Magnotta Winery

Gord and I did a Single Horizons event to Niagara Falls today.

First stop was Magnotta Winery in Beamsville.

We tried a white and red samples (the red was nasty). Then Gord and I tried a couple samples of ice wine, which were tasty especially the riesling.

Gord, Teena and LeeAnn (owner of Single Horizons)

LeeAnn and Teena

Bungalow Cafe, Toronto, ON

Gord and I went to the Bungalow Cafe after work today.

We sat for a couple hours with the owner, Rob, catching up.

Rob and Gord

On Friday nights, the Bungalow has Okanagan Spring Pale Ale for $4 a draft.

I'm not a fan of it so I get Sapporo instead.

Coronation Park

KC and I went to Coronation Park this afternoon for a walk.

Unlike the last time we were there in April, the boats are out.

KC wanted a closer look at the water.

And then some ducks distracted her.

Wheat Sheaf, Toronto, ON

It's a holiday here in Canada but Gord had to work (he has to work two stat holidays every year).

I met him at the Wheat Sheaf for supper and we had half price wings and some Steam Whistle.




The Wheat Sheaf is a fun place! It's more than 160 years old and on a busy corner.

Great place to sit on the patio and have a cold beer in the summer and people-watch!

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesdays nights they have half price wings.

Book ~ "Red, White and Drunk All Over" (2007) Natalie MacLean

From Amazon.com ~ MacLean's enthusiasm for wine is contagious. For the winner of the prestigious MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award, each glass represents a personal history, "a secret cellar in our minds where we collect our empty bottles filled with memories." Her passionate desire to learn about all aspects of wine increases its sensual pleasure, and her goal "to demystify an intimidating world" succeeds. MacLean interviews everyone from grape growers in Burgundy to upstart zinfandel producers in Sonoma Valley. Every encounter incorporates vivid descriptions of tastings and colorful personalities. Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards in Santa Cruz, CA, bucks the trend of his California competitors, insisting a "great wine is ... not a confection of the laboratory, but a subtle expression of the soil from which it sprang." For casual wine lovers, MacLean deciphers the perplexing dilemmas of appropriate wine aging without pedantry. For the purist, however, "life is too short to drink good wine out of bad glasses." That observation leads to the explanation for 103 different shapes of glassware. Solid research, a breezy style and commonsense advice prove invaluable for the novice, while her good humor will delight the connoisseur.

I found some parts of this book to be interesting. I will admit that I got bogged down at times, especially in the beginning when she was visiting the various wineries.

I am not close to being an expert about wine and I found this book was over my head at times. I guess I need more of a "Wine for Dummies" style of book.

Considering MacLean is Canadian (born in Nova Scotia and now living in Ottawa), I would have liked her to spend some time talking about our wines since we have excellent regions in Niagara, British Columbia and Nova Scotia.

Happy Victoria Day!

In Canada, the celebration of Victoria Day occurs every year on Monday, prior to May 25th.

It is the official celebration of the birthdays of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II. Victoria Day was established as a holiday in Canada West (now Ontario) in 1845 and became a national holiday in 1901. Before Victoria Day became a national holiday, we had celebrated Empire Day , beginning in the 1890s as Victoria approached her Diamond jubilee in 1897.

Victoria, queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and empress of India, was born on 24 May 1819. She ascended the throne after the death of her uncle, George IV, in 1837 when she was only 18. She ruled until her death in 1901 when her son Edward the VII became king of England.

Book ~ "The Dirt on Clean" (2007) Katherine Ashenburg

From Amazon.com ~ According to Ashenburg, the Western notion of cleanliness is a complex cultural creation that is constantly evolving, from Homer's well-washed Odysseus, who bathes before and after each of his colorful journeys, to Shaw's Eliza Doolittle, who screams in terror during her first hot bath. The ancient Romans considered cleanliness a social virtue, and Jews practiced ritual purity laws involving immersion in water. Abandoning Jewish practice, early Christians viewed bathing as a form of hedonism; they embraced saints like Godric, who, to mortify the flesh, walked from England to Jerusalem without washing or changing his clothes. Yet the Crusaders imported communal Turkish baths to medieval Europe. From the 14th to 18th centuries, kings and peasants shunned water because they thought it spread bubonic plague, and Louis XIV cleaned up by donning a fresh linen shirt. Americans were as filthy as their European cousins before the Civil War, but the Union's success in controlling disease through hygiene convinced its citizens that cleanliness was progressive and patriotic. Brimming with lively anecdotes, this well-researched, smartly paced and endearing history of Western cleanliness holds a welcome mirror up to our intimate selves, revealing deep-seated desires and fears spanning 2000-plus years.

Very interesting book!

I shower most days and love taking baths at night to relax.

I can't imagine not showering or taking a bath for years at a time. That's just nasty! But that's the way it was.

It's amazing to read that people would be afraid of taking baths. Or scraped their skin to get clean. Or smelled incredibly bad.

Rejuvenating the BBQ

Our BBQ is about nine years old. We have a gasline from our condo (so don't have to worry about propane tanks) and tend to BBQ a lot.

Today we bought a new grill, briquettes and the rack the briquettes sit on ... for the first time ever!

So as I was repotting the plants, Gord was cleaning out the BBQ. And that was quite a job!


And it was worth it!

Gord BBQed steaks for supper and they were soooo delicious!

Planting crops

I've been away with Sister Sarah on Victoria weekend the last couple of years.

One year I came home to find that Gord had bought me a couple of tomato plants. I love tomatoes ... he doesn't!

And that started his tradition while I was away.

Since I'm home this year, we went looking for plants together.

Here's Gord at our first stop, the garden centre at Canadian Tire:

After that, we went to the garden centre at Dominion.

We came home with:

* A peppermint plant (so Gord can make himself some mojitoes this summer)
* A beefsteak tomato plant
* A tiny Tim tomato plant
* Two brandywine tomato plants
* Two cherry yellow pear tomato plants
* A patio cherry tomato plant
* Two red start red bell peppers
* Two super shepherd sweet red peppers
* Two other red peppers of some kind (I threw out the label by mistake)

I replanted them and here they are on our terrace.

In addition, Sister Sarah had given Gord a Chia herb garden for Christmas. Instead of putting them in the pots, I planted them in the long green planter. There is chives, cilantro, dill, parsley and marjoram.

Hopefully everything grows!

Holiday weekend

It's a long weekend here in Canada.

And it is the first Victoria Day weekend I've spent at home here in Toronto in four years. Usually I hook up with Sister Sarah someplace. Last year, it was in St. John's, Newfoundland. But this year we did the South Caribbean cruise in February and I hung out with her a couple weeks later to celebrate her 40th birthday with her (she lives in Halifax).

Alas, it's a rainy weekend. We have errands to run (groceries, library, etc.). Probably a good time to catch up on some movies. It's been a couple months since I've been to a theatre to see a movie. And you know I love movies!

But there's nothing I really want to see. Looking ahead, though, I see The Strangers is coming out in a couple weeks. Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler are in it. It looks scary!

Scott has Toronto roots (he went to high school and university here) and is in one of my favourite movies of all time, Duets.

Liv has an interesting past. For the first ten or so years of her life, she thought one man (singer Todd Rundgren) was her dad until she figured out that another man (Steven Tyler of Aerosmith) was really her father. She noticed that she and Steven's daughter, Mia, looked enough alike to be twins. She confronted her mom, who admitted to the affair. I wonder how much contact she had with Rundgren after that (she took Tyler's last name a couple years later).

The Host, Toronto, ON

Yvette and I met for supper tonight at The Host, an Indian restaurant in Yorkville. She and I worked together about eight years ago and get together every couple of months for supper to catch up.

The food was excellent! We had Murgh Makhni (butter chicken), Chicken Biryani and Naan. Yvette also ordered Malai Matar Paneer (green peas and cottage cheese cooked in tomato and cashew blend). She finished off with a tea and mango sherbet.

Jas, our hostess

Teena and Yvette

When we left, a homeless guy came up to us asking for money. We said no. Then he asked us for some food so we gave him our leftovers. He was eating it as he walked away.

Foggy Dew, Toronto, ON

It was such a nice evening that Gord and I stopped off on the patio of the Foggy Dew for a pint or two of Keith's and Keith's Red.

Yes, it was a bit chilly but the sun was shining ... and that's all we needed!

Look who came to visit!

Remember Nova's dad, Grant?

He and Jasmine were our neighbours who moved to Nova Scotia last month.

Grant was in town this week getting training for his new job.

He spent the weekend in his condo. Grant's mom and sister came up for the weekend from Kingston, bringing along air mattresses and sleeping bags since all their furniture has been sent back east.

It was great to see him and I'm so glad that things are working out for them.

What a life!

Yep, our kids have got it made!

Here they are around noon.

KC is on Gord's pillow. Byron is in his spot. And Morgan is cuddling the clean laundry.

Book ~ "Tonight I Said Goodbye" (2005) Michael Koryta

From Goodreads ~ Investigator Wayne Weston is found dead of an apparent suicide in his upscale Cleveland suburban home. His wife and six-year-old daughter are now missing. The police think the former Marine murdered them. Hoping to exonerate his son, Weston's father hires PIs Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard.

Perry and Pritchard soon discover there is much more lying beneath the surface, including rumors of gambling debts, extortion, and a Russian mob that likes to wield baseball bats. But just when Perry and Pritchard believe they are making swift progress, a millionaire real estate tycoon and the FBI advise them to back off of the investigation.

Then without warning, another murder suddenly forces them to change direction in the case as they uncover a trail of deadly twists - but the most shocking secret of all has yet to be unraveled.

I had read A Welcome Grave, the third book in the series, last month and enjoyed it so wanted to go back and catch up with the first two.

As with A Welcome Grave, I enjoyed the writing style. It's fast paced, funny and sarcastic at times. I liked the characters, especially Lincoln and Joe. It's interesting to see how they have developed since I've read the third book.

The ending took a twist I hadn't expected, which was a nice surprise.

I'm looking forward to reading the next one (which is the second one)!

Saturday morning stroll

KC and I went for a long walk this morning.

We dropped some books off at the College Street library and then cut back through Trinity Bellwood Park.


There were lots of dogs in the doggy area (Dog Park was filmed there).

Camera sale

Black's is having a sale on digital cameras this week.

Remember the Olympus FE-130 I bought there last week?

It's $25 less this week.

I popped in this morning with my receipt and got $25 plus the tax credited to my VISA.

Whoohoo!

The kids today

Just cuz they're so cute!

Here's KC on our walk this morning. We walked around the CAMH grounds.

And here are Morgan and Byron in one of their usual spots this afternoon.

And then KC snuggled in!

1943 Guide to Hiring Women

The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine. This was written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II.

According to Snopes.com, this is true! Scary!

Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees: There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point. The important things now are to select the most efficient women available and how to use them to the best advantage.

Here are eleven helpful tips on the subject from Western Properties:

1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn't be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.


2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.


3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.


4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.


5. Stress at the outset the importance of time the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.


6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.


7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.


8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.


9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.


10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.


11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed too much in keeping women happy.

Book ~ "The Writing Diet" (2007) - Julia Cameron

From Amazon.com ~ Unlike so many diet books, this cheery addition to the self-help shelves wasn't written by a nutritionist or a fitness pro, but rather by a "creativity expert" who "accidentally stumbled upon a weight-loss secret that works" while teaching a creative "unblocking course." While this might sound like so much snake oil, the optimism and common-sense attitude of author Cameron are winning. Her system is both simple and inexpensive, promoting exercise, food journaling, and something called "morning pages," which are stream-of-consciousness passages dieters record after getting out of bed: "A day at a time, a page at a time, we become mindful, acutely attuned to our personal feelings." The second half of the book is filled with exercises, some more goofy than practical ("if your museum has a gift shop, buy yourself five postcards glorifying the body type you've got"), and stories detailing chronic overeaters paths' to weight loss success. These stories are sometimes inspiring, sometimes repetitive, but should motivate dieters to give writing a try.

Haley over at Cheaty Monkey recommended this book last month so I thought I'd check it out.

Definitely a different concept. It was an interesting read.

Before you snack/eat, you should question why you are eating and ask yourself four questions:

1. Am I hungry?
2. Is this what I want to eat?
3. Is this what I want to eat now?
4. Is there something I can eat instead?

There are lots of writing exercises to do to help you figure out why you do what you do in different situations.

I know why I eat/overeat. I enjoy the taste and sensation of food. And I do eat when I'm not hungry so I know I have to keep occupied and distracted. I tend to be fairly social which means eating out a lot where I don't make the right choices.

A lot of the book seemed to focus on sugar cravings and better ways to replace them. For me, I crave chicken wings and junk like that more than anything. Alas, an apple won't replace that.

For me, it's all or nothing. I'm either on track or I'm way off. I've got to learn that there is an in- between.