Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Hope

Dutch's Photo Challenge








Toronto ON


Tuesday Treasures Around the World

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.
Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
Image-in-ing
My Corner of the World



September 2018 - Toronto ON

This has been languishing in my Drafts holder, no idea why I didn't publish it.

I've never been much of a designer label kinda gal. I guess I am becoming more like my father as he could never understand why someone would pay money to wear someone's product name.

BUT I changed my mind about the Louis Vuitton name when I visited the pop up museum at Union Station.



Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton (French: [lwi vɥitɔ̃]), or shortened to LV (was a Roman Numeral question on Jeopardy), is a French fashion house and luxury retail company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, sunglasses and books.


Designer and entrepreneur Louis Vuitton was born on August 4, 1821, in Anchay, a small hamlet in eastern France's mountainous, heavily wooded Jura region. Descended from a long-established working-class family, Vuitton's ancestors were joiners, carpenters, farmers and milliners. His father, Xavier Vuitton, was a farmer, and his mother, Coronne Gaillard, was a milliner.

Vuitton's mother passed away when he was only 10 years old, and his father soon remarried. As legend has it, Vuitton's new stepmother was as severe and wicked as any fairy-tale Cinderella villain. A stubborn and headstrong child, antagonized by his stepmother and bored by the provincial life in Anchay, Vuitton resolved to run away for the bustling capital of Paris.

On the first day of tolerable weather in the spring of 1835, at the age of 13, Vuitton left home alone and on foot, bound for Paris. He traveled for more than two years, taking odd jobs to feed himself along the way and staying wherever he could find shelter, as he walked the 292-mile trek from his native Anchay to Paris. He arrived in 1837, at the age of 16, to a capital city in the thick of an industrial revolution that had produced a litany of contradictions: awe-inspiring grandeur and abject poverty, rapid growth and devastating epidemics.




The teenage Vuitton was taken in as an apprentice in the workshop of a successful box-maker and packer named Monsieur Marechal. In 19th century Europe, box-making and packing was a highly respectable and urbane craft. A box-maker and packer custom-made all boxes to fit the goods they stored and personally loaded and unloaded the boxes. It took Vuitton only a few years to stake out a reputation amongst Paris's fashionable class as one of the city's premier practitioners of his new craft.

On December 2, 1851, 16 years after Vuitton arrived in Paris, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d'etat. Exactly one year later, he assumed the title of Emperor of the French under the regal name Napoleon III. The re-establishment of the French Empire under Napoleon III proved incredibly fortunate for the young Vuitton. Napoleon III's wife, the Empress of France, was Eugenie de Montijo, a Spanish countess. Upon marrying the Emperor, she hired Vuitton as her personal box-maker and packer and charged him with "packing the most beautiful clothes in an exquisite way." She provided a gateway for Vuitton to a class of elite and royal clientele who would seek his services for the duration of his life.

Napoleon III, Eugenie and their only son.


Louis Vuitton had observed that the HJ Cave Osilite trunk could be easily stacked. In 1858, Vuitton introduced his flat-bottom trunks with trianon canvas, making them lightweight and airtight. Before the introduction of Vuitton's trunks, rounded-top trunks were used, generally to promote water runoff, and thus could not be stacked. It was Vuitton's gray Trianon canvas flat trunk that allowed the ability to stack with ease for voyages. Many other luggage makers imitated LV's style and design.










Picnic basket








Click here to see and read about the DJ Trunk.












Case made for Lauren Bacall











Monday, March 30, 2020

Signs 2

Joining Tom at Signs2.
Wordless Wednesday Wordless Be There 2day
Gay NYC Dad

Continuing with pit stops...
a stop (as during a trip) for fuel, food, or rest or for use of a restroom.

2019 - Barcelona Spain




Foto Tunes - Coronavirus Playlist

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.


In response to these crazy times I will be posting a Coronavirus playlist weekly.

Staying Alive - The Bee Gees

Cairo Egypt - staying alive in traffic is a challenge. As for crossing the street on foot we didn't even try!







All by Myself - Eric Carmen


Spadina Station Toronto ON





The solitary photo above is also a good example of social distancing. And here is a great Randy Rainbow parody.



CORONAVIRUS PLAYLIST RECAP

Staying Alive
All By Myself




Parodies

Social Distance - Randy Rainbow

Monday Mural

I'm linking up at Monday Mural

March 2016 - Puerto Vallarta Mexico

At the market. Can you see the telephone boxes?


If you like murals, drop by this page devoted to Banksy, 

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Pareidolia

One Word Sunday


Pareidolia - the tendency for incorrect perception of a stimulus as an object, pattern or meaning known to the observer, such as seeing shapes in clouds, seeing faces in inanimate objects or abstract patterns, or hearing hidden messages in music.


Kelley's Island Onio
The "finger"







Saturday, March 28, 2020

Self-Isolation Week 3

March 2020 - Toronto ON



Some local news.
Loblaw's, a large grocery chain, has given its workers a $2 an hour increase retroactive to March 8. Walmart Canada and Dollarama have also announced they would do the same.

'Come over to the window': Montrealers sing Leonard Cohen from their balconies led by Martha Wainwright.




How crazy is it? I need to record some of this as we will never believe/remember in the future.
Our building has increased its safety measures this week. No more than two people in an elevator. Assigned someone to clean and then push your floor button.
Extra test of the fire alarm system, aside from the standard monthly one.
Convenience store - sanitize hands first, keep distance and a basket for payment and change.
Snowbirds have been sternly advised to stay in their units upon returning home. The shop will deliver to their unit or the office staff will pick up for them.


I spent some time with a friend in the building, doing some computer training.

John and a friend did senior hour shopping at Loblaw's and Metro.
Then John took her to return an item at Costco and they were allowed to shop before the doors opened.
We are pretty well stocked up now!

Toronto opera singer serenading from her balcony.



As if things can't get any worse. We have spent quite a few winters in Mazatlan and consider it a home away from home.
So we were devastated on Friday to hear about a fire in an RV Park in Mazatlan which totally gutted the park.


Some photos from 2017.
Some murals from the park.





So proud of Prime Minister Trudeau, he is in total control of this pandemic. We were issued an alert on Friday on our phones and TVs directed towards returning travellers warning them to go directly to self-isolation, no stopping at stores and no public transportation from airport/train etc.

He also announced at his daily update a new financial support plan for small medium-sized businesses.

This is where he stands at the daily updates.




We're also a little puzzled by tRump's plan about sending troops to the border. This sums up our reaction.


Since there are no masks to be found we made our own!




WATCHING

Bell, our TV provider, has opened up several of the Pay movie stations.

Wait Until Dark - I first saw this when I was 15 and it terrified me. Was fun to watch again.

The Full Monty - another oldie but goodie. Provided a much needed laugh.
You can watch the full movie on Youtube.





Lost Girls



Trumbo - it has Helen Mirren with the most incredible hats and clothes, what more do you want.
Seriously, a great movie about a time that I didn't know that much about. It has me wanting to read more about it. I also want to read a Hedda Hopper biography.
Just looked, nothing available at our library...


Last Stand good fun to watch

The Kominsky Method



In an effort to do some self-improvement, I watched this play by David Ireland performed at the Royal Court Theatre.
Stephen Rea delivers a spectacular performance in this funny but disturbing story. We had recently seen him in the BBC series The Stranger.
You can watch it in full, on Facebook.






COOKING


John is recording What's Eating America. We watched an episode this week on fast food. A family, claiming they are too busy to cook, go shopping with the host and buy all kinds of packaged prepared food.
 I am horrified as they buy Dunkin Donuts yogurt!!! SERIOUSLY?????


He makes a healthy meal in the same time as they open boxes and cans.70% of Americans eat processed food.


And how soon could this happen??





Breakfast
Grapefruit and bananas, lemon breakfast cake, toast.


Lunch
Scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, salad with hard boiled egg, more salads and fruit, Swedish meatballs (freezer made at New Year's (a lifetime ago!)), perogies with sour cream.




Dinner

Chicken pot pie using Bob's Red Mill pie pastry mix. This mix totally frustrates me. 

Leftover chicken pot pie.

Pork sirloin chops, boiled potatoes and sauteed cabbage. I had never used this cut of port chops, John found them when shopping at Sobey's. I fried them in oil, butter and garlic, then finished them in the oven. I then put the chopped cabbage in the same pan until softened. I also made my best batch of mustard sauce.


Chicken Divan with homemade cream of chicken soup. Broccoli needed to be used up. I also made a herb cheese soda bread, and it turned out really well! Froze half for another time.



Haddock and cauliflower with lemon butter sauce.




Lemon yogurt breakfast cake - added cranberries.
Mango tea cake - because I had a ripe mango. I also added coconut. Love that it makes two loaves, one to freeze.


NEW TO TRY
2 cups chickpea flour 1,5 cups water 0,5 cup olive oil fried onions + herbs, spices, salt







READING




I finished Her One Mistake and The Farm, each very different but good reads.
I got a 7 day loan Machines Like Me but looking at the reviews I have my doubts. Doubts confirmed, did not finish.
Also started I Know Who You Are and enjoying it.


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

Friday, March 27, 2020

Weekend Roundup

Tom hosts the Weekend Roundup.


1. Starts with "M"
2. A Favorite
3.MIXED chosen by Tom

Starts with "M"
MAZATLAN MURAL - Mazatlan Mexico



Favourite
MORNING coffee - Barcelona Spain





MIXED
A MIXED MENU - Toronto ON




Déjà Brew
MUSINGS