Merry and Bright Market 2023!

            As you may remember from 5 + years ago, my dad and I actually. Well my mom, dad and I went to this event. Reasons was because the way it was setup but this time it was a lot better of an event. Vendors up center street was awesome. They had a bus trolley driving around and was so busy if it wasn't I would of liked to have a ride on it. There was a shop with art, soaps, candles Christmas wreaths. A lot of cool stuff. Even with a area for hot chocolate and treats.  

            There was local vendors even the art studio even food there. Wasn't a lot but hey it was a very simple event and simple is definitely good. However, I enjoyed myself last night and been long wait to returning to this. We heard about this down at the lake via a sign but glad I went and had a wonderful evening out. Anyways that is the post for today, have a great weekend, it will be a hectic weekend finishing up notes for next Thursday and I think I can definitely handle that but Mark will be doing the end of the week updates tomorrow and I will talk to you all on Monday.

Chris

Peony Festival 2022

             Saturday, I did a pop up event, well not a pop up event but I mean was the last second few days prior on the decision but glad I went, we had a wonderful time my dad and I. Anyways we got there and there was a ton of things to see, wasn't big big but big enough both outside and inside. There was a lot of local businesses, arts and craft, also some plants that we never heard of ever before. Of course there was the Peonies which were absolutely beautiful which I will provide a second picture below. Rows and rows of nice smelling Peonies in the garden there. 

I have provided a picture of the Peonies which was taken from my Fujifilm camera. There are a ton of pictures which you can find on my Instagram account by clicking the arrows on that one picture as there are a bunch of pictures that I have added to the account. I didn't bother doing post after post as there were over 30 pictures taken during the event. Overall was a great day, the next one is the Fiesta Week next week with my dad and there will be a ton of reviews and next week I will be having blog topics at random for next week as I do not know what days I am going to the Fiesta Week but I will have a list of blogs in case at least 2 ready to go for next week in case but Thursday is a confirmed one. I will let you guys know by the end of the week but plenty of blogs this week to go, confirmation is coming this Friday at the end of the week but I will talk to you all tomorrow!

Chris

Bowmanville Apple Festival 2019

         Yesterday my parents and I went to the
Bowmanville Apple Festival which is an usual event that I go to on a yearly basis. So we say vendors with Honey, apples which had all kinds of Apples, golden delicious, MacIntosh Apples and so on. Also it has jumping castle for the kids and speaking of which they also had a Merry-Go Round for the kids. However there was no Ferris Wheel whatsoever and normally they have a Ferris Wheel but this year there was absolutely no wheel this year which I find it really off like I said there is a Ferris wheel normally. Anyways the one place I did not see there and they are always there each festival is Tyrone Mills and this year they were not there so that is a question I cannot answer is where they were this year.  I was disappointed as I was thinking of grabbing a donut from their booth this year as they make the best donuts ever
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                So another thing I noticed is the lack of food vendors and I knew someone that I worked with when I did my High School placement he had a hot dog vendor my dad and I went to but the Toasted Walnut was there outside. The Member of Parliament who is going to try and get re-elected to office tomorrow actually and he was there actually so it was neat to meet the Bowmanville Member of Parliament and seems like a really nice guy. There others who are running were there too and I have my thoughts and feelings about seeing politicians campaigning but again I understand why. Final few things I would like to even mention is I ran into my aunt which is always nice to see family and we didn't know she was going to be there but family does mean a lot to me honestly. Overall we had a good time and looking forward to the next event.




Chris

Oshawa Rib Fest and Food Review 2019

              Yesterday I went to the Oshawa Rib Fest 2019 which I haven't been to in several years as it use to be around the long weekend aka the Labor Day Weekend. However with this change recently it makes it easier for us to decide to go to the event. Now we originally were going to go to two different places but with the amount of food we had we decided to not go for it this time around and I will get right into it as I go forward with this post today. So we went to Pistol Petes for the ribs which is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA. Now these ribs were not Pork ribs, these were actually Beef Ribs that we had. I admit it was my idea technically but was worth the idea. So like I said we were suppose to do two different places, however we ended up getting half a rack which was plenty enough for us to eat but we are going to change that next year and I will talk about it shortly.  Also on top of the half a rack we got a thing of beans on top of that. Now the ribs were tasty and fell apart as you bit into the ribs. Yes I know Beef ribs are more chewier then Pork ribs are but still very tasty. The sauce wasn't spicy and it almost had a bit of a sweet taste to it technically. Now I would definitely give the ribs a 5 out of 5 all day long. However the beans itself, I wasn't really keen on as I have never had beans with red peppers in it before. However the fact they also had kidney beans in it, still good, but it wasn't my favorite beans so I am going to be generous with this review an give it a 3 out of 5 as the beans were tender  and I liked the Kidney beans that were added into it.



                  After we ate we even grabbed a smoothie which was really good but it wasn't overly cool, not sure if they put in ice but it don't seem like it so again that would be a 3 out of 5 if I was to review it but it really isn't much of a review honestly. So we walked around after looked at what there was and there was entertainment which they were playing Elvis songs, "Jail House Rock" being one of them and also "Do You Love Me?" by the Contours originally and was featured on Dirty Dancing movie originally.  Also the Generals booth was also there as well probably promoting their upcoming season which I am going to be planning on several games this upcoming year. Overall the event was good however their was 2 more rib vendors 4 or 5 years ago then there was this year so I would give it a 4 out of 5 for the overall event and yes I am being quite generous actually.



Chris

Autism Celebration 2018

              Last night I was at the Autism Celebration 2018. I found out that the event has been running for the past 7 years and I have been involved in 5 of the 7 as I missed 2015 (Due to work) & 2017, last year, due to, well err lack of funding for planning my booth. I went over my budget last year. LOL... However this year, I can say I budgeted for the event perfectly with no problems of being off budget like last year. As you know through social media I have been planning this for the past 4 months with blue printing what I wanna do and how I want to promote CBOTW. There was a few hiccups with the board but nobody noticed it whatsoever so that is good and I will not get into that. I left finish off the board till the last possible second which is the usual me but hey it got done. 


               I got at the event a little more perkier as I was moody like an hour and a half, but anyways, I ended setting up pretty quickly, was a bit all over the place trying to figure things out but managed to setup and got a chance to sit before the event started. We heard some singing and a story of a father and son biking trip which was very inspirational to me especially and inspired me with what I am doing and I got a planned blog post next week with the initial plan for CBOTW in 2019. Anyways, I got a slow down at my booth with people popping by my booth and I got to get up and wonder around and look at different booths around the floor which mind you, I never did that last year... err sorry I mean 2 years ago. It felt good to get up and mingle with other people. Now if Larry or Dave came with me, I could wonder around a lot more as I needed to keep an eye on it in case someone came by but that's OK, I can move quite quickly despite my ailing knee problem which I will talk about in a later post. One thing I loved about the event was all the questions and yes YouTube came up last night. Why? Well my podcast started on YouTube and then Audio as you now hear and see to this actual day.  After talking to my consultant at Kerry's Place I will be more involved with them as I have not been very active with them for the last several years minus the Autism Celebration each and every year. I saw familiar faces from last 2 years ago and always good to see new faces at the event each and every year. 


                Finally In want to once again thank the Kerry's Place Staff for having me and for everything they have done over the man years as I have been with em since 1996, so 22 years I have been with them and if it wasn't for the foundations program introducing me to this event, I do not know what I would of done with myself. It sure gets me out for the evening and I enjoyed myself like always and I sure as heck cannot wait for next year as I will be back bigger then ever at the next event. 




Chris

Stampeders Concert, Friday, November 4th, 2016

I totally forgot to post yesterday as my mind was set on being with my niece and nephew and before that sleeping till 1 pm in the afternoon, my sleep is really messed up. However Friday night I got to go to The Stampeders Concert right here in town and you are wondering who the heck are the Stampeders I will save you the trouble by saying Google it... Ha Ha! Little blog humor there as you have noticed. They started in 1966 and they originally have 6 members, now down to 3 members and still the original 3, Ronnie, Rich and Kim. When they first started the concert, I had to try and grasp the music but I'd say after 2 - 3 songs I got right into it. Ronnie, Kim and Rich's humor was very comical and the way they made smartass remarks with each other kept me on laughing. Their was one moment I was literally in tears and rubbing my eyes from laughing so hard. I also was familar with a few songs such as Sweet City Woman, Carry Me and their rendition of Hit The Road Jack featuring Wolfman Jack (but he wasn't there, Ronnie fit the role for that part of the song) The two top favorite versions of Hit The Road Jack as follow

The Stampeders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOVbJ9kMkyw 
Ray Charles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyVuYAHiZb8

Trust me I was laughing at the lyrics as their are ridiculous lyrics but one of the funniest oldies song out there. We had a 15 minute break in between the 2 sets. At he very end the second or 3rd last song was Sweet City Woman which I think was the best idea putting one of their most popular songs out there for the end, like the saying goes, save the best for last! Kim had one amazing drumming solo at the end of the and it amazed me how he could be able to do that in his 70's and he went on with his solo about 3 - 4 minutes and it wasn't light strokes, it was hard core drumming and I was so amazed by it too! Ronnie saying this which was funny: "Were too old to go off then come back on" and of course they did their On Core for 2 more songs.

On our way out we didn't realize that we were in the line for autographs and of course my mom said, "Chris would like to get an autograph" I didn't say say no, I said yes of course! Once in a lifetime opportunity. so we waited in line for the singing trio to come out and the lineup went fast as we were near the top of the seats to begin with. When it came to my turn I quickly bought a The Stampeders CD and got Rich, Kim and Ronnie to sign it both and was really neat to talk to Rock Stars from back in the good ole day! Ronnie of course made me laugh calling Kim an old guy... Haha. 

In conclusion to this rather lengthy blog post but you guys seem to enjoy the longer posts from time to time but anyways I told my mom and dad I'd like to see more older bands in person, I will not be young forever and I should enjoy these moments and seeing some familiar bands from the 80's and 90's. Also I am very familiar with these bands as I GREW up with these bands living with my parents all my life and listening to the music in the car traveling on vacations or to places locally or to the big smoke Toronto!

Have a great Sunday!


Chris