August Book Review

Only a few books this month to review:

The first book I read was Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.  

I am not usually a mystery reader, or a P.D. James fan, but my mom is and I had bought this book for her a few years ago.  After she read it she brought it up for me and I finally got around to it this month.  Classics readers will recognize Pemberley as Mr. Darcy's estate from Pride and Prejudice. P.D. James adopts Jane Austen's style of writing as she picks up the story following Elizabeth Bennet's marriage to Mr. Darcy and their life at Pemberley.  Although I have not read P and P for a few years, I did recall most of the characters and the allusions to the original plot.  In this novel there is a mysterious death that must be solved.  I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would.  

 The other full book I finished this week was The Good People by Hannah Kent.

I read her other novel, Burial Rites, a couple of years ago.  This was a really good book and had me turning the pages.  I don't like giving too much away about the plot but I will say this:  it takes place in Western Ireland in the 1800s and the characters in the book are very superstitious about the fairies (or "the Good People") that they think live among them.  A lot of this is tied to their Catholic religion, although the local priest thinks it is blasphemy.  They do things like lay a hot poker from the fire across a baby basket if they have to step outside and leave the baby alone for minute, the hot poker will protect the baby from being "swept" by the fairies.  They believe that illness and death can be caused by offending the fairies and they seek out cures.  

Although I live in modern times and don't believe those superstitions, I did find myself wondering why certain things had happened and if they really were caused by the fairies.  When the characters are trying out these folk cures, I really thought they would work.  I guess my belief was due to the excellent writing in this book.  A great read, and something different than usual for me.

I also picked up a book of short stories and re-read a few like The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield.  Does anyone else remember those?  I think we ready The Lottery in high school. 

Summer Holiday

We are on holiday this week in New York and New Hampshire. Follow along on instagram for some photos and stories. You can find me @smacto.

Friday Favourites

Another round up of my favourite things from this week:

My workout classes were on hiatus this week, but I did ride my bike to work everyday and went for a run with Q one day.  The run was slooooooow, but at least I was out there. 

Check out this cutie at the playground on Tuesday - while we were watching E's soccer game, Dave and Q went to the playground. 

I tried the new Starbucks Cold Brew with Sweet Cream, and it was fine, but it really just tasted like the Tim Horton's Iced Coffee, so I don't think I'll get it again. 

I met Dave at MEC this week to pick up a few things for my bike and then we grabbed lunch at Queen Mother Cafe.  I hadn't been there for awhile, but everything was very good, highly recommend if you're in the area.  I forgot to get a photo at lunch, so I got this one on my walk back to the office of the cow statues at the TD Centre. 

I had never heard of the Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball team but apparently it's quite the thing.  My dad was a fan when he used to live here so we went to Christie Pits to watch a game with him this week.  We took in a bit of a soccer game too. 

I shared our Back to School plans yesterday including these fun new lunch bags for E and me.

Linking up with Andrea, Erika, and Narci for Friday Favourites. 

Ready for Back to School

Well we are getting there, the first day of school is practically around the corner.  This is how we are getting ready:

Backpack - E doesn't need a new backpack this year, but the one he has does need to be cleaned.  When he is finished with his camp this week I will try washing it in the washing machine in a pillow case.  I have heard this will work.  If not, we may be scrambling to pick up a new bag. 

Lunch bag - E picked out a new lunch bag from well.ca and I got one for myself too!  He picked an Avengers one of course, and he liked this new style.  Mine fits a few containers and is cute too!

New Sporks and Thermos - We have lots of lunch containers, but were in need of new sporks and a new thermos for E.  I got these from well.ca as well. 

Hat - E lost his Blue Jays hat at his camp in late July and we haven't replaced it yet.  I asked him if he'd like a Blue Jays or Raptors hat, and his reply was "Avengers".  I said no way, you have to wear a Toronto sports team, no exceptions!! ;)

New Clothes - E doesn't need too many new clothes yet, we will still have warm weather for a few weeks.  I may have to get him a couple of pairs of pants but that should be it.  He has lots of sweatshirts and t-shirts, so he can wear those for awhile, and then as the temperatures go down, we will get him some new long-sleeved shirts. 

Lunch Ideas - I asked E what he would like in his lunches for school and his response was "bowtie pasta", so I guess some more pasta salad and hot lunches are in order.  He doesn't love the sunflower butter that we use instead of peanut butter; it does make for an easy sandwich but we can just finish the jar we have now and not buy it again.  He also likes lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, apple sauce, fruit cups, and whatever snacks we get from Costco (fig bars, Made Good bites, dried peas).  He is a pretty easy kid and if his biggest complaint is sliced cheese (he prefers it shredded), then we are good!

Routine - We will have egg sandwiches on bagels and berries or melon (our go to power breakfast), take some photos on the front step, walk to school and drop E off in the playground (as opposed to taking him into the YMCA class), and then walk to get E after school so we can talk about his first day.  I will probably work from home that day to make this work but I am fortunate I can do that sort of thing. We typically have this macaroni and cheese for supper.  This year E has a t-ball game the night of his first day of school at 6:00 (play-offs!) so that will make it a bit different, but it's all fun. 

Let's Look Wednesday

The theme of this month's Let's Look is our Binge Shows.  Now I do not usually watch more than two or three shows at one time, but these are shows that I could put on anytime and watch over and over again without being sick of them.

Seinfeld - My number one show of all time.  I wrote about why I love Seinfeld here.  

The Office - Dave and I rewatching this now on Netflix.  I was always a fan of this show and love it more now.

Anthony Bourdain shows - Netflix doesn't seem to have any of his shows currently, but anything Tony did was fine by me.  I read his book earlier this year and loved it. I discovered him too late! 

Fixer Upper - I know these are relatively all the same - crappy house, shiplap, white paint, and then a big reveal where they LOVE it!, but I could watch anytime and never get sick of it. 

Mad Men - This is another show that I will always appreciate.  I feel like I pick up on a new joke every time, usually delivered by Roger Sterling. 

Downton Abbey - This is in my top five shows of all time and it just makes me so happy.  I cannot wait for the movie!

Queer Eye - Another great to show to have on in the background.  I am still watching the new episodes, which require my full attention, but I'll put on reruns while I'm cooking or cleaning up.  I cannot choose a favourite of the Fab Five, they are equally enjoyable.  

We love TV!!

Now the kids really do binge watch shows, because first of all the shows are only 15-20 minutes long and they don't have anything else to do!  Their current favouirte shows on Netflix are:

Teen Titans

Paw Patrol

Super Wings

Rescue Bots

Wild Kratts

Linking up with Shay and Erika.

Weekend Recap

On Friday I took E with me to the office for the morning.   On the way to the subway. 

Set up with a hot apple cider, granola bar, and candy from the lobby.  He did a few pages in his workbook and did a bunch of crafts with some loose leaf.

We managed to get out of there around 12:30 and then we took the subway to graffiti alley.  E has wanted to go here since he found out about it in his art class, so I was glad I was able to find time to surprise him with this visit.  It's pretty neat, and I was surprised to see so many tourists/instagrammers walking around. 

There was a cute little garden where I got E to take my picture. 

Our plan was to walk to an arcade bar nearby but as we struck out we found out it was closed, so instead we Ubered to The Greater Good on Geary Av.  They have a few video games, pinball, skeeball, craft beer, and pizza slices. 

It was a successful afternoon, even with this change of plans. 

On Saturday morning we decided to bike to High Park and just see what we could find there.  We started the Japanese garden area, but Q only wanted to go around and around instead of going to other parts of the park. 

Then I took him back to the bikes for a snack.

We met back up with E and Dave, and wandered over to the baseball fields. 

We ended up eating at the Grenadier Cafe, which was only okay, and taking a quick dip in the pool (it was open this time).  E passed the deep water test so he was allowed to go on the slide, and Dave and I got a few slides in too. 

Q fell asleep on the bike ride home so we left him in the trailer to finish his nap outside, and I went to the grocery store.  When he got up, we set up some water play stations in the backyard while Dave and E went to the park to throw the baseball around. 

A relaxing end of the afternoon.  Then the kids made their own pizzas while Dave and I had leftovers.

The next morning we went to our neighbours' house for a birthday party for one of Q's friends. 

We had a lovely brunch while the kids enjoyed the bubble show. 

E stayed after the party and hung out with the big kids, while Q went home to have a nap.  We thought we would have an afternoon of tennis, but after women's final ended after 19 minutes, we had a lot of free time.  I walked up the street to pick up our supper ingredients, and when I got back, we all went back over to a different neighbours' house to hang out.

My dad is in town this week and we celebrated his birthday on Sunday night.

A bit of a movie before going to bed.

We have a few busy weekends ahead so this was a nice one to hang out close to home. 

Planning for next summer

It seems ridiculous but we are already making concrete plans for next summer.  As much as we want to live in the moment and enjoy things as they come, when you're trying to coordinate multiple families, it just becomes necessary to start planning well in advance.

We have already planned a week up at Hyatt's Camp and a sleep away camp for E.  And we also know that we want to take Q out of daycare for the month of August before he starts school (!), and then we know we want to camp with our neighbours at Arrowhead so that will take up a few days.

Although we are always planning ahead, I do really try to enjoy what we are doing at the time.  When we we are at Canada's Wonderland last week I found myself asking Q what ride he wanted to go on next, even though we were currently on a fun ride.  So I had to stop myself from doing that, instead of asking what we were going to do next, i wanted him (and me) to focus on what we were doing at the moment.

So even though we are making a few plans for next year, we are still enjoying and focusing on the summer we are experiencing right now, because it's been awesome so far, and still weeks left to go!!