Patio at Night - Feathering my Nest

Last night was the first summer night warm enough to sit outside on my patio in shirtsleeves - no sweater or jacket! Fortunately, my balcony had been repaired this week and I have the use of the full length of it now. We had several very bad wind storms in the winter/early spring and the repairs to the balcony had been pending - hence the rope seen in some of the pictures I had previously taken of my balcony. But no more.

It was a wonderfully warm night as I strolled home from work - finally it is the weekend! I decided to go see my daughter on the way home and stopped at the Dog's Balls bar for a beer and a visit. Laura is working at that bar whilst she gets through University. It isn't a busy after work bar, so I can visit with her for a bit while I drink my beer. She will be going back to University next September but she chooses to continue supporting herself and living on her own (actually, with a couple of girlfriends) and we needed to discuss logistics and how her course selections were coming. It was a nice visit.

When I got home it was just coming on dark but wonderfully, the weather was still warm and the threatening skys of a few hours earlier had not delivered its payload, but instead had moved on.

I sat on my balcony reveling in the lights of the city to the east, deep in thought, soaking up the ambiance. Our downtown night skyline is a pretty sight but of course you cannot appreciate really with the amateur photos I take. My new patio "couch" with all the cushions is really comfy and I can cosy up in it with my feet up.

I had my candle lanterns lit and music playing and let the stress of my wickedly busy work week seep out of my bones. I will be spending lots of time on my balcony this summer - lets hope that our Toronto weather cooperates and gives us a good couple of months of warmth.

Taking about weather cooperating, I was dismayed this morning to see that the weather forecast says that there is a chance of rain showers today. This is the last weekend of Luminata and there are dozens of outdoor events all weekend. I am planning to get to the Brazilian Guitar Festival in our Yorkville area this afternoon and then down to Harbourfront to the Cirque Du Soleil event this evening and on Sunday. I hope the weather cooperates!

My Outdoor Room

My balcony furniture arrived! I am so happy to be able to lounge out on the balcony now, comfy and with feet up!

The condo corp has to do some balcony repairs on the far side of the balcony. The high winds of a month ago loosened a few pieces above which are now held with ropes tied to my balcony railing. Once they repair that then I will move the chaise over to the other side and put a small bistro style table for two where the chaise is now. I also bought a number of hurricane lamps (for candles) so that I can sit out on hot nights with candlelight ambiance. I am up high and sometimes it is windy - so hurricane lamps won't be bothered by the wind.

I can't wait until next weekend when I can hunker down there on Saturday morning, laptop in lap and coffee in hand, reading and watching all the sailboats.

There are dozens of sailboats out on the lake in good weather and they make for interesting viewing. I snapped a few pics of the sailboats. One is my view of Toronto's inner harbour, which is to my south east, another is of a tall ship coming out of the channel from the harbour into the Lake proper and the third is Lake Ontario shore in my south west view. You can see our soccer stadium, where Toronto's FC play every week in the foreground.






































This picture shows the stadium when full of soccer fans and a game is in progress. I can hear the cheers each time a goal is scored!

Victoria Day Fireworks

I am so thankful for living where I do. My condo, which faces south to the lake, has the most wonderful view of just about everything.

It is no exception that I get a perfect view of the fireworks on Victoria Day. I tried hard to get decent photos of the lights - but this is the best I could do - and there were better ones than this. The problem is that by the time I press the shutter and the few seconds of delay occurs before the picture is taken, the lights have faded. No matter, if you click on this you will get an enlarged version which gives you an idea how wonderful the sights were.

I can't wait until the Nights of Fire fireworks contest to be held the first week of July!

Gratitude for where I am and what I have...

I wrote this blog on Sunday morning just past. I have resolved to publish one and only one blog early each morning. In order to make this possible on busy days, I am now writing in advance of publication dates. So instead of being behind and skipping a day when I get busy, I should in this way be able to maintain my schedule to publish each morning.

Sunday Morning Happiness

I woke early Sunday prepared for a lazy morning. The business of last week and the social “trucking around” times of Friday and Saturday gave me license for a reading/writing day – and hopes to fit in a long walk – a completely self indulgent day for me.

I woke quite early, as the sun was coming up. This is the best part of the day, just at sunrise. Made coffee and lazed in bed for a few hours reading blogs and doing a bit of work on my Vegas travel blog. I love waking early and lounging about. As I sat in my comfy bed listening to the radio, I noted that it was going to be a warm spring day! Still in my PJs I trotted outside to see if it was as nice out as it looked.


YES! The sun was coming up blazing hot (ok, not hot, just warm  ) over the city skyline to the east. The air was calm and I decided that the day had great potential. The lake was misty grey on this morning and blended into the grey-white sky. It was deceiving - it was much nicer outside than it looked from my bedroom. I have posted lots of stuff on Liberty Village - just check the tag cloud.
If you want to see what I see from my bedroom in winter and why it is a perfect cocoon spot see this earlier blog. There are literally hundreds of things to look at from my apartment, here in downtown Toronto. Today, I can hear the sound of music. I am curious.

Historic Fort York and Mystery Music

Looking out my balcony I can see lots of cars parked in the field at Fort York, which is just 10 minutes to the south east. Fort York is a restored garrison billed as the 1793 birthplace of modern Toronto, and is home to Canada's largest collection of original 1812 buildings and is a designated National Historic Site. The fort bore witness to the climax of the Battle of York fought on April 27, 1813 and for my foreign readers, this is just about as old as landmarks get here.

These days it is used as a venue for events – maybe the music was coming from there? Hmmm, couldn’t really hear what the music was like – it was coming over a distance. I imagined that there was a African beat to it, but maybe not. It is Sunday so maybe it was a gospel revival? It didn’t sound like religious music. It sounded calypso or reggae. I was sure I could hear steel drums. Soon I could make out piano in another number. And a male voice singing.

Maybe I listening to the rehearsal sounds reverberating over the distance from the Molson Amphitheatre? That venue is due south at Ontario Place and big name Internationally known musicians do concerts there all summer and last summer I did hear rehearsal sounds. Did some quick research and didn’t come up with anything.

I got out my binoculars to check out the action at Fort York more carefully. For sure something was going on over there. Lots and lots of people and for some reason an American Flag was flying! There was nothing that looked like a concert. I decided to do a bit of searching on the net.

I went to the Fort York Web site and found:

Fort York Historic District Walking Tours in association with Jane’s Walks “200 years of Lakefront Development” Sun. May 3, 1 to 2:30 p.m. Explore the history and evolution of Fort York, the Garrison Common and the nearby Lake Ontario shoreline from the early British colonial era to the present day. Hear about the origins of the Fort, the fortification of the harbour, and the subsequent transportation, industrial and recreational development of this vital area.

Jane's Walk - May 3rd 2009
So the gathering was part of the Jane’s Walk Toronto City Event. I need to digress and explain about Jane’s Walk. I excerpted this from their Web Site:

Jane’s Walk is a series of free neighbourhood walking tours that helps put people in touch with their environment and with each other, by bridging social and geographic gaps and creating a space for cities to discover themselves. Since it’s inception in 2007, Jane’s Walk has happened in twelve North American cities: Toronto, New York, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Halifax, Guelph, Charlottetown, Thornbury, and Salt Lake City. More partner cities and towns are being added in 2009 including Montreal, Regina, Boston, Chicago and New Orleans. Jane’s Walk honours the legacy and ideas of urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians over a car-centered approach to planning. Jane Jacobs, OC, (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was an American-born Canadian urbanist, writer and activist.

As I am writing this, I see a long snaking line of people walking the boardwalk along the lake and I can hear a man’s voice on a bull horn telling everyone about the points of interest. The sounds I have been hearing are all related to Jane’s walks which are happening all over the city on this Sunday.

Gratitude
I am so close to so many different venues here in my Liberty Village condo. The soccer stadium, Ontario Place, the CNE, and Fort York Toronto Island beaches are all within view. Toronto City events happen all around me. The planes take off and land at island airport runway, trains choo-choo by, the highway is a river of motion and tram cars make an appearance every once and a while. I have a prime viewing spot for the Air Show, Nights of Fire Fireworks and (when they get new backers) the annual car racing event.

There is energy in all this noise and motion and at the same time I am above, hovering as it were over the maddening crowd. The cornucopia of sounds and sights of the city from the birds eye view of my condo are always vibrant and interesting and I am so lucky to have this place, a 20 minute walk from work.

This morning’s thought is gratitude. I am so very lucky. I thought I would share this with you and show you a few points of interest from my condo balcony today. The following says it so appropriately: Gratitude is absolutely the way to bring more into your life.

A Scattered and Fragmented Mind

What to write in my blog tonight?  A dilemma – can I manage a short, pert piece and get on with the other things I need to do before bed?  I check my clock – 9:15! 

Later than I would have liked but for sure enough time if I make haste.  

Today was a gorgeous day weather wise – but this did not help me stay focused on my studying.  I moved myself out onto my balcony and sat there on my lounge chair memorizing stuff for a few hours.   Other things kept wandering into my area of focus.  

The look of the lake – it was extraordinary, with a milky white haze hovering over the water further out onto the lake. 

The white lake blended into a white coloured sky in the distance.  Here on the shore there were no clouds, but I suppose out on the lake perhaps it was cloudy and the heat of the day may have been causing mist to rise in middle of the lake providing the white background.  

My construction “hole” on the street opposite – a concrete and steel monolith is rising out of the hole and the west side is now approaching street level.  I can see the progress made in the last month. 

The park below – folks have broken through the fence and have claimed it ready for use – dogs frolicking folks sitting on benches chatting.  Idly I wonder when things will start to green up… (ha nice joke, eh – try next month) 

The movie I watched last night – The Watchmen – which I enjoyed a lot and would highly recommend.  My date from last night, which I would not. 

My mind wandered further afield – spring is in the air and poetry is begging to be written.  My mind is calling to me to unload this poem which is crying to get out – to be written – to be acknowledged.  Spent an hour heeding the call to the poet in me. 

Laura arrives – I am her hairdresser now and she is in need of a shampoo.  We chat – she eats – and I drive her home. 

Back to work.  Focus – keep at it.  Finally I finish the practice exam I had started writing hours ago.  Joy of joys!  74%  - not as good as I would like, but certainly acceptable.   I decide that I can get away with only 1 more day off work to study.  When Friday rolls around I will do my last review and ready my mind for the exam the next day. 

Blog done – I can now sit back and relax with what remains of my weekend!

Friday - Work or Play?

Today must be a quick post. While I write my blog I have to decide whether I get ready and go up north and visit with friends or get at that bookkeeping I have been ignoring. If I can get into the bookkeeping that would be best - I can go up north tomorrow morning and stay just one night. Either option requires me to get moving and get at it in short order. First will make some breakfast - fried eggs I think. I have a running contest with myself to see how well I can flip eggs without an egg turner. You know, the way chefs do - with a flick of the wrist when holding the frying pan, if you have a stick free frying pan - the eggs will jump up in the frying pan and turn over. Ok, little things occupy little minds. But how many of you guys can flip eggs with a flick of your wrist and no spatula?

Some more pictures and I promise the last of the "bedroom window" series. The pictures don't do it real justice anyway. Suffice to say that my view is a source of inspiration and the view seduces my eyes in its direction a lot. You have seen a pretty representative sample of winter time pictures now. I will wait until the lake turns bright blue in the middle of summer to bring you another set of photos.


Another sunny day but the cold is making everyone a bit weary. I did go out and listen to Greg Wyard. He is pretty good and plays every Thurs night at my local pub, Brazen Head Irish Pub. He also plays every Tue night at Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub. No, he does not play Irish Rover's music but covers of a lot of stuff I like and some of his own as well. He is an incredible guitar player and has a great voice. You can get a feel for his music on You Tube.

If you like his music he does an amazing cover on this You Tube: Amazing Must see! The Who cover "Baba O'Riley" ... There is also a You Tube of his City TV Breakfast Television program promoting his CD.

And the best news is that I don't look too rough any more. See for yourself in this latest (with a bit of coverup makeup over the last bit of redness and bruising). I am still quite an unfinished product - my eyes are red and swollen (looks like I was out on a bender last night), but at least I don't look like I have been in a bar fight. So I sat on my own and had a beer and tried unsuccessfully to get my iPhone to download internet news pages to read (don't know what was with that - I was able to use other internet accessing applications). I gave up and just sat and listened to the music.

Got home in time to catch the evening news and hear about the massive power outage in the City. Glad it didn't extend all the way down to my place. Given the temps it would be damn cold waking up this morning. They don't expect the power to come back on for the most of the folks until 10 p.m. tonight. Not a fun way to spend 24 hours.

The other item to be seen out of my bedroom window, aside from the awsome view, is my birds eye view of "The Hole". Actually in about 2 years "The Hole" will be converted to a set of condo apartment towers and I have bought one on the 19th floor of the western most building - facing west. At least they hold my downpayment and I get to pay them the rest of purchase price once they have it finished - probably early 2011. I bought that condo 2 years ago and it was originally supposed to be finished late 2008. HA!! So when I sold my house I bought this condo, "Battery Park", one block north of it, to live in until the other one is ready. I guess I will flip one of the two when the time comes. In the meantime, I get to watch what is happening in "The Hole". Right now they are just starting to pour concrete at the bottom of what will be the lowest parking level. Incidently, you can also see the Toronto Island Airport and the train tracks in this view - my window shows me planes, trains and automobiles!

Anyway, I can now check off "Blog Done" on my Daily To Do List. Next, I need to see if I can get fired up about the book keeping which is calling my name!

Snow falls against my bedroom window

Place: my bedroom - my windows on the world.

Time: apres 1st coffee, which is not early morning, because I am stuck at home recovering from surgery and I am staging a "bed in" this week. For this week, I have decided that there are only 2 reasons to get out of bed before 10 a.m. , to get coffee and to take the dog for a walk (avec sunglasses). After 10 my stomach will give me a 3rd reason, food.

Mood: upbeat Listening to CBC Radio 1: Q - A.C. Newman playing in the background"Like a Hitman/Like a Dancer" - catchy tune! (will check the exact name tomorrow when the Q playlist is published)

Anyway, I was listening to CBC radio 2 (which by the way has really done a turn about from what it was just last year!) Changed to Radio 1 as I was getting irritated - just wish my reception was better, some other station keeps intruding in the background. I am looking out my windows to the world - this is the most awsome bedroom ever with a wall of windows looking south over the lake and to the east, CN Tower and the downtown office buildings. I open both of my "pinhole blinds" [pinhole blinds: my term - they are roller blinds which allow some but not all of the sunlight to come through - just enough to filter the sun to a moderate light in day and to dull somewhat the night time city lights] Just got out of bed and took a couple of pics to show you what I see today. The first pic is my view east, which is less than spectacular given that it is snowing. The second is the view south from where I sit now. Again, not so spectacular just right now. But it is not without attraction even today. It is alway in the foreground a sea of motion and sound day or night. There are at least 10 cars constantly in view moving along the Gardiner Expressway - even at 4 am in the morning! and they move quickly - it takes a car about 7 seconds to move from one end of my window to the other. It is the opposite of a serene country postcard scene it is all energy and action - really alive and bustling. The upper part of the view to the south, which does not show up well today is Lake Ontario. On a good day I can see across to Rochester, NY. The sun plays on the lake and it changes colour and reflection as the wind plays on its surface and clouds move overhead. Today it is a grey stormy sea. Always an interesting view to gaze out upon.

But enough of this chatter, first and foremost I must give an update on my eyes.

I am tired of sleeping sitting up. One of the required accommodations for a faster recovery is to not have a lot of extra fluid collect in the eyes, which when we sleep lying down is the case - ever wondered why your eyes are puffy in the morning? So the Doc says sleep with 4 pillows, which pretty much means I am sitting up. Ok, I have discovered that when tired I can sleep in any position, so except for the first night I have managed to stay unconsious for as much of the night as I usually do - which is almost always the full night. This is a good thing - I am suspecting that many do not have this sleeping skill as perfected as I do. So technically, I have had no problem sleeping. However, upon awakening I find that I am pretty sore from being in this position all night. I am thinking tonight I will remove 1 pillow and do this in each of the nights to come. Enough is enough - the pillows got to go.

Tomorrow I go see Doc again. Just another peek at the incision lines and a review of what I should/should not be doing. I have it down pat: nothing aerobic, no bending down, eye drops (I have used almost a full bottle already), vaselined greasy eyes (so the skin doesn't dry out), hot compresses to speed up the healing of bruises and lots of sleep. I have to "ha" about the sleep - maybe the Doc should try sleeping with 4 pillows. I have also come to know first hand that Vaseline is not a flattering facial makeup. Speaking of makeup - allowed after Day 7! Bring out that camoflage makeup - I think I shall go out to Brazen (my local pub) to hear some live music on Thurs night!)

Don't think there has been sufficient improvement in the eyes to load up another pic here - so those sitting on the edge of their seats will need to come back tomorrow.


A plug for the program Q on CBC Radio 1 - lots of interesting topics - from yesterday 's program promo: "Guest host Jonathan Torrens talks to graphic artist and writer Laurie Rosenwald on why all the wrong people have self-esteem". This might be going a bit far, I don't agree that ALL the wrong people, but maybe a good number of them need to spend some time thinking about whether they maybe should have a bit less self esteem. If you have listened to the podcast (or actual program) this is about a book (you can guess the title) - a funny book - tongue in cheek or maybe tongue sticking out of mouth or so it seems.

The author says self esteem is a myth - that it is the norm that people don't feel so good about themselves - or at least few think they are so good as to not needing improvement (those are the ones that the book title makes fun of). Actually, to change the slant that the headline for this would suggest, this book is a good one for people with lower self esteem - the author suggests that it is not such a good thing to aspire to have great self esteem. I think I will see if it is at the library. If you are interested you can replay the Q podcast of Jan 12th from the CBC Q website. And I am not saying whether I think I have great self esteem or not - I will just say that I believe humility is a virtue. If I find the book will provide a short review in a future blog.

Today's Q program gem questions whether we should have the right to call someone a Skank and a horse faced Hoe (or is it Ho?) in our blogs - apparently Google is being sued because there is a blogger who called a female celebrity that exact thing. Apparently, it depends on whether it is factually true. Not sure how one would prove that but I expect it would involve courts and expert testimony.

Douchebag is also a similar word which is allowed if true. This prompted me to sidetrack. What exactly is a douchebag (slang, not real english def? I realize that it is a derrogatory term, but who could you legitimately classify as one? So after a sidetrip to Wiki, I fetched the following definition: An individual who has an over-inflated sense of self worth, compounded by a low level of intelligence, behaving ridiculously in front of colleagues with no sense of how moronic he appears. Ok, so we all are a bit more knowledgable with our english language slang. And I can think of a few folks I think could be proven in a court of law to legitimately warrant the adjective douchebag. Sounds like douchebags are in the same group as Laurie's "wrong people to have self esteem".

Thanks to today's Q, I also found out that if you "upskirt" or "downblouse" (take a photo of a woman up her skirt or down ... in public) and then publish this on the web it is not against the law in the US. Wow - what a world we live in, eh? Apparently it has to do with us now all being potential celebrities (thanks to reality tv) and our paparazzi are worthy of protection. And paparazzi are allowed to downblouse or upskirt celebrities if the celebrities are not protective against their personal space when in public. (I guess if a photog were to hide under a sewer grate and snap photos of Brittany one would find that to be curious but not think it illegal). And for those of you who need to know, if you see a photo of your nether regions on the web (and can recognize them) you can claim to have been "upskirted", but cannot sue - at least in the US, not sure about in Canada. That is unless it was taken from a peep hole in the ladies room - which is of course illegal.

So just got the weather word - I can see snow melt drops stuck against my window, so judging that it is not too cold out there - snow has now stopped, however we are in for a plunge in temperatures and by tomorrow morning it is expected to be -20 celcius. What can I say - the roller coaster weather continues. Get out your balaclava folks.

Today seems to be a trivia day (but I hope to do a double header today and try my hand at entertaining everyone with Cruise Time Tales, watch for a second post later today)... so following is my last tid bit for today:

"Unfortunately, what triggers an avalanche is often consumed by it". Saw this in a headline ad this morning. This can be applied to a lot of problems (an avalanche is one big problem for the folks in the path of the snow, you must agree). So a serious and sobering thought - we are often the makers of our own misery. I can personally vouch for that having made myself lots of trouble to get out of in the time I have been on this planet. You can apply this to almost everything - we reap what we sow, etc etc.. But I draw the line on one thing - I do not agree with the extreme views on this grain of an idea being promoted as "The Secret". It seems to me that if we could truly make things happen simply by thinking our way there, the promoters would not need to promote these ideas, they could simply wish us all into submission.

I have to admit that I come from the school of hard work. In other words I believe you can be successful at anything you set you mind to, except we might not set our mind to so much it if we realized how much hard work is required to get there. We often give up on what we want to accomplish because it is too much work.

This leads me to the dwell briefly on premise behind the new TV series "Being Erica" - that is choices lead to consequences. She is luckily allowed to go back and remake some of the decisions she made when she was young and foolish - and I am guessing will find her life improving as she undoes those bad choices of the past. Too bad we all can't do that, eh? Best we can do is learn from our bad choices and learn to deal with the aftermath. Hopefully, not as deadly as an actual avalanche. And that is my word of wisdom for the day - actually, I think I should restrict myself to only 1 "word of wisdom" per week or else you might think I have more self esteem than I should. So I promise more sillier posts in the days to come. This is supposed to be fun reading, not "Mother Knows Best".

Tada for now.

Jeepers, creepers....where'd ya get them peepers

Jeepers, creepers... where'd ya get them eyes... or so the song goes.

So the Peepers are not that nice looking just yet. I will admit that.

And in answer the lyrical question, I bought them, as mentioned in my last post - should have used that as the title of my last post, but I just thought about that song and it appealed... and I am just now looking at my new eyes and get a good feel for what they will look like when healed. Awesome, I think. Well to be truthful they will still look like my eyes, just a lot less saggy. Those of you who are my new friends may not notice much at all after everything is healed up. But I will.

I think they will be a nice improvement. My friend, T.S.  sent me an email last night. I have been in almost daily contact with him over the last week, sending emails and pics (- thanks for the support T.S.). I do believe he is utterly flabbergasted at how awful I have been looking. He asked me if "knowing what I know now would I do this again?" My daughter Lilly said she felt like crying when she looked at me because it seems like I had the crap beat out of me. OK, so I am not so viewable just yet and my opinion must wait until factual evidence is available.

But what a question to be asked at this point! Shows his as yet unspoken judgement about my decision to do this. Kudos to you T. for leaving these thoughts unspoken. At this point the answer is easy - I am only "half baked" and any such conclusion can only be reached once I see the finished product and live with it for a while. I need to write him back this morning and tell him exactly that. While I am at it I will also tease him about what I can only assume to be a Saturday night date. Guess he is playing his cards close to his chest. We only agreed just a week or two ago that we were no longer "BF and GF". Noticed yesterday he was back advertising on LavaLife. (Yet another subject for a blog! - god, I will be blogging day and night to catch up with all the stuff I need to write). I decided to sit out of LavaLife for a bit yet... but I did update my "away" message so T.S. would know I had been on and therefore had seen that he was no longer "taking a break" . Might go back there in a week and see if any "bingo letters" have dropped into my hopper. T.S. tells me he gets so many "hello's" he can't keep up with them. But then that is another subject. Nothing against T.S. (actually he is quite hot) but there are far fewer men on these sites than women.

In 6 weeks I will be able to provide via this blog a preliminary answer to T.S.'s question - may even post a poll for you to tell me what you think. Just to give everyone a hint though, I am not having any second thoughts. Still quite happy with my choice despite a week of less than happy living. But the proof is in the final product. The doctor said after 2 weeks most of the bruising and swelling will be gone although will take 6 weeks to heal 90%. The real answer is to be had after one full year; it takes that long to reach the 100% mark. And of course other folks reactions to my new eyes will play a part - however my satisfaction will be the only thing that matters to me.

Looking on the bright side of my current circumstance (if you don't know me yet you will soon discover I like to look on the bright side), I have been able to listen to just about every song nominated for Obama's Play List on CBC - which has been some really fine listening to Canadian songs. For those of you who do not listen to CBC, they have a contest going at the moment. They are asking for email/phone in nominations for a play list of 49 Canadian songs to send to Obama on the occassion of his inauguration. Some damn good songs we Canadians have produced! This week we get to vote for the short listed songs. Listening to radio is about the only thing that I can do which doesn't tire my eyes and make them sore.

I did spend too much time on computer yesterday. I am jumping full into my New Years resolutions (see the list provided on the sidebar which cozies up nicely with my "bucket list" aka "43 Things" which is accessed via the link on the sidebar tool "Linkworthy"). Every day I will look over these lists and see what I can do tomorrow to futher what I want to accomplish. To this end, I perused the "Meet Up" sites and joined a few -skating, documentary movies, spanish music/dancing, book club and 35+ social. I looked up the Tai Chi nights for beginners and decided I should see if I can join up with a beginners class in progress on Thurs nights as a way of getting back into it. Once back "out there", in a few weeks, I will be joining in on a number of interesting activities with new friends. Also browsed around the "43 Things" site and added a couple of items to my life list. Last night's Golden Globe awards provided me with renewed interest in getting out to see some of the films which garnered the most kudos. In all more than my eyes could take at this point. They were sore by day's end. But I was happy with my day.

So what of today? I have to be careful not to over use my eyes. Found out yesterday how much they hurt after prolonged keyboarding. I also have to decide when I will be able to go up to Collingwood to visit my dear friends up there. I promised to go up and spend a few days during my time off. I am not supposed to drive until day 7 - hard to drive with tearly, blurry eyes that hurt. Since I have to see the Doc on Wed and go get my mammogram on Thurs, I might leave it now until after so as I can spend the weekend up there.

Also on tap for today is a long walk with my dog Bella, shown on the left. Bella is a great walker. Boy, sitting around is not helpful for my weight loss effort. I can't believe how last month's holiday (I went on a cruise just before Christmas - Ye Gads! - the subject of another post to come!) and the holiday season moved me back up the unhappy side of the scale. I am not allowed any aerobic exercise for 3 weeks, but walking is fine. So I need to walk.

And it is MONDAY! One week before I go back to work after my 5 week haitus. :( Getting kind of used to not having to work for a living. *sigh* Too bad I don't have a wealthy "benefactor".

Another beautiful sunny day. Cold, -4 or -10 with the wind chill but I will take that with sun over +2 and cloudy any day. Good day for a walk. Gonna see if I can do at least 5 K. Might be hard with Bella. She won't wear those doggie booties and she gets salt in her paws. I end up carrying her when that happens and with my eyes I am not supposed to bend down as yet. Hard not to bend down when you have to pick up your dog. Makes the blood flow to my head and that causes bleeding. I found that out first hand yesterday when I forgot and bent over to tie up my boot. Anyway, I digress. Got to get moving the day is moving on.

One closing item. Today's picture is one view from my bedroom here in my Liberty Village Condo. It is on the 21st floor looking south over the lake and east to the CN Tower. Wonderful views. Will show more pics of them in blogs to come.