Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader
11 September 2026 - Toronto ON
St. John's NL
SATURDAY - LABOUR DAY long weekend.
Since we didn't go anywhere yesterday, I felt the "need" to drag John out.
It is quiet on the streetcar, early, Saturday, long weekend. But then the driver announces we will be holding for a while at Shaw St. It turns out Queen St. is closed off due to a fire incident, so we do an "off route" down Shaw and along King to Spadina back up to Queen St. We cut through Winners in Scotia Plaza to get The Path and head to the closed Hudson Bay store at Queen and Yonge.
I wanted to show him the murals in The Path under The Bay and have lunch out on a beautiful still summer day.
The temporary hoarding walls inside the former Hudson's Bay location in downtown Toronto feature massive murals created by the Chairman Ting design studio covering roughly 27,000 square feet along the lower PATH pathways.
I have taken photos of these murals three times and still took more. John was blown away with them and took a ton of photos too! Tom was right, you can spend hours here.
It's not our first Chairman Ting mural, here is one on Ossington from 2025.
John's photos. It is early on a Saturday so there is none of the hustle and bustle of a weekday, as this Path is connected to numerous office towers, hotels, subway stations and you can even get to Union Station, the Eaton Centre and City Hall indoors. It winds through the old The Bay corridors and functions primarily as an expansive public art trail filled with whimsical local and visual motifs for daily commuters to discover.
Because the PATH is a continuous, interconnected web rather than a series of isolated branches, entering through the Hudson's Bay building grants you indoor, weather-protected access to the entire system. This means the building connects you to over 75 buildings across downtown Toronto.
From there we crossed the bridge on the second floor of The Bay and cut through the upper (expensive) level of The Eaton Centre, as it is the least crowded level.
Considering malls are a dying breed, The Eaton Centre has aged and flourished very well. I think it looks better now than it did years ago. Locals and tourists love flocking here.
Indigo (Canadian chain) book store, because I forgot to take a photo the other day!
Sankofa (Dundas) Square. I was just here on Thursday but John seldom comes up this way. There are still a lot of tourists in town and there are a lot of university students just getting settled in around TMU.
We caught the 505 Dundas streetcar and it was crowded, to Spadina and Kensington Market.
Kensington Market. It's one of those neighborhoods where every block feels different. Vintage shops sit next to tiny cafés, colorful murals cover brick walls, and food from just about every corner of the world fills the air with incredible smells. Despite the name, it's not really a traditional market anymore. It's a lively neighborhood that has welcomed wave after wave of immigrants for more than a century, each community leaving its mark on the streets, the food, and the culture.
WEDNESDAY
I went to St/ Lawrence Market and it was packed, there were four tour busses outside. I debated doing their revolving museum, but didn't. I went to "our" butcher and got a couple of bavettes along with my thursday senior discount. I also got some vegetables, all local.
I spent the rest of the day trying to find our flights for October, so many options and some crazy prices.
We both spent some time watching the 9/11 anniversary ceremonies, especially the Gander portion. There were some amazing speeches by the Governor General of Canada and former Prime Minister Chretien, who was PM at the time, and is known for his down to earth comments.
St. John's NL
St. John's NL
Tangible Objects: Gone are the days of Rolodexes, physical photo albums, alphabetized CD collections, and blinking answering machine lights.
Social Norms: The book looks at lost concepts like unrecorded mistakes, blind dates without prior social media stalking, privacy, and the right to completely disappear.
Mental Habits: Constant connectivity replaced fertile boredom, deep patience, memorized phone numbers, and uninterrupted attention spans.
We ate at Pancho y Emiliano Mexican. I had eaten here in July and wanted John to try it. I had ceviche again and John tried their spicy chorizo tacos.
We went to the spice store and got Guajillo chilies that had been in John's tacos.
They are used in marinades, salsas, pastes, butters and spice rubs to flavor meats, fat and oil with other ingredients. The guajillo chili, with its more delicate flavor, is used with fish and chicken, or added to salsa as a side dish.
We also stopped into Sanagan's, a butcher shop that we favour, and got white pudding (no black) that they make in house and duck fat as we were out.
SUNDAY
It is a PJ day. Laundry got done, Parnell the vacuum robot did his job and I sorted out those spices we bought. I got the potato salad started and the ribs in the slow cooker before lunch! I even flipped through a recipe book.
I completed our "almost" final trip plan for October, more to come.
John used the golf simulator for a couple of hours.
The Air Show is on this weekend. We went last year because friends wanted to see it. But we can hear it all weekend.
MONDAY - LABOUR DAY
No real plans for today. I caught up on reading blogs.
A very uneventful day, we debated going out. I put the laundry away, and watered the plants (finally).
John binged a series called Extrapolations, an American climate fiction anthology television miniseries that depicts the effects of climate change on the planet through various different points of view through interconnected stories. The series takes place from 2037 to 2070, a period of 33 years.
A photo of people watching the air show.
I found this photo of our building online.
TUESDAY
T Stands for Tuesday
I did some work on flights for October.
I did some poking in the stores, only picking up bananas, bread and some $ store items.
Fernie is looking spectacular!
John saw a falcon on the golf course!
WEDNESDAY
No golf again this week due to weather, last week they only managed nine. He also cancelled tomorrow's game to nurse his knee.
I ended up staying home and did get all the laundry done! I also decluttered/repurposed a container under the sink that I didn't really need there. I also threw out a bunch of plastic bags (yeah me!!) that I was saving just in case.
Mid-afternoon we decided to finish off the Aaron Sanchez Restaurant Impossible Toronto series.
We decided we would try a couple of them in the area and also that we want to try one of Jan Agg's local restaurants. Jan is a local chef with nine restaurants and two books, I Heard She's a Bitch and Table Boss. Click here to read about her and here.
THURSDAY
Random Repost - Austria
Along with other bloggers, my sidebar of blogs I follow has not refreshed for the last several days.
TIFF opened today.
I went to St/ Lawrence Market and it was packed, there were four tour busses outside. I debated doing their revolving museum, but didn't. I went to "our" butcher and got a couple of bavettes along with my thursday senior discount. I also got some vegetables, all local.
Isn't she a beauty, no, I didn't buy her, I don't bother buying seasonal "stuff", it is just clutter.
The City of Toronto added Indigenous-inspired art to decorate the concrete security barriers outside Union Station along Front Street, replacing the plain, utilitarian anti-terrorism concrete blocks.
I spent the rest of the day trying to find our flights for October, so many options and some crazy prices.
John surprised me with a gift of a Frida Kahlo print!
FRIDAY
John had an early morning appointment and I went to pick up my pants from the tailor.
Front St. was very busy around The Royal York due to TIFF. The median in the middle of the street was barricaded. There were barricades waiting to be set up. Traffic was bumper to bumper, with drivers getting irritated by all the fancy black SUVS and executive black cars blocking the road.
Royal York lobby, it was great to see but hard to photograph, I didn't realized I was reflected in the CN Tower cutout!
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I suddenly noticed how much they have done on the Ontario line, this is at Exhibition Place, the end of that line. I had shown the Queen St. construction last week with a link to more information.
I took these from the bus.
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We saw the heavy tactical transport deployed for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's back and forth to the airport as Google tells me, requires a continuous "clean route" where all intersecting traffic is entirely frozen. There were police motorcycles, cars, ambulance and a military truck.
COOKING
I Ate Around the World Without Leaving Toronto - interesting video
This looks good!
I froze the remaining banana with the others in the freezer, time for banana bread? I finally cleaned the celery and wrapped it in foil. The end of the stalk and the leaves were added to the freezer soup stock bag. I use reusable freezer bags.
I put the frozen leftovers/peels into the soup pot. it is very tomato heavy from summer.
Saturday - cheeses pate and baguette. We also had Welsh cheddar in the fridge.
They also provided a lunch, and were added to the chicken divan.
Sunday - slow cooker ribs , Moise's coleslaw and homemade potato salad - because it is still summer! Leftovers - John's lunch on Tuesday
Monday - chicken broccolini divan with coleslaw. Leftovers - lunch
Tuesday - cod with crispy potato chip crust, broccolini
Wednesday - pork chop schnitzel, broccolini, mashed potatoes
Thursday - ground lamb, pita, cucumbers,tomatoes, onions, tzatziki
Friday - steak bavette, Greek roasted potatoes, broccolini
READING
These are some books that caught my eye at the bookstore this week. Other than Hidden Toronto I added the others to my library wish list.
I read Caller Unknown, I read some of Gillian McAllister's books before and enjoyed them. This, not so much, I kept hoping it was leading somewhere...There is nothing redeeming about the characters, the plot, the ending.
I am reading The Expats by Chris Pavone, and I must say, I am confused. It flips back and forth so much, I can't keep the story straight. And really, she kept her "real" job hidden all those years?!? And the husband, come on, we know what he is going to reveal.
I must say, a lot of the reviews agree with me.
I flipped through this book, and said "oh, I forgot about that" so many times. I realize how many things we memorized and can do automatically, like multiplication tables, calculating tips and the memory tricks, a mnemonic or acronym, we used/learned such as HOMES for the great lakes.
ROY G. BIV (Colors of the Rainbow) – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
MVEMJSUN (Order of the Planets) – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. (Often remembered as "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos").
The book's cultural legacy is its contribution to the modern digital wellness movement. It provides a clear vocabulary for why people feel burnt out by constant connectivity. It has pushed readers to intentionally reclaim "analog" habits, driving the modern resurgence of vinyl records, film photography, dumbphones, and paper planners.
For Gen X and Boomers, the book triggers "phantom nostalgia" for physical rituals (like mapping a road trip with a paper map) that younger generations have never known. I am all for online maps but still keep an Atlas map book in the car for long road trips, sometimes we lose connectivity in the middle of nowhere or sometimes I want to look for other options.
I often notice young people on the subway struggling to read the transit maps. Just the other day, a fresh-faced university student had to ask an older woman for help after getting completely turned around.
On another day, a group of three missed their mark entirely when the guy—who confidently claimed he knew the way—suddenly panicked and dragged them off the train after realizing they were heading in the wrong direction.
Even John's son, said recently, that his kids can't read a map.
Social Norms: The book looks at lost concepts like unrecorded mistakes, blind dates without prior social media stalking, privacy, and the right to completely disappear.
Mental Habits: Constant connectivity replaced fertile boredom, deep patience, memorized phone numbers, and uninterrupted attention spans.
The "Sick Day": True rest has vanished. Because we can answer emails from bed, being physically ill no longer completely disconnects us from work expectations.
Damn, I flipped through this cookbook, finally! and now I want it, no, I don't!!!
The Spanish "Crumbs" (Chorizo Crust): Made by processing fresh white breadcrumbs with finely chopped chorizo sausage, garlic, parsley, and olive oil to create a rich, smoky, and moist topping for fish.
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