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You are here: Home / 2009 / Archives for August 2009

Archives for August 2009

Hot, humid and Smokey!

August 11, 2009 by Tricia

Guess what – I did feel better on Sunday! So, in the early evening, at about 6 p.m. my husband, our dog Midnight and I headed out to the Taste of the Danforth.

Yeah!

It was hot on Sunday, but not quite as hot as they’d been predicting. Only 27 Celsius or so – but with very high humidity … so by the time we got to the street festival it felt like 37 Celsius or so (98 F)! Hot! When it’s that humid out you just feel sluggish moving around in the heat … yeah, so why not go out into a huge crowd where it was likely even hotter? LOL

We lucked out and got a parking spot near the start of the street festival, so within minutes we were able to walk to the closed off street festival.

The air was hazy – partly due to the humid weather and partly due to all the open grills cooking up Souvlaki and other delectable food items! Oh and it was crowded! News reports estimated that approximately 1.4 million people attended the festival from Friday evening until it’s close at 8 pm Sunday.

Here’s a photo of the crowd:

Crowd at Taste of the Danforth 2

The picture doesn’t really show how crowded it was … basically think about a four lane street crowded with people for several blocks (maybe 2 miles or 5 km of people along the street?), then you’ll get the idea.

As you can see from the picture above there were food stands, amusement rides like a big Ferris wheel, a fun slide, a crazy house ride and more. There was also a rock climbing wall, beer tents, and a few bandstands where Greek and other multicultural bands entertained the crowds.

Fun stuff!

Chris and I and our dog walked about half the street festival as we tried to find food that we wanted to buy. We ended up getting Gyros, Spanokopita (spinach pies in Filo pastry) and several spicy vegetable Samosas. Everyone we passed looked hot and sweaty due to the heat! I’m sure, despite the food that people lost weight as they walked around! I doubt anyone there needed Solo Slim that day! Not me anyway! I was soaked!

Oh and as I waited off to the side with the dog as Chris bought food for us at various vendors I must have stood in a stream of smoke from the grills. When I got home all I could smell was smoke!

I would have hopped in the shower pretty much as soon as we got home, but as it turned out the biggest electrical storm of the summer started up just after we returned home.

I wished I’d thought to take pictures of the lightening! We spent two hours watching the storm overhead. Big thunder and tons of lightening! There was sheet lightening – cloud to cloud, and big solid strikes that looked like the lightening was hitting just behind one of the houses across the street.

I’m surprised that 1. we didn’t lose power and 2. that no big trees in our immediate area came down either from the wind or a lightening hit.

So anyway … I ended up smelling very smokey for a few extra hours – until I felt that it was safe to get in the shower!

Anyone else in the Toronto area go to the Taste of the Danforth this weekend? How did you like it?





Filed Under: Canada, Culture, Dining and Restaurants, Entertainment, Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Music, Recreation, The Neighborhood, Toronto Tagged With: Culture, diversity, dog, Food, fun, grills, gyros, hot, humid, multicultural, parking, samosas, smokey, smoky, souvlaki, street, street festival, sweaty, Taste of the Danforth, Toronto, Walking

Taste of the Danforth – a food and music street festival Opa!

August 8, 2009 by Tricia

It’s that time of year again when people flock to my neighborhood in droves for tasty Greek food, music and cultural experiences. Yes … it’s time for the Taste Of the Danforth – one of the city of Toronto’s biggest street festivals.

The festival, which started yesterday at 6 p.m. and ends on Sunday at midnight is just blocks from my home. It’s nice to have such a big – mostly free – event so close to my home. Luckily we live far enough away that we hear little noise from the Million or more people that attend the Taste of the Danforth each year.

I wasn’t feeling so hot today … to tell the truth I’ve felt pretty awful for a couple of weeks straight now (thanks Crohn’s!) so as much as I wanted to attend the Taste of the Danforth I just couldn’t. Perhaps I’ll feel more up to going tomorrow, however I’ll have to battle the heat tomorrow as it’s supposed to reach 32 c with high humidity so it will feel like it’s over 40 Celsius (104 f)!

Even though I haven’t gone to the street festival yet this year I’ve still had a taste. My husband was out early this evening with his sister and brother in law who’d come into Toronto to see a Blue Jay’s baseball game. He met up with them downtown for drinks and as he was coming back home by subway I suggested that he stop off on the Danforth on his way home (two blocks from the subway station he got off at) and pick us up some food.

So he brought home 2 Gyros (mixed meat sandwich wrapped in pita), Spanokopita (spinach pie/filo pastry), Baclova (very sweet dessert) and one chicken souvlaki stick. Just a taste of everything. Delicious!

Our dog got so excite at the smell of the food when he came home that she started jumping around and almost knocked over the tv stand. Lucky for us it only teetered a bit before settling.

If I do feel well enough to go to the Taste of the Danforth tomorrow I might try some of the other types of food available. People probably think that it’s mainly Greek or mediteranian food that you can get there, but you can get Thai, Indian, Sushi, Mexican, Spanish …. just about everything. After all, the Danforth is one of the most multicultural areas of the city – so why not experiment and try new foods?

If you are in the Toronto are this evening or on Sunday I strongly suggest that you stop by the Taste of the Danforth festival (on Danforth Avenue from Broadview to Jones). You’ll love the experience!

Filed Under: Canada, Culture, Dining and Restaurants, Entertainment, Items to Try, Recreation, The Neighborhood, Toronto Tagged With: cheap, crohns, danforth, dinner, festival, Food, free, greek, Greek Food, gyros, hot day, humid, Indian, largest street festival, mexican, multicultural, Music, Neighborhood, sick, souvlaki, spanish, street festival, Taste of the Danforth, tasty, Thai, Toronto

Whew … got my brother and his wife all moved into their condo!

August 4, 2009 by Tricia

Boy, am I tired!

My husband and I got up early today and traveled outside the city so that we could help my brother move from his house to his new condo! Figures it was a hot, muggy and rainy day! (well it only rained a little where we were, but there was a huge downpour here in Toronto!).

When we arrived at my brothers house we discovered that they had started the move earlier than planned. I guess my brother and his wife got up early and started moving boxes outside beside the moving truck and when my sister-in-laws sisters and one of their husbands arrived they started moving the really heavy stuff (bed, china cabinet, freezer etc).

Still … there were lots of boxes to move and pack into the truck so even though the truck was at least a 1/3 packed when we got there, there was still a lot to do. Luckily there were a lot of us helping so it only took about an hour to pack the van.

Then the waiting began. My brother had to wait until the lawyer received the payment from the person who bought his house, and then the money was supposed to be transferred from his own bank account to his lawyer to pay for the condo … all before they could get the key to the new condo so moving in could begin …

We sat around talking in their backyard as we waited. I hadn’t see my sister-in-laws sisters since my niece’s baby shower about a year and a half ago! Lots of catching up to do!

My brother only had the elevator in the condo until 5 pm – after than people aren’t allowed to use it for moving or deliveries. So we waited and waited, calling his lawyer every once in a while to find out how things were progressing and if they could get the key to the condo soon. If he didn’t get the key on time we were all willing to come back on Wednesday morning to help them complete the move.

In the end, they didn’t get the key until 4 p.m.! Luckily their new condo was only a couple minute drive from their old house! We scooted over there and started packing things onto the elevator at about 4:15 pm.

We broke up into teams to make the work go faster … my sister-in-law, my husband, my nephew and my niece’s husband were upstairs unpacking the elevator and moving things into the condo, while the rest of the gang were downstairs unpacking the moving truck and loading up the elevator.

We really had some good team work going! Can you believe we unpacked and moved a full moving truck of household items in 45 minutes!

Between the moving, the heat and the effects of a long day I was a sweaty red faced mess by the time the final elevator load was moved into the condo!

While all this was going on our dog, Midnight was at home in her crate. I think we left her on her own for about 9 hours! That’s the longest she’s ever been alone. Man was she happy to see me when I came into the house and let her out of her crate! She just circled me and circled me, occasionally taking a good look at my face as if to ask “Are you really here?” LOL So she’s one happy puppy this evening!

And I’m one tired person this evening …

To top things off, about two hours after we got home i got a call from my brother in Vancouver. Guess who’s coming back into town for a quick business meeting? Uh huh … he’s flying in tomorrow night and he’ll stay over at our place for two days before returning home.

So I guess this is the week that I help my brothers! Hmmm I wonder if my oldest brother will call about an upcoming visit now? LOL

Filed Under: Family, Moving or Organizing, Toronto Tagged With: brother, brothers, condo, crate, dog, happy, hot day, house, humid, keys, lawyers, moved, moving, moving truck, payment, rainy, sister in law, talking, Toronto, transfer money, visiting, waiting

My garden has a hold on me!

August 2, 2009 by Tricia

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I was still feeling crappy yesterday thanks to yet another Crohn’s flare, but in the late afternoon I decided I wanted to go outside and at least take some photos of my Rose of Sharon tree.

You see, it just started blooming about a week ago – huge lavender Hibiscus like flowers – lovely. In fact, yesterday, while gazing at the tree I could see more flowers than green leaves. Yes, it was blooming like crazy!

While I was outside with my camera I must have had a surge of energy because suddenly I didn’t feel as bad as I had an hour or so before. I noticed that some of my plants were flopping over and that some of the roses had some dead branches and the next thing I knew I was busy tidying up my garden!

Meanwhile … my husband was in the front yard watering and as he made his way to the back I put him to work helping me tidy up some of the garden beds too.

All in all I think we were outside from about 5:30 pm until 10 pm! By that time I was in pain … my poor back was aching and my stomach was screaming in pain. So I guess I’d better be careful the next time I want to go out and take some “pictures”.

I didn’t upload the photos from my camera that I took of the Rose of Sharon tree and my other plants yesterday, but I’ll do that soon. I’ll probably post them on my gardening blog when I do! In the meantime … here’s a couple of photos of some of the other plants that are blooming in my garden right now.

Climbing Westerland Rose
Climbing Westerland Rose
Lavender flowers 2
Lovely Lavender
Climbing iceberg roses 9
Climbing Iceberg Rose

Of course there are plenty of other plants blooming, growing and or producing fruit and veggies … this is just a sampling!

We also picked raspberries yesterday evening and plan to have them for dessert this evening. Yummy!

Do you garden? If so, what’s blooming or growing in your garden this week?

Filed Under: Back Pain, Gardening, Green Thumb Sunday, Home and Lifestyle, Inflammatory bowel disease, Photography, Recreation, Toronto, Tricia's Garden Tagged With: back pain, blooms, camera, Climbing Iceberg Rose, Climbing Westerland rose, crohns, dead branches, floppy plants, flower photos, garden, garden beds, Green Thumb Sunday, GTS, Hibiscus like flowers, lavender blooms, lovely, over did it, Photography, photos, pictures, plants, prune, Rose of Sharon, roses, sore back, stomach pain, tree, watering, work

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