1. The west and east coasts of Canada. I’ve lived in Canada pretty much all of my life but I’ve never been to any of our coastal areas. I’m very much drawn to water and that’s one of the reasons I’ve lived in Toronto in the same house for over 35 years. I live right next to Lake Ontario and in the summers I spend a great deal of my time at the cottage on Georgian Bay.
2. Italy, the entire boot. I’ve wanted to go to Italy for awhile now. The rolling hills of Tuscany, the history of Rome, the romance of Venice, the mountains in the north and the rugged coastlines tug at my wanderlust. I love the food, the wine and the art and of course the beautiful scenery. What more could a person want?
3. New Zealand and since I’ve travelled so far I might as well hop on over to Australia. I love reading about both countries and I follow several bloggers from ‘down under’.
4. New York City. The last time I was in NYC I was a mere child of 5 years. We drove down to pick up my Oma from the ship that she travelled on from Germany. Everyone should experience this iconic city at least once in their life and take in the shows, the great restaurants, Central Park, Coney Island and of course the Statue of Liberty.
5. Iceland. My daughter and her partner just came back from Iceland and the rugged scenery intrigues me. The entire country has no more than 300 000 people so the roads are never busy and they are easy to manoeuvre.
….didn’t finish everything on my to do list but actually did more than I planned to do, including watching a very bad movie
It was a perfect day, yesterday, for working in the garden. I raked the front and the back yard and bagged a lot of yard waste. I know that I said I would report back later in the day but I think I overdid it because I couldn’t keep my eyes open later in the evening. Here’s what I accomplished in one day:
I did actually put some fertilizer down over my bulbs. I think I called it bone meal yesterday but in actual fact it’s chicken poop. It’s suppose to keep the squirrels from digging up the bulbs. As soon as the snow melted away last week I noticed that something started digging in the garden so I had to take action quickly before the hundred bulbs I planted last fall are completely destroyed.
I also took down the Christmas lights on the Yew in front of the house. As I was doing that I decided that it needed a good trim so I got out the ladder and proceeded to give it a ‘hair cut’. This was not on my to do list.
As you can see from the photos, new growth is just starting to come up from the ground. Now you can see why I’m so envious of all those beautiful photographs of blossoms and spring flowers that the rest of the world seems to be enjoying. It really has been a long winter.
I also did about four loads of laundry, vacuumed the main floor of the house, dusted in the living room and I did take out some of the garden furniture. I didn’t want to push it because I was afraid I was going jinx this beautiful weather we’re having. As it is the weatherman has forecast snow for this Tuesday and I also put away the snow shovels. Well, I actually left one out just in case.
I also cleaned the oven, wrote one post (started this one) and took a few photographs.
I didn’t get to the bird cage and I didn’t put away my winter clothes and take out the summer clothes. I think the latter project is a little premature anyway, seeing that we’re in for a few more days if not weeks of cool weather.
Later in the afternoon my husband and I decided to treat ourselves and go and see a movie at the theatre. Usually I check reviews before deciding on a movie but for some reason I didn’t do that this time. Big mistake.
We went to see, Noah. It had some very good actors in it (Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson) and it was directed by the same director who did the Black Swan. How could we go wrong?
It was bad. This interpretation of the biblical story of Noah is so out there that it was barely recognizable. The only things that made it recognizable were the ark and the animals pairs (all computer animated by the way). It was a disaster movie with rock creatures called the Watchers. For a better review of this movie go to my favourite movie blog and see what Movie Joltz has to say. I usually go here before I decide on a movie. After watching Noah, my husband’s comment was, “Well, that’s three hours I’ll never get back.”
If you were an ice cream cone how many scoops and flavors would you be and why?
This is tough. I love ice-cream and I love having a variety of flavours. I think I would go for two scoops (in a cup, not a cone) and hopefully my partner in crime would have two different scoops so that I could sample some of his. The one flavour that comes to mind immediately is coffee or mocha. My second scoop would be cinnamon (a specialty flavour at Greg’s) or a rich French vanilla ice-cream with a swirl of chocolate, nuts and cherries. Yum!
Are you left or right handed?
I am left handed. My mother was worried about that because as a girl she was forced to write with her right hand and would get her knuckles rapped if she tried to use her left hand. Luckily that archaic practice had ceased to exist when I started school. I’m actually quite ambidextrous and I bowl, bat and knit right handed. Years ago I taught a knitting class at the community school and my mother owned a wool store. One of her customers took my class and she went to my mom to ask for some advice. I use the European method of knitting and since all my students were right handed I instructed them to follow my mirror image. Little did I know at the time that I knit right handed and I was forcing my students to knit with their left hands.
Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say?
It depends on whom I’m calling. I never rehearse social calls but when I used to do demonstrations at home parties and I had to cold call people to book parties I definitely rehearsed what I would say. I hated cold calling.
How many rings before you answer the phone?
I usually let the phone ring three times or until the call display comes up. If the number is a 1-800 number I often let it go or I’ll say ‘hello’ twice quickly and then hang up if no one answers back after the second hello.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I am grateful for four days with my sisters in Calgary and for the beautiful weather we had last week. Who knew travelling west would be almost as good as going south. This week I’m looking forward to another concert put on by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto, featuring Yegor Dyachkov on cello and Jean Saulnier on piano.
I’m also taking an on-line art course for the next two weeks and learning about abstraction and how to paint an abstract. I’m finishing my first assignment and will be posting it shortly.
For more Share your World posts check out http://ceenphotography.com/2014/03/17/share-your-world-2014-week-11/
A week ago I had the pleasure of attending a concert in the afternoon that featured an up and coming star in the music world who plays the recorder. His name is Vincent Lauzer and he graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. In 2012, he won the First Prize during the Stepping Stone of the Canada Music Competition and the Career Development Award from the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. These are just a couple of awards that he has won and after watching his performance I can see why. I can’t really write a review that would adequately critique the actual performance so I have added a link for a review written by Margaret Lam over at Musical Toronto.
Much of the performance featured Baroque music but Vincent did include some contemporary pieces which I really enjoyed. When browsing Youtube I could only find videos of the more classical recorder scores. Here is one that I think will give you a pretty good idea of Lauzer’s skill on the recorder. Enjoy!
….freshly fallen snow and temperatures just below freezing
Tuesday morning I arrived early for basketball practice. I assigned a couple of students to sweep the snow off the adventure playground and I drew a couple of targets on the brick wall in preparation for the event that G and I were in charge of, the biathlon. In total there were 11 activities that were being set up for our Winter Olympics.
Shortly after the bell rang students waited to be called to the gym where they would find out which country and team they would be part of. We were hoping to start the first activity at 9:00 but organizing 420 students into 22 teams took longer than we anticipated. The older students were the flag bearers and held up their flags which also had a number of letter assigned to it. Before the students arrived their teachers wrote a number or letter on their hands so they would know where to go when they got to the gym.
The challenge was placing the kindergarten children with the older children. It was the first time that the younger children participated in a fun day with the whole school. I think that their teachers were a little more anxious than the kids themselves. The grades 4 and 5 students did an excellent job looking after their younger team members. They assisted them with the activities and ran with them when necessary but most importantly no one was lost or misplaced during the entire morning.
Every team rotated through at least six activities before the morning ended and then everyone returned to their classes where hot chocolate and cookies were waiting.
After lunch all the students went to the gym where all the choirs were called to the front of the room to perform the songs that they would be singing later in the week and in the following week for Kiwanis. This is a music festival that our school participates in every year. It’s a competition where schools compete against each other in different categories. This year we’ve entered a primary choir, junior choir, grade 4 homeroom choir, grade 5 homeroom choir and a boy’s choir.
After the choirs performed we had our closing ceremony for the Olympic games. At lunch G and I tabulated all the scores from the morning’s events and we determined which countries would win the gold, silver and bronze medals.
We asked the flag bearers to pick up their flags and after the Olympic torch and the banner with the Olympic rings entered the gym I called on each country to enter the gym with their flags held high. The spirit in the room was amazing.
Then it was time to announce the winning countries. The winner of the bronze medal was Denmark. Silver went to Sweden and the gold medalists came from Germany.
Enjoy the photos while you listen to
ThePianoGuys – Let It Go (Disney’s “Frozen”) Vivaldi’s Winter
What is your favorite couch potato activity: readings, watching movies, watching sports, napping, anything on TV, computer games, play cards, or other?
My favourite couch potato activity is watching a good movie or documentary. I always feel that I can never get those two hours back again so whatever I watch has to be worth my time. If I’m learning something interesting I always feel that is time well spent and if I get enjoyment out of it all the better.
What is your favorite toppings on pizza?
Pizza is an indulgence and special treat so again it has to be worth the calories. Some of my favourite toppings are: mushrooms, roasted red peppers, ricotta cheese, meatballs
Pizza done in a special pizza oven where it cooks in minutes and the thin crust comes out slightly charred is my all time favourite. Top it with fresh arugula and I’m in pizza heaven.
I have to admit that our favourite pizzas lately have been the ones we make ourselves at home. We don’t have a special pizza oven but we’ve been toying with building one in the backyard. Garden Fork has made a video on how to make a dry fit pizza oven with clay brick. I’ve wanted to make one of these for the cottage. I need to find 96 clay bricks and an old bed frame and I’ll be good to go.
What is is favorite genre of movie or book?
I don’t like horror or action movies. Give me a good drama, love story or intelligent comedy and I’m good to go. Add a little suspense and something with a surprise ending and I’ll talk about it forever. I’m pretty much the same with books. Some of my favourite books are:
The Help, The Rosie Project, The Birth House, Best Laid Plans, The Book of Negroes, Cutting for Stone
Favourite Movies:
The Wizard of Oz, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Toy Story 1, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Sixth Sense, Titanic, Django Unchained (I was surprised how much I enjoyed this), Captain Phillips,
Movies I Want to See:
Philomena, Gravity, Saving Mr. Banks
Do you prefer eating the frosting of the cake first?
I love frosting but I like it with the cake so I try to make sure that every bite has some frosting on it.
For weeks the boys and girls in the junior choir have been learning and fine tuning the songs that they performed at last night’s concert. For several years now the choir has paired up with a local men’s choir, The Queensmen, at Christmas time to put on a joint concert. One of their favourite songs is Santa Fever and this year and last year the Dads or a significant male figure in the children’s lives were invited to join the choir for this show stopper tune. This year “Santa” joined in on the fun. The concert was one of the best I’ve ever experienced with this choir.
The next day most of the girls from the basketball team arrived for the early morning practice. The girls have learned so much and are really starting to apply what they’ve learned to their game. It’s a joy watching them play. They’re having so much fun.
Tomorrow is Craft Night at our school. The kids and the parents love this evening. All the teachers pair up and come up with a craft that families can work on together and complete in about 15 minutes. Every year there’s a different theme. This year the committee decided on Winter Wonderland.
Each teacher is given enough money from the parent council so that about 50 to 100 projects can be produced in each class. Most families can complete about 4 crafts in one evening. I’ve paired up with my friend L and we’re making wire stars with a snowflake garland. For a while we couldn’t find the garland so we came up with a few other options, like creating a beaded garland or using gold wire to embellish the star.
All week I’ve been cutting wire, making samples, measuring out the garlands and bagging the materials into individual baggies. I was exhausted after putting together about 60 kits. Tomorrow when I’m at the basketball game, L will take over and complete the remaining 40 kits and cutting 60 more wires.
It’s bitterly cold today. A great day to read emails and stay indoors. I guess not everyone else feels the same because it’s really quiet on the blogging home front. With over 500 followers my site is unusually quiet.
I know that I, sometimes spend too much time on the computer but I love learning about new things and getting new ideas for my own art or projects for my art classes at school. This morning I learned about a woman in the Netherlands that recycles old t-shirts and makes rugs using only her fingers (after she’s torn and cut the old shirts apart using scissors).
I then watched a 20 minute video tutorial on making an art collage called Industrial Heart. I was mesmerized. If you’re a budding artist or want to try a new technique check this out.
Well I guess I should do something more constructive today. I need to buy a few more things for Christmas but my husband is balking at going to the mall. I may end up fighting the crowds on my own. Wish me luck.
I’m embarrassed to be living in a city that can’t impeach its mayor. I try not to be too political with my blog but the actions and words of Rob Ford are beyond ridiculous. If you’ve been living in a cave for the last six months you may not know what I’m talking about but Toronto has been in the news worldwide ever since The Toronto Star and Gawker released the story that Rob Ford is on a video smoking crack cocaine. Of course the mayor stated that there was no video and that he did not smoke crack cocaine. That was back in May.
In June there was a raid on a housing complex in the west end of Toronto where numerous people were arrested on drug and weapons charges. The raid was called Project Traveller. Two weeks ago the police released some of the findings from the raid and Rob Ford was smack dap in the middle of it. The police chief said the alleged video was found and activities described earlier in the year were on the video.
Last week Rob Ford announced to the world that he had smoked crack cocaine. He apologized profusely but refused to leave the office of the mayor to get help. He said there were no more skeletons in his closet. Almost every day since that announcement new skeletons and more bizarre behaviour with the mayor have been revealed. Late night television hosts, such as Dave Letterman, Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno have been having a hay day. The monologues are funny but embarrassing at the same time.
So far this is what he’s been caught doing:
– doing illegal drugs and keeping bad company, i.e., prostitutes at city hall, Oxycontin, cocaine, a joint in his desk and employing a driver with a criminal record
– angry outbursts – using racial and homophobic slurs, abusive language, using the ‘f’ bomb over and over again, and violent confrontations with staffers
– heavy drinking in public – incoherent late-night calls, sending his staff to buy him alcohol, guzzling vodka and then driving, appearing intoxicated at official public events
– erratic work habits – drunk at the office, arriving late and leaving early, missing meetings, coaching football instead of being at work, illicit meetings with known criminals and exchanging mysterious packages (contents unknown)
– making death threats while in a drunken stupor (caught on video)
Today the mayor came out of his office and commented to the media, using the most demeaning and vulgar language, about an allegation that came out in the news yesterday regarding a female staffer. My principal was driving to school when she heard the report live and she almost drove off the road. I don’t like to utter the words in public so I’ve posted the news clip for you. Of course later in the day he apologized again.
In council yesterday, 37 out of 42 councillors voted to ask Rob Ford to take a leave of absence. In our municipal system the mayor cannot be fired or impeached unless he is charged and convicted of a crime. Rob Ford refuses to step down, despite the polls. His support from the public diminishes every day and 75% of Torontonians polled want him out of office. Even the organizers of the this weekends Santa Claus Parade have asked the mayor not to attend and take part in the parade.
I think maybe it is time for the provincial government, along with the municipal government to put in place provisions to have the mayor ousted from power.
Mama Cormier 
