Tricia's Musings

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



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Big City Roads

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This weeks Photo Hunt theme is Road

Since this weeks Photo Hunt theme is Road, I decided to show you two of my favorite road pictures.

I took this picture in August, 2006, when Chris and I and a couple of friends took a road trip to Chicago to visit Chris’ brother and see a Bruce Cockburn concert. (Bruce Cockburn is one of my husbands favorite musicians).

Driving in Chicago

It was raining lightly that evening as we drove through the city trying to find “The Little School House” theater where the concert was being held. I took the photo while in the car with my Nokia 6682 cellphone.

The second picture that I’ve chosen for this weeks theme is a photo of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto.

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Toronto is the 5th largest city in North America and Yonge street is the longest street in the world … however, since there was a street festival going on (just ending) the road was closed off … so it doesn’t look anywhere near as busy as it normally is. In fact, you’d be hit by a car or two pretty quickly if you stood in the middle of Yonge street taking a picture like this on a normal day!

I wonder, did everyone participating in Photo Hunt interpret “Road’ as literally as I did?





What’s with all the flyer deliveries lately?

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I’m being bombarded by mail these days. Yeah I know … my usual complaints are about spam email and spam commenters … but this time it’s snail mail! LOL

I’ve had a huge increase in mail deliveries in the last while. I guess it’s not enough for the mailman to deliver bills and flyers, but our Postal Service hires people just to deliver flyers in addition to the ones that the mailman delivers, and then of course there’s people hired to deliver flyers for private companies too.

Our regular mail is usually delivered by about 9:30 in the morning, but it seems just about any other time I walk out my door during the day there’s a new set of flyers in the mailbox, on the floor of my porch or stuck in the handle of our screen door. It’s actually becoming a hazard, I’ve slipped on a few glossy flyers that have been placed right outside the front door. Now I’ve got to be sure to look down before I put my foot down … remember I’m a klutz already so I don’t need any extra help with mishaps! LOL

The flyers run the gamut with anything from restaurant take out or delivery fliers to drug stores promoting things like the best diet pills they sell and so on.

Now that we’re having a snap Federal Election we’re also receiving newsletters and promotional mail from all of the major political parties too.

I’ll admit some of the flyers are useful, but the majority end up going straight into the recycling box. I can’t help thinking what a waste of money it is for companies to print out these flyers and hire people to deliver them when I suspect the majority of people receiving them are just throwing them in the recycling bin. (well I hope they are at least recycling!) what a waste of paper, money and resources!

In the past we had a sign on our door that said “No Flyers” but those delivering them ignored our request, and if the flyers were part of the regular mail delivery they still got delivered.

Do you feel that you get too many flyers too? What do you do about it?

What’s that smell? Oh – wet dog!

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Chris got called into work an hour early this morning when one of his co-workers called in sick and as a result he ended up getting off work an hour earlier than he normally would have.

So … when he got home, since it was so nice out today, he decided that he’d take our dog to a hiking trail area that he discovered last Saturday or Sunday.

They discovered a river or creek while they were out today! I guess Midnight had a great time splashing around in the water.

When they got home I thought Midnight was dry. She certainly looked dry … but then she came over to me and leaned on my leg and literally soaked my pant leg. Actually, she started rubbing herself on my leg in order to dry off! Darn smart dog!

So now not only does she have that lovely wet dog smell … but so do I! Don’t you just love that scent? (NOT!)

The dog’s under the table

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Wordless Wednesday

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I love this picture of Midnight. She was lying under our teak table in the backyard when i snapped the shot. I love how the legs of the teak table frame her face.

I really like our Teak table. It’s made with recovered teak wood – as in teak tree stumps and or old fallen branches. These pictures aren’t great, but you can get an idea of what the whole table looks like:

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Click on the pictures to see a larger image.

It’s ffffreezing!

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Brrr! I can’t believe how cold it is outside right now. Did winter arrive when I wasn’t looking?

it’s 11 Celsius (51.8 F) outside at the moment but before the night is over it’s going to drop down to 7 Celsius (44.6 F). I can’t remember the last time it was this cool this early in September. Scary!

Just before Chris headed to bed he went into the basement to flip the power switch for the furnace to the ON position and we set the thermostat to 17 c (62 F). Since we are in the middle of stalled renovations we actually have the thermostat attached to the top of wall along the basement stairs and since the basement is cooler than the rest of the house we have to set the temperature lower so the the furnace will come on when the “living” part of the house is at a slightly higher temp – but one that’s starting to be a little too cool. So … if our furnace does come on tonight for the first time since last Spring the main floor of the house will probably be at about 66 F.

Weird little system we have, I know … but once our reno is done (if ever!) we’ll put the thermostat in a much more logical location.

I can tell you that I did not enjoy taking the dog out for her last outing of the night. It was freezing outside. I almost turned around to go back in and get my winter coat!

I hope it warms up again for a while. I can remember many Septembers and Octobers here in Toronto when it’s been almost as warm as early summer most of the time. The temperatures we’re experiencing tonight are more like late October temps! Maybe we are going to have an early winter.

**shudder**  I hope not! With gas and oil prices so high I’d hate to have to pay all that extra money to heat the house for two or more extra months if it gets cool earlier than normal. Believe me, the furnace is already going to be set a lot lower than normal this winter as it is.

How’s the weather in your area this evening? Did it cool down drastically?

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