Teena in Toronto: August 2026

Sunday, 30 August 2026

Knitted beanies

A neighbour gave me some light (3) baby yarn (baby pink and lemon custard). I doubled and tripled the strands and knitted some beanies to donate.

I found the pattern here and it was an easy pattern.

I don't have a small 5.5mm circular needle so used 6.5mm so it's a bit bigger than a beanie and fits like a comfy hat.

Cast on 80 sts. Place marker, join being careful not to twist sts.

Rounds 1-8: Work in 2x2 Rib stitch pattern until beanie measures 2” (5 cm) from cast-on edge
Rounds 9-22: Knit around

Shape Crown

Round 1: Knit.
Round 2 (dec): *K6, K2tog; repeat from * around — 70 sts.
Round 3: Knit.
Round 4 (dec): *K5, K2tog; repeat from * around — 60 sts.
Round 5: Knit.
Round 6 (dec): *K4, K2tog; repeat from * around — 50 sts.
Round 7: Knit.
Round 8 (dec): *K3, K2tog; repeat from * around — 40 sts.
Round 9: Knit.
Round 10 (dec): *K2, K2tog; repeat from * around — 30 sts.
Round 11: Knit.
Round 12 (dec): *K1, K2tog; repeat from * around — 20 sts.
Round 13: Knit.
Round 14: *K2tog; repeat from * around — 10 sts.

Finishing

Cut yarn leaving a 6” (15 cm) tail. With yarn needle, draw tail through remaining 10 sts twice, pull tightly and fasten off. Weave in ends. Block lightly.

Saturday, 29 August 2026

Toronto Blue Jays 4 ~ Seattle Mariners 3, Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

Gord and I were at the Toronto Blue Jays game this afternoon.

Here we are ...

We bought our tickets because Buck Martinez was being inducted into the Hall of Excellence. It was a very nice ceremony with past inductees in attendance.

Toronto Blue Jays 2 ~ Kansas City Royals 13, Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

Gord and I were at the Toronto Blue Jays game tonight. Dawn, our friend and neighbour, organizes an annual work event and invites us (I think she had about 150 staff, family and friends in the group).

Alas, they lost again. It was a pathetic game and Jays fans showed their feelings with lots of boos.

Our seats were in the 539 section so we entered through gate 14, on the west side of the stadium.

We spent some time at the TD Park Social.

Gord and I

Levant Pizza, Toronto, ON

I’m an elite Yelper and was offered the opportunity to celebrate Levant’s 5th anniversary (Bloor Street W, just west Ossington Avenue) with a complimentary chicken shawarma sandwich, pistachio baklava sundae and sampler refresher. I stopped in this afternoon for an early supper.

My chicken sandwich was good but messy. The bun was soft, which I like, but when I took a bite, everything inside slid to the other side with some falling out. I tried again but ended up eating it with a knife and fork. The sundae was tasty and sweet and layered with cream, strawberry ice cream and broken baklava.

Toronto Blue Jays 3 ~ Kansas City Royals 5, Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

Gord and I were at the Toronto Blue Jays game tonight. Alas, they lost.

Our seats were in the 510 section so we entered through gate 1, on the east side of the stadium.

We headed up to the Corona Rooftop Patio.

From Goodreads ~ Billie has built the perfect life. Her practice as a doctor in New York City is thriving and she’s finally found the right partner in Dean after years spent trying to move on from her high-school sweetheart, Mick. Their young love had been intense and true but distance and ambition pulled them apart when she left Wisconsin for medical school.

Then one morning, just after accepting Dean’s romantic marriage proposal, Billie’s phone rings. It’s Mick - calling for the first time in nearly a decade. His news is urgent, and in a moment, everything changes.

As Billie boards a plane back to Wisconsin, the past comes rushing in - her friendships from home, the love she shared with Mick and the choices that shaped them. What awaits her is a reckoning with what she’s lost, what she’s built, and what she still wants.

Billie is in her late 30s and is a successful doctor in New York City who is newly engaged to Dean, a trauma surgeon. She believes she has moved on from Mick, her high-school sweetheart in Wisconsin, who had broken up with her when she moved away for medical school. Shortly after accepting Dean’s proposal, Billie receives an unexpected call from Mick, who tells her that her longtime best friend, Erin, has died in a car accident. Erin leaves behind her eleven-year-old daughter, Phoebe, and Billie returns to her Wisconsin hometown to help with the situation and support Phoebe.

Though she's visited back home over the years, Billie reconnects with old friends and with Mick in their grief, bringing back memories of their relationship and the life she once had. Taking responsibility for Phoebe has some life changing decisions to make that will affect her life with Dean.

This book was a quick read and it was okay, not great. It is written in first person perspective in Billie's voice. As a head's up, there is swearing.

I found the story unrealistic. Billie is in her late 30s, has a successful career, a life and friends she loves in New York City and is in an adult relationship with Dean. Yet the second she is back home, her feelings for Mick, who she hasn't seen in about 15 years when he broke up with her, are still there? I found that hard to believe. It didn't seem like she has the maturity of someone who has achieved so much and is almost 40. She was prepared to throw it all away to take guardianship of Phoebe, regardless of how Dean felt about it and how this would disrupt their lives. It was odd that Mick and Billie are surprised to find out from Erin's mom, who has Alzheimer's, that they are expected to have custody of Phoebe. I would think that in the 30 years Billie and Erin had been friends that the topic would have come up. No one seemed overly sad Erin had unexpectedly died. Instead chores were checked off. The day after the funeral her friends packed up her condo. A couple days later Erin's mom was moved into a home.

Sunday, 23 August 2026

Crafty Coyote, Toronto, ON

Trish and I had supper on the patio this evening at Crafty Coyote (on Bloor Street W, east of Bathurst). It's been a few months since we've gotten together so it was nice to catch up. It wasn't busy so there was no pressure to eat and run.

Trish had a Beyond Burger and sweet potatoes fries and I had wings with medium sauce and fries (I like their wings). Both were good.

"Cat VideoFest 2026", Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, Toronto, ON

Trish and I are cat lovers and saw Cat VideoFest 2026 at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema on Bloor Street W, just east of Bathurst Street. It was a pawsome fun time!

The world’s #1 cat video festival is back! Oscilloscope Laboratories presents CatVideoFest 2026, a compilation of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos, and classic internet powerhouses.

Cat masks were available at the door so, of course, we took one.

And here we are!

Meow!

Book ~ "Playing the Changes: A Musician's Memoir" (2026) Colin James

From Goodreads ~ From the prairies of Saskatchewan to sharing the stage with arguably the most influential guitarists of all time, Colin James is one of Canada’s greatest musical talents. His career spans over 30 years, with a track record that includes 20 studio albums, eight Juno Awards, 30 Maple Blues Awards and multi-platinum record sales.

In "Playing the Changes", Colin James invites readers to look back at the formative years that would see him emerge as a full-formed musical talent at such a young age. We see the young Colin James Munn growing up in Saskatchewan, the son of social worker parents, always surrounded by music from the records played at home, to the folk clubs in Regina and the Quaker gatherings his family attends throughout the province. At a very young age, he picks up his older brother's guitar and teaches himself to play along to some of the vintage blues records he adores so much. He ultimately masters the mandolin and penny whistle as well; before long he’s sitting in with folk bands before he’s even a teenager.

Next readers are introduced to young adult Colin, an endearing young man who is trying to navigate and understand the world around him. There is Colin the hypochondriac, who is convinced that any malady he has may be fatal; Colin the romantic; Colin the compulsive cleaner, whose efforts to keep a tidy house by vaccuming floors and polishing furniture is an attempt to prevent the impending separation and divorce of his parents.

Readers go on the road with teenage Colin as he plays with veteran musicians much older than him, in venues throughout Saskatchewan and Winnipeg where he’s under the legal age to enter, let alone perform. The years of road work lead to the pivotal moment of Colin's at the age of eighteen, with a day's notice, he’s asked to put together a band and open for legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan in Saskatoon. That performance leads to a remarkable friendship between Colin and Vaughan, who goes on to become an incredible mentor and momentously christens Colin James (it sounds more rock'n'roll than Colin Munn).

Finally, Colin brings the reader to 1988, just before the release of his debut album, Colin James. By turns entertaining and open-hearted, Playing the Changes is a celebration of music and the joy of playing it, and of one of the most remarkable childhoods in Canadian music history.

I like reading bios/autobios and memoirs and am a fan of Canadian musician Colin James (though I haven't listened to his later albums but will now!) so was interested to read his story.

This is James’ story of growing up in Saskatchewan and discovering his passion for music at a young age. He talks about his family, his struggles with anxiety and insecurity, quitting school and how he taught himself to play the guitar and began playing with older, more experienced musicians. A major turning point comes when, at just 18, Colin gets the chance to open for blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan. The two become friends, and Vaughan becomes an important influence on the young musician. The memoir follows James through his early years on the road and ends just before the release of his first album in 1988 (which I had on cassette).

I liked this memoir and the writing style. It would have been nice to have some pictures included throughout. It was interesting to read about the people, experiences and musical influences that helped shape him into the Canadian blues and rock musician he became. It's amazing all he'd done at such an early age to achieve his goals. As a head's up, there is some swearing and talk of drug use.