….thanks Cee for more great questions this week for Share Your World
If you were the architect of one existing building, which building would you select?
What an impossible question! There are so many wonderful buildings out there in the world that I’m sure my choice will probably offend a variety of people for a variety of reasons. I’ve decided to limit my choice to buildings in the city I know best and that would be Toronto. I am a huge fan of the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario). It was recently renovated and the architect is Frank Gehry. I love that Gehry built the addition around the old building and preserved the best features of the original gallery. My favourite features of the new addition are the Galleria Italia and the Baroque Stairs.
My favourite quote is ‘Live, love, laugh, learn’. There are many variations of these four words and I love them all.
What color do you feel most comfortable wearing?
I am most comfortable in reds and royal blues. The OA at our school says that I can wear all colours well but that is not true. I just know what colours suit me and I tend to stick to those colours.
What is something you learned in the last week?
In the last week I learned about the mystery plants that were gifted to me and how to play the chord Dm on the ukulele.
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 to the temporary caretaker who helped me with my dilemma in the library. He made a few phone calls and saved me a lot of work. Hopefully when I return at the end of the summer I’ll have a new floor in the library a new caretaker who’ll be as considerate as this one was.
In the coming week I’m looking forward to returning to the cottage and hopefully seeing Germany in the finals of the World Cup on Sunday.
…..Do you play an instrument? Is there a musical instrument whose sound you find particularly pleasing? Tell us a story about your experience or relationship with an instrument of your choice.
My parents wanted me to play an instrument but they couldn’t afford to buy a piano. I remember someone coming to the house with an accordion when I was about 8 years old and trying to get me to manipulate this big, heavy and awkward music box. I’m sure that the cost was too prohibitive, never mind that I had no interest in being an accordion player. In the end my Dad bought me a Hohner melodica.
When I was in grade 7, our school had a school band and everyone was welcome to participate but you had to rent your instruments. Again my parents couldn’t afford the cost of the rental. Instead I took part in the class where we learned how to play the recorder. That instrument my parents could afford. In fact I was pretty good at it. Years later, when I started teaching grade 5, I took a refresher course and started teaching my students how to play. It’s not my favourite instrument but I did take some pride in knowing I could play an instrument and pass on my limited talent to my students.
In high school I was very limited as to what elective courses I could take. As much as I loved the arts I couldn’t fit any arts programs into my curriculum. I think this is one of the reasons why I was so happy that my own children had the opportunity to attend the arts high school and they all studied a musical instrument. When our son was 10 years old he expressed an interest in the piano and we started with an old clunker and then quickly moved on to a beautiful baby grand when we realized that he had a natural gift.
Once our children reached middle school they all played instruments in the school orchestra and band. Two of them played the cello and one the saxophone and they continued to play in high school.
I think one of my favourite instruments is the guitar. I can’t play it but my husband can and over the years, off and on, he had fine tuned his skills. He started playing when he was 14 and even gave lessons at this early age. I never heard him play until he was well into his 30s and in his 40s he played with our daughter at a school recital. He’s pretty much self taught but for a couple of years he did take lessons. He’s added a couple of guitars to his collection over the years and I bought him a strum stick several years ago.
Recently he’s added a mandolin to his collection and every day I hear the sweet sounds of his new acquisition wafting up from his office in the basement.
I’ve tried to learn how to play a musical instrument on my own. I tried to play the piano and I started to feel somewhat comfortable with it but then the piano needed tuning and I stopped. I know it’s a pretty dumb reason to stop but our children also no longer played, mostly because they had all moved out or were away at school and I guess I felt I wasn’t worthy of spending the money to have it tuned. Hmmm? Money seems to be a reoccurring theme in this post.
An instrument that I have taken an interest in lately is the ukulele. I bought my first uke some years ago when we were considering teaching it to our students. I think the one thing that put us off was that we would spend most of our time tuning it, leaving us very little time to actually play.
My love for the ukulele, however, continues and for Mother’s Day this year my husband bought me a new concert ukulele. It’s a little bit bigger and the tone is so mellow. I love it and I keep plunking away. I bought my friend, who is also the music teacher at my school, a ukulele last Christmas. We’re hoping to spend some time this summer honing our skills together.
Maybe some day we’ll form our own ukulele orchestra. LOL!
What a perfect day. I woke up early and started reading the book The Silent Wife. After a couple of chapters I made myself a cup of coffee and then started practising Somewhere Over the Rainbow on my ukulele. I’m hoping I can play it well enough to accompany the kindergarten class at this years school concert at the end of June. I then made myself an omelet and prepared fresh berries for breakfast.
My husband wanted to start planting in his new raised bed but we decided that it needed more soil and it needed to be sectioned off with string. So I made a quick trip to the dollar store for twine and the nursery for more soil. When I returned home I found that the front lawn had been mowed but now I could see where the dandelions were starting to expose their yellow heads. I donned my gardening gloves and pulled the weeds from the flower beds and the dandelions from the lawn. Then I took my trimming shears and trimmed away the long grass around the tree, at the edges of the flower beds, sidewalk and driveway and around the telephone pole…..all the areas that were missed by the lawn mower.
It took me hours but it felt good to get out in the sun and fresh air and the yard looked so lovely and groomed. It was almost 3:00 before I finished and I had a party to attend at 4:00. I quickly showered, washed my hair, blew it dry and dressed for the afternoon birthday celebration.
It was a perfect day for a backyard get together. It was warm enough for people to sit outside and I got to meet M’s sisters and friends. M was celebrating her 70th birthday. She looked stunning and her son did a fantastic job organizing the entire affair. His friends did all the serving and bar tending. A great time was had by all.
The day’s not over yet, Maybe I’ll get a little painting in as well.
….here’s how I feel in this moment in time…..tomorrow my answers could be different
If you had a choice to live anywhere would be your preference salt water beaches, forest, fresh water lakes, hot tub, ski resort or desert?
My preference would be a fresh water beach. My cottage is on the most beautiful beach in Georgian Bay. The bay is part of the Great Lakes in Ontario. I’m only there in the summer so I might not feel the same way if I lived there in the winter, especially this winter. It’s been brutally cold. So if I were to live in one place year round I might choose a salt water beach in a warm climate.
What was your favorite toy as a child . . . and now?
My mother hated clutter and if our toys weren’t put away they eventually ended up in the garbage. The only toy I can remember having for a long time was a baby doll that I named Dorothy. When you fed her she would wet her diapers and her eyes closed when you laid her down. Now my favourite toys are my laptop and my ukulele. I would be lost without my computer and I’ve only recently pulled my ukulele out of storage. Some day I might actually learn how to play it proficiently. Currently I know only a few chords. I need to practise, practise, practise…..
Which do you prefer sweet, salty or both at the same time?
I initially wanted to say sweet but I actually love both at the same time. My favourite popcorn is Chicago style which is a combination of cheese popcorn and caramel popcorn. Yum!
Would you prefer snowy winters, or not, and why?
I prefer snowy winters but this year has been a bit much. It’s not the snow that bothers me but the frigid sub-zero temperatures and icy conditions have been extreme this year. I love the sound of soft crunchy snow under my boots and it has never stopped me from going for walks. The ice, however, this year has been treacherous and I spent some time in the emergency ward with my husband after he slipped and fell. Luckily he didn’t break anything but he did collapse his lungs and stretched the connective tissues between his ribs, causing him a great deal of pain. After three weeks he is just starting to feel better. Come to think of it, the winter where we had no snow and mild temperatures sounds pretty good right now. We were able to ride our bikes all winter. Hmmmm!!!!!
Mama Cormier 
