Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Renovations continue

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My living room and dining room is starting to look a little bit different thanks to all the work that was done last week. The renovations are no where near complete, but finally, for the first time in literally years, I can see that the room will be finished within weeks.

My brother in law, who came with his son, from Chicago to help us with our renovations had to leave for the weekend, but he’ll be back and we’ll be doing more work next week.

My brother in law and nephew were actually here because my nephew is about to join a Brockville OHL hockey team. He’s an extremely good hockey player and we – and the team owners – think he has a good chance of getting into the NHL .. so being on this team is hopefully the beginning of his professional hockey career. He’s a smart kid though – whether he’s on a hockey team or not he has education goals. He wants to be a doctor and he’s intelligent enough to become one.

I don’t know when my nephew is supposed to officially start with the Brockville hockey team if he joins them, but I know my brother in law and nephew will be back here next week for a few days and then they have to get back to Chicago. I think my brother in law has to drive his daughter to NC for a raleigh nc accounting interview. She’s going to be moving I believe or she’s thinking about it.

I’m in a for a few busy days so I guess I’d better relax while I can. Last week was pretty hectic!

What a great day

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You know, I just decided I’m having a good day today. So far today things are going pretty well. I can’t say that too often so I’m just going to go with it.

My brother-in-law and nephew came up from Chicago today and are here to help my husband and I do some renovations in the house and so far we’re off to a great start getting things done we’ve wanted to do for many years. I swear our living room, dining room, can be finished in a couple weeks. How many years on this blog have I been saying I was going to start that renovation again? Well, it’s finally happening. Hallelujah.

Then this afternoon I had to go to the hospital to see my hand specialist Dr. and get the results of my MRI and as it turns out the results of my MRI are not bad. It seems that the ligament in my thumb isn’t torn which is good news and we’re not 100% sure what’s happening with my wrist – there still might be something happening with one of the bones. So I will have a special bone scan hopefully in the next week or two and see the doctor again in a few weeks. I might still have a broken bone in there we’re not 100% sure. Either way even though my hand and wrist still hurt quite a bit, it looks like it may be getting a little bit better. I’ve been told I don’t have to wear the splint quite as much, and I’ve been given some exercises I can do to increase mobility and my thumb and wrist and it should also help take some of the swelling down. With any luck my hand might be back to normal within a few weeks. Crossing my fingers on my right hand yay.

let’s see what else is good about today – It’s my brothers birthday, maybe I’ll go celebrate for him? Hey, are you having a good day? Maybe I’ll go buy a lottery ticket. Yeah, that’s what I should do. Then I could invest in some real estate sunset beach and really enjoy myself. Now wouldn’t that be nice?

Okay, time to go and enjoy the rest of this day I hope you’re having a great day too!





Harvest Eating – Healthy Eating

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I think I generally try to eat healthy. By this I mean I try to eat fresh fruits and vegetables – organic if possible and since I live in a cold climate if the season allows I try to buy food items that are grown locally as well. I feel food that hasn’t traveled for a thousand miles likely is fresher. Don’t you?


That’s one of the reasons why I love the Spring, Summer and early Autumn Seasons here. There’s always fresh fruit and vegetables and each season has it’s stars. For example I love getting fresh corn in late July or August. At this time of year I enjoy fresh strawberries, leafy greens and young carrots.

Just as the information in this picture suggests I definitely flex my green thumb. Anyone who reads this blog semi regularly already knows that! I grow quite a few flowers in my front and backyards but I also grow some fruit and vegetables. I grow lettuce, spinach, peas, cucumber, tomatoes, tiny tom tomatoes, strawberries and raspberries. I was just noticing the other day that my Tiny Tom tomatoes have several green tomatoes on the plants so it won’t be long before I can add some home grown small tomatoes to my salads or simply pop one of those delicious sweet tomatoes into my mouth. Some of my strawberries have ripened as well.

Harvest Eating

Do you go out to local Farmers Markets to get fresh fruits and vegetables or grow some of your own in your backyard like I do? If you shop in the grocery store do you try to buy locally grown produce? Don’t you find fruits and veggies just taste better at this time of year?

Who wants Ice Cream?

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I’m an admitted chocoholic but while I’ll eat the occasional piece of chocolate I rarely eat desert or have things like ice cream. In fact, most years I can count on one hand – often one finger the amount of times I have ice cream!

It’s not that I don’t like ice cream. I do, I just don’t love it enough to eat it regularly. Lucky for me I happen to live very close to what I consider one of the best Ice Cream Parlors and manufacturers in the city of Toronto. Oh and I went there last Friday!

The shop is called Maple Leaf Dairy Ice Cream Parlor or as it’s locally known St. Clair Ice Cream. They have a good variety of flavors of ice cream, sherberts and frozen yogurts. I just always get ice cream when I go there, but my husband tried the frozen yogurt this last visit.

Yes, I said this last visit. We went to the ice cream shop on Friday. My husband had left me sitting in a hot car waiting for him for a half hour and when he finally came back I was mad and I’d decided that I wanted to cool down and I wanted ice cream. So … off to Maple Leaf Dairy we went.

As I said above I’m a chocoholic … so I decided to try the Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. Chris tried the Raspberry Frozen Yogurt. Each of our cones were “Single Scoop” servings in a waffle cone. Get a load of what they think is a single scoop …

2 HUGE single scoop cones from the Maple Leaf Dairy Ice Cream Parlor Toronto

This is actually the second time this year that I went to this ice cream parlor – and only the second time I’ve had ice cream this year. The last time I mistakenly asked for a double scoop and you wouldn’t believe how big that was! These single scoops alone are huge. Chris was already digging into his when I decided to take the picture that’s why his Raspberry one is a little smaller than my Chocolate fudge brownie one.

Oh and they were only about $3.50 or so each. I think that’s a pretty good price for the amount of ice cream and or frozen yogurt we got. I was full for hours. We didn’t have dinner that night until quite late.

If you’re in Toronto’s East end and have a craving for ice cream go to 2861 Danforth Ave. and Kelvin Ave. and you won’t be disappointed. Bring your appetite!

St. Clair Ice Cream on Urbanspoon

My gigantic rose bush is blooming

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I’ve been using some of my spare time to work in my garden. I don’t seem to have as much spare time this spring as I have other years, but I’m trying!

I’m slowly getting the annual flowers that I purchased a week or two ago planted in the garden and I’ve been trimming and pruning the roses and other plants as I work in the garden. It’s amazing how fast some of my roses grow.

One of my roses – William Baffin – a Canadian Explorer rose, is absolutely gigantic. I was taking pictures of it the other day because it’s in it’s first huge spring flush and it’s just heavy with flowers. I swear there are well over 1000 roses on the plant. There could even be 2000 roses. I kid you not. The rose is at least 16 feet tall and maybe 12 feet wide. It’s almost impossible to take a decent picture of the whole bush in my tiny yard because I can’t get far enough away from the rose to take a full picture.

Large William Baffin Explorer Rose
Large William Baffin Explorer Rose
William Baffin Rose - A Canadian Explorer Rose
William Baffin Rose - A Canadian Explorer Rose, it's Huge

Unfortunately it rained all day yesterday and that beautiful rose plant couldn’t take all the rain. A lot of the big branches in the center that were heavy with roses drooped to the ground and now it’s going to take two or three of us to lift them up and get them standing again. The rose is just too big!

Huge William Baffin Rose after rain storm - broken
Huge William Baffin Rose after rain storm - broken

Considering where the big branches fell it might be a good thing that the outdoor dining set at BistroSets.com that I ordered didn’t arrive yet because that’s just where I was planning on putting it. It would have been toppled over by the huge rose branches. I know most people don’t think of a rose plant as being so huge it could be destructive, but I know it’s possible.

 

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