September Book

I only got through one full book this month, We Meant Well by Erum Shazia Hasan.

The book starts with Maya, a woman living in Los Angeles, packing to go on a work trip. She tells her somewhat disinterested husband that she isn't sure how long she will be gone, she is being called in to deal with an issue.  We find out she used to be posted in Africa working for a charity, but has been mostly remote for a few years.  There is now a situation involving one of her colleagues and a local woman, and she is being tasked with addressing it.  As she travels closer to the village, we get more details, and then we find out what happened upon her arrival. 

What I liked about this book is that I didn't know anything about it, and we are fed details slowly, so that it's hard to have a preconceived notion of the story.  As I was reading it I was reminded of The Poisonwood Bible, one of my favourite books, which addresses the issue of ministering to Africa.  In that story, with the backdrop of 1960s Congo, the Price family is seen as doing more harm than good, and perhaps they would say "We Meant Well" too, and it is only with our view of history that we can judge them otherwise.  

In this book, it is during modern times, and many of the charities operating in Africa now are doing so with attention being paid to being thoughtful and respectful of local customs and traditions, without forcing Western values on anyone, while still trying to provide health care, education, clean water, etc., "meaning well". There are many great passages in this book where the main character reflects on work she has done, what other people are doing, and how they all fit into the African landscape, if at all.  Is it enough for them to say "we meant well" even as things remain desperate for so many people? 

When I finished the book the word that came to mind was "incredible". I really enjoyed the story and the writing and perhaps because of The Poisonwood Bible being one of my favourite books, felt more of an affinity to the subject matter.  This is one of those books that challenges you and I would recommend it.

Happy 8th Birthday Q!

We will be celebrating Q's birthday on Sunday. He will be 8 years old!  Q is great kid, when he is into something he is all in.  He plays hard at all of the sports he plays and is so competitive.  He gets along with the kids at school and on his baseball teams.  He loves playing with his stuffies and his Legos.  As the second child he gets to play lots of video games that his older brother didn't get to play at 7/8 years old. Q is very snuggly and likes to give lots of hugs.  He also gives his brother a hard time and then whines "Everett stop!!!" and then we get mad at E to leave Q alone.  Such is the life of brothers!  Q is also very stubborn and really doesn't want to try new foods and we hear his baby voice more than we would like.  He is definitely more emotional than his older brother.  I looked back at E's 8th birthday post and noted that he suddenly got so big without me noticing, and that's the same with Q. His legs are so long now. 

Here are some photos of Q from the past year, followed by his annual birthday quiz:

Favourite Colour

Yellow

Favourite Stuffed Animal 

Guy, of course!

Favourite Thing to Sleep With

Guy

Favourite Fruit

Watermelon

Favourite Thing to Eat for Breakfast

Chex

Favourite Thing to Eat for Lunch

Pizza

Favourite Thing to Eat for Supper

Tacos

Favourite Dessert

Ice cream and cake

Favourite Drink

Sprite

Favourite Animal

Cheetah

Favourite Book

Dog Man & Crayons (The Day the Crayons Quit)

Favourite Song

Thunderstruck (by AC/DC, also his walk up song for tball)

Favourite Sport

Soccer and Baseball

Favourite TV Show

Is it Cake, Building (Making Fun), The Inbestigators

Favourite Movie

Minions

Favourite Thing to do Outside

Play baseball and soccer

Best Friend

James and Sebastian

Favourite F1 Driver 

Norris

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A Grown Up! What did I say last year? A baseball player for the Blue Jays. Yah, I want to do that too.

Anything else to share?

Favourite thing to play with, like toys. Lego.

Monthly Musings

 

Linking up with Holly and Patty.

1. What are your best tips for getting into fall/back to school routine?

For fall, continue to get outside.  With the kids spending more time inside and the outdoor sports finishing up, we still want to find times to be outside.  September has the best weather. 

For back to school, no screentime in the morning.  It makes it a lot easier to get out of the door on time if we aren't wrenching ipads or other devices out of the kids' hands. 

2. Please share your favourite fall recipes.

French Onion Soup, Carbonara Pasta, Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

3. Favourite fall fashion staples.

Currently I like my new pants from Athleta.  They are just on the right side of being work appropriate while still being super comfortable.  I also picked up a couple of sweaters from Winners. I'm not always lucky in that store but I did some browsing earlier this week and found something. 

4. Favourite part of back to school this year?

I am glad the boys can get to their music lessons on their own, E was already doing that but this time he needs to get Q there too.  I'm also glad that we were able to find Q a tutor right away, he is coming along with his reading but more attention is required. 

5. Do you celebrate homecoming where you are?

No, we have nothing like that here.

6. Apple pie or apple cider?

Apple pie, I always make it for Thanksgiving.

7. Do the leaves changes colours where you live? If so, when?

Yes they do. A few trees start changing at the end of August, but it will be another few weeks before all of the leaves have changed.

8. Favourite fall sweet treat? Do you have any recipes to share?

Butter tarts are a good fall treat. I don't make them myself but you can usually find them somewhere.  I prefer them plain without pecans or raisins. 

9.  Hayride or bonfire?

Bonfire.  I love the smell and sound of an outdoor fire when the air is crisp. 

10. Movies that give you all the back to school feels?

Mean Girls, Clueless, School of Rock

What’s Up Wednesday

 What we’re eating this week...

Sunday - We went out to Bellona Kitchen
Monday - Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Garlic Bread
Tuesday - Tacos
Wednesday - Dave and the boys are planning to go golfing and I have a late meeting so who knows what we will end up eating?!
Thursday - Chicken and Vegetables
Friday - Blue Jays Game

What I'm reminiscing about...
As we get ready to celebrate Q's birthday I am remembering back when he was a baby.

What I'm loving...
Football.  We have been putting the football lately and even though I don't really have a team anymore (other than the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders!) I remember that I used to love watching football each week. 

What I'm dreading...
It's sort of already here, but I'm dreading the sickness that typically comes with the change of seasons.  E has had a cough for a few days and I have a sore throat now.  Lots of lemon and ginger water, rest, and cough drops for me!

What we've been up to...
As busy as the fall is, we find we have more weeknights free to just hang out, which has been nice. The summer evenings were full of baseball, soccer, and golf, and those things are all wrapped up, so for now we can take it easy. 

What I'm working on...
Q wants a funfetti cake for his birthday, and I like to make the cake from scratch.  All of the recipes I read said to use "jimmies" as the sprinkles, but we don't have those in Canada and they warned different sprinkles would not work.  So I make a test cake last night and used the long sprinkles we have here and it didn't really work.  So that was good I tested it out before I tried the real thing.  I think I may just buy a cake mix and then add pudding (like Shay does) to make it a bit more substantial.  And I can make homemade frosting. 

What I'm excited about...
Our trip to New York! I feel like I've done a good job of putting together an itinerary so I'm not doing a lot more work on it now. I'm really looking forward to going on the plane and seeing what the kids think of the city. 

What I'm watching/reading...
We are watching the Tragically Hip documentary and Slow Horses.  It takes us forever to watch anything since we are trying to get to bed earlier (ahem, or I'm falling asleep watching).

I just finished an incredible book, check back on Monday and I'll tell you about it. 

What I'm listening to...
I went back to my top songs of 2023, every song on that playlist is great! (Obviously!)

What I'm wearing...
I bought this skirt from Aritzia and I finally got to wear it this week.  It is very comfortable. I wore it with a white t-shirt but it will also go with sweaters.

What I'm doing this weekend...
Playing in the moms vs. kids tball game and celebrating Q's birthday.

What I'm looking forward to next month...
Thanksgiving, E's birthday, and Halloween. 

What else is new...
Our mortgage is up for renewal in a few weeks so I have to do some adulting as we consult with our broker and see what's available. 

Linking up with Shay.

Weekend Recap

We welcomed the first weekend of fall with summer weather and activities.  E had a playoff baseball game first thing on Saturday morning.  It was a pretty good game with our team getting a few hits and some impressive outs, but we lost in the end. 

Then we went over to Q's last soccer game.   They always do a Saturday of games when they give out the medals. I remember being here in years past and it was freezing, but this time it was nice and warm.  Q played hard as usual and was happy to get his medal

Then we went over to watch the t-ball playoffs. Someone did this impressive mural by the field.

E had a junior golf tournament that afternoon (which unfortunately got called for rain after 9 holes) and Q had a baseball tryout.  He has another year of eligibility of t-ball at High Park but we thought the tryout was good experience. He had a good time and one of his friends was there. 

I went to the grocery store (whoop!) and got stuff to make burgers for supper.  

On Sunday Dave had an early tee time and we went to church.  Q had leftover Kraft Dinner for lunch and liked how it retained the shape of the container it was in.

I was very productive on Sunday and washed all of our sheets, folded clothes, and made muffins.  I also got a workout in and watched the F1 race.  

We walked up to Bellona Kitchen for dinner that night. 

It was a good evening to be out walking and a great end to the busy weekend. 

Friday Favourites

Happy Friday!

I worked from home on Monday and I took the opportunity to go for a run in the late afternoon.  It was such a nice day to be down by the river. I didn’t see any salmon jumping yet .

I made a delicious pumpkin mac and cheese for dinner. The weather wasn’t very fall like, but this meal was!

We finished up baseball practice on Tuesday in the dying sunlight.  The sky was a turning pink.

I had some offsite work meetings at a really cool space at Dovercourt and Bloor. 

Lunch on our first day - we also had a delicious spread of smoked trout and bagels, tacos, and rice bowls. 

The boys got themselves home from school on Wednesday, this was proof of life!

Dave’s men’s night team won the season! 

I had to laugh at this.  Apparently they are making a Passion of the Christ 2, which I can’t even imagine what the plot is, but someone on Twitter said “Christ comes again and this time he’s kicking ass and taking names”, and then someone came up with these titles for more sequels. Hahah

Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you may be up to.

Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Weekend Recap

We had a great late summer weekend - September has the best weather.   Keeping with the photos I took last week of my own city, I thought I would snap a few from my office.  I don't usually go into the office on Fridays, but I had a few things to take care of in person. Unfortunately the windows give off some glare but you get the idea. 

The corner of Front and Bay.

Two of my colleagues and I are doing a monthly wine exchange. I brought them each a bottle of Whispering Angel (there is still enough summer left to enjoy a rose), and in return I got a Chablis and a California Cab Sauv. 

Dave had an afternoon tee time and caught up with his friend the coyote at the golf club. 

The Ukrainian Festival was going on up on Bloor West.  We like going up on Friday night to get some pierogi and check out the festivities. 

Tornado Potato

Q tried out the climbing wall. He got to the top of this one no problem.

The second climb was a bit more challenging and he got up about halfway. 

Q played a dart game and won a little stuffy, and Dave tried the basketball game. 

E was hanging out with his friends but we caught up with him a couple of times. 

E and Q both had games at 11:00 so we needed to divide and conquer.  I took Krispy Kreme doughnuts to E's team.  (and Q's team got Timbits).

After being out all morning and into the afternoon, we permitted a few video games afterwards. 

E had a baseball tryout later that afternoon and we all went to support him.  Then we had to hustle home so E could get dressed up to join his friends for a birthday party. They were going to The Keg and they all wore a suit.  Spiffy!

Because Q's team had won their game the day before, they had another game to play on Sunday morning. And E had another baseball tryout at the same time. I decided not to go to church so that meant we didn't need to be anywhere until 10:30. We had a nice morning to watch the F1 race and have bacon and eggs for breakfast. 

 Q's team lost their game so that meant their season was over, but it was a nailbiter and they kept it close the whole game.  Way to go Yankees!

After the game we got some food from the concession stand and watched the next tball game. Then we went over to visit some friends that live one street over and had a drink with them in their backyard.  

It was a great weekend!