I have got a job for the Christmas season. I'm doing my Architectural Drawing Tuesday nights, Website Design in the morning and volunteering at the Hospital so, of course, I'm very busy.
But, I have a job working at Sheridan Nurseries outside in the wreaths, boughs, berries, sticks (some are marvelous colors) and bright pine cones (gold, silver, red, natural), stars, various fruit (fake) and everything else to make their own displays. (We have Christmas trees but the tree specialist ..."the guys"... are supposed to do trees... I don't do trees, especially with carrying them and moving the 8 or 9 ft tree to the car, they get a tip for that ... )
After my shift, I got laid off for about 3 months. I can continue to go to Sheridan Nurseries for April 2012 - the planting season where the will be LOTS of questions from the clients into this new year - and get hired.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Trick or Treating ...
Trick or Treat is the customary practice for parents who have children. They travel from house to house with their children saying 'trick or treat' to the neighbours.
'Trick or Treat' has been in North America since the late 1950's. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!
The homeowner's decorate the place with plastic spiderwebs, skeletons and pumpkins craved out with faces on the front. This year, everybody's going as a zombie. Erin and her boyfriend went to 3 parties as a zombie farmer Saturday night.
I went to my daughters house for Halloween on Monday. She was cooking chile and Pumpkin Beer. We handed out some candy and looked at the little ones (and the big ones). Not many people where around the neighbourhood.
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| Erin took this photo... Dan's pumpkin is on display. Hers is against the house and in the window. That's me in the doorway! |
'Trick or Treat' has been in North America since the late 1950's. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!
The homeowner's decorate the place with plastic spiderwebs, skeletons and pumpkins craved out with faces on the front. This year, everybody's going as a zombie. Erin and her boyfriend went to 3 parties as a zombie farmer Saturday night.
I went to my daughters house for Halloween on Monday. She was cooking chile and Pumpkin Beer. We handed out some candy and looked at the little ones (and the big ones). Not many people where around the neighbourhood.
Friday, 26 August 2011
Jack Layton - "Grace under Pressure"
Hemmingway called courage "Grace under Pressure" and he was certainly right with Jack Layton. He outperformed all expectations of the challenge that would face him.
He entered civil politics in the 1980's as City Councillor. At the Village on the Grange he meets Olivia Chow. He was brought in as the Auctioneer for the day and she was the translator for the Cantonese language for the day. Three weeks later they went out on their first date!
In 2002-03 he became the NDP candidate and was elected to lead the House of Commons 2004. In 2009 he battled prostate cancer admitting to the world in Feburary 2010. He underwent treatment for it and also a fracture hip with made him carry a cane. In May 2, 2011 a historic victory was his. He made it to Stornoway House as the Leader for the Opposition.
On July 25/11 Jack told us that he had a difference kind of cancer. He looked sicker than I'd seen him. Jack Layton died at 4:45 am August 22, 2011
From his most recent message:
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.
All my very best,
Jack Layton"
Michealla Jean, former Governor General of Canada. "Our country is losing a man of courage and great integrity."
Danny Williams, the former Newfoundland premier. "Jack was truly a man of the people; down to earth and humble, but with a great charisma that was made even greater by his deference to those his served."
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Open House - the Steam Whistle Brewery, the Roundhouse and the TD Tower
OK, this happened quite a long time ago but I didn't record it.... so here we go.
The CPR John Street Roundhouse is across the road from me so I thought I'd go there. The Steam Whistle Brewing is on site and the guys (three of them) decided to build it in 1999 ... "breathed new life into the building, renovating with an eye to preserve the original post and beam construction".
The building is full of light from multi-paned windows and the original Douglas Fir posts support the cedar roof. The catwalks and exposed brick retain the feels of the building's original use.
Brewing in bottles (very few tins) takes place on site and, in the tour, we could see all of it from brewing to bottling it.
Outside, I joined the Toronto Railway Association and rode on to massive 120 foot rotating turntable designed by the Canadian Bridge Company about 80 years ago. The roundhouse has stalls for 32 locomotives that move in and out of the roundhouse on the rotating turntable.
After this, I went to the TD Centre. I waited in line (and waited... and waited... and waited) until it was my turn to go out the the 54th floor. In 1970 - 71 we went out for dinner there, on the 54th floor. It was the only thing on the horizon apart from the Royal York Hotel! Wow!
The CPR John Street Roundhouse is across the road from me so I thought I'd go there. The Steam Whistle Brewing is on site and the guys (three of them) decided to build it in 1999 ... "breathed new life into the building, renovating with an eye to preserve the original post and beam construction".
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Brewing in bottles (very few tins) takes place on site and, in the tour, we could see all of it from brewing to bottling it.
 |
| Steam Whistle Brewing |
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| Rotating Turntable |
Outside, I joined the Toronto Railway Association and rode on to massive 120 foot rotating turntable designed by the Canadian Bridge Company about 80 years ago. The roundhouse has stalls for 32 locomotives that move in and out of the roundhouse on the rotating turntable.
After this, I went to the TD Centre. I waited in line (and waited... and waited... and waited) until it was my turn to go out the the 54th floor. In 1970 - 71 we went out for dinner there, on the 54th floor. It was the only thing on the horizon apart from the Royal York Hotel! Wow!
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Pride Festivities: Church Street
Hey, I went to the Pride Festivities on Church Street just before the parade got underway. I walked down from Bloor Street and came out at College Street with all the booths (TD, police, radio stations, Stag Shop etc etc) and restaurants and florist shops along the street. About a million people came for the Parade so it was busy.
The Pride Toronto defines "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexal, intersex, queer/questioning, 2 spirited and Allies" ... wow, that a big lineup ... to "create a safe space to engage communities in the celebration of their sexuality".
These are pictures I took along the street.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Sargasso
The Luminato Festival 2011 was here in Toronto June 10th - 19th. It was a 'free creativity' thing for all of Toronto. Stages and theatres all over Toronto being for free and ticketed events.
I went to the Allen Lambert Gallery, I go there a lot, to find out about Sargasso. Philip Beesley, the architect, was commissioned by Luminato to install the 'vast, tangled masses of living matter and cast-out material that drifts at the centre' and blooms the in atrium of the glass and sky. "A visionary architectural pioneer creates a responsive landscape to infuse one of downtown's busiest spaces with astonishing new life".
And that's all I have to say... It is beautiful.
I went to the Allen Lambert Gallery, I go there a lot, to find out about Sargasso. Philip Beesley, the architect, was commissioned by Luminato to install the 'vast, tangled masses of living matter and cast-out material that drifts at the centre' and blooms the in atrium of the glass and sky. "A visionary architectural pioneer creates a responsive landscape to infuse one of downtown's busiest spaces with astonishing new life".
And that's all I have to say... It is beautiful.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
It's Not Toronto - But It Is The Niagara Wine Tour
On June 15th we (the kids and me) sent off for the Wine Tour. We left at about 8:15 am - going along Lake Shore Blvd, the Gardiner and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) before we ended up in an hour and 20 minutes at the Hilton hotel. Believe or not, at 9:40 am we were checked it to the hotel! Very nice. It was sunny and warm and we drank coffee, tea and fruit outside in the patio.
At 10:30 am a van showed up and we were taken to the Niagara Wine College for a little education on wine. Our tour guide, Josh, was knowledgeable in the art of wine and he was a student before landing this job. We went out to the winery, with all the wine vines growing and, in another place, talked about there stemming and seeded the new grapes. Josh explained how they are putting the grapes in a stainless steel rotator to extract the skins. White wine they remove the skins and red wine they soak it with the skins for awhile but eventually they winded up in barrels or stainless steel bins.
After, we tried the wine. We are looking at the for color, sniffing the wine, swirling it around in the wine glass and, of course, tasting it. We had white, red and icewine.
And then we went for lunch on a beautiful patio called the "The Old Winery Restaurant". The restaurant had a huge clay oven and I ordered my pizza and salad. It was really good!
After lunch we made it to "Reif Estate Winery", "Caroline Cellars" and "Diamonds Estate Winery".
Reif Estate Winery was purchased as a plot of land on the Niagara river. Ewald Reif brought the wine plants for Neustald, Germany along the Rhine River Valley in 1977 and began producing wine in 1983. I had never been to Reif Estates and I'm impressed with the Wine Sensory Garden - "to explore our Wine Sensory Garden to ponder the colours, aromas and flavours characteristically used to describe wines. The gardens are designed to complement and reflect the heritage of our original 1870's Coach House". We also saw the huge barrels of wine, there not used very much, but the are HUGE.
We went out for dinner at Treadwell/ Farm-to-Table Cusine in Port Dalhousie. The father, Chef/Owner Steven Treadwell and his son, James Treadwell, the managing director of the restaurant, make this one of the finest restaurants in Canada.
And from there we heard about the Vancouver/Boston Stanley Cup Game.... we arrived at our hotel just to see it finish.
The next day we went down to Niagara-on-the-Lake to tour around, drink coffee and eat gelato. We had to make it to our Lailey Vineyard at 12:30pm. The three of us went on a tour inwhich the guide talked a great deal about Lailey's smallness and the difference it makes to the wines.
Then we came home....
At 10:30 am a van showed up and we were taken to the Niagara Wine College for a little education on wine. Our tour guide, Josh, was knowledgeable in the art of wine and he was a student before landing this job. We went out to the winery, with all the wine vines growing and, in another place, talked about there stemming and seeded the new grapes. Josh explained how they are putting the grapes in a stainless steel rotator to extract the skins. White wine they remove the skins and red wine they soak it with the skins for awhile but eventually they winded up in barrels or stainless steel bins.
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| The flowers among the leaves |
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| The grape vines all snuggled in a row |
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| The Barrels |
After, we tried the wine. We are looking at the for color, sniffing the wine, swirling it around in the wine glass and, of course, tasting it. We had white, red and icewine.
And then we went for lunch on a beautiful patio called the "The Old Winery Restaurant". The restaurant had a huge clay oven and I ordered my pizza and salad. It was really good!
After lunch we made it to "Reif Estate Winery", "Caroline Cellars" and "Diamonds Estate Winery".
Reif Estate Winery was purchased as a plot of land on the Niagara river. Ewald Reif brought the wine plants for Neustald, Germany along the Rhine River Valley in 1977 and began producing wine in 1983. I had never been to Reif Estates and I'm impressed with the Wine Sensory Garden - "to explore our Wine Sensory Garden to ponder the colours, aromas and flavours characteristically used to describe wines. The gardens are designed to complement and reflect the heritage of our original 1870's Coach House". We also saw the huge barrels of wine, there not used very much, but the are HUGE.
We went out for dinner at Treadwell/ Farm-to-Table Cusine in Port Dalhousie. The father, Chef/Owner Steven Treadwell and his son, James Treadwell, the managing director of the restaurant, make this one of the finest restaurants in Canada.
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| The Soup |
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| The Main Courses |
We had wine and cheese outside on the patio and watched the full moon rise above the trees.
And from there we heard about the Vancouver/Boston Stanley Cup Game.... we arrived at our hotel just to see it finish.
The next day we went down to Niagara-on-the-Lake to tour around, drink coffee and eat gelato. We had to make it to our Lailey Vineyard at 12:30pm. The three of us went on a tour inwhich the guide talked a great deal about Lailey's smallness and the difference it makes to the wines.
Then we came home....
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