What a story!

Perdita Felicien, a former Canadian hurdler, Olympian wrote a memoir: "My Mother's Daughter". It is an intriguing title. When I told my daughter I was reading the book "My Mothers daughter", a memoir, she asked me if it was about the author's sister.

It is a story of resilience, courage and persistence.

Felician was born in Canada as her mom's third child. Her mom came to Canada as a domestic worker. As the story goes on, we learn how a single woman with so many responsibilities and a dream of better life became an immigrant to Canada.

Catherin, the mom, had to take refuge in a women's shelter to escape from her abusive husband. Working on low paid jobs, Catherine brought her kids to Canada and raised them here.

 

It is the story of a mother's determination to protect her children, raise them to have better lives amid the hurdles. That courage made her daughter succeed in life and represent her adopted country in the Olympics. 

The writing style makes me turn the pages. It made me teary-eyed a few times. 

The book reminds me how sheltered my life is! How lucky I was to get an education and a degree from my home country! 

It is a great book to read. Felicien gives a portion of the book sale to "The Denise House", a shelter for abused women and children. 

Will you be reading this book? 

 

Bindu

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Fun things

It is cold

Not really, because today was a warm day for December.  So we went out for a long walk. 

I went with my dear daughter to the craft store a couple of weeks before. We were thinking of making little DIY Christmas crafts. I bought a craft foam ring, a foam cone, ribbons and pom-poms. 

I wrapped the ring with ribbon. Then an assortment of things from my craft box and a glue gun, and an hour, it is here:

I used some craft wire to hang it in the foyer.  

Then we got this wooden angel from Homesense. We bought a strip of LED lights too. 

I put the lights on the angel. Now she resides on the kitchen windowsill, splashing cheerful light! Next to her, my oregano is thriving in a beer bottle (Kratki Hydroponics). 

I made paper butterflies and attached them to a string. That goes well with the angel and lights. 

What fun things do you do in December?

 

Bindu

You don't have it???

I was reading my favourite blogs today. Then, click on some more to see what is going on in the blogging world. 

I saw a few posts about spam emails and scams. 

That reminded me of an old incident.

 

One fine day, I got a call on my phone. The caller told me he is from Microsoft. My computer is sending him several notices about some technical trouble. 

Then I told him to call back at another time as I was about to go out.

Then next day, he called again. I told him my hubby deals with those kinds of things, advising him to call back another day.

To my amusement, he called again! I thought I had to deal with it. He told me I had to switch on the computer and open a website, which he would direct. Then, he can take over the computer remotely and fix it.

Now, I remember that I have a laptop, not a desktop computer!!!!!

So, I told him, "I don't have a computer", aptly forgetting to mention the laptop. 

He got furious and asked, "You didn't have a computer the whole time?"

His tone was angry, and I replied calmly, I don't own a computer. 

He said @$## and cut the call. 

Have you ever tricked a scammer like that?

 

Bindu

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Art on the wall and Google Lens

When visiting the Allan Garden, my daughter and I got down at the college station. An enormous mural on the high story building caught our attention on the way towards the garden. I can't resist the temptation to capture it with my phone. 

Later, I used Google lens to find out about the photo. This enormous one was created by Spanish street artist Okuda San Miguel in 2018 on a 23 storied building, The Parkside Student Residence. 

The colourful art is called "Equibrilium Mural".To represent Toronto's gay community, the artist added the Pride Flag on the top. I was searching and found the meaning of each image online. you can see some information here 

  Many things about Toronto, where I transplanted my life, are not known to me. This colourful one really captures our attention. Glad I took the photo and used Google lens to search for it.   

I know, my photo is not great. So I am sharing the following image from https://okudasanmiguel.com/.

Great talent, right? Have you used Google lens to find out information about your photos?

Bindu

Visit to Allan Garden

It has been over a year, I wanted to see the Allan Garden Conservatory. 

This month, I visited the conservatory with my daughter. 

It is a park and a conservatory in Toronto. The park has a leash-free area for dogs. Then there is a plan area for kids. The garden has several trees. We saw some tents in the park (maybe they belonged to homeless people). 

The greenhouses are open year-round for free. 

There is a pond with turtles. We stood there to enjoy the water feature. 

The fish pond with beautiful fish and a fountain statue of "Leda and the Swan".  The Greek god Zeus transformed as a swan near the lovely Leda, queen of Sparta. The swan seduced Leda, according to the story

The greenhouses will take you out of the city to the dreamland of plants and flowers. There are tropical plants as well as cactuses. 

People were looking at the plants and drawing on their iPads. (artists, maybe?) Then there was an older woman sitting near the fish pond and relaxing. 

The entrance to this place is free.  I hope you enjoy the photos here. I really want to come back to this place.

I wish they were selling plants and flowers too. Don't you want to too?

 

Bindu

Fun with Alpakas

Alpacas!

 I was getting curious when a family friend called about visiting an alpaca farm. 

So we booked a guided tour with Kickin'back alpaca ranch. Our time slot was at 10 am. Markdale is about 2 hours away from Toronto. 

The first thing we saw on the parking lot was their car with this registration!

That vehicle can transport two alpacas together. Their alpacas are trained to get in the van! 

Alpacas were walking on the farm. Our guide took us to that area. There we were able to feed them from our hands. They don't have any upper teeth in the front. When they chew, we can see their lower teeth. 

Their poop looked like that of goats. But, unlike goats, they go to the washroom in a fixed place. No, they were not trained to do that. It is their natural instinct. 

Then we headed to see the pregnant girls and baby alpacas kept in the barn. Baby alpacas are called "cria".  It was fun to have them munching treats from our hands. The fur is very soft and warm.

Alpacas are herd animals. We have to buy 3 together if we do not already have an alpaca farm! So, the farm won't sell one as a pet. 

These cute animals fight with each other for no particular reason. We saw them spitting on each other. The tour guide explained that they fight by spitting on each other. They have bad aiming, so we're careful to not get spit on. We were told they have 3 chambers in their tummy. When they are outraged, they can spit the half-digested food, which will stain and stink your clothes. 

That white mama got a cute black baby! The gestation period is 11 to 12 months. They usually give birth to one offspring. Our guide told us, if there is more than one baby, they will ignore one. 

We saw one baby was going to a mama, and the mama was kicking it away. The guide explained that they won't feed babies other than that theirs. That was what happening there.

I can't finish this post without mentioning Marble, the barn cat. 

 

Marble was with us from start to finish of the tour. . She is so cute and cuddly. We pet her as well. Alpacas love Marble, don't you see it?

Bindu

Spruce Bog Boardwalk: memories of Thanksgiving Weekend.

Thanksgiving was a month ago in Canada.

I have never been to Algonquin park before. Since most Canadians are doing camping and staycation this year, it was hard to get reservations there. So, to view the fall colours we decided to go for a day trip. We got booked for Monday.  

My husband and I both have knee problems. We wanted to have more accessible trails to hike. The Spruce Boardwalk trail fit well for us. 

The parking lot there still had space. Most people finish this one in half an hour. Maybe because of that, we got parking fast. 

Thousands of years ago, it was full of trees. Beavers made a dam in the Sunday creek, and the water made trees fall down, turning it into a lake and then a bog. The water in the Algonquin bogs lack oxygen and is acidic. 

The trail is only 1.5 km.  

That is on the trail. We saw water dripping from it. 

The trail has boardwalk sections. Easy for people with mobility issues. I got hubby in this photo.

 We saw mushrooms on the trees and on the ground. 

Isn't it an artwork by nature?

 

Let me show a colourful fall view:

The photos remind me of the fun family time. 

Have you been to any of the national parks recently? What was the most memorable thing about it?

Bindu