Grade Three’s X-ray Paintings

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…. using Norval Morrisseau’s painting style

Norval Morrisseau was a First Nations artist from Canada. He is often referred to as the Picasso of the North and his style is characterized by thick black outlines and bright colours. He developed his own techniques and artistic vocabulary which captured ancient legends and images that came to him in visions or dreams. The lines in his paintings represent energy and often connect one symbol or body part to another. The x-ray technique allows the observer to see the energy within the person or animal.

After discussing Morrisseau’s style the boys and girls were directed to draw something that was important to them. The beauty of this activity is that drawings should be simple, and don’t even need to look like the animals that they represent. The students learned how to apply bright watercolours to their paper after they outlined their line drawing with black markers. Once they finished painting they went over the black lines again.

I love each and every one of them. Here are the first 8 pictures that were completed today:

Things Didn’t Go As Planned

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..but the concert was fabulous

Before I left the house this morning I gathered up all the documents I thought I would need to get my new health card. The only thing I couldn’t find was my passport but I had a photocopy of it.

I headed over to the x-ray and imagining lab to have my bone density checked. There was no waiting and the procedure was painless and went without a hitch. I picked up a cup of lemon jasmine tea from the French baker on the corner and a couple of loaves of day old bread, rye and muesli. Next stop, the medical lab for my blood work. When I got there, however, the waiting room was so busy that there was at least a 30 minute wait. I was told if I came back before 4:00 I wouldn’t have to wait.

Plan B …..I made my way to the government office to get my new health card or so I thought. When I got there I showed the receptionist my papers and she told me that the photocopied passport couldn’t be used but I only needed two pieces of ID and the other two items I had would suffice. She gave me a number and I took a seat. There weren’t a lot of people there but it still took 30 minutes before my number came up. I no sooner got to the counter when I was told that I needed three pieces of ID and not two like I had been told. The clerk could see that I was visibly upset so she gave me a special pass so that when I returned with all my documents I wouldn’t have to wait.

I didn’t have time to drive home and get downtown in time for the concert. Luckily the offices were open till 7:00 tonight so I rushed to the subway station to catch a train into town and meet my friend, CL. When I got to the platform, one train had just left and then the sign came up saying that the next train was delayed. Fortunately it was a short delay and the next train arrived in three minutes. I arrived about 10 minutes late and CL was waiting patiently for me outside of Tim Horton’s. The lecture was starting in 10 minutes and we hadn’t had lunch so we decide to forgo the talk and grab a bite to eat instead.

The concert was sold out and the auditorium was already packed when we arrived. The only seats left where we could sit together were in the front row. When I read that we were seeing a piano duo I thought that meant two pianos and two pianists but there was only one piano on stage with two benches. The piano duo was one piano with four hands.

Bax and Chung have been described as a musical love story. Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung are married in real life and when they play together there is a sensuality and connection between them on stage that doesn’t go unnoticed by the audience. Today my favourite numbers included Stravinsky’s own four hands transcription of his ballet Petrushka and the duo’s own transcription of Three Tangos by the great Argentinian master Astor Piazzolla. After a standing ovation and three curtain calls, the audience was treated to another tango duet for their encore presentation.

I found an awesome video on Youtube that shows the couple playing Piazzolla’s Libertango. The camera is situated above the piano so that you can see the interaction between Bax and Chung. It is a great way to see the complexity of the piece and the difficulty of playing with four hands on one keyboard.

I didn’t get back in time to have my blood work done but when I got home, I found my passport and returned to the government office to have my health card processed. It should be arriving in the mail in a couple of weeks.

Getting Ready for a Busy Day

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….mixing pleasure with those things that never get done

I started my morning going through all my bills and then going on line to make some payments. I have three stops that I have to make this morning. First I’m going for a bone density scan that I should have done much earlier in the year, then I’m heading to the blood lab for more blood work and finally I’ll be standing in line to fill out the paperwork for a new health card. They finally caught up with me and after all these years of using my original health card I now have to get the new one with photo ID.

Once I’ve finished with these mundane tasks I’ll be getting on the subway and heading downtown to the university to take in the first of five concerts in a series called Music in the Afternoon. The Women’s Musical Club of Toronto, in its 116th season, puts on a series of concerts every year, featuring outstanding Canadian and international artists in a blend of instrumental and vocal chamber music. Many of these musicians are on the threshold of international recognition.

Today’s concert features Bax and Chung, a piano duo. I’ll be meeting a friend downtown and together we will walk over to the Edward Johnson Building for the Tuning Your Mind lecture which proceeds every concert. The guest speaker will give the audience some insight into the pieces that we will hear and perhaps some information about the artists who are performing. Shortly after the lecture, which is optional, the concert will begin in earnest.

I’m looking forward to the day and will report on the experience in a future post.

Cheers!

Food is Art

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..a special treat to end our Thanksgiving weekend

Yesterday I told you about our trip to Trinity Bellwoods Park. When we reached the south end of the park, my daughter A asked if I wanted to stop for coffee. Is the pope Catholic? You don’t have to ask me twice.

Of course she already had a very special place in mind. Right on Queen St., on the north side and east of the park is a very fancy cafe called Nadege. It was warm enough yesterday to sit outside so we found a table for the four of us on the patio facing the park.

We all wanted Americanos, so A and AB went inside to order. When they came back they raved about the pastry counter and insisted that I had to go inside to see it for myself. I wasn’t disappointed. It was like an art gallery of pastries with real French croissants, tarts, Danishes, French macaroons and delicately and beautifully designed slices of cake. My description here doesn’t do it justice. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words:

A waitress brought out our coffees, glasses of water and a small tray of cream and custard filled puff pastries. Luckily they were small so even though it was an indulgence we didn’t feel too guilty. They were definitely worth the calories. I was glad that I had saved up my calories earlier in the day.

When I had gone inside to check out the counters I noticed that at the back of the store there was an in house bakery that one could see into and watch the bakers at their craft. I took a picture but when I looked at it later it looked like one the the pastry chefs was not too pleased to have her picture taken so out of respect for her I’ve decided to not publish it.

When I went back outside I noticed that there was water on the ground close to where we were sitting. I asked where it came from and they told me that the waitress had accidentally spilled water on J’s back. She had her coat on so she didn’t feel it but the waitress brought three French macaroons, on the house, to the table to compensate for the mishap.

Bonus! We all took a nibble from each one. The orange one was my favourite. It’s a good thing we had to walk back across the park to get to the car. It helped burn a few extra calories. What a great ending to a perfect weekend!

My girls and AB.

The Perfect Weekend

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..mostly good weather and great company

The weather wasn’t perfect but it started off well and ended well.

I spent Saturday with one of my best friends and her family at the art gallery. Both shows, Ai Weiwei and David Bowie, were exceptionally good and awe inspiring.

Sunday wasn’t great weather wise but we spent it with family and enjoyed great food and celebrated my son-in-law’s birthday. We’ve also started what we hope will become a regular family event…..family game night. Who said game night was only for younger children? During our walk we stopped to see my neighbour and good friend, MC, and quickly said hello to her entire family who were also celebrating Thanksgiving together. I’ve known MC for more than 30 years and our children are very close in age. The big difference is that she’s a grandmother four times over and number five is on the way.

Today the sun was shining again. I had a lie in this morning and spent a good hour and a half reading a wonderful book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce. K prepared a sumptuous omelet for breakfast and together we started making a hearty turkey soup. Actually K prepared most of the soup while I started cleaning out the fridge.

I know that most people wouldn’t find cleaning a very enjoyable activity. I have to admit that it’s not my most favourite thing to do but I do get a lot of satisfaction when I finish a task. Today the birds were given a nice clean cage, the bedding was stripped and washed and my vacuum cleaner that stopped working two weeks ago has miraculously started working again so the second floor and the stairs got a long overdue cleaning.

After cleaning I took a break and read some emails and other people’s blogs and wrote about our Thanksgiving dinner for this blog. As I was finishing up my latest post, the phone rang and one of my oldest friends and first teaching friend invited me to meet her at her place and then head out to Trinity Bellwoods Park and go for a walk. Perfect ….. the one other thing that I hoped to do today was get outside and get some exercise.

AB and I have a very special relationship. She is a few years older than I am and was my mentor when I first started teaching. When our first child was born she became her godmother and has always taken a special interest in all our children. In fact she considers all three of our children her god children. We’ve always considered and treated AB and her partner as members of our family.

I picked up my daughter, A and her partner, J and headed out to AB’s place. We drove over to Trinity Bellwoods and parked the car at the north end of the park. It’s a busy park with walkers, runners and cyclists. The leaves are just starting to turn and some of the trees are bearing some unusual fruit. There are numerous memorials and statues in the park, representing individuals and groups that have made significant contributions to the neighbourhood.

: I have no idea what kind of tree this is.

: A close-up of the fruit on this unknown tree.

: Any idea what kind of tree this is?

When we got to the south end of the park my daughter suggested that we stop for a coffee at a cafe across the street. She had obviously been there before and she was anxious to share this special place with me. More about this in my next post. It was a perfect way to end a perfect day and perfect weekend.

Cheers!

Family Get Together, Again

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….Thanksgiving dinner at the Cormier house

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada but we celebrated yesterday. We enjoy having Monday has a down day, where we can relax or in our case catch up on our reading, blogging, cleaning, gardening, etc..

Yesterday the big Thanksgiving Day dinner was hosted at our place. Come to think of it, I can’t remember when it wasn’t. When my mother was alive we used to go to my parent’s house. One year they decided to go away with friends on the Thanksgiving weekend. I was devastated, after all Thanksgiving is suppose to be spent with family. I can’t remember how that turned out but I think that soon after that we hosted the annual event. My sister had it at her house a few times but she ‘didn’t cook’ back then so a lot of the food was prepared ahead of time and brought to her house.

There were only six of us at the dinner table this year. My son is still living in the Netherlands and my sister and her family and my Dad and G had made other plans this year. We were planning to deep fry our turkey again but when we woke up it was pouring rain outside. Since we do the deep frying in the backyard we had to quickly decide if we chance it and wait out the rain or do the turkey the traditional way in the oven. Deep frying takes one hour versus the oven which takes 5 hours.

We decided on the oven. Good thing because the rain continued all day and came down even heavier when we would have started the deep fryer. Of course this meant more work for me but once the bird was in the oven the rest of the meal was easy. Our daughter G brought over a great salad made with barley, tomatoes, arugula and ricotta cheese and A, our oldest daughter, made homemade pumpkin pie ice cream and roasted plum ice-cream.

After a delicious dinner, we celebrated B’s birthday. We gave him a new board game, Small World, Underground. We were all very full from dinner so we decided to go for a walk around the block before we started a new game of Ticket to Ride, Europe. A and J liked the last game so much that they went out and bought their own game.

A great day. Wishing all my Canadian friends a great Thanksgiving Monday! Cheers!
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Ai Weiwei (part 1)

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….pronounce ‘I way way’

Today my friend L, her sister and father and I drove into the city to the Art Gallery of Ontario to see the David Bowie Show and the Ai Weiwei Show. A lot to take in, in the short time we had. Considering it is the Thanksgiving weekend the gallery wasn’t too busy when we arrived at 1:30 but later in the afternoon the line-ups were quite long.

I’m going to share a few of the pieces that I saw at the Ai Weiwei show. This incredible contemporary Chinese artist produces photographs and installation art pieces that raise crucial questions about the right to express and conduct oneself freely and that feature repurposed furniture and artefacts.

One of the first pieces that you can’t help but notice is the snake like sculpture that hangs above your head as you enter the exhibition. It is made from 800 backpacks, commonly used by students in China, to represent the souls of the many children who died in 2008 during the Sichuan earthquake.

As you pass the through the hallway of floor to ceiling photographs and enter the main hall you greeted by a sculpture called “Grapes“. It consists of 40 wooden stools from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that have been reassembled in a way to transform its meaning and obscure its function. There are no nails in this piece and like the individual stools it is held together with traditional joinery techniques. The whole piece is supported by the legs of one stool.

In the same room, a series of seven chests made from huali wood are lined up across the far side of the room. Each chest has four circular openings that when aligned created the effect of showing every phase of the moon to visitors who walk through the installation. The challenge here was trying to get a shot without people passing through. The piece is called Moon Chest.

I will feature a few more pieces in future posts. In the meantime if you’re in Toronto and you haven’t seen this show, I highly recommend it. Hurry though, it closes October 27th.

A Gay Dad Mourns the Loss of Joe Bell, Killed in the Line of Duty of Being a Dad

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Mama Cormier

Help Joe Bell ‘continue his walk’ by sharing this on your Facebook page.

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“Making headway, one step at a time”. This was the last communication from Joe Bell on his epic quest to walk across the United States and do everything within his power to end bullying, intolerance and suicide. His journey was not the result of an idealistic publicity stunt. It was a mission. A truck whose driver allegedly had fallen asleep at the wheel struck Joe down yesterday killing him as he fought in valor as a dad, and a hero.

Our country’s values had fallen asleep at its own wheel long before this accident. Jadin Bell, Joe’s 15 year old son, tragically took his own life earlier this year. Jadin hung himself after a barrage of bullying that even continued in the local paper while he hung on for days in a coma. One commenter, for example calling himself “PuzzleFighter” wrote in the thread commemorating Jadin, “BTW, some guy who…

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Frustrated!

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….blogging shouldn’t be this difficult

I’ve always sung the praises of blogging on WordPress. A couple of years ago, I tried setting up an account on another blogging site and didn’t have much success. My sisters and I were the only people who read it, which at the time was fine but not very satisfying. When I started with WordPress I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and I started to garner a following pretty quickly.

Several months ago I experienced my first problem with WordPress. For some reason I couldn’t publish my post. I thought I had successfully published it. It showed up on my Facebook page but the next day when I didn’t receive any responses from readers I discovered that the post was still in a draft. I don’t know what I did but eventually it was published. I asked for advice and one of my followers suggested that I close all other windows before I push the publish button.

That seemed to work until this week. It took me over an hour to write my post “Mexican Delights”. When I went to post the article it showed up in its entirety on the screen but when I checked it on Facebook only the first two paragraphs were there. None of the photos or links appeared. Fortunately I was able to find it in one of the many drafts that appear below the text box. I saved the draft again and published it a second time.

I can’t tell you how many times I had to do this. I closed all previous windows but that didn’t seem to work. After a couple of hours the post finally published and stayed that way. As much as I love blogging, I don’t have the luxury of that much time to waste on rewriting and reposting my stories.

That’s the main reason I haven’t posted much this week. I was very frustrated from the last experience. So I’m asking again if anyone else has experienced the same problems and how did you resolve it. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Cheers!

A Mexican Delight

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..surprisingly healthy

On Sunday we celebrated my husband’s birthday with the family. Food is very important when we have family get togethers and K is usually the architect of our meals. Our daughter suggested we do a taco theme and K started searching for recipes. On our shopping trip on Saturday, pork shoulder, tortillas and banana leaves were purchased.

On Sunday while the pork was cooking inside the banana leaves and the rice and beans were thrown together K decided that we needed something else to round out the meal. I found a couple of Mexican side dishes that looked interesting and we decided on the Avocado, Orange and Red Onion Salad. I quickly did some last minute shopping to pick up some of the ingredients that we were missing and I bought a small birthday cake for K.

When I returned home, my daughter G and her husband were already there and A and her partner were on their way. G helped me slice the oranges while I prepared the avocado. The salad was simple to prepare. The orange and avocado slices were arranged on a platter with the slices overlapping each other. Then the red onion was sliced into thin rings and randomly arranged on top along with some cilantro leaves. The platter was drizzled with the juice of 1 lime and a couple of tablespoons of good olive oil. Not only was it a pretty salad and dead easy to prepare but it was also tasty and refreshing.

The recipe for this salad came from Delish.

Everyone assembled their own tacos with shredded pork, pickled red onion, cilantro sour cream, and Mexican fresh cheese.

The whole meal was surprisingly light and healthy tasting. Nothing was fried and everyone took as much or as little as they wanted. The two salads helped round out the meal and added some pretty colours to our plates. G made the pickled onions. They added a nice crunch to the taco. I’ll share the recipe in a future post. The green dip was simply sour cream and cilantro blended together in the Nutra Bullet. It could probably be made with yogurt if you want to reduce the fat content.

After dinner K blew out the candle on his birthday cake ( the number 3 has no significance…I couldn’t find any other candles).

Coffee was served and then the board game came out. We had a great time playing Ticket to Ride. K has wanted to have a regular game night for awhile now. All in all it was the perfect way to celebrate his birthday.