This Way to Coffee

 Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

Hearth and Soul Link Party

September 2021 - Port Stanley ON

November 2021

As of last week Ontario lifted capacity limits in places where proof of vaccination is required including food and drink establishments, indoor areas of sports and recreation facilities, gaming establishments and indoor meeting and event spaces as well as some outdoor settings. City staff are reviewing for what impact it may have on City facilities and activities, including recreation and community centres.

This does not make me happy, I have been very happy not being in crowded places especially in a restaurant. I know it's important for these businesses.

Another rainy Saturday but we were warm and cozy. 

After getting up early on Sunday we spent the day lazing around.

Finally I am tied with John on our year-to-date puzzle average!!

Monday John golfed (it was cold). I was going out but started puttering around doing laundry and such and never did.

Tuesday John booked the golf simulator and I took another pair of pants to be shortened, it's terrible to be short, buy petite pants and still have to pay to get them shortened! 

Then I spent some time in the grocery store at Manulife Centre and finally found a decent sized tamarind. I also bought a jar of hoisin for when I'm too lazy to make it.

Also made a stop in Eataly. I can never find the same things when I go back.

Wednesday John had golf with a frost delay! He took these.

I went to get a haircut on King St.

Then to the Eaton Centre to pick something up for a friend's birthday, prowled the $ store at the Bay Centre, it is a great one. 

Stepped out at Dundas Square.

New benches painted by muralist Hello Kirsten.

Läderach, Swiss chocolatier, new store and only Canadian location in the Eaton Centre.

Really??? Do we need Christmas stuff this early?

A new selfie spot in the Eaton Centre.

Thursday and John cancelled his golf simulator saying he needed a break from golf. We managed to sleep in and lazed around for the morning. Then we headed out on the streetcar along Queen St. West in bright sunshine which quickly disappeared. Our only stop was at the pop up Irish Scottish store to stock up.

My loot!

Friday I headed out my a 10 AM manicure pedicure, right in the neighbourhood.

Gorgeous morning! Bottom of our street, it ends as Lake Ontario.

Our building, in the middle of the photo peeking up behind the tree.

I came back home, had lunch and headed to Longo's for vegetables for the weekend.

Now that the office towers are opening up I cut through the Telus House building (where my cousin works) for the first time in 18 months! Telus House is part of the PATH system so that you can get about without enduring the weather and horrible drivers. I can get off our bus go downstairs at 123 Front St. and go underground for miles, up to the Eaton Centre or south to Harbourfront, I can do all of the financial district as well. I can also board the TTC subway.

There is a photography mural by Michael Awad on display in the lobby.

As a study of how people navigate through a city and interact with it, Michael Awad’s Entire City Project records the physical infrastructure of Toronto and the urban experience of living in it. Awad’s image is stretched and expanded to reach life-size, showing a warped panorama of hectic commuters moving in all directions outside of Union Station. While the distortions may seem odd, they certainly lend a sense of urgency and energy to the piece.

I have never really been able to get a good photo of the sparkling lights in the lobby. It is known as Pixel Matrix, a collaboration with the multimedia artist David Rokeby, is like being inside a gigantic shifting Lite-Brite.

What a surprise as I left the Telus building into Maple Leaf Square to see the 

sculpture Humanity Movement by Masai Ujiri was moved here from outside Union Station on Front St.

I was heading to Longo's where I like to shop. It is in the middle of the photo where that white truck is parked. On my right is Telus House and my left is Scotiabank Arena.

The Raptors had a basketball game tonight. Now that sporting venues are allowed to be at full capacity this was the sign to get into Scotiabank Arena.

The clocks fall back this coming weekend.

WATCHING

I watched a 3 part BBC series Capital and wish there was more. It is based on a novel by John Lancaster. This article in The Guardian sums it up perfectly.

The story is primarily told through three families: an upper class couple with two young children, a middle eastern family that owns the small neighborhood market, and an elderly widow, Petunia. Also important to the plot are Petunia’s daughter and adult grandson, a local contractor, and a meter maid from Africa, who is working in England illegally.

The diversity among class and race is obvious and intentional.

I also watched ITV Flesh and Blood on Prime.

I started The Forsyte Saga from 2002-2003. Fun seeing Damian Lewis in this.

I am also keeping up with the weekly episodes of The Great Canadian Bake Off and A Suitable Boy.

I generally watch my shows on my laptop in the kitchen as I prepare dinners with my knitting so I need shows that don't require my full attention as I chop and stir, empty/load dishwasher, run noisy appliances and knit!

We've lost interest 4400 after a couple of episodes. It is convoluted, boring and just plain awful acting.

The Lost Symbol is losing me as well, a pity since the book was good.

We started a BBC series The Suspects, a police procedural.

COOKING

Saturday BBQ chicken quarters roast potatoes carrots, waiting to go into the oven.

Sunday ham, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts

Monday chili and soda bread

Tuesday roast pork, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts and carrots

Wednesday shrimps a la diabla with salad. First time using this recipe and it was good. I used one jalapeno and it wasn't hot enough for us so we added hot sauce and that made the difference.

Thursday rogan josh lamb curry This turned out really well, the sauce was delicious it just wasn't as hot curry flavour as we like. I am going to borrow The Curry Guy's cookbook from the library again, I won't buy it at $50!!

Friday steak and loaded baked potato but I used spinach instead as the broccolini I had looked like it was way passed its prime and I had just bought the spinach!!! This was lauded as my best loaded baked yet by both of us as it had such a great crispy skin. I didn't wrap the potatoes in foil as I usually do and I tossed the potatoes in salt and butter before baking.

READING

I read The 57 Bus, a true story of two teenagers and the crime that changed their lives. Blew me away!

The 57 Bus is narrative nonfiction that tells the true story of an agender teen, Sasha, who rode the 57 bus home every day. One day, on that bus, three teen boys are being obnoxious jerks and Richard takes a lighter to Sasha’s skirts and seems surprised when it goes up in flames. The remainder of the story discusses Sasha’s recovery and the court case surrounding Richard. It’s a remarkable story about identity, choices, consequences and, in the end, forgiveness.

Next up continued on the issue of rising hate crimes, this time in the UK where there is a big problem of growing white supremacy groups, which is totally appalling to me.

Dead Souls by Angela Marsons, she has an uncanny way of showing us the horrors of daily racism that non-white, non-straight people endure everyday.

Weekend Roundup

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

1. Starts with "S"
2. A Favorite
3.SILVER - chosen by Tom

Starts with "S"

SCULPTURE STARLIGHT SPOTLIGHT SEARCHLIGHT

Toronto ON

FAVOURITE

SILVER SWING Queen St. W Toronto ON

SILVER

SILVER lining - driving from Dublin to Ballyvaughan Ireland 2005

Déjà Brew

A catchall for leftover beer, coffee, food, motels and whatever catches my fancy!

SCULPTURE SILVER SODA can

Toronto ON

Day of the Dead In Memoriam

 November is the Day of the Dead and the anniversary of my little sister's death in 2013.

August 24, 1955 – November 2, 2013

With her family at her side, Ursula passed away suddenly at St. Joseph’s Hospital Hamilton, on November 2nd, 2013 at the age of 58.  Ursula leaves her cherished children Caitlin Lazarus and Brennan Lazarus, her devoted partner Brian Underdown and her extended family Eric, Russell, Margot, Julian, Aubrey and Vivien Underdown.  She will be sorely missed by her sister Jackie McGuinness and brother in-law John Boisvenue and her dear cousin Laura O’Connell.  Born in Dublin and growing up in Montreal, Ursula was from her earliest years an adventurer.  After graduating from McGill, she joined CUSO as a teacher in Nigeria and travelled fearlessly through Africa in troubled times and other exotic places which influenced her decision to develop a career as a scientist devoted to vaccine research.  Settling in Hamilton in 1998 Ursula developed a successful practice as a patent agent with Gowlings.  Her family will remember her bright spirit, the many shared dinner conversations and her loving support. A visitation will be held on Wednesday evening from 7-9 p.m. at the Cattel, Eaton & Chambers Funeral Home, 53 Main Street, Dundas.  A Service Celebrating Ursula’s Life will be held at the Funeral Home on Thursday November 7th at 2 p.m.   In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Joseph’s Hospital, Hamilton, would be appreciated by the family.

You are missed.

Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

Travel Tuesday

Our World Tuesday

Image-in-ing
My Corner of the World

Postcards

October 2021 - Toronto ON

Click here for a history of Toronto lane naming and a list of other lanes. That post is a work in progress, and gets updated frequently.

It looks like I stumbled on this lane at the right moment. I was here on October 19 and on October 28 the El Mocambo Facebook page said:

Mayor John Tory has been busy, he was mentioned in yesterday's Monday Mural.

Although I think there was more painting done on the weekend of Oct 23, so I will have to go back. I also wonder if the city put up an official street sign.

The El Mocambo is a live music and entertainment venue on Spadina Avenue, just south of College Street, the bar has played an important role in the development of popular music in Toronto since the 1940s.

It is best known for the 1977 surprise show by The Rolling Stones, which became nationally notorious for the presence of then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's wife, Margaret Trudeau , who was partying with the Stones.

Apocryphally, the original building at 462 Spadina had been a music venue since 1850 and was first used as a haven for escaped slaves. The current building was built in 1910 and housed a dry goods store, a barbershop, and restaurants in its first three decades. With the passage of the Liquor Licence Act of 1946, which allowed the sale of liquor in taverns and restaurants in the province for the first time since World War I, restaurateurs Joseph Brown and John Lang decided to apply for one of Toronto's first liquor licences and convert their property at 464 Spadina into one of the city's first cocktail bars. Live music was not permitted until July 1948 when the Liquor Licence Board of Ontario reversed an earlier ban. In later configurations of the establishment musical acts appeared on separate stages located on the main and second floor of the building. By the 1960s, Adam Schuy owned the venue which, by then, featured music appealing to Toronto's Hungarian, Irish, and Portuguese communities. By the time Schuy died in 1971, striptease was being featured on the main floor.

Over the years other major music acts appeared at the venue, including Marilyn Monroe, internationally famous jazz performers, including Grover Washington Jr., Charles Mingus, and Al Di Meola, and rock acts such as U2, Switchfoot, Moxy, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, John Cougar Mellencamp, Duran Duran, Dream Theater, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, April Wine, Eek A Mouse, Durutti Column, Snakefinger, Bo Diddley, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, Blondie, The Cars, Meat Loaf, Jimi Hendrix, Queens of the Stone Age, Bon Jovi, Teenage Head, Sum 41, Shakin' Natives, Etta Royal and Congress Court.

The club was expected to close after a last show on November 6, 2014, However, on the eve of its impending closure it was announced that the club had been purchased for $3.8 million by Michael Wekerle, who intended to renovate it but maintain it as a live music venue. 

Five years and $35 million in renovations later, the big day finally arrived for Michael Wekerle in September 2020.

I took this photo just after they opened in September 2020.

The daughter of a friend was a camera person working at an opening show and took these photos inside.

Click here for more photos inside.

Washroom signs.

More photos from my October 2021 visit.

In retrospect I think they were getting ready for the weekend's events.

Painted by STEAM 2021.

Looks like an old Elicser.

Monday Mural

 I'm linking up at Monday Mural

October 2021 - Toronto ON

Part of ArtWorxTO Hub at Union Station.

On October 27 Mayor John Tory officially launched the ArtworxTO Hub at Union Station, located at 61 Front St. W. Click here to view online. Some of the pieces have been around for a few years.

The Hub’s inaugural exhibition “I am land”, is curated by Maya Wilson-Sanchez. “I am land” is a three-part exhibition; the first part is called “I am land that feels”.

I've posted some of these earlier this month.

The City of Toronto has partnered with Union Station to deliver this ArtworxTO hub. “I am land that feels” offers a public space for mourning, where death is tied to systemic violence and issues of injustice. This first part of “I am land” examines how artists document loss. It proposes art-making as a method for working through grief and examines how collective conversations about loss in public space can lead to healing. The exhibition explores grief through myriad themes and forms, from Glenna Cardinal’s and Carolina Caycedo’s mourning of land, to Anique Jordan’s work on Black grief and remembrance, Amber Webb’s memorial to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and a participatory and community-based altar by the Day of the Dead Collective. The exhibition is open to the public and can be viewed in person or online.

Created by the Día de los Muertos Collective, this community-based and participatory ofrenda, or altar, fosters a space for public mourning in the midst of a global pandemic. Bearing witness to all of the injustices that have impacted various communities, this sculpture carves spaces for collective loss and care—where feelings of celebration, grief, anger, and reflection can co-exist in remembrance. Beyond showcasing the tradition and art of the Day of the Dead, this altar weaves together the longstanding celebration hosted by the Día De Los Muertos Collective in Wychwood Barns for over 12 years, gathering community through ritual, performance, music, visual arts, vending, and food. The Día de Los Muertos Collective is a non-profit that coordinates the efforts of communities in T’karonto to create a celebration that honors the dead, delights the living, promotes artistic creation, and fosters community development through tradition. 

DAY OF THE DEAD IS TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2