Looking For Something Different

Last Friday, when we usually go somewhere to escape from Lucy the cleaning lady, Winter decided to come back.

How annoying for us! We had chosen a neighbourhood to explore on a walk that would take us to shops, historic sites, and a few restaurant choices for lunch. But snow and wind would spoil the fun. It’s hard to navigate icy sidewalks and look for addresses when you are wearing a long coat, with a scarf covering your face. We needed to find somewhere indoors to go.

Early Friday morning two VIJP tickets to the Home Show appeared in my inbox. We had gone last year and enjoyed it. I think I even wrote a blog post. But would there be something different this year to see and to write about? At least there was a free coat check so we could dress up appropriately for the winter, and then leave everything at the door.

We decided to take a chance. We rode the GO train for one stop and then found our first surprise – a ride in a shuttle to the Home Show entrance. As we walked in, attendants reached out to us with free boxes of a British tea that our family love, and a bag to put them in. After we checked our coats, Peter chose the route through the Enercare Centre. He turned right, to the aisles with (how did he know this?) all the free food samples. We tried fudge, nuts, cheeses, salamis, olives, crackers, and jams. There were at least 17 flavors of popcorn, from salty caramel to jalepeno and cheese. We definitely had our limit of sugar and salts for the week.

Next we wandered through the hut tubs, the lawn tractors, and the garden suites (aka move the grandparents into the backyard). We passed by the appliance area – stoves so big you could feed an army. None of these were of interest to us. We are trying to cut down entertaining, and we definitely don’t want to sleep in somebody else’s back yard. Where would Peter plant his squash?

Imagine how many people you could feed on one of these stoves…

In particular though, Peter was looking for somebody to give him some advice about roofing, and how to fix a spot where racoons had been chewing on the roof caps. We found a few roof company representatives wearing suits, who looked like they had never been on a roof, let alone repair one. Then we found Elton the roofer – jeans and a denim shirt, a pencil stuck in behind his ear, grammar rules long forgotten. This was our guy. Finally something we hoped we could use!

By then, we were getting hungry for real food. We found a booth selling chicken Caesar salads, and carried them to the VIP lounge where we ate in comfort, and found bathrooms too. Then we began wandering a bit aimlessly. We spotted some massage chairs and decided it was time for our afternoon nap. But the massage was too strong to be relaxing. We got squished instead.

Where did we really want to go next? Home! It took some searching, but we eventually located the exit where our coats were hanging. And outside the exit door, the shuttle was waiting.

On our way back to the Go train station we had a chance to look around the CNE Grounds. And here is where we found something different from our visit last year. BMO Field has added seating for about 17000 extra fans coming to the FIFA World Cup in June. It’s a big undertaking. We also saw extra tracks being added to the GO system, and a massive new parking lot, all ready to accommodate fans going to the soccer games. Our city will be a drawing card for many sports enthusiasts this summer. And that’s wonderful.

But what about afterwards? What is all this expensive infrastructure going to be used for later? You can bet that Doug Ford has a plan. We already know about the Spa and the Science Centre. Now we are getting wind of a new Convention Centre. All of these facilities are redundant. And some of them will be built directly into Lake Ontario. With landfill. Just think – In Iran the war over oil is soon going to become a war over water. And we are covering ours up.

As we watch Doug Ford taking over Our land, and now trying to cover up his actions by changing the FOI act, we’re seeing Ford act more and more like Donald Trump. We definitely need something different in our Provincial Parliament.

Sue

Politics and Gardening

Spring has occupied our living room.

For a couple of weeks Peter worked industriously in the basement, planting vegetable seeds and watering them. Then it was time for them to face the sun. He found some old wire shelving and set it on a large plastic sheet to catch the drip drip drip of the watering can. And then he moved the seedlings into the living room, without even signing an executive order!

Peter started with garlic, it being the hardiest seedling as well as his favourite spice. He continued with zucchini, butternut squash, swiss chard, and 3 varieties of tomatoes. He mentioned that he was going to plant extra this year because, he said, we had run out of chard and tomatoes too early. Oops, I thought, to myself as I ran downstairs to search in the chest freezer. There, buried at the bottom, were several leftover bags of garden produce. My mismanagement was discovered! Would I be fired?

As he talked about his vegetable goals for this year, Peter also mentioned that he might try growing Russian kale, but I vetoed it – not politically correct. I asked for curly kale instead but he vetoed it – too attractive for the rabbits. And so our talks have stalled. We did agree on growing corn but it is as much loved by deer as it is by us. And they can even sneak in by jumping over our fence at the border.

My field of expertise is flowers. Peter has already put in a request for zinnias which apparently help with pollinating HIS vegetables. But they require lots of sun and most of my flower territory is shady. I already have to expand my only sunny space, the rose garden, to include an adopted rose bush from a friend. I thought Peter might consider trading some zucchini space for roses but so far no trade agreement has been reached.

I have a couple of other gardening challenges this year. One side of our back yard has been invaded by garlic mustard. This is not the kind of garlic that Peter likes. It’s an offensive vine that pokes up everywhere through our lovely periwinkle ground cover, trying to take over the periwinkle’s domain. This year I am going to be ruthless and deport those vines to the compost bin.

All winter I secretly tried to resurrect a beautiful plant given to me by an American friend last summer. It was an illegal alien, but the flowers were a glorious shade of orangy-red. I brought it in from outside last fall and I have been secretly nurturing it in my sun room. Just last weekend it showed signs of life. Apparently, it has been waiting patiently in the background for a time to announce itself. Now I am wondering if it’s planning to take over the garden.

Meanwhile I have been doing some research on herbs. There are lots of useful ones like camomile flowers to boil into a pot of de-stressing tea, mint for Mojito cocktails, alum for skin cream, and white oleander flowers for poisoning political enemies. Retract! I didn’t say that! Never in the history of our country did I say that! Time for tea.

Sue

Patriotic Shopping

I wrote about shopping several times during the difficult years of the Covid 19 pandemic. I thought we were done with that topic. But politics has changed the shopping scene and now it’s harder than ever to navigate.

We Canadians are ethically challenged every time we visit a store or a website. To buy or not to buy? For example, after my last post where I joyously shared a photo of my favourite Miss Vickie’s potato chips, a reader wrote to correct me. His research showed that, while Miss Vickie’s were originally created by Ontario farmers Vickie and her husband, the company is now owned by Frito Lay in the USA. So my question changed: To eat or not to eat? I read the package over and over again, seeing only a red maple leaf with the words “Made in Canada.” I ripped open the bag and started munching. Really, how much temptation can a person stand?

Then I received a coupon in the mail for 25% off any item in my favourite women’s store, Talbot’s. Without a thought I drove straight over to the mall. And there, right in front of me, was the most glorious shirt in brilliant shades of red and pink, so spring-like. How could I resist? I handed over my credit card. At home I took the shirt out of the bag and thought…oops… is Talbot’s a Canadian store? My phone showed me that Mr. and Mrs. Talbot had started the store in the United Sates back in 1947. No question about being Canadian. So what to do? I rationalized about all the time and gas needed to make the return trip. And I am sorry to admit that my ethical self was outvoted by my colourful self.

This Canadian shopping can test even the most patriotic of us. Another real temptation is COSTCO. We have one location very close to us and it’s easy to stop by for a few bulk items. I’ve heard many people say they will never give up COSTCO, even if it IS American. especially when they think about inflation. What most people agree on is to buy only Canadian products there, which seems to be a reasonable compromise, since each COSTCO outlet also employs a lot of Canadian workers.

But how do we know what IS a Canadian product? The language is endlessly confusing. Apparently “made in Canada” means that the last transition of the product was done in Canada. The rest of the item may come from somewhere else. But “product of Canada” manes that most of it, over 90%, comes directly from Canada. There are now some apps available to help us sort all this out. Two that I know of are Maple Scan, and BuyBeaver.

I was delighted to discover that my favourite shampoo and moisturizer come from Quebec. While shopping for crackers I found that my go-to brand is made in England. Quite close to Talbot’s in the mall is Sportchek (Canadian) with nice shirts! Staples, a really handy store with a lot of useful products, is Canadian. It even has a recycling depot at the store I visit, where shoppers can leave empty cartridges, toner, used batteries, and other non-recyclable items.

But so far one item on my shopping list evades me. Every morning Peter has a cookie with his coffee. It is a plain biscuit without much sugar and it’s made by Christie. Christie was originally a Canadian company owned by Mr. Christie in Toronto. Then he sold the business to Mondelez, an international company headquartered in the US.

So last week I bought Peter some biscuits from Italy – too sweet. Then I bought some gluten-free ones at Sobey’s – too expensive! English shortbread – too buttery. Arrowroot – too childishly embarrassing. Can any of you Canadian readers help me out with this?

Elbows up!

Sue

JOY

It’s hard to find much of that this morning.

The huge snow piles are turning brown, the crocuses are hiding underground, and a super soaker rainstorm is in the forecast. Doug Ford has won permission to dig a billion-dollar tunnel under highgway 401, while he continues to ignore our failing healthcare system. And, after treating President Zelensky like dirt in the oval office, the Orange Guy is treating Canada like dirt with his tariff plans.

How can we find anything to be happy about in all this mess? I think I’ll just give up and cry somewhere in a corner.

No I won’t, and neither will you. We are Canadians and we will deal with this. First we’ll get out our raincoats and clear the catch basins in our streets. Then we’ll send our $200 Ford cheque to a food bank. Finally, we’ll go to No Frills and buy some Miss Vickie’s made-in-Canada potato chips to drink with our glass of Ontario wine.

One activity Peter and I have found helpful during this long winter is getting together with friends and family. We held a family birthday party with lots of laughter and THREE cakes! We hosted a Chinese New Year party where nobody wore kimonos, but we played Rumoli with nickels as bets, and you wouldn’t believe how competitive people were over those nickels. We invited some friends to an Italian lunch and held them all hostage until we served dessert late in the afternoon. Other friends who are neighbours invited us to their place for lunch and we got to walk all the way there!

Being with friends and family is soothing. Even if we talk about the bad stuff going on, it gives us a sense of comfort knowing that others are feeling the same way. Plus, sometimes we get new ideas. Or new slogans. Or new energy.

Another activity is to check out legitimate media sources. Go on a laptop or an Ipad and read some posts by the well-known journalist Heather Cox Richardson. Turn on the TV and watch Saturday Night Live or Bill Mahr ranting on American stations. Listen to the remake of the Gloria Estefan song: I Will Survive! and sing along. Watch the photo diary, Canada the Beautiful, and view gorgeous pictures of places in Canada that look exactly like other beautiful places in the world:

This may look like New Zealand but it’s actually British Columbia

Best of all, we recently put up a Canadian flag in our bathroom window. That way we get to see it often. And feel almost joyful for all the good things we do have.

Sue

PS One more idea: We will definitely Not be watching any orange guy speeches tonight at 8:00.

The Week In Politics

It is tempting to devote a post entirely to politics. There is SO much news these days that one can hardly step away to visit the bathroom without missing another headline.

In just one week Chrystia Freeland started the trend with her bombshell announcement about leaving her position as finance minister. That was followed by Trump taking advantage of our “weakened country” with no finance minister, to harp on tariffs: “I Love that word. T a r i f f s. Doesn’t that have a lovely sound?” Next we had Trudeau choking up on the steps of Rideau Cottage as he announced his decision to step down as Prime Minister. Which brought Trump back again with an even greater threat: to make Canada the 51st state. OMG I am exhausted just writing about it all.

But the week was not over. Not by a long shot. Then we had Jimmy Carter enter the picture, or well actually leave the picture, and tributes from far and wide pouring in about all his accomplishments during his one-term presidency: his kindness, his courage to take on civil rights, his success with the guinea worm disease, his peace-brokering with Egypt and the middle east, and lots more. Carter was a shining star compared to the Other one-term president sitting at the funeral and looking smug, even when other former presidents refused to shake his hand. Reporters were so distracted that nobody even mentioned Melania’s outfit!

Then, flip channel and find all the wannabe Prime Ministers making their case for the vacant position in Canada. And there was Poilievre promoting his strength as a leader. He only stumbled once – when the interviewer asked point blank what he would do about tariffs and Trump’s threats to annex our country. His reply: “Well I am Not Prime Minister yet. Give me a chance and I’ll try to figure it out.”(slightly paraphrased by me).

Meanwhile Rob Ford is making headlines with his plans to co-ordinate the tariff response by the provincial premiers, and trying to look like the leader he never was during the covid healthcare crisis, or the land developers taking over the greenbelt, or the potential loss of the Science Centre and Ontario Place, or the bike-lane fiasco. To name a few examples. Ford is expected to announce a provincial election for mid-February, spending more tax payers’ money before he makes another big goof up.

Then yesterday – the start of another week – did things calm down? Oh no. Now we have Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta Oil Company, and Kevin O’Leary of Dragon’s Den fame and another headline news story that is too tragic to even mention, linking arms and heading to Mara Lago as our what? Ambassadors? Who hired Them to represent our Canadian values?

But none of this is really important. In my mind, the biggest stories right now are the tragic wildfires destroying Los Angeles. No matter what threat a president proposes, or what plans our wannabe leaders have for retaliating, the most important news is how Canada is sending firefighters and “super scoopers” specially-designed to fill up and transport sea water, to help our neighbours fight these devastating fires. Nothing else matters if we don’t have a continent we can live on together.

Sue