"A Christmas Story", Lower Ossington Theatre, Toronto, ON

This evening Gord and I saw A Christmas Story ... it's based on the movie of the same name, which we like.

Based on the perennial holiday movie favorite, A CHRISTMAS STORY chronicles young and bespectacled Ralphie Parker as he schemes his way toward the holiday gift of his dreams, an official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.

An infamous leg lamp, outrageous pink bunny pajamas, a maniacal department store Santa and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole are just a few of the distractions that stand between Ralphie and his Christmas wish.

A CHRISTMAS STORY is a triple-dog-dare of a good time and it is sure to warm your heart this holiday season!

It has just arrived at the Lower Ossington Theatre, which is in our 'hood, and will be there until the end of December. 

We've seen many plays there over the years and this one was okay, not one of our favourites ... we found it didn't capture the enthusiasm and humour of the movie.  Adult Ralphie is the narrator and is almost always on stage.  The actors were good, with some playing various parts. 

The music was loud, though, so it was hard to hear what the actors were saying (we were in the second row in the centre) ... so maybe turn down the music or turn up the actors' microphones.

Holiday Inn & Suites Winnipeg - Downtown, Winnipeg, MB

I have been in Winnipeg since Monday and stayed at the Holiday Inn & Suites downtown ... it's on the corner of Colony and Portage.  I'd stayed here in August.  When I booked my room a couple weeks ago, there were only two hotels downtown that had space from Monday to Friday (there was a hockey game on Tuesday night and Fleetwood Mac were in town last night) and the Holiday Inn was one of them.

Here was my suite ...

Yellow Dog Tavern, Winnipeg, MB

I had supper this evening at Yellow Dog Tavern (on Donald Street).  It's not a fancy place but I found it comfortable.

Book ~ "Paw of the Jungle" (2019) Diane Kelly

From Goodreads ~ Police officer Megan Luz and her K-9 partner in crime, Brigit, are on all fours as they try to solve their latest Lone Star mystery.

AT THE ZOO
The weather is beautiful, work is slow and her canine colleague could use a walk. What better day for Megan to take Brigit to the Fort Worth Zoo, where they can let loose and witness the law and order of nature unfold? But what begins as a fun field trip turns serious when a pair of rare hyacinth macaws named Fabiana and Fernando goes missing. Is the new custodian, a gentle soul who happens to be an ex-convict, to blame? Or is something far more sinister afoot?

AND ON THE HUNT
The birds are worth thousands of dollars and the list of people on the premises who might have stolen them is long. Soon other animals start disappearing ... and Megan and Brigit have their hands and paws full of suspects. But when a rare black rhino is taken from the zoo, presumably for its black-market-friendly horn, time is of the essence. Can Megan and Brigit find out who’s behind the mystery - before they too become prey? 

Megan is a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas.  Her partner is Brigit, a German Shepherd.  She has two cases on the go.  Women are losing their rings and Megan is determined to find out who is stealing them and how.  The second case involves animals that are disappearing from a zoo and it's up to Megan and Brigit to figure out who is stealing them.

I've read many books by this author and I liked this one.  Though it's the eighth in the Paw Enforcement series, it can work as a stand alone and you don't have to read the others to know what's going on (there is enough background provided).

I liked the writing style ... it was amusing at times.  It is written in first person perspective from Megan's point of view and third person perspective from Brigit's point of view (which is funny) and the Poacher's perspective.

I like Megan.  She's gotten more confident as time goes on.  Brigit's funny and likeable and it's fun to get into her head.  Though she is a trained police dog, she can be naughty when she wants to be (like stealing tennis balls or being a bum at supper time).

Rudy's Eat and Drink, Winnipeg, MB

I had supper this evening at Rudy's Eat and Drink (on Graham Avenue).

Burrito Splendido, Winnipeg, MB

I had lunch today at Burrito Splendido on King Edward Street.

I love burritos and ordered a regular chicken burrito on a white wrap.  They make the wrap when you order.  They start with a small ball of dough and put it in a grill that flattens it in a few seconds.  Your protein is measured in a silver dish and all the ingredients (there were lots to choose from) are piled in the dish as you go down the line.  I got mine with chicken, cheese, refried beans, rice, salsa, corn and chipotle lime mayo.  Then the ingredients are folded in the wrap and put in another grill to heat it.  It was a good burrito.

Pony Corral Restaurant & Bar Downtown, Winnipeg, MB

I had supper this evening at Pony Corral Restaurant & Bar Downtown (on St. Mary Avenue).  Downtown Winnipeg restaurants were busy this evening because there was a Winnipeg Jets hockey game happening in town.  Once the game started, they cleared out.

The Peppermill Café, Winnipeg, MB

I had supper this evening at The Peppermill Café ... it's in the lobby of the Holiday Inn & Suites Winnipeg Downtown.

It was quiet and Boreal, the server/bartender, was doing double duty delivering food for room service.

Jollibee, Winnipeg, MB

Jollibee, a Filipino fried chicken restaurant chain, recently opened restaurants in Toronto and the line-ups had been crazy.  When I drove by one on Ellice Avenue in Winnipeg this afternoon, I thought it was a good chance to check it out for a late lunch.

You order at the counter and the staff was friendly, greeting me with a "Jolly afternoon".  After I paid, I was given a buzzer, which let me know to go pick up my order when it was ready ... it took about 10 minutes for my order to be ready.

I ordered a three piece spicy chicken dinner and my side was fries.  The spice doesn't come from the batter ... it comes from the spices sprinkled on afterwards.  I found it a bit too spicy so tapped the spices off.  The chicken was hot and fresh and juicy.  The fries and gravy (which was a nice surprise) were good.

Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, Winnipeg, MB

How cute and welcoming is this Hug Rug in the Winnpeg airport at Arrivals?!

Book ~ "Safe Harbour" (2019) Christina Kilbourne

From Goodreads ~ Fourteen-year-old Harbour is living in a tent in a Toronto ravine with her dog, a two-month supply of canned tuna and an eccentric reading list. She’s not homeless, she tells herself. She’s merely waiting for her home - a thirty-six-foot sailboat - to arrive with her father at the helm. Why should she worry when the clouds give her signs that assure her that she’s safe and protected? 

When her credit card gets declined, phone contact from her father stops and summer slips into a frosty fall, Harbour is forced to face reality and accept the help of a homeless girl named Lise to survive on the streets. Lise shows Harbour how to panhandle and navigate the shelter system while trying to unravel Harbour's mysterious past. But if Harbour tells her anything, the consequences could be catastrophic. 

Fourteen-year-old Harbour's mother passed away when she was young.  Since then, she and her father have been living on their sailboat, sailing from port to port.  He drops her off with a phone, a credit card, some cash and her dog, Tuff, in a port city in the States and tells her to catch a bus and make her way to Toronto, where her mother was from.  He is going to sail there and join her in about five weeks.  While Harbour waits for her dad, she and Tuff camp out in a tent in a ravine, keeping a low profile.

Harbour meets Lise, a homeless girl who spends her days panhandling and knows where to get handouts of food, and spends her nights in a shelter.  When her credit card is declined, she is running out of money and her father is not answering his phone, Harbour must accept the help of Lise while she stubbornly waits for her father and never gives up hope that he will come for her even as summer becomes fall and then becomes winter.

This is the second book I've read by this author and I liked it, though I'm older that its target audience.   I liked the writing style ... it is written in first person perspective in Harbour's voice.  It's not a happy story and I'll admit that at chapter 13 I did jump ahead to the end (chapter 18) as I wanted to see if there would be a happy ending ... and then I jumped back to chapter 13 and carried on.  I live in Toronto so it was fun that it was set here because I tried to figure out where the action was happening.

Toronto Humane Society, Toronto, ON

The cat shelter building workshop organized by Toronto Street Cats was held at the Toronto Humane Society.

The Humane Society's external walls on Queen Street E are colourful and fun!

Cat Shelter Building Workshop, Toronto Street Cats, Toronto, ON

I was at a cat shelter building workshop today organized by Toronto Street Cats.  The workshops are held every two weeks throughout the fall and winter season in the garage of the Toronto Humane Society ... today was the first one of the season (the last one was at the beginning of February).  I went to most of the workshops last year ... it's so nice helping the kitties in Toronto keep warm and dry during the cold winter.

Our mission: improve the lives of Toronto’s homeless cats by offering spay/neuter services, free for feral cats, and building overwintering shelters. We are also working to increase public awareness about Toronto’s homeless cat population and the importance of spay/neuter and trap/neuter/return (TNR). 

We are part of the Toronto Feral Cat Coalition, working together to implement strategic TNR programs to sterilize Toronto’s feral cats, decrease shelter intake and reduce euthanasia rates.

In eight years of building shelters, Toronto Street Cats has made over 6,000!  In the 2018/19 season, 700 shelters were made and 6,040 have been made since they started in the fall of 2010!

Here were the bins which would soon be made into the cat shelters.

Book ~ "Me" (2019) Elton John

From Goodreads ~ In his first and only official autobiography, music icon Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life, which is also the subject of the upcoming film Rocketman. The result is "Me" - the joyously funny, honest and moving story of the most enduringly successful singer/songwriter of all time.

Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three, he was on his first tour of America, facing an astonished audience in his tight silver hotpants, bare legs and a T-shirt with ROCK AND ROLL emblazoned across it in sequins. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again.

His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with song-writing partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown himself in his LA swimming pool to disco-dancing with the Queen; from friendships with John Lennon, Freddie Mercury and George Michael to setting up his AIDS Foundation. All the while, Elton was hiding a drug addiction that would grip him for over a decade.

In "Me", Elton also writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, about finding love with David Furnish and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes. This is a story that will stay with you, by a living legend. 

I was a fan of Elton John's in the 1970s to the 1990s ...  though I still like his music, I must admit that I haven't listened to the albums he's made after that.  He's always seemed like quite a character so I was interested in his story, especially because it is bio rather than an autobio.  I'd seen Rocketman and liked it.

Elton writes about his life starting with his childhood, growing up with two parents who didn't get along and had wicked tempers (which Elton inherited).  They eventually divorced and moved on with other spouses.  Elton's father was cold and he didn't have much of a relationship with him but Elton did love his stepfather, Fred (aka Derf).  Elton's mother was hard to please and didn't sound like a very nice person, yet Elton continually tried to have a relationship with her.

Elton writes about struggling to be a musician and the meeting and collaboration between him and Bernie Taupin and the success they had.  He also writes about his relationships and friendships, the songs and albums, his addictions to drugs, liquor and shopping, going to rehab, meeting and marry his husband, David, and their children.

I enjoyed this book.  I liked the writing style ... I could hear Elton's voice as I was reading it.  As a head's up, there is swearing (he is fond of the "F" word).  I found this book to be honest, interesting and a bit gossipy, which was fun.  At the end, there are a lot of pictures from when he was a child right up to today.