Tuesday Treasures

 

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

Click here to see our day at Blarney Castle.

This garden was created with the purpose of educating visitors about the poisonous plants that can be found both in the wild and in our own gardens. It aims to show both the positive and negative aspects of these plants by looking at their various uses, both traditionally and in modern times.

Golden Chain trees with dangling flower-draped arches at Poison Garden make for a grand entrance.

T for Tuesday

 T Stands For is hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard

October 2023 - Toronto ON

Found around town.

Monday Mural

   I'm linking up at Monday Mural

August 2023 - Whitehorse Yukon

Located facing the parking lot at Triple J's Music at 308 Elliott Street, this mural by Colin Alexander shows the sternwheelers Australian and William Ogilvie at Canyon City, on the Yukon River just above Whitehorse.

Bakes by the Lake

 Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

Sunday Post

October 2023 - Toronto ON

September 2023 - Orillia ON

Nothing exciting happened on the weekend, and that's okay.

I did book our covid and flu shots online.

Monday John used the golf simulator in the morning. We both went for our latest covid shots at Rexall FCP in the afternoon.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day for John to golf.

I walked up to the Eaton Centre.

The vacated Nordstrom space at the CF Toronto Eaton Centre has been transformed into a new interactive exhibit called Canadian Chroma.
Nordstrom announced its departure from the Canadian retail scene in early 2023, cutting 2,500 jobs and leaving conspicuous voids in shopping centres across the country.
Cadillac Fairview (CF) has filled the literal void with this new experience, described by organizers as a "multi-sensorial journey celebrating Canadian culture through sights, sounds and colour."

Another new display at Union.

Makadeyaa Makwa, acrylic on canvas 16 x 20 inches 2020. Black Bear surrounded by flowers and strawberries. This painting originated from a dream I had laying down strawberries on Mother Earth for the bears, referred to as heart berries. When I lived out west in a fishing village, a back bear came to stand under my studio window for a long time. I believe he may have been a spirit bear, as there were only grizzly bears in this forest. I felt protected by this back bear who came to bring me home.

Janice Toulouse is a senior Ojibwe artist, a member of Garden River First Nation, born and raised in Serpent River and Toronto. She lives in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.

Haribo pop up in Union. I got some sample for a friend's daughter.

I didn't realize he was real until he waved!

Gone are the googly eyes! In the spirit of the season.

Wednesday was supposed to be a good day for golf but it rained overnight and forecasted 100% rain which never happened. John got the balcony cleaned up. I did some decluttering after reading an article about getting rid of extra throw cushions (I did 3), about how we don't need a stationery drawer (I got rid of a gazillion hotel pens, index cards, envelopes (I kept a few) address labels etc.

I also threw out all those silly plastic bags that come with sweaters, you know, with the piece of wool and an extra button!

The other suggestion, that I didn't do yet, was all those gift bags we save!

Thursday was also a foggy rained out golf game. I went downtown to pick up some stuff.

We are leaving Friday for a week in a resort in Georgian Bay, the weather gods are not smiling on us for the week but we'll find things to do. The resort does have a restaurant so that will be good too.

We are packing and gathering what we need, we will have a 1 bedroom unit. We stayed up here last May.

Friday morning we packed what we needed and did the 2 hour drive to Collingwood. 

We checked in, unpacked and relaxed.

Quite a difference in temperatures this week.

Finally a resort that actually meets our expectations. It is in a hotel, has a restaurant, etc. The units and big and comfortable. I actually took photos.

Double living room, one with TV the other with fireplace.

Looking towards the full kitchen.

The moon!

COOKING

Saturday Spanish chicken thighs and chorizo

Sunday pork belly and cabbage  with rice - a new combination to us, but very common in Beijing. John cut the pork in thin pieces and that made them nice and crispy. I also made this stir fry sauce as we like more sauce.

Monday hamburger patties beans and mashed potatoes (and remainder of cauliflower)

Tuesday coconut shrimp and homemade coleslaw

Thursday homemade bacon burgers. We are slowly getting the freezer reduced.

Friday up north - we brought steak, baguettes and mushroom with us.

WATCHING

Finally watched Where the Crawdads Sing

Barbarian is a 2022 American horror thriller film. The plot sees a woman find out that the rental home she reserved has been accidentally double-booked by a man, not knowing of a dark secret within the dwelling. This gave us nightmares.

Alice, Darling is a 2022 psychological thriller film

I came across STILL STANDING that follows Canadian comedian Jonny Harris as he sets off across the country, to discover the hidden comedy in Canada's small towns. The 100th episode was in Dawson City Yukon.

It is on CBC Gem, it is available on YouTube pay to watch.

Running with the Devil is a 2019 American crime thriller film. The CEO of an international conglomerate sends two of his most regarded executives to investigate why shipments of cocaine are being hijacked and over cut somewhere on the supply chain.

Crisis is a 2021 crime thriller film. Set against the backdrop of the opioid epidemic, stories of an undercover cop, a professor and a grieving mother collide.

Get Gotti 2023 mini series - Told from both sides of the law this documentary series from the makers of "Fear City" follows the FBI's battle to bring down infamous mob boss John Gotti.

READING

I really enjoyed Gone by Mo Hayder.

I started From the Dead by Mark Billingham.

Weekend Roundup

 Welcome to The Weekend Roundup...hosted by Tom The Back Roads Traveller

1. Starts with "Q"
2. A Favorite
3. QUARTER - chosen by Tom

Starts with Q

QUETZAL - Monteverde Costa Rica

Taken through the guide's telescope.

QUEEN'S QUAY subway station Toronto ON

QUARTER

LATIN QUARTER Paris France

Tuesday Treasures

 

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

August 2023 - Whitehorse Yukon

DURING THE POSTWAR BOOM, WHITEHORSE was rapidly becoming the capital of Yukon. Everything about the city struggled to keep pace. As a result, buildings of slightly more epic proportions were created, the likes of which no frontier town had seen before, or likely will again.

When a massive influx of military personnel and laborers arrived to work on three major construction projects—the Alaska Highway, the North West Staging Route airports, and the Canol Pipeline–during the post-war boom, housing was at a premium in the once sleepy town of Whitehorse.


That’s when a septuagenarian named Martin Berrigan had a magnificently outsized idea. In blending the frontier aesthetic and resourcefulness of log cabins with the urban practicalities of stacking human beings like sardines, Berrigan took a small step in solving Whitehorse’s housing crisis (while providing himself with supplemental retirement income) by constructing a pair of “log skyscrapers,” the city’s first privately-built, multiple-dwelling rental accommodation.

Using logs that weighed 300 pounds each and stacking them 58-tall to a total height of three stories, Berrigan made sure his skyscrapers could withstand the harshness of the wilderness while retaining the awe-inspiring, standalone power of buildings found in more traditional city skylines. While Berrigan’s creations surely succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, he passed away in 1950, just two years after completing the log skyscrapers. Over the years, the units were modernized and have since taken on a life as the proper apartment buildings they are today.