Share Your World 2015 – Week 6

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Mama Cormier

What was the last time you went to a new place? Two weeks ago, after my husbands post op appointment with his endocrinologist we treated ourselves to a dinner at a restaurant that I had never been to before. It was a BBQ place called Barque’s in the west end of Toronto. Delicious!

If you were or are a writer do you prefer writing short stories, poems or novels, other? And what type of genre would you prefer?

I guess as bloggers we are all writers but I prefer to write short stories and free verse poetry. I’ve often toyed with the idea of writing and illustrating children’s picture books.

Out of your five senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing) which is your favorite? As an artist and photographer I’d have to say that sight is my favourite sense. I wouldn’t be able to produce the following pieces without my sight.

If 100 people your age were chosen at random, how many do you think you’d find leading a more satisfying life than yours?

Based on the people I know who are my age I’d say that there would probably be 20 people who might lead a more satisfying life than mine. I think I’m better off than most people my age but I wouldn’t be so cocky as to believe that no one has a better or more satisfying life than mine.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

A few days ago my husband was in a bicycle accident and I’m grateful that his injuries weren’t more serious and that he didn’t suffer a concussion. He looks bad like he was in a bar brawl or street fight but he’ll heal and be as good as new in a couple of weeks.

I’m looking forward to a long weekend. We have parent teacher interviews Thursday evening and Friday morning. I’m off Friday afternoon and on Monday we celebrate Family Day in Ontario. We’re planning on going to Chinatown and partaking in some dim sum. Maybe we’ll even go to the art gallery which is just down the street from the restaurant.

It’s suppose to be very cold this weekend so it’ll probably be a good weekend to make art and snuggle up with a good book.

Share Your World – 2015 – Week 1

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..wow a new year of Share Your World with Cee

How do you get rid of pesky phone calls from telemarketers?

If I hear dead air for a second or two after I say Hello I know it’s a telemarketer and I hang up. Simple!

What are you a “natural” at doing?

I don’t know if anyone is a natural at anything. I know that people might think I’m a natural when it comes to art or public speaking but it wasn’t always that way. I had to work at it to gain confidence and even now I still have doubts about my abilities but I am always willing to try new things and take some risks.

How often do you get a haircut?

When my hair is short I try to get it cut every 6 to 8 weeks. When it’s longer it might be every two to three months.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “fun”?

Fun for me is creating art and being around friends.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week I was grateful for having my entire family home for Christmas and having everyone together to celebrate B and G’s birthday. I also loved visiting and spending time with friends.

This week I’m looking forward to some quiet time with my husband before he has to go back for more surgery on his thyroid next Monday. I’m also looking forward to starting a new on-line year long art class with Carla Sonheim and Lynn Whipple called Year of the Spark.

I can’t upload my Year of the Spark poster that I made. How frustrating!

Share Your World 2014 – Week 33

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….check out Cee’s blog for more posts about Share Your World

Do you believe in ghosts?

I do actually. I strongly believe that a ghost stood by my bed years ago. I woke up and screamed. My poor husband woke up but didn’t see anything. I’ve always felt that the ghost was my mother and that it was a warning to me. Our son who was 19 at the time wanted to travel to Mexico and hitch hike through the country by himself. I begged him not to go and told him about my ghostly visitation. He reluctantly agreed and later confessed to me that he crossed the border for one day and felt very uncomfortable and that my fears were probably somewhat justified.

Irregardless of your physical fitness, coordination or agility: If you could play any sport professionally what would it be? Or if you can’t picture yourself playing sports, what is your favorite sport?

If I were to play a team sport it would be volleyball. I’ve always loved the game. I don’t even know if there are professional volleyball teams. If not I’d choose baseball. If I were to compete in an individual sport it would be rowing. When I turned 50 I joined a group of women and learned how to row in the 8 man boats and then the 4 man. I loved it.

Do you prefer long hair or short hair for yourself?

Even has I get older I prefer my hair on the longer side. I’ve worn it really short and very long and I like it somewhere in the middle. The notion that long hair makes you look older doesn’t hold true for everyone. I have an oval face that lends itself to lots of different styles but when I look back at my photos of myself I like the medium length cuts best.

If you were on an small island, who would you want to be with? And where is it? How big is it?

If I were on a small island I would want to be with my husband. It would have to be somewhere warm and with lots of resources to build a shelter, make fire and of course have drinking water. The size of the island wouldn’t matter as long as it had interesting places to walk and explore. How long are we staying on this island, anyway? Is it inhabited or not? I may have to rethink these answers.

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 a wonderful weekend with my husband. We celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. Even though the weather didn’t cooperate we ignored the rain and enjoyed each other’s company (check here).

This week I’m looking forward to no more doctor’s appointments for awhile and going back up to the cottage with our daughter A and her partner J. This may be the last time I go up before school starts. I haven’t decided if I’m going up for the long weekend. If I do it will be for only a day or two to partially close the cottage. Every year I say I’m going up in the fall and then I don’t until it’s time to close it up for the winter. Maybe this year will be different.

Update on my Ongoing Saga

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..thanks to all my concerned followers; here’s where things stand today

My son-in-law has just come out of surgery and the surgeon is 99.5% confident that all is well. My husband’s visit to the surgeon this morning confirmed that the thyroid has to come out and they set a date for October 9th. He just called me from the hospital and he’s waiting to see my aunt. Apparently they took her downstairs to put a tube into her chest to drain the liquid that’s been building up and she should be feeling somewhat better. He said that the Hagen Das ice-cream that he bought her was melting in his bag. I suggested that he take it to the kitchen across the hall and put it in the freezer until she is well enough to eat it.

I’ve just picked up our daughter’s dog, Lucy, so that they have one less thing to worry about. Now I’m worried because didn’t she grab a toadstool and swallow it before I could get it away from her. She seems okay but I’ll have to keep a close eye on her.

On my way home from picking up the dog I ran into a lot of construction and I ended up making a wrong turn. In hindsight it was probably a blessing because I ended up on the highway north of the city and it was moving quickly. Unfortunately I exited too soon and I came down the street that runs by the school. I decided to quickly stop by and check out the library situation. The good news is that someone has put all the shelves back on the wall. The bad news is that they didn’t return the books, the heavy wooden book cases haven’t been put back in place and my office is still jammed with boxes and furniture. I guess I should be thankful for small blessings and hopefully sometime this week the book cases will be returned to their rightful places. With lots of help I can deal with putting the books back on the shelves.

Lucy looks okay (basset) and Frances doesn’t seem concerned.

I’ve just checked the internet and vet sites recommend inducing vomiting. Great! I’ll call our vet and see what she says.

The fun never stops!

An Unusual Summer

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….instead of lounging on the beach at the cottage I’ve been spending a lot of time in the city

I was really looking forward to my summer holiday this year. I opened the cottage later than I would normally and when I returned to the city I spent 3 days in school cleaning up my office and packing up books so that the new carpet could be laid down this summer.

In the second week of the summer I went to visit my aunt. She lives by herself about 20 minutes from my house. She never calls me but she is always happy to see me. Unfortunately, she stopped answering her door or picking up her phone. Two years ago her daughter found her very ill and admitted her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with congested heart failure.

The day I went to see her, my cousin was already there and she said she had a bad night and she was still in bed (3:00 in the afternoon). After a short conversation we went to check on her and she didn’t look good. To make a long story short we called 911 and she was admitted to emergency. At around midnight, after numerous tests, x-rays and blood work we were told that she has double pneumonia.

For the next six days I was back and forth to the hospital. Five weeks later she’s still in the hospital. Her pneumonia has cleared up but now she has a multitude of other problems. Every time I come back from the cottage I go to see her and when I’m not there my husband drops in.

Last week my husband’s car had to go into the shop so he’s without a car and I’ve been driving him everywhere his bike can’t take him. This week he went in for his routine CAT scan and next week he has two more appointments.

Our dog, Frances is presently at the vet clinic having her teeth fixed. Unfortunately the problem is more complicated than we thought and she has to see a specialist to fix the under lying problem. We pick her up this afternoon and will learn more details as to when her next procedure has to be done.

Next week my son-in-law is going into the hospital for surgery so I will be dog sitting Lucy and keeping my daughter company during the procedure.

I’ve also been helping my friend A organize her basement and garage so that she can get ready to sell her house in the near future. Last weekend I also cleaned out our garage but with lots of help from family and extended family members. Normally I like to be at the cottage but when people offer to help with big jobs you kind of have to work around their schedule.

I did go up to the cottage right after the clean-up and I took our youngest daughter and Lucy with me. We only stayed a couple of days because I had to get back into town to get Frances to the vet.

It turned out to be a beautiful weekend but again my cottage neighbour offered to help dig a new outhouse hole so I spent hours on Sunday digging and then hauling sand out of the hole.

This week when I got back to the city I got a call from my friend G who called to warn me that my classroom was a bigger mess than we anticipated. I went in yesterday to check it out and was blown away by what I saw. Painters had come in July and it was decided that they would tackle one long wall. Of course, not knowing that this was happening, none of the books on that wall had been cleared. All the books were removed from the shelves and stacked on the tables and then the shelves were taken down. Were they put back? No!

Upon arriving to school the caretaker tried to prepare me for what I was about to see. The shelves that were moved to lay down the carpet were not returned to their original space. More shelves behind my desk were emptied because they were too close to the floor and the shelves themselves were dumped in my office.

When I left in July I had cleaned out my office so that nothing was on the floor and the counters and the table were clear so that the surfaces could be properly washed. Yesterday I couldn’t even get into my office because everything was pushed into that room. I took pictures so that my principal could forward them to the powers that be and hopefully someone will come in in the next two weeks before school starts and try to clean up the mess.

I spent a few hours yesterday locating some of the shelves, washing them and putting them back on the wall. I also clean off my library desk moved it back up against the wall so that I at least have a place to sit without looking through a mountain of stuff.

Not everything about being in the city has been bad. I did enjoy spending time with my family and taking in some of the World Cup games, especially the final when Germany won.

I’ve spent more time in my garden and reaping the benefits of time well spent.

I also saw part of the Caribana parade and spent some quality time with my husband walking, running and riding our bikes.

This summer I have produced a lot of art thanks mostly to Carla Sonheim’s on-line Summer Camp. Some of it I worked on at the cottage and the rest here at home. I’ve got lots of great ideas to share with my students when I go back to work in September. I think I’m happiest when I’m creating art.

Acrylic paint on 8 x 18 inch cedar shim.

The Cottage – July 22, 2014

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….the story of a lost dog

I went to the library yesterday to post my last article but lo and behold it wasn’t opened to the public because a private workshop was in session. The group was on a break so the librarian kindly let me go inside and I had just enough time to check my emails and I was able to copy my story to WordPress but I ran out of time before I could add my photos. So I’m afraid that many of my articles will all appear on the same day, either when I return home or sometime later this afternoon if I get back to the library.

My husband and the dog came up on Sunday and left about 30 minutes ago. We had a great few days together, despite losing the dog yesterday. K loves to run and walk through the woods with the dog on the logging trails. He usually does a loop that is about 9k long. Yesterday when he returned the dog wasn’t with him.

Somewhere between the 5 and 6k mark of the trail, Frances was distracted by something she heard in the woods and took off. K called and called her but continued to run figuring she would follow him further down the path. When she didn’t return to the cottage we both got into our cars and drove in different directions looking for her.

My husband drove into the village and I made my way along the logging path. Unfortunately I don’t have 4-wheel drive so I stopped when I came to a very large and deep puddle in the road. There was no way to get around it. I got back onto the main road and found another logging road further away. Again I was hampered by the deep ruts in the road and had to turn around.

Back at the cottage my husband decided to go back to the trail and and backtrack in case Frances followed his scent in the opposite direction. I drove him into the woods as far as my little car would let me, dropped him off and headed out via the main road to the exit at the other end of the trail. K exited without the dog so I drove him further east until we arrived at the next entrance to the trail which headed back to the cottage.

I drove back along the main roads and returned to the cottage. Before heading down our lane I checked out a couple of other lanes that she might have taken, spoke to a couple of women about our missing pooch and then started to head to the end of the trail where K would exit. For some reason I decided to go back to the cottage one more time before meeting my husband. There sitting in front of our door was Frances, completely exhausted and out of breath. I called her to get into the car and we drove off to meet K together.

You can imagine the relief and joy on K’s face when he saw Frances. He wanted to be mad at her but he was overcome with emotion. We figured that K had walked at least 15k that morning and who knows how far Frances ran. The two of them were pretty quiet for the rest of the day. In the late afternoon we all went down to the beach and both K and Frances played in the water. I think the cool water helped both of them recover from their sore and tired muscles.

I think the biggest lesson that we learned that day was that Frances knows her way home. Next time, heaven forbid, we won’t be so panicked looking for her.

Till the next time,

Cheers!

Father’s Day – Part 2

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..honouring my husband with a little fun at a local pub

After spending lunch with my father yesterday, my husband and I drove back to Toronto and got ready to go out a second time. We made reservations to have dinner at a local pub and watch the Italy vs England game with our daughters.

We knew that the real action would be down in Little Italy but it would be next to impossible to get a table reserved unless we were willing to arrive four hours before the game. My husband is not keen about driving downtown or waiting for anything so we picked a pub closer to home. We knew that when we went there that we would probably be in the minority cheering on Italy in this part of Toronto.

We arrived 30 minutes before the game and the place was pretty empty but it started to fill up quickly. Luckily the table next to us was also filled with fans of the Azzuri but the rest of the place was clearly filled with English fans. Before the game started my husband opened up his Father’s Day gifts from me and his daughters. Unfortunately we couldn’t convince him to wear his Italian jersey. He said it was too small but when he tried it on this morning I thought it was fine. During the game J wore the shirt so that there was no doubt which team our table was cheering for.

The game itself was fantastic. So well played. No dives, dirty tricks or unfair calls. Yeah Italy! This afternoon I’ll be cheering for Argentina and tomorrow I’ll be wearing my Germany shirt and supporting my birth place.

Today has been a glorious day weather-wise. We’ve done a little gardening and our grass was cut and trimmed by D and his dad who will be coming all summer to keep our yard neat and tidy. Our son called from the Netherlands to wish his Dad a Happy Father’s Day and he spent some time speaking with me as well. Thanks B!

A Beautiful Saturday – Why am I Creating a To Do List?

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….am I crazy or just practical?

I suspect I’m doing this because it needs to be done

To Do List for April 12, 2014

rake front lawn
sprinkle bone meal on garden
take out garden furniture
clean out bird cage
do laundry – started
take out summer clothes and put away winter clothes
clean oven – started
write post – started
go for a walk
dust living room floor and shelves – floors done
vacuum carpets upstairs and down – started
take photographs

As you can see I’ve already started some of these chores. I think I need to fill the gaps with some fun stuff.

My husband must be feeling my energy this morning because he’s started raking the back yard and he’s taken out our bikes and cleaned them off. Maybe we can get out for a ride this afternoon. Well, I’m off to start some work outside as well. Maybe by putting this out there for the world to see I might actually accomplish all of the things on my To Do List or at least get 90% of it done. Wish me luck. I’ll report later today to let you know how I successful I’ve been.

On the fitness and weight loss journey: I’m struggling. Up 3 and down 2. Today’s goal is to get out and move and drink at least 4 large glasses of water. One glass down and 3 to go.

I thought I posted this 2 hours ago. Apparently not. In the meantime I’m down 3 glasses of water, 2 loads of laundry, raked the front and the back yard, finished cleaning the oven, sprinkled bone meal on the garden, and took out the garden furniture. I also took down the Christmas lights, trimmed the yew and bagged 2 bags of yard waste. Now let’s see if I can get this thing posted…..an ongoing problem.

Share Your World – Week 10

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..great questions Cee! I had to think about the second one.

Describe yourself in a word that starts with the first letter of your name.

This sounds like a getting to know you game I play at the beginning of the school year. We go around in a circle and everyone has to attach an adjective to the beginning of their name that is positive and starts with the first letter of their name. I often participate and seeing that my first and last name both start with C I can use the same words regardless of which name I choose to share with the kids.

Words that describe me are: caring, creative, curious, compassionate, and sometimes a little crazy.

If 100 people your age were chosen at random, how many do you think you’d find leading a more satisfying life than yours?

I think that I lead a very satisfying life. I only wish that at my age I didn’t have any debt but in less than 3 years the house will be paid for, I made the last payment on the car last month and one credit card is paid off. So putting that aside I would say that there would only be 10 people out of a 100 that would be leading a more satisfying life than me.

If you were a tree, would you become a book or furniture? Please describe.

I think I would be a piece of fine furniture. A book can be shared but a piece of furniture can be shared by several people at the same time and evoke life long memories i.e. family dinners around the dining room table. If taken care of furniture can be used for a very long time where a book needs special handling and won’t wear as well or as long unless it’s locked away.

You are trapped in an elevator, who would you want to be trapped with?

I would want to be trapped with my husband. We really do like each other’s company and we always find things to talk about. If I were trapped with a stranger, even a famous one, I’m not so sure that I would see the best side of this person. They could be claustrophobic or anxious or down right miserable. I’d rather meet them in more pleasant surroundings.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

My Dad called me last week, thinking I was leaving for my holiday the next day. Other than being a little forgetful, I’m grateful that he is so healthy, physically and mentally. My good friend is going through a rough patch with her parents who are a little older than my Dad and she’s making some very difficult choices as I write this post.

This week I’m looking forward to my trip to Calgary. I leave on Wednesday with my middle sister. It’s been over 20 years since I’ve been there but it’s not the city that I’m excited to see. I have friends who’ve lived there most of their married life and my baby sister has been there for over 30 years. It’s time spent with friends and family that I’m looking forward to.

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/03/10/share-your-world-2014-week-10/

A Perfect Way to Spend a Sunday Morning

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….especially the first morning of daylight savings time

People have a hard time adjusting to the change in time, especially when the clocks are moved forward. It means one hour less sleep unless you talked yourself into going to bed one hour earlier. I’m thankful that the time change occurred during March Break. At least it gives us (the teachers) and the kids a week to adjust to the earlier hour in the morning.

Today I woke up at my usual time but it was actually an hour later, so had it been a school day I would have been late. We had prearranged to meet our youngest daughter at the AGO this morning when the gallery first opens which is 10:00. I basically had time to grab a cup of coffee, get dressed and put on some make-up before heading out the door. We discovered on our last trip that arriving when the AGO opens on a Sunday is a good time to go. It’s not crowded, the kids haven’t arrived yet (especially during March Break) and parking is free until 1:00.

My husband was struggling a bit to get going today but he quickly found his groove and the change in time hasn’t bothered him, yet. As we were walking towards the entrance we spotted our daughter coming up the street. Perfect timing. I went to the members’ desk, picked up our tickets and we deposited our coats at the coat check counter. For the rest of the morning we wandered leisurely throughout the galleries. There is no big show on right now so we enjoyed some of the smaller displays throughout the building.

One of the first things we came across was a display put on by Hot Wheels.

It was obviously there for the kids to enjoy but we were invited to play if we wanted. We graciously declined the invitation and made our way to the galleries where photographs were being displayed. Our daughter studied photography at university and my husband used to be a photography fan in his younger days. As he gets older he plays with his camera more often and he still appreciates the art of photography, especially some of the older black and white photographs.

Next to one of the rooms that housed some very interesting and very old photographs I came across a room designed for kids. The walls were lined with some famous paintings that featured children and in the middle of the room stood a booth. Children could dress up and then sit behind a frame with a painted scene behind them (I think it’s from one of the Group of Seven). Parents are encouraged to take photographs of their children who look like they’re part of a painting. I wanted to do it myself but I don’t think my husband or daughter would humour me and take a photograph. There were hardly any children there at the time so I think I could have gotten away with it.

Once we had exhausted all the photography galleries we headed upstairs to the 5th floor to check out the contemporary exhibits. My favourite installation piece took up an entire room and featured mirrors, trees, birds, (real and not) and half man half bird creatures. It was called The Index and was the creation of David Altmejd.

We decided to walk down to the other floors. The stairway had beautiful architectural curves made from wood and was built on the side of the building with glass windows that looked out over the city. I love the curves, arches and the grain in the wood along the ledges. The second floor has huge stone arches that overlook the foyer on the first floor which is also surrounded with these large archways.

Before leaving the AGO we stopped at the Galleria Italia (here, here) for our traditional coffee break at the Espresso Bar. I really wanted to check out the gift shop so I left my husband and daughter at the table so that they could catch up and make plans for the week while I headed to the main floor to do a bit of shopping. I had a little bit of money from the library fund so I bought a few art books for school and I found a present to bring to my sister in Calgary.

When we left the art gallery we were ready for lunch (brunch in my case because I hadn’t had breakfast). We drove along Queen St East and headed toward Leslieville where we found a tiny Irish pub. Our daughter had been there before but for my husband and I it was a new experience. G and I ordered and shared mushrooms on toast and the terrine plate while my husband ordered his traditional Irish breakfast.

After our meal we drove our daughter home and then headed out to see our oldest daughter. We stayed just long enough to have a cup of coffee and pick up a parcel notification. Sometime tomorrow I’ll drive to Purolator and pick up a parcel for her.

When we got home it was already 4:00. Time just flew by. Looks like we’ll be eating salad for dinner. It’s already 6:00 and I’m still full from my one meal today. This should be my last post today. Hopefully I can get to some of my art. If I do I’ll share with you tomorrow. No more staying up late to post things that can wait till tomorrow.

Cheers!