Tricia's Musings

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



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Thankful for the rain

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Is it hot enough for you?

This has been a hot dry summer for the most part in many areas. Here in Toronto we’re used to having a fairly hot and humid summer but we normally get quite a bit more rain than we’ve had in the last two months.


I’m thankful that we’ve had some rain in the last week. We’ve actually had two extremely good rain storms in the last three or four days. I’m sure my garden is very happy now with all the moisture.

Actually the rain we received in the last few days was accompanied by thunder and lightening so I know my plants were really happy. Did you know that when there is lightening it puts free nitrogen into the air and the plants just suck that up and that’s one of the main reasons why you see plants have a huge spurt of growth after a lightening storm?

Gaillardia Flower

Oh yes … I’m going to have some very pretty flowers in a week or two! Thank you stormy days! I never thought I’d be thankful for a storm. Believe me, I hate thunder. You’d think I’d dislike lightening but it’s the thunder that I hate the most. It’s the sound .. so I really don’t like it all that much when we have thunder storms, but I know my garden needs the rain and all the goodness that a storm brings. Particularly when it’s been so dry for the last several months.

How has the weather been in your area? Has it been warm and overly dry in your city too? I just remembered that last week they actually banned fires in the city. I don’t know if that ban is still on now that we’ve had some rain, but that’s how dry it’s been.

Breath of Life Rose





My dog is STILL sick

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Our dog Midnight has been sick for the past couple of weeks, overall, she hasn’t been too bad but she’s just not herself. We took her to the vet about three weeks ago and she was on medicine and she was a lot better for about a week and then she started going slowly downhill again. Then I noticed today that she was getting quite a bit sicker again so we called the vet and he was able to fit us in today.

The veterinarian decided on a very conservative treatment just changing her diet a little bit, doing a stool culture, and every time she’s outside we’re supposed to put a basket like muzzle on her face so that she can’t eat anything while she’s walking around just in case she’s munching on things that might be making her sick. She does eat the grass when she’s outside but we don’t let her get at anything else. We watch her very carefully when she’s outside. I’m pretty sure she’s not eating anything other than grass and maybe a few weeds that are mixed up in it but who knows maybe it’s the grass that irritating her.

The vet also said it could just be the heat that is making her so ill. Since it’s been so hot in the last few weeks we’ve been taking her on shorter walks and we do have air conditioning so she has been exposed to very little heat, but the vet still think she could be feeling and reacting to it.

I’m certainly hoping this treatment works, or that she just snaps out of it. I hate being worried about my baby.

While we were waiting for our appointment. I was looking around the office and I noticed that there was some pamphlets marked donate real estate to charity I’ve certainly never heard of that. Have you? I mean, I know that you can probably donate real estate charity, but I didn’t know there was a whole organization dedicated to it. I guess that makes sense.

Anyway, I mostly just looked at the little kittens that were in the office and browsed through the animal magazines while we waited for the appointment. I could tell my dog wasn’t quite herself because she didn’t even bark at the kittens. That’s totally not like her, although I’m sure the kittens appreciated her not barking.

Here’s hoping that Midnight gets better soon! I’m sure our home renovations and visiting relatives don’t help either -all the excitement and all.

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

Rizzoli & Isles: Burning Down the House

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Rizzoli & Isles

Are you a fan of the TNT television show Rizzoli & Isles? I’m fairly new to the show. I missed the first season, but earlier this month I caught a season 2 marathon and I feel caught up and fairly prepared for season three. Oh .. and of course as I watched all those season two episodes I pretty much fell in love with the show and it’s characters.

Rizzoli & Isles promo

Based on characters created by best-selling crime novelist Tess Gerritsen, RIZZOLI & ISLES stars Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli, a tough-as-nails Boston police detective, and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles, a smart, impeccably dressed medical examiner from a privileged background. Despite being complete opposites, the two women share an offbeat chemistry and strong working relationship that has helped them bust some of Boston’s most notorious criminals.

The Season Two finale left me with a lot of questions that I hope will be answered in the upcoming season.

The finale begins with a warehouse fire that kills a firefighter. Jane and Maura must investigate whether it was arson or an accident. As Maura starts asking questions it seems someone is becoming nervous. Maura and her mother and out walking after dinner and a car speeds down the street and hits Maura’s mother Constance (played by Jacqueline Bissett). Maura turns to Jane when her mother is injured – unknowingly interrupting a reunion of sorts of Jane and FBI agent Gabriel Dean (played by Billy Burke).

Constance Isles is quite severely injured and Maura is very upset. Jane continues the arson investigation and surprise – Paddy Doyle shows up in the hospital to make sure that Maura and her mother are ok. This is where I begin to wonder if Paddy knows Mauras mother? Paddy tries to tell Maura that he’s there to make sure she’s safe and I presume to warn her that the hit and run might have been aimed at her but she’s not really interested in talking to her criminal father. He even offered to tell her who her real mother was but she said Constance was her real mother.

As it turns out the hit and run and the warehouse fire are connected. The fire was arson and the firefighter was murdered as Jane and later Maura’s investigation begins to prove. It turns out that cough syrup was thrown at the firefighter and that caused his mask to flare up.

Jane tells Gabriel that Paddy is in town but asks him not to try to arrest him. She knows Paddy is protecting Maura. He agrees to not take any actions.

Later, when they figure out that one of the firefighters from the same unit as the dead fighter fighter was the arsonist and the driver in the hit and run attack on Maura and her mother Maura agrees to go under cover and meet him in the burned out warehouse to discuss some of her findings. Jane and frost are there to back up Maura and unbeknownst to Jane so is Agent Dean! Shortly after Maura begins to walk around the burned out warehouse the fireman shows up and says to her that she shouldn’t have come alone and he pulls out a gun. He says he was committing the fires because of budget cuts and now that she’s on to him he’s going to have to get rid of her.

That’s when the camera pans upward and we see Paddy standing on a walkway above. He pulls out a gun and shoots at the fireman. Agent Dean then shoots Paddy, Paddy shoots Dean and then Jane shoots Paddy … Paddy falls from the walkway to the ground. Is he dead? Probably not but he’s severely injured.

Maura runs to her fathers side and tries to help him. Jane tries to come near to help as well but Maura is devastated and tells Jane to get away.

Is this the end of their friendship? Can it be repaired? Will Paddy live? What is Paddy trying to tell Maura as he lies on the ground? It sounds like “hope”? Is Maura’s adoptive mother really her birth mother or does she know her birth mother? So many questions to be answered in the new season! Rizzoli & Isles returns for season 3. All new Tuesdays 9/8c on TNT. Episode one premiered on June 5th. If you missed the first episode I’m sure you can catch it On Demand at your cable company.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by TNT via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of TNT.

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