My home sweet harbour (not my photo)
A bunch of pleasant things:
- The nearest ice cream stand opened for the season – so I had my first scoop of local favourite flavour Moon Mist already
- Chinese food meal for Mothers Day with extended family
- Out for a deluxe lunch for Rom’s birthday followed by playing Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu at a board game café
- Another family evening at the annual dinner theatre at my parents’ church (amateur dramatics!)
- Loving the new Courtney Barnett album! (new Arctic Monkeys and new Chvrches albums, not so much)
Carmen Aguirre
I was out for one real event: the museum of immigration had a powerful exhibit on refugees, with acknowledgement of Canada’s mixed track record of receiving them. As part of that, Carmen Aguirre did a reading and Q&A based on her wonderful memoir Something Fierce – highly recommended! I have read both of her memoirs – the second one is even more harrowing. When she was a child, the elected government of Chile was ousted by the Pinochet dictatorship and her family came to Canada as refugees; she later returned as a resistance fighter, but since Chile is now stable, she has made her adult life in Canada.
We’ve had cool weather this spring and I only swapped out my winter for summer tires recently. Everything is green now, the lilacs are out, and lawn-mowing season is going full-tilt. For the second summer in a row, we are being advised not to put out bird feeders because they help to spread a disease that is decimating songbirds.
Starting April 23, I decided I needed to get in summer shape. The combination of winter comfort eating and a new 100% desk job (since end of February) caught up to me. All of my pants were disagreeably tight – especially for sitting all day! I have only bought lunch twice since starting my new job, despite being surrounded by great eateries in all directions. I am eating homemade salads most of the time. But it took a while to wean myself off bakery goodies like muffins and oat cakes. I really do not like to obsess about weight so my goal was merely for my clothes to fit like they used to! But seeing the number on the scale go down has been satisfying. I am on track to be my summer size by June 15.
This was complicated by a severe cold earlier in the month which kept me out of the gym for a week, followed by a pesky medical issue that limited my fitness activities to walking-only for two weeks! On the plus side, I got to miss the gym and felt extra-motivated when I returned.
The old neighbourhood
At my new (temporary) work location, I have a work space with stunning views, and access to a lovely harbour-front walking trail. I have enjoyed being out every lunch time and I won’t be dropping those walks now. The route passes by the street where I lived as a child (up to age 7) and it is bittersweet seeing the neighbourhood. It hasn’t been gentrified yet. The original homes are still there, and most are not in great condition. There aren’t many local services any more – now you have to drive to get to a grocery store or school. But I like knowing the street and the houses and neighbourhood are still there.
My 3.5-year-old home computer is showing signs of hard drive failure, and to complicate things, our network drive has not been a reliable backup. So I bought a new external hard drive for emergency backup, and next I will need to resolve the problem. Fortunately, I have in-home tech support (i.e. Rom)! I have also backed everything up on Google Drive, but it’s a slow process to upload extensive photo and music libraries for the first time, so it can’t be done on the spur of the moment.
Everything for May was home and work related. Despite working on a big project, I can take summer vacation, so we’re starting to plan our annual trips to the UK and Toronto for the second half of the year.
What was May like for you?
An Exacting Life 
May was a very busy month – and thank goodness, the warm weather has finally arrived!
.Joined the Probus Social Club – attended my first General Meeting and joined their Book Club
.Attended a Musical Presentation called “For God & Country” at my church – they have an amazing & very popular music program and they attract professional actors & musicians – this was the third & final program in a series that has been about WWI
.Saw “Annie” for the third time
.Saw the Kasuma exhibit “Infinity Mirrors” at the AGO – Amazing!
.Toured 5 buildings during the Saturday of the “Doors Open Toronto” weekend
.Started a small job at my church organizing the food for some social events & updating lists
.Volunteered for 2 afternoons at the Church Book Sale – this is a large scale event as we are located on King Street near University (right across from Roy Thomson Hall) so we get a LOT of foot traffic
.Continued with ESL teaching on Tuesday nights
.Saw the Cherry Blossoms in High Park
.Finally got to walk along the lake on a number of mornings
.Started a Keto diet (Doctor’s orders) and I’m doing well – this has worked for me in the past so I have to make it a lifestyle change not a diet. It is low carb but strangely, I’m not having any cravings and I’m managing the intermittent fasting really well.
So much going on!! I especially envy you the Kusama exhibit. Do you mind the travel to where your church is; that sounds like quite a trek? I can’t imagine that diet for myself but I am genuinely happy it suits you! I looked up Probus; sounds ideal. Have a great June!
Actually the trip to church is really easy. I live across the street from the Old Mill subway stn. so I zip across to St. George and then south to St. Andrew’s station. The church is right across the street from the subway – and this stop has elevators right to street level which is really helpful for me – on a Sunday it usually takes me about 35 minutes door to door – and it’s air-conditioned comfort on the subway! 🙂
Good to hear!
100% desk job sounds like a big change. How do you like it? Awesome that you have a great trail to walk at lunch. It’s been way too hot to be out in the middle day here lately. I’m trying to motivate myself to get up early and go out for a walk … so far I have not been able to convince myself.
What does Moon Mist taste like? The name intrigues me.
I love the job in every aspect except for sitting all day at my desk or at meetings! I posted about Moon Mist over on my Facebook page.
Saw the pic. Looks delicious.
As always it seems you had a varied month and I’m glad your health problem has been resolved. I’d also like to know what Moon Mist tastes like!
May was a too quiet month for us and we both are looking around for more activities and interests now that we have lived here a year. We have been taking lots of walks in the evenings which is lovely. Mother’s Day weekend I had my local son and DIL stay with us and as always it was a good time with lots of laughs and discussion. My FIL was hospitalized that same weekend (fine now) so we didn’t see much of my husband though. Slowly making new friends, got certified to use the gym and now need to do so, like my yoga classes and looking forward to a new book discussion group this coming Monday. I need to find a new genre or authors with series. How about a post on what you have been reading? I always enjoy those.
I like your life, Juhli! And that you are so intentional about it. I will do a reading post soon; thanks for asking!