Quiet Break in Toronto...

Highlight for me was on Monday afternoon going to the Gardiner Museum where we saw the Yoko Ono exhibit (photos not permitted) in addition to the permanent displays.

I'm a big dragon and phoenix fan and I got to see lots of those.

What I had never seen before were comparison examples of porcelain and painted designs beginning with the original Japanese designs, then Chinese riffs, and subsequent British interpretations. Of course, I didn't take a picture of them. Next time.

I find all museums and art galleries to be enlightening, even when I'm not particularly interested in the subject matter, the Cosmodome north of Montreal being a case in point some 20-plus years ago during an ice storm. I fell in love with ceramics at art college 30 years ago and it's hard to believe I'd never been to the Gardiner before now. 

Ambled over to the Duke of York by the Bedford exit at the St. George subway stop in the Annex. I used to go to the Duke pubs in the '70s. The food was always good then, and it's truly amazing to find that 40 years later it's still good. Scary realisation: I was going to the Dukes long before any of the current wait staff or management here were born. Yikes.

In terms of food selection, sure, it's the same old pub grub; however both our taste buds say the Duke just does it better. The battered fish were extremely good and the beef burger sliders were intensely beefy. 

Bonus, we finally tasted a Moscow Mule. I've tried the Kettle brand Moscow Mule potato chips -- yummers, love anything with lime -- but we didn't have a clue what the drink would be like. So freakin' good -- and icy, icy cold in the copper mug.

Tuesday was another slow amble through the downtown. I finally saw the dog fountain on Front Street in action. Previous trips, it was either under construction or turned off in the winter. It's two blocks from Hi-Toronto where I usually stay, and worth spending a few hours under the trees, people and dog-watching and reading a book.

Then finally, came home to my not-so-green-anymore tomatoes from Mike at the farmers market. Love the natural green-to-red graduation because they all started out uniformly green. I'm eating them one at a time, really good, sharp, acidic tomatoes.

Lots of vendors are moving outside tomorrow -- see you at the market!

Trip to Toronto...

I was supposed to leave Woodstock by 7:00 a.m. on Sunday to the Toronto Gem & Mineral Show at the Don Mills Arena, but ended up tossing, tossing, tossing and packing and moving until 2:00 p.m. downsizing from a 2-bedroom house to a tiny room in a shared house. Okay, and a storage locker for all my show and market bins -- all of which are on large wire baker's rack type shelves. System works great.

People laugh at my 30-inch wide bed but it's super comfortable and I can store lots underneath. I gave away tons and tons of stuff, but still have too much. 

I stayed downtown at Hi-Toronto on Church just north of King, and my current fave place to stay in Toronto. The common kitchen/dining area has been renovated -- took out a dividing wall, and despite losing counter space, it's made a huge difference. The room is now filled with light. I've always loved the mismatched wooden tables and chairs look. Took this picture at about 6:00 a.m. but in the afternoon/early evening, it's really beautiful. Plenty of fridge/freezer/food prep space. I bring my own coffee for early in the morning.

All I did was eat, and walk and eat some more. We had lunch on Monday at crazy-good KoJa Sushi in the Liberty Village neighbourhood with Ruth. The plates are works of freakin' fresh and goooood art.

We headed to an artisan co-op stores on Queen in Parkdale, but found Curiosa in its place, full of Harry Potter paraphernalia. Magical place. One of these days I'll binge read/watch the Harry Potter books and movies. Then we went to the Lakeview Restaurant on Dundas at Ossington for dinner, my second time there. Walking up Ossington and taking the streetcar along Dundas, there are so many little restos and so little time -- and money. More money and more time would be good. The key of course to all this good food is a whole lot of sauntering. Five-plus kilometres each day. The next day we went to the Bus Terminal Diner on the Danforth at Coxwell, another great time warp, diners being a current theme.

Very sorry I missed Karma's Kitchen on Gerrard, but I got to Toronto too late Sunday evening to consider it. Dim Sum Plus on Spadina is new, tried it on my last visit, and I would've liked to have gone back there. Three more weeks to wait...

Meanwhile back here IRL, Mother's Day is May 13th. Two more market shopping days: don't forget to come and see me and all the other great vendors at the Woodstock Farmers Market every Saturday morning from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. We have great gifts, and great food for your BBQ or party. I'm there by 5:00 a.m. for anyone who wants to stop by on their way to work.

See you there!

November 2017 GEM EXPO...

I haven't posted pix from the shows all year, but here are my setup photos this time, largely unedited. So happy the show was two weeks earlier than usual, we had a much better turnout even with parts of different subway lines shut down on Saturday and Sunday.

Have to start the trip with sufficient fuel: crispy hot french fries from my favourite chip stand at the top of the hill on the western edge of Paris -- Ontario.

My usual show strategy is to get the tables in place and everything out of the bins and onto the tables on Thursday night, then arrive at 7:00 a.m. on Friday and begin arranging everything.

9:03 a.m. everything is roughly in place; behind the scene, it's a mess and didn't improve at all during the show...

...in front of the scene, everything is roughly in place but I was not in a mindset to make decisions about where things should go. I had new bins of beads that were really throwing me off and some I didn't bring.

At 11:45, the doors have been open for 15 minutes, and this is as good and pristine as my booth will get.

I found stretch velcro bands at Dollarama to keep my plastic drawers and bins closed. I'll be cutting the lids off the translucent bins and using the velcro bands to keep the lids on for transportation. Without the lids it will make for a much cleaner display. That does not look good up above!

LOVELOVELOVE these clear stacking containers with partitioned trays as they are the perfect size for my collection of 6mm beads. I now have at least 100 different beads for my Chakraluscious line of healing bracelets and I'm sourcing more.

For now, I'm using a wooden spool holder that I found at the Goodwill for $3 and spray-painted black to hold my Chakraluscious bracelets. I finally had the absolutely delightful experience of selling an anti-negativity bracelet right off my wrist at the show. Very cool when that happens!

Since arriving back home, I scored two more small type trays to put goodies in, pre-loading being the way to go and these trays fit perfectly into plastic bins for storage and transport.

Some great meals:

Dinner crepe, Crepe T.O. is located a few doors south of the HI-Toronto hostel on Church, just above King. I read a great review in the Toronto Star several months before and have wanted to try it. Yum. I think they were planning on closing early, but they stayed open a bit later for me and several other people who'd wandered in after me.

Sunday night, Ruth and I hit the ever-reliable Jason George for a late night shared meal after packing up the van:

Pusateri's on Bay in Yorkville, Ruth launching an attack on an unsuspecting chocolate almond croissant, sitting there minding its own business. We spent a good hour going through beads and assorted loot.

The show was a lot of fun all three days and Sunday was fantastic. Packed with people all day and I had such great conversations. The classes I taught went well, and it looks like I'll be offering a third, different class in March, so stay tuned.

The next Gem Expo will be held the final weekend of March Break when everyone will be back from their holidays! Whoo hoo! See you then. In the meantime, you can find me every Saturday morning 7:00 a.m. until noon at the Woodstock Farmers Market on Nellis Street. I'm also taking part in the Quarter Auction on December 7th next door in the Auditorium, and on Sunday, December 17th I'll be at the Burnt Brick Cafe on Dundas Street in downtown Woodstock.

If you fear change...

The Cavern bar/resto at the HI-Toronto youth hostel where I stayed this past weekend. I really, really like it there!

See you all at the Woodstock Farmers Market this Saturday with all my Toronto Gem Show goodies. I got lots of new beads to make chakra bracelets, as well as earrings and pendants!

Thanks for stopping by!

4-Daycation coming up!

Leaving Friday morning for four days in Toronto to go to the gem show at the Don Mills Arena. Staying at HI-Toronto again. Other than the show on Saturday with pals, I'm planning nothing more than a slow meander.

Here are some pix from the past few trips to Tronna.

A typical dorm room at HI-Toronto:

A traditional straw broom from Iqbal's, Toronto:

Salami d'amour from Pusateri's Avenue Road:

Totally forgot to document my table setup at the Gem Expo this time. This shows the point at which I gave up on Thursday night. The classes were held behind this table in the bay window of the ballroom. A curtain was put up between my table and the classrooms.

I've moved almost entirely over to clear plastic stacking display boxes and I was able to pretty much get two tables' worth of beads on the one table, yet all were clearly visible. Because so many of my beads now live permanently in these boxes, setup was waaaaay faster than all the other shows. And I think people rather liked the treasure hunt, poking in and around items on the table. I was told several times it was my nicest display yet.

Once again, we ended up at the Jason George for dinner. Ruth's sandwich was fabulous. The Kaiser bun wasn't one of those flabby soft things that passes for Kaisers these days. Crunchy crust!

The show was so busy I barely got a chance to leave my table, but I did buy lots of blue Afghan turquoise heishi...

...which looks gorgeous with my new raven skull pendant.

Thanks for stopping by -- and maybe see you in Toronto!

Pee Ess... Lianne the Vintage Lady will be putting out some of my jewellery at the Woodstock Farmers Market on Saturday while I'm away.