Lisa Stokes

Wednesday October 29 – Downey’s Farm

My friend Gail, a retired teacher, has been working as a school tour guide at Downey’s Farm this fall and loving it. She gave me a free pass for one child to visit Pumpkinfest. The weather wasn’t great today, but Pumpkinfest ends on Friday so as soon as Owen arrived home from school we headed out.

It is much more elaborate than the last time we were there in 2008. Wasn’t Owen adorable?

There was a lot to do. A band of skeletons played for us.

Duck races.

We had a great time races these bikes around a track.

Here we are about to enter the corn maze.

It was huge. Here’s a aerial view of the maze.

There were still pumpkins in the field.

The haunted house was fun. The ogre actually scared Owen when he rose up and growled.

A giant spider web entrance has been incorporated into the old goat mountain that was there years ago.

There were goats, sheep, cows, chickens and rabbits to pet. Stop eating my coat you silly goat.

Owen loved the rabbits.

There were a couple massive boxes of gourds.

We finished up with coffee, hot chocolate and baked goods which we ate in the car. There is no where to eat inside and we were quite chilled by the time we finished.

Michael’s mother died this evening, peacefully, while he was with her. She was 80 years old.

Tuesday October 28 – Bike the Creek Planning Ride

Sunday afternoon we received a call from Caroline and Pete, good friends of Michael’s mother, Maureen, telling us they had found her delirious, and bleeding, in bed on Sunday morning. They took her to the hospital for assessment. In the evening they called back to say that nothing had been found yet, but that she was staying in hospital for observation. We went to bed. When the phone rang a little after 1am we knew the news would not be good. Her colon was necrotic. Maureen had a DNR and had made it very clear she did not want to live dependent on others for care. They would make her comfortable, but Michael should fly over as soon as possible. He made arrangements in the morning and flew to Bristol Monday night.

He arrived midday. Fortunately, Maureen knew that he had come. She was unable to speak, but knew he was there and was able to squeeze his hand. He spent the day with her. Caroline spent the night. Today Michael spent the day at the hospital again, but Maureen did not appear to realize he was there.

Meanwhile, I went on a planning ride with the chairman of the Brampton Bicycle Advisory Committee, David, his wife Dayle, the secretary of BBAC, Joanne and Nelson, employees of the City of Brampton, Erica from the Region of Peel, and a representative of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (whose name escapes me at the moment). We were testing out the tentative northern portion of 2015 Bike the Creek ride. It was a pleasant day and since the ride is a loop next year, I saw some areas of the city that I have never seen before. It was about 16km. Next week we text the southern portion.

This is the view from the northern end of the route looking north towards where the 410 swings west to meet Highway 10.

This is a lovely park, which I have long admired, called Christie Park, in the Stonegate area of the city.

We finished up with lunch at Tim Hortons.

Cycling Goal Achieved

The light was glorious this morning as I prepared to leave the house to meet Patti for our first ride together since we each acquired a road bike.

We rode the Etobicoke Creek Trail from County Court Boulevard in the south to just north of Conservation Drive in the north for a total ride of just over 31 kilometres. It was 10 degrees, but it felt cooler with the wind, dampness and overcast conditions. My toes were quite cold by the end of the ride.

I had two goals for cycling this year. The first was to ride the 100 kilometre route in the Tour de Mississauga, which I did on September 21. The second was to ride 2000 kilometres in 2014, which is about 400 more than my previous personal best. When I returned home today I checked Mapmyride and I have now surpassed my goal by 80 kilometres. Done and done.

Next year I have three goals:

1. Ride the 120 km route in the Tour de Mississauga,

2. Ride 100km each day for two consecutive days, and

3. Ride 3000 km in 2015

Monday, October 20 – Schomberg

Today I met my friend Jennifer in Schomberg for lunch. It is about half way between her home in Barrie and mine. Jennifer and I met when Megan and Jennifer’s daughter Emily were in Junior Kindergarten together. Her son Jacob is the same age as Alun and her daughter Abigail is the same age as Owen. They moved the summer Abigail was born. The children have recently grown apart however Jennifer and I have managed to remain friends despite the distance.

Schomberg is quite pretty this time of year with the old homes on its main street with the autumn foliage surrounding them.

We ate at the Schomberg Pub. I had cheddar and bacon perogies with a side caesar. It’s the third time we have met there and I have enjoyed the food every time. In the summer we ate on the patio which was surrounded beautifully by the gardens.

While waiting for Jennifer I took a selfie in front of the pub. Being the photographer in the family I never used to get my picture taken. I’ve solved that by joining the selfie craze.

Renovations

Trystan and Owen share a bedroom, and we have an extra bedroom that I use as a sewing room/photography studio, which is used by guests when we have them. The living room has been used as a playroom for years, but with the youngest, Owen, having reached ten years of age, it isn’t used very much any more.

The couches have been moved upstairs to an open area outside Megan’s room. I originally planned to move them back to the new sewing room, but have enjoyed sitting there so much this past week that I think I will leave them where they are. It is a southern exposure with trees just outside the window. The sunlight, filtered through the autumn foliage this week, has invited me to sit there for my coffee most afternoons.

We have decided to change the children’s playroom into my “playroom”. It will become my sewing and photography studio and I won’t have to vacate it when we have company. The sewing room, a large room over the garage, will become Trystan’s bedroom, which will have two single beds in it, and be shared with Owen when we have company. Owen will stay in his current bedroom, on his own, with a new daybed, which will fold out into a king size bed, when needed.

The current sewing room has never been painted and the walls are quite a mess. The playroom and Trystan and Owen’s current bedroom were painted years ago, so all three rooms will be getting a fresh coat of paint. I have been weeding out the toys since the spring, by donating the ones in good shape to the school, throwing out broken toys or ones with missing pieces and building a shelf in the basement to store the massive Lego collection, which I am unwilling to part with (the kids probably wouldn’t care). Unfortunately, it turns out one shelf isn’t enough – we still have four large Ikea under-the-bed boxes in Trystan and Owen’s room full of Lego. The toys shelves will become shelves for my quilting and photography supplies, and have been moved temporarily to the dining room, and reloaded with the toys and games for which I have yet to find a home. Today we removed all the plates and curtain rods and started repairing the walls.

Unfortunately, the floor has become quite worn in the three places where desk chairs have been moved repeated over the years. We don’t have the budget to replace the floor right now, nor do we want to spend a lot of time refinishing it. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Once the old playroom has been re-painted I will move in furniture from the old sewing room and move everything I want to keep. Then we will paint the old sewing room and move in most of the furniture from Trystan and Owen’s room. They will both move in while we re-paint Owen’s old room.

We aren’t very fast at these types of things so we hope to be done by Christmas since we often have company on New Year’s Eve.

Friday October 17 – Sheridan Campus Oakville Visit

Today Megan, Michael and I visited the Sheridan Campus in Oakville. We picked up Megan from school just before lunch and headed to Oakville. We parked and checked in at the Student Tours office to give them our license plate so we didn’t get ticketed. Then we went to The Marketplace for lunch. Just like at Humber, which we visited two weeks ago, it was populated by fast food chains. Unlike Humber, Sheridan was light and airy. It had a different and better feel to it. It felt more sophisticated, less like a souped up high school.

The eating area of the Marketplace was beautiful with the autumn colours and sunlight pouring in through the wall of glass.

The landscaping was beautiful.

The tour group here was quite a bit larger (there was only one other student at Humber). The guide spent an hour showing us around. It is a lovely campus with lots of resources. The creativity of the students abounds in the art and furnishings around the campus.

The student bar.

The Student Union.

Two of the many S shaped pieces of art scattered around the campus.

Outside the library.

The technology commons where students can congregate, study, print and get technical help.

One of the lovely sitting areas outside.

If Megan attended Sheridan, she would live in residence as it would take 90 minutes to two hours one way on public transit from our house. Megan doesn’t have her driver’s license. She isn’t interested in getting it – at least not yet. At $6850 for a residence room plus groceries I don’t think we would save any money if she did get her license and drive a second car (which we would have to buy since we only have one). There is no meal plan. The rooms consist of a shared kitchen and eating area with fridge, microwave, shelves and sink. Students can bring other small appliances and use the common kitchen area down the hall if they need a stove or oven. The residence runs a weekly shuttle to the local Supercentre and teaches the kids how to shop and cook if they need help. There is a private full bathroom and two bedrooms, each with a double bed, desk, shelves and closet. Each bedroom has a TV with cable and ethernet connection in case the campus wide wifi is too slow. It is quite nice. They have a games room and even have a theatre. Laundry facilities are shared by the whole residence.

The view from the room we saw was lovely.

Sheridan Oakville has 8000 students and room for 800 in residence.

Sheridan is Megan’s first choice so far. We have three more campuses to visit.

We discovered that the program that Megan has applied to is changing to a combined print and broadcast journalism instead of just broadcast, but she is still excited about Sheridan.

Friday October 3 – Humber College North Campus Visit

Today Megan and I visited the Humber College North Campus. It is one of five campuses that we plan to visit to help Megan decide where to go next year.

The campus is quite close to home – only about 15 minutes by car – and easily accessible by public transit.

I was surprised to learn that there are about 20,000 students on the north campus.

I picked up Megan from school just before lunch and we headed over. We were provided with good directions and a parking pass. Campus restaurants have changed since I attended with many of the fast food restaurants one would expect to find at the mall’s food fair also showing up on campus.

Humber is building a new modern looking library which will be completed in time for the start of classes in 2015, but much of the campus looks like it was built in the heyday of the brutalist architectural style of the 1960s and 1970s.

Megan described the campus as a “cross between a high school and a mall”.

I discovered that there is a restaurant run by the cooking school that looked quite interesting and reasonably priced. Michael and I might go there for lunch some time.

Saturday October 18 – Climbing the CN Tower

In early October 2007 Megan asked me if we could climb the CN Tower. I didn’t know, but told her I would look into it. I found out that The Toronto United Way holds a climb for fundraising every October. Alun expressed an interest in going, too. I researched how many stairs had to be climbed – 1776 – and told them I would take them if they climbed up and down our stairs at home, without stopping, for an equivalent number of steps. They did and that began, for me, and at least one of my children, the annual CN Tower climb.

Since then we have become more formal in our preparation and climb the stairs at the parking garage of Brampton Civic Hospital to practice.

This year, Trystan and Owen, and my nephews, Jason and Ryan, joined me. Jason and Ryan slept over so we could get an early start. Those arriving before 7am get a buy one, get one free pass to come back to the tower to use the elevator. Up until 2012, it was a free pass for each climber.

The alarm was set for 5:30am. I hadn’t slept well, so I was awake before it went off and was able to turn it off and not disturb Michael. I woke the kids, fed them breakfast and we were off by 6:15. The drive to Toronto doesn’t take long at that time on a Saturday morning. We pulled into a parking spot under the north building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre by 6:55 and were entering Hall C in time to get the BOGO passes.

Jason and Ryan did not have their pledges in the system by October 8, as required to join the “fully registered” line to hand in waivers and receive timing chips, so we lined up in the “partially registered” line which was a little longer. It turned out their chips were set up and we could have joined the shorter line.

We agreed that Trystan and Jason could go ahead as quickly as they could manage, separately if they wished, but that Ryan, Owen and I would climb together.

Jason had the best time for our little group and a personal best of 16:54. He was hoping to beat Alun’s record of 16:42 set in 2011, but missed it by 12 seconds. He stumbled and fell a few floors from the top otherwise he might have knocked Alun from his perch.

Owen came in second with 24:05 surging ahead of me after about 80 floors compared to 22:48 last year which was his personal best.

We caught up to Trystan at about the 50th floor. He was very thirsty and started to feel a bit nauseated, so he and Ryan and I climbed together the rest of the way. Trystan had a personal best of 27:15. It was Ryan’s first climb with a respectable 27:20. I finished with the same time as Ryan. One of these years, they’ll all be faster than me and I will be able to find out just how fast I can actually climb the tower. My personal best is the same as Owen’s, 22:48. My goal is to do it under 20 minutes some day.

It was Ryan’s first time up the tower so we looked around for a while before heading down. The view was better than I had expected as the forecast rain didn’t happen. Once we returned to Hall C we picked up our t-shirts and had this picture taken. Then we headed to McDonalds (the kids’ choice) for second breakfast.

We got home in time to change and head to skating lessons, dropping Jason and Ryan off on the way. With the quick turn-around, Owen forgot his skate bag and had to watch Trystan from the stands.

Once we returned home, I spent a lazy afternoon in bed.

Gas Price War

When I was out running errands this morning, I came across gas for $1.096! I can’t remember when it was last under $1.10. This is at the Esso at Richvale Drive South, which for months have been running cheaper than the one near me. Today, the one by me was $1.179. I filled up even though I was 3/4 full.

At the grocery store I spotted a kit to make Reese’s Peanut Butter squares. Reese’s Peanut Butter anything is a favourite is our house so I bought it. Owen and I made it after school. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment. The base was dry and bland, the top, too sweet. It was also time consuming to make for a kit with the three layers. I cannot recommend it.

Michael and I took a quick walk before dinner. The trees, where they have changed colour, are quite pretty.

The outside of the addition at the school looks like it is nearing completion.

Wednesday, October 15 – Happy Birthday Dad

It is my dad’s 81st birthday on Sunday October 19 so today Lara and I took him out for lunch at Panera Bread in Mississauga. I love their Autumn Squash soup.

Over the years I have found it difficult to find a creative gift for my father. It’s not that he is hard to buy for – he is always happy with a new shirt, belt or slippers – but I don’t always like to be so predictable in my gift giving.

Dad went to Ryerson for photography and spent his career at Polaroid. Photography has always been a hobby for him and he gave me an excellent grounding in photography when I was growing up. I have no memory of a time when there was not a camera and plenty of film available to play with. When I wanted to buy my first SLR, Dad recommended the Canon AT-1, which had to be set manually, so I would learn the basics and not rely on the camera to decide the settings. To this day, I primarily shoot in manual mode and feel I get much better results for doing so.

Since 2008, Patti and I have gone away for a weekend each spring, and taken our bikes with us. From 2008-2010, we went to Ottawa for the Tulip Festival.

In 2011 and 2012 we went to Montreal.

Last year and this year we went to Rochester, New York. One of Rochester’s main tourist attractions is the George Eastman House. It is a beautiful mansion in a lovely section of Rochester built by the founder of Kodak.

It has a photography gallery, mansion tours, beautiful gardens and a gift shop and cafe. I highly recommend a visit. The gift shop is a treasure trove of items for the photography buff. Each time I visited I bought several items for Dad for Fathers’ Day, birthday and Christmas.

Today we gave him an f-stop watch which would be a mystery to someone who doesn’t understand photography, but a fun item for one who does.

Here he is opening it. He look great for 81 doesn’t he?

Of course, I had to hand him the camera to get a picture of Lara and me.

My red maple was coming into its glory when I returned home.