two after twenty

It’s hard to believe that I’m calling a photo shoot that happened in mid-April “a winter walk”. Joel and I drove an hour north of the city to explore his favourite nature paths and sights. One place we were definitely not going to skip was Joel’s favourite willow tree path, a dirt road lined with beautiful, gigantic willow trees. Well, when we got there, things became a bit heartbreaking. It turns out that the Toronto ice storm tore those beautiful willow trees apart, and what once was a beautiful willow tree path has become a path of the ice storm remains … to be honest, it was a little haunting! Some of the willow tree photos are below, and a few may recognize that sight from my Instagram or Joel’s Instagram.

Despite the wind, the cold, and all that willow tree sadness, we continued our little photo walk and made the most of it all. The one or two portraits of me were taken by Joel. Talented guy, seriously – he has the magic to make me look not-so-awkward. Thanks buddy!

It’s been a long, long winter here in Toronto. I forget what wearing sandals feels like. My boots are falling apart, my winter jacket is a sad clump of over worn sadness. Like everyone else in this city, I can’t wait for spring to show up. I know you’re taking your time, Spring, but could you hurry up please?

This is my attempt to bring some spring colours to the blog, despite the weather. I found this dried up little guy in our rose bush out in the front, looking pretty sad and covered in snow. I decided to bring it in for a (long overdue) blog post, kind of hoping that once I posted this, maybe this miserable winter would suddenly leave and this would serve as a “goodbye winter” post. Let’s cross our fingers! This guy also had a little appearance on Instagram.

I rarely bake. Like I’ve said in the past, I’m a bit of a terror in the kitchen (though with some exceptions). I wish I was more of a cook or a baker, and I’ve been trying to change this fact about myself because I love food so, so much … if you hadn’t guessed by now from my Instagram feed. So one day I had some old bananas lying around, some chocolate chips in my cupboard and a much-needed study break. This is when banana bread happened.

I asked my sis-in-law Victoria for her banana bread recipe. I had tried it a few months before and was blown away. Plus, she had mentioned it was easy (big plus!). With whisk, ingredients and camera ready, I went for it. And ta-da! I didn’t burn the banana bread. It was entirely edible. In fact, it was delicious! And my group members ended up eating it all. I’ll put this in the “win” box.