Neighbourhood #8: South Roncesvalles

It has been over 18 months since the last adventure, but the spirit behind the rediscovery of our city never died.  And last weekend Sim and I once again got out to explore another neighbourhood in Toronto.  And it was another great success!

I headed downtown midafternoon on Friday and picked up Sim and headed East on Queen until we hit Roncesvalles Ave.  I had it in my mind that we'd be going across College so I was prepared to not park on the street, so when a small lot came up down at Queen for $4 for the afternoon we popped in.

First stop was at the Knit Cafe.  It's come to my attention that the yarn I'm using for my scarf has been discontinued so I thought we could pop into the Knit Cafe to see if they carried it.  They were after all registered as distributors of the brand I'm looking for.  There was a small selection of yarn, but it was a rather cute place.  I could see us going back and having a good old stitch and bitch there.  Of course I would first need to find my project which I have....misplaced.  After this quick stop we dropped into the jeweler Sim used recently (for her MATRIMONIAL rings) to get one resized.  They had a cute little poodle breed that kept licking the back of my legs as we stood chatting with the jeweler.  It was a nice shop, and I have a feeling they're going to do another really great job.

Onwards and upwards, we popped into a neat little toy store where Sim shopped around for a toy for a friend.  It was this adorable little plush owl toy.  She let it simmer for a while and on our way back South to the car we swooped back in she picked it up.  The store offered free gift wrapping which was a nice surprise.  I quietly noticed later the stripped pattern on the paper lined up perfectly even on the ends to create a rectangle.  Perhaps a happy accident.  Next we stopped into a cute ecostore called Ecotique.  I really fell in love with some one of a kind shoulder bags made from recycled car parts but they were quite pricey.  The had some nice wares to browse.  And I did end up picking up some soap nuts.  I still have a ton of Borax and washing soda to use up, but this is an interesting alternative.  I've actually been using my back-up manufactured laundry soap instead of mixing my own so this should give me a kick back into the right direction.

After this I was in need of a refreshing bevvy so we stopped into Extra Butter Coffee.  I had an Americano and Sim a bottled juice.  And after eavesdropping on another customer she got a little jealous and picked up a chocolate croissant.  We sat and played a few rounds of BG.  I got off to a good start but Sim came back to win it all.

There are just so many amazing stores on Roncesvalles, it wasn't hard to find places to stop into.  We stopped into a cute flower store called Sweet Pea Blooms.  They had a lot of cute handmade cards.  Followed by another boutique called Dressers.  We stopped into the local bookstore, Another Story Bookshop.  I find I'm a bit jaded when I find bookstores don't have a Canadian Literature section.  So we browsed a bit and moved on.

One of the last stops was into a cookery shop called...Cookery!  I pointed out to Sim God's gift to cleaning pots, the pot scrubber.  We even got to use it the next night at her house as she was grumbling about something sticky not coming off the bottom of her pan.  Life changing.  We spied a cute rack of aprons, and while we finished our walk up to Grenadier Rd Sim did some more pondering and we snuck back into the Cookery to pick her up a new apron.  The store owner got a bit over zealous as she spotted us taking a photo outside.  "OMG, YOU HAVE TO PUT THIS ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE."  Meh, lol.  It was a super cute shop though.  I could drop a loonie or two in that place for sure.  I do need a meat brush but it was like $15 so please.

I think this one was among one of my favourite neighbourhood walks.  Maybe because it's been so long since our last.  Maybe because I really knew nothing about Roncesvalles before this visit.  Maybe because I always enjoy a good street walking.  And after all that excitement there is still a Northern corridor for us to explore at a future date.  Bravissimo.

Oh Hai Thar

Well, I don't really have any good reason for not updating so shall we just glaze over that 2 month deficit and look exclusively towards the future.  I'm back!!

My brother and I went out to Cobourg to visit with our parents for Thanksgiving.  I hit the road early Saturday morning to avoid the traffic.  It was still fairly busy for that early on a weekend, but nothing too significant.  I helped my mom with the food prep while my brother and dad went up North to close up the cottage.  I just spent a few days up there first weekend in October.  I was hoping for at least some sunny days, but it was cold and gloomy right up until I left.  I spent most of the weekend curled up under a sleeping bag on the couch.  Yet I didn't have the desire to pack it in early.  I planned for one full day off in the city too to get the full impact of the vacation.  I'm up to 8 days off in the last 14 mos.  13 days off in the last 26 mos.  Still makes me cringe to put it in those terms, but it's never going to get up to a respectable amount, especially cumulatively.  My parents had picked up a pumpkin pie from a local farm that was to die for.  Best pie I've ever had, no doubt.

Work is a challenge as a coworker is working his way through immeasurably sad family circumstances.  All we can really do is offer our support, and keep our noses down to keep up around the office.

Not a lot of new stuff going around here.  AC is broken again, but just in time.  And if my heater isn't working I can just turn the AC on, as it's pumping out hotter air.  I'm a bit pissed.  I'll call back the same company, but this time I will have CLR in stock so I don't have to pay for him to leave.  I might also wait a few months to see if having it on heat resets whatever is screwing up with the cool.  I wish I wasn't such an air conditioning prima donna.  I just gots to get my chills on.  I'm getting slightly used to sleeping with the window open, which increases the sound by more than double.

I'm planning on spending my day tomorrow doing a comprehensive fall clean-up around here.  I think I need a checklist.  Then a quick coffee with Adam, while he's in town again.  And I've got another rack of ribs, I'm going to slow cook in my most favouritist bbq sauce.  There was an unopened bottle at the cottage so I tiefed it. 

I did some ribs last month but in a tomato soup dressing which was good, but I think it could be better with a proper sauce.  Nothing will beat the fine taste of bbq ribs but I have to work with what I've got.

That's all for now.  Hope to be back more regularly.