Remembering the Crew on Board Challenger Thirty Years Ago!

January 28, 2016

Challenger Taking Off on the Morning of Jan 28, 1986

It was thirty years ago!!!

I was watching the late evening news tonight on CTV with Lisa LaFlame, th CTV anchor who reminded the viewers that Challenger – the rocket ship heading off to space with its crew of seven astronauts, five men and two women, exploded in mid air seventy- two seconds after take off.

For many, this tragic moment has been frozen in time. I vividly remember exactly where I was, who I was with thirty years ago today.

The Crew on board the Challenger Shuttle - January 28, 1986

I was a teacher at a middle school in Toronto at the time. It was a blistering cold Canadian winter day in January.

This was the first time in space history when a civilian - a female teacher named Christa McAuliffe, was among the team of astronauts going to space and she was going to teach some interesting lessons from there.

Teacher Christa McAuliffe

This had not gone unnoticed and many news medias and networks had been reporting the Teacher in Space Project in Canada and the U.S.   Teachers and students across North America were excited about this special event. Many schools arranged to have students watching this live broadcast in school auditoriums or in their classrooms from coast to coast. 

Our school was doing the same thing. Students were very excited as teachers had prepared them for days studying topics related to space exploration. We seized extraordinary teaching moments such as this to inspire young minds.

 I was in the middle of preparing my lesson when two Grade 6 colleagues, one after another barged into my classroom and said excitedly,

 “ Have you heard about what happened?” Doug H. asked.

" No, what happened?" I asked, busy getting my preparation done before my next class.

Christa McAuliffe and the Challenger Crew Boarding the Shuttle

" The Challenger exploded in mid air just now! Can you believe that?" Doug was almost screaming.

I was puzzled; I could not believe my ears.  What just happened? Doug was always a joker, might be he was just joking trying to pull my legs, getting me excited about something.

" Yes, I tell ya. Anytime you put a teacher there doing something, They will always screw it up for ya!"

Roy G. came in trying to lightened up the air while I was figuring out what Doug had just said.

Immediately after this, our school principal called an emergency staff meeting at lunch and told us what happened. He also asked us to remind calm for the students, and be prepared for students' reactions upon their return from lunch at home.

Challenger exploded seventy two seconds after take off

It was a sad sad day and touched many people including kids. Our son, E. was in grade 2 only at the time and he remembered the event well.

" I remember it. I was at the day nanny's house. She was a middle aged  overweight lady. She cooked kind of mediocre food like wieners and beans and watched daytime TV. But it was interrupted by the Challenger coverage.

We watched it on TV over and over. It was pretty sad." E. texted me when we were chatting about this tragic event as he recalled the event clearly.

Space exploration has gone a long way. Spaceships came and went since the Challenger disaster and researches are going on in many countries. Since then, a space centre, a space arm have been set up in space. We are as curious about what is beyond plant earth as before.

Life goes on but we will always remember the sacrifices the crew on board Challenger made on behalf of human kind thirty years ago. Thank you, you are gone, but not forgotten!

R.T.

Toronto
Credit for Picture Sources - Google Search

A Fundraising Dinner for Syrian Refugees to Canada!

Canadians had a change of government in the October 2015 federal election

Canada held a federal election last October and Canadians decided it was time to have a change of government. The Liberal Party won a landslide majority and Justin Trudeau became our new prime minster.

Canada is welcoming 25,000 Syrian refugees onto its soil

One of the very first policy which the new government is implementing is to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada.

Some of the 25,000 Syrian refugees have landed in Canada

The government's original goal was to admit 25,000 refugees to the country by the end of December 31, 2015. However, this number has been revised due to a number of logistic reasons.


Admitting and resettling this large number of refugees into a country is not a simply task. It requires a huge amount of financial and human resources.

Many churches & charitable organizations are sponsoring refugees privately 

Canadians from towns and cities across the country are doing their part, volunteering their time to do whatever they can to help.

Numerous citizens, churches and charitable organizations are sponsoring many of these refugees privately.


Though only a small city about a hundred kms west of Toronto, Kitchener, Ontario, is doing its part to help the refugees.

Kitchener City Hall, Kitchener, Ontario

This Saturday, January 31, we will attend a special event called A Night for Syria. It is  a fundraiser dinner in support of Syrian Refugees. It will be an evening of halal food, dance, music, cultural traditions and a silent auction. The event will be held at The Family Centre located on 65 Hanson Ave, Kitchener, Ontario.

Many events are planned to raise funds to sponsor Syrian families 

The net proceeds of this evening's event will help bring a Syrian family to Canada.

Doors will open at 6:00, dinner at 6:30  Tickets are $40 a person and can be purchased by Calling Mandy at 519-744-7761, online at najdanowcanada.yapsody.com, or by visiting the Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre (102 King St W, Kitchener, (519) 745-2531)

We are excited and looking forward to this great event! We will be driving from Toronto on Saturday morning and taking part in this worthy cause!

R.T.
Toronto
p.s The event was sold out! We couldn't get our tickets as we waited for our friends' late response to the event.

Installing a Gas Fireplace in our Fifty Plus Years Old Don Mills House!

We had our New Fireplace Installed!

There is something special about sitting in front of a roaring fireplace! I always love watching a fire burning, reading my favourite book, and listening to beautiful music playing softly in the background.

The Fireplace Team was at our house to put in a fireplace for us 

 Not wanting to move and living in a suburban home for the past thirty years, we have to go down to the   dark, unwelcoming basement every time we want to use the fireplace in our home.

They figured out where the fireplace would go and make a hole venting outside

Not anymore, we have finally decided to install a modern gas fireplace in our living room so that with a touch of the switch, a roaring fire will be brought to life in our home.

Installing a gas fireplace in a home can be a daunting task these days. With the large number of choices available, one can be confused and not sure what to choose.

It took two teams of trades people working together

We met with a fellow who has been installing fireplaces for a long time, recommended by our interior designer. He measured our living room, checked out the gas pipes in and outside our house and explained to us what needed to be done.

We did not want the fireplace sitting on the floor, so a platform was built

Before we picked the fireplace style we spent sometime doing our research as we didn't want any post renovation regret.

Then, the fireplace guys came. They drilled holes through the basement wall and a hole to the exterior wall. The gas pipes were connected to the gas supply with a vent leading outside of the house.

Working with another team of renovators, two fellows built a wooden platform on which the fireplace was placed.

The fireplace is elevated about 9 inches off the floor

I was glad that I took time off from work and was present as the young workers set the fireplace on the wrong side of the platform.

After I caught that mistake, they rectified the problem putting the fireplace on the right side of the platform from where the frame was built to the ceiling.

Our new gas fireplace is easy to operate

I am glad that these two fellows are quite polite and easy to deal with.







 My previous experience with another contractor who retiled our kitchen and hallway was not pleasant at all.

After the fireplace team installed the fireplace, we turned on the fireplace, It started just like that!!! So easy!

Though the exterior to the  fireplace was unfinished, the connection to the gas and the installation work was done.
We used it at night right away; it was beautiful and warm, except for one problem. After about 15- 20 minutes of putting the gas place on, our fire alarm in the hallway kept going on making an extremely loud noise.

Installing cement drywall on the fireplace surround 

We opened the door and windows, and the fire alarm stopped. However, as soon as we put on the fireplace for twenty minutes or more, the same thing would happen again.

We called the fireplace installer and he explained that for the initial burning, we must burn the fireplace for at least four hours to get rid of some fumes and smell with windows opened and a fan turned on to take away the chemicals.  We followed the instructions and the fire alarm did not go off again.

Our new fireplace with cement drywall

Lenny and his partner came back and installed the cement drywall on the area surrounding the fireplace the following day.  They also put in the mantel which looks great!





The installation and initial burn off of our new fireplace have been completed. We are looking forward to having the renovators come in and do the finishing touch on the facade of the fireplace!

R.T.
Don Mills, Toronto

A Seniors' Outing to the Mandarin Restaurant

We have know our friend D. for years and spent quite a bit of time with her a few years ago. I used to go and visit her at least twice a week at the nursing home.

Unfortunately, due to my own family situation, I am unable to visit her as often as I would like. We have missed her and thought that we wanted to get together with her over the holiday.

The wheel chaired seniors were taken for an outing in the wheel tran bus

Ashley and I had planned an outing and wanted to take her out for lunch at her favourite restaurant. However, due to the wheel chaired issue, we were not sure how to make the arrangement.

Friendly staff looking after the seniors before they headed outside

As luck would have it, the nursing home where D. is residing was planning to do the same thing. That meant D.'s transportation issue would be taken care of. There was no need for us to do anything regarding this issue.


It was a blistering cold day on the day of the lunch. Everybody was bundled up bracing the element for their outing. The seniors left the home on the wheel chair bus escorted by their very friendly staff around eleven a.m.

An outing for the nursing home seniors at the Mandarin

The contractors were at our house doing the renovation while my husband picked me up from home to take me to the restaurant.


We met D. and Ashley at the Mandarin Restaurant, located at Woodbine and 14th Avenue, Markham.

There are many Mandarin Restaurants in the Toronto GTA. D. loves this place the most. She used to invite her staff here for the annual company Christmas luncheon.

Before her husband passed away, she used to have birthday dinners here for him as well. It was a place she used to frequent a lot and she was well known and recognized there.

D. has not been to her favorite restaurant for a long time!

As D. was wheeled passed the food stations, her eyes were wide open and lit up at the familiar scene. She has not been to her beloved restaurant for a long time!

It must have brought back a lot of fond memories for her... birthdays, anniversary celebrations, gatherings of family, friends and colleagues of years past.

Passing by the food stations, D. looked happy as she recognized the place

As she was passing by each food station, excitement was evident on her face and she was becoming wide awoke.

All those wonderful years and events must have been coming back to her and flashing in front of her eyes.

A nice and spacious dining area for customers at the restaurant.

There were a few of the seniors from the nursing home. Ashley arranged to find a table for the four of us so that we could have a little more privacy and quiet conversations.

A huge aquarium in the Mandarin Restaurant 

When D. first saw us, she also recognized us. Though she was busy looking at the beautiful surrounding, she could not keep her eyes away from S. who was once her former employee.

Lots of good food to choose from at the restaurant

The restaurant served a decent variety of food in a buffet style.

D. has always enjoyed dining there. For those who wished to indulge in salad or meat dishes, there were many choices.

We sat down, talked to D. and enjoyed seeing and catching up with her again.

D. was happy to see us again after a little while!

It was a nice relaxing time for all of us. I was really happy to see how well Ashley was looking after D.

She made sure that D. was fed properly and that D.'s favourite food was mashed up in good consistency and patiently feeding it to her.

Ashley takes good care of D.

After the main course, desserts and exchange of conversations, it was time when the wheel tran bus came to pick up the seniors at the restaurant.

The Wheel Chaired bus takes the seniors home

Everybody worked together to ensure the seniors who were not mobile could get out once in a while and have a pleasant trip outside of the home.

R.T.
Mandarin Restaurant
Markham, Ontario

Modernizing Our Don Mills Home to Welcome 2016

We have been living in our current home for more than three decades. We love our Don Mills  neighbourhood with mature trees, stores and mallls within walking distance and the tranquil setting. Many of our neighbours have been living in their houses for decades.

The Toronto housing market has been very hot for the past few years. Many people have cashed in by selling their houses in Toronto and buying  much cheaper new houses in the suburb. From time to time, real estate agents would be knocking at our doors trying to entice us to list our houses for sale.

Getting our house ready for another renovation!

Inevitably. Shirley, our next door neighbour of thirty years,  repeated her favorite lines to them and to us often:

The workers are here today to do some demolition work.

" We love our house and we love this neighbourhood. I am not going anywhere! The only way they can get me out of this house is with my feet out first!"  True to her words. Shirely had been our wonderful neighbours since 1981 until the day she died a few years ago.  She fainted on her front patio one spring day and the ambulance came carrying her on a stretcher out of the house to the emergency.  She passed away shortly after we visited her at the hospital. We still miss her very much!

After living in our house for over three decades, we still love our house. The thought of leaving our beautiful home in a convenient Don Mill location and going to a remote suburb where you have to drive everywhere is unthinkable to us!

 We have done lots of work to our house.  A few years ago, we had the whole house stuccoed. What a face lift it gave to our 1960 house! The house looks new and modern.

Our house will be under renovation for a little while!

Last September, we had our garage door replaced by Home Depot; it looks beautiful! We can be sure no little unwelcome rodents would get inside and hibernate in our garage this winter.

Today, the contractors are here to help us to transform two other rooms in our house - the den and the living/dining room. Yesterday was our first really cold winter day with a - 15 degree C.



Today is much warmer and it is also the first day the contractors are here to do some work for us.
 I am glad of the warmer temperature as the workers are going in and out during the demolition process.

We could hardly wait to see the result of the latest renovation to our house!

Stay tuned!

R.T.
Excited about the new renovation!
Toronto