Top 10 Things I Love About Toronto

Over a year since I’ve blogged??? Good Lord. Well, I need to change that.

So in the spirit of counting blessings – which I’m reminded that I need to do more of – I’m going to try and blog about the good things in my life. And one of those is something I take for granted every day: the city in which I live. I always tell people how much I love Toronto and some agree and others don’t understand what there is to love about the city many people call The Big Smoke. Well, a lot, as it turns out. It’s more than just traffic congestion and people going too fast to enjoy what they’ve got here. Without further ado, here is my Top Ten Things I Love about Toronto list.

#10
The villages within the city: Bloor West Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Portugal, The Kingsway, Leaside, Greektown. You name it and Toronto’s got it. These villages within the city make the city feel more vibrant and less anonymous.

#9
The ravines. Toronto is a city of creeks and rivers that snake through the city and help break up the concrete jungle. Once you follow along a footpath and hear the rushing stream beside you it’s like you are transported into the country.

#8
The parks. From the huge (High Park) to the small neighbourhood parks dotted throughout the city we have a lot of green in this city. Not enough downtown parks for sure but there is still a lot of space to run around in if you need it.

#7
It’s on the water! We sometimes forget that we have Lake Ontario on our doorstep. But the bike paths along the water remind us that we are not surrounded only by skyscrapers and asphalt.

#6
Theatre! Thank God for the Mirvish family and all the other theatrical productions both professional and amateur that dot our city. I’ve seen productions here that could and do rival some Broadway productions.

#5
The Shopping. Seriously, from the discount to the high end you don’t have to travel far to get what you need.

#4
World renowned hospitals. Hypochondriac that I am I appreciate knowing I’m only minutes away from some of the best health care in the country, if not the world. Anyone with kids thanks the heavens every day for The Hospital for Sick Children. You name the illness and we’ve got a hospital that specializes in treating it. Go Toronto!

#3
Sports teams. Okay, I may not be a Blue Jays or Maple Leaf’s fan but I appreciate the fact that we have a centre big enough to accommodate that kind of entertainment.

#2
Transportation. Specifically Pearson International Airport, the Island Airport and the TTC. Seriously, I love having an airport in the city where I live. I’m only twenty minutes away from boarding a plane should I ever decide to make a last minute trip to the Bahamas or something. And taking the TTC every day into work allowed me to finish several books and spend every morning and evening commute reading instead of battling traffic. Sure it needs improvement and I hope it gets the money it needs but I’m a big fan.

And the number one reason that I love Toronto:

#1
The people. Again, seriously. We are a friendly city (despite our reputation for being snobs). For the most part we are a helpful, polite, peace-loving bunch. Sure, in a city of over 3 million people you are going to have problems (and I have seen some interesting things!) but after living here almost thirty years and having met some superb people in that time, we have an amazing bunch of people in this city.

I’m sure I could write a few more favourite things about it but I’ll stop with the top ten. What’s your favourite thing about T.O.?

Things That Make the Crankies Go Away

I should have posted this blog post yesterday but I was in an epically cranky mood. No particular reason - a combination of delays and frustrations on the reno, The Boy not being ready when I got home to take him to Tae Kwon Do when I'd asked him to (this is a recurring theme with him), my hair needing a major re-do and a few other things that, by themselves aren't anything epic but accumulate them over a day or a week and suddenly I find myself in a major Blue Funk or becoming "The World's Crankiest Mom and Wife".

Besides having a glass of wine to deal with these episodes (and that wasn't possible in yesterday's busyness) there is one other thing that never fails to help me to feel better when I've got a case of crankies: I search where my book is in various public libraries across the country and see if it's been checked out. I know, I know. A bit self-obsessive, isn't it? But the idea that someone is reading Illegally Blonde always cheers me up. And the other day I checked the Toronto Public Library and found they'd ordered 14 copies of it! This was a major pick me up because Toronto's my home library and the city with the biggest Portuguese-Canadian population in Canada. Since IB features a Portuguese-Canadian teen I was a little bummed the TPL hadn't stocked it yet. Well, as always, librarians come through and make somebody's day (mine this time) a little sunshinier. Thank you, TPL!

How about you guys? What cheers you up when you've got the crankies?

10 Ways to Beat the February Blahs!

Back in October I gave the reasons why it's my favourite month. In the spirit of positivity I'm working hard to embrace I thought I'd try the same thing with my least favourite month - February.

I don't know why poor February has been relegated to last place in my Top Twelve Month listing but hmm, let me see...Cold. Winter. No Sun. Blahs.

Yeah. That last one. The February Blahs are the worst.

But let's see if I can turn that negative perception around by doing a positivity list and see how I feel by the end of it. They say, if you try hard enough, you can embrace even the most blahest of blah times. So here goes…

1. February is the shortest month of the year. Yay! Seriously, whoever developed the Roman calendar (that is the one we follow, right?) must have had a vision of poor, frozen souls shivering in Canada waiting for the sun to come back. So they said, "Hey! Let's make this month only 28 days!" A psychological trick but it works wonders.

2. Valentine's Day! Okay, I know it's a total marketing scam started by candy companies to sell chocolate truffles but who doesn't like to eat chocolate truffles?? And eating chocolate truffles with the one you love is always a mood lifter.

3. Winterlicious! Not sure if other cities besides Toronto have all their best restaurants open their doors with scrumptious meals at reasonable prices to get people to come out and eat in what would otherwise be a dreary month but it's a hit here in T.O. I've already gone to lunch and dinner at two different restaurants I don't normally frequent. Getting out of the office and the house and socializing makes this a great way to break the winter blahs. Go Winterlicious!

4. Family Day! Here in Ontario it's a new holiday on February 15. Kids are off school, government employees have the day off and so do some private businesses. A time to spend with the family doing nothing together or spend it going to the movies, skiing, skating - whatever it is you enjoy doing together. If you don't have a Family Day mandated where you live, why not mandate your own day. Play hooky and spend time with your kids! Definite blah breaker!

5.Chinese New year! The Chinese New Year starts on February 14 this year (Valentine's Day too - double celebration!) and, bonus, it's the Year of the Tiger! My year, baby! Tiger years promise to be chock full of excitement and energy - hopefully most of it good!

6. Surprises! Okay, that one is a little obscure but the last few years one good surprise has always happened to me in February. I signed with my agent in February and got my book offer in February. Month's almost half-over - come on surprise! Where are you?

7.More time for Writing! Seriously, with no distractions like summer vacations, sunshine and warm weather to frolic in there is nothing to pull you away from your computer. You can go gang-busters on that wordcount! So write, dammit!

8.Oscar-nominated movies! Usually, the Oscars happen at the end of February. This year it's early March. No matter - it just gives me a little extra time to see those great films.

9. Winter Olympics! I know - I know. This only happens every four years. But when it does it's in February!

10. Spring is around the corner! For reals! By February 28 Spring is only 3 WEEKS AWAY! If that doesn't lift the blahs you need more help than writing up a positive list.

So, how do you feel now? You know what? I feel a lot better than before I wrote the list. Just goes to show you thinking positively really can help change your perception on things. Poor February might have just moved up a couple of notches on my Top Twelve Month list. And hey! What's that I see? The sun just came out!!

Excited About Word on the Street

So the 20th Annual Word on the Street festival is happening in Toronto tomorrow. Book publishers, magazines, libraries, authors, agents, booksellers, workshops, signings, readings! What more could a book fan want? A writer could OD on the cornucopia of delights available.

I have been trying to get to this festival for years and have never been able to but I booked it weeks ago into our crowded September schedule, informed hubby and the kids (a couple of them may join me in the wanderings down at Queen's Park Crescent) and no matter what I will be there. I expect a surprised "huh??" from hubby who most likely has forgotten that I've booked the time but I'm not about to miss seeing Margaret Atwood, Anthony de Sa, Austin Clarke, Cordelia Strube, Nino Ricci and more.

But even more importantly I just want to be surrounded by other people who love books as much as I do. I better remember to take a big bag because I know I won't be leaving without picking up a few irrisistable reads.

If you're in T.O. this weekend - go to Word on the Street!

Are you afraid of thunderstorms?

Yikes. What a night!

It's been a pretty thunderstormy month of August here but nothing like last night. Tornadoes?? In Toronto? Holy smokes. Luckily my section of the city wasn't hit too bad but woke up this morning to see the swath of destruction north of Toronto on the news. Miraculously only one death occurred in Durham a town just north of Toronto. My heart goes out to the parents of the boy that was killed. How can one ever imagine that a tornado will touch down in your town and wipe out your home or a loved one?

I always believed that tornadoes happened in open farm country (that's what repeat viewing of the The Wizard of Oz will do to you as a kid). I grew up on a farm in southern Ontario and while we had some wicked storms I never witnessed an actual tornado but I was always deathly afraid of them. As a small child I would huddle under the blankets of my bed trying to plug my ears to the rushing wind and thunder and close my eyes to the flashes of lightning I was sure were going to hit my Dad who would always stay out in the fields no matter what the weather. The only concession he would make would be sitting under the wagon until the storm passed. Drove my mother nuts.

I still remember one summer storm vividly. I think I was about sixteen because I'd just gotten my drivers license. It was a usual hot, humid southern Ontario afternoon out in the fields like always. I was picking tomatoes (or maybe it was peppers or eggplant - the vegetables have all run together for me.I hated them all equally). I was trying to keep my mind from withering in the heat and boredom and wondering what excuse I could make to take a break and go into the barn to try and cool off. When I looked up to see that the sky had turned a really sickly shade of green. Whoa. Not good. I didn't have to make any excuse to leave. Because the next thing I saw was my mother freaking out and running as fast as her little legs could carry her to the pick-up truck. I was driving and she was shrieking and crossing herself and praying as we bumped along the dirt road and onto the highway. My stomach was in knots as I took a quick look in the rear view mirror only to see this massive, now dark green, sky crawling up behind us like some kind of monster. It was the only time my mom let me drive like a bat out of hell from the farm to get home. We made it home before the rain crashed onto us but I still remember trying to outrace what was looming up behind us and thinking that we just might not make it.

The ferocity of thunderstorms makes me really appreciate how utterly powerless we are when faced with raging nature. No wonder people flock to see disaster movies! Maybe that's why I love living in a city. I know a lot of people consider cities more dangerous than the country but for me I feel like there are more safety nets here. Less random acts of nature (or maybe more contained? Fewer open spaces?. Although I do concede that there can be more random acts of violence. Still, being in a city, the power of nature has always seemed further away. Until last night. It proved to me that when Mother Nature strikes she doesn't care if you're on a vegetable farm in the Banana belt of Ontario or sitting in a car at an intersection in a busy city. When she wants to get you she will. So take cover people.

Anyway, I hope this is the end of the wild weather. Off to the cottage tomorrow and hopefully a week of warmth and sunshine. Can you believe September is only a little over a week away? Hope everyone has had a safe summer so far - with no thunderstorms!

March Break Musings and Famous City Attractions

It's March Break week here in Toronto and I'm taking a couple of days off with the kids. Not planning tons of stuff - mostly it'll be about letting the kids usual hectic pace slow down a bit. For example it's almost ten a.m. right now and two of them are still sleeping. Oldest is working at a kids camp this week. Wow. Kind of weird when your baby girl is grown up enough to take care of other people's kids now.

We did go to the Art Gallery of Ontario yesterday and while the youngest was semi-bored the older two liked it and I thought the new Frank Gehry addition (especially his beautiful wooden spiral suspended staircase and arched gallery) was stunning. I can't believe I've lived here over twenty years and this was the first time I've gone to the AGO. I wonder if it's like that for most people who live in major cities with famous places? Since they're in your backyard do you have the mentality of "Oh, I'll get to it another day"?

Although I must say I've seen the CN Tower more times than I can count and gone up to it's Skyview deck enough times to be bored with it (still, you never get tired of standing on that weird window in the floor and staring down thousands of feet below you. Yicky). The Royal Ontario Museum - same thing. Ontario Science Centre - if I have to do another school field trip there I'll pay money NOT to go (not that there's anything wrong with it - I just can't do those hands on exhibits one more time, thank you). Toronto Zoo, well, only been once - it's one heck of a drive out there and during March most of the animals are inside anyway.

What I should do with the kids - especially since it's such a nice weather week - is not just think about the major attractions but wander around the parks and neighbourhoods that we don't get to go to that often. Chinatown, Little Italy, take in a show at the theatre district. I know some people put down Toronto as a cold, kind of snobby place but I really do love it here and I find most people friendly and helpful and the neighbourhoods full of character and charm (well, okay, some neighbourhoods I'd stay away from). But I do want my kids to know the city that is their birthplace and feel comfortable exploring it.

Now, if they would just wake up so I could take them somewhere...