A picture of a button with the logo of the "Edmonton Oilers" hockey team, against a white background.

I have been an Edmonton Oilers fan since I started liking hockey, back in 1983. I watched the team lose 4 games straight to the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Final and have been a fan ever since. I’m Toronto born and it’s not that I disliked the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s just that they were abysmal for most of the 1980’s. And the ’80’s was when I became a sports fanatic.

I saw the Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens in the 1993 Stanley Cup Semi-finals vs the Los Angeles Kings. Standing room only tickets. Game 5. The Leafs won in overtime! Although they eventually lost that series, I’ll always remember that game.

But Edmonton has always held a special spot in my heart and I’m cheering them on in this year’s final.

Are you a sports fan? What teams do you cheer for? – Cris

Our father, about whom I will be posting on Sunday, was an avid reader: newspapers, biographies and histories, as well as our encyclopedias, which he read cover to cover. Even though he would often encourage me to get rid of some of my stuff, he never criticized the number of books I own. My father placed great value on education and, within the context of a working-class immigrant family, we always had lots of books in our house. In addition to my store-bought bookcases, my father saw a need to build a wall-to-wall bookcase for me, which has been very useful and practical. Professor Eco is supposed to have had about 30,000 books in his collection! I think my father would have approved.

Also, our father would have approved of the white bookcases, ceiling and walls in Eco’s library. He was a big believer in light surfaces and lots of sunshine in a home. If he had his own way, everything would be white as it was in Eco’s space. – Maria

A picture of a necklace with a black string with a white and green glass bead.

I made this glass necklace bead at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York. I chose the colours and got to work with a torch to create it, with help from the professionals at the studio, of course. I wear it often. It has good memories attached to it.

If you like to travel I highly recommend stopping into Corning if you’re planning a tour of New York State. I took my kids one summer and our tour included Letchworth State Park (the hiking trail is stunning, with the river running far below the trail), Corning (the Main Street is worth checking out, as well as the glass museum), Ithaca (Cornell University has excellent agriculture and food science programs and sells ice cream made on campus), Cooperstown (The Baseball Hall of Fame), Schenectady (the historical area of the city is a must, especially the Moon and River Cafe. Sit down and play the piano or browse their bookshelves) and topped it off in New York City.

What cities would you recommend in New York State? -Cris

A picture of pile of linens, including place mats, dish towels, tables clothes, etc.

Garage sale season has arrived. I know I have too much STUFF in my house. Some things, especially the ones that don’t actually belong to me, I can deal with reasonably efficiently. I take a photo, send it or show it to the relevant child; a decision is made, usually to get rid of it, and the garage sale/thrift store pile begins to grow.

I have a MUCH more difficult time deciding about my own things. For example, what do I do with all these blankets, linens, placemats, etc. . . . Do I save them for when the ones being used now wear out, do I save them for my children, do I try to repurpose them?

I must start weeding out more of my STUFF so that when I move I won’t be confronted with a mountain of belongings; the strategy is reuse/repurpose, donate or throw away. Small steps.

What strategies work for you to deal with your STUFF? – Maria

A picture of two cartoon booklets on a wood shelf, against a while background. The books are Woody Woodpecker and Donald Duck.

I was looking through my memory box the other day, looking for my old Blue Jays ticket stubs, when I came upon these two little cartoon books. I loved Woody Woodpecker and Donald Duck when I was a kid. If Woody Woodpecker cartoons were on TV on a Saturday morning I was watching. One of the good things about TV when I was young, so in the 70’s, was that there were not many channels. There was either something or nothing to watch. The TV schedule was easy to remember. Wonderful World of Disney after The Wild World of Sports. Toronto Rocks with John Majhor after school. There was rarely more than one thing that was interesting enough to want to watch. These days, with so many viewing options, I sometimes turn the TV off because there’s just so much and most of it is not appealing. What ever happened to All In the Family?

What were your favourite shows as a child? – Cris

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