Love In The Time of COVID

Jackie posted the other day: comment your pandemic book title.  The others were all too funny so I didn't post but mine was Love in the time of COVID.

Much could be said about what we're going through right now, in the world and in our communities, but I don't know if I want to be able to look back on how horrible everything is right now. All I know is that I'm safe, and everyone I know and love is also safe. My parents have been absolute hermit troopers. My brother and I shared a deep concern that they would hold onto the routine of every day life, but to be honest with economic shutdowns as they are, there is not much opportunity to socialize unless you want to engage the clerk at the grocery store or the pharmacy.

I continue to work and I am required to go into the office every day. We were offered to work from home and when I said ok they abruptly withdrew the offer and banned me from the office for 2 weeks. Declaring that I was self-isolating and was not welcome to come back, not even at night. This after our fearless leader returned from Florida and came into the office. With no regard for anyone's safety. I dared to address this with him on the phone telling him he was NOT allowed to come in. And he said yes he was, especially if no one was there at night or on the weekends. Two days later it was announced that breaking self-isolation was illegal. Without further discussion he stayed at home for two weeks. Perhaps this is why they turned around and passed the same fate upon me.  This I will never forget or forgive.  I will carry anger, hatred and resentment against them for the rest of my days.

My car has been in the shop for almost 3 weeks.  My replacement clutch that went in 18 mos ago was also defective. My mechanic told me that in his 12 year career he has replaced three defective clutches and two of them have been mine. After this was replaced, under warranty, I showed up to pick it up and it was revealed to still not be functioning. It was partially my fault for saying "OK I'm coming now byyyeee" and partially their fault for not saying, "Don't come just yet." It turned out that the transmission was also toast. I stood outside the dealership and watched them test drive my car.  Three loops around Lorne Park, each time it drove past I caught glimpse of the four-way flashers being left on and each time my heart sank further into my stomach. They spent the next 4-5 days fighting to get the transmission also covered under warranty and they were successful. I was ready to walk away and tell them to keep it. Fiat transmissions are not serviceable, in such that they cannot be rebuilt. They do not produce parts. Failed or broken transmissions need to be replaced in full.  I luckily did not need to make that choice. I remember I told Sim once that I was driving Pippa's first car. Thinking that I would drive it for 14 years, as all other cars I've owned, and then Pips could drive what would then be a beater until it broke down in the middle of Bathurst and Dundas. Perhaps now with a new clutch and transmission we will make it.  But I hold an envelope up to my head and ask, "An event that will happen in 2021" and when I open the envelope it reads "Julie's first car bonfire".

I'm slowly trying to make the most of my time at home. I finished a course at Sheridan and have signed up for a second. I've focused on making more food from scratch. I've started and almost finished a knitting project.  I've sworn off tv while I refocus my life towards activities that will enrich my life. There is much left to do to make 2020 a year of improvement and redemption.

In maybe the only hopeful news I've had lately Jackie gave birth to the most beautiful squirmy wormy.  She joined us on what will be known going forward as "Birthday".  I can't wait to see her and hold her and squish her little baby fat. Why can't this disease do what the Cheeto commands and just go away. GO AWAY COVID. What kind of story will this make in the future. When all the dead are buried and remembered, and the living are vaccinated.  Remember the time the world experienced a plague?  YES WE WERE THERE.

Neighbourhood #20 - Yorkville

NEW ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: 20 Neighbourhoods visited. It feels like an achievement but looking back Sim and I have been at this for over 9 years.  So coming in at just over two neighbourhoods a year, here we are. The weekend started with the promise of a trip up to Orillia to watch the Super Bowl with Dana and Dave (and Alex +1). I said I would stay over on Saturday night so we could leave together.  And that turned into a Great British Bake Off Marathon, but more importantly the great idea from Sim so pick a new hood. We're probably only half done to be honest, but it does get more difficult to choose. Finally I suggested Yorkville and Sim said YES as she had a few ideas already for us.

After humming and hawing about transit vs driving we hopped into my car and zipped over to Yorkville. The parking was as to be expected in the North Downtown business core. Also known as the Nodobuco. We started with a bucket list restaurant stop of mine, Sassafraz. Sim had mentioned earlier that Winterlicious was on so hey, why not do Winterlicious lunch at Sassafraz!! The options were amazing.  Sim went with the Moroccan Lamb starter with the Atlantic Salmon Main and the Creme Caramel for dessert. Accompanied by a "Frostbite" cocktail. I forget the ingredients but it was YUMMY. My fare was the exact same, sub a beet salad to start. Sim looked at me during lunch and said, "This is a place I would have picked, so thank you." It's true. She goes for the classy class, and I roll my eyes and say fiiiine.  This time she didn't have to drag me kicking and screaming. Other than the fact that I didn't have any nice clothes and I hadn't washed my hair in two days and it looked a TOTAL MESS. But as I don't have to look at myself during an outing I let that go from my mind.

A quick walk down Yorkville Rd brought us to a cute little paper shop, The Papier.  I could spend hours in a shop like this. I could spend hundreds of dollars. And then I would have hundreds of dollars of paper at home that I'm doing nothing with. BUT, I do hope that stores like this stick around. As we seem to be losing the brilliant landscape of brick and mortar stores that has graced our Toronto streets (streets that I walk, very often, used to be daily).

Next we flipped over to what was going to be another tick for me, Hemingways bar.  I went once many moons ago and seemed to remember it was great.  It's kind of not what I remembered.  And not what one might expect from a Yorkville pub.  It was cute enough.  Half pint each and off we go.

Sim has been talking about The Oxley and Frank Oxley being friends with Don and we have to go to the Oxley, for months.  As we approached the pub Sim was about to say "Oh this place looks so cute can we please come back here", and she looked up and here we arrived at the Oxley. When you walk in you are greeted with an old styled classy pub. With a gorgeous mosaic tile front fireplace, with a super comfortable couch to the side, and seating extending to the back. The upstairs was also quite adorable, but as there was a party of three having what seemed to be an intimate discussion we decided to settle on the couch. I had the Vanilla Sour, which is essentially a whiskey sour with a vanilla liquor added in. Sim had the Kitty Hawk which was an exceptionally tasty cocktail with some ingredients that escape.

When that was wrapped we popped over to Kitchen Stuff  Plus to look for some bake ware for Sim.  She's planning an EPIC cake for Pips in April. And thoughtfully starting the prep now. Even a practice run that turned into a grump fest over getting a cake instead of a toy (Pip-pa). I had to step outside as I was starting to overheat. Popping back in only to remind Sim to look at the spinning cake trays, of which the selection was unappealing.  She smartly said no thank you to those.  Our next destination was Over The Rainbow, a long establish denim store that had moved from Yorkville Rd. down to Bloor. I was really not feeling well so we took a pass and head to the last planned stop, Cafe Bora.  They had some interested purple yam confections that we were going to dig into.  And as we approached they were CLOSED. At this point I was full on gassing out, for whatever reason. I could almost barely breathe and felt like an energyless lump. We tracked down the entrance to the Green P and headed home.  With one more quick drive by another kitchen store, that was closed, we pulled back into chez Heath and cooled down with a few more baking episodes.  That show, is amazing.  I mentioned it to Sim like 3 years ago that I thought she'd like it, and this particular weekend she said, "Lets find a way to watch that baking show."  Which I loved.  And she loved.  And we loved Yorkville! 

And they all lived happily ever after.  While Mahomes laid back dreaming of sugarplum offensive linemen in his head.

I Climbed A Mountain

I wrote this about 4 months ago but my laptop has been essentially out of service since then.  But I have a new laptop now!  And I'm going to try really extra hard to update this thing on the reg.  Without further ado, a jump back in time......

I'm going to start with a piece of advice I have recently learned.  When a friend from BC asks if you want to go on a "hike" that means a vertical hike, up the side of a mountain.  It's something all people in BC seem to just do, and with great ease.  As a rather out of shape slob from Ontario, I was not quite as graceful with my ascent.  But I digress.

For the Civic long weekend I booked a ticket and jetted out to Vancouver for a weekend with Jackie and Chris.  I flew in on Friday night and Jackie picked me up at the airport.  I always have this strange period of recognition when I'm visiting people.  Waiting anywhere for someone to show up.  "Is that them?  Do they just look a little bit different, is that them?  I mean she looks like a blonde 25 year old, but Jackie has been working out, maybe it's her.....".  It took a good long creepy stare for me to accept it was indeed not her.  I rudely told Jackie after she picked me up that I also automatically eliminated all of the fancy cars.  Audi Audi Audi Merc, no no no no.  We just hung out that night at her place.  Saturday morning we had a sleep in (hurray!) and then hit the road to head up to Whistler.  There's one main hwy that cuts up through Vancouver.  An unamalgamated nightmare that includes: Burnaby, Surrey, Vancouver, North Vancouver, and West Vancouver.  Just to name a small few.

We stopped into the area in North Van that Jackie lived briefly with her parents, before they moved back to the US, Deep Cove.  It was absolutely darling, but overflowing with people and cars.  Definitely worth a revisit on a non-weekend day.  Then onwards and upwards to Brandywine Falls.  A stop just off the highway, and maybe a 15 minute walk into the woods.  It was a nice little detour for the trip.  Then back in the car we piled and on we drove to Whistler.

The place was really quite easy to find.  Although we had trouble finding our way into the hotel the first time, the entrance became very obvious after that.  We checked in and parked and unloaded.  Jackie had prepped a butt-load of food for our upcoming hike, so we had to get it all arranged in the little fridge upstairs.  Then back down to explore Whistler Village.  We thought we had landed in a secondary village called Blackcomb Village.  So Jackie asked the front desk, how do we catch the shuttle to Whistler Village.  And the guy, pricelessly said, "Ummmm, we are in fact in Whistler Village at this moment."  I died.  Blackcomb Lodge was located in Whistler Village.....you can see where the mistake was.

We took a few laps of the village.  It was really cute.  It has that whole Banff/Wonderland feel to it.  After a drink out at some place we put our name in for The Spaghetti Factory.  Had a nice carb load dinner, and then headed back to the room.  The room had a King downstairs, and up a set of stairs there were two twins.  A pretty sweet arrangement for up to 4 guests.  The only problem was the circulation of the cold air was not so ideal and I nearly broke a sweat on top of the sheets.

THE DAY OF THE HIKE HAS ARRIVED....

We woke up nice and early, made our lunches for the journey, packed up and checked out.  As we approached the destination I started to have deep regret for my agreement to the hike.  I was nowhere near physically fit enough to take on such an endeavour.  And at that point I didn't even know what laid ahead.  The main lot was packed, and they had just built a secondary lot for hikers to use.  We parked in a nice shady spot, and then hit the bathrooms before we hiked up to the trail start.  This guy in front of us went to use the porta-potty and his friend charged up from behind and joined him in the toilet.  I mean, anything to save time I'm a fan.

So we get to the trail start, and set in.  Lower Lake was a simple 5 min hike into the woods.  It started with a sharp decline that I knew I would hate on the way out.  Why....whyyyyyy.  Then from Lower Lake it was, what I can only describe as a constant incline for the next 3 km.  Probably about 15 minutes into the hike, after about 3 pit stops I said Jackie, you guys need to carry on without me.  If you plan on doing the last hike at the end.  At the beginning of the hike I had left it open as to whether or not I would make it to the Upper Lake.  But at that point I had resigned myself to floppy into a pile of goo at Middle Lake.  I said, if you don't see me at Middle Lake by the time you get back, call the authorities as something has gone terribly wrong.  About 10 minutes into the grueling upwards hike we reached the stairs.  The stairs, oh, the stairs.  The stairs basically made me want to kill myself / have real flashes of dying on the side of a mountain.  How would my body ever get carried out???  When the stairs ended there was about another 15-20 minute inclined switchback hike until finally, Middle Lake was visible through the trees.  I think I actually might have shed a tear as I realized the hike was finally over.  The trail wrapped around the lake with several spots to stop and eat.  I sat and waited for Jackie and Chris to return.  I hoped we wouldn't have trouble connecting.  As we arranged to meet at Middle Lake having no idea the terrain or the potential meet-up spots.  There was one junction that had a path that led up to the toilets and I sat there and patiently waited.  At this point I was almost completely out of water.  I foolishly didn't put on suntan lotion or bug spray before we split so I was....feeling vulnerable.  It didn't take long for them to get back.  It looked like most people were choosing to do the full hike to the Upper Lake.  Jackie said it was just about 15 more minutes up the hill but the terrain was rather ugly, with several portions of boulders that had to be traversed.  I was happy to sit at Middle Lake, and watch people foolishly pose on a stump that stuck out of the water, the glacial cold water.  I enjoyed a few near misses, but everyone made it off safe.  So that was that, although I missed the last leg of the hike, I will forever know in my heart that I climbed a mountain.  Jackie even said she hoped that I didn't give up on those stairs.  If I'm ever back out that way, and a few stones lighter, I might....might try it again.  Maybe......just slightly maybe.  I'll try a few nice flatter Ontario hikes first to get my stamina up.



We drove straight home to Vancouver after that.  I feasted on leftover sandwiches and leftovers from Friday night's dinner.  Monday morning we hung out at the house for a bit, and the suited up and went down to the beach.  We laid out and tanned for a while, and soaked in the natural beauty of mountains that surround the city.  Jackie tripped me up to the airport, and that was that.  I had upgraded my flight home on West Jet to premium.  It was an absolute dream.  I may not be able to avoid doing that again in the future.  And it was a full flight to boot, so having that freebie seat in between the premium seats was a major plus.

It was a total high and a rush to hike Joffre Lakes Provincial Park.  I told Jackie it might just be the most amazing thing I've ever done.  Although, it took me twice as long as everyone else....I did it.  I CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN.

That's all, I'll stopped patting my own back, for now.

Summertime, And The Livin's Easy

It has been.....a busy summer.  Some people might in fact say, I have been busy all summer.  Although honestly, starting from the NOTL trip in June I haven't had much time to myself to just boot around the homestead and do things like blogging.  That's a lie, I should make the time.  But I'm le-tired.

So, Summer.  A few weekends after Niagara I went up North to take a week vacation with my mom.  She has been going to Fleming College in Haliburton for several years now.  Usually her best friend goes up with her, but this year her friend had a new puppy that needed the stability of home.  So my mom asked me, and I said YES.  Of course, what I should have said was, I'll join you at the cottage but I'm not taking a course.  I'm kidding/not-kidding on that one.  It was a rough week full of long hours and not much downtime.  Which normally is ok, but not for a week long vacation.  My mom has been taking the Millinery course for several years in a row.  So I skimmed through the calendar for that week in July and landed on Calligraphy.  I would say, it's a craft that slowly slips away if you don't keep it up.  By the end of the week most of the class was fairly sufficient.  Now I would say, I'm almost back to the start.  At any rate, my teacher was this cute tiny little woman who worked as a professional Calligrapher, mostly for the Canadian Government.  I'm not sure if she moved to Ottawa, or ended up there for the proximity.  I wore my Iceland novelty shirt on the first day, and she spent the whole week thinking I had Icelandic routes.  On the last day near the end of the class she came by and quietly asked me if I was from Iceland.  If the blonde hair and blue eyes didn't give it away I'm not sure what did.  I kindly replied no, and let her in on the joke of the shirt that reads "I don't speak Icelandic", and the high number of people who sigh and say "Oh.....alright then" after they ask me what the shirt says.

Mom and I made a point of reconnecting with some family while we were up there.  On my dad's side, his nan had a sister young enough to be her own kid, and thus created two lineages, one missing a generation.  She's the same age as my parents, but she called my great grandma auntie.  If that makes any sense of even matters.  She has a cottage just across the bay from us, and we invited her over for dinner.  We had planned to make burgers or loaf from some of Simona's ground beef, but at the last minute my mom was like, is she vegetarian??  I texted her and yes.  So that was a game changer.  My mom wiped out a cookbook she had brought up.  And we went out and bought ingredients for the most amazing barley salad.  It was blueberry, feta, cucumber, and barley.  It was a masterpiece really.  And then with a few other sides we pulled together a pretty phenom vegetarian meal.  She was telling us about her son is running a charitable organization in Peterborough called Food Not Bombs, that collects leftover produce from farms or grocery stores and once a week hosts a huge free meal downtown.  I just love it.  So that was great.  And then we also arranged to meet with my cousin who also has a cottage across the way and we haven't seen in aaa-aaa-aaaages.  She also arranged for my other cousin in the family to bring her three babes.  One little young man and two 9mos old twins.  One of the twins sat on my lap and didn't stir the entire hour.  It was really great.  We have kind of kept in touch on facebook, but she said we really reconnected when I reached out to donate to her girl's hockey team for the Superbowl Squares game.  I recounted how it was a horrible scoring game, and how we ran our own game of Squares.  And being a silly dolt I gave the dogs the 0,0 and 9,9 square and with an unbelievably low scoring game, the dogs ended up winning the most quarters.

It was a really special week.  And I think that we have really rekindled some special family relationships.  I look forward to seeing them again soon.

I wanted to write this up, but I also have memories of a trip to BC to visit Jackie and Chris.  Spoiler alert, I climbed a mountain.

I'll just finish with the final and only byproduct from my week of calligraphy.  Sim asked if I could write out the girls' names for door signs.  I practiced for weeks until I felt good enough to put pen to paper.  And then I picked up a few pages of stickers to glam them up.  I think....they turned out pretty alright.

Trip #5 - Niagara-On-The-Lake

Here we are!  And if I don't write this soon I will forget everything and then our recollection of this trip for years to come will be greatly diminshed.  Once a year Sim and I take a trip together, to explore Southern Ontario.  Two years ago we did a national trip out East and back, but aside from that it has been relatively local.
2015 - Tobermorey
2016 - Grand Bend & Penetanguishene
2017 - ON QC NB PEI NS and back
2018 - Point Pelee
2019 - Niagara-On-The-Lake

As per usual, the planning for this started months in advance.  Sitting and pondering is not something Sim does well.  I could mention in passing a place I'd like to visit and in 5 minutes she has 3 locations, and in 10 more minutes we're booked.  And that is NOT a slight.  This year she found the most amazing B&B.  Just as I told her I hate B&Bs and I don't like interacting with other people, she informed me that the whole of NOTL is B&Bs.  Unless you want to stay in the Falls and trip over.  Yeah but no.  Old Ivy Walk is the name.  Philip is the host, and he is amazing.  He's kind and funny, and he caught me unintentionally looking into his private living room from the outside, pointing for Sim to also look.  *Face Palm*  But he didn't bring it up, so all must be forgiven.

I picked Sim up at Kipling, and after a short logistics nightmare we were on our way.  Last time I picked her up at Kipling, Subway Cres was under construction and I got MAAAAJORLY lost in Spaghetti Junction trying to find my way to the South Parking Lot.  The spaghetti is under construction, and they are turning loops into intersections, and this time I found the parking with a lot more ease than Sim.  But I digress.  We got to the inn, dropped our bags, and headed out for some adventure.  "Do you have any reservations?" Philip casually asked, and as we realized we didn't we casually respond, "Uuuuhhhh, no but we'll figure something out."  10 minutes later Sim had found the restaurant we were to be dining at and made a ressie.  I can't leave out that she booked the one in St Kits and had to cancel and re-reserve in NOTL.  I can't believe she actually figured it out.  She looked up some online review, and when she went back to confirm the number of reviews had changed and she immediately knew what she had done.  Anyway.  That all happened in between leaving our room and arriving at the Niagara-On-The-Lake Golf Club.  It was very reminiscent of the Drake Devonshire in Wellington.  I ordered a Caeser and Sim had an......ice wine spritzer?  Mine was nothing to write home about.  Sim offered me a sip of hers.  And failing to reciprocate, I attempted to describe the lackluster taste.  "It's like, what are the words....oh I don't know, but it's like..."  Then I looked at her and sheepishly asked if she'd like to try it.


We were still slightly early for our restaurant opening reservation.  We took a small stroll down the main street.  Stopping in at the local hat shop to try on a few wears.  The hats were great, but pricey.  Too pricey.  Like legit way too much mullah.

Treadwell Restaurant....Treadwell Treadwell Treadwell.  We arrived first, and were able to choose indoor/outdoor and snagged the last unreserved outdoor table.  We started by sharing a buffalo mozzarella with fried tomatoes on the vine and a pea pesto.  A fancy boc/tomato/basil, and it was unbeeeeeliiiiievaaaaable.  Great way to start the meal.  Also I had a paper airplane to drink, after the server explained every single ingredient to me.  And Sim had..........omg I don't remember Sim's drinks very well.  A peach something?  Later she had an ice wine that came with some gorgeous edible flowers.  When they were accessible she gave me the first one she could scoop and I said, "It taaastes like...oh what are the words....I just can't even...."  It was purple jelly bean, but hers tasted like grass so maybe I was just dreaming.  For our meals, our meals, our meals.  Sim had white fish with a seafood bisque and a few pieces of lobster.  I had....haddock on a bed of peas with some other stuff like a poached egg and bacon.  We both died, and ate way too much.  And then died again and ordered dessert.  We split a creme brulee (the best creme brulee I have ever had, and I LOVE creme brulee), and a cream cheese and strawberry blend with a mint sorbet.  I mean the strawberry cream and mint was ok but THAT BRULEE. Sim ranks Treadwell higher than the Bicycle Thief, which I consider madness.  Bicycle Thief was one of the best meals out I've ever had.  And Sim's meal that night was even better than mine.  But, Treadwell is a contender.  I also don't love love fish, and most of their menu was either fish or deal breaker ingredients.  Don't get me wrong, it was still amazing.

What did we do next.  I think we went down to the river and took some photos.  Hence the sunset pic posted previously.  It was so intense.  It's hard to see, but the Toronto skyline is clearly visible as you stand there and watch.  At the end of the night, as the sun sank back behind Etobicoke, the rays of lights dragged slowly towards Canada, so on the left you had a yellowy orange burst of life, and a pitch back Youngstown, NY just across the way.  Oh funny, earlier in the day I had been complaining to Sim that I think my wifi wasnt working.  And then I figured out I had roaming data on, after I warned Sim about roaming data, I didn't untoggle.  "It must be the American provider messing up my connection."  Later in the night as we sat the river Sim pointed across and said "Lets go there."  That's NY Sim lol.  "Riiiiiight."

We walked back up to the main street, and attempted to get on a biking beer tour, but it oddly didn't work out.  The passengers seemed to be offering a free trip to some other people beside them.  And we ran across the street and they took off right in front of us.  Kind of defeated we shrugged and one guy yelled "HOP ON" and they kept pedaling and off they went.  Ironically we met up with them at the following intersection but our sensibilities had been offended.  Sim pointed to a bright empty patio at the back of a building with turquoise furniture and said "Lets go there!"  And we did lol, because it wasn't America.  It was the Exchange Brewery.  They seem to focus on Sours, which is agreeable for both of us.  We ordered a sampler and based on the number of beers offered had to choose 2 we didn't want and the rest would be served.  I voted for Stout and Porter and won on both of them.  The beer we both kind of thought might be the least agreeable ended up being our favourite and Sim picked up a bottle to bring home, which I do have at my house.  I stowed it in my bag for the trip home and forgot.  Afterwards we went back down to the park and got the tail end of the sunset, and walked back in the dark.  As we crossed the top of the hill of the riverside park we could see a ghost tour below.  Not something we could have easily joined, and I was also feeling very stuffed.  "WATCH OUT FOR THE SKUNK UP THERE" the host shouted as us.  Duly noted, we scurried our way down the hill and to safety.

Back to Old Ivy.  Without enough energy to even go downstairs for a drink we crashed.  We had made a stop into the LCBO, and making perhaps the tiniest purchase by volume, Sim picked up a 125ml sparkling champagne?  Sim, I can't remember anything you drank lol.  The clerk made some smart ass comment like, "Don't drink it all at once."

So we were up at 9 for B&B breakfast.  Philip made us these like muffin tray egg & bacon concoctions, and followed it up with a freshly baked croissant to make a full grinned smiley face on our plates.  The other guests (three rooms total) were a couple from Ireland visiting their two kids plus one girlfriend in Toronto.  And this was their escape from the city.  We had a bit of chit chat.  I purposefully did not wear my Guinness Brewery shirt as to avoid any unnecessary conversation.  I did changed later and as we stood outside waiting for our shuttle I was spotted, and it was brought up later.  I did try.

So the shuttle!  It was coming to pick us up for a biking tour through the countryside!  The idea came to us back in Feb when we started to collab on the whole thing.  We booked the wine tour and the B&B.  I used the impending bike tour to encourage more trips to the gym.  Not a huge success, but enough that I felt good enough I could last the trip.  And after 30km on Pelee Island, I had a good feeling I would be ok.

We suited up.  I barely found a helmet big enough for this giant head of mine.  We gathered as a group, got the run down from our tour guides, Graham and.....SIM HELP ME.  Off we went to our first destination, Pondview Estate.  They were ready for us, and had a charcuterie board all laid out.  Now I may not have mentioned yet, but I hate wine.  I kind of signed up for the trip because I wanted to do the biking.  The wine was going to be an unfortunate side event that would have to happen.  Stuffed from the breakfast by Philip I was barely able to manage the cheese pairings.  But mmmmm, they were good.  All except the blue cheese, which I graciously signaled to Sim she could have it all.  I tried half a pinky nail to go with the ice wine as suggested, and I immediately regretted that decision.

A quick bike down the road and we ended up at InnisKillen Winery.  We had a tour of the facility, followed by a sampling and then a sit down meal.  I kind of scoughed at a bit of the history the girl was throwing at us.  Like their decision to move to automated harvesting because of the "body temperature of the hands" when they used manual labour.  Uh huh.  $$$$.  So much body heat, $$$$$$.  They also accept grapes from a wide variety of grape growers.  And these grapes growers "know what standards they have to meet"....ok sure.  Please, look at these eyes as they roolllllll.  It was a good stop, but I think knowing what I know now about commercialized wine, it's a lot less appealing.  And if they can't make 10,000 bottles they can't get into the LCBO.  It's a total catch-22.

Stop number three.  Reif Estates.  It was cute.  They rushed us in, and SUUUUPER rushed the sampling.  We still had chocolate in our mouths and she started to pour and describe the next pairing.  Also, I learned I'm not a fan of chocolate and wine together.  Which is probably good news because I shouldn't be consuming either of them.  I took Sim the long long long and windy road long way around to get back to our bikes.  We were literally 2 steps away from them, and I dragged her back thru the cellar room we came in, and as we exited I turned my head to the right and saw the water feature we had been standing beside.  Painful.

So after all that, we ended up being way behind schedule.  And for the last, longest, and most treacherous biking paths (through parks, and over bridges with cement posts in the middle at each end), we ended up biking faster than each of the other stops.  At one point I had a chance to slow back and bike beside Sim and say "Is this like way faster than any of the other stops???"  She checked her fitbit later and it revealed her heart rate was a solid 20bpm higher than any other leg of the day.  I'm just happy my fitbit doesn't report heartbeat.  It might have called 911 on me.

We arrived at Oast Brewery.  We sampled 3 beers that did not line up with what was described.  We were late and had missed our designated serving time.  I tried to help Sim with her samples, but I was so bloated and full of wine and food.  It was a short mile down the street back to the starting point.  Our shuttle eventually came and took us home.  I basically wanted to die I was so tired.  Sim took a shower and said, I feel so much better.  I knew my shower would not have the same life energy redeeming qualities.  Sim went downstairs and I quickly showered, took a 5 minute lay down, and joined her.

Neither of us were hungry for dinner, but after hearing that the oldest running pub/inn in North America is in NOTL, we had to stop in.  "You'll be seated in 25 minutes. But you have to be here when I call your name."  We took a tiny micro walk down the street, and I pointed at a bench and begged for mercy to sit down.  10 minutes later we headed back, and Sim popped in and said, did you call us?  She said, "No, but I called someone else and they didn't listen so follow me."  And we were seated!  The place was called The Angel Inn btw.  There was a group of either army/navy officers or war recreators sitting across from us.  The woman behind Sim, barely said 2 words to her husband and spent what felt like the most of our meal staring directly at my line of eyesight.  2 mm to the right I was intensely locking eyes with Sim, as to not stare back.  We ordered some fries & gravy.  I'd give them a mediocre.  I had a water and a tea, and Sim had a Strawberry Yum Yum from the Oast Brewery we had just visited.  It was a phenomenal beer.  We did attempt a stop-in the next day but they were sold out.

When we got home, we decided to take our LCBO purchases down to the back patio an finish off the night with a little toast.  As we turn the corner, the whole Irish lot was walking up the driveway, and the gf asked if they could join us.  Of course!  They also had picked up two citronella candles, which allowed us to sit at the long table, have a smidge of light, and avoid getting bitten.  The husband of the couple revealed he saw my shirt and I went into my shpeal about visiting Ireland, etc.  I'm not sure how they feel about people claiming faux heritage.  I mean if you go back far enough we're all African right.  We had a great chat.  Though I couldn't see the sons faces, I felt like I didn't really equally engage them.  But I didn't want to engage anyone so I did well enough.

I think Sim was out as soon as her head hit the pillow.  I struggled a bit but eventually crashed.  Up again for 9 for another amazing breakfast by Philip.  It was like a mushroom croquette with a side of fruit and some fresh potato focaccia.  This guy seriously knows how to host.  We had a little chat and then got packed, and headed up the street for one last in town visit.  A quick stroll through the Niagara Apothecary.  A cool visual history of modern medicine (a la Dr Quinn, medicine woman).  Everything was a potion or an elixir.  It's fun to look back on for sure.

Next was a somewhat randomly chosen stop.  Laura Secord's historical house.  It was just on the way and Sim pointed it out.  I checked the gift shop for something for my dad as he's a huge 1812 buff.  We read up on some history as we waited for the tour guide to come in.  She asked if we knew anything about Laura Secord.  I mentioned the Heritage Moments ad which she vaguely acknowledged.  It kind of reminded me of the time I took Micro Economic in summer school and they cut out Game Theory.  And when it came up in a future class I asked my prof what I needed to know about it.  He asked what I did know and replied, "I watched 'A Beautiful Mind'"  Which did not sit well, or satisfy the reading requirements.  ANYWAY.  The historical interpreter did a really boss job of recounting the life and times of Laura Secord.  She was a total bad-ass woman.  Her step-mom was a suffragette that instilled the heart of a warrior into her.  It turns out she practically dragged her husband off the field as he was a civilian army man and last in priority for medical attention.  As she was nursing him back to health she overheard discussions of an impending attack, which is when she decided to embark on foot to warn Fitzgibbon.  She travelled 30km over two days, and when she finally arrived they at first did not believe her as she was covered in mud and was a "disheveled woman".  After she was able to convince them of the truth to her words, they turned her around and made her walk home.  Thanks for saving us all Laura, buh-bye now.  She wasn't recognized until 40 years later after she told her own story, to I think a visiting royal.  On the centennial of her heroic trip, a candy company stole her name, and with no future royalties  (aside from an investment in the historic house) continue to use it to this day.  Honestly, it was an awesome tour, and the interpreter was really knowledgeable.

Last stop, we hit up the butterfly conservatory.  I tried to take some pics for JP, but I couldn't quite get them in the frame.  Then Sim turns around and says, how about this one.  And I said something very horrible like, "I hate you."  It was the Kentucky Warbler all over again.  But my luck turned, and I got some cool pics.  And we wrapped it up with a purchase of these amazing butterfly wings for Pips and Lils.  I saw a little girl wearing them as we walked up and I knew at that moment it would happen.  When we finally got home the girls wanted to know what presents we had for them lol.  When they opened the wings Pips said, "Can I sleep in these?"  And at that point I knew they were a hit.  She apparently lived in them on Day 1 of their vacation which thrilled me.

That's it.  That's all.  Have I sufficiently wasted your time recounting our fifth annual weekend of awesomeness trip.  This will be a tough one to top.  My hands legit hurt from typing.  So I shall upload pics and excuse myself.  Good night!

My Sunset Is Nicer Than Yours

A post about our trip to Niagara On The Lake will be coming soon. Until then, a snap of the sunset from Sim's camera.

That's Offly Kind of You

Every once in a while I will text Sim with a word I have misspelled.  So terribly misspelled that even auto-correct doesn't know what to do with me.  Today it was offly, also known as awfully.  Just don't even start.  Today for Sim it was "the opposite of efficient."  Oh these precious moments.  Who needs other fools to make fun of when we have each other.

As I write this I sit at my new desk.  Not really new, but in a new location.  My mom came over last weekend and we re-arranged my condo.  I have already done a major clean-up and store away.  I had a plumber come fix a long-term problem and a short-term problem that prompted the entire call.  My desk is where my hutch was, my hutch is where my desk was, my bookshelf is where another standup shelf was, and that is now at the front door.  I flirted with the idea of getting rid of the hutch, but instead I'm going to refurbish it.  Maybe paint it black, and have new hardware attached.  Possibly myself or possibly professionally done.

I finally fixed the whole in the wall where I had the new thermostat installed.  I have one more small gap to patch up and then it's done.  I've laid down the outside IKEA patio squares.  I had forgotten how transformational the process is.  As I swatted each grass square over the garbage bin before I laid it down.  I found one dead honey bee immersed in one of the panels.  It broke my heart a little.  The little guy was fooled by the faux grass.  Or perhaps he just took shelter in the Rubbermaid on the patio during a long cold winter.  When I have property to call my own, I will do whatever I can to help the bees.

I really meant to write a few catch-up posts but life moves on, and my memory fades.  I went up to TP with Sim the weekend after they opened.  We went across the street to watch the Kentucky Derby.  And spent some QT with the girls.  We finally gifted the wands I got from Salem.  I actually only bought one, because Lils wasn't born at the time.  I ended up ordering two more online, because the original one I chose was boring like me.  Pips and Lils are more fantastical than could have been anticipated and deserved better.  Pips couldn't let go of hers, as she asked, "Can you do real magic with this?"  Lils on the other hand never even opened the box as she promptly declared "I don't like it."  The next morning Pips was trying to convince Lily to open hers, and I was searching all over the kitchen for the second box and Lily once again said, "It's ok Aunt Julie, I don't want it."  Kids, they get you right in the feels.  I learned a long time ago to never over-invest myself in gifts.  Because the day you wait 3 months to deliver an overly thought out moon poster, the kid will shrug and spend the next 30 minutes rolling in the brown paper it came in.

I'm trying to get back into the gym.  I want to lose the weight I gained back last year.  Start wearing the shirts that don't fit anymore.  Yes, I mean the green Roots one you asked where it has been hiding, Sim.  In my "I don't fit you anymore" drawer.  I've also been working hard to get ready for an upcoming biking adventure with Sim.  And if all goes well, I might consider getting myself a fancy bike this year.  If-all-goes-well.

I feel so run down lately.  I feel like I'm busy every weekend this summer.  After mid-July there will be a small reprieve.    Hark back to simpler days, when a busy summer was an excuse to not see someone I hated.

The Daily Minn-ush

Can You See It Now?

Sim took a random candid of me the other night.  I immediately could tell it was not going to look good.  I asked for a second take.  NIGHT AND DAY.  Sim said to me, "You don't look like that first pic."  To which I cranked my chin down and said "How about now?".....No comment.

That was taken the night we went out to see Harry Potter 5 at the Sony Theatre, with the TSO.  We stopped for a bite to eat at the Bier Markt beforehand.  I had a chicken pesto pizza, and Sim had the roasted cauliflower, and Spence had the bacon Caesar.  Sim and I both loved our meals, but Spence was an overwhelming meh on his.

I had been planning for months and months and months to read book 5.  And then I just kept letting it go.  So I went into the showing having not read or seen the moving before.  I have to say, #5 is dark.  I miss all the light hearted magic and adventures.  I mentioned that to Jackie and she mentioned I wouldn't have been surprised if I HAD READ THE BOOK IN ADVANCE YOU HEATHEN.  And she's right, so right.  A woman dressed up as Dolores Umbridge, and during the intermission walked up and down the aisles handing out tickets for fraternizing.  So funny.

I still need to read book 5, because the movie was not very good without all of the proper background information. I'll put it on my very long to do list.

Neighbourhood #19 - Bloor West Village (AKA, part 2 of the Epic Weekend)

I stayed over at Sim's after our adventure to Unionville and beyond.  High on life, and drunk on Whiskey Sour Mash, I wasn't going anywhere.  We went to bed around 11:30pm and both of us just crashed out.  The next morning my fitbit said 9 1/2 hour of sleep.  That's up from the usual 5.  Sim left me alone and let me come upstairs when I was ready, very nice.  We started the day with another croissant and coffee.  And again inspired by the unexpectedly gorgeous weather, we were inspired to get out of the house.  A quick look on google maps and we picked our next hood, Bloor West Village.  I've been there a few times before for various reasons.  Sonia used to live in High Park not far from there.

On the way there, we stopped for gas at the South Kingsway Petro Canada.  Having had my close close (close close close) call being on empty, I was not about to let that happen again.  Being stranded downtown with no gas stations in sight is my nightmare.  As we parked Sim said, I think that cheese shop is near by here, and I was like, "I'm liiiiiistening."  I pumped and Sim pulled up the address, just down Ripley across the street.  So off we went.  Like kids in a candy store we were.  The Cheese Boutique is UNREAL.  Also the lovely parking director outside told me where to park, and then stopped and said my carriage was too low and redirected me to a new stop.  Mad appreciation for that.

We STOCKED up on cheese.  Each got a Tempura sauce bottle.  Had a free espresso sample.  And off we went.  Back across the street to get some ice to keep our cheeses cool for the next few hours.  Up to Bloor and over to the first available parking space.  It wasn't soo horrific, and we actually lucked into a pull-in spot.

I'm trying to remember the details of the next few stops but I'm a bit fuzzy.  I didn't take any photos at all so my lack of memory is shining through.  We hopped across the road and stopped in a great bar called the Gin Mill.  Sim had the Blueberry Bee's Knees, and I had Lavender Lemonade.  Both of them were....AMAZING!!!!  And we ordered a side of fries with garlic aioli sauce.  It was sooooo goooooood.  Definitely recommend that place.  On we went with not too many more stops.  Dipped into No Frills to get some crackers.

Next we tucked into what might be one of my favourite little shops of all the shops we've been into.  Called Brodawka & Friends.  I bought the CUTEST mug with an Alpaca on it, and I pretty much wanted one of everything in there.  BRING IT TO ME.  I'm excited to start using my mug, I think at home.  Sim asked if I'd take it to work, but I want to use it somewhere that will bring me joy.  My brother gave me some tea for my birthday, and I'm going to start consuming.

One more stop into another total blingy gift shop that I never thought I'd buy anything from ever, and I got the coolest pop-up card for my mom for mother's day.  I'm pretty excited to give it to her.  After that, the plan was to double it up and head down to Liberty Village for a second tour.  It took us literally forever (literally) to get to Liberty Village.  Then it took us 10 minutes to get INTO Liberty Village.  And after a fruitless circle of the Green P lot, we resolved to leave it for another day.  It then proceeded to take us an eternity (a literal eternity) to get back to Sim's.  We turned right onto Strachan and apparently the Lakeshore was closed, so we pulled a U-ey while we could and went back to King, across Adelaide, and zip zip zoomie an hour later back home.  Maybe not quite an hour but *groooooan*.

Spence had just beaten us home.  Him and Minnie and Keedo were waiting to greet us.  I smooshed Minnie into a million pieces and held her close for a good 30 minutes.  Then we had one more Whiskey Sour, played some cuphead with Spence, feasted on our cheese platter, and just maybe an hour later I headed home to crash.  I was pooped.

A weekend for the books, for sure.  Missing: one girlen.  Can't wait to see them soon.

Neighbourhood #18 - Unionville (And also, welcome back)

Well well well well well..........well.  It seems I have once again neglected by blogging responsibilities.  Sim and I reflected back today on the history and significance of the words we write and share.  Life can be enjoyed, but to really allow ourselves the chance to look back we must document.  That being said, time to write about one of the most epic weekends had for a while yet.

Saturday morning, as Spence and the girlen packed up and headed to grandma and grandpa's, and further to TP for Spence.  Sim decided to stay in town so I headed on over.  We started the day with a croissant and a coffee.  And inspired by the amazing skies not to dally, we packed up and headed on up to Unionville.  Sim heard word that the pilot for Gilmore Girls was filmed in Unionville.  It kind of felt like an alternate reality Star's Hollow as we drove Main St into the Historic Downtown.  After we parked the car and stepped out the first person to pass Sim greeted her with an enthusiastic "GOOD MORNING!"  And I thought, "No way....no way!"

We started the day with a stop into the Old Firehall Confectionary.  We picked an amazingly delicious looking spread of truffles.  They all looked like tiny little pieces of art.  Delicious pieces of chocolatey art.  Next was a quick stop into a cute accessories store called "Pretty Things".  If you want some blinged out tote bags or cute scarves, that is the place to go.  Our first sit down stop was at HCafe, Japanese Cafe.  We ordered a Strawberry and Red Bean Daifuku and a small Matcha Cheese Custard to share.  Both were fantastic, but we both agreed the Daifuku was the better of the two.  An odd confection for sure, but tasty.

The piece de resistance came next, the shopfront that doubled as Luke's Cafe in the pilot episode.  To be sure which of the two it was Sim played S1E1 on her phone, and having previously turned her volume up high to play bluetooth in my car, she found herself in the middle of Unionville blasting the Gilmore Girls intro on her phone.  Quiiiite hilarious.  We snapped a quick shot of Sim out front, and headed on to find a quick bite.  We stopped at Jake's on Main for some poutine and beer.  Like the rest of the town it was so empty, for a Saturday lunch, total crickets.  We finished the day with a stop for some bubble tea and then back in the car.

This is where the Unionville adventure ends, but we much more in mind for the day.  We trekked South to the Scarborough Bluffs.  Found the last parking spot in a small lot at end of Brimley Rd.  We got out of the car and the clouds parted and the skies became a crystal blue colour.  It wasn't quite that ceremonious, but it sure felt like that.  We took a stroll down a small cleared path, but it didn't go too far before it turned into a swamp.  I quite like the bluffs, so it was nice to have a quick visit.  I tried to locate the cutoff for Highland Yacht Club to show Sim where I grew up, but I couldn't find it.  So we carried on.

With a quick detour through East Queen East (to gather inspiration for a future adventure), and a quick drive by a hidden costume rental shop off Queen St, we arrived at our final destination, the Eastbound Brewing Co.  I had a pint of the Backpacker and Sim had a pint of the Lets Go Exploring IPA.  And we shared a hot pretzel.  Very reminiscent of our trip to Leamington and the stop at The Grove Brew House in Kingsville.

Finally we headed home.  Put an order in for some samosas at East of York.  We flipped back and forth whether we should walk down or drive.  I'm glad we drove because it ended up they forgot part of our order and we had to go back.  It might have been more aggravating if we had walked.  At least for me.  Finally we finished the night partaking in a cocktail hour, using the Whiskey Sour Mash I picked up in Buffalo a few weeks ago.  Sim cooked up some simple syrup, and we used some Lemons she picked up at her local bodega, and made up the most delicious Whiskey Sours that might possibly exist, ever.  We downloaded a new Switch game called Cuphead, played that for abour 3 hours, snacked on our truffle sampler and then both crashed.

TO BE CONTINUED....

The Return, The Trip, The Awesome

Ok, so some promises 5 months ago were made, and I may or may not have welshed on such promises.  Actually there is no doubt through chronological evidence that much welshing has been done.  Just FYI, I haven't read any books this year, and I am no closer to knowing how to juggle.

With that, I must document an amazing adventure from last week.  Sim and I started our fourth annual road trip plans a few months ago.  Spence actually brought it up and within an hour Sim and I had picked a location and booked a hotel.  Last room available.  The first weekend of bird migration in Leamington - it's a hot date for booking.

Fast forward about three months, and the date is fast approaching.  I was having a mad mad mental mad hellish month at work.  I didn't have time to relish the nearing vacation time or do any planning.  Sim found herself in a similar situation, not having a moment of time to do any serious research.  Thursday after work I came home to do some last minute cleaning, and then it was off to the Sim's for a bit of time with the pups and the Girlen before our weekend away.  We were both up at 6am, and after a shower and packing of the car we were off.  We hit up the McDs at Eastern as it was followed by easy access to the QEW.  Less than a click on the road the tail lights up the road and I said to Sim "Quick, QEW or Lakeshore?" She replied "Lakeshore LAKESHORE....the QEW is actually Brown on Google right now, I have only ever seen it be red before O_o.  About half an hour later we passed the accident just after Jameson, and then a further half an hour later we were back on the hwy.  Brutes way to start a trip as we purposefully gave ourselves an early start.  But that of course was not the end of our driving woes.  It was actually some of the craziest road fog I've ever driven in before.  It was so bad, that we actually drove right past the 403 cutoff before Hamilton.  I wasn't really paying attention and we didn't have the sat-nav on.  As we started to see signs for Buffalo I said to Sim "I have to be completely honest, I'm not 100% certain where we are going."  We had to get off the hwy and double back adding another hour on to our trip.  So lets just imagine we left at 8:30 and everything went smashingly well.

We made great time, notwithstanding the previous issues.  The hotel check-in was empty (we were early) so we wandered down to the ferry docks which were directly across the parking lot from us.  The ferries were actually cancelled that day.  Little did we know, there was a horrific wind storm ripping through the GTA.  My coworker actually had a tree on his property fall on one of his cars and had some windows in his house blown out.  We thought it was just a Lake Erie thing.  Not entirely sure what to do we decided to get ourselves over to Point Pelee Park and explore.  We basically just headed down the road and stopped at any points of interest.  The Marsh, the Heritage House, and finally the Visitor Centre with a trolly down to "The Tip".  We actually had to dash into the Centre for a few moments while it poured down, but it quickly let up.  We both got a few things for the girls inside.  Sim got the dang cutest little Warbler for Pips.  I got some faulty fake tattoo geckos.  Intentions were good.  So it cleared up and we made our final descent to the bottom of the park.  We were warned that because of the massive wind the waves were crashing over the breaker and soaking the tram as it passed.  I had a rain jacket on, and an umbrella in my hands pointed at the side with the waves, and then I did what any smart person would do and I started to film with my phone.  The waves crashed and came piling over the breaker, and soaked me from head to toe.  My jacket was open, and the umbrella remained closed.  That sounds about right.

We headed down the path excitedly towards the most Southerly point of land in Canada.  It surprised me to learn we dip as far south as the 42nd Parallel.  On line with Barcelona!  We made our way through some brush and onto the beach, and got as close to the very bottom as we possibly could.  With the massive wind and waves we were a good 50 ft from the very bottom.  We took some great pics.  Came across a tree full of birds, which eventually emptied and slowly refilled.  And then headed back the tram and caught a ride back up to the Centre.  We headed back to the hotel, checked in, and got ready to head out and get some food.

I forgot to mention before heading to the park we stopped at a dollar store for some hair elastics for Sim.  We asked the cashier for a restaurant reco.  She actually gave the same reco we got earlier for a steak house.  We ended up driving past and realizing it wasn't quite what we were looking for.  But as we exited the Dollar Tree a woman came out after us.  She stopped Sim and gave her the low down.  Kingsville, the town just 10 mins down the road, was the place to go.  There is a new Micro Brewery Pub that had just opened called The Grove.  It sounded perfect....it was perfect.  When we got there it was PACKED.  Sim spotted some stools for us to perch on, and soon after she spotted two seats on the upper deck seating area.  She went up to check and waved me on up.  We tried a few of the house brews, and I had the wings and Sim had their burger.  We also started with a pretzel app which was soo, soo, sooooo good.  The pretzels just melted in your mouth.  SO GOOD.  We headed back to the room, had a few beers, played our new tile game "Quirkle" and got to bed.

We let ourselves sleep in to about 8am.  We headed over to a diner across the street and had a super super delicious diner breakfast.  It was really really good.  We both got the Farmer's Breakfast and scarfed it down, knowing the day of physical activity we had ahead.  After about 800 trips back to the room, to the car, back to the room, back to the car, up to the room and to the car again, we were finally ready to catch the ferry to Pelee Island.  We sat inside for most of it and player some Quirkle and Gin.  But caught the last 20 minutes or so upstairs.  As soon as we landed we walked straight to the bike rental and got hooked up with our Townie 7D bikes, equipped with front baskets.  Only about 30 minutes down the road we found a pub and stopped for a beer.  It was seriously one of the best beers ever.  It came served in a frosted glass, and it just hit - the - spot.  Old Vienna!  Back on the road, we followed the waterfront path until we got to the turn off for the Lighthouse.  We came across a fellow traveler who told us to ignore the warnings, and walk the lighthouse route.  It would seem, from some later gained local knowledge, that the lighthouse had undergone some damage from the ice storm.  And there was a fallen tree on the path.  It was just about 10 minutes down the way and we were at the Pelee Island Lighthouse.  Super old, super gorgeous, I loved it.  We headed back down the beach to the path entrance and after much contemplation decided to take a dip in the lake.  Neither of us wanted to get wet and uncomfortable for the upcoming bike ride but it turned out we didn't want to dip any further than knee high so we got the best of both worlds.  And yikiees was that ever cold.  On the trip back to the road we spotted a log full of turtles!!!  Squeee.

The bike ride was so effortless, the time and the KMs just kept passing by.  Sim saw two goose heads sticking up out of a field that I missed.  It was so peaceful and sweet.  I maintained a certain level of paranoia about time, as the last ferry leaves the island at 4pm, and the map had indicated the long route was 4-5 hours.  With maybe 25 minutes to spare I asked Sim to review the map one more time.  We cut off of the final loop and headed inland back towards the ferry dock.  We ditched the bikes back at the shop, stopped for an ice cream, and hoofed it back down the ferry dock and onward to the upper deck.  We finished with 10 minutes to spare.  Though we could have skipped the ice cream, and jogged down the ferry dock, we both feel we made the right choice.  On the ride home we checked the map one more time and learned we had just biked 30km.  And with perfect weather (and awesome company) it was just the absolute perfect day.

90 minutes later, I didn't mention the ferry ride was 90 minutes, we got back to our hotel.  I finally saw the downstairs patio Sim had mentioned the night before, it was cute!  We sat down and waited to see if someone would come.  Someone did pop out to let us know the patio was closed, but she awesomely served us each a pint anyway.  We let her know we were on our way back in just about an hour.  And she also took a reservation for us.  We went upstairs to clean up and then back down.  We both had the French Onion Soup (deliiiicious) and then I got a burger and Sim got the Erie Yellow Perch special.  We both filled up on free bread and soup, and then packed up our dinners to go.  They ended up not making it very far without refrigeration on the way home, but alas.  We also finished the night with a proprietary puff pastry ice cream concoction which was big enough for four people and luckily we were splitting.  Back up in the hotel room we decided to look further into the bird hike in Pelee Park the next morning.  We realized you had to reserve and the 8:30am was full.  We got the last two slots in the 7:30am, and set our alarms for another early rise.

With a quick stop at McDonalds for some coffee and wraps we made our way back to the park.  The tour offered free binocular rentals so we gathered those up from the Visitor Centre and made it back just in time to leave.  There were two ornithologists leading each leading their own pack of people.  The girl on our tour was super cool.  Just about our age maybe younger, took an interest in birds 5-6 years ago and picked everything she knows up from that, and a class at uni.  I had some flubs and missed out on some really cute awesome birds and that put me into a bit of a funk.  But I had a recovery and got a close up look at some really beautiful birds.  I definitely have a new appreciation for birds.  About halfway through the hike we came upon a huge group of people all gathered around one spot.  The elusive Kentucky Warbler had been spotted, and several people had been waiting around a long time to see it.  We lucked out to happen upon it when we did.  I did not get a change to see more than a small black blob bouncing around, but I won't dwell on that.

Two hours later, full of all sorts of new bird knowledge, we headed back to the hotel to check out and then back to the Grove for a super delicious brunch.  I had the Grove Benny and Sim had the Perch Benny and we both indulged in a mimosa.

Back on the road, a pretty standard trip home.  One stop in London for Sim to pick up a Roots shirt, and a failed attempt to stop at a Townie bike distributor.  Though I found one just down the road in Saug that I'll check out soon.

Another super successful All Canadian Road Trip.  We are becoming quite the experts in all things Southern Ontario.

Perhaps I will be back soon for more life updates.....maybe?  Hopefully?  Yes.

A Certain Kind of Newness

Well it is officially 2018.  It has been an interesting start to the year.  This was the first new years in a very long time that I was bed ridden sick.  Perhaps the first time ever.  On top of having a common cold, I had a massive reaction to my meds and starting pooing water.  It lasted for almost a week.  I stopped being able to eat, but not for lack of being hungry or trying.  But I was scared to eat, because the end result was so unpleasant.  I also stopped taking my meds and had to go for a check-up to get some new slow-releasing meds.  They are brand name so they never prescribe them first.  But I have a feeling they are going to have a hugely positive impact on my overall health.  I like the idea of meds slowly releasing into my blood throughout the day,  It will probably, hopefully, result in an overall lower blood sugar average.

So I'm all better now, almost all better.  A bit of mucus is kicking around but that always happens.  I ended up losing about 12 lbs of water weight, and when I started eating again I gained 15 pounds almost overnight.  I'm taking this as motivation to focus on my health and fitness.  As soon as I was able I got back to the gym, and I went back again today.  Someone had "reserved" my machine, so I had to branch out.  I hopped on a regular elliptical and it totally kicked my butt. And it also reset back to zero every time you stopped even for a millisecond.  I found that to be very annoying.  I like to stop and catch my breath if my heart is beating too quickly, but losing my spot on the machine is the worst.

I picked up an agenda today so I can keep a hand written food & exercise journal.  Fingers crossed it works out and I can keep it up.  I say keep it up but I haven't even started yet.  I have a consultation with a nutritionist next month and I want to get my food in order.  More planned meals, less food waste, and plenty of delicious new recipes are in my near future.

I have been thinking these past two weeks what my resolutions will be.  I've decided to stick with my current gym.  And work on getting my butt downstairs to our condo gym a bit more as well.  But having a place I can go that is fair sized with a good assortment of equipment is going to be key to my overall health recovery.  For the first new years of my life I'm already a gym member that attends on a semi-regular basis.  I only need to focus on making improvements.  Anyway, there are some usual suspects and a few unusual ones but here it goes:

1. Gym twice a week, and exercise in any other format another 2 days per week.
2. Eat more salad, and raw vegetables.
3. Try more new recipes.  And also better food management.  I would like to adopt a JIT style pantry.  Just-in-time.
4. Learn how to juggle.....this one came to me earlier today.  I think I would like to pick up a few bean bags or juggling balls and take a learning through repetition approach.  This is something I have quietly always wanted.
5. Get back into reading.  One book a month, MINIMUM.  What is wrong with me, one book a month is pathetic but I haven't read a book in over a year.
6. Try to be more creative.  Blog, knit, maybe try drawing a bit more.  Definitely more guitar.
7. Start good habits and keep with them.

That's about it I'd say.  I'm off to try a second Canadian Tire to see if they stock Anchor replacement lids for some glass containers.  The one at Mavis and Dundas said 18 pieces and the shelf was empty.  I actually gasped when I saw there were none left.  What a poor inventory system they have.    They have one more shot.

Oh, and last weekend I ate a diaper.  It went a little something like this:

"What is Lily eating? It looks like bread."

*picks it up*

"It's bread."

*tears it apart*

"It's bread."

*smells it*

"It's bread."

*touches it to my tongue*

"IT'S NOT BREAD"

We finally figured out it was Lily's diaper had burst.  The good news, Sim told me, was that only an unused diaper would maintain the consistency of bread.  She tried to console me with this "good news" but given that I had just had diaper in my mouth I was relatively inconsolable.

2018, I hope you have better things in store for me.

No I Haven't Forgotten About You....

...and I hope you haven't forgotten about me either.  I guess over the last few months I've lost my zeal for sharing and posting.  But I actually miss it slightly.  The ability to look back on life with a certain clarity personal memory can't afford us.

I've been busy/not busy at all.  Took a trip to Europe.  Spent a lot of time melting away with Sim and the babes.  I joined a gym and I've actually managed to somewhat keep up my attendance.  It's been sparse during the holidays but I used the bike and treadmill at my parents' place to fill the gaps.  I'm considering a jump to a more local gym, as the drive is killing my motivation.  Gym gym gym.  I fear sometimes that I wear people out with my non-stop talk about gyms or working out.  I'm not fit enough to have the privilege to act like a true gym buff, but I'm going to fake it until I make it so get ready for a lot of gym talk.....(gym).

Aside from fitness goals this new year I plan on bringing back the blog.  Perhaps a weekly update if I can get my shit together.

I got some really great xmas gifts.  My parents picked up on my cues for needing some new luggage (my threat to pulverize my current luggage in a park in Berlin with a baseball bat was anything but subtle).  And an air-fryer!  I must admit I'm biting Laura on this one, who said her t-fal French fries were to die for.

So, I want to write more.  I want to read more.  More fitness, less lethargy.  More planning, less chaos.  More clean, less filth.  And maybe, I might actually need to drink more.  "This is about as drunk as I get."....Sim would tell you I wasn't nearly drunk enough to have earned that.

Happy 2018.  I hope to see more of everyone next year.