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May 2021 - Toronto ON

2021 - Toronto ON

The Ontario premier DoFo showing his true stupid colours.

Once again the stay at home order has been extended to June 2. May 24 is a big beginning of summer holiday weekend here, so this will hopefully cut down Covid spikes. But outdoor activities like golf continue to be shut down which make no sense whatsoever. 

The condo sent their weekly newsletter with a link to the Condominium Authority for Ontario's Covid 19 Update stating the requirements for outdoor amenities, including the cordoning off picnic tables.

Saturday I was full of energy. Got a pot of soup on, prepped dinner, did a load of laundry before it was even noon. John packed up some golf clubs to sell and took them to the post office.

Then I did an initial wash of the balcony floor.
We rearranged the spare room, sorted through some stuff in the closet and threw out a bunch of stuff or put in the charity bag. Hung some pictures we found.

We then settled to our solitary hobbies. I embroidered and John watched golf.

Sunday is for me catching up on blogs, especially the book related ones. I read about the books, "go" to the library and add them to my wish list. Then bloggers remind me of something else and I go down another rabbit hole. It's all lovely.

This week John caught up on a month of Coronation Street and worked on the jigsaw puzzle along with reading.

At 11 I stopped reading to "attend" a Bata Shoe Museum event. I can't believe it's been over a year since I went there.

Pour yourself a cup of tea and join us for an exclusive Mother’s Day tour of the Bata Shoe Museum with Director & Senior Curator Elizabeth Semmelhack! Elizabeth will personally take you through our four galleries, including our newest exhibition The Great Divide: Footwear in the Age of Enlightenment and answer all of your questions.

One part of the tour covered The Gold Standard exhibit from 2019, probably the last time I was there.

The geraniums were put on the balcony. The hibiscus made it through the winter and actually flowered this week! 

Monday murals from last week.

Tuesday lanes in Cabbagetown.

Tuesday John did a Costco run.

The exercise bike he ordered arrived and he started assembling it.

 Then we went downtown to upgrade our phones. We took the shuttle bus downtown the first time in a couple of months. 

There was an interesting display in Union Station.

Thank You For Keeping Us On Track pays tribute to the Black Canadian porters who formed the first Black Railway Union in North America (1917). Their contributions helped to stabilize the Canadian economy and lay the framework for future unions by other collectives. This work helps bring to light the under-told stories of Black Canadians contributions, struggles and triumphs in order to share a sense of empowerment amongst the Black community and a greater understanding of Canadian history. Union Station is an important historical site where many of the trains that railway porters once worked passed through. The hats depicted in the sculpture represent those once worn by the porters and as a whole, symbolize their unity and success in changing Canada’s labour force—making it better for all workers.

A Ticket to the Revolution is a poem I wrote to challenge the idea of what freedom for Black people really means and how we became a people of many lands in this world without being able to choose where our home is. As a young Afro-Indigenous woman living in Toronto I struggle with feeling displaced and like I don’t belong. With this piece I decided to write about how one day we can all create the utopia of our dreams and live freely without the rules and restrictions of a modern day capitalist world. This piece is dedicated and targeted to all Black people within the diaspora, young or old, who are contributing to a future that is for us and by us.

Got our new phones and Richard at Telus, transferred all our data. Now we just have to update our apps with passwords (ugh) and learn some of the new features.

I had to change the PIN on a new card at the ABM machine in FCP. I cannot believe this is what the financial district looks like at 2 PM!!!

First photo with new phone!

The food court is anticipating new tenants. 

Then we came home and had a late Tuesday at the Movies.

Wednesday the bike was assembled.

We have been decluttering and discarding things this week in earnest as we rearranged the hobby/workout (aka the spare room) room. At the moment we have 3 three bags full of "stuff" and a box of china/glasses and a big roasting pan.

John drained the deep fryer and we discarded the oil. One of our concierges was happy to take the deep fryer (I scrubbed it clean!) and the grill. The loading dock was happy to take some flammable stuff to discard for us.

We also hung the selfies I had printed for John's birthday.

Thursday we had another of his 6 month scotch deliveries to pick up.

After which we went to Burger's Priest for a burger eaten in the car. We had planned and started out on a drive but traffic was heavy and John had to be downtown for an appointment so we came back home.

I repotted one of the larger house plants on the balcony, hopefully he will be happier now.

We headed out on Friday downtown along Queen St. West with Graffiti Alley as our destination. This is an open air, everchanging art gallery, however it is starting to shrink with condo construction going up in every nook and cranny. For more Graffiti Alley over the years click on the label/tag at the bottom of this post.

Uber 5000 and his famous yellow birds along with Bruno Smoky.

A piece of Sweetman and Elicser (charcoal). They recently collaborated on a huge impressive piece in Parkdale.

Emily May Rose

Not in Graffiti Alley but across Spadina.

Queen St. West is so quiet.

At the corner of Queen and Bathurst I found this amazing corner store with great plants and HAD to buy these three coleus.

Back home John worked out and I repotted the herbs I had bought a few weeks ago into a larger container and also moved a couple of plants up to bigger pots.

SOPHISTICATED SHAKERS

We went with a Godfather cocktail this week.

The origin of the Godfather cocktail is about as murky as a mob boss’s tax records. The cocktail became popular in the 1970s around the same time that the movie The Godfather premiered. The Italian amaretto liqueur brand Disaronno even claimed that the Godfather cocktail was a favorite of actor Marlon Brando, who portrayed the infamous Vito Corleone in the film.

Ingredients
1 ounce Scotch whisky
1 ounce amaretto
Ice
Orange twist, for garnish (optional)

COCKTAIL CIRCUIT - TO DATE

Mai Tai with orgeat which is new to us

Tequila Sunrise

Rob Roy required bitters which we had never bought

New York Sours 

Gin Fizz

Rusty Nail

Vodka Sidecar

Vodka Cosmopolitan

Negroni

The Perfect Storm

Boulevardier

Side Car

Jalapeno Margarita

COOKING

Saturday I did a roast pork, roast potatoes, mashed turnips and carrots and Brussel sprouts.

Sunday I planned on using up the roast pork but as I went into the kitchen I totally lost my cooking mojo so we ordered Swiss Chalet chicken. I couldn't tell you the last time we ordered dinner in.

Monday and my mojo and/or lack of inspiration wasn't quite back yet so I made meat sauce and we had penne. 

Tuesday we had late afternoon popcorn so we did cheeses and crackers for dinner.

Wednesday garlic butter shrimp and salad. I also made some cheese biscuits.

Thursday I cut up chicken thighs and sauteed with garlic and onions, then added some Siam peanut coconut sauce. Served with salad and leftover biscuits, warmed up and were delicious.

Friday steak and frites.

WATCHING

I started House of Cards this week, John is a couple of seasons ahead of me. So far I am enjoying it.

We're also working our way through YouTube Hustle.

Keeping up in real time with MasterChef Australia Season 13 on DailyMotion. Couldn't believe that Therese, the Dessert Queen, would need to use her immunity pin.

She..........................didn't play the pin....STUPID STUPID STUPID.

Pressure test Part 1

Pressure test Part 2

I can't say I was sorry to see her go, too cocky and smirky. She was banking on someone else messing up worse than she did, and it didn't "pan" out!

Here she was in a previous episode impressing Reynold, of all people!!

Tuesday at the movies.

We enjoyed Honest Thief 2020 with Liam Neeson (can't go wrong). It is a low budget average thriller but at 68 Neeson is getting a little long in the tooth to play a love interest to a 40 something woman. Mindless entertainment.

Things got heavier and more interesting with Operation Finale 2018 , historical drama set in the 60s about the arrest of Adolf Eichmann played by Ben Kingsley (another can't go wrong).

Click here for the "true" story behind the movie from the Smithsonian Museum.

We followed this with Unhinged 2020 starring Russell Crowe. Holy crap this defines the expression "like watching a train wreck"! 

We start with a montage of misery accompanying the opening titles  down-and-dirty picture. We see images of traffic jams, car crashes, rioting and random violence matched with talk radio reports of job losses, general despair and—this is crucial because it lays the groundwork for the mayhem to follow—woefully underfunded and understaffed police forces. 

This is ROAD RAGE to the ultimate.

A fun creepy horror watch.

We finished with a feel good comedy drama 2017 The Upside, we needed some laughs by now.

READING

On my laptop The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Marie Kondo. I watched her series a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. I am generally a very tidy person and we declutter quite often. 

On my phone I finished When No One is Watching and I must say I would love to see this as a movie! 

Pretty Little Wife was on my phone and I had just gotten started. When we upgraded our phones it wouldn't open so I deleted it and it disappeared from my loans!! I'll borrow it again.

I finished Invisible Girl and it has turned out to be much more interesting and exciting than I expected. So I started on another Lisa Jewell The Family Upstairs.