Just a few More TiDBitS ... Travel Tips, we'll say ...

Hello !! We are just back from a trip to Toronto and ... guess what ? ... I learned some things !! Now, I like to share these tidbits because I never seem to learn things the easy way ... always (seem to ) prefer the hard way ... just saving you the trouble ...;)

1. Digging, sodding a huge lawn, and other assorted manual labour every night for two weeks before a vacation may be a bad idea ... it may hinder your energy levels and really infringe on the fun factor ... you may even fall asleep during a dream concert ... (Sorry James Taylor ... it wasn't you !)

2. Three and a half hours sleep does NOT prepare you for a 22 hour day ... nope, does not.

3. If you are not usually an egg eater I would advise you NOT to eat them twice in a day as you may later vomit them up ... and it will make you even less of an egg eater.

4. And , just on the vomit prep strategy, (because you never know when it could happen) , try to avoid getting on a packed, PACKED bus and then having to fight your way back off for that very reason.

5. And, if this should occur, try to take a good look before getting off that bus ... you may have chosen a NON STOP that is by REQUEST ONLY from IN the bus ... and it may be 1.5 hours from your hotel, at midnight , with nothing around. Just sayin ...

6. Keep your knees out of the way. You'll smell better.

7. If you have a problem with heat & pressure hives , DO NOT go to a city in the summer and then walk for miles & miles & miles ... I can send pictures if you need a visual ...

8. Now this is actually a PLEASANT lesson !! If you go down to the Harbourfront to catch a ferry to Centre Island with, oh, 5000 of your closest friends and a few 1000 others that you don't know as well ... GIVE UP !!!
(that's the "line" over to the little blue toll booth that you see in the background ... then there are 3x as many people on the other side waiting for the ferry ...)
And then add another $3.50 to what you were going to pay, walk 5 minutes down the boardwalk, stumble across a private water taxi, slip him $10 each, and BOB'S YOUR UNCLE !! You are on Centre Island in 5 minutes !!! ( haha suckers !!)

9. Renting a quadracycle SEEMS like an awesome idea ... until 30 minutes later when you are at the farthest point of the island and you realize you (who hasn't pedalled a bike in 20+ years) have to pedal all the way back .... creak ... groan... puff ... pant ...

10. Street food rocks. But don't assume that all the signs at the street booth are foods that are right there being cooked. Order a few Tacos El Pastor and you may find yourself schlepping through a grocery store, out back, to a tiny little kitchen, passing a ticket to "Pedro" and standing in the boiling hot kitchen for 40 minutes for "quick" street food. Hmmm ...

11. When they inform you that your subway car will not be continuing along and you must leave - do so. And when they then add that you are to evacuate the subway station in a calm & orderly fashion ... do so. And when you emerge from the ground and are met by firemen rushing in with pry bars and axes, a sea of firetrucks and police cars, and the radio barking "WE HAVE A PLAN B, A PLAN B!!" .... try to find another route.

12. And when you do get an all clear and try to return to the subway, through the back door - the ONLY door you have ever seen - and the police stop you and order you to go ... don't. Reach into your reserve, remember how many hours you have been up and how many miles you have walked, think about the concert you are going to, think about the fact that you have no earthly idea where the other entrances are and that your feet are now too hivey and sore to walk another mile around the block ... stand there and yell back . Tell them you were told by the "man with the phone to come back " and that "you have no idea where the other entrances are" ... it worked for us.

So that's my tips !! And before you think we had a bad trip ... no ! It was great ... just a few technical difficulties !!

We sang "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You" with James Taylor and thousands of others ... awesome !! ( And yes, exhaustion , eggs, smelly hot dog breath from hundreds of people, hot hot cramped buses, .... all added up to me pushing my way off a bus and standing on the side of the road 2 hours from downtown Toronto barfing my face off. And yes, it was a request only stop in a desolate area but we did meet up with some other concert goers and eventually walked to a bus stop where we boarded a bus that made 28 stops before we got to the subway and finally got home at about 1 am ... 21 hours from when we left home !!)

We went to Centre Island ... a magical haven right next to a city ... we rode a freaky bike and saw beautiful things. We enjoyed the charming old fashioned amusement park and imagined what it must have been like back in the day when the rich & famous summered there. Wonderful !!

We spent an afternoon in Kensington Market - one of my favourite places ever. The crowds, the music, the dancers, fire jugglers, the street sized Scrabble game, shopping at Blue Banana, visiting Al Waxman's statue,

eating Tacos El Pastor, the most delectable pie EVER at Wanda's Pie in the Sky.... sigh .... heavenly.

Strolling down Spadina, visiting China Town, Queen Street and my other Fave - The Paper Place ... oooh, I get so excited by paper clip penguins, cat bookmarks, fun paper, coloured tape .... be still my heart !!

So it was a great trip but we were happy to come home. Because, you see , we love our life here too !

What If ?

I am so grateful to all those wondrous unseen forces that keep those we love safe. Now I don't know what those forces are - some say God, some say angels, some say karma, fate ... who knows ? I just know that they are there and we don't think about them until something happens. And then we are inundated with "what-ifs" ... What if she had been there ? What if they hadn't waited ? What if ... what if ... Friends of ours were recently in an accident. For some reason, they chose to put their child in the other door of the van ...their other child wasn't with them ...because the one child got in the other side, the Dad wasn't standing by the van with him ... on and on ... When I heard the story, I thought of all the what-ifs. Chills ran down my spine. And I knew that somewhere somehow someone some-force was at work that day. And my heart sang. I am grateful.

In a Funk ...

I feel like I need to have happy stuff on here ... but man ! I am in a funk !!!! And I am not pretending that I am not - so there !! I am tired ... of what I am not sure ... oh, I have ideas but whatever. I tried the "chip cure" but it actually didn't really work. Still in a funk but I had greasy fingers... I thought about running away & joining the circus but there's that whole stupid reptile thing and I hate them. But if I continue with the 'chip cure' I will have a place there, I'm sure !! ("Hello, Fat Lady Dress... have you been waiting long ??!") So I just need to come up with a plan ... a real plan ... a DEFUNKING plan !!! So I am putting my mind to it today ... in between all the other stuff .... including 500 month old turkeys tonight ( now that will help the funk ... ICK ... U.G.L.Y.)... and I will come up with a plan ... and then I will bottle it (or is that where the solution lies now ...hmmm ...) ... I'll let you know how I make out!!!

Friendships

I have had the most interesting conversations, emails, messages, and comments after my post a few weeks ago. The common thread seems to be how difficult friendships can be. We all have such a "Hallmark" ideal of having big happy groups of friends and big happy extended families ... and for the most part, that isn't the reality for most . There are so many kinds of friendships ... some easy, some difficult. I think the best ones are when you feel your life is pretty complete and you meet someone else who feels that way about her life ... an occasional get-together or a cup of tea , an email or a phone call ... and that feels like a lovely bonus in your life. These kinds of friends are also busy & don't have lots of time to pour into the friendship ... but that doesn't make it any less important. But both parties understand that and they treasure those times when a laugh is shared, a hug is given, a dinner is shared. And we all know that we are there for each other if needed. That is the kind of friendship I love !! Almost accidental in nature. Not planned or sculpted, not carefully orchestrated or monitored. Some of the dearest people in my life are those I rarely see ... we talk on the phone once in a while, have a visit once a year maybe, a quick conversation on the sidewalk ... and just that makes me happy. These friendships have lasted for years ... some almost my entire life. And casual friendships are amazingly wonderful too ... they are the sprinkles on life's cake !! ... no real expectations just happiness when you run into each other. An annual craft swap, a birthday party, chatting at an event ... all make life sweeter. So maybe the secret is this ... carry on enjoying your life and in the process you will find those friendships that you don't have to work at & schedule so carefully. You'll know a good friendship because it will come so naturally. It won't make demands. It will carry on quietly beside you and you'll know it's there. You'll know you can count on it and it can count on you. Maybe we expect too much of our friendships ... this is real life not the movies !!

Long Weekend ..... WAHOO !!!

A long weekend ... sun after weeks of rain ... house repairs ... bonfire... catching up on work ... beers ... bbq ... can't wait !!! Have a great one everybody !!!

There Comes a Time ...

There comes a time when you give up ... on people. Sounds sad doesn't it ? But it's true. Not all people ... don't get me wrong !! I try to see the good in everyone but at some point you realize that some people just don't want to show their good. They come from a place of selfishness or cruelty. They are intent on cutting everyone down, looking for the bad in everyone, finding fault, laughing at failure and getting pleasure from other's unhappiness. They derive pleasure from it. They measure every thing, weigh it, and judge it. Nothing is good enough. They are not going to change. And you are not going to change them. But being around them can change you. And at that point, I think the best thing you can do is see that. Open your eyes wide. Accept it. And turn your attention to all those people who are coming from a place of kindness and happiness ... (and there are a lot of them, thankfully !!) .... now that's the people you need !!
And they all lived happily ever after !!

Such a Sad Day ...

I would like to say that Monday started like any other day ... because that's how stories start ... but it didn't. It was election day and we got up early to go vote before work. I went back home to work on kits and Charlie went off to the store. He called mid afternoon to say he needed to make a trip to the city after work for bags. I was up for that !! We zipped into the city, got our bags and packaging, slipped over to Costco for a medley of fruit, and grabbed some supper and headed home . We listened to the election results on the radio ... that may be where the sadness started. It was a history making day ... not history I liked , but history nonetheless.
We turned onto our road. Just two houses before ours we saw eyes flash on the road. There was animal walking up the middle of the road. Slowly. Deliberately. I couldn't make out what it was. We kept going slowly, expecting it to run off. No. It continued walking towards us. Finally it sat right down on the white line, starring into our trucks headlights. It was a cat. It sat stone still in the road. I got out, thinking it would scare him off the road. No movement. I walked to the cat and touched him. Nothing. Another car was coming up behind us, giving me a bad vision of us both being hit, so I scooped him up and carried him off the road. I thought his hair felt really matted on his belly. I set him down and still he stayed. In order to keep him from darting into the car's path, I reached down to pat him. .................. oh my. I felt instantly sick to my stomach. It wasn't matts. I could feel every bone, every vertebrae, everything. That cat was starving.
By this time Charlie was out of the truck and the cat was walking towards a water trickle in the ditch. We picked him up and took him home. Still no resistance.
We set him up in the woodshed with food, water, a litter box, a bed , and a blanket. He purred a mucousy purr and rubbed constantly against us. He was a little unsteady but seemed content to be there. He was so thin and probably sick. But he was sweet and loving. He ate food and rubbed. We left him to have a peaceful night and to fill his belly.
In the morning we realized that he was probably blind. His eyes were large vacant orbs. Again he rubbed and rubbed. Charlie took him to work in a carrier and called Animal Control so he could go the vet and eventually to a shelter. He lay contentedly in the carrier, responding to pats and affection until the Officer came.. He called the Vets and told them if he was unadoptable because of blindness we would take him back and keep him - somehow. The Animal Control Officer returned with the cage ... and bad news. When he came out of the carrier , he could barely move his back legs. That poor cat was so ill that most of his organs had shut down. Those that hadn't were in the process of doing so. He hadn't eaten , they estimated, for 2 weeks. He had to be put down, there was no hope.
I was blown away. I knew he was sick but had no idea it was so bad. And then I was heartbroken. That poor soul had walked right down the road to the front of our truck. Had it been someone else not slowing for their driveway, he would have been killed then. And then to find out that he had been neglected so badly and for so long, he just would not survive ... and yet he still purred and offered us loving rubs. How on earth anyone could leave an animal to suffer like that ... I shed many tears yesterday for him and for the ugly world that lets that happen. It was such a sad day.

Rest in Peace Stevie.