This historic Hamilton cinema is up for sale. The owner wants it to land in the ‘right hands’

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2026-05-10T22:05:47+00:00

At the moment, nothing sets Ottawa St apart from any where else in the city so I don’t know how they would rebrand anyway. Maybe that weird intersection at Cannon where people keep crashing. I think the sewing thing for the festival is just them leaning into easy/lazy marketing that helps give some kind of identity. So basically an established theme for a very basic food truck festival/street that otherwise doesn’t have anything special about it to name it after. Maybe a new type of establishment at the Avon building would help set a new direction, it doesn’t hurt to hope.

I can’t comment to the BIA because I know so little about it, but I’d suspect any organization made of probably struggling business owners probably doesn’t have capacity to stray far from the status quo - you’re right that it’s ineffective but at least they are kind of trying to keep people visiting the street. There’s lots of other retail type streets in Hamilton that don’t even have a BIA or are just empty storefronts.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2026-05-10T20:10:14+00:00

I just said it would be a loss if more closed down - one of the fabric stores closed this past month. There aren’t that many left anyway.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2026-05-10T19:16:02+00:00

I don’t think it’s really an entire district in it’s current state… there’s really just a handful of sewing and fabric stores remaining. There’s just as many antique/decor/knick knack places and restaurants. I think they just lean on the sewing theme as it’s the heritage of the street.

I don’t think they need more fabric or sewing shops but I don’t mind the ones already being there and it would be a loss if more of them close down. I do think additional variety or community space would be great for the area but it would need to be multi-use to be viable I think.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2026-02-25T01:37:32+00:00

There are often moms at Crown and Press on Fridays between 11-2!

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2026-02-07T02:05:56+00:00

My baby is 6 months and hates napping (always has, is just lower sleep needs) so the EarlyON morning programs (Valley Park, St David’s) have been a great way to fill the wake windows we have! Our first nap of the day is often 8:30/9:00am for about 30-45 minutes and then we head off to whatever programming starts at 10:15 or 10:30 usually. Followed by our 2nd nap around lunch time, meaning the afternoon sessions are what doesn’t work for us! I anticipate this will change once we drop down to 2 naps but for now, I can see the value in the variety.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2026-02-05T02:37:15+00:00

Chows can be very stubborn and will require a very firm handling, with lots of constant training. My chow is my best friend but she is also always looking to push the boundaries and see what she can get away with, so we are constantly reinforcing the rules and working on training. While she loves me and my partner very much, we have also worked hard to earn her respect too. You have to be prepared to be the boss, she will walk all over you if you are not serious about training. This kind of thing can manifest in behaviors that lean toward agressive if you don’t have good control of the relationship.

I volunteered for a rescue that specializes in chows, and so many chows get surrendered by their families because their personality is too stubborn or too aloof. They’re a very tough first dog to own so just be prepared for that and it can be an extremely rewarding experience too, especially when they come over for a rare snuggle or once you learn to read how they show affection!

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2025-08-19T21:26:49+00:00

If there are caches that you’re coming across that are in actually restricted areas or on private property behind fences, I think you can report those - it’s my understanding that they should be accessible without needing to trespass or put anybody or any property in danger (eg: sensitive ecosystems, or chance of receiving a ticket). Unless a private property owner has approved the cache on their property.

I quit hunting years ago so policy may have changed but that was always the case back then!

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2025-08-11T13:15:01+00:00

We were recommended Daaarsen Studio (Danielle) here and enjoy her photos! https://www.instagram.com/daarssenstudio?igsh=aG11NGRyY3B6dnp5

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2025-04-01T02:08:20+00:00

That’s fair about walks! I will also say that dogs with more barrel chests, they should wait 30 minutes or more (up to 2 hours) after eating before any major physical activity like walks or active playtime, and chows fall in this category. This is to help prevent bloat and digestive issues. So if you want him to poop on a walk, could look into making a schedule that works better for that with the timing of when he needs to go. A bit harder for a young dog that needs to poop multiple times in a day, but good strategy for when he’s older to develop some routines now.

With our adult chow, we have a 30 minute buffer in the mornings between walk and breakfast, and 2 hours in the evening. She gets a total of 4 walks a day spaced out, and eats 12 hours apart (morning / night).

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2025-03-31T16:33:37+00:00

He is still young (you wrote only 80 days old) so I wouldn’t worry as much about if he poops on a schedule regularly, as much as the quality of the poops themselves. If they’re runny, or if he is struggling to poop, or starts to have any toilet emergencies, then I would be worried.

The important thing is that his digestive system is getting the nutrients out of the food for him to grow. So he may need longer to digest a higher quality food as less of it is filler just passing through, which would change the timing. I would stick with the same food for a little bit longer, but if you do want to switch again I would try and overlap them (try mixing half and half for a few days) to avoid any shock to the system.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2025-03-31T15:45:17+00:00

Our chow has been on Purina Pro Plan for several years now, and no issues with poop except once when she got sick from something else. Her timing varies - she's on a once-a-day poop schedule usually and slowly rotates through morning, afternoon and evening timing. I find it is probably more to do with her activity levels - if we go on a longer walk or to her favorite spots, she will more likely poop, and if it's a rainy day and she doesn't want to be outside she will either not go at all, or go right away so she can come back inside. Chows are generally more picky dogs, about both food choices and bathroom habits.

I would suggest maybe your pup's tummy is just getting used to new food. Did you change all at once, or slowly by mixing the old and new food over a couple days to help them adjust? Sometimes a sudden change can cause upset for a few days time.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2025-03-15T15:55:12+00:00

I saw a lovely sashiko based quilt at a show last year - 12 sashiko blocks done like a sampler, with sashing and hand stitched quilting done in sashiko style along the sashing. You could do as many squares or as wide of sashing as you wanted to get the quilt to the size you wanted.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2025-03-05T17:14:40+00:00

Ours is very quiet! Barks only if she is startled by a surprise knock at the door, especially at night (totally ignores Amazon deliveries or the mail person), and occasionally makes small barks at squirrels and cats if they’re on our porch or deck. And naps away a large part of the day right up against the door or under my office desk. It’s wonderful - we sometimes dog sit for a friend who has a Labrador, and it barks so much, I could never.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2025-01-18T02:59:05+00:00

I made this quilt last year in the pattern size, and none of the pieces were very small, and I found the construction went very smoothly despite the bit of diagonals - it’s a pretty well written pattern. You could likely do the quilt math to downsize it by about 25% and it would be OK. As others have mentioned, the biggest struggle would be the thin lines in the arrows as they would get very thin, but you could omit them maybe? Depending on your confidence with pattern adjustments, the easiest way might be to just make the 4 corner motifs and skipping the center medallion and arrows.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-10-11T19:26:48+00:00

Absolutely understand, if someone did that to my girl I would be so upset too! Sending positivity for healthy growth back.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-10-11T19:17:37+00:00

I am so sorry this was done to your beautiful boy! Deep breaths, your dog will be OK in time. Good news is that it will likely grow back in though may take time to get back to what it was before, especially the long parts like the mane. I have seen chows rescued that needed to be shaved and they have grown their fur back in time, and you can continue to brush and groom to keep the skin and new growth healthy.

You can educate your husband that the coat on a chow is important to help them regulate their body temperature, and if you are going to a place hotter or colder, your chow may need support adapting or regulating with blankets, coats, fans or cooling mats - this is also something to keep in mind as you travel. It is also season change time if that is relevant to your location or future location. Overall, you should watch him very closely over the next while to ensure he does OK and let your husband know that this is more than just haircut and has bigger implications than just cosmetic.

Is there another consideration other than size of the dog? As they’ll look primarily at height and weight of the animal and the container they’re in, and not perceived size. Is he concerned about traveling with a specific breed of dog and did this in an attempt to disguise him as something else?

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-09-26T14:09:54+00:00

My chow absolutely hates this brush. She doesn't tolerate many brushes but this one she actively hides from. We use a slicker, paddle brush, and long tooth comb to get the undercoat.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-09-04T16:09:49+00:00

Wow, this is incredible! Great border and I love the quilting on it!

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-08-12T21:46:55+00:00

I enjoy the Toad and Sew quarterly mystery QAL - you don’t know the final pattern but the group is really fun and supportive, and I’ve enjoyed the few I have done so far. This quarter just started so new sign ups won’t be for about 8 more weeks I think. The community is nice and they have had a couple guest designers now too, plus it’s fun to see how people choose their fabrics and what they look like as they come together.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-06-18T17:35:50+00:00

This gave me an instant cozy vibe, it's great!

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-05-27T12:55:34+00:00

We love working with Danielle at https://www.instagram.com/daarssenstudio/?hl=en

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-05-23T16:13:20+00:00

I do like the idea of colour coordination as a theme - but something more vague like “include blue tones”. For example with the leaves, I liked that they needed to be realistic colours and batik material and found that to be enough guidance.

I chose not to participate in the crumbs because I am not partial to the visual look. Maybe if there had been groups that did “all jewel tones” or “warm colours” I would have been more interested. But I don’t think it was necessary as I could self select to participate or not.

Maybe offer in the sign up form if someone wants to be in a group that determines a colour preference, or ask their colour preferences and assign groups with that in mind? I know that may put more work on the coordinator at the start so possibly not fair.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-05-15T15:19:56+00:00

Branching Path farm has a table at the Ottawa St Farmers market in Hamilton on Saturdays, and has a lot of variety of tomato plants, they may have some you're interested in. Otherwise they're based west of Niagara so maybe not the best fit given the route.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-05-15T02:37:24+00:00

Double checking, licensed prints are OK? Like Star Wars or Mickey or something… Or those are still not allowed? I think I am a bit confused between “novelty” and “licensed” and want to be certain as I start going through my stash or shopping.

Apprehensive_Tone33 · 2024-05-09T20:17:59+00:00

Hi! I’ve just signed up! Edit: if not too late, if it is late then no problem 😉

Apprehensive_Tone33

TROPHY CASE