HUGE

Check out that carrot! There's a huge barrel of this size carrots at my green grocer. We cut it up and had boiled carrots for dinner - made four large servings!

The circus was in town!

I'm starting to really enjoy living in a huge city. There are all kinds of free events and festivals going on now that it's summer, and it's simply delightful. We went and saw the circus a couple weekends ago.

Most impressive balloon animal we've ever seen!

The black shirt you see the woman wearing above started on the man at the bottom.

While Helena took a nap, John & I watched the circus troupe above stretch and practice before the big show. Seeing them practice actually made us appreciate their stunts more because we saw how careful & focused they were when the crowd wasn't around. Amazing how those smiles really make the work seem effortless.

He eventually had that ring spinning with his nose about four inches from the floor.

Juggling 5 balls by bouncing them on the floor 10 feet below where he's standing.

The most impressive act was this juggler. At one point he walked up and down the stairs juggling seven - SEVEN - balls by bouncing them on the stairs.


Helena was more interested/bewildered with all the people than with the circus acts. But she'll really enjoy it in a few years!

A Favorite Time of the Day

Helena's crib is about a foot and a half from my side of the bed. I wouldn't want it any other way, especially in the morning. Here's the current morning routine.

1. I wake up to the sound of suck, suck, suck, suck, suck...

2. As I reach for my glasses, the sucking is interrupted with a pause here and there.

3. I put on my glasses and see someone staring intently at me:


4. I smile - who wouldn't?

5. Helena either smiles back or continues to suck her thumb.

6. As I get out of bed I hear a short shriek and little feet pounding on a mattress.

7. A sweet girl with big grins greets me from the crib.

HOW COULD MORNINGS BE ANY BETTER?

Living in a Small Place

As you saw here, our home is not what you'd call large. There are times when we really struggle with this, like tonight. The kitchen is overflowing with dirty dishes. The refrigerator door doesn't open all the way due to the radiator being in its way, causing the fridge to be packed to the gills because I can't get very much inside the fruits & veggie drawer. The living room floor, all 10 square feet of it, is covered with baby things. The couch is full of papers & such that used to be on the kitchen table but were removed from there so we could eat dinner. Sigh.

But perspective is everything, right? So I'm going to practice seeing the glass half full and share all the positives of living in a small space.

1) It takes very little time to clean. John & I can have the place spic & span in less than 45 minutes. That's going from the description above to an apartment that has everything put away, swept floors, a clean kitchen and a clean bathroom.

2) It helps us to be content with what we have. Knowing that you'll have to literally find a space to put anything that you buy prevents you from purchasing new things.

3) Not only does it help you be content but it also shows you that you don't need as much as you think. When deciding what would go in our storage unit and what would stay in the apartment, I very carefully packed some boxes to stay in the apartment to be used as an extra counter for the kitchen. We have gotten into those boxes once in the last eight months - to find the clippers for a haircut for John. We've not been in the storage unit at all.

4) It's gotten us closer to the living arrangements of so many others in the world. Closer, yet not there. We're still better off.

Tummy Time Gone Awry

Helena was having some tummy time today when she spat up. John quickly wiped off the blanket and then thought he should wipe off her chin as well. This is what he found when he picked her up:


Now let it be known that she was perfectly happy with her messy face (otherwise we would not have taken the above photo). It wasn't until John tried to wipe it off that she began to fuss.

She has found it.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen,
the thumb has been truly discovered.

Salted vs. Unsalted

As if we weren’t getting enough sodium in our diet already, John has begun to salt his cookies.

Why is he salting the cookies you ask? His wife made cookies last night and used unsalted butter rather than salted. A little thing, you might think, but if that is what you thought, you’d be wrong.

The cookies’ texture looked different immediately and the dough wasn’t as good, but we explained it away with the fact that we hadn’t had them for awhile. But then the first pan came out, we of course sampled, and something had to be done.

Did you know a stick of butter contains 3/4 teaspoon salt? So we did the math, added some salt to the rest of the dough, and presto, Anzacs were delicious again.

High Park in Bloom

We're blessed to live in a wonderful neighborhood with High Park just blocks away. High Park is the largest park entirely within the city of Toronto, and it's wonderful. We're regulars, if there is such a thing for a park, and lately it's been beautiful.


In the late 1950s, Japan gave the city of Toronto 2,000 Japanese Cherry Blossom trees which were then planted in High Park. When spring (finally) arrives, the park is covered with blossoms above and photographers below!


Our fam went on Mother's Day and then my Mom's Group visited on Wednesday.


Wish you could be here to enjoy the beauty!

A Reminder of Venice

St. Mark's Square in Venice had one thing that really intrigued me.


It wasn't the beautiful architecture of the Byzantine Basilica.


It wasn't the fact that in certain areas everyone walked on raised walkways due to flooding.


No, it was the sheer number of pigeons. I can honestly say that the pigeon is one animal I wish did not exist. They're simply gross. And what was crazy in St. Mark's was some people covered themselves in bread crumbs (I'm guessing there) and then would walk into the pigeons. The birds would then land ALL OVER THEM and then pictures would be taken. No, these people were not paid to do this; they were tourists. And they wanted a picture of themselves covered in pigeons. SO DISGUSTING.


Well, I got pooped on by a pigeon today. Yuck.

Mother's Day

I really liked Mother's Day.


Not because of the delicious parfait that I was served in bed.
And not because we got this photo of Helena's sweet little smile.


Not because John & Helena both gave me "tulips" (or so John thought...).


Not because of the beautiful cherry blossom trees in High Park.
And not because I got to introduce Helena to their texture.


Not because of the delicious green mango salad that I got to eat.


But because I'm a mom and I have the most wonderful daughter.

Tummy Time

Helena had not been fond of tummy time.
So we had to really bribe her.


But she's doing better now.


As a matter of fact, she's doing so well now that
she gets to face forward in the Snugli.


There are so many more reasons to stay awake
when you can see the world!

Scarborough Bluffs

We went on a bit of a hiatus but now we're officially back into exploring Toronto and the surrounding area! First adventure with Helena - Scarborough Bluffs.


The erosion of the bluffs is extremely obvious but we stuck to safe places and enjoyed the view.


But after five minutes, the cold wind got to us so we left. But how does one rectify a trip across the city for just five minutes of fun?


Make a stop at the local donut shop. As you can tell, Helena thought it was all worthwhile.

Maybe you all have a life...

...or I must have really fooled all of you, since no one made a guess as to what the flat stuff is on John's sandwich. (Thanks to Erinn, though, for her comment!)

Anyways, the current sandwich of choice for John is one that includes smoked tofu. That's right. TOFU. We've been eating it for awhile in stir-fries. But last week we went to a farmer's market where gourmet tofu was being sold. Many of you are probably thinking - gourmet tofu? How can anything like that be gourmet? But this stuff is different than what you buy at the grocery store.

(Ignore this paragraph if you have no interest in tofu.) Legend goes that tofu was accidentally made when a Chinese cook was seasoning pureed soybean with sea salt. Sea salt contains Nigari, a coagulant, and the Nigari made the soybean turn into a flavorful curd - tofu! Tofu became a staple in Chinese diets. But when tofu began to be made by machines rather than by hand, calcium sulphate and calcium chloride were replaced for the Nigari.

We can say firsthand that this gourmet tofu is SO MUCH BETTER! We got some that was marinated in sweet & sour sauce and had it in a stir-fry. Delicious. John also chose the smoked tofu variety, which has the taste of bacon. In his opinion, it's better fried than not. Below is his current favorite: the TST - Tofu, spinach, & tomato sandwich.


In my opinion, if I'm going to eat something that tastes like meat, might as well eat meat. So I'm avoiding the smoked tofu and eating one of my favorite sandwiches, a grilled cheese on cinnamon raisin bread.