Monday 25th April 2011 - Not a Bank Holiday

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a lovely Easter. Last Tuesday I went to the Chrism mass at St. Michael's Cathedral in town. The Archbishop is an excellent preacher. Many of the Toronto worshippers show great devotion, particularly the Filipino and Asian Catholics. Some were kissing priests hands and there was a long round of applause for the priests at the end of mass. I don't know if that happens in Westminster! Also there were some interesting differences in the liturgy at our new church. At the Maundy mass I couldn't see any signs of people about to have their feet washed then the priest started talking about the washing of hands. A slip of the tongue I thought, but he kept saying it. But that's what happened: the whole congregation filed towards one of 4 priests who poured water over our hands, saying: 'As I serve you so may you serve others'. We then had our hands dried by the person in front then we had to turn and dry the hands of the person behind. Lovely symbolism but I missed the Washing of the Feet. The solemn process of the priest tying the apron around himself and kneeling to wash the feet of others, I find very moving and it always reminds me of the times one of us had it done. This just seemed to be a quirk of this parish and I could see it fitting well on another occasion such as the first day of the new year in September or on the feast of St. Joseph the worker maybe. On Good Friday the Veneration of the Cross took place at the end of mass. People lined up to approach the large crucifix so some people waited in line for a long time. We sat and waited until the crowd had gone down; unfortunately the priest didn't ask people to leave in silence so a lot of people were waiting in the lobby chatting and switching their phones back on as they left. It just shows that we have to adapt and accept other ways of doing things even if we don't particularly like them. However, the music was very good, they have talented parishioners, and the priests preach very well. By the way, we found Hot Cross Buns on Saturday - that seems to show that they are available but only on Easter weekend, just like the old days back home. Eamonn went to the vigil on his own as I've come down with a stinking cold - my first for years! New germs to get used to I suppose, plus I keep misjudging the weather; it's always cooler than it looks and I try to avoid wearing my coat too often. In fact last week I went into town assuming it would be too warm for a coat and I was the only person I saw on my entire journey not wearing a jacket or coat of some sort. Silly me because, unlike London, it's actually cooler in town because winds from the lake whistle along between the skyscrapers. The rule of thumb is to remember to look out of the window before going anywhere and check what the locals are wearing!

Now I'd like to show you some photos of the quilt exhibition I went to last week. These were done by ladies who belong to a local quilter's guild. I'm hoping to get into quilting next winter. I've only made one quilt for the cot over 30 years ago! As you can see these are quite traditional themes though in quite a modern style.

Summer rainbow

Summer Rainbow - close up

There were more traditional designs too but these bolder ones were among my favourites. Unfortunately, some would not show up well enough on this scale. I really enjoyed this day, one of favourites so far. It was also a day that made me really laugh as I'll explain, but for those of you more easily shocked you might not want to read on - but here goes. One small quilt was hung towards the bottom of the display so I didn't get a good look at it immediately. Mel told me it was a bedside quilt - it had little pockets around the edge; at first she thought they contained little prayers (- she's very religious). I glanced and said, 'Ooh, what a good idea! Tea bags!' (- I am obsessed with tea). Then we looked more closely and saw that the little pockets contained condoms! It was in fact: 'The Safe Bedside Quilt' ! I was already crouching down to get a closer look then ended up sitting on the floor laughing my head off. I thought it was a very clever way of combining traditional techniques with an aspect of modern life.

The Safe Bedside Quilt

 

Close-ups:

Our recent tally of films on tv and in the cinema includes:Cider House Rules, Secrets and Lies, Last Orders, The Lincoln Lawyer and Jane Eyre. I saw this last one on my first venture with the Toronto Newcomers Club, an organisation, mainly for women, which plans lots of activities. I have signed on for several things including art tours and walking. The women I met at the cinema were American and Japanese and Korean, generally wives of businessmen. It finishes for the summer soon so at least I'll have had a flavour of it and can see if I want to continue in September.They seemed to be nice people but they won't replace you lot back home.

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We saw this Canadian advert over the weekend and thought it was very funny:  

http://youtu.be/iLODqWEoSlA

Today's Canadianism, this time a joke:

Q: How do you stop bacon strips from curling in the pan?

A: You take away their little brooms.                       Boom, boom!

Just to balance things out, 23rd May (Gemma's birthday) is a Bank Holiday here: Victoria Day so we're not so badly off.

Meanwhile I hope you've all enjoyed your day off if you had one and look forward to our next chat. Moving day is looming! Will email our new address as soon as we're in.

From a very wet Toronto,

Lots of love,

Mary xx