…thanks to Judy Dykstra Brown for the hosting the Numbers Game Photo Challenge https://judydykstrabrown.com/2025/01/27/the-numbers-game-58-jan-27-2025come-play-along/
This week’s number is 179.
Looking Back With Judy’s Photo Challenge
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Tag Archives: sisters
Trios of My Family From the Past
If you have any trios to share just copy my link and paste it into your post. Have fun!
Three Sisters and Dad
….an unexpected visit from my sister in Calgary brought us all together
Ten days ago my sister flew in from Calgary to spend three days with me in Toronto. When my sister in Chatham heard that Cathy was staying over she made the four drive to have lunch with us. My Dad, who lives with me, joined us for a simple lunch at home and retired to his apartment after the meal to rest (he’s been suffering with a cold). We had a nice gab for a few hours and then Chris (the sister from Chatham) left to visit her daughter, son-in-law and grandson in Burlington.
Before my sister left to visit her family we all posed with our Dad for a nice group shot.
WPC – Beloved
…..how would you interpret beloved?
On our 42nd wedding anniversary.
Sisters-in-law
Mother and Daughter
Newly Weds
More Newly Weds
Fathers and Daughters
Puppy Love
Travel Theme: Friendship
….Ailsa’s travel theme is week is friendship
The Original Fonz
….remember the TV show Happy Days?
Back in the 70s and 80s one of my favourite TV sitcoms was Happy Days with the Cunningham family. The show revolved around the teenage son, Richie (Ron Howard) and his friends. He had a father named Howard and his stay at home mom was Marion and he had a younger sister named Joanie. Richie’s friends often called Marion Cunningham ‘Mrs. C.’ when they greeted her. When I started teaching in 1976 my students often called me Mrs. C..
Photo courtesy of: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00142/76961606_happydays_142703c.jpg
One of Richie’s best friends, especially later in the series was Arthur Fonzarelli, better known as the Fonz or Fonzie. The part was played by Henry Winkler. I mention this because my father’s name is Heinz Winkler but when he first emigrated to Canada in 1954 his colleagues at work couldn’t pronounce his first name so they called him Henry instead. Consequently it wasn’t unusual for us to get phone calls asking for Henry Winkler.
When the show Happy Days became popular in the mid 70s my sisters and I were still living at home ( for me it was mostly in the summers when I wasn’t at university). Back then the telephone book was still widely used to find phone numbers and my father was listed as H. Winkler. Can you see where this story is going?
My father was close to 50 when the show aired for the first time and I don’t remember him being a big fan. My sisters, however, were very familiar with it and they loved to tease our father about his connection to the Fonz (in name only). They often picked up phone calls that were clearly from young girls looking to speak to the Henry Winkler from the TV show. They would play along and call my dad to the phone and tell him that someone wanted to talk to him. There were always lots of giggles at our end when this would happen.
The Fonz and my Dad did, however, have some similarities. Fonzie considered himself a lady’s man and in his younger days so did my father. Fonzie rode a motorcycle and back in Germany my father did as well. Last weekend I was looking through one of the old family photo albums and I came across this photo taken in 1952. The Original Fonz….whose cooler?
Share Your World 2015 – Week 25
….. thanks Cee for four more thought provoking questions
What did you or did not like about the first apartment you ever rented?
Our first apartment was a basement apartment in uptown Toronto. We were close to the subway and great shopping and restaurants. I didn’t like being in the basement. Our windows faced the parking lot and driveway so we had to contend with cars rolling past our windows.
What kind of art is your favorite? Why?
My favourite art includes abstract paintings, watercolour or acrylic and collage and mixed media art. I don’t like things that are hyper realistic. I’d rather take a beautiful photograph.
A Ray Cattell painting.
How many siblings do you have? What’s your birth order?
I’m the oldest of three girls. When my son was born he was the first male born on my father’s side of the family in 50 years.
The three Winkler sisters.
Complete this sentence: I’m dreaming of a white …. (and no you can’t use Christmas as your answer)
This one stumped me for a few minutes. In fact, I went for a walk and really thought about this question. I’ve already owned a white car and my husband has one now. It wasn’t by choice for either of us but at the time they were our only options. I’ve really learned to appreciate white flowers and one of my favourite bouquets this year was all white. 
I’m not very fussy about white weddings or white clothes. I don’t like white food, unless it’s vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream and white walls leave me cold. I do, however, like bright white trim. Therefore, I’m dreaming of painting all the trim in the house white. I also love crisp white sheets and big soft white towels.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I’m grateful for a wonderful weekend with the family. We did a double Father’s Day celebration. On Saturday my husband and I hosted a BBQ at our place and our girls and their significant others and two of our best friends joined us. My husband did most of the cooking because it’s what he loves to do. I did all the running around and picked up things that we needed. We also went across the street for a bit to congratulate our neighbour on her retirement.
Our daughter and son-in-law couldn’t keep the gender of their baby secret any longer and they shared the news with us. Unfortunately I promised to keep it a secret for a little bit longer and not share it with the world right now.
On Sunday, we drove to my Dad’s place in Oshawa and celebrated Father’s Day with him. My sister took the train in from Chatham and we all shared a meal at their new apartment. I brought a salad made from the lettuce in our garden and Dad picked up his special treat, KFC.
One other thing that I’m grateful for was a very enjoyable Tea that my friend L and I hosted for four students from school. It really was fun and the kids learned a lot about ‘tea etiquette’ and a little bit more about their teachers.
This week I’m looking forward to the staff party and to the last day of school and the start of our summer break.
Time to Come Clean
……about my weight
It’s been almost 2 years since I started this blog and it quickly became a platform for documenting my weight loss. I never divulged my beginning weight and only talked about the number of pounds that came off. I just couldn’t bring myself to say that number. Somehow it brought me shame and I was afraid that people who knew me would judge me differently if they knew exactly how much I weighed. It didn’t help that all the doctors that I’ve ever been to have always said that I don’t look as heavy as I am. I haven’t even told my husband how much I weigh.
I lost a total of 32 pounds and managed to maintain that loss for about a year. I lost a few more pounds here and there but I always put them back on. Last year I told people that I had lost 30 pounds because the weight started to creep back on. I gained a few pounds and I lost a few but slowly I started not losing all the pounds I gained back. Last summer I was up six pounds, down four, back up four when I went on holiday and then back down four before I went back to work.
Stress has always been killer for me when it comes to weight gain. Also I have some psychological barrier that seems to keep me from getting below a certain weight. In the last 20 years every time I get close to that goal weight my weight loss stops. Periodically, in the last year I’ve talked about getting serious and getting back on track. I never want to gain back those 32 pounds I worked so hard at losing but my drive is in low gear right now and try as I might it just isn’t enough.
Last week when I put myself on the scale (which I avoided since Christmas) I was up eight pounds from September. I watched my food intake all week and when I put myself on the scale again I was up three more pounds. Yikes! I wanted to lose most of that weight before I went to see my sister in Calgary next week. Part of my problem is my lack of movement. I can’t believe how much I let this winter keep me on the couch ( in front of this computer).
My middle sister sent me an interesting article this morning on why we gain weight that has nothing to do with what we put in our bodies. I am guilty on all counts. Lack of sleep and having light from computers and electronic devises in front of us before we go to bed actually causes weight gain. I guess she noticed my weight gain and was too polite to mention it to me. Come to think of it no one has actually said anything to me about my weight gain, even when I’ve complained about my coat being too tight and putting on weight over a weekend. Here is the link from the Epoch Times for the article Two Common Weight Loss Mistakes.
As much as I love teaching, it is a stressful job. In the past, September was the month where my weight gain would start. I would lose ten pounds or more in the summer and then when school started it would all come back. Two years ago that didn’t happen but my weight loss stopped. Part of my problem was that I was happy with how I looked and felt. I loved all the compliments.
I can’t let this continue. So I’m going to start with the two things that the article talked about: sleep and light.
Before my 30 pound weight loss
Down 32 pounds.
My goal is to stop working on the computer and watching TV by 10:00 every night. Maybe I’ll read more and organize my clothes, lunch and school bags from 10:00 to 11:00 so I’m not in such a rush in the morning. Hopefully that way I can be in bed by 11:00 and get a solid 7 1/2 hours sleep instead of the five to six that I get now.
Today, still down 20 pounds but up 12.
In the past I weighed myself everyday. I know that some people believe you should only weigh yourself once a week or even less frequently but I find that I put off what I need to do if I don’t check my weight more often. Look what happened when I didn’t weigh myself in almost three months.
I’m still not ready to reveal my actual weight. If only strangers read this blog I wouldn’t care but my family, friends, colleagues and even some of my students read my posts. Some day, but not today.
The most difficult part will be turning off this computer and not constantly checking my emails and stats. I have to admit I’ve become a bit of an addict. I’ll also start using this blog as a platform to record my progress with my weight loss journey, again. It helped last time and It kept me motivated to succeed. If you don’t hear from me on this front please feel free to ask how I’m doing.
I haven’t weighed myself in a couple of days so I’ll start tomorrow and then see how regular sleep and cutting back on the light before bedtime affects my weight. Of course I’ll watch what I eat and for now I’ll aim to get out and walk at least four times a week. I’m not sure how spending five days with my sisters will affect my weight but I won’t use that as an excuse. I’ll enjoy myself but I don’t have to be excessive with food or drink. Maybe I should aim to maintain rather than lose for those five days.
The three sisters taken 6 weeks ago.
Away and Down for the Count
….I feel like I haven’t posted in awhile so here’s my week in review
Friday, January 17
My bags are packed and I’m on my way to Chatham for my sister’s wedding. My husband is suffering a great deal of pain from his fall earlier this week and isn’t coming with us. I booked an appointment to get my hair cut before I headed out to meet my father and catch the train at Union Station.
I arrived an hour early and looked out for my 87 year old father who had to come into Toronto from Oshawa on the Go Train. Unfortunately Union Station is undergoing a lot of renovation and finding anybody is a bit tricky. I sat down in a waiting area figuring his train wasn’t due to arrive for another half an hour. Little did I know that he caught an earlier train. Luckily for me my Dad isn’t shy and after asking for some directions he ended up waiting in a waiting area on the opposite side of the station.
When I thought his train was about to arrive I stood up to see if I could catch a glimpse of him as he arrived. I happened to look over to the other side of the station and sure enough there he was wandering around looking for me. All ended well. We got on the train together and settled in for a very enjoyable 3 1/2 hour trip.
One of the things that my husband arranged that both my Dad and I very much appreciated was upgrade our seats to business class. My father was very surprised when he pulled out his wallet to buy a drink and was politely told by one of our seat mates to put away his money. All drinks and food on business class are complimentary. The meals were excellent, better than any airline meal I’ve ever had.
When we got to Chatham the car rental company picked us up and drove us to the rental office to pick up our van. The hotel was just down the street. We booked into the Holiday Inn Express and freshened up before going to the wedding rehearsal.
My sister came by and we followed her to the church.
After about an hour of running through the ceremony and making final adjustment we got back into our cars and headed out to Pain Court (French pronunciation – pan cour) for the rehearsal dinner.
When we finished our meal we headed back to Chatham but in the meantime it had started snowing so driving was a little treacherous. My other sister and her family were flying in from Calgary and were landing in Windsor which meant that they had to drive from Windsor to Chatham.
When we got back to the hotel we inquired about my sister’s family but they hadn’t yet arrived. About 15 minutes later my phone rang and my sister announce that they were in the hotel. A few minutes later all five of them came down to my room and we had a bit of a reunion. Dad was already for bed for he didn’t join us.
After catching up and meeting T’s ( my nephew) girlfriend we made arrangements to meet for breakfast and then apparently we were going to the hall to decorate it for the wedding.
Saturday, January 18
Breakfast was in the hotel. We all met downstairs and enjoyed the complimentary coffee and breakfast foods. Dad finally greeted the rest of CS’s family (my baby sister) and we planned out the rest of the day.
We drove to the restaurant where the wedding reception was being held. A friend of my sister who was getting married was already there with instructions on what to do to decorate the space. I organized the name tags on the tables and my baby sister helped the bride’s friend decorate the head table.
My brother-in-law picked up my girls from the train station and we had three more sets of hands to help decorate. My sister’s theme was a rifle range because that’s where she and D met over 30 years ago when they were both at university. The tables had cap guns, rifle lighters and the walls were decorated with targets.
At one point my sister proclaimed that we needed more tape so again my brother-in-law volunteered to go buy some. Little did we know that he was checking out the local dollar store and he bought most of the glow sticks in the place and bought more toy guns and caps. He returned with two huge bags.
The original plan was to meet the bride for lunch after she got her hair done but she ran behind schedule so we were on our own. We couldn’t agree on where to go so we decided to go our separate ways for lunch. I had to take the girls back to the hotel first anyway so that they could check in. Once we did that we found a Tim Horton’s close by and had a quick lunch before we returned to the hotel to get dressed for the wedding.
To Be Continued………
Weekly Photo Challenge: Family
….we just celebrated my sister’s wedding to the love of her life and we realized how lucky we are to still have our Dad with us
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/photo-challenge-family-2/
Mama Cormier 
