A gorgeous beautiful day today

How pleasant it is to look outside and see the sun shining, observe people walking the streets outside with only a light jacket or none at all.

It is the Victoria Day weekend and Monday will be a day off work for the working people.  I used to look forward so much to have that extra day just to relax instead of trying to rush doing housework and cooking for the family for the coming week, it actually gave me time just to relax and do nothing or to go somewhere nice!

Now that I am retired and happily so, my days seem to fly by even faster.  Of course it takes longer for me to get things done and one of my priorities is a clean and hopefully, tidy home.  I love my home and it is the place I go for comfort and stability when the world outside is going crazy.

I can close the door and listen to soothing classial music or religious music and my cares and worries melt away as if by the wave of  a magic wand.

I have always loved my home, which ever city it has been in and I am happy to see order in it and at the same time, a sense of peace and security.

I do remember when I lived on Gulliver in Toronto, I had a break and Enter happen and for at least a week, I was afraid to be there but gradually I was able to overcome this fear.  My insurance agent said to me that it was good none of us were home, as he had just come from a client who had surprised a burglar and he was badly beaten up and in the hospital.

I am grateful to live in a smaller city now and my stress level has definitely dropped since moving here fourteen years ago.  Unless I go back to my home town to live out my final years, I will remain here.  I love the trails, being by the water and just the availablility of things to purchase or places to go,  I also now have a group of very close friends here which is wonderful.

If I went back home to live, I don't speak enough French to use the services necessary as my cousin tells me that all the necessary services are in French only.  I also know only my cousin now and her family.  I am so happy, though, that I belong to a group from my former hometown and keep up the news and see so many pictures of the place. We have so many good photogrphers in that group.

I look forward to seeing them each day on Facebook.

Well, on that note, shall close for now.  I am invitd to my son's place for  belated Mother's Day celebration and he is cooking turkey.  He is a darn good cook!

Thanks for dropping by and have  good day.

News from the Mother's Day Tea and Plant sale

It was a very pleasant day to have this yearly event. I walked over to the church with my walker and as it happened, met two of my friends who carried the walker downstairs for me.

This year, it was not so busy as in the past.  Perhaps people were already out in their gardens planting flowers and vegetables?  Who knows.  However, there still were plenty of people who came to enjoy this very worthwhile event.

Four of my close friends turned up and after I did my coffee pouring duty, I ate lunch with them and then Jennifer drove me home.

The food was wonderful and very filling. I brought half of the snitzel on a bun home.  The potato salad was excellent as well.  I treated myself to a lovely piece of cheese cake.  German baking is out of this world!

For $6.00, one had a very filling meal.  The desert and coffee were extra.  One dollar for a bottomless coffee, tea or herbal tea, and the slices of cakes varied in cost, but still nothing like restaurant prices!

I was glad that Jennifer drove me home, as I had only two hours of sleep and was dragging myself around because of that.

Alas, for me, again, I did not sleep that night as well, so I am dragging myself around, once again.


Thanks for dropping by.

Sunday May 7th visit to Dundurn Castle and Williams Coffee Pub at Pier 8

We were really fortunate that it was a brisk but nice day out.  No rain!  Jeff picked me up at the back door and we went to Dundurn Castle.  We could not find a parking spot so we parked on the street and walked in.  It was fine as I had my walker with me.

The lineups were unbelieveable.  We waited quite a few minutes in line as they could admit so many people at a time.  It was fortunate that I had my walker with me as I cannot stand for any length of time without a lot of pain.

Here are two pictures of Dundurn Castle.

Taken by me

Taken by Jeff Seffinga

Jeff''s picture is better.  

The lineups were really bad.  Here is a picture of that.

I was only able to stay on the ground floor.  Baby carriages had to be left in a certain area and the young children carried due to the value artifacts in the place.

Jeff went upstairs to see the bedrooms.

In the meantime, I had asked to see our friend Elizabeth who works there and she came down for a nice little chat while I was waiting for Jeff.  It was so great to see her.

See the lady bug on the bud coming out?

me in the kitchen garden

Jeff and the cherry tree

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A small part of the grounds

The kitchen garden - they still grow vegetables and have cherry trees, apple and pear trees as well.  Nothing is wasted as they use the products in their work at Dundurn during the winter and any food  left over from the garden is given to Neighbour to Neighbour which has a food bank on the Mountain.

I was mostly impressed by the garden.  The castle was just too big for me and not cozy at all.  Very stately, of course, but I much prefer a cozy home.  They did have a nice view of the water though.

Our next stop was at Pier 8 at the Waterfront.  Hamilton has a wonderful waterfront where you can spend hours and hours reading, watching people or just enjoying waving the boats on the water or hearing the lapping of the waves as they slap against the stone walls where the railings are.

Jeff, enjoying his meal

An interesting tree near where one gets the  bus back to Downtown

All in all, a very nice way to spend an afternoon.  Thanks for dropping by.

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Battlefield House and the Pump House

The day was better weather-wise than it has been for a few days.  It rained but not excessively.

This was my third day without much sleep so I was not very perky but in spite of that, I went with my friend Jeff to two of the Open Houses at Hamilton's Museums.

It also did not help that I forgot to put in my hearing aids as I don't use them at home due to the cost of batteries.  I don't use them in the mall either nor the library so it is only when I go out somewhere special like today when I use them.

He picked me up at the back door at 1 p.m. and we went out to Stoney Creek's Battlefield House which has a long and colourful history especially with the war of 1812 when the Americans tried to conquer Canada.  Happily for us, we remain a unique and wonderful country, with many different ethnic group.  The Gage family lived there at that time and that they were forced out of their house.

Here are some pictures of the house and surrounding area.

A swollen stream

The  tower

The dining area in Battlefield House

The sign about the battle of Stoney Creek

Jeff

Me

It was a very interesting place to visit and Jeff was able to go up the stairs to see the bedrooms.  There were 10 children in the Gage Family.

Here are some more pictures from Battlefield House.

Jeff posing with the soldiers

Me, along with the red coated soldier.

After that we went to see the Pump House which was not too far.  It also was interesting.  The history of the water filtration plant

I didn't take many pictures of that though.  I did take a picture of the first television in Hamilton but I guess it did not turn out as I don't see it.  It was a round screen and quite tiny compared to what we have today.

It was a nice way to spend a few hours in good company.

Thanks for dropping by.

Hamilton Sings! Community Choir event Sunday April 30,20-17

"Songs of Canada at 150 Plus" with Dave Gould, song writer & guitar and Stephen Fuller, violin.


The weather was more then threatening as I poked my head through my beige drapes to peek out.  My heart sunk as I saw the dismal wet weather, and I wondered if people would still attend this very worthwhile concert put on by Hamilton Sings! Community Choir at 3 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral on James St. North.

Fortunately for me, the rain paused for a short while and I was able to get the #4 Bayfront bus.  I hadn't been there for quite some time, and got off too early on the route making the walk up to James Street North as well as the extra blocks to Colbourne a long walk for me.  Fortunately I had my trusty walker with me.

I was concerned whether or not the church was accessible but could not find any answers so took a chance and brought my walker and I am so glad that I did.  They have a one seat open platform which goes over the stairs and gets the occupant in their wheelchair or walker up the stairs while they are seated. A teenage boy operated it.  I was very happy to see that they have this open platform.  I am also very glad to know that the group will have their performances back at the Cathedral in the future, as it is much easier for me to get to.

As I arrived very early I had a great choice of seats so I sat near the front and saved a seat for Anita who was to join me there.  In the end, our pew was all filled up and the church was packed!

They sang a variety of songs representing many of the different ethnic groups which make up Canada, from Italian Canadians to Chinese Canadians!  Excellent representation of not only the English and French population but of many other groups of people who live in Canada and call it home.

I was touched by many of the songs but particularly by the song called Starlight Tours about a  Cree First Nations young man of 17 who was left to die of exposure by the police in Saskatchewan.  In fact, I cried silently through the whole song and hoped nobody noticed me.

His name was Neil Stonechild.  As an aunt who has a nephew from the First Nations, people, this made me angry and brought to my mind other instances where native people have been discriminated against.

We, as a nation, have a lot to answer for on how we treat our First Nations people among other things.

All in all, it was a very, very good concert and they hosted a lovely buffet after that - the price was perfect - $10 for the ticket which included a buffet at the end.

I will certainly go next year.


Thanks for dropping by.

A nice event at the Hamilton Public Library

I had hopes to be on time for 12 noon, but I got an unexpected visitor which delayed my arrival time.

The good thing is that I arrived in time to here poet Jennifer Tan read her last poem which was well received.

It was a combined event, poetry (April is poetry month) and music which was lovely.

Both performers did well and I am sorry I missed most of the poet's work due to my unexpected visitor.

The singer-songwriter performer was Laura Keating at laurakeating.music@gmail.com

She also has a facebook page at laura keating- musician - You Tube.


Our library system puts on many interesting events and most, if not all, are free to the public.

After the event, my friend Jennifer and I went to Toby's for lunch and then wandered around in the mall just to see the different stores and what they offer.

Today I am taking a break from going out and puttering around at home, trying to rearrange the kitchen to make it easier to use.  I like my new fridge, it is definitely smaller than the one I had before but still very nice.  I think it would be called an apartment size fridge.  I have a friend who has one exactly the same and she and her husband use it for storing beverages from what I understand.  It is enough for one person but definitely not enough space for a family.



Have a good day and enjoy your day.

Thanks for dropping by.

Saturday afternoon April 15

I started working on transferring my clothes from winter to summer.  Got all the summer ones out but still have to wash some of the winter ones so i can put them away once my machine is either fixed or replaced.  I really miss having my washing machine!

I bet me doing this a little earlier than usual, will cause a big snow storm, joke, joke.

I wanted to go to the library also this afternoon and managed to return three books and take out four more!  I just love the library and am so lucky I can get there so easily.

When I was in the mall, I bumped into Carmelita, then Sandy who spoke about my "Doors" poem to me as she still remembered it all these  years later and she urged me to come back to the poetry group sessions. I may go back in September.  She told me I was a prolific writer and she enjoys my work and misses me not being there which is very kind of her.

I treated myself to lunch at Toby`s and brought half of it home for tomorrow`s lunch.  

After I had crossed the street, i  saw Joe who is legally blind, look very uncertain so I went up to him and asked him if he needed a hand.  It turned out that he wanted to cross the very busy street so I took him across the street and chatted with him letting him know that I remembered him from my time in the Villa.  He was absolutely delighted to hear that I knew him.

we had a lovely chat for a few minutes and then I wenyt back across the street and home. H e never knew that he had been in grave danger once before and I had written a poem anout it which was performed at Central Library a few years back.   I had also contacted the Hamilton Street Railway and my city councillor re the danger to blind people and how near he had come to putting his own life to an end but also the life of those workers who were gathered around an open manhole.  I  got some results to as the bus drivers were trained once again on how to communicate with blind people or hearing impaired people.

All in all, a very productive day.  I will work another day on getting my winter clothing away and gradually ironing my summer things.

Thanks for dropping by.