Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Yonge Street Texan Discusses Some Differences

I have been thinking a lot this week about the differences between where I came from and where I live in East Texas, 100 miles from Houston.

I chose this picture this time because it shows a place Hubby and I have gone to walk, have lunch and browse shops. It is at Lake Ontario and has been built since I was an adult. If it were panned a little further, it would include the CN Tower which is a communications tower, sometimes claimed by some to be the world's tallest building. (Surely, some taller buildings have risen since.) This area is for pedestrians and helps Toronto keep it's nickname of "People City".

The Skydome was built to house the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club and was home to the Toronto Argonaut Football Club. It is now called Rogers Centre (Canadian spelling there).

Toronto has a population of about 5.5 million in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GTA) which is a little more than the 500,000 people living there when I was kid living in central North Toronto, near Eglinton and Avenue Road. I used to be able to walk down two blocks or across one block to catch a bus to the subway (underground train) which was originally built in the early 50s. The subway part of the transportation system now has many routes going in every direction. Cars are best left home when going to work or college.

Transportation is one major difference where I live now. My neighbour had a wreck (Canadian: accident) two weeks ago and she really had to rely on her friends to give her lifts to anywhere she went.

Our Community College sure could use a parking garage and one is being built in the next town at the University. If you have lots of cars, Toronto likes to "stack" them and there are many, many parking garages.

There are also some parking lots with attendants so they can get the optimum number of cars into the smallest amount of space.

The land is premium in Toronto because that is where everyone wants to live because that is where the jobs are. So, a forty foot lot across the frontage of a residential house is considered pretty good. (All due respect to Vancouver which is now a hub for jobs in Canada as well.)

The house I grew up in had a 29 foot frontage and today is still considered a nice house in a nice and convenient area. Virtually all houses have basements and are more than one storey. If there is enough land, in the outlying areas, there are split level layouts and some bungalows (one storey). (In East Texas, most houses are one storey and have no basement.)

Torontonians are pretty much tidy people who are known for not littering. People in all of Ontario do a lot of recycling. Some have compost piles in their backyards and most people have larger amounts of recycle than trash at curb on pick-up day.

A Torontonian parks his car on the street or in a driveway and can expect a ticket for parking on the lawn.

The Canadian population - especially in Toronto - is very diverse now. But when I was a kid, Canada was still a British Colony. Even as a youngster, I studied French in School which was what you would hear in Paris, France not Montreal, Quebec.

Because we were a British Colony, our ways were a little stiffer and we grew up having stricter ways of doing things. East Texas is a very laid-back area which sometimes reminds me of our beautiful Muskoka Cottage Country where we used to vacation.

Today, Toronto is ethnically diverse with many languages being spoken with foods available to many different groups as well as mosques and temples and special groups. Toronto just "grew up" as it were.

Toronto is a great place to visit and in fact, has a lot of similarities to Houston, if you forget weather! Shopping, theaters and restaurants are plentiful.

Tied in with the subway transportation which is mostly underground are shops and theaters and restaurants: an underground community as it were.

After 14 years, you would think I would no longer tack "eh?" on the ends of sentences, but actually, what has happened is that Hubby does that now also.

I would tell you to book a vacation in Toronto but would caution you that it is a pretty expensive place to visit, although not quite as costly as to live there.

Just a few differences . . .

Friday, March 25, 2011

Father John Corapi


Father John Corapi, originally uploaded by Pray the Rosary.

"It is my personal opinion, one which is in accord with the mind of the Church, that you will profit very much by praying the holy Rosary every day. The prayer of the Rosary is the prayer of the holy Gospel, the Good News Who is Jesus. My best piece of spiritual advice to you, no matter who you are,…PRAY THE ROSARY EVERY DAY! You will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams. God bless you." Father John Corapi.

Hubby and I came across Fr. John Corapi several years ago on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). His life story is one of having been to hell and crawling his way back to become priest (ordained by Pope John Paul in the Vatican) about twenty years ago. He speaks with knowledge and clarity and although we are not Catholics, his message came through to us loud and clear.

If you go to Father Corapi's website you can see his message of how on Ash Wednesday, his world fell apart with charges from a former staff member of Santa Cruz Media, the company who markets his DVDs and CDs as well as booking him for his speaking engagements. Fr. Corapi has written a book due to be presented in the fall in October.

It is my hope that some fine lawyer will see this as a time to offer his services to Fr. Corapi pro bono.

I am more than disturbed by the application of guilty until proven innocent which is opposed to the laws of the United States of America.

To learn more about Father Corapi, visit his website at www.fathercorapi.com.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Elizabeth Taylor - R.I.P.


FILES-US-TAYLOR-BURTON, originally uploaded by O POVO Online.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor each had Mexican divorces not recognized in Ontario, Canada. So, they were married in 1964 in Montreal, Quebec in a civil ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

I do remember seeing Elizabeth Taylor in the audience at the then O'Keefe Theater in Toronto where Burton was playing King Arthur in the stage production Camelot in Toronto before it opened in New York City. So, they honeymooned in Toronto. (In school, we had studied Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson which was the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table including Sir Lancelot.)

Everyone has a moment in Toronto, right? So did Elizabeth & Richard. (That theater or "theatre", was not on Yonge street, but Front Street near Lake Ontario, east of Union Train Station.)

No matter her many husbands, I do think Elizabeth Taylor will be remembered for her flawless complexion, jet black hair, unique violet-colored eyes and fabulous jewelry. She probably defined the term "Hollywood Star".

In latter years, she turned her interests toward helping others although she endured a lot of ill health.

For me, the passing of Elizabeth Taylor is more the passing of an era . . .

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Facebook Down Today . . . Hmmm . . . Think Of The Possibilities!


FARMTOWN FACEBOOK, originally uploaded by sydneyreyesjr.

Looks like the Facebook website is down today.

So, I guess we can find out what we could be spending our time on.

You know, your farms' harvest will wither; you will miss who went to Starbucks and who skinned their knee.

Gonna miss who has the sniffles today and who is already at work. Now, if they are at work, how come they are still updating on Facebook?

Well, I am not going to blog on this topic for very long because that would just point out to you and everyone else how much time I and all of us spend (waste?) on Facebook each day.

Today, Hubby & I have planned a lunch to spend time with a Canadian friend who will be on her way back to Peterborough after wintering down in the warmth. (Of course, I expect she will mention that it wasn't as warm this year as it usually is. And she might also mention the snow we had.)

Then there is the pile of index cards I have on the side of the kitchen table to organize coupons and deals so we actually take advantage of them.

Ah yes, then there is the dust I can remove. There are clothes to be washed. There are some items to take back to Belk Department Store (best return policy ever) and some grocery shopping to be done.

So, there you have it! I bet you have a few things to do.

A day without Facebook . . . well, let's see just how well we can cope without the constant invasion to our old-fashioned routine which actually worked quite well.

Ah, yes, Hubby off to Band Practice tonight which is as good as it gets when you are looking for a hobby.

Time to look for a vase to place some flowers for a friend having surgery today . . .

Oh, yes, I think I can get by without Facebook . . . as long as it is down long enough for me to learn how much I can do in a day . . .

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

See Something You Like About This Photo?


FAMILY dinner night, originally uploaded by aimee4frogs.

We "oldsters" out of touch? I think not. The total boredom and searching for multi-tasking, represents a totally out-of-control generation who cannot get enough thrills simultaneously. Is everyone on alcohol and drugs? This is the generation who have been eating their dinner out of the microwave at the counter. Family togetherness apparently is a rarity now. We certainly have come a long way, Baby! This is the generation raised by the so-called liberated people. The world must be winding down. (Some scholars of the Book of Revelation must be nodding their heads.)

This is what I wrote as a comment to a news story from our local TV station that a young girl (I think it was 11 years old) was gang-raped by at least 15 young men. There is a trial going on and they are actually looking for more suspects.

Well, guess the young people are pretty happy that they have gone so far south of the way we seniors were raised. This is heart-breaking, sickening and totally divergent from any teachings we learned.

God bless us all!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Are Our Leaders Fiddling While Our Country Burns?


Nero and Rome Music Box, originally uploaded by edburkle.

Two years into President Obama's term, people are still getting press, still circulating e-mails and generally wasting their time pondering whether this man is a bona fide American.

(As you know if you read this regularly, I am originally from Canada and became an American several years ago. That means I have dual citizenship and may hold any office but the presidency.)

Right now, while United States of America - to quote Donald Trump - is the laughing stock of the world, and needs to fix the economy, fix healthcare, fix that very few of the durable goods we buy are made in America, we need to focus on FIXING!

Why are film and television actors who misbehave and/or may have mental health issues getting so much space in the press - newspaper, internet and TV?

There is a very old expression from approximately 64 A.D. that says the Emperor Nero was fiddling while Rome burned.

Well, that is pretty much what is happening today.

(Yes, I know that generally this blog is more gentle but somebody had to say it!)