Showing posts with label Sankofa(Dundas) Sq.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sankofa(Dundas) Sq.. 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.
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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!!!
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12 September 2026

Madcatter Cat Cafe

  Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader


11 September 2026 - Toronto ON
St. John's NL


SATURDAY - LABOUR DAY long weekend.
 
Since we didn't go anywhere yesterday, I felt the "need" to drag John out. 
It is quiet on the streetcar, early, Saturday, long weekend. But then the driver announces we will be holding for a while at Shaw St. It turns out Queen St. is closed off due to a fire incident, so we do an "off route" down Shaw and along King to Spadina back up to Queen St. We cut through Winners in Scotia Plaza to get The Path and head to the closed Hudson Bay store at Queen and Yonge.

I wanted to show him the murals in The Path under The Bay and have lunch out on a beautiful still summer day.

The temporary hoarding walls inside the former Hudson's Bay location in downtown Toronto feature massive murals created by the Chairman Ting design studio covering roughly 27,000 square feet along the lower PATH pathways.

I have taken photos of these murals three times and still took more. John was blown away with them and took a ton of photos too! Tom was right, you can spend hours here. 

It's not our first Chairman Ting mural, here is one on Ossington from 2025.

John's photos. It is early on a Saturday so there is none of the hustle and bustle of a weekday, as this Path is connected to numerous office towers, hotels, subway stations and you can even get to Union Station, the Eaton Centre and City Hall indoors. It winds through the old The Bay corridors and functions primarily as an expansive public art trail filled with whimsical local and visual motifs for daily commuters to discover.
Because the PATH is a continuous, interconnected web rather than a series of isolated branches, entering through the Hudson's Bay building grants you indoor, weather-protected access to the entire system. This means the building connects you to over 75 buildings across downtown Toronto.
















From there we crossed the bridge on the second floor of The Bay and cut through the upper (expensive) level of The Eaton Centre, as it is the least crowded level.

Considering malls are a dying breed, The Eaton Centre has aged and flourished very well. I think it looks better now than it did years ago. Locals and tourists love flocking here.



Indigo (Canadian chain) book store, because I forgot to take a photo the other day!


Sankofa (Dundas) Square. I was just here on Thursday but John seldom comes up this way. There are still a lot of tourists in town and there are a lot of university students just getting settled in around TMU.




We caught the 505 Dundas streetcar and it was crowded, to Spadina and Kensington Market.

I'm usually here during the week, it is much more crowded on the weekend and there are more shops open.
Kensington Market. It's one of those neighborhoods where every block feels different. Vintage shops sit next to tiny cafés, colorful murals cover brick walls, and food from just about every corner of the world fills the air with incredible smells. Despite the name, it's not really a traditional market anymore. It's a lively neighborhood that has welcomed wave after wave of immigrants for more than a century, each community leaving its mark on the streets, the food, and the culture.





We ate at Pancho y Emiliano Mexican. I had eaten here in July and wanted John to try it. I had ceviche again and John tried their spicy chorizo tacos.


We went to the spice store and got Guajillo chilies that had been in John's tacos.
They are used in marinades, salsas, pastes, butters and spice rubs to flavor meats, fat and oil with other ingredients. The guajillo chili, with its more delicate flavor, is used with fish and chicken, or added to salsa as a side dish.
We also stopped into Sanagan's, a butcher shop that we favour, and got white pudding (no black) that they make in house and duck fat as we were out.



SUNDAY

It is a PJ day. Laundry got done, Parnell the vacuum robot did his job and I sorted out those spices we bought. I got the potato salad started and the ribs in the slow cooker before lunch! I even flipped through a recipe book.
I completed our "almost" final trip plan for October, more to come.



John used the golf simulator for a couple of hours.

The Air Show is on this weekend. We went last year because friends wanted to see it. But we can hear it all weekend.

MONDAY - LABOUR DAY



No real plans for today. I caught up on reading blogs.
A very uneventful day, we debated going out. I put the laundry away, and watered the plants (finally). 

 John binged a series called Extrapolations, an American climate fiction anthology television miniseries that depicts the effects of climate change on the planet through various different points of view through interconnected stories. The series takes place from 2037 to 2070, a period of 33 years.

A photo of people watching the air show. 


I found this photo of our building online.



TUESDAY
T Stands for Tuesday
I did some work on flights for October.
I did some poking in the stores, only picking up bananas, bread and some $ store items.


Fernie is looking spectacular!


John saw a falcon on the golf course!


WEDNESDAY

No golf again this week due to weather, last week they only managed nine. He also cancelled tomorrow's game to nurse his knee.

I ended up staying home and did get all the laundry done! I also decluttered/repurposed a container under the sink that I didn't really need there. I also threw out a bunch of plastic bags (yeah me!!) that I was saving just in case.
Mid-afternoon we decided to finish off the Aaron Sanchez Restaurant Impossible Toronto series.
We decided we would try a couple of them in the area and also that we want to try one of Jan Agg's local restaurants. Jan is a local chef with nine restaurants and two books, I Heard She's a Bitch and Table Boss. Click here to read about her and here.




THURSDAY

Along with other bloggers, my sidebar of blogs I follow has not refreshed for the last several days. UPDATE it appears fixed on Sep. 13.
TIFF opened today.


I went to St. Lawrence Market and it was packed, there were four tour busses outside. I debated doing their revolving museum, but didn't. I went to "our" butcher and got a couple of bavettes along with my Thursday senior discount. I also got some vegetables, all local.

Isn't she a beauty, no, I didn't buy her, I don't bother buying seasonal "stuff", it is just clutter.

The City of Toronto added Indigenous-inspired art to decorate the concrete security barriers outside Union Station along Front Street, replacing the plain, utilitarian anti-terrorism concrete blocks.




I spent the rest of the day trying to find our flights for October, so many options and some crazy prices.

John surprised me with a gift of a Frida Kahlo print!




FRIDAY

We both spent some time watching the 9/11 anniversary ceremonies, especially the Gander portion. There were some amazing speeches by the Governor General of Canada and former Prime Minister Chretien, who was PM at the time, and is known for his down to earth comments.


John had an early morning appointment and I went to pick up my pants from the tailor. 

Front St. was very busy around The Royal York due to TIFF. The median in the middle of the street was barricaded. There were barricades waiting to be set up. Traffic was bumper to bumper, with drivers getting irritated by all the fancy black SUVS and executive black cars blocking the road.




Royal York lobby, it was great to see but hard to photograph, I didn't realized I was reflected in the CN Tower cutout!

.




I suddenly noticed how much they have done on the Ontario line, this is at Exhibition Place, the end of that line. I had shown the Queen St. construction last week with a link to more information.
I took these from the bus.

.



We saw the heavy tactical transport deployed for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's back and forth to the airport as Google tells me, requires a continuous "clean route" where all intersecting traffic is entirely frozen. There were police motorcycles, cars, ambulance and a military truck.


COOKING
St. John's NL


This looks good!

I froze the remaining banana with the others in the freezer, time for banana bread? I finally cleaned the celery and wrapped it in foil. The end of the stalk and the leaves were added to the freezer soup stock bag. I use reusable freezer bags.
I put the frozen leftovers/peels into the soup pot. it is very tomato heavy from summer. 


Saturday - cheeses pate and baguette. We also had Welsh cheddar in the fridge.
They also provided a lunch, and were added to the chicken divan.


Sunday - slow cooker ribs , Moise's coleslaw and homemade potato salad - because it is still summer! Leftovers - John's lunch on Tuesday
Monday - chicken broccolini divan with coleslaw. Leftovers - lunch
Tuesday - cod with crispy potato chip crust, broccolini 
Wednesday - pork chop schnitzel, broccolini, mashed potatoes
Thursday - ground lamb, pita, cucumbers,tomatoes, onions, tzatziki 
Friday - steak bavette, Greek roasted potatoes, broccolini


READING
St. John's NL

These are some books that caught my eye at the bookstore this week. Other than Hidden Toronto I added the others to my library wish list. 


I read Caller Unknown, I read some of Gillian McAllister's books before and enjoyed them. This, not so much, I kept hoping it was leading somewhere...There is nothing redeeming about the characters, the plot, the ending.

I am reading The Expats by Chris Pavone, and I must say, I am confused. It flips back and forth so much, I can't keep the story straight. And really, she kept her "real" job hidden all those years?!? And the husband, come on, we know what he is going to reveal.
I must say, a lot of the reviews agree with me.

I flipped through this book, and said "oh, I forgot about that" so many times. I realize how many things we memorized and can do automatically, like multiplication tables, calculating tips and the memory tricks, a mnemonic or acronym, we used/learned such as HOMES for the great lakes.
ROY G. BIV (Colors of the Rainbow) – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
MVEMJSUN (Order of the Planets) – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. (Often remembered as "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos").

The book's cultural legacy is its contribution to the modern digital wellness movement. It provides a clear vocabulary for why people feel burnt out by constant connectivity. It has pushed readers to intentionally reclaim "analog" habits, driving the modern resurgence of vinyl records, film photography, dumbphones, and paper planners.


For Gen X and Boomers, the book triggers "phantom nostalgia" for physical rituals (like mapping a road trip with a paper map) that younger generations have never known. I am all for online maps but still keep an Atlas map book in the car for long road trips, sometimes we lose connectivity in the middle of nowhere or sometimes I want to look for other options.

I often notice young people on the subway struggling to read the transit maps. Just the other day, a fresh-faced university student had to ask an older woman for help after getting completely turned around. 
On another day, a group of three missed their mark entirely when the guy—who confidently claimed he knew the way—suddenly panicked and dragged them off the train after realizing they were heading in the wrong direction.
Even John's son, said recently, that his kids can't read a map.

Tangible Objects: Gone are the days of Rolodexes, physical photo albums, alphabetized CD collections, and blinking answering machine lights.
Social Norms: The book looks at lost concepts like unrecorded mistakes, blind dates without prior social media stalking, privacy, and the right to completely disappear.
Mental Habits: Constant connectivity replaced fertile boredom, deep patience, memorized phone numbers, and uninterrupted attention spans.

The "Sick Day": True rest has vanished. Because we can answer emails from bed, being physically ill no longer completely disconnects us from work expectations.


Damn, I flipped through this cookbook, finally! and now I want it, no, I don't!!!
The Spanish "Crumbs" (Chorizo Crust): Made by processing fresh white breadcrumbs with finely chopped chorizo sausage, garlic, parsley, and olive oil to create a rich, smoky, and moist topping for fish.



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