2023 – Our Year in Photos

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2023: A Look Ahead

And just like that, it’s once again time to think about what I want to accomplish in the coming year. It seems like time speeds up as we get older and maybe it’s a way to nudge us into making our dreams a reality instead of just wishing about them. I just spent a couple of hours reviewing my Life List, added some new things, removed things that I was no longer interested in.

The biggest change is one we’ve been considering for a while now which is finding a new property with more land – mainly to be able to grow more fruits, veggies and herbs, plant some fruit trees and have a small orchard, maybe have some chickens, maybe some bees. But to even be able to consider that, we need more land than where we currently are. We also can’t affordably acquire more land in Ontario (we currently live in SW Ontario) unless we move way up north into a much colder growing zone, which defeats the purpose of having more land to grow all the things in the first place. So we’ve decided to look at moving to Nova Scotia. 🙂 Big Reveal!! Wanting more land is the main draw, but we’re also getting tired of our once-quiet suburban neighborhood becoming overrun with urban sprawl. It’s time to move somewhere less busy and less loud.

Most of the Life List items will likely relate to that big step under the assumption that we’ll be successful in finding a new property – whether an existing house or a new build (we’re still figuring that out). But, since I’m me, and pretty stubborn when it comes to making things happen, I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll be moving in 2023 so the focus will mainly be on that and planning for the new property.

So, with that said, here’s what I’ll be focusing on this year:

• Live on at least an acre of land.
• Plant a tree
• Grow a fruit tree
• Grow berries
• Plant/own a small orchard
• Collect rain water
• Have a cold room / root cellar
• Reduce use of plastic wrap / plastic containers
• Grow melon successfully
• Finalize the plan for the garden at the new property (and get started on some projects)

I added a few items to my Travel list and one in particular for this year: Nashville, TN! Mainly because I’ll be going for a work event (the annual retreat) and I’m really excited about it, so it’s made the List!

We’ll also be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this year. Holy moly, that was fast!!

I added going to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – we’ve all read the book and we want to go see the play.

And my usual 3 sets of goals for this year:

• Cook 30 new recipes
• Read 6 books
• Watch 50 movies/shows

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2022 – Our Year in Photos

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Medieval Dinner Party – The Big Day

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! After six weeks of prep (see all the prep details here), the big day finally arrived! The decorations were up, costumes were donned, games were set up, food and drinks were prepared. Let the festivities begin!

The evening began with a candlelit dinner. As was customary in the middle ages, we ate with our hands, cloth napkins at the ready. Medieval music played throughout the night (see link to the Spotify playlist in the Prep post).

Here’s a link to a video (40 seconds) taken before the guests arrived to give you an idea of the ambiance!

Guests arrived in costume. We had a varied group: Gypsies and a peasant who arrived via caravan from the eastern land of New Francia (aka Montreal, QC), some local lords and ladies in waiting and even a monk!

Before guests arrived, the sun was still up.

My husband Lord Christopher and I, Lady Valerie

The beverage station – sorry for the blurry pic!

Party favors: Fruit gummies, chocolate-covered almonds and peanuts in the shell

After dinner, we headed to the Tournament Grounds (aka the livingroom). Everyone got to take a practice turn for cornhole and ring toss, then the real games began! Each guest had three turns on each game to accumulate as many points as possible. The guy and girl who had the top scores got a paper crown and had a face off on the ring toss game (made more difficult by making it further away). Lord Adam and I (Lady Valerie) went head to head and Lord Adam was the tournament champion!

Lady Sienna playing the ring toss

Lady Christina’s turn!

The score keeping tablet (no pens or paper in the middle ages!)

It was a really fun evening! I’m a sucker for a theme party and love planning all the little details to make it really great. I’m already looking forward to the next one! 😀

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Medieval Dinner Party – The Prep

It had been a few years since I had thrown a theme party. With Thanksgiving around the corner and family planning to coming to visit, I had the urge to make it special. The idea to do a Medieval theme started from the turkey and my niece’s love of turkey drumsticks, and it all evolved (or maybe spiraled) from there! Most folks who know me know that once I get an idea in my head, I go all in and this party was no exception.

The planning started 6 weeks before the big day. First up were the invitations. The internet makes it so easy to find inspiration. I still had parchment paper from the Harry Potter party from a few years ago so I used that to print out the invites to a Medieval Feast.

I also used the parchment paper for the place cards and party favor tags.

Next up was the menu. I knew I wanted to stay true to the theme so no utensils would be used and we’d have cloth napkins. I started gathering nonperishible items every week leading up to the party and got the fresh items 1-2 days before. The final menu consisted of:

• Turkey drumsticks
• Mini cheese and spinach pies
• Charcuterie: Salami, prosciutto, etc.
• Cheese, cut up for easy eating: Old cheddar, smoked cheddar, Oka, Saint Paulin and an English port cheese
• Garlic bread
• Pickles and gherkins
• Red and green grapes
• Almonds, walnuts and dates
• Dessert was homemade ginger cookies and some store bought pastries
• Beverages included red wine, cranberry wine, strawberry lemonade and water

Next: The Games. You can’t have a Medieval party without a tournament! Initially this was going to be outside but once I realized the sun would set before dinner, I decided to transform our living room into the “Tournament Grounds”. I wanted old-fashioned games (and jousting and archery were out since this was now inside) so ended up getting a wooden cornhole set and a ring toss set (wood and rope) which I transformed into a standing shield using cardboard, foam board and an easel. I made bunting using red, yellow and blue construction paper and twine. I bought a small slate tablet to keep score with chalk (no pens or paper in the middle ages!). I made two paper crowns for the top scorers (girl, boy) in the tournament.

My helpers, the court jesters

The test run. Pardon the mess. 🙂

Next: Costumes! A quick Amazon search solved that pretty quickly. Ordered those with enough lead time. No delays.

Next: Decor! This was the big one. Amazon came through once again for the castle wall decor. I put it up the week prior using painter’s tape so as not to mess up the walls. It was a 30 foot roll of stone wall, plus a separate set of decals for windows, a door and torches. I made actual torches from construction paper, tissue paper and flickering LED lights (also from the Harry Potter party). I made a castle gate from duct tape and a drawbridge from cardboard and construction paper. And a sign post pointing to the various areas. Thank you Pinterest! I put everything up (LEDs not lit to save the batteries) the week prior and made tweaks throughout the week (more tape, stronger torch holders). Our neighbors must have thought something sinister was going on LOL

Prep station. Helpers always at the ready!

Here’s how I made the torches. Take one sheet each of red, orange and yellow tissue paper

Fold in half and cut out flames

Unfold and cut down middle. This made two sets of flames for 2 torches.

Stagger the sheets

Roll the sherts, gathering the bottom

Tape around the bottom

Pop the flames into a torch (just rolled a piece of black construction paper)

So cute!!

Add the LED light. I just propped it in there.

They flickered like flames

The signpost was two wrapping paper rolls taped together and wrapped in ribbon. Parchment paper signs. Castle gate and drawbridge.

Next: The music. I found a Playlist on Spotify of Mefieval music and made some adjustments. I made sure there were several hours of songs to last the whole night.

Link to the party playlist:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QwnRKT1n1gUrjHgMCGHxe?si=a74807f4cf8244eb

Next: The table. I dug up all the candles, jugs, carafes, lanterns, platters and serving dishes that I had that looked like they would fit the theme. It’s amazing what I had accumulated over the years! Most of the candles were LED but a few tea lights were real. I bought one leaf garland for the center of the table. I planned what dishes and glasses we’d use, the cloth napkins, and made the seating chart.

Next: Party Favors. I had paper bags and I made the tags, tied them with twine. I wanted some goodies that were a bit old-fashioned so in each bag I included three little packages: Some fruit gummies, chocolate-covered almonds and peanuts in the shell.

Leading up to the party, I emailed everyone a tutorial on how to speak in Old English so we could brush up on our “My Lords”, “My Ladies”:

Well met, friends!
 
Here are some tips to learn a few words and phrases ahead of the medieval party. I’ll be calling Chris “milord” for the next couple weeks. Lol
 
Common Verbs
Say “art” instead of “are,” as in, “Art thou coming?”
Use “dost” instead of “do,” as in “Dost thou play cricket?”
Say “hath” in place of “has” as in, “Hath she any bread?”
Add the endings “est” to many verbs. For instance, you might say, “Needest thou some assistance?”
 
Pronouns
Use the terms “thee,” “thou” or “ye,” instead of “you,” as in, “Thou must visit soon.”
Say “thy” or “thine” instead of “your” or “yours,” as in, “It is thy responsibility.”
Replace “I” with “me” in certain subject-verb combinations, such as, “Methinks thou art rude.”
 
Random Words and Phrases
Say “hither” instead of “here,” and “whence” instead of “when,” as in “Whence cometh thou hither?”
Replace “beautiful” with “beautious” or “fair,” as in, “The girl was beautious, yea, she was as fair as a rose.”
Use “yay” in place of yes and “nay” in place of “no.”
Say “naught” instead of “nothing” and “fare thee well” instead of goodbye.
 
14 Terms for the Renaissance Faire
1. My lord/My lady: My lord means “Mister,” and my lady means “Miss” or “Mrs.” For instance, your brother Jason becomes “my lord Jason,” and your cousin Ashley is “my lady Ashley.”
2. Master/Mistress: another set of terms for “Mister” and “Miss” or “Mrs.”
3. Good day/Good morrow: means “hello,” as in “Good day, my lady Ashley.”
4. Fare thee well: means “goodbye,” as in “Fare thee well, my lord Jason.”
5. Huzzah: means “Hurrah!” Used at jousts, shows, and the high points in court. (During court, only shout “huzzah” when invited to do so by officials of the court, as in “Three cheers for Lady Isabella,” or when everyone else is cheering.)
6. Thou/Thee: The words “thou” and “thee” both mean “you.” They’re just used differently. “Thou” is the subject of a sentence (the word that’s doing things), and “thee” is the object (the word that’s acted upon). For instance, “Thou art the man who will stand in line for turkey legs,” and “This turkey leg is for thee.”
7. Art: means “are.” “You are stuffing your face” becomes “Thou art feasting most enthusiastically.”
8. Aye: means “yes,” as in “Aye, that is indeed a man juggling cabbages…”
9. Nay: means “no,” as in “Nay, I hath no idea why he would want to do such manner of thing…”
10. Privy: the most common term used for the bathrooms. (Other terms that have at times been used include “the peasant potty” and “the royal flush.”)
11. Prithee: means “please.” (Do not confuse this word with “privy.”)
12. Gramercy/I thank thee: means “thank you.”
13. Wench: A wench is a particular type of woman, usually of the friendly or cuddly variety. Queens, princesses, and nuns are not wenches.
14. Bawdy: Bawdy is a term describing entertainment for a more adult audience. Songs or stories that are bawdy are suggestive but not usually blatant or raunchy, falling between a PG-13 and R rating at the movies. Bawdy shows may not be suited for children, although the better ones will probably go right over a child’s head.
 
Renaissance Lingo: Terms of Address
And now for the bonus round⁠—if you’d like to score serious style points, here are the official terms that are used to address people of rank. Remember and use these, and you are a true Renaissance scholar.
• Your Majesty is the proper term when speaking to a king or queen. For instance, “Good day, your majesty…”
• Your Highness is the form of address that is used when addressing a prince or princess, as in “Very well, Prince John.”
• Sir is the term used to speak to or about a knight, as in “Sir Bedevere is hot in pursuit of the Questing Beast.”
All other people may be referred to as my lord or my lady.

Phew! That was it, all in. See next post for pics of the party and how it all played out!

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2019 – Our Year in Photos

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2018 Family Christmas Visit

My sister and her two girls came down to spend the holidays with us again this year. They arrived on Friday (flew into the Toronto Island airport) and for dinner we had rigatoni with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil (by request :)), followed by buche (yule log). We headed out for a stroll in the neighborhood to admire the holiday lights. Once back home, we watched Daddy’s Home (first time for Chris and I, it was cute) and everyone got settled and went to bed.

Saturday we braved the mall and went shopping for some last-minute gifts – we went early and avoided the crowds (and we all wore our plaid flannel shirts :)). We ate lunch at Jack Astor’s, then back home to get ready for our evening at Westfield Heritage Village; a pioneer-style village where the staff dress up in period costumes and explain how a village ran back in the day. I love that place and learning about all the “old-time jobs”, with old-fashioned decor – super fun. We swung by Boston Pizza on the way home and hit the sack.

Sunday we spent outside enjoying holiday festivities downtown. We had brunch at Eggspectations, then visited the Fair in the Square at Nathan Philips Square where they had a Christmas market, outdoor skating, food and drinks (mulled wine!). I bought some wool leg warmers at one of the stalls. Cozy!  Our next stop was over at the new winter festival Aurora at Ontario Place by the lake. They did an amazing job – it was gorgeous. There was a market as well (bought the girls stuffed alpacas and myself an alpaca sweater – love it). We had some food, warmed up under the heaters then the adults went over to the bar (warm cider) while the girls went tubing. We peeked at the skating pond (beautiful) but everyone had their fill from skating earlier in the day. We all went on the carousel and the mini-train. We loved the mystical world with all the lights – it was gorgeous. Great new winter festival to add to the holiday festivities in the city. Back home and everyone crashed.

Nathan Philips Square:

Aurora:

Monday (Xmas Eve) was baking day – we made kovas (nanaimo bars), ginger nut cookies and double chocolate chip cookies with mint chips. Everything turned out great and they were all gone by the time the family left later in the week. The girls also helped me with making lunch (chicken and Greek salad). After lunch, we headed out armed with an outdoor scavenger hunt game and walked through the neighborhood to Starbucks, then made our way back. If your family is into games but want to spend time outdoors, this game is awesome and kept everyone busy along the walk.  Luckily my sister brought her Christmas light necklace (equipped with working flashing lights) to drape over a mailbox so we could count the “decorated mailbox” as found on our hunt. 🙂

 

We got back home, had our usual charcuterie, cheese, crackers and other goodies for dinner, watched Daddy’s Home 2 (again, first time for Chris and I – funny) and got everything ready for the big day tomorrow. 🙂

Tuesday was Christmas Day and after a morning opening gifts, we enjoyed our turkey lunch with all the usual fixings. We all ended up playing the new games Santa brought. Mad Gab (you have to read a card out loud that’s made up of words that sound like something else) – tough to explain, even tougher to play. We also played Hearing Things and had a blast – one player wore headphones with sounds that blocked out noise while your teammate whispers a phrase and the headphone-wearer tries to read their lips to guess what they’re saying. This was hilarious!! We ended the night watching The Holiday and snacking on holiday treats – even the cat joined in resting in his bed in front of the fire.

Wednesday was Boxing Day and we headed down tot he King Edward hotel to have afternoon tea. At this tie of year they have a festive “Nutcracker Tea” and it was awesome. The finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, jam and lemon curd and pastries – everything was yummy, festive and filling. Back home, we played Christmas charades, then off to see Mary Poppins Returns.

Thursday was “big breakfast” day including scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. Followed by ornament-making – this year we made pine cone ornaments with berries and branches, topped with plaid ribbons. They turned out pretty well!

 

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2018 – Our Year in Photos

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Update: New Kitten

We finally picked up our new kitten. His name is Dante and he’s an Abyssinian, the same breed as our late pet Gizmo who passed last November. After several days without a little furry life in the house, we decided we wanted another cat, and we found this little guy. We picked him up this past weekend and had an uneventful (thankfully) 6 hour drive back to the GTA. We had brought everything (food, water, litter, etc) and it went well. We were eager to get him settled in and the last couple of days have been super fun.

We closed off the door to the basement until he gets settled with the main floor and the upstairs. He already knows where everything is (his litter, food, water, etc.). He already knew how to navigate stairs and is pretty gung ho when running up/down them. He loves food, playing, his kitty condo and is curious about everything. He has bursts of energy then conks out and basks in the sun. 🙂 He is still a wee thing (2.5 pounds) and cuteness overload is rampant in our house at the moment.

He slept with us both nights we’ve had him so far and didn’t wake up in the night to get into mischief (that we know of). Maybe we’ve been lucky so far. lol

We’re looking forward to more adventures with our new addition. 🙂

 

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Christmas Family Visit 2017

Now that I’ve recuperated from the whirlwind that is my sister and her two daughters, I can write a blog post about all the fun we had during their holiday visit.

They arrived on the 21st on an empty flight and landed at Billy Bishop airport. With the news showing a jam-packed Pearson airport (busiest day of the year apparently), it made sense to fly to the island airport. Traffic was actually light due to many already being off work.

We got back home and everyone settled in. We made lunch (rigatoni with cherry tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella) then had fun playing a rousing game of Christmas charades. The girls are getting old enough to play games that adult enjoy playing too. 🙂 Fun!! We then headed out to Michael’s to get some holiday craft materials that we wanted to tackle during their stay (more on these later!).

We were also cat-sitting for my sister-in-law’s cat Dusty and after a nervous first day, he adjusted quickly and joined in some of the activities. 🙂

The following day we were planning to go to the Distillery District to see the Christmas Market. During the day, we made the first batch of treats: Smore’s Cookies. They were really yummy and my kitchen helpers were awesome!

The girls also wrote their letters to Santa for Jingles the Elf to bring them to him. This is a kit that comes with magical paper (and a storybook explaining it all) that shrinks when you bake it (with the help of an adult) so they’re small enough for the elf to carry back to Santa. It was really neat! You can see the large letter in the first pic. Then, the shrunken versions in the 2nd and 3rd pic:

We also played 5 Second Rule, a fun and simple game where a player has to name 3 things that fit the category in 5 seconds. This was a lot of fun!

Next was our visit to the Christmas Market. We all hopped on the GO train, played a Christmas-themed version of the alphabet game all the way downtown and got to the market just as the sun was setting and the lights sparkled. 🙂

On the way back to Union Station, we stopped for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and it was warm and cozy. Their Christmas decor was fantastic – just what we needed to warm up!

The next day we made the next batch of cookies; these were mainly for Uncle Chris: Maple Bacon Cookies. Holy moly were they ever good!

We made the first craft which was a 3d puzzle-like train made out of foam which was harder than it looked. On the box, they provide a suggested time to finish it (an hour I believe) and we did it in that amount of time:

We played a bit more charades then got ready for our “Christmas by Lamplight” evening at Black Creek Village. We drove: Drove to the village and drove Uncle Chris crazy with our carol-singing in the car. 🙂 Ha! The village itself was beautifully decorated for the holidays and most of the buildings had something festive going on – see a more complete post here. In short, it was amazing. I’d go back in a heartbeat – highly recommended!!

The next day we made cinnamon-baked doughnuts. Oh my.

Baking is hard work:

Had Cadbury hot chocolate (best ever – all others have now been ruined):

We had an impromptu coloring session:

We finished up some wrapping to make sure we were all ready for the big day. We all dressed up and had a nice charcuterie, cheese, cracker and fruit dinner with cranberry orange punch (cranberry cocktail, orange juice, sparkling water, cinnamon stick and couple of cloves). I could eat it every day. 🙂  But then I’d end up looking like Santa, so, no.

We watched a holiday movie (I lost track of which one!!) then the kids were off to bed to try to get some sleep before Santa’s arrival tomorrow morning.  We left out some cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Maddie read Twas the night Before Christmas to us. 🙂

We managed to take a pic of the tree after Santa came 🙂

Dec 25th – Christmas Morning!!!! Sue, Chris and I grabbed our coffees, cookies and doughnuts and the kids opened their stockings. They joined us for cookies, then tackled the gifts. 🙂  Everyone was very happy. I loved what I received from kitchen goodies from Chris (a beautiful pan, cutting boards and tools that I needed) to an awesome winter scarf and Harry Potter slippers from Sue. It was a great success!

The girls spent most of the day playing; we took a break for lunch (leftover meats and cheeses), then we started on dinner! The adults kicked off the festivities with a bit of brandy. 🙂

Then we watched The Sound of Music – it’s tradition! And off to bed!

On the 26th, after having eaten a load of treats and lord knows what else, we headed out to Crawford Lake to enjoy the outdoors and hiked the boardwalk around the lake. It was a cold one but we were all bundled up and pretty much the only ones there! Even the drive up was quiet and scenic.

We stopped for lunch at Boston Pizza on the way back home and made Christmas ornaments – we got the makings of this from Michael’s as well and these turned out great!

We braved the cold again the following day and walked the trails near our house on our way to Starbucks to warm up. We came across a dad and his son tobogganing in the area (we heard the dad screaming from a couple of blocks away) and he asked Sienna and Maddie if they would like a ride (to spare him from having to go again teehee). The girls were super excited to have a run. 🙂

We had fun playing follow the leader on the way back to warm up. There was hopping and jumping involved. Luckily, no video. 🙂

And that’s it! We survived another family visit, packed as many holiday activities as we could and from what I hear, the girls are already interested in coming back to Aunt Val’s next Christmas. 🙂 A year to recover should be enough. I think.

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