Time for a Trip to the Toronto Islands

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..with the temperatures going into summer mode this weekend, there’s no better time

If you haven’t headed up to the cottage this weekend and need a little get away trip, make your way to the ferry docks this weekend.

I would avoid Centre Island, unless you have children and need the amusement park for entertainment. Ward’s Island is a great alternative. It is a residential community where people own their homes but not the land and it’s the largest urban area in North America that has no motorized vehicles other than a few service vans. Most of the homes are tiny and on small lots. It looks very much like a cottage community.

My daughter’s mother-in-law was lucky enough to rent a house for a couple of months when she came back to the city before moving on to her next foreign adventure. On the Mother’s Day weekend we were all invited to her place for a meal. It had always been a dream of hers to own her own house on the island and every year for a number of years she paid a fee to enter a lottery when homes became available for sale. Needless to say she was never chosen so being able to rent for awhile was the next best option.

While we were there we took a walk and enjoyed looking at all the cute homes and emerging gardens. As we continued north we ended on a beach and even though it was still chilly that weekend there were quite a few people walking along the beach and some were sitting on the sand and enjoying a small picnic.

Our hostess loved living on the island. She was there in the middle of the winter and then again in April and May. Her only source of heating was a gas fire place in the shape of an old fashioned wood burning stove. She was toasty and warm all winter and she loved the solitude and quiet of her neighbourhood. The ferry runs every hour and residents can buy a monthly pass so if they have to make more than one run a day to the mainland it doesn’t cost them an arm and a leg. Most of the time if you’ve forgotten to buy something or have run out of something there’s a web bulletin board and your neighbours come to your aid if they have what you need.

Persian Delights in Toronto

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..35 kilometres north of where I live is a thriving Iranian community

When my son and his fiancé came to visit in December we were treated to a wonderful Iranian meal made by my future daughter-in-law. A trip to Super Khorak Supermarket in North York made it possible to gather up all the ingredients necessary to create our authentic meal. I heard so many wonderful stories of this Persian market that day and then again when I read about it in fellow blogger, Ann Gagno’s post yesterday that I really wanted to experience it for myself.

My husband suggested that we take a drive up there today and purchase some of their ready-made food for our dinner with our girls tonight. The place was buzzing with activity. The bakers worked non-stop putting fresh hot flat breads on the counter for customers to gingerly fold and put into paper bags. Behind the take away counter the grill man cooked skewers of kebobs while the ladies packed up the orders swiftly and efficiently into styrofoam clamshells and foil containers.

Everyone was extremely friendly and very helpful. One thing I realized after we paid for our purchases was that I ordered way too much rice. When I saw the size of the container I told the man next to me that I ordered enough for ten people. He laughed and suggested that it was just enough for four hungry Persians.

We ordered three different kinds of kebabs, beef, chicken and ground meat, two different flat breads, marinated olives, baked rice with a chicken filling, an eggplant and meat stew and gormeh sabzi (herb stew) and for dessert, baklava. Needless to say we had lots of leftovers. The girls went home with bread and rice.

Tonight’s dinner. Yum!

For fellow Torontonians who’d like to try some authentic Persian cooking I would highly recommend a trip to Super Khorak Supermarket in North York. It’s open 24/7 and is located right on Yonge Street. Check out this site for more reviews.

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Long Walks on Weekends

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….now if only I could do that every day or at least every other day

I started this long holiday weekend with a long, 8.6k walk. Last Sunday I managed two walks totalling 9.0k but in between I didn’t walk at all. Granted it was a busy week at school and when I was on yard duty I purposely kept walking for the entire 15 minutes. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday I was out with the girls for soccer practice and on Wednesday night I went with the junior choir to the baseball game at the Rogers Centre where they sang the national anthems at the beginning of the game. They sang beautifully but the Blue Jays lost miserably against the Cleveland Indians, 15 to 4. It was a very late night and I didn’t get home till 11:30. I was also out on Tuesday night with friends and on Thursday I had one final appointment with the oral surgeon after school. Everything on that front looks good and I’m ready to be fitted for my dental crown next week.

All of this of course is extra over and above my regular teaching day. I also met with the board designer to have the library measured up for some renovations and the assembly that I organized for this year’s Jump Rope for Heart took place Friday morning. It always feels good to be able to check another thing off the ‘To Do List’ this time of year.

This brings me back to walking. Last week I installed a new app onto my iPhone called Strava. It tracks my distances, times, calorie output and maps out the routes that I’ve taken. I just push start at the beginning of my walk and stop when I’m done. It does all the calculations for me. I love it and on Mother’s Day, A and J bought me an armband to put my iPhone into when I’m running so I don’t have to carry the phone in my hand or worry about it falling out of a pocket (if I have one).

Walk on May 17th, 2014

If you click on the link you’ll notice that it calls my walk a run. I haven’t figured out how to change that to walk but I did for the first time in a long time run part of today’s walk. It wasn’t far, maybe 1/2 a kilometre but it’s a start. During the walk I stopped a few times to take some photos of the birds in Sam Smith Park. There’s a bird sanctuary there and it is nesting season so there’s lots of activity there. One of the highlights for me on today’s walk was seeing one of the male swans building up the nest and the female sitting on her eggs. It was a bit cool today so she never got off the eggs but the last count had her sitting on five eggs.

I have to admit that I got a bit carried away with today’s walk and completely lost track of time. I was gone for over two hours and my husband called me on my phone to make sure I was okay. The nice feature about Strava is that is only records the time you are actually moving.

When I did finally get home it was time for lunch and then I spent about two hours working in the garden. Our beautiful White Pine has died and it is slated to be cut down in the near future. One of the jobs that I tackled today was removing the river rock that surrounds the tree. We’re having the stump removed right away so everything around the bottom of the tree has to be cleared away. It’s a much bigger job than I thought and I’ve only removed about half of the rocks. My husband was building a new raised garden bed today so I volunteered to start tossing rocks (literally tossing them across the path and into the side garden).

Here are a few more photos from my morning walk. Enjoy!

Happy Mother’s Day

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….in Canada we’re honouring our Mothers today

My daughters and their significant others treated me to a wonderful day on Ward’s Island yesterday. G made a fantastic meal that included a rabbit and apricot terrine, homemade sour dough bread, cured salmon infused with beet juice and cheese cups with hot pepper jelly and those delights were the appetizers.

After a bit of nourishment we went for a long walk and explored the beaches and neighbourhoods of Ward’s Island. I’ll post more about this amazing community in the coming week. When we returned to the little cottage that G’s mother-in-law was renting we enjoyed part two of our Mother’s Day Extravaganza.

For the main course we were treated to chicken legs, a faro salad and green beans and snow peas garnished with chopped hazelnuts. Dessert was a delicious panna cotta topped with rhubarb.

At the end of the meal the table was cleared and we played a family game of Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun but apparently I’m not very good at it. Either my answers weren’t clever enough or they were too embarrassing.

Photo courtesy: http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/getreligion/files/2009/01/apples.jpg

This morning my husband surprised me with a very special present…..a brand new ukulele. What a nice surprise. I guess I’d better learn to play better than I play now. After a nice breakfast, also prepared by my husband, I connected with my son and his fiancé in the Netherlands via Skype. After some minor glitches with the volume we spent 35 minutes catching up on the news and sharing plans for the future.

All in all it was a perfect way to spend Mother’s Day weekend!

Sunday Trees _ 130

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..the trees are finally starting to turn green here

Both trees weathered the ice storm this past winter without too much damage. In the first photo you can seen the CN Tower in the background. Not too much green on this tree yet but upon closer inspection one can see the buds beginning to appear. In the second photo this grand old willow is bringing forth a blanket of spring greens. In a couple of weeks the foliage on this tree will obscure all views of the homes in the background. Both trees are situated on Ward’s Island, off the shores of Toronto.

For more Sunday Trees, check out Becca Givens blog.

Correction – Gnat Invasion is Actually a Midge Invasion

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..apparently I’ve misinformed you and what I thought was a gnat is a midge

Today CBC news reported that Toronto is in the middle of a midge invasion. They live near water and seeing that I live next to Lake Ontario it is not unusual to see swarms of them on the street. Apparently those clouds are mating swarms. They look like tiny mosquitoes but they don’t bite. They are attracted to light and that’s why they’re landing on the condominiums by the lake.

I was right about there being more swarms than in past years. Last summer’s unusually wet season is the reason for this years larger population. The good news is that they should disappear in a few days but if we have another wet summer they will return on mass.News video about Midges in Toronto.

Swarms of Gnats

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..it’s one thing when they’re outside…. BUT INSIDE?

I haven’t been able to exercise so my husband has been going for his long walks on his own for the last few days. The weather is still pretty cool but his biggest complaint concerns the swarms of gnats that he has to walk through. On his last walk he swears that the entire walk was one massive swarm. Now he does tend to exaggerate at times but I met my neighbour on Friday coming back from her walk and she complained of the same phenomena. Gnats, everywhere!

Two nights ago I noticed a few gnats in the house but the next morning the table in the kitchen was covered in them. I checked all the windows and doors and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how they were getting in the house. When I told my husband about the infestation in the house he thought about it and came to the realization that the gnats were coming in on his black jacket after his walks. Mystery solved. Solution – shake off outerwear before entering the house.

Today is another beautiful day but windy and cool. I decided to join David Suzuki’s 30×30 Nature Challenge (here) and enjoy 30 minutes a day outside. In the spirit of the challenge my husband decided to have his coffee on the deck. He wasn’t out there more than a minute when he called me to come and see something I’ve never seen in all the years I’ve lived here. The deck was covered in gnats. I don’t know if these photos really do any justice illustrating the amount of gnats that have landed on the deck and the siding of the house but it will give you some idea. Thank goodness they don’t live very long but they do breed quickly and we need some dry weather to end that cycle. Not likely. The weatherman is calling for rain off and on this week.

A Word a Week Photograph Challenge – Water

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I’m very attracted to water

I live by water all year round. My home is 100m from Lake Ontario and my cottage is on Georgian Bay. My walks take me along the shores of the lake and our dog loves to swim in the lake.

For more photos of water check out Sue Llewelyn’s A Word in Your Ear.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Shadow

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….. I wanted to post something new and during today’s walk in High Park I found it

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/04/21/cees-fun-foto-challenge-shadows/

I love how the shadows from the chain link fence criss cross over the emu’s face and body.

Happy Earth Day

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….it should be more than spending one day picking up garbage

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that we make children aware of their environment and how to keep it clean but maybe we need to be more diligent about making sure that it stays clean so that we don’t need community clean-up days.

For me Earth Day should be about celebrating the wonders of nature and respecting our environment. Nothing burns me more than seeing people dump their garbage from their cars onto the road, sidewalk or parking lot especially when there’s a garbage bin a mere 20 feet away. There’s a sense of entitlement that I find offensive. If you say anything to these people you know you will be accosted with profanity and rude gestures.

Now that the weather has finally turned around we need to get out and breathe in the fresh air and look up, down and all around us and take in what this beautiful world has to offer. Listen to the sounds of the birds and observe the wildlife that inhabits your backyard. Our environment is precious and we need to savour it and protect it.