is the tornado over yet?

i love that noah looks completely bored despite the fact that we're all sitting in the dingy basement...a part of the house he has never even seen before...in order to avoid tornadoes that may or may not have been touching down around toronto.

as for me, i was completely unaware of the fact that toronto was even under a tornado warning until i got home around 6:30 from running errands all afternoon. paul was making dinner but it had to wait while we all headed down to the basement to camp out until the skies cleared. we weren't going to, but the weather people on the radio were advising it and since we're paranoid about the giant tree hanging precariously over our house in the best of weather, we thought better safe than sorry.

the sky got really dark right before the rain started to come down in sheets. i took a picture of the backyard because i couldn't believe how dark it got but i'm not sure if you can tell from this photo.

anyway, we're all safe and sound. eventually we came back upstairs and ate our dinner. and wouldn't you know, we never did get to meet glenda afterall.

oh dear, it's been so long.....

hi all, i'm back from my mostly-unintentional absense. it's been a crazy few months since my last post. the last week of may up until the last day of june was spent recouperating from a series of unfortunate events. and then since july 2nd i've been immersed in a course at oise learning the ins-and-outs of being a teacher-librarian (my position for next year which i'm pretty thrilled about). it was a super-intensive course, normally a full semester, but for the summer session crammed into 3 weeks! needless to say, when i wasn't sitting in the ugliest, most uninspiring classroom at u of t for 5 1/2 hours a day or on fun class field trips to places like another story bookshop and the beguiling, i was completely immersed in projects, projects, projects! throw in an occasional stress-induced meltdown here and there and well, now you basically know what my july has been like.

the good news is that my course finished yesterday and there's still 6 weeks of summer left before school starts. yay!

i absolutely hate doing a post and not giving you any pretty pictures to look at so i'm posting just a few of the wonderful books i discovered (or already knew but re-discovered) in doing my final project/presentation about fractured fairy tales (stories based on original fairy tales but involve some twist...and often quite funny!)







that jon scieszka guy ("the true story of the three little pigs" and many other awesome books!) is pretty much a genius. if you don't know his stuff and you have kids, pick up "the stinky cheese man and other fairly stupid tales". so funny!

breakfast of champions

summer is sadly coming to an end and i'm headed back to work next tuesday after two glorious months off. so this morning as i fixed my breakfast, i realized that in a few days i probably won't have time to linger over the lovely meal i've been making for myself for most of the summer.

this breakfast has been such a treat for me over the last couple of months. it usually contained some variation of the following:
* 10-12 buttered crackers with brie
* a handful of raw almonds
* a few dried apricots (i like the organic kind but it takes awhile to get used to that rusty brown colour instead of the bright orange you typically find)
* organic vanilla yogurt with seasonal fruits mixed in (today it was some diced peach, blueberries, and strawberries*...all from ontario)

mmmm...

*believe it or not, the strawberries are from ontario even though strawberry season is kind of over. these are apparently called "everbearing strawberries" or so the friendly farmer from the market tells me. i think i was able to buy them well into september last year!

cottage = summer

a couple of weeks ago, paul and i spent a week at the cottage we rent every year near haliburton. we had such a great time. a couple of our friends always come with us for a few days and that always makes for good times too. here are some of my favourite pictures from our week.

noah loves the cottage:

looking down the curve in the lake:

i want to remember this day in the middle of january:

a group of "shoe trees" just outside of kinmount:

a snack from the chip truck:

goat!

yesterday paul and i went on a day trip to stouffville, just outside of toronto. it was such a nice day! we started by going into the town of stouffville and wandering around the downtown area. we went into the latcham gallery and a great little thrift store where i finally found something i've been searching for forever (the glass jug top left). then we headed to applewood farm where we did some strawberry picking.


there were a few goats and sheep at the farm and i was so excited to be able to pet one and feed it some dandilion leaves. i wanted to stay there all day and hang out with the animals.


we ended the trip with lunch at a new-to-us restaurant called the graceful vegetarian which is located right behind the pacific mall. we had vegetarian dim sum and i loved every bit of it! my favourite was the (vegetarian) bbq pork steamed bun. mmmm...doughy goodness. (sorry, i was too hungry and impatient to take pics)

i did some gardening when we got home and then made a yummy (and super easy) dinner of faux tuna sandwiches with salad (using lettuce from our garden).

this is the tuna we buy at king's cafe in kensington market.

if you look in the bottom right hand corner it says "borax free". that worries me that the other kind we sometimes buy might be loaded with borax. who knew that was the secret ingredient to mock meat???? ;)


and for dessert....strawberries and whipped cream of course!

isn't this necklace the best? (mary-jane shoe on one side, "sensible shoes" on the reverse) i've had my eye on it since last december when frederica (friend and maker of the necklace) and i had our booths next to each other at the ooak show. when i told her the name of my blog she couldn't believe the coincidence. i finally broke down and bought it for myself at her studio sale last weekend and have been wearing it ever since.

it also helped to remind me that this blog has been sitting woefully neglected for far too long.

i'm on summer vacation now (as of last thursday at noon). the last couple months at work were a bit stressful to say the least. i found out i was declared "surplus" which means there wouldn't be a teaching job for me at my current school come september. after two rounds of job searches, three positions turned down after cold feet about teaching kindergarten, and a week or so of being on pins & needles waiting to find out where i'd be placed, it turns out that i got a fantasic placement at a great school teaching (almost) exactly what i wanted! (yay!!!)

it was really sad leaving my old school though. i'd been there for 4 years so lots of tears!!!

before i left i had a little party for my knitting club girls. i baked cupcakes and brought in icing & a variety of candies for them to decorate with. they were a huge hit! i also made each one a little knitting necklace as a souvenir and hopefully will inspire them to keep up with their knitting.


on the last day of school i almost forgot to take a picture of my most favourite part of the building. this sign put a smile on my face everytime i saw it. the fact that it is hung in a school is, to me, pure irony!


ah, grammatically incorrect signage.....i'll miss you so.

last weekend...

on saturday we went to the vegetarian food fair down at harbourfront. we've missed the last couple of years because the first weekend in september is traditionally packed with festivals all over the city. it was good to get back there and see what's new in fake meat technology. i sampled some especially yummy dried soy jerky.

here's a little photo collage i put together from the food fair. sorry, the pictures are a little on the small side... (click on it to enlarge)


TOP: 1. big woks 2. little veggie dog 3. sarah kramer, cookbook author extraordinaire
MIDDLE: 4. a most delicious feast
BOTTOM: 5. dressed as a pea 6. pink sky 7. breakdancers

'bye summer

it's monday night and sadly i have to go to bed in a couple of hours because it's back to work tomorrow morning. time to become re-aquainted with the 6 am alarm clock. (grumble grumble...)

it's been an awesome two months though. probably one of my best summers yet. and although i didn't get to everything on my list, i do feel like i made the most of each day and accomplished a whole lot. i actually started to exercise on a regular basis (HUGE for me!) by swimming laps at the olympic pool closeby. i'm hoping to keep up the momentum even after going back to work by pledging to swim a couple of times a week (or more) at an indoor pool. i'm hoping that if i go straight from work, i'll actually stick with it.

so many other good things about the summer: lots of bonding with noah on walks and trips to the beach & park, reading more than i have in years, getting a crazy good start on my jewellery production for the "one of a kind show", experiencing real homemade ice-cream at ed's, lots of time with my honey on his weeks off, tuesday visits to the farmers' market and weekly tea time afterwards with kim. so much more but of course i'm forgetting it all now....

i ended my vacation today almost exactly how i started it in july. i took noah down to cherry beach for a romp on the off-leash trail and some time on the sand by the water. not quite as long as at the beginning of my summer: of course i had lots of things on my mind (getting back to work stuff) and i couldn't relax quite the same way. but it was a great way to say goodbye to my favourite season.

i took the top picture while on the trail at cherry beach this afternoon. and here's noah reluctantly sitting still amongst the tall grasses there. it's going to be a weird adjustment for him too when mommy leaves to go to work in the morning.


hope you all had a lovely labour day weekend!

eating healthy & not so much...

tonight i felt like putting some effort into our meal, a feeling i haven't experienced much this summer. i went to the grocery store and picked up the ingredients for a light lebanese meal: tabouli, hummus, pita, and olives.

i made the tabouli and hummus from scratch, using freshly picked parsley and mint from our garden for our salad. the pita is store bought and the olives were a nice treat from olive bar at loblaws.

tonight's fairly healthy meal might help make up for our sinful dinner last thursday when paul & i indulged in our tradition of a summer meal at lick's. mmmmm...nature burger (a veggieburger that tastes a lot like meat) with lots of "guk" sauce and french fries. it was sooooo yummy! and very fried.

***
looking forward to getting fresh corn on the cob and peaches at the farmers' market tomorrow!

weekend in little india

many torontonians agree that the opening of the CNE signals the ending of summer. well for me, that signal comes with the annual weekend festival in little india and that took place this past weekend. it's a total feast for the senses...bollywood-style and more traditional south asian music blaring, tables of food lining both sides of the street, and the most vibrantly coloured sarees and fabric set up on the sidewalk to tempt buyers inside the store. i couldn't resist and bought 3 beautiful scarves: hot pink, emerald green, and sunny yellow...how could i pass up the deal? 3 for $10! i think they'll add a dash of colour on those occasional days when i end up wearing all black.

anyhow, here are some pictures from the weekend.

i luv farmers

i was an early riser again today. 7:00am. why is it so easy to wake up bright and early when i'm on vacation but as soon as i have to go back to work i drag my sorry ass out of bed only after two alarms have gone off?

today i was motivated by the farmers' market. what a great way to start the day...shopping for fresh, local produce and handing your money directly to the farmer who grew it all!

i was so excited by all of the lovely fruits & veggies that i went a little crazy. i'm most excited by the corn on the cob (because i loooove corn on the cob), the strawberries (because i thought the ontario season was over so it was a lovely surprise!), and the yellow watermelon (because the woman gave me a sample and it was the sweetest melon i'd ever tasted!)

after the market, i drove out to mississauga to pick up my camera that was finally fixed. i'm so happy to have it again!

on to the grocery store to pick up a few groceries for the week.

back home for a quick lunch.

then to the dog park to take noah for a walk.


he had a fun time running about and sniffing just about every square inch of the grass. he didn't want to sit still for a photo so the picture is a little fuzzy but i like it because it looks like he's laughing.

thanks (and then some)

thanks, everyone for your sweet comments & emails about molly. wednesday was a really terrible day all around and hearing from friends and family over the last few days has really meant a lot to paul & i.

***
paul's been on holidays all week and so we've been trying to do some real "summery" things on as much of a budget as possible. we've spent the last 3 days swimming at a really fantastic outdoor pool...perfect for beating the crazy humidity & heat!

(i borrowed the image of the lovely olympic pool we've been enjoying from here)

we finally made it over (twice!) to ed's real scoop for the yummiest homemade ice-cream and gelato. yes, we've tried both. mmm...a scoop of dark chocolate and green tea ice-cream go soooo well together!

renting movies is always a cheap way to spend the evening. we rented two this week: volver and music and lyrics.


we give volver two enthusiastic thumbs up (soooooo good!) and music and lyrics two thumbs down (paul's thumb is enthusiastically down!). we've also borrowed a bunch of movies from the library (free!). we have 2 more pedro almodovar films to see (paul reserved them after we watched volver), elizabethtown, and ohmygosh...i can't wait...49up! i'm sure i've mentioned on here before how obsessed i am with the 7up documentary series. for any toronto folks who haven't seen any of these, you must borrow them from the tpl. they have the whole series thus far.

today after swimming...and gelato...we visited the lovely library at kew gardens. such a nice branch to hang out in. i'm definitely going to go back and spend some time there before the summer is over. and while browsing there i found 3 novels that looked interesting. i figured if i took out all three at least one of them would hook me. i'm happy to report i think i've found one! but just as you can jinx a new relationship by talking about the person too much, i'm thinking i'll keep the title and details to myself so as not to jinx my new relationship with this book. if all goes well over the next few times we get together i'll reveal its identity then. ;)

my summer "to-do" list

so one of the advantages to being a teacher is the 9 week summer vacation. this is week 4 and i already feel like i've done a lot.

* had a picnic in high park with friends
* taken noah (the pooch) to cherry beach for walks on the off-leash trail
* hung out at cherry beach with a blanket, noah, and a good book (lullabies)
* read an amazing novel
* spent a whole lot of time in the studio getting ready for the winter "one of a kind show"
* spent a few days up north at my mom's
* gone thrifting at goodwill's 50% off sale
* took part in a small craft fair
* enjoyed many breakfasts & dinners on our backyard deck
* celebrated our 3rd year anniversary (today!!) by going out for dinner at the same restaurant where we had our "reception" (for lack of a better word)

there's still so much i want to do though. luckily there's still 5 and a half weeks left before i go back to work. i'm going to make a list (and probably continue to edit it as i think of other ideas) so that i don't forget. then if i need an idea of something to fill my day, i can refer back to this list.

* get out the sewing machine and alter some of the clothing i've thrifted
* keep working in the studio and get lots of stuff ready for the show
* visit allen gardens and walk through the pretty greenhouses
* spend time at the toronto reference library
* finally go and check out toronto's first "forever 21" store
* begin participating in wardrobe_remix again (once the camera is fixed)
* spend more time with friends -- invite people over to the house
* make it a habit to shop at the farmers' market each tuesday
* organize my studio desk
* go through my closet/drawers and give away bags of clothing to charity
* maybe even paint the bedroom
* go back to visit mom and swim in the lake again
* visit little galleries on queen street west
* start exercising
* go to the island

i know i'll think of more. if you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments, ok?