for most of the 4 day show.

Here are some photos from the last official weekend of summer (maybe not official, summer doesn’t end till Sept 21) from the cottage and the Air Show.

Share Your World – August 27, 2018

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….this will be Cee’s last Share Your World challenge…..thanks for all the great questions you’ve given us over the years

Do you prefer eating foods with nuts or no nuts?

I love foods with nuts. If I’m not in a ‘peanut or nut free zone’ I always choose foods with nuts, such as hazelnut or almond dark chocolate, banana bread with walnuts, Thai food with peanuts, chunky peanut butter, and butter tarts with pecans. Yum!

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?

I usually sleep with the doors open. Not sure why.

Are you usually late, early, or right on time?

I try to be right on time but I’m frequently five to 10 minutes late for social events. I was rarely late when I was working and I was almost always on time for doctor’s and dentist appointments.

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

This week I celebrated my birthday with my family and I spent the weekend at the cottage with my daughter and granddaughter. I also got together with my retired teacher friends for lunch. All these things made me smile.

New Flower (August 29, 2018) – White Margin Snow Rose

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Doing the Tourist Thing – Part 2

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….after Greek Town

The second place that my sister, brother-in-law and I went to see was Harbour Front. As you can probably guess from the name it is on the waterfront, close to the centre of the city. This is where you catch the ferry to go to the Toronto Islands and Porter Airport (also accessible via a tunnel).

When you look north of the harbour all you can see are high rises. The dome where many of our sporting events take place is almost invisible because of the numerous condo towers that surround it. Between buildings you can still get a glimpse of the CN Tower which is no longer the tallest man-made structure in the world. It held the record for over three decades, from 1975 to 2007.

Being a Tourist in Your Own City – Part One

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Mama Cormier

This past week my sister from Calgary and her husband spent five days with us. We had a wonderful time exploring different parts of the city and enjoying the food and drink that Toronto has to offer.

One of the places that my brother-in-law always wants to see is the Danforth, also known as Greek Town. Back in July this popular strip was rocked to it’s core with a mass shooting that injured 13 and killed two young girls. For days people walked around in disbelief with yellow police tape marking the three block area where the shooter took aim at innocent people enjoying a beautiful summer evening. Store windows were boarded up and make shift memorials quickly grew in front of the cafe where the girls were killed.

On Wednesday when we were there the only evidence that a tragedy had taken place was the banner ‘Danforth Strong’ that was erected in the park close to where the shootings started. All the yellow police tape had been removed, the boarded up windows were repaired and businesses and restaurants were once again busy.

Next: Harbour Front

Share Your World – July 23, 2018

Posted on July 24, 2018 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Cee for hosting Share Your World

In regards to puzzle what’s your choice: jigsaw, crossword, word search, mazes, logic or numeric puzzles, something else, or nothing?

My favourite puzzle is Sudoku.

List at least five favorite treats and it doesn’t necessarily have to be food.

I like to treat myself to the following:

A premium ice-cream in a cup

A manicure and pedicure

A good movie

An evening out with friends

A nice glass of wine with my husband

A piece of torte with my father (he loves his cake)

A slice of freshly baked bread slathered with butter

What is your favorite type of dog? (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal or character in a movie)

My favourite dog is hands down a golden retriever. I’ve owned two in my lifetime. We now have a mutt who is definitely my husband’s dog. He’s always said that the goldens were my dogs and Frances is his. (Scully is 15 years old in this photo and Frances is going on 12)

What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

This was a very special week because my son was visiting from London, England. There was a lot of eating and drinking, touring museums and art galleries, visiting his sister in Hamilton and attending a rugby game.

At the AGO

At the ROM

Family

A Week of Food

At the Rugby Game

Fearless

Posted on July 14, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….how does this happen?

I don’t remember my own children taking such risks. Our son discovered that it was fun to rock on top of his diaper boxes at a very young age but when he fell off the porch railing doing the same thing and split his head open that behaviour stopped.

Will it take a similar mishap to make my granddaughter more cautious? Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s wonderful that she’s so adventurous but she does make me nervous when she wants to stand on the top of the playscape.

Luckily her parents and grandparents are always close by when she goes on her climbing adventures.

Axe Cancer – A Fun Day

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….and a great way to raise money for Camp Quality

A couple of weeks ago I told you about a fundraiser that I was participating in to raise money to send children with cancer to camp. I had set a goal for myself to raise $500.00 and thanks to all of you who donated I surpassed my goal and raised $515.00.

The event took place at BattL in the east end of the city and I have to say that the staff made the event a very enjoyable and memorable afternoon. We were a little concerned that the event took place on Father’s Day but the organization managed to pull together enough people to form 14 teams and as a surprise cast members from American Gods arrived and formed a team of their own.

My team, The Cormier Clan, consisted of my husband, my two daughters and me. We were instructed on how to throw the axes and the staff made sure that it was a very safe event. Everyone was given an opportunity to practise throwing the axe until we felt somewhat comfortable.

The teams were all mixed up and everyone threw against someone from another team. The staff kept track of the scores and after three rounds they tallied up the scores to figure out who the highest scorer from each team was. That person then competed in the finals to determine which team won the competition.

Our lead scorer was my. husband. For someone who was very hesitant to try this he ended up really enjoying himself and went through two rounds before he was eliminated. In the end the team from American Gods won the whole thing. Here are a few photos of the event (my granddaughter was only there at the beginning and then her father took her to the Aquarium so she would be out of harm’s way).

BULL’S EYE!!!!

…just to prove that Winnie wasn’t there during the throwing of the axes

A Wonderful Memory Turned Sour This Week

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….disturbing news leaves a bad taste in our mouths

Last week my husband and I took a wonderful trip to Prince Edward County. One of the things that my husband wanted to do was experience the pizza at one of the more famous wineries in the area. On the first day we discovered that the pizza oven was not prepped for baking and we would have to come back the next day. No problem. We would return the next day. In the meantime we sampled some of their excellent wines.

The next day we were so busy that we didn’t make it back and instead had pizza at another winery. It was okay but we’d had better elsewhere. At the end of that day we were talking to one of the locals and they highly recommended the pizza from the winery that we originally wanted to try.

On the day we were leaving my husband decided that we should go back to the first winery before we headed back to Toronto and have lunch there. We weren’t disappointed and enjoyed some of the best pizza we’ve ever eaten. The staff was very friendly and the atmosphere was very welcoming and comforting. We had no idea that there was anything wrong.

A couple of days ago we heard on the news that the owner of the winery has been accused of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. He admitted that many of the accusations were true but says some weren’t. I feel sad about the situation, not for the owner, but for the victims and the all the wonderful staff and employees at the winery and restaurant. You know that their jobs will be affected by the news. People will stay away and Quebec and the LCBO are withdrawing his wines from their shelves and will not reorder.

Thank you to the staff for giving us a wonderful dining experience. If you are directly affected by the unwanted behaviour of your boss we thank you for your bravery for speaking up and hope that the healing has begun.

Carol and Kevin Cormier

The Which Way Photo Challenge – June 15, 2018 – A Road Trip to Wine Country

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Mama Cormier

….thanks to Cee for hosting the Which Way Photo Challenge

This week my husband and I did a three day road trip to Prince Edward County to take in the sites and sample some amazing homegrown wines. We started at the Montrose Inn where we were treated to luxury accommodations in the beautifully restored Montebello style inn. Our hosts Suzette and Roger and their pastry chef, Sabine, spoiled us to the core.

Many of the wineries also displayed some amazing art and some even had their own art galleries. If you love wine, good food and great art you need to check out Prince Edward County, Ontario (not to be confused with Prince Edward Island).