His flight arrived earlier so we rushed off to the airport.  Some of his friends went too so I made them hold  the banner that said “welcome home, Adam”  One strange guy saw it, read it and told  his arriving friend that we had made it for him because his friend’s name happened to Aaron.  We had to wait 1/2 hour before Adam came through the luggage doors.  Even strangers were clapping when we were cheering.  Then we got Adam to run through the banner.
One woman was holding a sign that said ‘congratulations, you made bail’ and on the other said it said Hacker.  It must have been a joke.

The most surprising thing for Adam to see was how much Ryan had changed;  grown taller, longer hair and contacts in 2 years.

Adam’s’ friends came over.  Adam unpacked and showed us everything that he brought back.  What was fake and what wasn’t.  The fans were a big hit.  Lots of tea. He didn’t have room for a tea set so I got paper cutouts.  His peking duck was confiscated by Vancouver customs.

Then they all tried shots of some booze that he brought back.  And dried fruits, seaweed and candy.   He didn’t realize a lot of stuff you can get here but more costly.

All the princes are home.

Filed under: Four Princes

Where: Saturday, we went out for lunch at a restaurant Indo-Chyna on Ossington that served Chinese, Vietnamese & Thai food. It had only been opened for 2 months. It had 2 wonderful paintings on the wall, one depicting a woman sitting down on the grass with a bowl of fruit.  It was sorta like a retro vintage advertisement with a plain background.  The rest of the wall were plain.  There was also french music playing in the background.  Imagine Stevie Wonder sung in French by a woman.

Who: David, his old manager Greg who is now his co-author.  Greg’s girlfriend, Indira and her sister Sonia

Why: Greg was over here writing with David. And so the plan was to met with Indira and Sonia for lunch.  Sonia lives in Parkdale.

Food:  I ordered my main dish of fish cakes noodle soup, with chicken, pork, tomatoes in a tamarind base.  However, everyone else spring rolls and fishcakes as appetizers. Disappointed that they were out of calamari.  So my main course was pretty similar to the appetizers.  Lovely presentation, food was okay.  Fancy bowls, crackers as nibblies and those chocolate rolled cyclinder things as a dessert.

The fish cakes were supposed to be cod and dace.  I remember buying canned dace in oval tins and loving it.  However when I think about how much oil that the dace was sitting it, its enough for a car lube job.

It was a case of serendipity where I had already read the newspaper and was folding it up to put into recycling when the following announcement caught my eye.

Edward Day Gallery (952 Queen St.) unveils a series of intricately set-up mini sculptures by Cybele Young.  She creates little scenes inside black rimmed  box using Japanese paper and other materials, folded with tremendous skills.

So  after lunch which happened to be in the same neighborhood, we went to the gallery.  Co-incidently Indira said that she wanted to be at 920 Queen since she saw a lingerie shop that she wanted to be checked out. So David went into Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, right next door to Edward Day Gallery.  Greg, Indira& Sonia went to 920.

So it was small exhibit and I didn’t see the best pieces until the very end when David told me that it was time to go.  Yes, they are tiny and the titles are very witty.  Such as ‘where did my shopping list go?’ and its a shopping cart being carried off by a balloon.   Edward Day Gallery and MofCCA are both free.  MofCCA had a lot of diverse exhibits there, some were interesting.  I’m hoping that Cybele Young has a website so that I can see more of her stuff.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Hot Women was the theme for Bizzy B’s Hive ATC meeting yesterday. It was a rowdier meeting more than usual due to the subject matter. S.V. went for the smut factor. C.M. said that she had suffered for her art since she was accused of buying porn, and not even good porn as artwork for her cards. She got a lot of strange looks as she was cutting up nudie figures while riding TTC. L.W. was really productive while she was waiting for the police since she had witnessed a B&E. MDW wasn’t as productive as she had hoped since her car was AWOL. Its these interesting background details that I find fun and enjoyable as well as what inspired people. S.V. said that she used parts of her daughter’s discarded bustier for her cards.

Suprisingly I wasn’t the only one who used mermaids for their cards. I really didn’t have any hot women images and I really wanted to use my mermaids. So I used the theme ‘ cool waters, hot women’. The hot women being mermaids. Mermaids were also known as sirens- singing their songs to lure sailors to their death. Can’t get any hotter than that.

I forgot that I could have used my postage stamps that have female nudes. In case you are wondering, what country would use female nudes as postage stamps, they come from some obscure African countries.

Filed under: ATCs

With Adam away in China, and Noah visiting his grandparents for 2 weeks, the fridge wasn’t particularly full. Then I realized ‘oh my God, I’m such a bad mother, there isn’t enough food for when they both come back home! Off to the grocery for a major haul of food. Feeding four teenagers is quite a feat compared to just when two of them are living at home. Even then, Ryan’s friends were here a lot and they were being fed too.

One of things that Adam said that he missed while in China was turkey. So I thought that for a homecoming dinner, we would have a full turkey dinner, stuffing, cranberry sauce etc. Well you can image the turkey selection in July.

Filed under: Four Princes

We had Eric’s girlfriend stay with us for a week. Terra is Korean so we had to explain some of the food items. And that in her family, they use food leftovers to make sushi just like we use leftover to make fried rice. It was a fun having another female in the house.

Filed under: Uncategorized

This is the third book that I have read by Joy Fielding. It didn’t have the abused wife or lesbian themes like the first two books that I read but there were the abused and lesbian threads in this one. I think I enjoyed this one the most since it had ‘you never saw it coming’ ending.

Filed under: Flipping Pages

June 23.  Not having daughters, I some times wonder what I am missing out on. Eric and his buddies were here getting ready for prom. Your tie must match your date’s dress. You rent a limo. You get a haircut. You shave. You put on body spray. They all got dressed and then I had to deliver the corsages since they left them behind in my fridge. The corsages now have a velcro strap. Thanks goodness for velcro. I had to beg for the photo op.

Eric wanted to wear a 3 piece suit despite that it was the warmest day this week – 34c. I told them to walk slowly as not to build up sweat.

Filed under: Four Princes

June 30th. David got us great seats for her concert at the Music Hall which is close to home and a small venue. We were in row D, #14,15 meaning close to the stage and center. I told David that it was BG crowd since most people were grey and bald. Not surprisingly since Rickie Lee is 52. She is not aging well. I always find it surprising that her singing voice is different from her speaking voice. She had a lot of problems with her sound mix, we couldn’t hear her vocals. She is still a rocker chick but does other stuff like ballads, uses a bow on her electric guitar ( it was a good thing that the stage hand got her floor cushions) like a cello. Her bass player was good too.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Eric was nominated for valedictorian but wasn’t as disappointed that he didn’t win. He won the Aristeia Award which is Riverdale’s highest award ‘to students in their graduating year. That you have won the award, as the result of a balloting of your colleagues, indicates that your academic achievement and your contribution to the extra-curricular program of the school have earned well-deserved recognition’ – as written by the principal.

He gets a photo plaque and trophy. Great way to end high school.

We went to the professional photographer today for the photo. Her name is Donna Miller. She is an award winner and one of her claims to fame is that she photographed Joni Mitchell.

Filed under: Four Princes

just finished reading this book by Sophie Kinsella. I guess that I am competent enough to be a domestic goddess but not at my idol Martha Stewart level, yet. I do enjoy S.K.’s books. They are entertaining, easy to read and fun. The Shopaholic & Sister book reminded me of what it was like to meet my new found cousin Rosaline, wondering what she would look like only after hearing her on the phone.

Filed under: Flipping Pages

Just finished “Evening Class” by Maeve Binchy. Loved it. Now I am inspired to want to learn Italian and to go back again to Italian. And to visit Ireland too.

I’ve noticed that the last four books that I borrowed have been written by Women. And I got a cheap copy of a Kathy Reichs novel that I haven’t read yet. Going to save for the first flight.  Bones, TV show, is based on her novels.

Filed under: Flipping Pages

from the Toronto Star:

finally how to pick the perfect watermelon: ripe ones have cream or yellow bottoms not white, and low constrast stripes

hydrogen peroxide is not effective on small wounds- do you know how much I use that stuff?

junk tip: jello was celery flavoured, it was meant for salad, good thing it didn’t take off

Filed under: Trivia Tips

I gave Ryan’s French teacher one of my handmade cards with ‘merci’ stamped on it.  She  was so happy with the french text that I made her more cards with ‘merci’  and ‘je pense a toi’ on them.  She said that she like them so much that she wanted to frame them not use them.   I’ve also been commissioned to make Chinese text thank you cards too but won’t start on that until September.

Filed under: Paper Arts

Using our monthly free Rogers rental coupon, David pick out Syrianna. George Clooney gained 35 lbs, grew a beard and shaved back his hairline for this movie. He really didn’t look himself but Matt Damon looked good. It was disjointed, non-linear with constant subtitles making it hard to follow if you weren’t watching intently. It depicted how disfranchised and disillusioned youth can easily be manipulated into suicide bombers, you can’t trust governments, money and oil is the root of all evil.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Heroes, Prison Break, Battlestar Galactica(new series),Nip&Tuck are all on reruns. And so are lots of my other favourite shows. But I discovered some new shows instead like Real Housewives of Orange County and especially the Riches.

The Riches is about a modern day family of ‘travelers,thieves or gypsies’. Minnie Driver is the wife. I always remember her from Circle of Friends and Goodwill Hunting. In the Riches, she has a real Alabama type accent, has skipped parole and is a druggie. The Riches is a more upscale version of Trailer Park Boys. Since they deal with people trying to survive real life by a life of crime.

Another great show that I discovered is Inside the Actors Studio on Bravo channel. James Lipton interviews celebrities such as Elton, Angelina, Queen Latifah, Morgan Freeman, Diana Ross, Paul Newman,Drew, Salma etc. Its really interesting to see how their creative process works.

Near the end of the show, the guests are always asked the same questions (they are supposed to be the perfect revealing interview questions): what turns you on, what turns you off, what sound do you like, what sound do you not like, favourite swear word, what profession would you prefer instead, what profession would you not ever do, and if heaven does exist- what would you like God to say to you when you arrive? I would love hear how you would answer them. And then the acting/film students get to ask the guest questions too.

Filed under: Boob Tube