Welcoming Ms. Jean Yip, Member of Parliament for Scarborough Agincourt, to the LS Summer Camp

LS Summer Camp welcome Ms Jean Yip

Last Friday, along with the camp staff, I was honoured to welcome Ms. Jean Yip, Member of
Parliament, for Scarborough/ Agincourt, to the Living Stone summer camp in Scarborough.






In the late 1990's our sons and many other children who were in their early teen years shared a common problem: they were too old to go to summer programs designed for mostly children 12 years and under. Yet, they were too young to be hired for summer jobs where most employers hiring youths at sixteens years ago and above.

As a result, most of the teenagers under sixteen were sleeping late,  just hanging around at home, playing games and not doing much during the summer months. Along with four other women from Living Stone Assembly, we started a one week summer day program for children and teens in 1996. The program was so well received that the parents and the teens in our community wanted it extended to become a full summer program. Later on, we applied for government funding and our program was recognized and approved for a grant under the Canadian Federal Government's Summer Job Program.

The Living Stone Summer Camp has been running since 1997 in the Scarborough/ Agincourt community in Toronto. Each year it creates many volunteer opportunities for local youths as well as summer jobs for 6-8 high school/ university students as camp counsellors working with local children from needy families. The L.S. summer camp has also provided opportunities for many young people to gain valuable work experience helping them to land their first real job successfully after their graduation from school.

Numerous children and young people have come through the Living Stone Summer Camp. We are proud that many of our campers come back to volunteer and later become camp counsellors. They are doing well in school and have become contributing members of our society.  From what I know personally among the teens who have worked in the camp:

 4 have become qualified teachers,  1 - school vice principal, 1 - doctor, 3 - nurses, 1- health and safety inspector, 1 - urban planner, 1 - police officer while many are in the accounting and IT professions.

We are immensely proud of what the LS Summer Program has done for the youths in our community.

Ms Jean Yip, M.P. visited the LS Summer Camp in Scarborough recently

Last week, the camp invited Ms. Jean Yip to come and visit with the youths. She greeted the children, send greetings on behalf of the Federal Government, answered many of their questions.

Yes, there were numerous questions about the federal government, especially the new laws and policies about the legalization of marijuana.

Ms Yip talked with youths about a career in politics at LS Summer Camp

Ms Jean Yip was generous with her time spending almost an hour discussing career plans and pathways with the young people in a small group setting.

Rev. Dr. Ko presented a souvenir to Ms. Yip

On Sunday, July 22, she came back to Living Stone and spoke to the afternoon congregation explaining her role and services provided by her constituent office.







It was a real educational and meaningful experience for those newcomers to Canada present in the meeting.

Thank you, Ms Jean Yip, for your time and visit to the Living Stone Assembly!

R.T.
Scarborough, Ontario

A Girls' Get Together to Welcome A New Baby at Laduree's, Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto

Yorkdale Shopping Centrel, Toronto, Canada

Toronto in a big city! Going from the east side of Toronto to the west end can easily take us more than an hour of driving time on the highway provided that the traffic is smooth without any accidents on the roads.

A sculpture welcoming visitors to Yorkdale

Therefore, unless we make a conscious effort to get together with our friends and loved ones, we can live in Toronto  but may not see each other for a long time.

A sculpture inside Yorkdale Shopping Centre

I was glad that my sister organized a girls get together and invited me to come along so that we could celebrate the arrival of her daughter’s new baby.

We had a Girls Get Together at this bakery store, Yorkdale Mall

Our girls get together was held at the Laduree Tea Salon located at the Yorkdale Shopping Mall on Dufferin St. 









I liked that the event was held on a week day so that we would not have to deal with crowds of people.

   
A beautiful place, the Laduee Tea Salon is decorated in a French style painted in a cheerful pink colour.

The bakery serves customers with take out orders and has a space for dining in as well.















The bakery is known for its macarons that come in a variety of colours.















Customers enjoying their treats at the restaurant were served by waitresses dressed in French maid uniforms.

I have not seen my sisters, niece and niece-in-law for a little while.  I was pleasantly surprised that T. came with her 3 month old baby girl!

This was baby A.'s very first girls get together outing!

Having baby A. at our girls' event  was a treat for me as I love babies; their sweet smell, their chubby arms and legs and  innocent smiles warm my heart.



















My sister is the CPO  ( Chief Party Organizer ) of our family.  She is detail oriented and  could always spruce up a place with little problem.

 She even brought a gorgeous flower arrangement to our lunch and added some elegance to our lunch event.

W had  high tea at King Eddy's in downtown Toronto a few years ago for T.'s bridal shower.

This time we enjoyed a high tea and lunch at Laduree to welcome W.'s new baby!

It was a relaxing lunch with plenty of time to catch up with my loved ones!

We should do this more often, just the women chatting about anything!

At the end of our lunch, R. even prepared for each one of us a gift to take home. How considerate was that!

Blessings and best wishes to your new baby, Wendy!

R.T.
Laduree Bakery Cafe
Yorkdale Mall, Toronto

Great Conversation Starters / Topics at the Dinner Table with Our Children and Loved Ones

It has been my privilege for the past three decades serving and working with children, young people and their parents.  Very often parents would complain to me about their lack of conversations at the dinner table despite their efforts.  Parents seem to ask their children the same questions each day and the conversations do not go anywhere.

A typical dinner table conversation:

Parent " How was your day?"
Child   " OK."

Parent " What did you learn in school today?"
Child, shrugging his/her shoulder replies" Nothing."

Then the family eats in silence.

Many parents have told me that they desire to communicate more with their children. However, they seem to run out of topics talking with them.

I have learned something recently and would like to share with parents and give them a couple of ideas for their dinner conversations at home.

I listened to a CBC radio news story sometime ago about an American company called Life is Good. The founders of the Life is Good company started its business selling t-shirts printed with optimistic messages. The company later grew and expanded to selling other apparel accessory items and reached its 100 million dollar sales in 2007.

Though life was not easy for the founders of the Life is Good company, Bert Jacobs and his brother when they were young, their mother always asked them to talk about one topic at the dinner table - one good thing of the day. From these discussions, they shared some good ideas and laughter.

The host of the radio show encouraged listeners to call in and share their conversation topics with the audiences.

One caller shared her conversation topic with her children. She called it the ROSE TALK.
Using the ROSE as the subject matter, she would start her family dinner conversations by asking her children to talk about the following:

1. The Flower - share 1 thing that went well that day

2. The thorn - share the challenge of the day or 1 thing that she/ he wished has gone better that day

3. The Bud - share 1 things he/ she is looking forward to the next day or in the near future


She said that her family always talks around these topics and have had many great sharing.


Yes, I agree, the above are great conversation starters at the dinner table. I hope that parents would try them with their children and loved ones!

R.T.
Toronto
Photo credit - Google Search

A Full Day of Fun Activities for Families & Seniors Around the St. Jacobs Area, Waterloo, Ontario

Summer is upon us!  Since our summer months are quite short, Canadians do take advantage of the fine weather and try to enjoy the outdoor as much possible, young and old!

We travelled on a chartered bus to St. Jacobs, Ontario

.

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a day trip organized by COTM  for seniors and visited  St. Jacobs.















COTM chartered a coach and it was filled to the capacity

St. Jacobs' Farmers Market, Ontario

St Jacobs is a town about an hour's drive from Toronto.

























 The St. Jacobs Farmers' Market is  the largest of its kind in Canada.

We have been there numerous times but my mother has never visited this market so we  brought along to this trip.


















Besides fresh fruits, vegetables and farm products, there are lots to see at the St. Jacobs' Farmers' Market.

Decorated rocks for sale at the Farmers' Market

Our favourite things to see are always the arts and crafts items.

The crafts booths and gift shop items kept us busy looking at the market.

The Blooming Onion Platter

There is never a lack of tasty and new food to try at the Farmers' Market.

On the day of our visit, we found something new. This Blooming Onion Platter included one large onion served with one pound of wings at $14.95.

The Olde Heidelberg Restaurant, Heidelberg, Ontario

The schedule of this outing  for seniors was full.

After our hour long visit to the farmers' market, the chartered bus took us to the Olde Heidelberg, a nearby restaurant and tavern frequented by locals and tourists.















This restaurant was established in  1860 and has been serving its famous German dish, Smoked Pork Hock since.

A fun outing organized by the COTM people

There were  fifty of us in our tour group and we were seated in a separate dining room on the second floor of the restaurant.

We were all there eager to taste the restaurant's most famous dish.

A generous serving of  smoked pork hock dinner

Though we have been going to Waterloo monthly for the past decade, we never dined at this restaurant until this trip.


The pork hock serving was generous!

My Mom enjoyed the dinner

It tasted much better than we had expected. Even my mom could enjoy her meal as the meat was tender and it was not salty at all.

We all enjoyed this famous German dish and many came prepared with their iceboxes to order some to take home to their families.

West Montrose,  Ontario

After lunch, we continued our outing and visited other attractions in the area.

We arrived at the West Montrose village in Waterloo.

The Bridge Place Gift Shop at West Montrsoe, Waterloo County

There was a nice gift shop with an old canoe filled with flowers.

Unfortunately, it was closed for lunch when we were there so we could not go in to visit.

The Kissing Bridge - West Montrose, Ontario

Our main purpose being in the area was to visit an Ontario historic site where a special old bridge is located.


We visited the West Montrose Covered Bridge, also known as the Kissing Bridge to the locals.

Entrance to the West Montrose Covered Bridge

Built in 1881 with mostly oak and white pine, the Kissing Bridge is the last remaining wooden covered bridge in Ontario.

The only remaining covered bridge left in Ontario

Having survived all kinds of harsh elements in the past 137 years, the bridge has become a popular place for lovers to pop the question under.

Afterwards, we visited the Picards peanut store.
















Numerous variety of peanuts were in stock and samples were available for visitors.


Customers were looking for their favourite chocolates and flavoured peanuts.


















My Mom was busy  sampling and looking for her favorite peanut snack in the store.

After the visit to the peanut store, our next and final stop was the Toronto Premium Outlet Mall in Milton. We spent about an hour there and I got a really nice brand name purse at 70% off!


We had a fun day of activities in and around the St. Jacobs area. What made us happy was my 92 year old mother was able to enjoy the trip and had a good time too!


R.T.
St. Jacobs Area
Waterloo County, Ontario
June 28, 2018

Learning about Banksy's Art Work at a Toronto Art Exhibition

I am not most current with our contemporary artists. However, while watching the evening news recently, I learned of an art show by Banksy  which was going to be held in the west end of Toronto.

Lining up for tickets to the Banksy exhibition 

What made it to the evening news was the theft that took place during the set up of the show at the Toronto venue. The video camera caught the thief blatantly stealing and walking out with a piece of Banksy's art work from the site while workers were setting up for the show.

After I learned about the art show, we took my mother downtown to see it too.








I have never heard of Banksy and I have learned a few things about him and his work from the art show.



         

Banksy started his work as a street artist drawing his art on street walls

In fact, very few people have met or known much about Banksy except his close partner. He is an anonymous artist and does not  appear even in his own art shows.

Based in England, Banksy is a  graffiti artist and started drawing on the walls of streets.

He became famous after his art show in L.A. where people lined up for hours  to see his work.

Who could forget the image of the brave man facing the tanks alone?

Banksy garnered a lot of attention when Hollywood celebrities such as Brad Pits and Angelina Jolie showed up for his show as well.

Jesus with gift bags

I found Banksy's work dark in some way and different as he tends to choose famous subjects but put in his own twists to create a new satirical message in his artwork.

Very often, the messages are quite ironic such as these  two here.

For example, who could forget the image of the brave Chinese man standing and facing the tanks alone in the Tian An Men Square massacre in China in 1989?  Banksy took this famous picture and put his own twist to it and created a new message. 

The work on the right with Jesus being crucified on the cross. Banksy added some gift bags in Jesus' hands.
Yes, Jesus' death and resurrection is the greatest gift to mankind.

Have a nice day, really?

A girl hugging a bomb?

The current Banksy's exhibition in Toronto contains about 80 pieces of the artist's work which is the biggest collection in the world.

Due to popular demand, the exhibition will be extended until the middle of August near the Lansdown TTC subway station.















Visitors to the Banksy exhibition can learn more about the art pieces by listening to a self guided audio tour.

R.T.
The Art of Banksy Exhibition
Toronto, Canada