Talkin' 'Friday' On 'Monday'

Many people have asked me, 'Is Friday your real last name?'. Yes! It really is. (with a short story) Friday was my maiden name, but it was actually 'Frieday' with an 'e'. Some of my family members had it without the 'e' too. (spelling mistakes at the hospitals - ha!) It turns out that my German Grandparents changed their name from Freitag to Frieday. I have always used 'Friday' for all my creative work - the bank even knows me as Patti Friday. So, why the heck am I talking 'Friday' on 'Monday'? Because as some of you know, I have wanted to convert to Judaism for decades and every time Jewish holidays happen...I start to dig again. My parents believe our ancestors were actually Jewish; if my maternal Grandmothers were Jewish, then I would be Jewish now. But if is comes from my paternal side, then maybe not. Hmmm. Confusing. Interesting. Unsolved. I will settle for being 'Jewish By Choice'.

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname from (respectively) Middle High German vritac and German Freitag ‘Friday’ (Old High German friatag, frijetag, a translation of Late Latin Veneris dies: Freya was the Germanic goddess of love, sometimes considered as equivalent to the Roman Venus). The German name may have denoted someone born on a Friday or who performed some feudal service then. However, Friday was considered unlucky throughout Christendom in the Middle Ages (because it was the day on which Christ was crucified), and it seems more likely that the name was given to a person considered ill-omened. It is found as a byname in this sense in Old High German. This is by far the commonest of the surnames drawn from the days of the week, followed by Sonntag ‘Sunday’, traditionally a day of good omen. Among Jews, it seems to have been one of the names that were distributed at random by government officials.

I'm Moving

I mean. My 'BLOG' is moving. I will share my new address soon. Until then, come over for tea and....ah...you don't mind lifting boxes do you? LPxo

The Granite Club

Without a doubt, some of my best memories as a young teen have to do with my hours and hours spent at The Granite Club in Toronto. It was the 'old' and 'original' Granite Club on St. Clair and it was heavenly. I'd arrive after school and eat cinnamon toast and sip hot chocolate with Barbara Ann Scott's Mother. (she seemed to be 100 then!) My friends and I would bowl and run up and down the wide staircase to the different floors. Amazing how I took for granted the 'chit'. Ordering whatever I wanted and 'just' signing for it. The halls of The Granite Club are filled with a rich history. The decor was 'old money'. Lovely. Traditional. Velvets. Deep greens and burgundys. Solid wood trim and banisters. One time when I was ice skating there was a bomb scare and all the members had to be evacuated! That was exciting.

The Granite Club name is rich with meaning for those who honour the values of tradition and family.
For generation after generation, the Granite Club has been a place where families enrich their lives, value time together, and share special moments. With its warm, caring atmosphere, the Club fulfills its founders' vision by taking on an important role in the family traditions, celebrations and lives of members. The traditions and prestige of the Granite Club can be traced back to 1836 when a half dozen gentlemen organized an "uptown" curling facility located at Chapel and St. Mary Streets which provided the members with a clubhouse and a covered two-sheet curling rink and an outdoor skating rink. During these first years several prominent Canadians became members, including Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Edmund Osler, and J.D. Edgar, Speaker of the House of Commons and by 1875, there were approximately forty-two members. In 1925 a piece of land on St. Clair Avenue West, near Yonge Street, was purchased to accommodate a growing membership, the changing face of recreational activities and conversion from a gentlemen's to a family club. The St. Clair location housed seven badminton courts, several five-pin bowling lanes, a swimming pool and two squash courts in addition to curling, skating, lawn bowling and tennis. In 1929, the Granite Club held its first Skating Carnival, which became a family tradition. Over time, demand required expansion, and additional curling, squash, bowling and social facilities were added.

Those were amazing times that I will never forget. Today the new Granite Club is on Bayview Ave. and the old entrance was preserved and moved to the Guild Inn Gardens. I can't tell you how many times I walked, skipped and jumped in and out of these doors!

Toronto Life Magazine Says:

Arguably Toronto’s most luxurious club. In addition to the elegant decor and swanky facilities, there are 24 personal trainers on hand to give new members detailed fitness assessments. The reward: access to two spacious floors of immaculate cardio and weight machines, massage tables, an active therapy clinic, and Stott Pilates Reformers (for one-on-one sessions). Curling, one of the club’s raisons d’être, is still popular. Spinning, martial arts and boxing are taught in the fitness studio. Also on offer: figure and power skating, two 25-metre indoor pools, four badminton courts and seven squash courts. Of 12 Har-Tru clay tennis courts, nine are in play year-round.

Explaining Canada To Americans

Powerful story with a story behind the story. If we can be peaceful neighbours, why can't other countries?

Salami + Havarti On High

High Speed Internet (that is). With a side of wireless.

Frolic Flower Market
Marci Lipman Country

Steeped Tea

My Small But Mighty 'O' Magazine Debut

Please don't laugh or snicker. I couldn't bare it. I really couldn't (wink), but gosh darn it, my photograph made it into the March 2010 issue of 'O' Magazine. Page 153!!! You're going to have to look real hard past that gorgeous blond and up over her left shoulder; this exercise may require a magnifying glass...but it's there (see the yellow asterisk in the top photo?), in all it's glory! (my Holiday Hunt card for Amanda Jaron, Jewelry Designer extraordinaire) When Amanda posted her video of the photo shoot for the magazine, I couldn't believe my eyes. How fun to see it (at 18 seconds - pause it) in the background. This was the highlight of my weekend - that and the Olympics and vanilla ice cream with a side of Earl Grey de la Creme steeped tea. (I remember being excited like this a few years ago. Remember?) Thank You Amanda for keeping that little postcard on your bulletin board and congratulations on your feature in the magazine! You look so incredible. (and your Hubby too!) And for the record...hot damn, I am going to frame it! LP xo

Trademarked, Registered and Copywritten

Sometimes it takes a while. Half a lifetime. To discover. What your purpose is. What floats your boat. (gosh that's cliche) I think the process of elimination is a very good strategy. Try this. Don't like it? Nope. Fine then. What next? Try that. Don't like it? Nope. No worries. What next? Try this. Like it? Kinda. O.K. What next? Try this and this and this and this. (ignore the snickering in the background. their opinions do not - I repeat - do not count in this process) Like any of those? Not really. Alright. What next? Try this. Love it? Ah huh. Pardon. Ya. Would you mind speaking up a little bit. Yes. I said 'yes' I love it. Well then. That wasn't so bad was it. Good. Trademarked, registered and copywritten.

Moola

The Queen's eye sees all the debt racked up on credit cards over the Christmas season. I've just watched a report on television about the stress level of holiday shoppers. The bills are now arriving!!! From blissful happiness into the pit of financial despair. All it took was that one reach into the mailbox. Plunging, hopeful, new year attitudes are fading quickly. We have always paid 'cash' for our Christmas, so I don't know the feeling of post-shopping horror - but I do know the feeling of pre-shopping panic....never enough moola. Are you dealing with your credit card bills this January?

The Camera Angel

They appear out of nowhere. You won't recognize them as angels for their wings are hidden behind their huge giving hearts. This was the gift handed to me. Placed ever so gently in my hands; with a look of happy pride in his eyes. I've know this angel for about a year. He knew I was a photographer. Silently, quietly he waited. And then the gift. He said this: 'I've enjoyed this for many years, but I knew you needed it...(he took a breath)...so now...it's yours.' The 1980 Mamiya ZE-2 Quartz. The Camera Angel. Thank You.

Leftovers

I need a few extra helpings.

Breakaway

Grew up in a small town

And when the rain would fall down

I'd just stare out my window

Dreaming of what could be

And if I'd end up happy

I would pray

Trying hard to reach out

But when I tried to speak out

Felt like no one could hear me

Wanted to belong here

But something felt so wrong here

So I'd pray

I could break away

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.

I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.

Make a wish, take a chance,

Make a change,

and break away.

Out of the darkness and into the sun.

But I won't forget all the ones that I love.

I'll take a risk, take a chance,

Make a change,

and break away

Wanna feel the warm breeze

Sleep under a palm tree

Feel the rush of the ocean

Get onboard a fast train

Travel on a jetplane

Far away

And break away

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.

I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky.

Make a wish, take a chance,

Make a change,

and break away.

Out of the darkness and into the sun.

But I won't forget all the ones that I love.

I'll take a risk, take a chance,

Make a change,

and break away

Buildings with a hundred floors

Swinging with revolving doors

Maybe I don’t know where they’ll take me

Gotta keep movin on movin on

Fly away

Break away

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly.

Though it’s not easy to tell you goodbye

Take a risk, take a chance,

Make a change,

and break away.

Out of the darkness and into the sun.

But I won't forget the place I come from

I gotta take a risk, take a chance,

Make a change,

and break away

Breakaway

Break away

(Kelly Clarkson)

The Only Life You Can Save

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.

-mary oliver

Golden Centerfold

This is why depression is up. 'A Dog's Life' is so much better.

The Most Embarrassing Thing Just Happened To Me

True story. I'm not faking here. It was late. I was hungry and the boys had gone to some (dirty?) Chinese food buffet in the next town over, so I had to get something, right? So fast-food junk it was. I chose Harvey's and pulled in and around the narrow drive-thru. The friendly beach girl crackled in the speaker, 'Welcome to Harvey's How may I help you?' And then it went all down hill from there. Me: 'Ah...I'll have a #3 combo with a Pepsi and fries (I know, I know....bad blogger)...and I'll have 1 chocolate shake (for my Mom) and 1 side order of onion rings.' The girl had to ask me at least 10 times what I had said. At first I thought, my god, I've had a mini-stroke and I'm slurring my words, and then I got ticked off and thought, my god, those teenage beach girls working in there mustn't have any adult supervisor tonight and they're jerking me around for fun and then I repeated my whole order again...and again...and again...have I been transported in some inflatable flying saucer to another 'drive-thru planet'? This went on for what seemed like..oh...75 minutes...alright...I am exaggerating....why can't she hear me?......perhaps...3-4 minutes...why can't she hear me?.....and then I saw a young Harvey's boy in a pressed blue uniform walking towards me. I thought, my god, I did have a stroke and I'm hallucinating.....he leaned into the window and said very calmly, 'Ma'am. You're speaking into the garbage can.'

The Black Foot (My 2000th Post)

To celebrate/honor my 2000th post, I thought I would talk about my 'black foot'. 'Yuck' you gag (you've seen Adam Sandler's Deeds haven't you?). Well, the black foot I have isn't really black. It's just kinda purply, reddish, mottled, greyish, bruisish, puckered and yes 'yuck' looking. Hence the namesake: The Black Foot. That's the name my family 'lovingly' gave the dreaded leg, ankle, foot. It's my left leg. It's swollen and over sized and when I wear white socks people often ask me if I have a cast on or if I've broken my ankle. Funny eh? (Canadian for 'huh' in American) They, the doctors, claim it is because of my thyroid; graves disease, that was treated twice damn it with radioactive iodine. (that couldn't have been very good for my entire system) The exact medical term is 'Pretibial Myxedema' or 'screw you I can't wear sexy heels' or 'stop scaring the children'. I am warning you. Don't go looking it up 'cause it will gross you out. Just know that this blogger won't let some lumpy, swollen, unsightly left lower leg keep me from blogging another 2000 posts. I just thought it was about time I shared that with you because it bothers me, even though I'm working on 'gorgeousness'. (and now you know why I don't wear dresses, shorts, capris or bathing suits)

Liberty Post Hugs 564.5 lb. Pumpkin

And spends an afternoon away from the Blogosphere! Yes, it's true. That's me! Playing in the fresh Canadian Autumn air, picking pumpkins and gourds and corn stalks for fall decorations. Wish you were here. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! LPxo