Well, last weekend was time for another family get together – Thanksgiving! This time we all met at Joan (my sister) and Matt’s place. Cozy!

Of course the star of the show was little happy Lillith.

When we arrived, she was upstairs sleeping, and there was already a ‘waiting list’ to hold her!!

My sister Joan…

Brother-in-law Frank was sporting his autumn shirt … and autumn hair! :)

Of course the Wii is always a hit.

David was pretty tired, and he escaped to the basement with the kids to score a little nap I guess. That’s pretty funny. See him on the sofa?

Back to Lily…

My sister, happy Aunty El…

Uncle Mehmet. He says he always looks like terrorists in photos… haha. But he’s happy to be holding Lily, honest!

The guys played frisbee golf.

And Bryce got some air.

Woo hoo!!

Bryce took a photo of his mama.

What a great place to live!

Bryce loves drawing.

Grilled veggies and steaks… Turkish bread…yum!
Mehmet I see you with that salt.

And the boys stick to bread, meat and applesauce. How Dutch are they!

Game time!

Sophie can’t get enough of her cousin Lilith. She loves to touch her, talk to her, make her laugh, hold her…

At our next all-family gathering (Christmas), we hope there’ll be another little one! :)

Joan collects the cutest little vintage things. Enamel pots and bowls, coloured glass bottles… I love it.

The family:

And my siblings:

David and his wife Cynthia

Harley and his wife Nancy, plus Bryce and Jayden

Eleanor and her husband Frank, plus Jared, Scott and Sophie

Joan and her husband Matt, plus baby Lilith

It was a great day. Thanks Joan and Matt!

Yay, my Dell package came! By courier truck, right to the door.

As you can see, they added lots of paper for padding, to make sure my precious Super-Slimline laser printer didn’t break.

Paper removed, and look! There’s my … uh…

um…

Oh, okay. It was just a black ink cartridge. Hi little inky-ink, nestled there in your huge home.

Ooo, an addressed envelope. First-class mail!

It’s for recycling the old ink. Awww shucks, Dell thought of everything!

But… but…

How come when I pay for the shipping it comes in a big box, but when they pay for the shipping it goes in an envelope?  I know the ink tips on the cartridge are sensitive, but wouldn’t a padded envelope have sufficed?

Seriously, I’m curious.

Yikes… I’m a week late! I can’t believe summer is already behind us. But to celebrate the season, like I did in the winter  and spring,  I’m going to share some of my photos from the summer along with some Haiku from Kobayashi Issa. Together we can get a taste of summer in Japan, with words penned by a poor poet 200 years ago.

shiwa kao ya shikamo rippa na koromogae

a wrinkled face
but a splendid new
summer robe!
[1824]

hyaku ryô no uguisu oi wo naki ni keri

the priceless nightingale
warbles
even in summer
[1813]

ko wa ibiki oya wa wara utsu natsu no tsuki

the child snores
the mother pounds straw…
summer moon
[1823]

natsu yama ni arauta yôna hi no de kana

it seems to wash
the summer mountains…
sunrise
[1812]

waka take ya samo ureshige ni ureshige ni

summer’s young bamboo–
joyful!
joyful!
[1812]

fuku kaze mo doyô yasumi ka kusa no hara

is the wind
on summer vacation?
grassy field
[1823]

mangetsu [mo] sara ni mukizu no doyô kana

the full moon
is utterly flawless…
midsummer
[1822]

mangetsu [mo] sara ni mukizu no doyô kana

the full moon
is utterly flawless…
midsummer
[1822]

yo dangi no shikata mo miete natsu kodachi

a night sermon
with gestures…
summer trees
[1820]

mijika yo ya yo ya to iu koso hito mo hana

“The summer night
so brief, so brief!”
people and blossoms agree
[1812]

wakae shu wa yukata zo iza ya koromogae

young folk in bathrobes
well, well…
their idea of summer garb
[1820]

ippon wa hirune no tashi no shigeri kana

just one branch
helps my siesta…
summer tree
[1819]

toshi toeba katate dasu ko ya koromogae

she answers “How old?”
with one hand…
summer kimono

[1818]

norakura mo miyo no keshiki zo koromogae

even the loafer
looks imperial!
new summer robe
[1817]

tanomoshi ya tentsuruten no hatsu awase

how promising!
his summer kimono
already too short
[1816]

waga io wa kusa mo natsuyase shitari keri

at my hut
even the grass this summer
lost weight
[1816]

hachi mon de kanai ga iwau kôri kana

for eight pennies
the whole family celebrates…
summer ice!
[1815]

natsu no yo ya yakimeshi hodo no fuji no yama

summer night–
like a lump of fried rice
Mount Fuji
[1813]

toshiyoreba inu mo kaganu zo hatsu awase

growing old–
even a dog won’t sniff
my summer kimono
[1817]

Autumn in the city is mostly about the changing leaves and flowers. But when we are at Dad and Carol’s we experience so much more of the bounty of autumn’s harvest and the beauty of the seasonal changes.

Mehmet and I picked beans behind the house and took home a bag full – they’re in the freezer.

Check out this Fun Guy!

Nature is so incredible!

Next to the beans, Dad has this contraption with thingies growing and hanging off it.

The days of growing pumpkins for contests are long gone, and he keeps busy with a variety of projects around the house. This is the first time I’ve seen his … gourds!

Aren’t they cute?

The best part is that there is such a variety in shape, size, colour and texture!

It’s difficult to think these wart-like bumps are not some kind of genetic defect – but I think they’re meant to be that way. I don’t know anything about gourds!

I do know these are decorative, not edible.

Apparently some people eat them when the fruit are very young and tender, but as a mature fruit, they are too bitter.

Aren’t they each like their own unique sculpture?

Dad picked a variety for us to take home (with the beans).

They add such an autumn-y, retro touch to our urban little shack!

And this photo of Dad – well, I simply forgot to add it in the last post about the squash.

But it needs to be shared.

Have a great autumn!

In April, Mehmet and I visited the greenhouse where my dad works. This is what it looked like. Remember?

At the end of May we went back, and the place was exploding with colour. Remember? (See ‘A Story about Flowers‘ if you didn’t see it back then).

That was then. This is now:

Forlorn.

Desolate.

Just an abandoned ghost town.

Or is it?

Yay! Life! What’s this?

It’s hundreds and hundreds of chrysanthemums (’mums’) in autumn finery!

As the end of the season approaches for most annuals and perennials, gardeners’ thoughts turn to the hardy mums and the greenhouse is helping meet that need!

Did you know Chrysanthemums originated in China?

They were brought to Europe in the 1800s from Japan, a country which really celebrates the mum. In fact they have a festival (Kiku matsuri) which celebrates the flower!

If it comes from Asia, then I love it even more. :)

John (the owner of the greenhouse) tells us that they will sell about 10,000 pots of mums. They are loaded up week after week and sold wholesale in Toronto. Dad has been making deliveries several times a week.

This is a house on our street – a good example of how people love mums in autumn colours at this time of the year. It looks lovely, doesn’t it!

And look, there’s something else still growing in the greenhouse:

Any guesses?

These are summer squash!

The ones we’re looking at here are called ‘Patty Pan’ squash. ‘

We took about 10 home. Show us a handful of them, Dad:

Although they really don’t look delicious to me, I went online for cooking inspiration and Mehmet and I had fun roasting them today!

We cut off the tops and hollowed them out. Then I drizzled olive oil over them and seasoned with salt and pepper.

We chopped up the pulp from the inside, and fried it in olive oil, combined with diced red onion, garlic, tomato and mushroom. We roasted the shells (about 20 min), filled them with the mixture, and topped with bread crumbs mixed with grated cheddar (because we didn’t have parmesan). Finally a sprinkle of rosemary.

Five minutes under the broiler and – all done!

We didn’t eat the tops, but aren’t they cute?

YUM-MO!

They were absolutely delightful, delicious, healthy bites of autumn. So if you see those little curious-looking squash in your market or grocery store this month, get some and try it!

Sometimes people comment on how many photos I take of one subject, where most people would simply snap a quick one and move on. I know they think ’she’s obsessed’ and it’s true, I am. But I want to use this post to show why I actually do sometimes take so many photos of the same thing.

Around the corner from the school where I’ve been teaching this summer, there are these bike racks.  I lock my bike here sometimes, and I’ve often wished I had my camera with me so I could take a picture of them. I think they’re interesting, and I really like the building across the street.

Today I did have my camera with me as I walked by on a non-work day, so I went to task.

But unfortunately what the mind and the eyes see is not always what the camera sees, and there were lots of issues in composition. First of all, although the outlines of the bike racks are what interests me, the shade of the tree is preventing the contrast I need to have the shapes show up clearly.

So I squat down. I love that the building is in full view now. But you see the shadow of the tree is still a problem, and now there is too much busy-ness behind the bike racks. The contrast is not clear because of the building steps, the grey car, the railings. Not happy. The pigeons showed up and I thought they would add interest to the photo, but the flying ones are too dark, and just distract from the subject (the bike racks!).  I can’t crouch down further because the railing in front of me will cut through the picture.

I adjust myself again, and move over to another set of racks. The tree is still a problem, and the whole picture is a little boring and dark. It’s also a pretty boring perspective – it’s the same perspective everyone sees when they walk by.

So again I crouch down and decide to focus on the bike and the rack. I like the people in the photo, but the bushes are dark. And now I’ve resigned myself to not having the beautiful building in the photo.

I now want to try catching some moving vehicles in the background. Ooo, this is getting more interesting. I love the movement. The red is nice… or is it? Hmm… it’s too vibrant and again distracts from the focus. I need more contrast.

Okay, yes… I prefer the white vehicle. But still not ’silhouettey’ enough.

Ahh, that’s it! I like this one a lot. The two vehicles add interest. See how the bike seat and handles now stand out? And the shape of the interesting bike rack is visible too. I like the movement of the person who has just passed by as well. And even though there is not much of the building to view, what is visible is interesting. That tree is nicely placed too.

The photo has been cropped already, and now in my editing software I brighten the photo a bit. By saturating the green in the photo, the tree stands out a bit more. By saturating the red, the details on the bike, the lock, the eye on the bike rack, and even the car’s brake lights are a little more visible. And by saturating the blue, the handles and the jacket of the person walking by are also bumped up a bit.

I then boost the contrast a bit so that the darks are darker and the lights are lighter.

And that’s it! I like the final composition. The silver rims and forks look shiny and almost airbrushed. It’s crisp and the lighting is nice. The bike looks like it has energy, even though it’s locked up and stationary.

I ended up with something completely different than I planned to capture – but it was fun getting there!

In the ’60s, my mom and three of her (ten!) siblings immigrated to Canada from Holland. For most of our childhood years, we grew up a couple hours’ drive from all of our cousins, and they were all older than us, so we didn’t have the close comraderie that many kids enjoy with their relatives. But still, it was always fun to visit them, and spend time in our aunts and uncles’ homes.

Look… this is my mom’s family back in the ’40s. Mom’s in the front left – with the huge bow in her hair. TOO cute eh? Is it weird to want to hold your mom on your lap? Yeah, that’s weird – never mind. My mom was the second youngest in her family, and her parents had passed away before she was even married, so unfortunately we never got to know them.

Annnyway, last weekend Mehmet and I joined about 45 others at a family reunion with these Canadian relatives. The families (children, grandchildren, daughters and sons-in-law, etc) of three of the four families were able to make it.

It really was a lovely day. Look at everyone – this is just three families! Some of my cousins are grandparents already… and that just boggles my  mind. It sure would be neat to get everyone together – all the aunts and uncles, cousins, etc. in Holland too. There are almost 100 of them on that side of the ocean.

Of course, where there’s wimmen, there’s chatter… and it’s neat to be reminded of my mom in the antics and characteristics of my cousins.

My mom died ten years ago (I’ll be writing about that soon too), and that’s my step-mom Carol there in the denim jacket.  She has a wonderful way with strangers – in fact, there’s really no such thing as strangers where she’s concerned. So she has really become a cherished member not only of our immediate family, but the extended family as well!

Mehmet’s not a big-group kind of guy at all, so kudos to him for coming out. He enjoyed the day as well, and it was nice that some other family members could get to know him a bit.

There were several rounds of volleyball for the young and agile (or the good sports). I had a memorable discussion with my nephew Jared:

Jared: So, are you going to play volleyball with us?
Me: Yeah, I don’t think so. I’ll take pictures. I don’t do volleyball.
Jared: Come on, you can play.
Me: No, you don’t understand. I’m not good at sports.
Jared: That’s okay, neither am I.
Me: No, you really don’t understand. I’m from your mother’s family.
Jared: Yeah, um, SO AM I.

Basically, it’s true. Jared, his mother and I all got the non-athletic gene. (Thanks mom). I guess they got the ‘good attitude’ gene though, because they still played while I stood there and laughed at them took pictures.

My ‘Tante Annie’ (Aunt Ann) with her granddaughters.

Each family took care of their own main courses, and we shared our salads and desserts like a pot-luck.

It was a beautiful day for a burger or a sausage!!

Of course Sophie made friends instantly, as she always does. It’s interesting to observe her as she makes her initial interactions.

“EXCUSE ME. HOW OLD ARE YOU?”

That’s right…get the important stuff out of the way.

After my cousin Evelyn and her husband had several children, they decided to adopt two girls from Vietnam. I love adoption stories!

Mehmet played a bit of soccer with some of the boys.

Oom Ben (Uncle Ben), my mom’s brother, is in the front with the blue shirt. Can you find him in the Dutch family picture up there? Answer at end of this entry.

As has been the case for all of September… the weather was absolutely perfect.

Joan and Matt brought some good old fashioned sticks and wheels for the kids to play with, and they were obsessed with them for a good while. Sophie practiced and practiced till she could roll the wheel without it toppling.

Of course Joan’s baby Lilith was there too… and cousin Sophie just can’t get enough of her.

I had to get some Lilith-love on the camera. Not too hard – what a cutie she is!

I’ve missed a lot of family events all those the years while I was abroad – it’s good to reconnect.

And it’s a new concept for Mehmet too – this family reunion thing. He has a big family too…  lots and lots of cousins. Actually, where he comes from, everyone’s related.  But that’s a story for another day.

*Answer: Oom Ben is the second smallest boy,  standing just to the left of his father in the picture.

One of the things I missed most about Canada while living overseas for the last decade was the nature. And specifically, summer camping and canoeing! I can’t believe it’s been years and years since I’ve tented it in Canada’s beautiful wilderness. I’ve been waiting a long time.

So finally this past weekend Mehmet and I had the chance to join the rest of my family (all of them!) at MacGregor Point on the shores of Lake Huron. Granted, it was only a weekend, but it’s better than nothing. And we hope to do lots more in the future – it’s whetted our appetite!

The cast of characters for the weekend:

Okay, I spent about 4 days trying to get the album function working on this entry, but I can’t! :(  Something’s wrong with the coding and my skills are so limited. So here we go… 60 pictures in one entry!

Mehmet and I went up with my brother David and his wife Cynthia.

It took about 3 hours to get there from Toronto - we arrived late in the afternoon. My brother Harley helped set up the campsite that the four of us would share.

How inviting is our tent!

David and Cynthia - by the time they pumped up their AIR MATTRESS, they were propped up quite high in the tent. We'll forgive them for the air mattress - Cynthia is five months pregnant!

Half the pleasure of camping is preparing food over a fire, isn't it! For our first meal we made little packets of veggies and herbs...

After dinner, we visited at the campsite of Eleanor (my sister) and her family. They led the whole gang in a rousing game of ... BINGO!

Frank was the Bingo caller... so cheesy and funny. "And don't forget your vitamins... B12... in the B column... B12." Note the PRIZE jar on the table - Nerds, FunDips, Candy Necklaces...

Mmm... campfire! We had roasted marshmallows of course.

Breakfast the next morning - blueberry pancakes!

I joined Sophie and my sister Eleanor on the short bike ride to the Visitor's Centre for the Children's program. They have an educational show or hike for kids each morning, and a nature film or talk for the family each evening.

On this day, the theme was 'Animal Remains' - what kinds of things do animals leave behind in the park? Snake skins, bones, fur, quills, droppings, etc. Sophie was one of the volunteers chosen to 'Guess the remains'. "I think it's a mouth bone." "Good! What kind of bone?" "Umm... white-tailed deer?" "No... it's something that howls." "Oh! A wolf?" "No, something ELSE that howls." "A coyote?" "That's right!"

Back at the campsite, a friendly chipmunk came to join us.

Dad and my step-mom Carol joined us for Saturday.

The guys (and Sophie) all headed out for a bike ride.

Frank and Sophie

Of course the star of the show was little Lillith, who is now about 3 months old.

She was so quiet and content, especially when she was with Mommy...

... or Daddy.

We took another walk to the Visitor's Centre. There are some great boardwalks!

Joan is looking at porcupine quills.

Although Sophie loves all creatures, she's especially crazy about reptiles. Later she got to hold a garter snake, and she was excited about it the rest of the day.

Jared and Uncle Dave

Dad and Carol - I love this picture!

Jared successfully executed his card trick again and again...

Everyone brought their bicycles, and Scott brought his unicycle too! He bought it at a couple of months ago, and is getting quite good at it!

Deep in thought? Not sure! But Mehmet had a great time... I knew he'd love it, and he did.

Dinnertime - Potato packets and roasted sweet corn...

... and mini lamb kebabs. YUM! Can you almost hear the sizzle?

Dad and Carol brought a birthday cake for those who'd recently celebrated birthdays.

Bingo again!

Eleanor and Frank and the boys are veteran campers, and have a great setup.

While some played games, others got themselves to the campfire. So cozy, and we were thankful it had been dry for most of the day.

The next morning started out promising - the sun was burning away the fog, we were thinking about cooking breakfast...

... when suddenly heavy clouds moved in and the rain fell down in buckets!! The guys dug trenches around the tents, and we stayed semi-dry under the huge tarp over our site. No fried eggs for breakfast after all... we had watery oatmeal in cups.

An hour later, and it was sunny again! But everything was muddy and mucky, and we had already packed up our tents in preparation for leaving by 2pm.

Last camp meal - Bannock! Bannock is a bread dough cooked over the fire. The guys cut sticks, and Matt made his bannock dough and got ready to show us how to cook the bannock.

It was easy! Just wrap the dough around the stick, and make sure it's quite uniform in thickness. No need to make it fancy, but Harley's (on the right) looks so nice!

It takes about 15 minutes to cook them over hot coals.

MacGregor Point has almost 15 km of bike trails, and we headed off on our last ride.

Bryce and Harley

It was beautiful terrain, and lots of variety - sometimes boardwalk, sometimes packed mud, sometimes gravel or sand... and great fun!

It was sooo hot! By this time it was about 30 degrees - only the second day to hit this temperature this whole summer! Add to that the extreme humidity, and I felt like we were back in Malaysia...!

It was finally hot enough to swim, but we had to leave in an hour and our things were packed up.

We also passed swamps and ponds.

And so, after a short two days, we say goodbye to beautiful Lake Huron. I hear they have yurts for WINTER camping!!

It was a late on a chilly autumn afternoon. We had a hot pot of tomato soup simmering on the stove, as the heavy October rain pelted against the kitchen window.

Yeah, I don’t think so. It was noon on a July weekend, and another typical day in our crazy summer here in Toronto.

FACT: The average temperature over the last two months was 18.2C [65F], well below last year’s average of 20.6C [69F], which wasn’t exactly tropical to begin with.

FACT: The city has had only one day above 30C [86F] all year – and that was more than a month ago. By this time last year, Toronto had recorded nine days above 30C.

FACT: Worst of all, Toronto has had 17 per cent less sunshine than last summer, despite the fact that 2008 was the rainiest summer on record. [Source: Toronto Star]

Ahh, to be honest, I haven’t minded it so much. We love the cool nights – no need for fans or air conditioning, yay! – and it’s just great to walk outside and not feel all sticky and uncomfortable.  The rain is what’s really made people feel like we’re missing a summer. Poor Mehmet – I told him before we came to Canada how hot and sunny our summers are here, and he has been quite um… shall we say…surprised by the weather. My international students too – “But teacher, we didn’t bring jackets and socks!”

Now… one reason this rain and the cool temperatures have been a blessing in disguise?

Well, as many of you know, for the last five weeks, our city workers here in Toronto have been on strike. The most obvious effect this has had on the city is the absence of garbage removal.

So this has been the state of our streets:

Yep.

Now, if we’d had a dry, hot July, you can imagine how much stinkier the city would have been?

Another result of the strike is that the city parks have not been maintained.

Our nicely manicured parks (and Toronto has LOTS of them) have all been looking rather messy.

Nothing like bringing the wilderness to the city!

But things are looking up.We’ve had a couple of lovely sunny days this weekend, and yay - the strike is over!

So bring on the summer!

For the summer I’m teaching full-time at a great language school downtown. I’m grateful for the two months of work as I continue to adjust to the reality of the ESL industry here in Canada!

And what a great group I have this month! I’m amazed at the demographic variety from one month to another. In the summer there are a lot of students from Europe.

When I heard that more than half of my class would be Spanish students, I imagined a room full of spoiled Eurobrats with attitude. Shame on me! Instead I’ve been blessed with a group of very special young people:

Eight of them are from Spain, two from Brazil, two from Japan, one from Germany and one from Switzerland. ALL of them are bright, fun-loving and motivated.

I'm quite sure Jaime (on the left, from Spain) has a crush on one of the other girls in the class. I'm observing these young adult interactions with great interest!

Most of them are between the ages of 16 and 22, and they are here for a month of their summer vacation. It’s quite an adventure for them!

Caroline (in the blue) is here from Germany for only two weeks - then she's going travelling around Ontario and Quebec with her friend and her friend's parents who are here from Germany on holiday too.

They stay in ‘homestays’ with a Canadian family. This of course makes their stay in Canada more authentic in terms of language and culture. They find it quite intriguing that their homestay parents are (like so many people in Toronto) first or second generation Canadians.

Silvia teaches English to little chilren in Brazil. She is working very hard on her English and is determined to do lots of challenging homework while she's here.

This is a pre-advanced class, which means they are all at a high level of English. This allows us to have some great discussions in class!

Janine is from Switzerland and Michiko is from Japan. Michiko is here for half a year or so, like many of the Japanese students, who generally have much much less experience and confidence with English than the European students.

Here the students are practicing dialogues using ’should have’.

“Did you do well on the exam?”  “No, I didn’t study hard enough. I should have studied harder.”

They go on to practice different dialogues like this, then discuss their own regrets from decisions they’ve made.

Here we have moved out of the classroom to the lounge area where there’s more space. They are trying to solve a murder mystery.

Each student is given a character to play in the mystery, and have to collect information from other characters.

“Where were you at 8:00?”

“What were you doing when you heard Ms. Gillis scream?”

They go around collecting information – motives, alibis, clues…

Marcella is just 16, and she's the youngest in the class. This girl has such a vibrant spirit and infectious energy - quite typical of our Brazilian students!

The students have all expressed a desire for speaking as much as possible. In their own countries they have so few opportunities to use English in spoken discourse, so I try to give them lots of opportunites to do so in the classes.

Giving them task-based activities (for example, where they have to solve a problem, find a solution, etc.) gets them busy with a purpose, and they use language in a natural, fun way.

So even though we dig into grammar and explore, investigate and dissect it…

Even though we discover, drill and integrate new vocabulary…

Even though we focus on intonation and enunciation…

Even though we know that strong listening skills need some pretty intense work…

We all agree that interactive, fun activities like this are fantastic opportunites to put all our work into action – and as the students are focused on a fun task, they can easily forget that they are developing myriad language skills. And of course they are also building confidence, which most of them say is something that hinders them.

Patricia (on the left) is from Spain, and just today got news of her acceptance to the university of Madrid for September. She's done summer homestay/study trips to Scotland, England, and Boston before this summer in Toronto.

For me, the most enjoyable part of teaching is coming up with creative, fun ways for my students to practice the grammar and vocabulary they have been learning.

After all these years, it’s still a challenge, and it’s still lots of fun!

Going ‘home’ to Dad and my step-mom Carol’s place is such a breath of fresh air, literally and metaphorically of course! We enjoyed a few days outside the city this past weekend.

Oooo, meet Quack! My brother David and his wife Cynthia found him on their property. Poor little baby Canadian goose was abandoned.

So they adopted him!

He has a little piece of lawn fenced off for him to keep him safe.

Actually, though I say ‘he’, we don’t know if Quack is a boy-goose or girl-goose.

“He/she poops a lot,” they said. Oh he/she pooped a lot alright.

Ahh… rural south-western Ontario is just endless kilometres of rolling farmland.

On our way to my sister’s home a couple hours away, we stopped by several garage sales. We ALL love ‘garage-saling’.

Mehmet tried a bike. No sale.

Even if you don’t buy, it’s just interesting to explore and observe. Rattan bicycle set, anyone?

This was a roadside auction, with cars and trucks lined well down the road.

This community has lots of Mennonite familes, and of course it is very interesting to watch them at The Big Event.

It really is quite a social outing for them… too cute!

Woo hoo, they got the motherload at the auction – garden tools, a big cooking pot, and two kids!

Mmmm.

Ahhh.

Oooo.

Dad and Carol both love nature hikes. We all do, actually!

My niece Sophie plays unfair when it comes to photography. She gets all cute, and it’s just not possible to keep the camera away.

Sophie with grampa

Back to Dad and Carol’s: sunset + husband + soccer ball

I’m standing on the roof at Dad’s. So lush and green and SPACIOUS, this is the view from the front of the house.

From the back. That’s Dad’s little greenhouse where he gets his flowers and veggies started in the spring.

Mehmet and David playing with the volleyball.

Dad gets a little carried away sometimes. These were put up in celebration of Canada Day. But I’ll bet they’re still up on Labour Day.

Don’t worry. He hasn’t forgotten the Old Country. I wonder if there’s symbolism to the fact that the flags are at the roadside and the wooden shoes are in the flower bed.

Ahh yes. I’m in love with the poolboy. Mehmet enjoyed this task – “I feel like at a resort!”

Finally, time for some swimming and crazy jumps.

And after a swim, the barbecue!  Burgers and mushrooms.

The good life. In January as we sat in their living room looking outside at the blustery winds and snow drifts covering the lawn, I couldn’t accurately explain to Mehmet how, come summer, we’d be out on the deck in sunny warmth, enjoying the summer. He just didn’t believe it was possible.

The wheat field behind the house. Unfortunately we will miss the ‘golden’ stage in a few weeks.

We’ll have to come back.

Zzzzz…

Happy Father’s Day, Deddy!

I wouldn’t even know where to start when thanking you for everything.

But in a nutty McNutty nutshell…

Thanks for your endless, unwavering support.
Thanks for your optimism, and your humour.
Thanks for teaching me about appreciation, forgiveness and generosity.
Thanks for passing on your love for nature, travel and adventure.
Thanks for the gazillions of experiences you provided for us – either through work or play.
Thanks for your good example in so many ways: hard work, caring for others, and resourcefulness.
Thanks for all the sacrifices you’ve made so that we could live the life we do.

I’m so glad to be near you again, and to give Mehmet his first experience of fatherhood ever.

We love you so much.

Happy Father’s Day!

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting one of my ‘online friends’. We met several years ago on a journalling website where we both write.

Helen is from New Zealand and is moving to Canada. (For love… woohoo…!) She’s moving to Sarnia and spent a couple days in Toronto on the way.

She was treated to some of Mehmet’s bread – he’s baking bread regularly now!

The next day we went downtown for a bit where I had to run an errand. See her sitting there, in the blue t-shirt? That’s the Royal Ontario Museum behind her. What a building eh?

Poor Helen said she felt quite overwhelmed in the city. Did you know that Toronto has more people than all of New Zealand?

So I took her to my favourite place – a place I knew she’d fall in love with too.

That’s right! Centre Island, just a 10 minute ferry ride from downtown. You may remember I wrote about Mehmet’s and my trip there recently.

Of course she loved it. What’s not to love! But she insisted that a lake couldn’t possibly be a lake if you don’t see the other side of it. It sure looks like the ocean, doesn’t it.

It was a weekday, and with school not yet out, it was wonderfully peaceful.

Of course we rented bikes for an hour. Mmm…

And we wandered through ‘Far Enough Farm’, a family-friendly little place with lots of domestic animals.

We couldn’t get closer, but that mother goose back there was surrounded by her brood of tiny, fuzzy yellow goslings.

No matter, we saw baby ducks. BABY DUCKS!

I explained that the Canada geese were seen as a nuisance by many people because they poop everywhere. Still, it’s not their fault, and they are beautiful!

A ride through the sprinklers.

It was a fun day! I love introducing people to the island. And spending the day getting to know a shy, sweet Kiwi – that was an added bonus!

You’re welcome to stay with us anytime, Helen!

It was a warm spring day in the early eighties and I was around 10 years old. Mom piled all five of us kids into the station wagon and off we went to McMillen’s Iris Garden.  “You can each choose an Iris that you like,” and told us we would plant the bulbs for next season. My older sister chose a beautiful royal blue flower.

My younger sister chose a fresh, pretty white one.

Me? I chose golden brown.  Yeah, I know. But hey, don’t be judging. We were just fresh out of  the seventies – brown was in, man. Our station wagon was brown. My thick hand-me-down corduroys were brown.

I have been teaching Mehmet the English names of different flowers here, and there are lots of Irises on our street. “It’s easy to remember the name,” he told me. I asked him why it was easy to remember. “Well because it looks like an iris of an eye!” he replied. It does? He pointed out the thin lines that reminded him of the lines in an eye iris.

I later looked it up and discovered that Iris comes from the Greek word for rainbow.

Irises aren’t the only flower that take me back to childhood. Our flowerbeds on the farm had lots of the good old dependables. Like Marigolds. I’ve never liked Marigolds. So boring and predictable. Nothing elegant, dainty, feminine or even edgy about Marigolds. And they stink! Sorry Dad, now you know.

Oh, there were petunias too. Although they’ve grown on me a bit more in recent years (they’re kind of ‘vintage’), I have generally tended to classify them, too, as Dependable, Reliable and Boring. Sorry, with a name like ‘Petunia’, you’re just asking for it.

Pansies? Ehh… okay, I’ll give them a little more credit. I can’t deny that they’re pretty when you look up close. But they’re so common! Where are the true treasures?!

Ahhh, Columbines. There was one section in the front flowerbed where we had a big bush of Columbines. Mom hated them, and I loved them. “They’re messy and wild!” she sighed in frustration as she pulled out 3/4 of the overgrown bush each spring. “I know,” I sighed in admiration, as I inspected the pointy, delicate petals.

Columbines were exotic to me… maybe because they weren’t sturdy annuals that we hand planted each spring. They just showed up year after year! Perennials were something from storybooks with English gardens – they seemed so exotic to me in our Dependable, Reliable flowerbeds.

See the whimsy? Marigolds and Petunias ain’t got no whimsy.

Oh oh oh, now we’re talking! Lily of the Valley, how I love you. I’ve always loved you.

Mom and I agreed on this one. She had a patch of these that she fertilized behind the house, and if you just walked past it you wouldn’t notice the flowers because they were hidden amongst the huge leaves. I just loved reaching between the plants each spring to find the freshest, most beautiful little stems of white bells to fill a vase on the kitchen table. And the fragrance!! Mmm…

As I walk down our street and enjoy all the fresh flowers popping up everywhere, I’m definitely taken back to the spring days of my youth. And boy do I enjoy seeing new flowers. What are these – they’re like little glorious sculptures – so beautiful!

Okay and now, the poppies – why don’t more people grow poppies? These flowers just scream ‘wildflower’ to me. The 10-year old me just wanted Dad to scatter bags of wildflower seeds in the ditch along our property – I still wonder why more people don’t do that. Well, why nobody does that. The whole world should scatter wildflower seeds.

Imagine if the country roads in every country were lined with this kind of beauty each spring?

Certainly it would lead to instant world peace.

I wonder if Ahmadinejad likes wildflowers.

Festival season has started in Toronto! This is my favourite thing about living here… summer is packed with fun, free events.

Saturday we went to the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival at Queen’s Park. It was gorgeous weather and it was a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

There were lots of booths at the festival, selling handmade crafts, gifts and drums.

At some booths, anyone could sit and join the people running the booth, and all would drum together, like a ‘drumming circle’.

There were performances throughout the day (we saw 4), and they would continue throughout the weekend.

This first band (the Muhtadi Drummers) opened with the Canadian anthem (one sang, the rest drummed) and then a few other numbers. They were incredible!

This was a ‘precision’ band. They were a group of serious-faced men who drummed SO fast and … well, with such precision!

This man’s solos took us all to his village. He sang in his tribal language but told us what he was singing about. Beautiful bass voice and lovely beat. What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Although everyone was invited to ‘get up and dance’ it was mostly just kids who did so. These three were as entertaining as the drummers.

This girl was so intrigued by the Chinese drummers, that she got as close as she possibly could to view the action.

All the way from northern China!

And finally, this little Native Canadian girl’s family was making and selling head-dresses like the one she’s wearing. On his feet she’s wearing strings of hollowed out nuts for sound effects.

Have you planted your petunias? Got the impatiens in the flowerbeds and the geraniums on the deck?

You probably bought them from a garden centre, supermarket or even a small convenience store that takes over half the block for the months of May and June.

Well let me take you to The Source and tell you a story about flowers.

Ever since Dad sold the apple farm and semi-retired, he’s been working at John and Terry’s greenhouse.  John and Terry grow lots of produce. But springtime is flowertime, and boy-oh-boy do I mean flowertime.

In April, Dad took a bunch of us to see what the greenhouse looked like the month before Mother’s Day and planting season.

Isn’t that something?

You can see the small watering hoses that are inserted into each planter.

Dad showed us some of the machines they use too. Like this one, which fills the seedling trays with potting soil:

And this one… it’s way cool.  The tray (filled with soil because it’s already gone through Cool Machine Numero Uno) is placed on the belt, which pushes it along…

And then it comes out the other end, fully seeded! See?

What do you mean you missed it.

Here, see the tiny little red seeds? They’re pepper seeds! Those pointy metal things reach down, suck up a seed in each nozzle, then (picture on the right) move to drop them down the chutes where they land in the tray. COOL EH? It all moves very very quickly. Something like 438,966,457,309 seeds a second. Okay not that many. But it’s fast!

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Walking through the greenhouse is quite a treat. Outside it’s still chilly, but inside it’s cozy, warm and greenhouse-smelling – damp, fresh, earthy- you know the smell. (Aww, there’s Babe, too!)

Check out all the seedlings.

The little seedlings are tiny! I think the trays on the left in the picture below are vegetables, but the untrained eye of a city girl can not know for sure.

That was April.

Well, Mehmet and I went to see the greenhouses again a month later, and… well… have a look!

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

The hanging bags of impatiens that looked like this in April…

… now looked like this:

Incredible, isn’t it! And we thought it smelled ‘nice and greenhouse-y’ in April, well now it smelled like a flower shop!

Okay. Chapter 2 of the story:

Several times a week, Dad takes a truckload of flowers from the greenhosue about 1.5 hours east to Toronto, to the Ontario Food Terminal. This is the largest wholesale fruit and produce distributor in Canada. It’s strictly wholesale, and not open to the public. It’s a hub of activity, both inside and outside and if you’re interested, here’s a great blog entry somebody wrote about it.

Mehmet and I stopped by the Food Terminal last month, in the peak of flower season.

The Food Terminal is packed with all kinds of produce. But in May, the place is awash with flowers.

Dad has been coming here for 30 years! First for 20 years or so with his own apples, and now making deliveries for John and Terry. He knows lots of people at the food terminal, both producers/vendors and buyers.

On the way home from the Food Terminal, he usually has to stop to make some deliveries to supermarkets like Sobeys or to smaller shops.  Here he is parked behind a small plaza where a Korean store owner has purchased a couple carts of hanging pots for her green-thumb customers.

As she efficiently organizes the pots and orders her children to help move things around, she tells me that for two months every spring, she takes over most of the outdoor sidewalk in front of the whole L-shaped plaza. “None of the shops mind,” she says. I guess all those customers coming to buy flowers and plants are good customers for the other shop owners too.

There are hundreds and hundreds of little shops like this throughout the city. In May and June, they burst with colour as gardeners all over Toronto decorate their porches, gardens and lawns!

I just love it. Even in the city you can find these seas of flowers.

So as you plant, water and weed your annuals this season, take a moment to imagine where they were first planted, watered, fertilized and nurtured before they made their way to your garden.

(Dad and Terri)

Earlier this week my sister Eleanor stayed with us for the night because she had to be in Toronto early the next day.

I was so busy preparing my lessons for the next day and she decided to teach Mehmet how to bake bread. “Is it really that easy?” he asked. We both love bread, but Mehmet just can’t live without it. It’s a Kurdish thing. Or Turkish. Or both.

She decided to show him how to make rolls. These have herbs and minced dried onion bits in them… yum!

“I’ll be a bread seller,” he joked just before he posed as one:

And oh man, shortly after popping them into the oven, what a wonderful smell! Mom used to bake bread regularly when we were little. My sister bakes bread (by hand, not with a machine) a lot too… and I think it’s just such a lovely, homey thing to do.

They tasted absolutely incredible. Mehmet couldn’t believe how easy it was. “We’ll never buy bread again!” he enthused. “I’ll make some every few days.”

Oh great. My mid-section thanks you.

Because eating fresh rolls calls for two things: lots of butter, and well… just one more roll. (No pun intended!)

Today he messaged me while I was at work.  “Hey baby, can you bring home some yeast?”

Now there’s a message that’s fun to read!

Last weekend I took Mehmet to my favourite place in Toronto. It’s been years since I’ve been there actually, so it was extra fun for me too. We call it Centre Island, but it’s actually a small group of islands – and only one of them is Centre Island. No matter… it’s a great place, and within such easy access from downtown Toronto.

The island is a beautiful oasis… with lots and lots of space. And no public cars are allowed! It’s safe, and perfect for biking, picnics, sports games, canoeing – lots of stuff!

From the end of the pier at the southern side of the island, you get a sense of the size of Lake Ontario.  It’s 311 km long and 85 km wide.  Some more stats: It’s the 14th largest lake in the world, at 18,960 sq. km.

There seem to be lots of  rivers running through one island, but actually they are the waterways between different islands. You can rent canoes, paddleboats, rowboats, etc.  and some people come from the city with their beautiful yachts and float through.

Centreville is an amusement park for kids – lots of rides, games, and activities. We steered clear! :)

Instead of swan rides and mini-coasters, we opted for bicycle rental. Next time we will bike right to the ferry and take our own bikes on the island!

There are also these double and quad-bikes to rent, but I’ve tried that before. Never again! Hard to pedal, hard to navigate… no thanks.

I think my favourite part of Centre Island is the East end, the residential area. It’s quite a walk from the main part of the island, so not many island visitors make it to this end.  There are just under 300 homes, and they’re all quite quaint! There are no streets between the homes, just paths like this:

That makes it really enjoyable to just bike up and down and enjoy the homes. I don’t know if it’s still the case, but these homes used to be quite popular with writers and artists. There are definitely a lot of unique places, and I taught Mehmet the word ‘eccentric’.

Apparently, the houses on the island can only be sold to individuals who are on a government-instituted waiting list.  About once per year, the administrators draw 15-25 names from a pool of applicants.  Those selected are placed on the list, which is capped at 500 names.  I’m not sure how they select the ‘winners’!

The homes which are on the edge of the island have an incredible view of the city.

Of course there’s a marina too. This man is sitting at the picnic table, working on his laptop, dog nearby. What a great environment to work in!

We were on the island a few hours and only got to see about a quarter of it. There are paths and bridges all over the place!

The fruit trees were in full bloom.

And there’s our boat now… better head to the dock!

The ferry ride (return) costs $7.

Of course Mehmet loved it as I do. “I think we should come here every couple of weeks,” he said. Well, no arguments from me! Next time we’ll come with frisbee, soccer ball, books, blanket and lunch!

Well I’ve been busy with lots of stuff – I have no idea how some people find time to blog every day! I’m doing sub-teaching part-time at a couple of language schools, and am still looking for full-time work in management or else a good teaching gig. I’ve applied for a couple of great positions, but haven’t heard back. Bummer!

The highlight of the last month, however, has been the birth of little Lilith Naomi. She is my second niece, and the first baby for my sister Joan and her husband Matt. On the weekend we went to visit both of my sisters (they are neighbours) and spend a little time with precious ‘Lily’.

I had a hard time choosing which photos to share – there were hundreds to choose from!

Content on Daddy’s chest…

Soothed by Mommy’s pats…

My other sister Eleanor made the little bead bracelet.

We were just chatting away, when suddenly we noticed that Lilith had folded her hands like this. Obviously she’ll grow up to be a very spiritual girl! ;)

The nursery is adorable. Matt painted the wall mural from a picture in a ‘Wind in the Willows’ book. Our brother Harley built the crib when his first boy was born years ago.

And Joan made the birdie mobile.

Happy family!

This picture absolutely kills me. Seriously, it can’t be just gas!

No shortage of loving arms!

Welcome to the world, little girl!

As I mentioned, I’ve really been digging spring. Mehmet too! He’s been waiting since December 21 (the day we arrived in Canada) for grass to grow, birds to chirp, and soccer players to come out of their dens.

Although there are different leagues to join, due to his uncertainty about study/work schedule this summer, he’s decided to be one of the individuals who play ‘pick-up soccer’ throughout the city. I told him he’d have no problems finding people to play with once it got warmer. Sure, it’s not Istanbul, where you stand on a street corner with a ball and suddenly you are surrounded by 20 brothers who are up for a game. But still, this is Toronto – we’re full of immigrants! Immigrants love soccer, no?  Not only that, we live in Little Italy – the parks will be full of young European men rockin’ the futbal.

He goes to the park every day – either the public park down the road or the schoolgrounds across the road in the evening. Sure there’s young men around. The problem is that they’re either walking their dogs, playing basketball or biking. They are definitely not playing soccer.

So he kicks the ball around himself. He plays all the positions – don’t know how, but I’m sure that’s what he does. And he spends a lot of time chasing the ball after he’s kicked it.

Poor Mehmet. I try, I really do. I don’t mind kicking it around for awhile awhile; and don’t laugh – he says I kick well for a girl. It’s the running that I don’t like. Once I have to run down the field a couple times to get the ball, I’m bored. Now if I had a hockey stick in my hand and was chasing a ball, that’d be different. I prefer stick-handling to knee-twisting.

But yes, I play for awhile.

Sometimes I play goal. And by ‘play goal’ I mean I stand behind the fence at homeplate on the baseball field. He tries to ‘hit’ me, and I stand dangerously close to the fence. He kicks the ball so hard  – and like a hard leather missile, it screams towards my face, bounces off the fence and scares me just enough to make me do it one more time. Yeah, that’s how I play goal.

Before too long, I’m lying in the grass and enjoying my version of spring. Mehmet keeps watch over the field like a predator seeking prey. He is pretty frustrated by now.

The thing is, every time Mehmet goes to the park, he hopes it’ll be different. This time somebody else has to be there.

However, as he kicks around the ball and realizes just a little bit more clearly that  Toronto actually is not a soccer town, I just stay horizontal and entertain myself with deep thoughts in the warm spring sun.

Mmmmm…

Eventually, my sweetie comes ’round, and all tired out, decides to join me in the grass, sky and sun, and succumb to Spring Fever.

Maybe next week, Mehmet.