About Me (UPDATED October 2023)



I am a something 50ish 60ish 70ish Toronto gal (born in Dublin, Ireland grew up in Montreal), always stylish lover of shoes and purses.

Dublin Ireland

My maternal great-grandparents and grandmother as a child.



My parents.










 Coming to Canada and living in Baie Comeau Quebec.







Growing up in Montreal.








FAMILY












My latest shoes! Fluevogs!


A number cruncher, analyst and project manager in my previous life.



Married these many years to John, a fanatical golfer and travel companion. He is also s a card carrying member of the ABC club as he accompanies me to Another Bloody Church/Castle!!!













John also knows that simple walk will always turn into an adventure.
"The shortest distance between two points is NOT a straight line" in my mind.




A true denizen of the internet!! I have made many good online friends around the world through blogging, some of whom we have met in person.








Known to family and friends as paparazzi as I ALWAYS have a camera available! Although have become a lover of my cell phone camera especially on rainy days and in low light.



Of all the books I've read, the best stories are in the pages of my passport.

2023 - Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories


2022 - Newfoundland and Labrador 






2020 - 2021 LOCKDDOWN




2017 - ACROSS THE COUNTRY






A world traveler who would be travelling all the time if money grew on trees!! According to my husband I am a nomad who would constantly be on the move if given my way!
























We've loved our Mazatlan winters.



When home in Toronto I love sidewalking its many neighbourhoods.

















A "flaneur" is a "stroller, saunterer...The deliberately aimless pedestrian unencumbered by obligation or sense of urgency...he wastes nothing, including his time, which he spends with the leisurely discrimination of a gourmet, savoring the multiple flavors of his city."
Cornelia Otis Skinner








Even in these strange times!







Total city girl, being away from a city gives me the hebbie jeebies! As for roughing it...








A lover of Photoshop and digital scrapping! Also Picmonkey! And other fun free editing software.

A complete Anglophile for anything British (read British Isles and Ireland).

Grammar nerd.

Sound of Music lover/fanatic. Mary Poppins too...




A total junkie for Food Network and HGTV.



Addicted to Masterchef Australia and My Kitchen Rules Australia



A wanna be chef who absolutely HATES peanut butter and olives!!

An aversion to condiment crust and an antipathy to mustard water!

A thorough geek for all things techie (software not hardware that I leave up to my in-house one person help desk in the guise of DH).

A recovering perfectionist who no longer vacuums while DH is watching football.

Exercise? Favourite is diddly squats!

A Voracious reader who tracks her reading!




Obsessed with Frida Kahlo (see mask above), Don Quixote.

Always drawn to murals, merry-go-rounds (carousels), weddings, signs.

Songs that make me cry: Auld Lang Syne, Que Sera Sera, I'll be Home for Christmas, Dirty Old Town, Grace. At my funeral I want The Parting Glass.




Some of my qualities that come to mind at the moment are anal, obsessive, organized, sarcastic, crafty.







OUR HOME

We made major changes in 2012 which I wrote about here by downsizing and moving into a condo after twenty plus years in our home.


We are on the 27th floor and get amazing sunsets!








Our previous home of 20+ years.

When we moved after leaving Montreal.



For sale in 2012.






Proud Canadian Blogger






You can email me at JMCGUIN7@GMAIL.COM
Instagram McWood31
Twitter JMCGUIN7


This is my absolutely favourite colour!!!


Favourite flower? Anything white but especially gerberas and peonies.


For more useless facts about me you can read this post.





Trip Advisor - geektrvlr
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30 comments:

  1. Hi! I love the name of your blog! How did you come up with it? Is it from a trip in east Asia? ;o)

    Thanks for the visit to my blog, it's always nice to meet new followers! I look forward to reading more here about your travels fellow globetrotter! (and if you ever find a tree with money growing on it please let me know so I too can spend the rest of my days travelling!)

    Cheers! :o)

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  2. My first time here and I enjoyed your posts & this page as well. :)

    Oh I am also trying since eternity to convert my DH into my helping hand but alas !!

    Sometimes you are plain unfortunate. ;)

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  3. Wow, seeing that travel list of yours makes me sooooo jealous. I hope to make it to as many of those destinations as soon as possible.

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  4. I've had fun reading this! And I love that color too - green apple, or is it lime??

    Boy would I love to leave here (NW Wisconsin) in the winter. Hmmmmmmm.

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  5. Great to meet you, Jackie!
    I'd love to invite you to join my FoodieTuesday link up. The current one's up until Monday.
    Please take a look here. http://insidejourneys.com/gizzada-coconut-treat/

    Thanks,
    Marcia

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  6. I enjoyed reading more about you Jackie! We are around the same age and I also love to travel, but I have not been to as many places as you have been to. We had an opposite experience of moving out of our home of 32 years in New York City and moving to the west of the USA. It has been a wonderful adventure so far!

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  7. What a superb 'About' page. Happy to be here. Greetings from India.

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  8. Hello Jackie,
    I have the same favorite color like you...... I like your photos, especially the bike on the header!
    Best wishes from Cologne
    Christine

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  9. Would you allow me to use some of the Casa Loma shots in a video. Would be more than happy add your credit for them. Alan. lyricabc@btinternet.com

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  10. I like how you updated and put photos from the past. Very cool!

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  11. Hi Jackie,
    This is Billy Brennan, Susan Hardbourne’s brother. I just spent a wonderful hour browsing through your family history. It was fantastic to see old photographs of my father and mother, Alec and Nora, Vonnie and Tommy and so many other people from my past. When Susan passed away I found a lot of old pictures of our family. There are so many people in these photo’s from the 30's and 40's that I do not recognise, there are also amazing postcards and photo’s from my father’s uncles who fought in the first and second world wars. They bring up so many questions now that I should have asked years ago but did not. As your research and family knowledge is obviously far greater than mine I was wondering if you could help me with some of the answers. I hope you can contact me.
    Kind regards
    Billy
    billy@fireworkz.ie

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  12. Could I post your photo of Crucified Woman by Almuth Lutkenhaus-Lackey on my poetry blog?

    My poetry blog: https://poetryofgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/

    I am hoping for your kind consideration. Thank you.

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  13. I've decided I have to follow you! Because I have decided that in many ways we are kindred spirits! I adore Britain and am also an Anglophile (and headed there in October!), adore Food Network and cooking, and I track my reading too (and do a lot of it!)Plus, this Michigan woman loves your country and at the moment would just about kill to move there! I see you cycle too. I don't, but Rick -- my forever guy -- is avid. Last year he cycled Lansing MI to Quebec City. I met him there because I'd rather fly! Nice meeting you and thank for visiting my blog! Loved the Mennonite quilting posts!

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  14. This is so cute you've arranged it like a scrapbook page :) I do wonder how many bloggers were also scrapbookers...

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  15. Am glad I never tasted mustard water! Love "how I tell a story!!" also the several houses you lived in - all in all a great summary of you two!

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  16. why don't you dislike peanut butter? I love the crunchy ones, but I can't eat them. I am mildly allergic to it.

    Thanks for visiting.

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  17. Sharing your life's changes is one of the things I love about your blog. #MMBC

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  18. Have enjoyed getting to know you more here, I can relate to your story telling and love your form of exercise - had a good chuckle! Am now following along on Twitter and Insta too!

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  19. I've walked by your condo many many times! I love that park!

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  20. I can't believe I had never read this "About you" Jackie. You've led such an interesting life and we share some of the same passions - shoes, books, crafts, travel and I always photographing something, my family says I must have Japanese blood. Sadly my husband needs to be convinced to travel and hates to accompany me to another boring museum or church, as once you've seen one you've seen them all, he says.
    Love your scrapbooking, I used to do it when my kids were young, but I've progressed to other crafts. But, I'm not a perfectionist nor organized :)

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  21. Love, love this About Me post! Love your scrapbook style and wish mine was as nice looking. Love the telling a story, too. Yep, that is me! Thanks for sharing!

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  22. I finally had the time to look at all your lovely scrapbook pages and read about yourself and your family. Your travels and likes and dislikes. We are of similar age (I'm from 1951). And we have a lot in common.
    I just spent a pleasant hour reading and looking. And it feels as though you a little bit better now. Thank you so much for writing this blog. I love it.
    Happy T-Day,
    Hugs,
    Lisca
    I found you through Elizabeth's T-Party.

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  23. Loved the pictures and this post. Question: I don't use a Blog Catcher to follow blogs. I like to subscribe by email. I didn't see that option on your blog. Any chance you can add a "Subscribe by Email" option. That way when you post - it gets dropped directly in my email and I don't miss any of them. Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for coming to visit me! You can subscribe by email on my blog. It is the second box on the right of my blog after the translate button!

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  24. Hoppala, how come I just found this great post! Thank you, this was very enjoyable and those red shoes.... BUMMER.
    The story-telling, uh-oh, yep. LOL.

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  25. Hi Jackie,
    Found you on Weekend Reflections years ago, and have been reading your blog on and off. Your travel destinations are interesting, and have inspired me. Just learned that you used to live in Montreal. We've visited over the years, and will be going next month. Wondering if you know of any new interesting places to check out?
    Thanks, Eileen

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    Replies
    1. Gosh, I'm not sure I could answer this. Nowadays we mainly go to Montreal to see family and don't get out and about. Montreal has amazing murals to check out, especially the gigantic one of Leonard Cohen on Crescent St, The Gay Village is always fun and the Old Port has a lot of fun things.
      I would love to see the Barbie exhibit (husband rolls his eyes). The Botanical Gardens are great.
      The Mile End neighbourhood is a great place to hang out.

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