Where Was I...??

So, last weekend I left my husband for the big, bad city of Toronto where I had the chance to catch up with some old friends and family and do a couple of good deeds at the same time. I never seem to get over just how big Toronto is and most of all, how busy it is all the time. Each time that I visit (which isn't very often), Dundas Square is looking more and more like Times Square...and I'm just not sure that the world is big enough for two of those!! I think that I should mention that "Bob the Cat" escorted us to Toronto from Markham and had his picture taken at select attractions around town. Meanwhile, Eric roamed the city with the most beautiful chicken hat that I've ever laid eyes on (if I recall correctly, a fabulous purchase by Marisa!). I was quite impressed that we didn't get beaten up at any point in time!!

Anyways, while I was there, two things awakened me to the shocking reality that I may not be as "with the times" as I thought I was!! The first one happened on Saturday evening, amidst all the hussle and bussle of downtown Toronto. Marisa, Eric and I had some time to kill before our dinner reservations so, what better thing to do in Toronto but shop (right Eric?!?!). Given that I'm not overly familiar with Toronto's assortment of spending options, I let Marisa lead the way. About two blocks later I found myself in two spectacular floors of fashion/interior design heaven...Urban Outfitters!! Where had I been all this time to have never seen this store before?? I'll tell you where...OTTAWA!! Don't get me wrong, I love O-town and would be happy to spend the rest of my life here but, when it comes to retail therapy...we leave much to be desired! No Pottery Barn, no Abercrombie & Fitch and now, no Urban Outfitters...it's just sad! But thank you to Marisa for making my world (and our living room) a brighter place with your impeccable taste!!

The second one occured after dinner that night when we thought that it would be fun to hit the CNE. After having gone to our own little Super Ex the weekend before (which isn't quite as super anymore!!), I was really excited to see what the big city had to offer in terms of the carnie world! I remember when I was younger and you bought little tear-off tickets to go on all the rides, each ticket was maybe fifty cents or so and, at the most, would cost two or three tickets to go on a ride. Needless to say that I was a bit surprised when I saw that the entire CNE functioned on a debit card system!! You bought "credits" for a dollar a piece, which went onto this card and each time you went on a ride, they scanned your card and the credits were removed. Okay, so this is the technological age and I can accept how advanced this has all become however, what I do struggle with is how much the cost of the rides has increased over the years. I get the whole inflation thing and so on but, seriously, since when did it cost $18.00 for three people to go on a ferris wheel?? WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?!?! They didn't even serve champagne or anything!! Where was I when this all happened?? This one clearly can't be blamed on Ottawa. Atleast the mini donuts and funnel cakes have stayed the same (the price even seems reasonable), and the games still offer the same cheap prizes that they did ten years ago...it's good to know that some things just never change!!!

On that note though, I want to congratulate Marisa on finding the cutest game prize EVER without having to play twelve rounds in a row. Let me tell you, this girl knows how to get the most return on her investment (she wasn't kidding on her shopping habits...!!!). She managed to scope the entire fair grounds for the cutest stuffed animal and found a surprisingly adorable stuffed Panda bear. It was love at first sight for Panda and I!! Marisa ended up winning him on her first try by using all her youthfulness to her advantage and betting a carnie $5.00 that he couldn't guess her age!! Sure enough, he was wrong and we walked away with Panda and a new playmate for "Bob the Cat". Kudos to you Marisa...well played!!!

Just Another Night on Powell Avenue...

Who's Life Will You Change...??

Serendipity: to make discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things not in quest of. (Wikipedia)

Ever since I was a teenager, my Uncle Neil has been telling me the story of a woman he met on a Greyhound bus one day while en route to meet his girlfriend at the time. During their short time together, she managed to convince him to apply to law school at the University of Western Ontario, which diverted completely from his initial future plans. Ultimately, he got accepted to UWO, started law school that fall which, in turn, is where he ended up meeting is wife and the reason that most of our family ended up moving to London in the first place (which also led to my other uncle meeting his wife). He loves this story so much because it is one of those very distinct moments in his life where the chance meeting of a stranger at the right time changed the entire course of his life and many of ours.

When he tells me that story, it often encourages me to reflect on my own days gone by and look at many of the choices that I made along the way. And though it's not an easy task to pin point the moment in which a specific corner was turned, I believe that there have been certain serendipitous encounters that have altered the entire course and direction that my life was taking at the time.

The one that stands out the most to me is during the summer of 2001 when I was working in an ice cream store just after graduation. During one unusually quiet day in the market, a girl came to the store that I had gone to high school with back in London. She was a senior the year that I started grade nine hence, I really didn't know her other than to recognize her face and we had never spoken before that day. While having some polite conversation regarding our lives and what we were up to, I mentioned how I was finding it difficult to decide what field to go into now that I had graduated. She had mentioned that she was just leaving one job to start a new one and asked me if I would be interested in passing on my resume in the event that they hadn't already found a replacement for her. With absolutely zero expectations at all, I forwarded her my resume later that week and went about my life. By the end of that summer, I had been hired to replace her on Parliament Hill...

Had it not been for that right moment at the right place, I never would have met my co-worker who was moving out of his apartment and looking for someone to take over his lease (and I had been looking aimlessly for an apartment that was suitable)...I never would have met my friend that "encouraged" me to give online dating a try...hence I never would have met my husband. I never would have had to work for the absolute worst person in the history of the world which encouraged me to look for work elsewhere...which lead me to the Gallery...and so and so on.

All this to say that, although I didn't see it at the time, that moment changed everything. What's even more amazing is that I'm sure my fellow school mate and the woman that my uncle met on the bus had no idea that the brief moments spent in their presence changed someone else's life forever. It sort of makes me wonder if a conversation that I ever had with a stranger produced such a ripple effect?? Then again, maybe we are never meant to know.

As incredible as some of these stories are, our lives are always touched by others in less obvious, more subtle ways. The admiration and inspiration that others can create on a day to day basis equally effect our lives, sometimes in ways that even we can never really know the depths of. In light of this, I've decided that it's time to recognize some of those people that truly impact our lives and helped us become the people that we are today.

I have had the very fortunate blessing of meeting some of the most outstanding people in my life and frankly, you should make every effort to try and meet them as well!!! Hence, I am going to put together a list of all the people that you should try to meet during your life...trust me...you won't regret it!! Let's call this new series of blogs "Style & Substance" (because that's what it takes to change the world...even if it's just one person's world!). Sit back, relax and make your plan...because those featured in S&S should certainly be a part of it!!

Stay tuned...

Returned Safely...

Ladies and gentlemen...I did it!! I survived my first canoe trip and amazingly enough...all in one piece!!! We actually had a fabulous time! The weather was perfect, the canoeing was fairly easy and we managed to avoid any dumping of boat/passengers/supplies throughout the entire time!!

We left on Monday morning to a beautifully sunny day and made it to Kinnissis Lake around 1pm ish. The dam was pretty busy with campers returning home and cottagers coming out for the week. Once we got our boat in the water however, we didn't really see too many other people until we returned two days later. Our first portage appeared to have gone well until we discovered that we had actually jumped the gun and put the boat back in a little too early. We figured this out when we suddenly felt the current getting stronger and the sound of rushing water alerted us to the fact that we were about to hit a set of rapids that neither of us could turn back from!!! We held our breath...went for it...got soaked and then took a break so that we could stop and reflect on how terribly reckless and foolish it was of us to not look ahead after the portage!!!! That being said...we didn't make that mistake twice!!


The rest of the trip was terrific! It never fails to amaze me how peaceful the outdoors can be and how refreshing it is to be away from the likes of email and telephones for a few days. Even your food taste better out in the woods!! Though I have to admit that regardless of how much I love it, there is a side of me that can't help but anticipate the return of my bed and a clean bathroom! As the saying goes, you can take the girl out of the city but, you can't take the city out of the girl!!!

I would also like to mention that, as someone who has camped a fair bit at various sites/parks, the campsites on these lakes are, by far, the very best sites that I've ever been to. They are all incredibly private, fairly large and would make a terrific waterfront property!! Our only complaint about the trip was the new system that the township had put into place regarding sites. Up until about four months ago, you didn't have to pay for the use of any sites, however, this also meant that it was basically first come, first serve. During busy times, you could end up sharing a site with others. Recently however, they implemented a charge for the use of the sites, but your site was reserved for your use only.

All this to say that we showed up at our site on Clear Lake on Tuesday night to see that it was occupied by a family of four!!! When we approached them about having reserved the site, they assured us that they had booked it three weeks ago (though we think that they are lying because they look guilty!!!) and had no intention of leaving! Fortunately for us, there were a couple of other sites on the lake that we could use however, in such a situation, what is one to do?? Because all of the booking is done online and there aren't any "park rangers" that you can call to sort out the mix up, what's stopping anyone from taking any site they want and claiming that they booked it. Chances are, if you are like us, you didn't venture out to the great outdoors only to have to share a site with a big family of people that you don't know...hence, you move on to another site...even though that one is rightfully yours! So really, it becomes a battle of honesty out in the forest. An honour system if you will, which works fine most of the time but, I certainly wouldn't want to be there during May 2-4 weekend!!

Our Paper Anniversary...

It's a good thing that we had the date engraved in our rings so that we wouldn't forget ;)

Check out our anniversary slideshow here!

Finally...

After eight years of dating bliss, our little France (and we say that affectionately at under five feet tall and cute as can be!!) finally got hitched to her long time boyfriend, Francois!

We have all been anticipating her wedding ever since Francois wisked her away for Banff (she thought that she was going to the Casino in Gatineau!!) last fall for a secret proposal with the platinum eternity band that she loved. Really, after eight years of dating, there is no way that he would get away with simply proposing over Cheerios one morning at breakfast!!

There was talk that they were originally going to get engaged the day of our wedding because they were coming to the ceremony but couldn't make it to the reception due to "plans" that Francois made but didn't tell France about. I called her from the airport the following Monday to find out and it turns out that he had planned a romantic dinner in Montreal...but no ring! This guy obviously had more secrets up his sleeve!!

Anyways, not only was it exciting to see them get married, but we also got the chance to have all the "original" girls (and Yves!!!) reunited again at Stanley's Old Maple Lane Farm, complete with bug spray, for the big event. We had a terrific time!!! We laughed, danced, drank and learned very quickly that stiletto heels, regardless of how cute they are, don't work so well in grassy farm lands (a story for another time however!!!).

Felicitations ma belle France!!

Reality TV Madness...

2006 has definitely been the summer of reality television. It has become our new addiction of choice...our new drug...our new reason for not cleaning the bathroom!! And with the dreadful heat that has plagued us this summer, we find ourselves being caged in our air-conditioned room with nothing to do but get sucked into the world of planning our scheduals around who's being "voted off the island"!! It's terrible, I know...but with the ribbon of terror scanning our television screens everyday (honestly, nothing beats waking up to the breaking news of a high terror alert...good morning to you too!)...it's nice to lose ourselves in something a little more light-hearted. There are two shows in particular that have captured our attention this summer...Last Comic Standing and Rockstar: Supernova (and for those of you reading this and judging our taste in television programming...judge all you want...if you watched an episode, you'd get sucked in too!).

Last Comic Standing won our respect last summer when we found ourselves splitting a gut laughing every Tuesday night when comics battled it out by performing for three minutes each and then the audience and viewers would vote for the funniest. Really, what's not to love about laughing for an hour at stand up comedy (and good comedy at that!)?!? This year though, I am especially proud as it turns out that the individual that I picked from day one ended up taking home the prize last night during the season finale.

This year's competition was tough as all three of the finalists were all really good in their own way. It ended up coming down to Chris Porter, who has a bit more of a "stoned" approached to his comedy...Ty Barnett, who is a bit more traditional (ie. the whole "the difference between men and women" bit), but really funny nonetheless, and Josh Blue, a really young comic with Cerebral Palsy who uses his disability as the main topic in his routine. My money was on Josh right from the start and not necessarily because he was the funniest all the time but, because he always had the most fun all the time!! I was thrilled when he won last night...he deserved it and I think everyone really enjoyed watching him win as well. He took us for a good ride and gave us a good laugh...way to go Josh! By the way, Josh is performing at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario on November 1st...go see him...you won't regret it. And if you do, tell him that Gen voted for him!!!

Now, about Rockstar:Supernova...last season, my fearless leader, Yves, gave me no end of grief for not watching Rockstar: INXS and hence, not providing him with someone to debate the potential winner (though I did redeem myself by falling victim to Lost, which enabled us to create our own little support group...for those of us who have a hard time chasing a carrot on a string for months on end!!). This season of Rockstar isn't much different, except for the fact that Steve has started watching it and we have ended up flipping between Rockstar and LCS each Tuesday night during commercials.

Rockstar has the same premise as LCS except that the contestants belt out selected rock tunes in hopes of being the lead singer for the new band named...you guessed it...Supernova! I haven't watched this show very consistently until Ryan Star caught my attention last week with his AMAZING rendition of R.E.M.'s "Losing my Religion" on the piano. It was incredible...gorgeous...memorable and also took us over an hour to find a version to download for my MP3 player (a special thanks needs to go out to MSN for letting all of us Canadians sign up for your email but not letting us download your music. Really, we can't thank you enough for that minor oversight...JERKS!). If you haven't watched the show (admit it...you've caught glimpses of it...everyone has!)...atleast watch this one performance. Especially since Ryan isn't going to win anyway (I think that Steve, Yves and I would all agree that Dilana has it in the bag!!!)...we should support his moment of glory!


Check it out here!

Baby Boy Smyth Update...

Well, our little nephew now has a name...Rohan Jeffery Smyth! That is terrific news. What isn't so terrific is that Rohan is now being moved to the Children's Hospital in Halifax to undergo surgery on his teeny tiny little body. He's been on oxygen all night but, is doing well. Monica is on her way to Halifax and Jeff is on his way to Fredricton...everyone is on the move!

Oh yeah...and Noal and Brennan are at a water park tackling the Silver Bullet!

Holding Our Breath...

Okay, so we got home last night around 5:30ish and not long after walking in the door, we received a somewhat frantic phone call to let us know that our sister-in-law, Monica had just delivered her baby. Under most circumstances, the arrival of a much anticipated new family member is great news however, in this case, the baby wasn't due until nearly October!

So, much to our surprise, we listened as we were told that her water broke and then after only an hour of labor, our nephew came into the world. As unexpected as this was however, the circumstances couldn't have been better because right now, Monica is visiting her parents in New Brunswick. Had she been home, in Petawawa, this could have been an entirely different story.

Because her husband, Jeff, is in the air force, they are currently living in Pet and were planning on having the baby in Ottawa. Once Monica received the "cue", they would pack up their three year old, Priya, call the Smyths in Tilbury and head up to Ottawa (while dropping Priya off at a friend's place in Stittsville along the way). While Jeff and Monica would be at the hospital, the Smyths would be on their way to Ottawa and step in taking care of Priya until they returned to Petawawa. That was the plan anyways!!

Jeff had to leave town for work for a couple of weeks, so Monica decided that it would make the perfect opportunity to go visit her parents in New Brunswick. So they hoped on a flight and were intended to be there until this coming Monday. Now...let's look at the potential sequence of events that could have happened had she not made that decision...

Monica would have been by herself in Petawawa when her water broke and she would have had to pack up Priya and try to make it to Ottawa (though most likely would have gone to Pembroke instead)on her own. If she ended up going to Pembroke, it's likely that someone would have had to go there to pick up Priya since it would have been a good eight hours before the Smyths would have arrived.

All this to say that, if this little baby boy was so insistent on arriving early (at a mere 3 pounds and 8 ounces), then he certainly chose his timing right! Jeff received the call that his son was early and had to fly back to Ottawa and then drive out to New Brunswick...so he may be arriving there as I write this. Both mother and baby are healthy but, Steve and I do have a bone to pick with Baby Boy Smyth (not yet named as they thought they had a couple more months to decide!!!)...we were all excited about being the first ones to get to see the baby...so we feel a bit ripped off!!!

A small price to pay however for everyone to be happy and healthy!

We'll keep you posted as we find out more details...

The Kite Runner...

One of the great things about mid-summer heat waves...is the need to be locked up in the one room of our apartment that has air conditioning and catch up on my reading. Anyone that knows me knows that I absolutely adore books and would read every minute of the day if I had my choice (and if it didn't make me so sleepy!!). Last night, with the temperature sorrowing to 47 degrees celcius, provided the perfect opportunity to bury myself in my latest novel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, recommended to me by Monica and her book club. I ended up getting the book for my birthday and only just started it about ten days ago. From the very first chapter, I was hooked. It was a very easy read and has a fabulous way of flowing from one chapter to the next.

In a nutshell, the book is about whether or not we can really make up for the sins of our past and how the split second decisions that we make can change the course of our lives. It's fascinating. What is also great about the book is that the majority of it takes place in Afghanistan from the 60s up until present day. The political changes occuring in the country seem to be running a parallel course to the changes are happening in the characters.

I will note though that as phenomenal as I thought the book was (and the last hundred pages took me on an emotional rollercoaster), it's not a book that I think I could read again. Much like A Million Little Pieces or White Oleander, the heartbreak and harshness of it's reality is a bit more than I would be able to handle again. It was a page turner that kept me hooked until the very end, and then left me in shock and contemplation for hours after I was finished. However, it's inspirational side overides all of the cruelty that it brings to the surface.

Definitely a must read!

The Perfect Summer Weekend...

Well, it's very possible that Steve and I just experienced the best weekend of the summer EVER! Truly, it was perfect (aside from being too short) and had the perfect balance of time together and time with others! It included the best food, the best company and the best things to do! It has raised the bar for all future summer weekends of 2006!

We are still recovering slightly from eight straight weeks of either hosting people for the weekend or being out of town. As fun as all of that was, it does provide a certain inability to conceive of what a weekend alone is really like!!! Though we have made mad attempts at achieving the perfect summer weekends a couple of times, it appears that much of the time, Mother Nature has had a plan of her own!! Whether it be weather or sickness, we have been put in our place a couple of times already and found ourselves unable to do much more than watch the first season of Nip/Tuck on DVD!!

UNTIL THIS WEEKEND!!!!

It started off perfectly by lying in bed until 10:30ish on Saturday morning and catching up on some long overdue rest. I then caught an early flick with Joanne at a hidden jem of a cinema that I never even knew existed (St-Laurent's Rainbow Cinemas...three bucks a movie!!!). After a good movie, some good shopping (yeah for sales at Jacob!) and touring the neighborhoods of Eastern Ottawa, we came home to relax in the sweltering heat of our apartment! We made the yummiest nachos ever and watched When Harry Met Sally (one of the best movies of all time!) until the sun went down and cooled the city off a bit.

When the sun goes down is when you really discover the true meaning of long summer nights! We put on our walking shoes and headed down to the water falls to check out the first night of Les Grands Feux du Casino. It was South Africa presenting their magic and though the show was terrific, it did lack a little bit of fluidity!! Once that show was done we went to Parliament Hill to watch the Sound and Light Show presented by the NCC. I've never really stopped to watch it before and I have to say that it was quite impressive! By 11:30pm I started to have an uncontrollable craving for a McDonald's chocolate sundae (and this is the only part of the weekend that was a let down)..so we headed past the McDonald's on Bank street on our way home...mouth salivating...tummy ready for chocolatey goodness...only to find a sign in the door that says "due to staff issues, we regret to inform you that we will be closed as of 9:45pm tonight. We apologize for any inconvenience.". Well, that SUCKED and I had to settle for a bagel and some chocolate milk once I got home!!

Sunday morning I was up bright and early for my long run with my training group. I was up so early in fact, that I had time to stop at Starbucks and read the paper before I met everyone. For anyone that knows me, they know that I am anything but a morning person however, on the rare occasion that I am an early bird, I can't stop raving about how wonderful it is to enjoy the peace and quite of the early morning hours. I preceeded to successfully complete my run in fairly good time and then headed home to the amazing smell of Sunday evening's dessert baking in the oven (I'll get to that later!!).

The best part about Sunday was that Heather and Bert were coming up to visit because Heather is starting at Queen's in the fall and they were in Kingston searching for her new home for the next two years. This is reason to celebrate for two reasons: A.) because she got accepted into her program B.) because we will now have the pleasure of having her in our neck of the woods for a little while (only two hours away instead of the usual eight and half hours!). All this to say...it was strawberry daiquiris all around!! We went out for brunch (best eggs benedict EVER!)...toured Ottawa (tried the get the Governor General's foot guards to laugh) and came home for a BBQ of garlic butter chicken kabobs!! I even managed to slip an hour nap in there! How perfect is that?!?!

The very best part of the weekend though was still to come!!! After dinner, we brought out our dessert masterpiece (that we could only hope would be as tasty in real life as they were in our heads)...**drum roll please**...home made ice cream sandwiches!!! We baked the jumbo chocolate chip cookies in the morning, stuck them in the fridge, got ourselves so soft serve ice cream and presto...the dessert that keeps on giving!! They turned out to be even better than we imagined and I can't get them out of my head!!

So, sadly, our weekend had to come to an end but, atleast the summer went by with one legendary weekend to remember (as all the best summers do!). We dragged ourselves back to work and longed for the weekend gone by while daydreaming about the long weekend coming up. It's at these moments when you miss being in school and having the summers all to yourself! Cherish it young ones (and teachers!)...because they are gone far too quickly!

The Great Debate...

...I came across this on Flickr and not only did it provide some beautiful photographs...but the food for thought was amazing.

Read it!

Why Christina Loves to Run...

I Heart Birthdays...

Quidam...

For a good month now I have been meaning to report back on our Cirque du Soleil experience in early June...and only now am I finding the words to accurately review it (well, that's my excuse anyways and I'm sticking to it!).

During the first weekend of June, my in-laws came to Ottawa for the weekend so that we could celebrate their anniversary and Steve's birthday with an evening at the circus! But this wasn't just any circus...!!

Many years back, I had come to Ottawa from London to see Saltimbanco, which was set up in Lebreton Flats at the time. I don't really remember a lot of it but, I do remember not being able to stop talking about it for weeks afterwards. So, when we received tickets to Quidam, Cirque du Soleil's newest production, as a gift...we couldn't wait to see what our friends in Quebec would offer up this time.

To our surprise, our seats were four rows from the front and honestly, I don't think that any of us blinked once (okay, maybe once, but only during intermission!). The show was phenomenal..out of this world...incredible...awe inspiring...the list just goes on. And on top of all that...you will leave feeling more out of shape than you ever have in your life as there are few athletes in this world as sculpted as the performers in Cirque!

We couldn't keep our eyes off of what was happening and at first, you almost experienced a bit of sensory overload as there was so much going on all around you at all times. The music was terrific and the imagination was very "a la Monsters Inc."! The story is meant to reflect our days spent surrounded by a world of people yet, never really knowing anyone at all. Something that I'm sure many of us can relate to at one time or another.

All around amazing. If you haven't seen it...grab the opportunity if you ever can. There are few things like it in the world and as Canadians, we definitely need to support our terrific creations!

Check out more about Quidam here.

Canada Day 2006

Unlike most Canada Days, spent aimlessly finding our way through 100,000 people on Parliament Hill, waiting two hours to sit on a patio in the market and then sitting amongst Ottawa's best drunks during the fireworks...we decided to take a bit of a different approach this year and see what Canada Day was like from the "family perspective"! Hence, Jim, Kelly and our three adorable nephews came up for the weekend and crashed in our 640 square foot apartment for two days of Canada Day fun through the eyes of a two year old!

They live in the small little town of Leamington in Southwestern Ontario and our three nephews, Noal (4 yrs.), Brennan (2yrs.) and Kellen (4 months) all spent ten hours in a car so they could come to Ottawa and see what all the rage was about! Hopefully, we didn't disappoint!

Since everyone was up bright and early (I do believe the clock said 6:15am when I first opened my eyes!), we headed downtown at 9:30am (because that's how long it takes to get three little ones ready in the morning...you're amazing Jim and Kelly!) and introduced the Leamington Smyths to the likes of downtown Ottawa on Canada Day!!! Given that we couldn't get anywhere with two strollers and two year olds aren't interested in seeing horses on a big screen, we thought that we would head down to Jacques Cartier Park on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. Neither of us had ever ventured over to the "other side" before and found it to be as much an adventure for ourselves as it was for the boys! As it turns out, the Quebec side of the river is all about catering to families and their little ones (and let me just say that there were plenty of them!!). We got to play in the old fashion circus, bouncy castles, see ridiculously oversized clowns and indulge our senses in too much cotton candy and rainbow suckers!

After lunch we decided to brave the Museum of Civilization's Children Museum and the fact that it was free admission for the day. It was a good idea on paper but, apparently, 2,ooo other families shared our sentiments as well! Three words sum it up nicely...OUT OF CONTROL!

Truth be told, we had an amazing time there with the kids. There was so much for them to play with and see but, there is something about the combined energy of hundreds of little kids under the age of five that makes the decibel level increase more than I ever thought possible!! We spent a good couple of hours there and while the adults suffered through the heat and crowds to make our way home, the kids all enjoyed a nice nap along the canal (it really is a hard life when you're little!).

As fireworks time quickly approached and we were dreading the idea of being stuck downtown, we ended up discovering a new hidden jem of a place to catch the action! Sitting right in front of the new War Museum gave us a perfect place to set up our chairs, steer clear of the mosquitoes, have a perfect, inobstructed view of the show and still stay far enough away that the kids could handle the noise. All in all, a best kept secret!

I have to say though that we have had many visitors over the years to join us for Canada Day and no one endured it better than the boys did! In past years, we have always been back home by early afternoon for lunch and a much needed nap while in this case, we made it home in time for dinner and the kids still had energy to spare. Unbelievable!

Holy Thunderstorm Batman! Or is it...??

Just as I was getting ready to settle in onto our deck for an evening of reading and writing...this is what started to creep up into sight...

Talk about putting a damper on one's evening of outdoor enjoyment!! We stayed and watched the sky change for a good twenty minutes and eventually the winds picked up and the smell of rain took over however, as of yet, it appears to be all bark and no bite!

We will keep you posted though if it manages to live up to it's creepiness!!

Pathways to Peace...

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."
- Matthew 5:9

www.pathways-to-peace.com

Cubs or Pork Chops...

I just received this recently from a friend via email and thought that it was too amazing not to share...

In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born pre-maturely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger, after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother.

The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species.

The only "orphans" that could be found quickly, were a litter of wiener pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger.

Would they become cubs or pork chops???

Happy Summer Solstice...

When the sun came up at 5:14am this morning...it became the Summer Solstice of 2006 and as far as I'm concerned...a day that is highly overlooked and under rated by the those living in North America. June 21st (TODAY!) is the day in which the sun's rays strike one of the two tropical latitude lines, marking the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and simultaneously heralds the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere.

Traditionally, we would get between 15-20 hours of sunlight today depending on where you are located in the world, with the exception of those residing north of the Artic Circle, who will get 24 hours of daylight and those south of the Antartic Circle who will have 24 hours of darkness (ouch! That's what you get for living so far away from a Starbucks!!!).

"Solstice" is derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. This is because, as the summer solstice approaches, the noonday sun rises higher and higher in the sky on each successive day. On the day of the solstice, it rises an imperceptible amount, compared to the day before. In this sense, it "stands still."

The Summer Solstice has been celebrated worldwide for centuries and being the longest day of the year, I think that everyone should take advantage of such a special day! Pagans celebrated the Solstice with bonfires in hopes of generating sympathetic magic: giving a boost to the sun's energy so that it would remain potent throughout the rest of the growing season and guarantee a plentiful harvest. In Sweden, a Midsummer tree is set up and decorated in each town. The villagers dance around it and women and girls would customarily bathe in the local river because it's a magical ritual, intended to bring rain for the crops. In ancient times, people used to celebrate the solstice by sacrificing their pets but, I suggest opting for a more laid back means of taking in the occasion!!!

When I was a little girl we used to celebrate the summer solstice by staying up way past my bed time to enjoy the added hours of sunlight but now that I'm a big girl...the novelty of staying up past 8 o'clock just doesn't have the same thrilling effect as it once did! However, I would suggest maybe getting up at dawn and having your eggs sunny side up or making a quick visit to Stonehedge if you happen to be in the neighborhood!!! Or how about taking the day off work to lounge in the sun (but don't forget your sunscreen!)?!?!?

Whatever you choose to do...you have until 8:54pm tonight to enjoy it! So, Happy Sunshine!

photo credit: London Heritage