Guest post – Natalie the Explorer

Fabulous Walk and Interview

April 9, 2021April 18, 2021Natalie107 Comments

Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #14! I’m glad you’re here. Please come on in, help yourself to a cup of coffee, or tea, or hot chocolate at my coffee station and let’s chat.

What’s New

It’s been a fab few days here…

Beautiful spring weather has been ideal for my cycling, walking, playing disc golf, visiting local beaches, gardens, parks, and the city centre. I choose to go outside on weekday and Sunday mornings and to places that are quiet so I can keep a safe distance from people.

I mapped out new cycling and walking routes that offer me plenty of things to see and photograph. I usually cycle to the destination, lock the bike, go for a walk, then pick up the bike, and cycle home. Fitness and fun combo wins! See my walk in Yorkville and my photos below.

I had a fun interview with Marsha Ingrao at Always Write blog about hosting the weekly Weekend Coffee Share blog link-up. Click here to read the full interview. (Virtual) coffee and beignets from the historic Café du Monde in New Orleans were on the table. Marsha retrieved comments from my blog for the interview so you may see your name and comments in her post.

My Walk in Yorkville

Yorkville is a historic and upscale neighbourhood in downtown Toronto. Established as a separate village in 1830, Yorkville was annexed into Toronto in 1883. In the last three decades, many smaller buildings in Yorkville were demolished and office, hotels, and high-priced condominiums built.

Yorkville is now home to some of Toronto’s most expensive condominiums. It has art galleries, boutiques, restaurants, spas, and luxury hotels catered to the wealthy clients. Fortunately, it still retains its attractiveness with pedestrian traffic, narrow streets, quaint row houses, and charming curb appeal.

Let me show you a few of my favourite Yorkville murals and architecture in pictures.

Yorkville Murals

Yorkville Murals in August 2020 was a cultural event that celebrates contemporary muralism and public art. It was a huge success despite the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s scheduled to return in August 2021.

Yorkville Mural by Ola Volo. — Yorkville Mural by Canadian artist Ola Volo.

OK mural by Ben Johnston — OK mural by Toronto-based artist Ben Johnston.

Yorkville mural by Jason Botkin — Yorkville Mural by Jason Botkin.

Canada Geese mural by local artist Bacon. The building is the famed Sassafraz restaurant.

Yorkville Architecture

Church of the Redeemer founded in 1871. — Church of the Redeemer, an Anglican church, founded in 1871.

The Church of Redeemer main doors in Gothic Revival style.

The Festival Walkway by Reinhard Reitzenstein. — The Festival Walkway looking north

Click on any image in the image gallery to see it bigger.

Linking to #BrightSquare, #Lens-Artists 142, #LifeThisWeek, #ThursdayDoors, #WeeklySmile, #WW.

How did your week go? Go on, brighten my day. I’d love to hear your comments.

BeaverTails and Red Roses

February 12, 2021February 16, 2021Natalie140 Comments

Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #6! I’m glad you’re here. Please come on in, help yourself to a cup of coffee, or tea, or hot chocolate at my coffee station and let’s chat.

This is a long weekend of celebrations here: Lunar New Year’s Day, the year of the Ox, on February 12, Valentine’s Day on February 14, and Family Day on February 15. I have a sweet treat and rosy or red images to share.

1. BeaverTails

Have you ever had a beavertail? I ate my first delicious beavertail in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, a long time ago. No, not the tail of a beaver. I’m talking about Canadian pastries, called Beavertails or Queues de Castor in French. They are fried dough pastries, individually hand stretched to resemble beaver’s tails, topped with either sweet or savoury ingredients.

One of the BeaverTails stores is located in Pier 6 building, the oldest building in Toronto’s Harbourfront area. I think its red exterior and doors are suitable entry to the Thursday Doors and Sunday Stills photography challenges this week.

The glass panes of the front door are half covered with BeaverTails menu, notices of store opening hours, and covid-19 protocols. The plaque on the right of Pier 6 building explains its architecture and history since 1907.

I like how an ordinary storage shed, on the left side of Pier 6 building, is transformed into something eye-catching with a coat of red paint and a few Canadian symbols: Moose antlers, beavers, a heart, oars, rolling pins, apples, evergreen trees, and leaves.

The back of Pier 6 building is mostly glass doors and windows. They are open in nice weather and are glass for a good reason.

The reason is this view of the Toronto Harbour and the boats that dock along the pier. In a few weeks, boat crews will start cleaning up and getting their boats ready for boat tour customers.

The boats will be in pristine conditions, especially their doors and windows, so passengers can have a good view of Toronto from the water. Rentals of bigger boats are also available for special events.

If you haven’t had a BeaverTails pastry, I recommend to try it at least once. I have no affiliation with the company. Currently, there are eleven BeaverTails choices. They’re big and inexpensive treats, perfect for sharing with your Valentine.

Plus for about US$5, you can claim that you’ve had a Canadian BeaverTails pastry, like this fun fact about President Obama’s visit, and tick off this item on your bucket list.

2. Red Roses

Terri’s Sunday Stills Rosy Red prompt also reminded me of my visit to a rose plantation in Ecuador before the pandemic. Although roses are not native to Ecuador, the country has a perfect environment for rose cultivation and is one of the world’s major producers. Here’s a small sample of about 500 rose varieties in Ecuador:

Ecuadorian roses have long stems with perfect petals. They come in so many colours and names that it would be hard to choose which to buy. Take a look at this exquisite arrangement of real red roses or a single rosy red rose. Both say Happy Valentine’s Day loud and clear.

All flowers are shared on Cee’s Flower of The Day.

3. Finding Calm

My guest post 21 Quick Ideas To Find Calm went live on Min’s Write of the Middle blog in Australia on Monday February 8. Give yourself the gift of health by finding calm and taking care of yourself everyday. I hope you find at least one of my 21 quick ideas useful. Have a great weekend!

I’d love to hear your comments.

Linking with Life This Week, The Weekly Smile.

The Best Markets and Blog Parties

February 5, 2021February 10, 2021Natalie129 Comments

Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #5! I’m glad you’re here. Please come on in, help yourself with a cup of coffee, or tea, or hot chocolate at my coffee station, and let’s chat.

1. The Best Indoor Food Markets

One of my recent bicycle rides was to St. Lawrence Market, which was constructed in 1803, and was named the best food market in the world by National Geographic in 2012.

The St. Lawrence Market Complex consists of the South Market (Main market), the North Market (Saturday Farmers’ market), and St. Lawrence Hall (Offices and rental venue).

St. Lawrence Market, Toronto, Canada since 1803.

St. Lawrence Market reminds me of the Great Market Hall or Central Market Hall, the largest and oldest indoor market in Budapest, Hungary, built in 1897.

Great Market Hall, Budapest, Hungary since 1897.

Both markets have similar interior layouts. St. Lawrence South Market has two levels: The main and lower levels of St. Lawrence South Market contain over 120 specialty vendors, known for the variety and freshness of their fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, grains, baked goods and dairy products, as well as for the uniqueness of the non-food items for sale.

Side view of the South Market two levels. — Side view of the 2-storey St. Lawrence South Market.

The Great Market Hall has three levels: Most of the stalls on the ground floor offer produce, meats, pastries, candies, spices, and spirits. The second mezzanine floor has eateries and tourist souvenirs. The basement contains fishmongers, vegetables stalls, and a few specialized butcher shops.

Both St. Lawrence Market and the Great Market Hall are amazing indoor markets to explore, browse or buy and savour fresh food.

Now that we’ve got our fresh pastries from the market, let me tell you about my upcoming guest post and my blog party wondering.

2. Guest Post

I’m excited to share my guest post titled 21 Quick Ideas To Find Calm in 2021 on Min’s Write of the Middle blog on February 8, Brisbane time, in Australia. Min is passionate about health and well-being, self-investment, and mindfulness. Her Gems of Zen series is about lifestyle choices to achieve a sense of Zen.

I’ve known Min in the blog world for some time now as we both link up with some of the same blog parties. I’d like to thank Min for the opportunity to share my ideas on her blog. It’s cool that my blogging voice gets to travel to Australia before I visit the country IRL. See how blog parties open doors to new adventures?

3. What Attracts You to A Blog Party?

Coffee Share party #4 was well-attended with 35 bloggers. Thank you for your participation! Now that we’ve had four blog parties in January, I wonder what attracts bloggers to a blog link-up. Is it simply a nice place to hang out with other bloggers or is there more that attracts you to it? Such as:

The blogs at the link-up.
The dates and time when the link-up is open.
The new visitors and comments that you receive.
The reciprocity among participants: You visit a blog, leave a comment, and the blogger visits your blog.
By word of mouth from a blogger you follow.
The host’s responsiveness to reply to comments on his/ her blog and leave comments on your blog.

Perhaps the best blog parties are those that keep bringing you back.

Your turn

I’d love to hear your comments on:

The best indoor markets.
Writing guest post.
What attracts you to a blog link-up/ party.

Linking with Life This Week, The Weekly Smile, Thursday Doors.

How Would You Answer These 5 Questions?

May 13, 2020May 12, 2020Natalie4 Comments

I am delighted to be a guest on Denyse Whelan’s blog, as part of her Women of Courage Series. I answered these questions in March 2020. We agreed to set a publishing date for May 13, 2020. Denyse is in Australia and I am in Canada so we are really connecting across the continents.

In my post I am sharing three of my life experiences where I have had to be courageous. I have drawn on them again and again whenever I need to be resilient and strong. The near death health-related experience gives me a greater appreciation for life in general.

Click here to read the interview. I would be delighted if you could drop by, read the interview, and leave a comment. I look forward to meeting you there!