Guys and Dolls – The Summer of Stratford– World Class Theater Just 1 Hour from Toronto or #LdnOnt

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I live 45 minutes away from one of the best Shakespeare theatre companies in the world.  The Stratford Festival has been around since 1953 with its opening performance staring Sir Alec Guinness as Richard II (That would be Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars–and so much more – for you trivia buffs). As it enters its 64th … Read more

Brightening up our front entrance with some new summer planters!

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Summer Planters @DownshiftingPRO

One of my favourite things about sunny weather has to be flowers.  All my friends know that I love them, they’re constantly popping up in my Instagram stories, and there’s hardly a day that I don’t stop for a moment to admire whatever budding blossom that comes across my path and I get to look at flowers at Lowes everyday!  I’m such a fan of flowers that I actually had to ask my friend back in Ottawa to send me pictures of this year’s tulip festival because I couldn’t bear missing out on the spectacle even from a couple hundred kilometres away!

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Letting Go of Your Stuff is Not Easy – Why Hoarding Happens #LetItGo

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Perspective: the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance (source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary) You know, it’s time to let things go, however, we don’t always have perspective.  How much we value something is all relative to the owner of an object.  We may not  know when that time will come to let … Read more

Celebrating 375 in Montreal–5 NOT-TO-MISS events #mtlmoments

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#MtlMoments #DPROtravel @DownshiftingPRO Montréal 375
Celebrating Montréal 375

I am in love with re-discovering the province that was my home for such a long time. I’m looking foward to returning for Montréal375! When I immigrated to Montréal in 1969, it was the beginning of what came to be a love of our adopted country.  My father had gone to school at McGill University in the late 1940s and vowed that he would return to La Belle Province.  I have the fondest memories of growing up on the West Island and then attending McGill University when it was my turn.  I spent many an evening at the Montreal Jazz Festival when it was in its infancy.  This year it will celebrate its 38th anniversary.  Not to be missed, the festival runs from June 28th to July 8th.  This year’s headliners will include Bob Dylan, Diana Krall, Buddy Guy, Melissa Ethridge and many more.   I loved that the streets of the city are closed down so you could walk around and listen to the different stages, take in the buskers and artist that popped up everywhere.  As Montreal celebrates its 375 Anniversary, the city has decided to make an even bigger party by combining with Canada’s sesquicentennial.

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Photo Essay of Frank Lloyd Wright Home + Studio and Oak Park Homes

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We were in Chicago for less than 48 hours but we were able to knock off one item that is on my bucket list: visiting the swanky suburb of Oak Park to see some of the homes designed by American Prairie style architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.  Wright designed over 1000 structures of which 532 were … Read more

Spring Forward and Get Into a Routine: 25 Tasks to Do on Daylight Savings Weekend

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Every second weekend in March we will Spring Forward into Daylight Savings Time.  As we do this twice a year, it is a good time to consider doing a few tasks that don’t need to be done on a daily or weekly basis but they sure make sense to catch up and do them now … Read more

The Ultimate Paris Bus Tour #Travel #Paris #TravellingMaple

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  Take on of the Ultimate Paris Bus Tours on Public Transit One of the most efficient ways of seeing Paris is by using the metro.  You can get from point A to point B fairly quickly if you use a combination of buses, metros and train stations.  Although I lived in Paris for a … Read more