Mish - mash post

This post will just be anyhting that happened in the last few days. Yesterday, I cleaned up my balcony and has a bag of soil, dried leaves and old flyers I needed to throw out. So I put them in a green garbage bag and took the elevator down to the big garbage bins at the back of the back of the building.

While in the elevator, another resident who I know told me that when we got to the main floor that he was going to throw it out for me and I should just take the same elevator up. What a nice random act of kindness. A while back I was thinking of moving out but decided to stay as I know a lot of people in the building and I believe it is safe place for me.

The skyline of Edmonton as viewed from my balcony.

The white tent on the left side is part of the site of the Heritage Festival.



The tomato which I have been waiting to turn purple. How much longer? I don't think I will get lots of tomatoes this year due to the 3 weeks of rain and thunderstorms and not a lot of sunshine. Although I have noticed that my peppers have a lot more than my tomatoes.

Long weekend.....

I wanted to start this long weekend being productive so I was up early and did my grocery shopping. I wanted to try the new produce store in the west end which an officemate recommended. I like shopping early, there are not a lot of people yet and I get out of the store faster and no line ups.

I got all of these for $22.00 which I think is good.

When I got home after passing by T & T, I wanted to make iced tea from scratch, instead of iced tea, I got burned by the tea as the pitcher did not take hot temperature and tea splattered and got my legs. With tea water all over my kitchen floor, I had to clean it up and had to move the stove as it went under it. What a mess!!!!

I did filing and cleaned up. I had on load of laundry and done that as well. I am looking for recipes to use these two jars of pickled beets I got from a friend.



I have tasted it and they are yummy.

So a day almost gone, and I will sleep in tomorrow. I always say to myself I will do that but this time I will do it. Have not done that in a long time.

I hope everyone enjoy the long weekend.



Driving list.....

It has been a while since I have posted my driivng list. I have a friend who laughs at it because I have a short drive to work. So for when I go farther than work, here is my list. I was given a CD of groups from UK and they include these songs. For you, friend.





Taste of Edmonton

Every summer during Capital Ex (formerly known as Klondike Days) about 45 restaurants participate in Taste of Edmonton where they sell 2 of their selected menus. It is always done at Churchill Square downtown. Today, a few of my officemates went to enjoy the offerings after work.

We printed the restaurants and their menus and a map of the place so we know how to go about it. We started at resturant #1 and went all around to #42 and then on to the dessert and liquer area.

I did not take my camera as I did not my batteries in time to take it this morning. So I would like to thank the Edmonton Journal for the pictures they have online.

Stuffed mushrooms which was really delish.

AAA steak bites really yummy.

Sweet potato fries with very nice mayo based sauce

Mango shake, another favorite

Sno cone -crushed ice with some kind of syrup and fresh strawberries and peaches. very refreshing after all the food we ate.

Crackling shrimp ball with sweet sour sauce



Rewind, Reconnect and Reminisce

It has been a long time since I posted this series and I have an interesting one to post.


Rewind to the early or mid 1980s when this friend arrived in Canada. I believe he came with his mother. His sister and brother and their families were already in Yellowknife. He was introduced to us by his brother who lived in my parents's basement.


We got along well and all through those years we would see each other at birthdays, weddings and funerals or other parties. When I had my youngest son baptized, he stood for the godfather who could not make it to Yellowknife.


When we moved to Edmonton, I only had a few contacts with him but we started emailing and talking on the phone. We had some hearty chuckles and loud laughter brought on by some really funny emails. We also had bets going and I remember one wherein he was so sure he was going to win but unfortunately, I had a stronger feeling of what I was betting and I won and he had to treat me to a dinner at the Keg, my choice as that was part of the bet, wherein I had a nice peppercorn steak dinner and some kind of dessert.


When I tried to do my semi-retirement experiment, we somehow lost touch and he thought that I had settled in Toronto. Just a about two months ago, a cousin got his email address and I sent him a short message and now we are back to chuckling and laughing. I will see him this coming Thanksgiving and we are going for coffee and just do a lot of chatting.


I asked him to check out my blog and two weeks ago he started his own blog. This note to my niece Alysia,
older people do blog and they enjoy it. 


So Ped, it's nice to be reconnected and start to reminisce.

Edmonton Indy experience....

Fantastic!!! exciting! loud! and a wonderful experience. I did not think I would enjoy it but I did and might be a bit hooked on it already.

The day did not start out great as I had to pick up an office mate and come back to my place and take a cab from there. On our way back to park my vehicle, there was a fire on my street and they had blocked off part of the street and I could not enter our parkade so I had to leave my vehicle on the up ramp parking for the day.

As we got to the venue we did not know which gate to enter so we just took the one closest and when I showed the usher my ticket to find Grandstand 1, he pointed the way and said you have to walk. About 20 minutes later, I understood what he meant when he said "you have to walk."

Here are some pictures....my camera died after they announced "Gentlemen, start your engines".

That is grandstand 1, in front of it is the pit alley.

Yes, these are not cars but the military had some exhibit there, this is one of them.

One more military stuff..2 tanks.

The pace car.

The next are some of the cars on display.

Marco Andretti's pit crew right in front of us.

Danica Patrick's car and crew.

Paul Tracy's Make a wish car, he was out early...first lap.

The Penske team trailers, left one with that big awning on the side.

The drivers parade to their cars.

The cars on the grid with flag of their country and name. This is the car of one of the female drivers Ana, I don't know her last name.

So being very close to the pit crews, it was amazing how fast they do change tires and gas up the cars. Danica Patrick's crew was so fast, one pit stop was I think 9 seconds and we thought Andretti's at 13 seconds was fast.

The winner was Will Pwer, second place was his Penske team mate, Helio Castroneves and third was Dario Franchiti.

That was my first Indy and I think will not be my last. The tickets for next year's Indy go on sale October 31. Hmmmm, I wonder if.....

I won, I won......

Once in a while the General Manager at work gets all kinds of tickets and it is raffled and one of the staff gets to go to a dinner theatre, play, or get gift certificate. Today we were called to a meeting and were told it is a good meeting.

They were going to raffle tickets to a great summer event in the city. This is a 3 day affair and Sunday is the best ticket to get. So just before lunch they picked names of who will go first and I actually was the second one to pick and I got a Sunday ticket. And this is where I will be this Sunday.

Yes, that is the ticket to the Edmonton Indy. And we have 4 seats together for the lucky 4 staff who picked the Sunday ticket. I may have to take ear plugs as I know it is very loud but maybe I will just enjoy the noise. And very good seats at that.

Gentlemen, start your engines.

Next week there will be a raffle for the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose which is a 3 day country music festival. It will have Toby Keith, Leann Rimes, The Judds, Ronnie Dunn and others who I am not familiar with.



Garden update.....

Just an update on my vegetables in my balcony. Even we have had rain, thunderstorms and windy weather, my plants have done ok. There were a few stems broken but it now has tomatoes and small peppers. But there is forecast of thunderstorm again.

This will be the purple tomato, maybe in two weeks.

Cherry tomatoes

Green pepper.

Hopefully the weather will be nicer and they will have time to get more sun which is what these plants need. I am already looking forward to some kind of salad with my basil plant as well.







Early morning thunderstorm....

I woke up at 5:45am and I saw the clouds and it was like reddish and black and just telling me there will be thunderstorm. And sure enough, it came and the wind is nasty. I don't know when this weather will start to get nicer. Now, the mosquitoes will be back and worse.

I have been planning to start walking to work but not with mosquitoes waiting to just get my sweet blood as I am diabetic.

Other parts of the country are getting this kind of weather as well so now I don't feel so bad.

I hope you have better weather than we do. What a way to start another week of work.

Enjoy the week everyone.

I Prefer

This is a take on my niece's This and That and from my sister post but can't remember what she called it.  I will call it I Prefer....

• wine -- red or white  --white preferably Chardonnay
• ice cream -- chocolate or vanilla -- vanilla as you can put all different kinds of stuff on it
• cookies -- chewy or crispy -- chewy especially chocolate chip or oatmeal
• cocktails -- maartini or margarita -- margaritas, strawberry is my fave
• pasta sauce -- red or white-- white, alfredo or clam
• pop -- coke or pepsi -- coke
• carb -- rice or pasta -- rice, you can do a lot with it
• bread -- white or brown -- brown, whole grain or medium rye
• morning drink -- coffeee or tea -- tea since I do not drink coffee at all, hot chocolate at times

So there it is a list of preference.

Mosquito capital of Canada..

I was watching the weather network and they asked viewers about a picture they had on and it was mosquitoes and lots of them. I guess it was taken in Edmonton and we were formally called the mosquito capital of Canada,

It is bad, one officemate while waiting at the bus stop got bit and it was lots of bites on both of her legs. I am glad it is not as bad in downtown.

So today we went to Camrose to escape the little buggers.

Well, we got lost and was almost in Red Deer before we realized it. We almost visited my friend's brother who lives there. So we turned around and stopped at a gas station and bought a map and finally got to Camrose. It is a nice little town and has got lots of nice stores.

We went downtown and went into Sole City, a shoe store. Amazing store, I did not see an ugly pair of shoes. Lots of designer ones. Of course as always I tried shoes without looking at the brand or designer and it felt very comfortable. When I was paying, I realized that it was a Kenneth Cole shoes.
I paid a good price as it was 20% off.

Then we went to the casino there and my friend won $600.00 and on our way home took me to Moxie's for dinner which was really good.

We also bought fruits from the BC fruit truck on the highway.

How did you spend your weekend?

After the rains and thunderstorms, the river has risen a lot.

The Kenneth Cole dressy sandal

Thunderstorms, mosquitoes....etc

It was a short week but a lousy one in terms of weather. Rain, thunderstorms and more rain. I looked out the balcony and the Saskatchewan river has  risen a lot and with more rain I won't be surprised there would be flooding by the river valley.

With the wet weather, the mosquitoes have come in droves. Monday is our golf tournament and with the onslaught of these pesky buggers, I decided not to go. I get severe reaction to mosquito bites so I do not want to take the risk. So one other staff and I will be at work. I don't really mind it, I get to finish work I have set aside due to the Slave Lake disaster.

And yes , Will and Kate visited the disaster town. And now the town is in the midst of flood due to the rains and thunderstorms and the highways are closed. As they say, when it rains it pours and literally.

It is still raining so I won't be going to the farmer's market either. I am glad my plants survived the howling and strong winds yesterday. I was ready to accept they will not survive. So this might be a stay-in weekend.

I hope you are having betterweather than we are. I know my niece Alysia is enjoying her trip to Las Vegas and hitting all the hot spots. I wonder if she is going to the designer outlet.

Enjoy the weekend.

Long weekend....

It was a busy weekend and productive for me. I had finished the baby blanket and I am trying to make a hat but it is a bit hard trying to figure out the size of a baby's head as I am not following a pattern.

My plants are doing well with lots of flowers and hopefully soon little tomatoes. A friend and I went for a long walk Saturday.

I got in touch with a friend who I have lost contact with for about 5 years so it could be featured in my 3Rs, Rewind, Reconnect and Reminisce.

I also got patterns for sewing and the store close by here has 60% sale off their fabrics so I might go back to see if I could find fabrics to sew dress or tops.

The finished baby blanket.

One of the tomato plants has grown a lot.

So back to the grind and it would be another 4 weeks before we get another long weekend and I am looking forward to this one as we have Heritage Festival where we can try foods from different countries. We also have Capital Ex which used to be Klondike Days and we have Taste of Edmonton where we get to taste in small portions, menu from different restaurants in Edmonton.

Have a great week, everyone!!



Canada Day......

Yesterday was Canada Day and a day off for all of us lucky ones in the work force. The  weather was great for all the free breakfasts and hotdogs around the city. I do not usually partake in this celebration except watching the fireworks at night from my balcony. A spectacular view and I did not have to go anywhere. Actually I was in my pjs and almost missed it as it did not start until 11:00 pm which is not even that dark. They could have waited another half hour and it would be more spectacular.

A lot of people gathered at the Promenade/river valley....hundreds of them. And these are my lame attempt at taking fireworks.

Somebody from another balcony was throwing some sort of fireworks and I got it in the frame as well.

The start of the fireworks display.