This, that and the other

October 28/12.

When we last left off, back on October 19th, I was trying to catch the final gorgeous golden days of fall before all the colours disappeared.

This pic was taken at Fantasy Farm. I found myself pulling into the driveway (off Bayview), just to check it out. When my grandparents celebrated their 50-year anniversary, (decades ago), it was held here. Thought I'd pay it another visit. (no, that shack behind me isn't the fancy party venue!)

Pretty much every night during Shiva for my late Mum-in-law, family members sent in meals. One evening, our cousins, Linda and Sharon, sent in more Mandarin chinese food than you could possibly imagine! We ended up with tons of amazing leftovers.

Later in the week, my cousins, Marilyn and Kevan, gave me a beautiful bouquet of white roses, (extending my birthday by a few days),

plus a very cute card and a wad of cash! They are always SO generous. Since I'd also received gifts of money from my Father-in-law AND my Dad, I was able to spend up a storm! Love it!

Got new "Rosebud" shellac at Urban Nails, courtesy of the talented nail artist Tran! If you ever want to have a fabulous shellac manicure, go here! They take their work VERY seriously and everyone leaves feeling better!

Took the rest of the cash to I 'N I - my fave hair salon, to see hair master Paul Taylor. (my last appointment, scheduled for my birthday), had to be cancelled, due to circumstances beyond my control, so my so-called tresses, - were messes!

So much so, Paul could barely LOOK! Ai Carumba.

But after his specialty "Bride of Frankenstein" treatment,

(thank you Elsa Lanchester!)

& lots of time and silver tinsel/tinfoil later,

everything was back in place, colour-corrected and flippin' awesome!

Even PAUL appeared happy with the outcome! He showed me a few "tricks of the trade", but I can NEVER do it the way HE does! (he can even use a can of hair spray as a hair roller! You've gotta SEE it to believe it).

Later in the week, had to pay a visit to the Apple store at the Eaton Centre to get a crack in my iPhone screen fixed.

The place is always PACKED. Luckily, I made an appointment.

My good friend, Pam, met me at the store. She was my good luck charm! They didn't charge me a cent to have the crack repaired. In fact, they just gave me a brand new phone! All the backed-up info had to be transferred over to the new phone when I got home.

Afterwards, Pam tagged along to watch me spend more of my birthday bucks - at Mac cosmetics, where I bought my fave Blacktrack gel eyeliner, (can't live without it!) -

then to The Body Shop for a few bottles of sexy vanilla body cream (3 for 2!),

to Fido for a new memory chip card (I think that's what it's called), for $10, since I was told at Apple that the old one looked rather wrecked,

and, naturally, to La Senza, to check out the sales, and some sizzling pre-Christmas sexy stuff. (won't tell you  what I bought! - will only say that whomever invented La Senza, is brilliant!)

It was SUCH a gorgeous day, warm and sunny.

On the way home, stopped at a nearby park for a quick shot. Likely the last "short-skirt-weather-day" for quite some time! Wish it could have been like this for the day we selected to scatter Mum's ashes at Mount Pleasant Cemetary, but it was not to be. Instead, it rained for hours on end.

Mum's ashes have been in a box, wrapped in a green velvet bag at my house (and a few other locations along the way), for over two years. My sister, Carrie and me just could NOT make up our minds what to do with the ashes, but finally decided.

A small group gathered to scatter the ashes in the rose garden. Lovely Maria, extremely sweet and helpful member of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery staff, helped us choose the exact spot and scattered the first of the ashes (which had been transferred to a "scattering urn").

After that, we were on our own. I scattered some,

then Carrie took an urn-turn,

Maria helped with rain-guard!

Kate joined us, as she wanted to help scatter her Gramma's ashes.

and Carrie's son, Lee, also helped out.

The location is lovely, and by next Spring, there will be a stone, with Mum's name, dates and whatever we want to say, marking her grave.

(left to right) - Paul Nodwell, Carrie, Lee.
Carrie conducted a short ceremony complete with the story of how Mum "guided" us through the details with her endless supply of post-it notes, then read a poem, which was a favourite of Mum's and had us all sing a hymn.

(left to right) Max, Kate, Mary Spence-Thomas, me, Paul Nodwell & Carrie. We drank a Rose toast to Mum!

 yep - wine, (and juice), right there at the cemetery!

Carrie brought Mum's favourite stuffed animals with her. Their names were on the VIP guest-list!

It was tough to leave the resting place.

Carrie was the last to vacate the premises.

Following the ceremony, we headed a couple of blocks up Mount Pleasant to The Longest Yard for an early dinner and a tribute to Mum. Have to say, it was really fun! Mum would have loved it. We told stories, looked at some of her crazy art work, read another poem and ate lots of sweet potato fries! Love you Mum. Will always miss you, but you live on in all of us.

Just a couple of hours later, Max and his bandmates, Emmett and Charles, were set to  take part in a live show. (Unlike the last one, which ended in disaster), this one was golden. They insisted on posing for a "cheesy pic" in our basement during rehearsal before heading to the concert at the Bain Co-op. They got a fabulous reception!

Meanwhile, Kate was putting together her Halloween costume. It's fab. She's going out as sarcastic Jane Lane,

the fictional character who appears on the MTV cartoon show, Daria.

(won't spoil Max's costume, till I get a decent pic!)