Showing posts with label Hilton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hilton. Show all posts

25 September 2026

Smart Mouth Coffee

 Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader

25 September 2026 - Toronto ON
                                                                       Vancouver BC

SATURDAY

The day started off slowing as most Saturdays do. I popped frozen scones in the oven and then caught up on blog reading which leads to rabbit holes and book additions to my TBR list. There were a lot of new authors/books this morning! This took me to 10  10:30 AM, then I got in gear, showered, dressed and finally emptied the dryer. Tidied up, ran the mop.

I spent a few hours watching A Place To Call Home.
A Place to Call Home is an Australian drama set in the 1950s and 1960s, a period of intense social conservatism. The show highlights several historical prejudices and systemic injustices that just make me so angry! I'm not sure I can continue!

The intense anti semitism, a closeted gay man living in an era when homosexuality was illegal, socially ruinous, and classified as a mental illness. It highlights the devastating impact of government policies that led to the Stolen Generations, including the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families. It also portrays the daily segregation, casual racism, and lack of legal protection experienced by Aboriginal characters.

And then, women navigate a society where women have almost no legal autonomy over their bodies or relationships.
The wealthy elite fight ruthlessly to maintain the status quo against an emerging, more progressive post-war world.


SUNDAY

The whole week was very quiet as we finalized trip details and whatnot. Just quiet on the photo front. Lots of stuff getting done just not very post worthy.
I created some scheduled posts from abandoned drafts.
Popcorn for lunch.
As a certified (certifiable??) nerd and passionate lover of spreadsheets, I found this article to be hysterical. The Museum of Regrettable Spreadsheets.



MONDAY

I cleaned out the fridge! I went to Longo's for some groceries, Winners and $ store.

Saw these for the first time in Toronto.




TUESDAY
T Stands for Tuesday

John golfed, it was  a real autumn day, bright and sunny but the winds were strong. I went to College Park in search of some new utility boxes that had been painted as a BIA initiative. But the wind was cold and it was so busy with TMU students I gave up and took the subway back.
I now have 4 of 11 found, the first one was last week.






I took the subway back (it was packed at TMU (formerly Dundas) station). SMH as to the purpose of these. I understand safety...
The point of the new steel barriers installed by the TTC is to prevent people and objects from falling onto the subway tracks while creating a more defined and secure waiting area for riders.
Right, but it doesn't run the length of the tracks...
The waist-high steel fences are placed along the platform edge between the spots where subway doors open, discouraging accidental falls or intentional track access.
In some spots.
You are not supposed to stand behind them, means less platform space. And, only at TMU for now.




Instead of Blue Jays uniforms this was the fashion along Front St. today, cowboy boots and hats, denim and lacy tops. Zach Bryan performed at the Rogers Centre on the 22nd and 23rd as part of his With Heaven On Tour, bringing out plenty of fans in classic country concert attire.



WEDNESDAY

John had his last men's league golf game of the season, their banquet is next week. 

I went back to Yonge to look for the other utility boxes but gave up, went to T&T for broccoli and bananas and came home.

Say it isn't so! Where am I going to tell people to meet me now???
According to official City project documentation, the structure—historically known as the Travellers' Aid Society of Toronto booth—has been dismantled to be completely refurbished and relocated. 
The Travellers' Aid has already been moved to two booths on the right.
This clock and counter are not original, they were installed in 1994 and have no particular historical value.



Sankofa (Dundas) Square





I stopped into the Image Centre at TMU to see this, but wasn't impressed, it was too gloomy.


 John had done a review of our travel document and found some dates misaligned so I fixed that.



THURSDAY
Memories my parents' wedding anniversary

John met a friend for coffee, they hadn't got together for a long time.

Cutting through Brookfield Place.
.





I got a haircut and then wandered up Yonge St. and happened upon two more of the new mural utility boxes.
Now I have 6 of 11 new boxes.

Painted by Elicser.



Vegetarian - in a food court.



FRIDAY

We headed to Montreal on the 11:40 train. It was fully booked as were the hotels in Montreal.
We grabbed a cab at Central Station as I had to book a hotel further east than usual, due to the race and the crazy hotel prices. We are in a Tru Hilton. 




Once we checked in John discovered he didn't have his phone. Sheer panic!!!!!!!! He realized it was probably in the cab. Did we know the cab company, no, we paid cash. So many we should haves etc. How to lock or cancel it. Everything we tried, wanted to send a verification code to his phone, which we don't have. We share a cellular account, but didn't want it screwing up mine as we were chatting to a chatbot or 
"virtual assistant", not usually the brightest. 
So we went to dinner and ended in a pizza/pasta place.



 When we left the hotel we told reception that we had lost a phone just in case someone found it. I don't normally turn my volume up but did in this case and I got a call from the hotel saying the driver had brought it back!!
We ended up chatting to the three people beside us, Americans from New York and New Hampshire. They had been on a cycling tour and were staying to see some of the races. They were NOT Trumpsters by any means and spoke about how ruined their country's reputation is around the world. One mentioned that he had been in Austria and Italy (cycling) recently and the amount of disdain he had encountered. 
I found a mural walking back to the hotel!


John was extremely happy to be reunited with his phone!



COOKING
Bremner St. Toronto ON



Saturday - curry chicken
Sunday - roast pork, potatoes and carrots
Monday - leftover roast pork, gravy, mashed potatoes and beans
Tuesday - ground lamb, Greek salad 
Wednesday - salmon, mashed potatoes and broccoli
Thursday - chicken quarters, roast potatoes and broccoli
Friday - Montreal pizza



I finally finished The Expats, interesting twists.

I also finished Kiss of Death, another Paul Finch. I do enjoy this series, I am reading out of order, it was a little slow at first but it certainly picked up!!!

22 August 2026

Harumama


21 August 2026 - Toronto ON


SATURDAY

It was nice to have a day at home, although John did use to golf simulator for a couple of hours.
We had talked about our property tax bill and how the payments were made. I couldn't describe it well, so I pulled out a copy for John to see what I was, badly, explaining.

I did some chores and took out the clothes I think I'm taking to St. John's this week. I worked on draft posts for the next while.
I have to cut the babies off this spider plant, they are draining the mother.

John decided to go to Canadian Tire to return the lights that we didn't like. so I decided to go along and we checked out the Skechers' Warehouse and we ended up with a pair each BOGO, buy one get one 50% off.

Re: the lights. We had opened them to see that the colour didn't match the ones we had. Therefore he could only get a credit since it was opened. John said well how am I supposed to check that the colour is right? She shrugged.
.

An old favourite Mexican restaurant that was a neighbourhood favourite when we lived in our house off Danforth announced it is closing after 30 years, yikes we were there we it opened!!

I forgot to post Friday's sunset so here it is!!





We watched the film Sharper - Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned to chaos as a con artist takes on Manhattan billionaires.


SUNDAY

I started down a rabbit hole 🐰after Debra She Who Seeks comment on Monday Mural "and I love how every pedestrian is walking along in the classic "Keep On Truckin" pose made famous by cartoonist Robert Crumb!"

I did some further travel research for October.

We went for mani-pedis at 10:15, rather than wasting time during the week! That worked out perfectly! It was a lovely morning along the lake.

.

This was breaking news this morning, one of my favourite signs on Yonge St. Do I wonder if it was arson, as it is sitting on prime real estate, yes, I do.
Video captures exact moment Toronto's Zanzibar Tavern erupted into flames

I ran my laptop monthly maintenance.
John made delicious French toast with blueberry compote for lunch, I tidied up. Put some laundry away and froze the chicken stock.

Kitchen watching - Two Weeks in August - this is why you never rent a place with "friends". 


We started watching The Morning Show, also known as Morning Wars in Australia and Indonesia.
Alex Levy co-anchors The Morning Show (TMS), a popular morning news program broadcast from Manhattan on the UBA network, which has excellent viewership ratings and is perceived to have changed the face of American television.





MONDAY

I went to Cleo's, Winner's to no avail, although I picked up a few fresh vegetables in Farm Boy.
What a gorgeous day it was!


Why in the name of any fashion god would Winners have this in their store? Who's going to buy it and where would they wear this abomination?


John golfed. And then it took him 2 hours to get home due to an accident on the Gardiner! That lead to a whole lot of grumbling about how could you have an accident on such a nice day


TUESDAY

We decided on a stay home day to prepare for our trip to St. John's NL on Thursday. We packed what we could.
I cleaned out the fridge and froze any vegetables for soup at some point.
We bagged up some items for the charity box. 
I backed up my Toronto folder.

WEDNESDAY

John golfed.
Away notice with office. Car keys with the concierge. I went to the $ store for some necessities, and cheap luggage tags because ours always seem to "disappear" when we pick up our luggage.
There were 9 emergency vehicles when I left Longo's, seemly a fire alarm in the notorious ICE building. That meant the street was closed off when the bus turned the corner and we were stuck for 30 minutes before we got onto the Gardiner.
.

I spent the rest of the afternoon dealing with administrivia, checking in online, finish packing, dropping off charity bag, finishing laundry, watering plants and leaving place tidy.

John thought he had a long commute on Monday look at this traffic! Even the Lake Shore exit and the Queensway are backed up going west. I also heard the fire trucks trying to get through.


Random Repost 

How nice not to be getting up at the crack of dawn for a flight, this was very civilized. Other than worrying if our luggage would arrive since Toronto Pearson was having luggage belt problems and loading manually, everything went off without a hitch. We were in our hotel room by 5PM.

Morning view


We did a day tour with lunch around the bay, details in link above.



COOKING
It has been a week of eating what is in the house.

Saturday - pork chops with potato Brussels sprouts cauliflower au gratin 
Sunday - chicken quarters and leftover au gratin
Monday - liver, onions, mashed potatoes and kale
Tuesday - beef bulgogi rice
Wednesday - potato cakes (leftovers), mushrooms and fried eggs
Thursday - St. John's NL Oliver's lobster roll and salmon
Friday - St. John's NL Spanish tapas after lunch out


READING

I finished another Paula Daly book The Trophy Child. I do enjoy her snotty, bitchy female characters!! She masterfully depicts how female envy, passive-aggression, and betrayal can destroy lives from the inside out.
And I always enjoy DS Joanne Aspinall, a flawed, practical, and deeply relatable detective!


This is the library in our condo, I read on my phone or laptop but got some good recommendations poking around. And I didn't realize that they had cookbooks, which I will definitely borrow!





Foto Tunes

  Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme. August 2013 - Yarmouth NS Mercury Blues Alan Jackson - Mercury Blues