November, 2014
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Our first hockey event this
fall with Sean in goal |
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| Sean |
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Cheerleader Mom Tina, clangs
the cow bell in support |
Having lunch with Mom one Sunday, we are surprised to see Henry walking through the dining room. He brought his lovely wife Hazel and daughter Isabella to meet Mom.
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Isabella has visited Mom often
now and they are very good friends. |
Enjoying November and the days remaining in the loft, we cover as much of downtown as we can.
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| Functional and permanent art installation on Wellington Street |
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Another one on Wellington,
a little bit cute and a little
bit creepy?? |
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Glass art installation over the entrance to
the Soho Hotel |
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| Wheat Sheaf Tavern - the oldest tavern in Toronto |
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| Lovely little old courtyards and alleys |
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Strolling along King Street after a wonderful dinner
with Maddie, I catch a glimpse of the
CN tower between towers on
the south side |
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| and the theatres on the north side |
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| Another night dining out - Spice Route on King |
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| Delicious food! |
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Off to Ingersoll to visit Bob's Mom, then to Woodstock
to watch Matthew in a hockey tournament. Here's
our cute little Avery - youngest rink rat in the family. |
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Sister-in-law Barb with Avery
By the way, we did watch the
game and Matt's team won! |
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Surprised to encounter niece Maggie, watching her
stepson play in another rink in the same complex. |
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I get to babysit Avery all on my own, while
Maggie goes to the ballet and all the boys (Grandpa
too) go to a Marlies versus Hamilton Bulldog
farm teams game. |
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| Her bedroom is filled with sweetness. |
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We stay over, and next day Matthew plays for us. Both Ben
and Matthew are taking piano lessons. Yaaay!!! |
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On our way to another hockey game, Maggie and I drop
in for a visit to Aunt Dorothy's. |
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Early the next week, I visit Mom and set up a photo shoot
for the Family Funny Photobomb contest. |
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Mom didn't win a prize this year, but you can see she/we
had lots of fun! |
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| Mom and friends |
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| Such an actress, Mom loves these photo shoots. |
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Remembrance Day at Valley Vista. Mom's friend Ruth is
given a large bouquet of red roses in gratitude for her contribution
to our freedoms. |
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Mom meets old friends she hasn't seen for a long time.
They used to work with Mom and Dad, collecting
contributions for the Canadian Cancer Society.
Henry, who came from the Philippines only 2 years ago,
asks if he might have his photo taken with these precious veterans
and seniors. |
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That night, the CN Tower glows red to honour
our fallen on November 11th |
Another day, another restaurant.
This time it's Thai on King
Fun at the Royal Winter Fair
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Medieval Times performance
a quick walk away at the Royal
Winter Fair |
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| I don't believe we had veg that big back in the day |
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| Sweet little chicks! |
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| Hey Wayne - does this bring back memories? |
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| Snuggles |
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| Incognito |
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| Dalmatian pups for sale |
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Rachel sends this photo of animals
right there on the streets of Mysore,
India. Who needs a Royal Winter
Fair in India? |
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| We never tire of alley art! |
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Another condo finished and the crane dissembles
and moves along to a new downtown location |
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After all these years, we finally make it to Cavalcade
of Lights, joining 60,000 other happy people. |
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| City Hall skating rink - is anyone actually moving? |
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One more 2014 trip to Kensington Market
to pick up real-on-the-street jerk chicken
for our friends in Ottawa. Yum stuff! |
Downtown living for 3 months was beyond anything we could have imagined. Everything we needed was within walking distance and the friendliness of those who live right downtown, was a big surprise. We pondered that little mystery and concluded that it must be because everyone walks to work and to play and they just aren't stressed out. So many benefits of working in the neighbourhood where you live.
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Back home December 1st and we have our first snowfall.
A quiet and gentle night. |
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Celebrating Sean's 12th birthday. He lights
his own candles while Tina stands by with
the extinguisher. |
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| Dinner downtown with Liloo and Marny |
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| And Mary of course! |
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| Buddies - Marc and Bob |
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A wonderful dinner at the Feeney's
Vivienne proudly introduces us to their
new puppy Poppy |
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| Sophie shows us her new smile! |
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| Maddy is a gracious hostess, offering us a drink. |
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Mom Jen serves the salad while dad Jeff, checks that it's ok
to bring in food from the BBQ |
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| Human eyes on Poppy |
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Fashionista of the future, Vivienne
designs a new hat for dad |
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They gave us this beautiful pioneer barn
lantern from Black Creek Pioneer Village |
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Mom's family Christmas dinner is held on
December 21st at Steve and Tina's. What a wonderful
surprise to find Sidney here from Vancouver. The
best Christmas! |
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| Grandpa loves his grandkids! |
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| Before the crowd arrives |
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This one with Tina included
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| We both love, love, love our grandkids! |
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| Cousin Emily with Sidney |
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Ben, Sam (now in Police College), Sam's
girlfriend Emily, Sam's sister Madison and Gabe |
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Alex (foreground), brothers Kevin (L) and Brian ®
with Sean on extreme right |
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Wayne, Sidney, Jenn and Maggie with little Avery
in the back row |
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| Tara, Karen, Ev, Emily and Tom |
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| Such a wee doll. |
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| Gabe, Alex, Jill, Tara and Karen |
Winners of Mary's 2nd annual Funny Family Photobomb Contest are announced.
1st place: Rachel on the monkey bars in India, 2nd place: Elliot's high stakes poker game
3rd place: Alex on the real bar. Well done everyone!!
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| Happy 40th Birthday Maggie |
Wayne and Ev surprise us with photo's of our kids when they were little. Such fun!
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Cute cousins Brian (L) and Steve loving play
time on the snowy farm hills |
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Rachel's Christmas presents - an adult looking
potty and a phone. The more things change….. |
Absent and missed terribly: Marcin (suffering from kidney stones..these too shall pass…and they did!), Jan and Elliot (New Brunswick), Craig and Mary (Calgary and away on 2 lovely cruises), Rachel and Peter (Victoria), Shanelle and Al
December 29th is our family Christmas at #61. Sadly, Mom spends a few hours in Emerg and doesn't make it to this event.
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A loving shot of our eldest grandaughter
Shanelle and our youngest grandaughter Avery |
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| Love at first sight for Shane and Avery |
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| Cheesy grin from Ben |
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| Steve and Sean |
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| Paul and his favourite cushion |
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Peter and Rachel join us from Victoria
with a clever "selfie" portrait |
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Heading home, Avery wears the Burlington
Bulldogs hockey toque, in support of brother
Matt |
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New Years in Ottawa with our lovely (and crazy) friends
Linda and Yves |
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Yves decides to swap this hat (he retired
January 8th, 2015. Congratulations Staff Sgt. Remington) …... |
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And tries on mine to see if it's a style he
can live with |
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They give us a tour of the condo they own
that is "for rent". Linda is reaching for the only
thing left after the tenants moved out…a piece
of tape way up there. Innovative ladder she's using! |
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They invite friends Angele and Brad over
for dinner and Yves entertains |
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| Brad, Yves and Bob (in motion) |
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| Bob's best side, and Angele. A great meal - fondue! |
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Next day we bring back fond memories of Yves and Linda's
5 years in Jamaica, by cooking Acki, salt fish, candied plantain
and of course, the wonderful jerk chicken from Kensington
Market. Terrific food! |
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January 6th, the junior Habkirks, Bob and I
drive to Ingersoll to see Bob's Mom |
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| Matt and Ben adore their little sister! |
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I love having lunch with Pam! Such a positive
person and lots of fun. Beautiful too! |
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Our friend Linda (President of the Toronto Boat Show)
gifted us with a suite at the Sheraton Centre Hotel with a City Hall
view. It's the day of the Preview Night at the show, which
raises money for Children's Charities. A terrific
initiative and the easiest way to get on and off yachts
without lineups. Bob has been known to buy big
things at the auction, however managed to keep a low
profile this year |
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Waiting for the live auction to start, I notice Bob's bidding
hand beginning to rise, grab it and tie it to his belt. |
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| Beauty! |
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Beautiful night view. See the skaters out there on this
very cold night? |
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We visit Warren and Dana in their suite after a great evening.
Linda joined us later. |
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We check the rink before going to bed at midnight, and
yes, there are still skaters out there! |
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| The outdoor waterfall at the Sheraton |
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The next day we return to the show and discover
indoor wake-boarding at Winter Wakefest |
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Someone told us this is just about the top sporting photographer
in Canada |
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| Food truck court - inside! Incredibly civilized and sensible! |
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| A taste of the islands with steel drums. |
Later in the day, we leave the boat show and head up the street to UofT's sports complex, to watch Linda and Warren's son Brent, who is attending University of Western Ontario in the engineering program, competing against UofT in a swim competition.
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| My how our boy has grown! |
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UofT wins the day, having the strongest team in Ontario, however
Brent's team came second in relay and Brent came fourth in 50M |
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| That's Brent lane 4 in relay |
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January 11th, we take Mom out to celebrate her 96th birthday,
which isn't actually until January 28th. It was a fun day. |
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| Mom loved her birthday Tiramisu! |
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Very early the next morning, we jump in the van and drive
1000 kms (2 hour shifts each), through a bit of snow, a lot of rain
and some fog, until we reach West Virginia and our first
campground. |
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Empty except for one other camper on the other
side of the park |
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It remains cloudy all the way to Florida. The next
day the sun came out! This is the causeway to Sanibel and
Captiva Islands near Fort Myers |
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| Great lunch in Fort Myers! |
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Old skulls boat from the '30's with the shoes
still in place |
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Drag net fishermen fish in the canal just outside
of our campground in Naples and we are
shocked to discover that these are Tilapia!
We thought they were a farmed fish. |
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There are also Bass in the channels. The fishermen
put them back to increase their numbers. |
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| Now, would YOU fish in a channel that also contains this?? |
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Toronto friends Thelma and Art, bring their
beautiful grandson Owen to visit us for drinks and
snacks. They live in a gorgeous golf community near us. |
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Owen discovers a crevice filled with dirt. As
he moved his hand to eat some, Grandma said
"Owen, don't put that in your mouth", whereupon
Owen grinned and did exactly that! |
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We are loving the freedom of
our new folding bikes and
spend hours exploring this beautiful
part of Florida. |
We heard from Rachel and Peter, that they adopted a little Mexican rescued dog from Mexico. Her name is Lu and isn't she the sweetest little thing?
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Cortes takes the newest member
of the family in stride, but
we notice he wrangles and
covets all the toys! |
Rachel went to Mysore, India in September to continue her yoga training, and was to remain until the end of December. Just as we were about to leave the downtown loft and return to our home, we learned that Rachel had been bitten by a dengue carrying mosquito. She became severely ill and was nursed by her friends until she was well enough to return home the second week of December. It was an upsetting time, fearing for her life and knowing that she was going to be making the 44 hour trip home on her own. We have since learned that Dengue Fever is everywhere, Japan, the Caribbean, right here in Florida, and that it kills 20,000 people every year. We are blessed that Rachel is ok, still recovering and gaining strength every day. In tribute to her journey, I am adding this beautiful photo taken by her good friend and photographer, Michelle prior to Rachel's trip to India. Thanks to Madison and Susan, the "yoga angels" as Rachel refers to them, for their care in India.
Other news from home in the past couple of weeks: Both Ben and Matthew's hockey teams won tournaments! Congratulations hockey stars!!!
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| Ben's tournament jewellry |
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| Matt's jewellry |
