Something new

Here's something we'd never seen before.

I bought this cat house just before Christmas and Byron loves it. He's in it quite often.

This evening, Morgan cautiously approached it ... slowing walked in ... and got kinda comfy for a while.

Morgan's funny.

He'll get hooked on sleeping someplace different for a couple weeks ... and then forget all about it.

Book ~ "Three Little Words: A Memoir" (2008) Ashley Rhodes-Courter

From Chapters.Indigo ~ "Sunshine, you''re my baby and I'm your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she''s not your mama." Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes, living by those words. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster care system.

Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative, humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed - and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice.

I started this book this morning and spent most of the day reading it.

It's the true story of Ashley Rhodes-Courter who spent many years in the foster care system, believing that her mother was eventually going to come get her. She gets adopted by the Courters and it takes many years for her to trust them and believe that they aren't going to unadopt her.

I hadn't heard of Ashley or her story ... the book caught my eye when I was at the library last week. And it's nice to learn that Ashley has gone on to be an advocate for foster child and their rights.

Definitely a book that I would recommend that you read.

Smell ya later, Dufflets

Dufflet's Pastries is in my 'hood.

On the day I moved into my condo back in June 2001, I walked to the bakery figuring I would buy some fresh bread and pastries. Yum!

But alas, they don't sell from the bakery ... just from their three stores. And some restaurants serve their cakes for dessert.


They are moving to Etobicoke today.

I'll miss them.

Depending on the day, the 'hood smelled like chocolate cake! Or gingerbread! Or cinnamon!

Real Food for Real Kids will be renting the space. According to their website, they make and deliver all-natural food to select schools.

Sounds like a good cause but I doubt they will smell as good.

Book ~ "Too Close To Home" (2008) Linwood Barclay

From Goodreads ~ In a quiet suburban neighborhood, in a house only one door away, a family is brutally murdered for no apparent reason. And you think to yourself: It could have been us. And you start to wonder: What if we’re next?

Promise Falls isn’t the kind of community where a family is shot to death in their own home. But that is exactly what happened to the Langleys one sweltering summer night, and no one in this small upstate New York town is more shocked than their next-door neighbors, Jim and Ellen Cutter. They visited for the occasional barbecue and their son, Derek, was friends with the Langleys’ boy, Adam; but how well did they really know their neighbors?

That’s the question Jim Cutter is asking, and the answers he’s getting aren’t reassuring. Albert Langley was a successful, well-respected criminal lawyer, but was he so good at getting criminals off that he was the victim of revenge—a debt his innocent family also paid in blood? From the town’s criminally corrupt mayor to the tragic suicide of a talented student a decade before, Promise Falls has more than its share of secrets. And Jim Cutter, failed artist turned landscaper, need look no further than his own home and his wife Ellen’s past to know that things aren’t always what they seem. But not even Jim and Ellen are ready to know that their son was in the Langley house the night the family was murdered.

Suddenly the Cutters must face the unthinkable: that a murderer isn’t just stalking too close to home but is inside it already. For the Langleys weren’t the first to die and they won’t be the last.

I've read Barclay's other books and enjoyed them. So I was looking forward to reading this one.

I thought it was so-so, not great.

It's a big book (400 pages) and there are a lot of storylines that all come together in the end. I'd figured out a lot of them. And I didn't buy the ending ... I found it weak.

I liked the main character, Jim, but wasn't all that crazy about his wife, Ellen. Not many of the characters are likeable.

The F-word is used a lot ... I don't think it was necessary a lot of the time.

Trinity Bellwoods Park

It was such a nice day today that Gord and I took KC for a walk to Trinity Bellwoods Park and back.

There were lots of people enjoying the park.


KC had fun running around.


Just before we left the park, KC headed to one of the spots that has the plant she likes to eat.

Dish cloth

I finished a dish cloth tonight.


Use cotton yarn.

Cast on 4 stitches.

Knit 2, YO, Knit to end.

Turn work.

Knit 2, YO, Knit to end.

Turn work.

Keep doing this over and over and over and over and over until there are 56 stitches.

Knit 1, K2tog, YO, K1, K2tog, knit to end.

Turn work.

Knit 1, K2tog, YO, K1, K2tog, knit to end.

Turn work.

Keep doing this over and over and over and over and over.

Cast off the final 4 stitches.

Strolling on a Sunday afternoon

It's such a nice day today (sunny and 12C) that Gord and I went for a long walk rather than being stuck inside at the gym.

We cut through Exhibition Place, heading towards the water.

We headed west along the Waterfront Trail to Humber Bridge (about 9km).


Along the way, some guys on horses passed us just west of Ontario Place. It was the knights from Medieval Times!


Here's Gord!


And here are the knights, just west of the Argonaut Rowing Club.


This girl was feeding the seagulls while Mom took pix.


Along the way, there are some exercise equipment so we tried 'em out. With the second two, you are using your own body weight as resistance.
We ended up on the other side of Humber Bridge. We had started walking at the far right of the picture.


Then we walked home, along the Queensway and Queen Street W.

Toronto Blue Jays 4, Oakland A's 2

I was given a couple tickets for today's Blue Jays game so Gord and I went.

The seats turned out to be in the Designer Guys' private box.


To be honest, I've never watched their show but we did appreciate being in their private box.

There was lots of food ... salad, sushi, wings, pizza and chips. Here's Gord eating some sushi (I passed).


We had a great view of the field.


Chia Kitty enjoyed the free booze.


Go Vernon!


Go, Aaron!


The Jays won in the 12th inning ... yay!


I'd never been in a private box before ... I liked it!


What a great chair!

Fan and feather dish cloth

I made a fan and feather pattern dish cloth tonight:


Cotton yarn and size 4.5mm knitting needles

Cast on 42 stitches (or a multiple of 18 plus 6)

Knit 3 rows of garter stitch for the border

Row 4: Knit

Row 5: K 3, P to last 3 stitches K3

Row 6: K3, *(K2 tog) 3 times, (yo, K1) 6 times, (K2 tog) 3 times, rep from * to last 3 sts K3

Row 7: Knit

Repeat Rows 4 - 7, keeping first and last 3 stitches in garter stitch, until piece measures desired length

Knit 3 more rows of garter stitch to make the bottom border

Cast off and darn in ends

Source

Book ~ "People: Celebrate the 80's" (2008)

Fun pictorial account of the 1980s!

I graduated from high school in 1980 and university in 1983.

I didn't have big hair but I did have shoulder pads!

Here's a quiz for you from the book ...who sang it (in what song)?

1. I'm not that kind of girl who gives up just like that, oh, no!
2. Let me hear your body talk.
3. Do you really want to love me forever (oh oh oh)? Or am I just caught in a hit and run?
4. Why don't you hit me with your best shot? Fire awayyyyy.
5. Fame! I'm gonna live forever!
6. Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo.
7. How will I know if he really loves me?
8. I've seen a million faces and I've rocked them all.
9. She's a very kinky girl. The kind you don't take home to mother.
10. Where can I find a woman like that?
11. Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up!
12. What's love got to do with it? What's love but a second-hand emotion?

Trinity Bellwoods Park

KC and I took a walk to Trinity Bellwoods Park and back this morning (about an hour walk there and back).

We came across a Toronto police officer exercising her horse.

The horse checked out KC ...

KC checked out the horse ...

There were a few dogs in the off-leash area for dogs (where the movie Dog Park was filmed).

KC running with the energy of a puppy!

Making sure I'm still with her.

Looking at the CN Tower from the off-leash area.

Heading up the hill towards Queen Street W before we headed for home.