Major Treat

Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

Hearth and Soul Link Party

Sherry's Pickings

What's On Your Plate (Monthly)

Once Upon a Time (Monthly)

August 2021 - Toronto ON

August 2021 Queen St. West Toronto

With case numbers shooting up in Ontario, Alberta and B.C., health experts worry that Canada could be going into its worst wave (4th) of COVID-19 yet, unless governments act now to stop it.
Calculations show that Alberta’s case numbers are doubling roughly every 11 days. So, if that trend continues Alberta could see 1,200 new cases per day in early September, and 2,400 daily cases by the middle of the month.

After an atypically cool, wet and sunless July, Toronto is finally getting hit with some traditional summer weather — and hard. Perhaps a bit harder than some might have wished for.
The last two weeks have been a painfully humid, oppressively hot, and  record-breaking extreme kind of August in Toronto with temperatures sitting at 32 C as of 4 p.m. on Monday.

Higher than what was initially forecast by Environment Canada, this marks the warmest conditions observed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on an August 23 since 1949, when temperatures reached 31.7 C.
And it's humid, too, with air so soupy and thick meteorologists say it feels closer to 40 C in the city.

As of Thursday we were still under a heat warning. City pools will stay open longer in the evenings and Emergency Cooling Centres will be available for people needing a respite from the heat. Metro Hall on King St. is one.

Thursday afternoon we had some rain that brought in slightly cooler weather although the heat warnings are back in effect for this weekend.

In May I wrote a post about the Foundry. This week the city of Toronto struck a deal with province to save part of the Foundry. Two of the historic site's four buildings will be preserved as part of a redevelopment that will include affordable housing.

We usually spend the weekend at home. That is when we get the usual chores done, laundry, house cleaning, plant caring. We prefer being out and about during the week when there are less crowds. Grocery shopping also get done during the week with no particular schedule.

Monday Mural featured a couple of murals on Dundas West.

John golfed earlier in the day due to the heat and I went to College Park and checked out Winners (nothing) and then picked up some fresh vegetables at Farm Boy.

We received our new undercounter kitchen lights, these are not battery operated but are rechargeable via a USB cord.

I received the new queen pillows for the shams to go with our new duvet and cover. I finally broke down and got a duvet. Pic to come.

Tuesday Treasures highlighted Sherlock Holmes Way at the Toronto Reference Library and its huge Conan Doyle collection.

We took the bus downtown and it was a much quieter experience than our excursion last week. I had spotted some murals as we went along Queen West last week. We got off the bus at Sudbury St. and walked. It didn't feel too not as it was only 10 AM and we stayed on the shady side. My initial thought was to have lunch on Ossington but it was only 11 AM when we got to Ossington so we kept going.

Interesting ice cream place, might be worth a visit. Flavours like mint chocolate chip made with actual mint leaves, Turkish coffee that’s infused with real Turkish coffee, pistachio containing 100 per cent real pistachio puree and dark chocolate made using West African cocoa beans. 

The Grand Order of Divine Sweets or The GOoDS, you need to check out their website.

Beside Drake's store and Curry's Art Supplies this is always a work in art. Click here to see it in 2019.

Some things are inevitable...

Hoarding thanking Torontonians for wearing masks.

This just begs for a title.

John spotted this rather jaunty fellow up high on the side of a building.

Matty’s Patty’s Burger Club originates from RVCAloha in Hawaii and was created by Matty Matheson and Pat Tenore, founder of RVCA. It all began with giving back to the community as they handed out burgers to local youth at a skatepark. The notion evolved into a burger shop in Toronto, inspired by friendships through food.

 

Police horses out for some morning exercise.

The best shoes in town. They also have an anti-gravity room!

Gorgeous block of architecture with not a condo in sight, an add sight in Toronto.

John St. and by now we are hungry but it's only 11:30 and nothing is open. We debate and decide to go back to Valens that we discovered last week.

It was SOOO hot out by now that we ordered a white sangria.

I had the same salmon but with a different salad, it was good but much better with the Caesar. 

John tried the mussels with the spicy tomato sauce this time. It was delicious but could have been spicier.

Heading back to catch the bus home, we had the best view yet, of this mural by Birdo.

Wednesday John golfed and I picked up groceries. I wanted to pick up another of their BOGO on hamburger.

Thursday I went for a mani-pedi, John took the car in for maintenance and then went to Costco.

Friday John golfed and I went to the AGO, I had tickets for 10:30 and whether I took public transit or our shuttle bus it amounted to the same. So I took the 9 AM bus which game me an hour to kill which is not a problem for me and my camera.

Yet another street closed due to a new building going up.

King St. West

Theatres are slowly reopening.

Not sure why there were buses on King St. instead of the streetcars.

Another parklet.

I stopped into Starbucks, this one has to have the best staff in town. They are so friendly and helpful. Last week the manager wiped down the tables and chairs for us after it rained on the patio (don't laugh, most wouldn't bother). Today a different manager just as friendly, even brought out treats for the dogs waiting for their owners.

A flat white, a habit acquired when we visited Australia.

Contrasts. You can just get a peak of OCAD's funky building in the middle.

 I was at the AGO to see Matthew Wong's Blue View.

I walked over to Dundas Square and then came home.

COOKING 

Menu Plan - what I envisaged on Sunday and what really happened.

Saturday - slow cooker ribs and coleslaw

Sunday - air fryer fried chicken and potato salad pork chops mashed potatoes and mushy peas (leftover)

Monday - chicken fajitas

Tuesday - burgers - Longo's had a buy one get one free on minced beef last week. Tomato needs to be used.

Wednesday - air fryer fried chicken and potato salad

I also made a cherry coconut and almond snack cake - delicious AND I baked it in the air fryer. I would put the cherries and coconut into the batter next time.

Thursday - Fish?? Pizza?? Pizza won out.

Friday - steak and frites.

WATCHING

We started watching Nine Perfect Strangers, I wasn't sure if John would care for it but he did. We saw the three episodes currently available and agreed we should have waited until the season was over.

We watched the new Jason Momoa movie Sweet Girl. I won't say anything about the odd twist that takes place.

There's almost no conversation more relevant right now than the power of Big Pharma, inaccessible life-saving health care, or corrupt, two-faced politicians.

We really enjoyed Netflix Israeli - American series Hit and Run. Although it has me double checking before I step out onto the street!

Friday we started watching Clickbait, an American-Australian miniseries.

I watched AlRawabi School for Girls, Netflix’s latest Arabic original series. AlRawabi School for Girls is a six-episode limited series that follows a group of high school girls in Amman, Jordan as they plot their revenge on a trio of bullies at their school. 

I tried to watch Good Girls mainly because Christina Hendricks (Jane of Mad Men) was in it, but to no avail, it wasn't for me.

READING

After a few false starts of other books I finished And When She was Good giving a character study of a madam, fascinating, as she is an astute business woman. There are some great twists and turns although I felt it ended abruptly.

I started reading Cul-de-sac by Joy Fielding. Not an author I usually like, but I needed a quick download on my way out, and it showed up in the 7 day list. It is her usual gossipy kind of story but I am enjoying it as light summer reading.