Tag Archives: Toronto

Images From My New Bike

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…. I finally got out for a long ride on my new bike today

It started out as a beautiful day. I wanted to go to a market and pick up some more fruits and vegetables to can but my husband had other plans.

It would be a shame to let such a sunny morning go to waste by getting in the car and driving to a market. Out came the bikes and the panniers were fastened to the racks on the back of each bike.

We opted to head east toward the city. There are good bike lanes for most of the route. Good thing because traffic was heavier than normal due to road closures this weekend. As always there’s a lot going on in the city of Toronto. Getting there by bike is probably one of the best options to choose. Not only does it give one a good workout but we also didn’t have to worry about the heavy traffic and parking was a breeze.

The other benefit is being able to enjoy the scenery along the way and stopping to take pictures. At the Humber River we have a great foot bridge that on its own is wonderful to photograph but recently a piece of installation art was added that makes it even more interesting.

As you can see from the photos, our beautiful sunny day was quickly becoming overcast but we decided to continue our journey and we rode north to Bloor West Village to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the Ukrainian Festival.

A good part of this ride was all uphill but I’m happy to say I made it all the way without getting off my bike. I put myself in the same mindset when I’m running and just focused on my breathing and only concentrated on the road in front of me.

When we got to Bloor St. a parade was underway. We locked up our bikes and started walking down the street.

The sky got darker and darker as the morning gave over to the afternoon.

When the parade ended we found a relatively quiet cafe and ordered a couple of cappuccinos. We timed it well because the place filled up quickly. After finishing our caffeinated beverages we headed back out on to the street to enjoy the colour and din of the vendors that lined the centre of the road.

We made very few purchases this morning. I’m sure that some of the regular vendors on this strip lose money on weekends like this. We did buy a couple of loaves of fresh bread from Cobbs which we carefully packed into our panniers. We were debating whether to head home or wait out the impending rain. We decided to risk it and ride back. Good thing!  The rain still hasn’t materialized.

As we were riding down the hill (much easier) we became quite chilled so we stopped and put on our fleece jackets. We stopped at the bridge and took some pictures of the city skyline and a lone kayaker coming down the Humber River.

When we got home I checked gmap.pedometer and calculated that we travelled a total of 24 k today. Not bad for the first time on my new bike.

Cheers!

The Joy of Spontaneity

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…. and I reached my goal Saturday morning!

Some of the best times in life are those that are not planned and just happen as the day progresses.

The only thing that I had planned for the weekend was cleaning the house and getting some of my son’s belongings from the apartment he had shared with his girlfriend.

My husband and daughter number one, A, took care of the latter job while I started on the first. As it turned out retrieving my son’s belongings didn’t take long at all and my daughter called to arrange for me to meet her and my husband for breakfast.

As I was driving to the designated location for nourishment, A called me and asked if I would pick up her partner, J from the house so that she could join us for breakfast. The four of us ended up having a delicious meal in a very funky and popular yet unpretensious location.

I announced to my family that I had reached my goal that morning and my husband joked about celebrating by eating whatever I wanted. I wasn’t tempted. I ordered an omelet with cheese and herbs, a small side salad and a delicious cup of Americano. No potatoes, no toast.

As we were sitting in the booth (comfortably by the way even though it was pretty small) we talked about the large bag of pears my husband received from one of his clients. He wanted to make pear butter and put it in jars (there were so many pears).

The discussion soon turned to how we could all get involved and maybe we could pick up some tomatoes and make sauce as well. Hmmm….we had no idea how time consuming this would be.

The girls and I headed for the hardware store to pick up more jars, a food grinder and a propane burner to cook the sauce outside. We couldn’t find everything we needed in the first store so we decided to drive to a famous Italian store on St. Claire that catered to the Italian community, specializing in kitchen supplies. They had everything we needed except the jars and the pots were pretty expensive so we decided to continue our quest and we headed west. So far we had only purchased the food grinder.

After numerous discussions back and forth on our phones with K we decided to buy the propane burner at Canadian Tire where they were on sale. This particular model included the pot. Actually it was advertised as a turkey deep fryer. Guess how we’re preparing our turkey this Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately the first store had sold out but the Canadian Tire close to the house had 9 of them in stock. Back in the car. We made a couple of detours and stopped in a small cheese store where they make their own fresh ricotta everyday. What a treat! It was so fresh that it was still warm. The second detour was another cheese store. Have I ever told you that I love cheese.

We finally had all the supplies we needed for making the pear butter. In the meantime K picked up a bushel of plum tomatoes (another project for another day).

It was mid afternoon before we actually started making the pear butter. Turns out I had to make another trip to buy star anise, lemons and fresh ginger. It took us about 4 hours to cut up the pears, cook them, grind them and then cook them some more.

Pear butter after 45 minutes.

The actual cooking time for the butter to reduce was about 2 hours. As it cooked the sauce  went from this light yellow to an amber and after processing it in jars it turned a pink colour.

After 2 hours.

For the recipe go to:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pear_butter/

The final product. Delicious on ricotta cheese and toast.

After supper we were ready to put the pear butter into jars. We got the water bath ready and K volunteered to watch the last step so that the girls and I could go for a long walk with Frances. The rain that was forecast for the day was over by the afternoon and the wind blew the clouds over the city and to the east. An interesting sky.

The girls and I walked for about 45 minutes. We passed a house where the owner was selling fresh vegetables from his driveway and A and J bought a bag full of corn, potatoes and cheddar cauliflower. When we got home the girls packed up their goodies, including jars of pear butter and I drove them home.

The best part of the day was spending it with my husband, my daughter and her partner. None of this had been preplanned. It was an adventure and even though it was a lot of work it was very rewarding. What about those tomatoes you ask? Well that’s another story for tomorrow.

Frances guarding the tomatoes for Sunday’s sauce.

A Very Long Walk

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….we decided to walk extra far today instead of doing our usual run.

I got ready for my walk/run today without the usual coaxing from my husband. Instead I had to light a fire under him to get us moving today.

When we got to the rugby pitch we decided to forego the run and walk further along the path than we would normally. Frances was not pleased. She kept pulling toward the pitch and then toward the lake but we persevered and moved on.

This is what Frances wanted to do today. We did let her have a short swim at the beach in Marie Curtis Park before we turned around to come home.

We walked past an area in Toronto where the homes sit on the lake. Some are the original little cottages that were built there almost 100 years ago and others are massive monster homes that have slowly been replacing the cottage-like dwellings. I can’t blame people for tearing down some of the older homes. Property values on the lake are through the roof. I do have a problem with homes that don’t fit into the neighbourhood because of poor design or little regard for the vernacular of the neighbourhood.

The Old Cottages…..

Anyway the walk was long and Frances was not a happy puppy. When I got home I went to gmap-pedometer and mapped out our route. We walked 8.75 km. It seemed longer for some reason.

I’m leaving for the cottage today or early tomorrow morning so I won’t be posting for a few days. I’m looking forward to my long walks on the beach and through the woods and getting in a few last swims before the end of summer. Can you believe it’s almost September?  Boo-hoo!!!

 

 

 

 

 

…..replaced by monster homes like this!

The old places definitely need work but the new monster homes have so little character.

Some of the renovations are stunning and I’ve included some of my favourites. They still have that cottage feel and look but are obviously larger and have more modern amenities. They’re also beautifully landscaped. You be the judge.

From Cloudy City Views to Cities of Fossils

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…. greys are the predominant colour today

Taken by my cousin with his new Canon Power Shot SX40

Taken from the car window on the Gardiner Expressway.

It’s amazing what we don’t see in life when it’s right below our feet. Upon closer inspection of the rocks that we were walking on we discovered a world of tiny cities made of fossils.

“Get down here, Carol, and take a closer look at these amazing fossils!”

Taken with the Canon.

Taken by me with my old Lumix Panasonic DMC-FH1.

Taken with the Lumix.

Great Day for Running

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…. but I’m still holding steady at 25 pounds down

I was hoping to report that I’m down more pounds but I did lose the water weight and that’s it so far.

What I’m happy about is my run today. Yesterday my legs felt like lead and I could barely finish 4 laps at the rugby pitch. K also called it a day after 5 laps. He told me not to be discouraged and that I would probably have a better day, today. He was right.

As we were walking over to the park I was having doubts about running. My tendinitis in my left ankle was bothering me and I was still feeling tired. When I started running I decided to run as far as I could without stopping before walking. Once I got going I couldn’t believe how much energy I had.

I ran a full 500 m (1 lap) before I walked and when I did walk I went 1/4 lap and then started running again for the rest of the lap. In total I ran 5 1/4 laps and only walked 3/4 of a lap for a total distance of 3 km not counting the trip there and home again. I’m feeling very good about my accomplishment and running 5 km without stopping doesn’t seem that far off any more.

Here’s something we haven’t seen for awhile in Toronto…. mud! After yesterday’s big thunderstorm there were actual muddy patches on the field.

I’m heading to the cottage today for about a week so I won’t be able to write anything on the blog for that length of time. As some of you know I don’t have electricity up there so I’ll be channelling my creative juices into other pursuits. I’ll definitely take more photographs, read, swim, run and get out my paints and start or finish a painting.

Stay in touch. Cheers!

Beetles, Tomato With a Nose and Too Much Salt

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…. great party but up 2 1/2 pounds since yesterday

I know that the weight fluctuation has to be water but 2 1/2 pounds!!!!

My daughter, A and her partner, J hosted a family BBQ to celebrate J’s 30th birthday. I wasn’t too worried about my food choices but I didn’t count on the salt content of the foods that I chose to eat.

As you can see from the picture there were healthy choices but the BBQ’d meats were loaded with salt. No sense in dwelling on the past. I drank mostly water but did have 1/2 glass of cider and a sliver of birthday cake. Started the day with eggs and K made sure that there wasn’t any salt in them at all.

While sitting in the backyard, we enjoyed the garden and discussed successes and failures of our own gardens this summer. I learned some new tricks on trimming my tomato plants.

One of the things that I like about living in the city, where your neighbours live in such close proximity to each other, is the sharing that happens. During the party A’s neighbour leaned over the fence and handed her some of the vegetables he had harvested that day.

One of the tomatoes, literally had a cute little protrusion that looked like a nose.

On the fence, the other neighbour’s Rose of Sharon had some blooms spill over into A’s yard. Well into the party J became agitated by what she saw sitting in one of the flowers. Upon closer inspection I could see that a very large beetle was the cause of her anxiety. I quickly grabbed my camera and took a couple of pictures of this lovely beetle. Does anyone know what kind it is?

My Abundant City Garden

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….lost all track of time while I worked in the garden yesterday and my plans to head up to the cottage vaporized

I love the garden but it is a huge commitment and requires love, care and TIME.

I had packed my clothes, shopped for the necessities to bring back to the cottage BUT I needed to do one more little thing in the garden before I left…..

Well that ‘one little thing’ turned into many little things and before I knew it I was on a roll and couldn’t stop. It felt good to tidy up the weeds, trim the hedge (again!), cut the grass and pick the ‘fruits of our labour’. That evening I sat outside with my husband enjoying a lovely dinner of grilled vegetables and salmon fillets. Looking over the garden from our deck gave me a great deal of satisfaction and a feeling of pride.

This morning I walked around the garden and took pictures of the flowers and some of the vegetables that will be ready for harvesting in the coming weeks. If you remember my  post from May where I showed you the beginnings of this garden I think you’ll agree that it’s come a long way. NOT BAD for a garden in the middle of Toronto.

Raised vegetable bed, ready for planting, May 21, 2012

My Garden in the Morning, July 22, 2012

The Heat, the News, my Classroom

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.…. it’s all getting me down

I’m not used to being in the city this long at the beginning of the summer. I forgot how much the heat keeps me from moving. That depresses me. My classroom is taking much longer to clean than I planned on. That depresses me. The news about teachers is all bad and once again the ‘hate on’ for teachers has begun. That depresses me.

I worked in my classroom for about 4 hours today. We’ve hit record breaking temperatures again and my classroom is situated on the south side of the school and we don’t have air conditioning. I need to clear away as much as I can so that the caretakers can come in and clean the room. I’m feeling the pressure and I couldn’t get it all done today. I need to go back. Sigh!

When I got home today I was so exhausted from the heat that I fell asleep. I need to exercise and I can’t find the motivation or the energy to do it. A few degrees cooler would help.

Our teacher’s contract is up at the end of the summer and for months we’ve been hearing the word “strike”. The provincial government has basically come in and told us that there would be a pay freeze for two years. Most teachers are not upset about that. It’s all the other things that they want to take away that took years to negotiate that upsets teachers. What’s the point of collective bargaining if the government can step in and do whatever they want without any consultation or ratification? The school board hasn’t even gotten involved yet and they’re typically who we bargain with.

Of course the media makes the teachers look bad and all the teacher haters come out of the woodwork. It’s always the same old arguments. Teachers get 3 months paid vacation (we get paid for 10 months of the year), they have a great pension (which we pay heavily into) and they only work 6 hours a day (too bad they don’t see the hours after school and on the weekend that most of us put in).

Retirement is looking better all the time but I love teaching and I’m not ready to let it go.

My Computer is Sick

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….. we have an appointment to see the computer doctor tomorrow morning

Today was K’s last chemo treatment. The girls and I decided to surprise him and join him for lunch at a nice restaurant on Roncesvales. He was really pleased to see us walk through the door. While we were in the restaurant an old friend of ours walked through the door. I don’t think he recognized us right away but we invited him to join us. It was nice to catch up with him. He told us that he had an art show next to the restaurant and invited us to look at his paintings.

In the coffee shop, next door, there were about a dozen small colourful abstract paintings done by Sam. After admiring his work the strangest thing happened. He asked us which ones were our favourites and then he pulled them off the wall and gave them to us. I tried to pay for them but he wouldn’t take any money. When I get back on my own computer I will post a picture of the painting he gifted me.

I might have to take a break from posting stories for a few days until I get my computer problems sorted. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I also need my computer to work on my report cards. I miss it already. Stay tuned.