From Zero to Hero – Day 2 – “What’s in a name?”

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..the challenge is to change the name of the blog

The name Mama Cormier has been with me for a long time. My daughter first used it when she was coming up with a user name for my email account. It’s a name that has just stuck with me all these years. Are there advantages to changing it at this time? I guess my biggest concern is confusing those who already follow me. I have considered using Mama Cormier with an added phrase but nothing grabs me. On the other hand, I have expanded the tag line that follows the name. It used to be ….memories and so much more and now it reads….my journey to a healthy life, making new memories and so much more.

I like having an eclectic blog where I can write about whatever comes my way. Maybe my readership would increase if I had a main focus but that’s not who I am. My life is eclectic. I have eclectic taste in music, art, design, clothing, and furniture. I like to try new things and explore different places.

Day 2 – Walking

Today I decided to try walking again. This time the sun was shining and the winds had disappeared. It was still very cold, -20 celsius but the lake had calmed down and the waves moved slowly like molasses with thin crusts of ice floating on the surface.

: So much better than yesterday

: The city skyline is back

: The sun glistening on the lake

: Ice floating on the lake

: ….more ice

The lake hardly ever freezes because of its immense size so when you see ice on the lake you know it’s cold out there. The city skyline came back into view today and only wisps of fog settled close to the surface of the water.

The three of us dressed warmly for today’s hike (Frances always wears the same fur coat) but the salt and the frigid temperatures were too much for our little dog. We headed back home after a very short walk to the park at the end of the street.

I recently purchased special booties for the dog but she didn’t want any part of them when I tried to put them on her today. Oh well, too bad, so sad, I went for the walk on my own. I was already dressed and I wasn’t the least bit cold today. I walked all the way to Col. Sam Smith Park and proceeded to the lookout by the yacht club.

It was eerily quiet today. There were very few people out walking and there were stretches where I didn’t see a soul. In the last couple of weeks there have been sightings of coyotes in the area and my mind started to think about the possibility of meeting up with one or two of them along the walk. What would I do? I took some comfort in the fact that I had my cell phone with me and if need be I could always call 911 if I got into some kind of trouble.

As I got closer to the point I finally ran into another walker and his dog. I told him how glad I was to see him and he told me that he had seen the coyotes a couple of times in the last two days. He assured me that if I made some noise that they would probably stay away from me. I remember my friend D, telling me that I should sing if I was ever in the woods alone and that would keep away any wildlife.

After I said good-bye to the dog walker, I headed back towards the college and I started to hum and sign O Canada. If anybody heard me they probably thought I was a bit off my rocker.

Closer to the campus there is a great new figure 8 outdoor skating facility and lo and behold other people were also out today enjoying a skate on the ice. I watched for a few minutes while I took some photos and then realized that my morning coffee was pressing against my bladder and that I needed to quickly find a washroom. This is the down-side of going for long walks at my age but luckily there was a Tim Horton’s close by on the campus.

After using the facilities I purchased a medium coffee to warm my insides and keep my hands warm. Actually the down mittens that I was wearing were so warm that I had to take them off periodically because my hands started to sweat. For awhile the coffee cup kept them warm but in -20 degree weather the coffee didn’t stay warm for long.

When I got home I tracked the distance on Google Maps and discovered that I had walked a total distance of 5.15k. Not bad considering the conditions but I have to admit that I really enjoyed being out in the sun today.

Day Two – Job

I’ve written down numerous jobs that I want to tackle this month. One of them is fixing a lamp that I painted years ago. The electrical hardware had come loose and the shade wobbled back and forth. I wasn’t sure why it did that or how to fix it so I took it to an electrical lighting store today.

The clerk kindly unscrewed the parts and informed me that the thread on the one part had become stripped and needed to be replaced. I could leave it with them and wait three weeks for it to be fixed or I could purchase the part and do it myself. I chose the latter option but they didn’t have the part in stock. I bought a new shade from them and then drove to the closest Canadian Tire and found the part there.

When I got home tonight I was going to fix the lamp right after supper but when I sat down to check my emails I discovered that I had forgotten about a get together with friends tonight. I had started supper already and my husband told me not to worry about him and go and enjoy myself. I made sure that everything for dinner was well underway and I quickly got ready to go out.

I didn’t get home till after 11:00 so I didn’t finish the lamp and I wasn’t even sure I’d get to writing this post but here I am about to finish it. Tomorrow is another day. The lamp should only take a few minutes to fix and I can think about the next project I want to start. I decided when I started this challenge that the jobs that I chose to work on didn’t have to be finished in one day. Some of them may take several days to complete.

Well I’m going to add a few photos and then off to bed. Oh my, it’s almost 2:00 in the morning. Good night!

Cheers!

From Zero to Hero – Day 1

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..new goals for January

When I signed up for the Zero to Hero challenge I didn’t realize that it was meant for people just starting out on their blogging journeys. I’ve been blogging for almost two years but when I read the description I thought that I could learn something from this challenge so I signed up.

Our first task is to write about me. Hmmm! What can I say that I haven’t already said. Well I’ll start with the fact that I’m not in my 20s, 30s, 40s, or 50s. I was 59 when I first started blogging and celebrated my 60th birthday and a 30 pound weight loss after documenting my journey for five months. Initially the blog was a platform to record my weight loss, the trials and tribulations of my journey and a way to keep me on the straight and narrow. I thought that if I put it out there for the whole world to see I would remain focused on the goal.

It worked for awhile. I’ve managed to maintain the weight loss but I haven’t been able to lose more. I quickly became interested in many different aspects of blogging. I started to experiment with my camera and loved posting photographs and taking part in photo challenges. I posted some recipes and the blog became a venue to post my art and the art that my students produce.

Occasionally I write about issues that I feel strongly about but I try not to make my blog too political, even though I’m very political and have been involved in numerous election campaigns, working on behalf of other people. This blog has also become a venue to record everyday and special events in my family. I have a son who lives overseas and a sister who lives across the country and I know that they check out my blog to see what I’m up to.

I’m learning so much through blogging and reading other people’s blogs. I’ve tried numerous recipes that have become favourites in our house. I’ve learned how to recycle old clothes and make them into new articles of clothing. I’ve been inspired by other people’s successes with weight loss and running. In the last 18 months I’ve run two 5k races, something I could never have imagined just 2 years ago. I started taking photographs and experimenting with different settings and posting my results. I’ve become a huge fan of the macro setting on my little camera. I just received a new iPhone for Christmas and I’m told I’ll never go back to my camera. I doubt that unless I can figure out how to take macro shots with it.

What do I hope to achieve by following this challenge? To be honest with you, I haven’t been moving very much in the last couple of months (partly due to the fact that I’m on this computer so much) and I never seem to get to things around the house that need to be done (also partly due to being on this computer so much). So I was hoping that my Zero to Hero challenge for the month of January would be to get out and move everyday. I love to walk so my main activity would be walking but it could take on the form of yoga or going back to the gym (I still have a membership that is woefully underused). By the end of the month I hope to be back in form to start running again.

I never seem to find time to do the extras around this house, like reorganizing cupboards, purging closets of old clothes, painting my bedroom, reading (except when I’m under pressure to get a book read for discussion), and working on my painting and drawing skills. Yesterday I made a list of things that I hope to get done. My goal is to work on one small ‘extra’ job everyday. By the end of January I hope this will become a habit and I can start feeling better about my environment. When I’m away I’m going to bring books and sketch books with me and take some time to work on my hobbies.

Day 1

I actually started walking again yesterday. It was cold but I managed to walk 4k with the dog. Today, however, was another story. Both my husband and I bundled up and started on our walk with Frances (our dog). We could tell that this would be a challenge today. With the wind chill factor we were facing -30 celsius temperatures and the wind coming off the lake was pretty strong. The waves were high and because the water temperature was warmer than the air today a fog settled over the entire lake. The city skyline was completely non-existent today.

Half way through the walk I had to readjust my scarf to cover my mouth and nose but in doing that my glasses fogged over and I couldn’t see where I was going. After about 1k into the walk we decided to turn around and come home. It was just too cold today.

When I got home I decided to tackle cleaning out the refrigerator. We’ve had so much company over the holidays and prepared so many meals that we lost track of what we actually had in the fridge. When new items were bought some of the older items were pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about. Needless to say I found some pretty unsavoury and unrecognizable food items at the back of this ice box. After a couple of hours of throwing out spoiled or expired food items, washing out shelves and reorganizing the shelves I felt elated to have completed one task on my list.

One day down and 29 to go.

Cheers!

First Big Snowfall of the Season

Posted on December 14, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..the cold and blowing winds and treacherous driving conditions has kept us in most of the day

Early this morning I woke to a light dusting of snow on the ground and once again I thought the weatherman had gotten it wrong. For several days the weather station had been forecasting the season’s first big snow storm, starting Friday night. Later in the morning, however, the snow started to come down heavily and the winds picked up. We had to drive to a friends house to pick up my purse that I had left behind the night before and there was no way that my husband wanted to stop for tea or make a side trip to a store to do a little shopping. The driving was difficult and the radio was reporting on a 50 car pile-up on the highway.

Tonight I took a few shots from the front door. The snow seemed to be slowing down and our dog, Frances, was whining to go outside, despite the fact that my husband had taken her out 15 minutes earlier. I put on my parka, mittens and boots, grabbed my camera, put on her leash and braved the elements.

It was evident, early on, that Frances wanted more than a quick pee. She pulled and jumped into the deep snow and headed for the park. Seeing that I was warmly dressed, I obliged her and trudged through the snow laden sidewalks towards the park. There have been some sitings of coyotes in the neighbourhood (yes, we have coyotes in Toronto) so I wasn’t comfortable letting her off the leash. She was having so much fun that we continued our walk for several blocks before heading home. It looks like we’re not quite finished with the snow as it came down even heavier during our walk.

I did manage to take a few more pictures…..not an easy task with one hand on a leash and a very playful dog on the end of it.

I love these lights. If I ever see the owners I’ll have to ask them where they got them.

Unexpected Pleasures

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..the joys of spontaneity

I really didn’t have much in the way of plans for the weekend. The only thing that I really needed to do was buy new tires for my car. So early Saturday morning I dropped the car off at the Tire Centre at Costco and walked home. It turned out to be a beautiful day and the walk was invigorating. I made an unexpected stop at the library and successfully signed out the next book for our book club meeting in December. So far I’d logged in 5 kilometres of walking and it didn’t stop there.

When I got home I changed into my running shoes and joined my husband, my daughter, G, her dog, Lucy and our dog, Frances for a walk to Sam Smith Park. I brought along the camera and found lots of wonderful things to photograph. Again, I played around with the macro setting and got close and personal with some plant materials.

Not only did I walk another 5 kilometres but some of that distance was covered with running. I didn’t want to get too far behind the family who were always a few steps ahead of me. The distance would get longer every time I stopped to take pictures so I found myself running to catch up. Near the end of the trail I found the group sitting on the rocks waiting for me. As you can see, Lucy has fully recovered from her surgery.

Later in the day, my other daughter called and wanted to meet and go to Ikea. We planned to rendezvous at Costco when I picked up the car but when I got to the tire centre the car wasn’t ready. I quickly called my husband to pick me and the girls up and drop us off at Ikea. This part of the day wasn’t so wonderful for K but the rest of us had a great time. Since it was already late in the day, we decided to have dinner together after our shopping adventure at Ikea. Again K picked us up and took me back to Costco to get the car and then we each had a job to do to get dinner organized. A and I were assigned to get the salad and wine and K, G and J were in charge of getting the pizza.

The day ended with a lovely unplanned dinner with all the girls. G’s husband was at a conference in North Carolina and our son of course is still in Rotterdam. We sent him a quick message to see if he still wants to participate in our Secret Santa draw but I haven’t heard back from him yet. Next week we’re getting together again for a planned meal where we will draw names to see who we will buy gifts for this Christmas. I didn’t think I’d like the Secret Santa concept but we’ve done it for a couple of years now and it certainly takes some of the stress off of buying gifts at Christmas.

Yesterday we got an unexpected phone call from old friends who live in Calgary. They were in town and wanted to get together before they go back on Wednesday. Today was the best time for all of us so we met at the house and then drove over to the Roncesvalle area and had a nice lunch at Hey’s. We had a long leisurely lunch and got caught up on what’s been happening in our lives. My husband and L have been friends since grade school and we all went to university together. We were at each other’s weddings and the births of our children. We literally had to drive L and L to the hospital when their first child wanted to enter the world in the middle of the night. As luck would have it, their car wouldn’t start at that crucial moment in time.

What a great weekend; fantastic weather on Saturday, walking 10 k in one day, an unplanned dinner with family and an unexpected visit from old friends. What more could you ask for? I hope your weekend had some special moments as well.

Cheers!

I Must Confess

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….I haven’t walked or run in weeks

As much as I like to walk and even run I haven’t done much of either in several weeks. Today I left the house early in the morning to have new tires installed on my car. I’ve been shopping around and found that Costco had the best deals but you can’t make an appointment. I arrived right at opening and was shocked to find that I was number 22 in line. Luckily the wait wasn’t too long and I’m glad I didn’t get there any later than I did because they stopped taking cars at number 24. The downside was that I had to leave the car and it wouldn’t be ready for six hours. Obviously I wasn’t going to wait around for that length of time so I decided to start walking home.

I wasn’t sure how far the walk would be but my plan was to walk about one third of the way and then phone my husband and have him pick me up at the Italian bakery. I ordered a cappuccino and a breakfast sandwich and then pulled out my phone. It was dead. Oh well!

I knew that the walk was doable, so after nourishing myself I continued to walk. It is a beautiful day today in Toronto, one that I’m sure we won’t see too many of before next spring. I forgot how much I really do like to walk. As I got closer to home I felt compelled to walk even further and check out the library to see if they had the book I needed for our next book club meeting. Bonus! I lucked out and checked out their only copy of The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman.

When I got home my husband was surprised to see me walk through the door and no car in the driveway. I went to gmap pedometer and mapped out the route and discovered that the walk covered 5 k. Will I walk back to pick up the car? Probably not but then one should never say ‘never’. I will, however, do some gardening today and plant some tulip bulbs that were gifted to me and maybe I’ll join my husband and daughter and walk the dogs to Sam Smith Park.

It’s going to be a good day!

Cheers!

Food is Art

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..a special treat to end our Thanksgiving weekend

Yesterday I told you about our trip to Trinity Bellwoods Park. When we reached the south end of the park, my daughter A asked if I wanted to stop for coffee. Is the pope Catholic? You don’t have to ask me twice.

Of course she already had a very special place in mind. Right on Queen St., on the north side and east of the park is a very fancy cafe called Nadege. It was warm enough yesterday to sit outside so we found a table for the four of us on the patio facing the park.

We all wanted Americanos, so A and AB went inside to order. When they came back they raved about the pastry counter and insisted that I had to go inside to see it for myself. I wasn’t disappointed. It was like an art gallery of pastries with real French croissants, tarts, Danishes, French macaroons and delicately and beautifully designed slices of cake. My description here doesn’t do it justice. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words:

A waitress brought out our coffees, glasses of water and a small tray of cream and custard filled puff pastries. Luckily they were small so even though it was an indulgence we didn’t feel too guilty. They were definitely worth the calories. I was glad that I had saved up my calories earlier in the day.

When I had gone inside to check out the counters I noticed that at the back of the store there was an in house bakery that one could see into and watch the bakers at their craft. I took a picture but when I looked at it later it looked like one the the pastry chefs was not too pleased to have her picture taken so out of respect for her I’ve decided to not publish it.

When I went back outside I noticed that there was water on the ground close to where we were sitting. I asked where it came from and they told me that the waitress had accidentally spilled water on J’s back. She had her coat on so she didn’t feel it but the waitress brought three French macaroons, on the house, to the table to compensate for the mishap.

Bonus! We all took a nibble from each one. The orange one was my favourite. It’s a good thing we had to walk back across the park to get to the car. It helped burn a few extra calories. What a great ending to a perfect weekend!

My girls and AB.

The Perfect Weekend

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..mostly good weather and great company

The weather wasn’t perfect but it started off well and ended well.

I spent Saturday with one of my best friends and her family at the art gallery. Both shows, Ai Weiwei and David Bowie, were exceptionally good and awe inspiring.

Sunday wasn’t great weather wise but we spent it with family and enjoyed great food and celebrated my son-in-law’s birthday. We’ve also started what we hope will become a regular family event…..family game night. Who said game night was only for younger children? During our walk we stopped to see my neighbour and good friend, MC, and quickly said hello to her entire family who were also celebrating Thanksgiving together. I’ve known MC for more than 30 years and our children are very close in age. The big difference is that she’s a grandmother four times over and number five is on the way.

Today the sun was shining again. I had a lie in this morning and spent a good hour and a half reading a wonderful book, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce. K prepared a sumptuous omelet for breakfast and together we started making a hearty turkey soup. Actually K prepared most of the soup while I started cleaning out the fridge.

I know that most people wouldn’t find cleaning a very enjoyable activity. I have to admit that it’s not my most favourite thing to do but I do get a lot of satisfaction when I finish a task. Today the birds were given a nice clean cage, the bedding was stripped and washed and my vacuum cleaner that stopped working two weeks ago has miraculously started working again so the second floor and the stairs got a long overdue cleaning.

After cleaning I took a break and read some emails and other people’s blogs and wrote about our Thanksgiving dinner for this blog. As I was finishing up my latest post, the phone rang and one of my oldest friends and first teaching friend invited me to meet her at her place and then head out to Trinity Bellwoods Park and go for a walk. Perfect ….. the one other thing that I hoped to do today was get outside and get some exercise.

AB and I have a very special relationship. She is a few years older than I am and was my mentor when I first started teaching. When our first child was born she became her godmother and has always taken a special interest in all our children. In fact she considers all three of our children her god children. We’ve always considered and treated AB and her partner as members of our family.

I picked up my daughter, A and her partner, J and headed out to AB’s place. We drove over to Trinity Bellwoods and parked the car at the north end of the park. It’s a busy park with walkers, runners and cyclists. The leaves are just starting to turn and some of the trees are bearing some unusual fruit. There are numerous memorials and statues in the park, representing individuals and groups that have made significant contributions to the neighbourhood.

: I have no idea what kind of tree this is.

: A close-up of the fruit on this unknown tree.

: Any idea what kind of tree this is?

When we got to the south end of the park my daughter suggested that we stop for a coffee at a cafe across the street. She had obviously been there before and she was anxious to share this special place with me. More about this in my next post. It was a perfect way to end a perfect day and perfect weekend.

Cheers!

Just One of Those Days

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….no energy and children who don’t listen

We had our Terry Fox Run today. All the children were assembled in the gym and our principal read a short story about Terry Fox (first year she didn’t cry). We went outside and raised the special flag and then 400 children, all their teachers and some of the parents started walking/running around the school.

The walk/run lasted for about 30 minutes. It was a beautiful sunny day and the temperature had risen considerably since the morning. I was overdressed and walked most of the way. The children returned to class just before lunch. and we (the teachers) had our monthly staff meeting.

After lunch I taught my first art class of the the day. It was a grade 3. I explained the lesson in detail and sent the boys and girls off to create. When they returned to show me their rough copies I wanted to bang my head on the table. Many of them completely ignored the guidelines. My day ended with 29 kindergarten children. They were tired and I was tired.

I was glad when the day was over. My friend L suggested that we go to the nail spa and have our toes done. Just what the doctor ordered. A pedicure is such a treat. Is there anything better than purple toes?

Installation Art Along the Shores of Lake Ontario

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..Inuksuit made with 21st century rubble

Colonel Sam Smith Park, on the shores of Lake Ontario, at the south end of Etobicoke was recently extended into the lake with landfill. It is one of Toronto’s newest and largest waterfront parks. Much of the park was created in front of the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital and the RL Clark Filtration Plant. The waterfront lakefill area is mainly naturalized with grasses, shrubs and small trees. The shoreline is a combination of rocky headlands, cobble beaches and protected wetland. This blends further north into the mature trees and mowed lawns of the former hospital grounds and now the site for Humber College.

This is the park that Frances, my husband and I walked through every day (when I’m not at the cottage or away). This morning on our usual walk to the point I noticed that there were more pieces of installation art that someone has created, using the bricks and rubble from the landfill along the shoreline.

The sculptures were intended to look like inuksuit, a native stone landmark or cairn built and used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America.

An inuksuk was originally built as a travel marker for camps, hunting grounds, food caches and sometimes burial grounds. For more information about the inuksuk, check the Wikipedia site, here.

A Farm in the Middle of Canada’s Biggest City

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….another 5.3k walk to add to this morning’s 5.0k

Actually it’s already Wednesday but I’m writing this as if it’s still Tuesday. After this morning’s walk I came home to a message from my friend, D, inviting me to join her for lunch at a little bistro in Cabbagetown and then go for a stroll to the Riverdale Farm.

I called her back and arranged to meet her at her condo, downtown, park my car and then together we would walk over to Parliament Street and have lunch at the Merryberry.

The walk took us past numerous churches and Allan Gardens. The area has really changed in the last 20 years. There are more upscale restaurants and the old victorian homes have all been renovated, numerous times to accommodate the design needs of their predominantly upper middle class owners.

The restaurant, The Merryberry, is situated directly on Parliament, just north of Carlton. When we got there we were greeted in a friendly and welcoming manner and offered a choice of eating indoors or sitting out back on the patio. We chose to eat outside. There were lots of light fare lunch options. The soup of the day was a tomato peaches n’ cream soup. Both D and I decided on a half bowl of the soup and D had a salad and I ordered a ‘mash up’. A mash up is a sandwich with egg, goat cheese, avocado and chickpea salad served between two slices of multi-grain bread. I’m trying to eat less bread so I asked for it to be served open face. No problem.

When we finished our meal, D informed me that lunch was on her. It was an early birthday present for me. The big day is in two weeks. We ordered a lemon lime mouse to share for dessert. It was heavenly ….. light and tasty.

After lunch D and I started to walk toward the Riverdale Farm. It used to be the Riverdale Zoo and I remember going there with my parents when I was very young. Today the zoo animals are all gone and have been replaced with farm animals. It’s a great place to take city kids. There were lots of them there today, either with their parents or with a daycare or summer school group.

After walking around the barns and the pens there are several hiking trails that one can use. We walked down a very steep embankment toward a pond that has been restored to its original condition. If it wasn’t for the noise from the cars on the Don Valley Expressway you wouldn’t know that you were in the middle of Toronto.