…..weather remains cool but the leaves are trying to emerge
Don’t know if this grand old tree is just slow to get out of the gate or if it has succumbed to last winter’s ice storm and frigid temperatures.
Same location as the previous tree but much more hopeful on the green front.
For more Sunday Trees check out Becca Givens blog.
….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).
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!
….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.
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!
…..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.
…..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.
…..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.
….there’s just a slight tinge of green starting to appear on the treetops
Everything seems late this year. This time last year I was writing about the cherry blossoms in High Park (here). We’re looking at another week or two before that will happen. Seeing that there is no canopy of blossoms or greenery I will focus on the bark formations. I’ve always loved the texture of bark.
Join Becca Givens at Sunday Trees – 129 for more photographs of trees and join the challenge and add some of your own.
….. 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.
…..yikes, I wasn’t kidding yesterday
….and it will continue to snow all morning. Sigh!
…..I can’t believe it’s already week 15
For your blog do you basically use Windows or Mac, laptop, desktop, pad, or phone?
I’m an Apple user all the way. For my blog I work on my MacBook Pro…
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was a very young child I remember wanting to be a nurse but when I was 12, I changed my mind and wanted to be a Family Studies teacher. I was asked to attend an open house at the school and demonstrate how we were using the sewing machines in class. I was hooked. In high school I toyed with the idea of being a doctor but I kept going back to being a teacher. 
Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?
For most of my childhood I grew up in Toronto. We lived in Oakville for about four years but we moved back to the big city to be closer to my father’s job. I have fond memories of living in Oakville because it was like living in the country at the time. Our house backed onto a field with a creek running through it. We lived in a new housing development and I recall playing in some of the unfinished homes. Pretty crazy when I think of the dangers we encountered daily. We were also allowed to go to the creek without adult supervision and we rode our bicycles through the field and onto busy streets on our way to the plaza. I had one nasty spill onto the gravel road and still have the scars on my knee to this day.
When we moved back to Toronto I was 10 years old and we lived directly across from the school. There was a huge park that surrounded the school and right across the street from us was a skating rink in the winter and a tennis court in the summer. A few years later they also built a public outdoor swimming pool right next to the rink. We lived in an apartment building but I was so close to so many recreational amenities that I never missed not having a backyard. In the summers we went to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) and as I went from being a pre-teen to a teenager I started taking the subway to the downtown area. Basically, I loved living in the city. 
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
I always think of myself as younger. I work with a wide range of ages but I guess I’m now the oldest person at my school. Our caretaker might be a bit older than me but not by much. If I had to put an age to myself I’d say I feel like I’m only 45. I actually feel better now than when I turned 50.
On my 61st birthday.
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 the the warmer weather we experienced last week and for all the snow melting. Unfortunately we’re suppose to get colder temperatures tonight and tomorrow morning we’re expecting 5 to 10 cm of snow. Yikes!
Later this week I’m looking forward to visiting my sister in Chatham. My new brother-in-law really wants to see my husband who was unable to attend their wedding in January because of his fall. On Monday we’re spending Easter Monday at my daughter’s (A and J) place and will be enjoying a delicious Easter brunch.
Visiting my sister and my brother-in-law, D to check out his new ‘man cave’.
For more Share Your World contributions check out Cee’s Photography.
Mama Cormier 
