Monday Mural

I'm linking up at Monday Mural hosted by Oakland Daily Photo.


March 2017 - Carmel California

On Terry's patio, a restaurant in the Cypress Inn.


Dubbed one of the most dog-friendly hotels in the world thanks to its co-owner, Hollywood star Doris Day


Charlie Chaplin mural by Mr. Brainwash – a French-born street artist linked to Banksy.Mr. Brainwash (often written MBW) is a name used by French-born, Los Angeles-based street artist Thierry Guetta. According to the 2010 Banksy-directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop you've got to love the title), Guetta was a proprietor of a used clothing store, where he began as a security guard, and amateur videographer who was first introduced to street art by his cousin, the street artist Invader, and who filmed street artists through the 2000s and "evolved" into an artist in his own right in a matter of weeks after an off-hand suggestion from Banksy.

Monday Mural Take 2

I'm linking up at Monday Mural hosted by Oakland Daily Photo.

April 2017 - Toronto ON

I was saddened to see that this was being demolished.

Here it is in 2015.

Others that were in that area are also gone.

The partially demolished one above is reflected in this one.

May Monthly City Theme

This month's theme  Linking up with City Daily Photo.

May - Let's Eat

C'mon, at this price!

2017
Dec – Gift
Nov - Rock ‘n’ Roll
Oct - Sensual
Sept - Photographing the Photographer
Aug - Young at Heart
July - Motion
June - Nature
May - Let’s Eat!
Apr - Wet
Mar - Black and white in color (images that look B+W but are really in color)
Feb - Loving life
Jan - Photo of the Year

inSPIREd Sunday

Sally and Beth host inSPIREd Sunday!

March 2017 - San Miguel CA

This is part two of the San Miguel Mission. This time we are going to visit the grounds and the graveyard.

Click here to some of the amazing doors.

San Miguel located north of San Luis Obispo in California was one of the oldest missions secularized when Mexico won their independence from Spain. In the early 1840s the Mission system began to collapse at which point San Miguel was left to crumble. In July of 1846 Petronilo Rios and his business partner William Reed bought the Mission for a few hundred dollars.

Reed then opened the Mission as a lodging and trading post. Reed demanded all his trade be done in gold and that all his guests pay him in gold. The reason for this was California was not yet apart of the U.S. so currencies from Mexico and the U.S were considered worthless. Besides, gold was plentiful because this was at the beginning of California’s Gold Rush.

As his business grew Reed who lived at Mission San Miguel with his family, unfortunately, bragged openly that he had amassed a small fortune from this new enterprise. He foolishly told many that he had his gold hidden within the mission walls. On the afternoon of December 4, 1848 six nefarious men arrived at the Mission.

These men were Joseph Lynch who was a deserter from the US Army. Pete Raymond who had killed a man and escaped from jail. Another two, Pete Remer and Peter Quin were both deserters from the warship Warren. * And a man named Sam Bernard who was accompanied by an Indian named John from Soledad.

 There is a small museum depicting what life was like.

During the evening of December 5th they brutally killed everyone at San Miguel. Bernard returning from fetching firewood hid an ax among the wood. He hacked at Reed several times with this ax then the Indian John finished him off by stabbing him with a knife. Bernard and the others then proceeded to Reed’s rooms and killed most of the women and children. The group then stalked the rest.


Besides Reed ten other people were murdered including Reed’s wife Maria Vallejos Reed who was pregnant and their four-year old son. Reed’s brother-in-law Jose Vallejos, Maria’s midwife Josefa Olivera and the midwife's fifteen- year old-daughter were victims as well. Martin Olivera’s grandson was killed along with a Negro cook, an Indian sheepherder and his young grandchild. Four of the victims were young children--including Maria’s unborn child.

The murderers piled all the bodies in the Carpenter’s shop and then sat down and drank some of Reed’s good wine. They spend time looking for Reed's gold but didn’t find it. The few valuables they did find were not worth much.

The killers left the Mission that night, a posse caught up with them two days later near Santa Barbara at Rancho Ortega. When the posse caught up to them a fight ensued.

Sam Bernard was shot and killed. Pete Raymond jumped into the surf in an effort to escape and drowned. Peter Quin was wounded and captured after killing a member of the posse. Joseph Lynch and Peter Remer were also captured and later they confessed to their roles in the murders. The Indian, John had parted ways with the group before they reached Santa Barbara--he was never found.

The three men that were captured were executed by a nine-man firing squad that was sent from Monterey on December 28, 1848. Reed’s partner Petronilo Rios helped bury the murdered victims at the Mission. They were all placed in a mass grave. The sight of the dead children disturbed him for years to come.

This grave is located near the rear door of the Mission’s sacristy. Since, many people have seen the ghost of William Reed at the Mission wearing his winter pea coat--this was one of the items the murderers stole. Another ghost that is seen is felt to be Maria Reed she is seen wandering the Mission grounds wearing a white dress. Other witnesses have heard muffled screams coming from the chapel. While some have seen the apparitions of two young boys at the Mission.

One Word Sunday

One Word Sunday is hosted by Debbie at Travel With Intent.


30 April:    Cliché

Every cloud has a silver lining.

2005 driving from Dublin to Ballyvaughan

7 May:        Caring

In a Pickle

April 2017 - Toronto ON

Summer 2016 - Toronto ON

Click here to read an amazing food article about Expo 67. I remember Expo 67 so well. I was in my teens and had a season pass.

We've come a long way on the culinary path since then!!

I wrote a post about Expo 67 this week as it is the 50th anniversary! There is another reference to Expo 67 further down in this post.

Saturday John was still in Montreal so I enjoyed my free time with a quick grocery stop.
For dinner, I had mashed potatoes, peas, and a beef patty.

Flower display at one of the condos I walked by.

Sunday John drove home. I made a delicious lamb curry. I took a photo when I started it but never took a photo of the finished product, but trust me, this was a perfect recipe from Gordon Ramsey.

I didn't have candlenuts anise seeds or galangal! Anaise seeds I can get. But I may need an Asian store to find the other two items.

I also tried making some gluten free flat breads but they were not that successful.I thought it was odd that the recipe I used didn't even contain baking powder. Will be looking for another recipe.
I tried this King Arthur flour and it was excellent. I also used it in a cinnamon coffeecake and it worked very well.

Monday we had curry leftovers and I decided to use the corn flour I had to make gorditas.

These worked out much better except, for me, they were super corny flavour, something I don't enjoy. John even thought they got cornier when we reheated them the next day.

Tuesday I used some leftover ground beef to make a spicy mix which we ate with the leftover gorditas. John suggested we mix the corn flour with a gluten free flour to cut the amount of corniness.

Dinner was ham, mashed potatoes, and Brussels sprouts.

Wednesday we went to the Georgia O'Keeffe  exhibit at the AGO.  Before we went in we were drawn to the food trucks outside the subway.

We tried these fries and they were perfect!

After pots of tea in the Members' Lounge we head to the exhibit.

Making its only stop in North America at the AGO, Georgia O’Keeffe features more than 80 works of art capturing the essence of her deeply personal connection to the landscape, architecture, and nature that inspired her iconic style.

A major retrospective of the art and legacy of this profoundly influential artist, the exhibition examines O’Keeffe’s relationships with renowned photographers of the time including Ansel Adams, Paul Strand and Alfred Stieglitz. Stunning views of New Mexico by Adams, as well as nudes and portraits of O’Keeffe by Stieglitz, are additional highlights of this breathtaking artistic journey.

In the fine print, it says:

Generously supported by Tony Comper, in memory of Elizabeth. Tony Comper was considered, by John, to be one of the best bosses he ever had at BMO. Tony went on to be president and CEO of the Bank of Montreal for seventeen years until he retired in 2007.

According to Wikipedia:
Together with his wife Elizabeth, Comper founded FAST – Fighting Antisemitism Together, a Canadian group which opposes anti-Semitism and which describes itself as "a coalition of non-Jewish Canadian community and business leaders dedicated to speaking out against humanity's oldest hatred."

In 2010, Comper was made a Member of the Order of Canada, along with his wife Elizabeth (1945-2014)," for their commitment to the community at large as active volunteers and philanthropists"

No photos were allowed at the O'Keeffe exhibit but we took some of this sculpture in the lobby.

Michael Snow is one of Canada’s most celebrated artists. Born in Toronto in 1928, he has exhibited his work around the world for 80 years. You may have walked under his work in the Eaton Centre many times – those famous geese suspended in flight in the mall’s atrium (titled Flight Stop) were created by Snow in 1979. The AGO holds a large number of works by Snow in its collection, including several of the Walking Woman sculptures. Starting in the 1960s, Snow produced many artworks using the Walking Woman form, including paintings, sculpture, and photographs. This particular set was created for the Ontario pavilion of Expo 67 in Montreal, and gifted to the AGO by the Province of Ontario the year after its debut.

On our way out, a poster of an Andy Warhol.

The CN Tower was draped in a cloudy veil.

Art of a different kind as we walked back to Union Station.

John made ham and eggs for dinner.

Thursday John golfed and I went to get a photo of a sculpture that I could have sworn I had taken before but after much searching, no luck.

I also took a picture of this new high rise that is almost finished.

Dropped by to see the hockey sculptures as I thought they had added to them, but then looked at last year's pic and no there were and are ten players.

I have raved here about P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps and finally made them for dinner.

Here is the recipe, the only addition I made was adding two Thai red peppers for some more spice. I also made my own hoisin sauce. It all turned out really well.

Friday was a nice day, not super warm, so we thought we'd go check out the cherry blossoms in High Park. We haven't gone in a couple of years. The traffic was terrible to get there and then the park was packed.

Dinner was steak, our first since we came home! with loaded baked potatoes.


BOOKS

I finished The Real Liddy James and I did enjoy it having an Irish factor also helped.

Amazing Grace is a Canadian book and I am enjoying it but it is not a page turner.


SHARING WITH:

Friday Photo Journal

Beth hosts Weekend Cooking where you can post anything food related.

Make My Saturday Sweet

 Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy. 

Weekend Snapshots