Livery Barn Cafe

Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader

Weekend Coffee Share
Sunday Salon

May 2024 - Toronto ON

Ogallala NE

 

Another quiet weekend with the usual chores.

Administrivia - renewed photo card online/backed up Important Documents file to external hard drive/booked latest vaccines/renewed library card/fixed my Aeroplan password/updated my MC online.

I cleaned up some blog posts Missouri 08/Boca Raton 17 and started Winter 13/14)  and also went through my draft posts and deleted many.

Monday and Tuesday, John used the golf simulator in the morning.

 I did a quick trip to Longo's for some groceries. They keep moving everything around!

I spent time on the weekend and today cleaning up blog road trip posts over the years and linking them together. 

Tuesday I went shopping and got two pairs of pants and a sweater after trying on three other pants and a jacket.

There was a protest in front of Union Station by the Freedumbers a$$holes.

Our skies are hazy due to the wildfires out west in Alberta.

Wednesday John headed out for his weekly golf game. 

I took the bus downtown, at around 12:55 all the phones on the bus squawked with an Ontario Emergency Alert test but it seems not everyone received it. The power was out at the traffic lights at Lake Shore and Lower Simcoe due to a massive outage, however I didn't any other signs of it.

I walked up to the Textile Museum.

A new bank??

A new restaurant.

The work on the new Metrolinx line is causing traffic chaos just as the other line, Eglinton Crosstown did for years and it still doesn't have an opening date!

Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster gave an update on the progress of the much-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Updated March 26, 2024 at 7:50 p.m. The $12.8-billion Eglinton Crosstown LRT was originally scheduled to open in 2020. There's still no date for when it will start operating.

A new 15.6-km subway line in Toronto that will run from Exhibition Place, through downtown, all the way to the Ontario Science Centre.

As I cut through Nathan Phillips Square!

The Second Harvest Truck Pull Challenge is a one-of-a-kind race that puts your strength and teamwork to the test. Teams of 10 compete to pull a 20,000-pound delivery truck across Nathan Phillips Square in the fastest time, raising funds for Second Harvest’s food rescue and redistribution efforts.

I found a video online.

For the last, at least three years  2018-2023, as I walk to the Textile Museum this corner was a construction sight. I was totally blown away to see this functioning building and I was disoriented at first, until I realized it was the new courthouse (NTC) across from the Armory exit of Superior Court of Justice (Criminal).

The new courthouse brings together under one roof most of Toronto's Ontario Court of Justice criminal court operations from across the city, including the lovely old building, Old City Hall, you see behind the trucks in the above photos.

To prepare the site for construction of the courthouse, IO undertook a complex archaeological excavation that uncovered thousands of artifacts from when the site was part of St. John's Ward, one of Toronto's earliest immigrant settlements. The work ensures that the historical value of the site is documented and preserved.

Textile Museum - The Secret Codes: African Nova Scotian Quilts brings together historic and contemporary quilts from makers connected to Nova Scotia, embodying the stories and voices of the community. Curated by David Woods, this exhibition includes more than 35 quilts and a selection of 8 paintings that highlight the various functions of quilts over time: as decorated blankets in the home, as possible codes of communication for enslaved people seeking freedom, as records of family history, as a celebration of Black women and culture, and as inspiration for other art forms.

BTW to see previous exhibits from The Textile Museum, click on the words "Textile Museum" in the labels/tags at the bottom of this post.

They were gorgeous!

Love Stories Under the Quilt

There was another exhibit that didn't really interest me, other than this piece.

This piece was in the lobby.

Coming out of the museum on the other side of the courthouse, it was nice to have the sidewalk open after all these years.

Back in Nathan Phillips Square and the brains are back, now being sponsored by Mattamy Homes! Click here to see previous posts. Click here to see previous posts.

Coming home took 45 minutes, it should a max 20 minutes due to the construction on the Gardiner that is supposed to take three years! That will put a damper on companies making employees come back into the office!

From mid-April until mid-2027, the Gardiner will be reduced to two lanes in each direction between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue with intermittent additional lane closures as required. The eastbound on-ramp from Lake Shore Boulevard, east of Jameson Avenue, will also be closed.

Thursday John mentioned that Google Docs was using up his space on his phone, so I removed his access to the files. Here is an excellent document explaining how Docs duplicates files across multiple devices. Here is an excellent document explaining how Docs duplicates files across multiple devices.

That led me to cleaning up and editing some of our large recaps of our various travels on Docs.

Figured out how to get my Rakuten account working again for online shopping discount. I turned off my ad blocker (didn't help) but then turned off Bitdefender anti-tracker and it worked!!

WOW I managed to fix my Blogger issue of not being able to make comments on my own blog and others, unless I went incognito!!! It was Bitdefender that was messing with Blogger! BTW John didn't have this extension installed.

We went to St. Lawrence Market as it is supposed to rain tomorrow as we head into a long weekend.

We got mussels (I'll try not to kill them before we cook them), good hamburger, sourdough bread and some vegetables. We always go to the same vegetable place, because they have good stuff, are very nice and always knock a buck or two off our cost. 

We also found a new butcher who actually knows what he is taking about. DiLiso's Fine Meats.

John had just mentioned that there was a shortage, I'll have to stock up at the $ store.

Amazing steak selection!

Our first strawberry creme of the season!

Friday we both went for mani-pedis. It was $45 last month and now $50. It was a gloomy and chilly day so I stayed in while John ran an errand as it is a long weekend here.

I did more work on our travel recaps in Docs (China 09) as there was some duplication.

COOKING

Sat ham, roast potatoes, mashed turnip and carrots and Brussel sprouts

Sun ham and veg leftovers and mashed potatoes NEW spicy honey mustard sauce

Mon NEW Vietnamese pork and shrimp rice paper wrappers with Thai cucumber salad. I used my dumpling dip for the spring rolls. John didn't care for the shrimp in them with the pork.

Tue ham, scalloped potatoes and cauliflower and spicy honey mustard sauce.

Wed liver, onions, garlic mashed potatoes and cauliflower

Thu mussels (Jamie Oliver cookbook Bloody Mary mussels) and fresh bread. This was so disappointing, there just wasn't any real flavour, despite the horseradish, garlic and chilis. I think the mixture needed cooking to blend the flavours, and more liquid. Jamie mixed all the ingredients (cold) and then simply poured it over the mussels while cooking.

Fri steak and loaded baked potato

WATCHING

Earth is a 1999 Indo-Canadian period romance drama film directed by Deepa Mehta. It is based upon Bapsi Sidhwa's novel, Cracking India (1991, US; 1992, India; originally published as Ice Candy Man, 1988, UK), set during the 1947 partition of India. This was very interesting and a piece of history we really knew nothing about.

The Sympathizer is a 2024 TV mini-series. Near the end of the Vietnam War, a plant who was embedded in the South Vietnam army flees to the United States and takes up residence in a refugee community where he continues to secretly spy and report back to the Viet Cong.

Prince Andrew: Banished

Cooking with Stella also by Deepa Mehta. Inside the Canadian diplomatic compound in New Delhi, a mischievous cook affects the lives of her employers and fellow staff.

57 Seconds57 Seconds When a tech blogger lands an interview with a tech guru and stops an attack on him, he finds a mysterious ring that takes him back 57 seconds into the past.

READING

Best Friends Forever was a quick read but I enjoyed the twists and turns, although the female cop left me shaking my head.

I finished reading The Skeleton Road and I am enjoying the side story about the skeleton but I am skimming over the very detailed descriptions of the Balkan war.

Crank

 Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

Sunday Post

May 2023 - Toronto ON

Check out the coffee selections - Morning Glory, Fifth Gear, Cranky Pants, Crank It Up and Get Cranked.

Saturday morning started with a Coronation breakfast of rashers, black pudding and fried egg as I skimmed the stories about the coronation. I am not interested in Charles and Camilla, I just like to see the pomp and ceremony and of course, the fashion. Canada was well represented.

Saturday and I thought I was going to do laundry, but we couldn't get the door to the laundry open. John tried everything to no avail. I put a request for help to our handy handyman. UPDATE He is very busy so I decided on Tuesday to get a locksmith. First I asked the office for a recommendation.

Handle off, oiled, took door hinges off, it won't budge.

Sunday was a lazy day as usual. 

Monday Mural was taken last week.

John had golf at noon. 

I was on my laptop when these feet appeared for window cleaning.

I headed out around 12:30 and totally changed my plans and went to Yonge and Dundas to find a new mural.

Found in my wanderings.

Yet another condo, I can't remember what was on this corner.

I found this on Urban Toronto.

And the plan is...

And you have to laugh!

Back on the ground at College Park.

Normally you cannot see the etchings on this bridge at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson).

This historical panorama includes 14 portraits: Margaret Atwood, John Candy, Leonard Cohen, Viola Desmond, Chief Dan George, Wayne Gretzky, Yousuf Karsh, k.d. lang, Marshall McLuhan, Oscar Peterson, Mary Pickford, Buffy Sainte-Marie, David Suzuki, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is the school responsible for continuing education at Toronto Metropolitan University.

The school is named for the late G. Raymond Chang, OC, third Chancellor of Toronto Metropolitan University (known at the time as Ryerson University) and Director of CI Financial.

The building incorporates the façade of the O'Keefe Building, the administrative headquarters for O’Keefe Breweries, in 1939. O’Keefe House was designed by the architectural firm of Chapman and Oxley, a firm that produced some very fine Beaux-Arts and Moderne buildings in Toronto in the ’20s and ’30s. The construction of O’Keefe House represents a corporate re-investment in the Canadian brewing industry after several decades of prohibition. The site was used for beer brewing since the early days of Toronto. 

Starting May 1, 2023, all vehicle traffic is being diverted off Queen Street from Bay Street to Yonge Street and from Yonge Street to Victoria Street for an estimated four and a half years – an important step forward in the construction of Ontario Line’s future Queen Station.

What a mess! Drivers are not happy. Streetcars are diverting along Dundas St.

I lost an opal out of my Australian bracelet a week ago, I also had two other pieces of jewelry that needed fixing. It used to be that you could find lots of jewelers along Yonge St. but now it is fast food, restaurants and condos. I did find one though and left the three pieces to be mended.

T for Tuesday was from last week's trip to the Gardiner.

John took the car in to have the piece that was making all that noise replaced. While he was at that end of town he went to a new gluten-free bakery. He said the cheese bread is delicious. The loaves and slices are a good size too.

I had a class booked at the AGO, Artistic Dots but I just wasn't feeling it. I headed out anyway, was waiting for the streetcar and one flew right by me! Another one came and I took it to Peter St. and then walked as traffic was heavy.

I saw the class gathering and thought, nope, they look boring! I wandered around by myself instead.

I took in some of the temporary exhibits.

In 2000, Tillmans was the first photographer and first non-British artist to receive the Turner Prize, an award given annually by Tate in London. In recent years, Tillmans has been more directly involved in political activism. In tandem with his ongoing Truth Study Center project (begun in 2005), he has created posters for the anti-Brexit campaign in Britain and in response to right-wing populism in Germany. Fragile, a major touring solo exhibition of the artist’s work, opened in 2018 at the Musée d’Art Contemporain et Multimédias in Kinshasa, with the final stop taking place at Art Twenty One and CCA, Lagos in 2022.

I do love this piece!

Look at that lace!

Walking to our shuttle bus stop.

I came across another gaping hole. I used to work in a building right behind that skinny white one (TIFF headquarters) that we watched being built. So I walked along here every workday.

Press gobbledygook!

Forma presents unparalleled architecture and interior design to create a world-class condominium masterpiece. Standing 73 and 84 storeys tall at the nexus of the entertainment and financial districts in Toronto, Forma will be Frank Gehry’s tallest residential towers, offering breathtaking views, bespoke suite finishes, elevated lifestyle amenities and services, wellness spaces, entertainment lounges, creative coworking spaces and an outdoor terrace to call home.

From the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, visionary architect Frank Gehry has changed the course of architecture and design on a global scale. Now, he is coming home to Toronto with Forma. Gehry’s tallest creation in the world, devoted to the city where he was born.

Wednesday I left at 10:30 to see tulips!

More than 11,000 tulips have been planted in the heart of Toronto's Financial District in Arnell Plaza at Bay Adelaide Centre. On May 10 and 11, 2023, the vibrant garden will open and you can stroll through the flowers and even pick your own.

Simply grab a pair of scissors and cut your selection, $5 donation to the Daily Food Bank for 6 tulips.

I stopped here for their "spicy" southern chicken. The chicken was good, but not outstanding and there certainly wasn't any spice!

I took a stroll up to City Hall. The Brains are back! Click here to see 2023 Brains and links to previous years' exhibits.

 

Hazy skies and dramatic red sunsets will be a common sight in Ontario this week, thanks to the almost 150 wildfires currently raging across Alberta and B.C. — a disaster that has forced tens of thousands from their homes in Western Canada.

Thursday was more tulips as we drove to Fenwick to see their tulip fields. Fenwick is in the heart of Niagara Wineries.

We had some Dutch pancakes.

On the way home we stopped at a fruit stand and got honey crisp apples ($17), field tomatoes ($4) and asparagus ($6).

We also stopped in Grimsby to see the Painted Ladies. Unfortunately, there wasn't any parking and there were a lot of cars parked in front of the houses.

Since my handyman wasn't available until Tuesday, my cleaning lady suggested her husband could fix my locked laundry door. He came with his nephew and they jimmied it open. YAY!

The soap dispenser drawer wasn't closed completely and the handle had gotten latched under it.

Friday I met my BFF and we headed to lunch at Buster's for lobster rolls (again) and a good chin wag.

COOKING

Saturday - appetizer night - breaded GF shrimp, arancino. Italian sausage. We never buy prepared frozen food AND now I know why we don't. The shrimp were small and the breading was awful. The arancino - was tasteless and I'm not sure where the rice was.

Sunday - Mexican for a late Cinco de Mayo - guacamole, chimichurri, fajitas flank steak

Monday oven-fried chicken quarters, roast potatoes and carrots

Tuesday frozen Libretto pizza

Wednesday hamburger stew

Thursday pork chops and oven-baked balsamic and parmesan asparagus.

Friday steak, broccoli and garlic bread.

WATCHING

I watched a mini-series In the Dark through the Library Hoopla app. I reached my monthly borrowing limit, maybe I'll "borrow" John's account.

We watched the 3 part series Citadel.

We're caught up in the Jeopardy Masters series.

I am watching a series, The Tailor. This Turkish series feels old-school soap.  I am enjoying it.

Terzi, or The Tailor, is a Turkish series that follows a young man named Peyami and his best friend, Dimitri. They have been friends since school and label each other as blood brothers as adults. Peyami has a grand fashion atelier in Istanbul, whereas Dimitri looks like the sort to waste his parents’ money and exploit his privilege. Dimitri has a fiance who curiously disappears one day, so he begins to go mad over finding her. In the meantime, Peyami has his own secrets regarding his family

READING

I gave up on Echoland, just too slow.

I really enjoyed The Lost Girl, although the ending may be a little far-fetched.
The narrative blends fact and fiction, including storylines from the past and the present,
The storyline is based on the unfolding of the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.

I also started Dark Music and am enjoying it.
Inspired by Sherlock Holmes, an exhilarating new thriller from the bestselling author of The Girl in the Spider's Web--a murder investigation in which two unlikely allies race to uncover a shadowy international conspiracy.