Woodbine Racetrack

After almost 25 years in Canada, we have finally entered the hallowed domain of horse racing enthusiasts in Toronto.  A cornerstone of Canadian society since its opening in 1956 - The Woodbine Racetrack has hosted the Breeders' Cup and the Arlington Million.  It was also a venue for the 1976 Summer Paralympics.

It is the home of the Queen's Plate which is the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.  At one and a quarter miles, it is the longest race in North America.  It is home to the Canadian Hall of Fame for Horse Racing.  Queen Elizabeth II is due to visit here in July 2010 as part of her state visit to Canada and will attend the 151st race of the Queen's Plate.

We had a sumptuous meal with a longtime business associate and his wife, while watching, and betting on, a few races. 

Fun! and I even won a few dollars betting on horses with interesting names, and jockeys in pretty colours.

In Appreciation.

I have just finished reading another post on a friend's blog and it leaves me humbled and heartsore.  Friends since high school, we have followed each other's lives over the years - she and her family emigrating to the shores of Australia, and ourselves - departing in the opposite direction to Canada.  

Full of expectations and exuberance for the future, we thought we would always have time - time to actually meet physically in their home in Australia - time to sit down and enjoy catching up over coffee and breakfast, or relaxing on a couch reminiscing about the old days, and time to get to know 'us' all over again.

Now it seems that time is no longer on our side.  Mike is still courageously battling cancer, but I can read between the lines - that awful disease is ruthless and I fear that our time to meet as a foursome is nearly up.

And what do you say to someone who has fought, pummeled, and cajoled with the cold and soulless monster that is cancer?  My friend and her family have faced that onslaught with passion, with humour, with determination, and with dignity.  We salute you!

It just makes me think: Make the most of your time each day.  Appreciate each moment and never pass up an opportunity to say 'I love you', or even 'Let's meet'.

PostNote: Mike passed away in October.  Rest in Peace.  Go with God.

King Tut Toronto

A weekend in Toronto - King Edward Hotel on King Street with the aim of seeing the King Tutankamen Exhibition ... hmmm - "We three Kings of Orient are..."

A lovely getaway weekend - far from the madding crowd - no chores, no meals to prepare, no animals to take care of, no phone calls, no computers - bliss!  The hotel is splendid and luxurious, the room cozy and comfortable.  Dinner out and then relaxing.  Saturday morning - up early, breakfast round the corner and then a pick up van right outside the hotel to convey us to the AGO - Art Gallery of Ontario.  Thank goodness we had prepaid tickets which allowed us to bypass the long snake of people waiting patiently to get in.  We joined the hordes and shuffled our way along the designated route of the exhibition. 

It was certainly interesting and vibrant, but the downside of crowds of people leaning into exhibits that ran 4 and 5 lines deep had a major dampening effect.  You were stuck behind 4 layers of people trying to glimpse snippets of views between peoples armpits and shoulders.  Some intransigent viewers would hold up the shuffling minions for minutes at a time trying to absorb who knows what. 

All in all, we came away from the Exhibition with two feelings: One - determined to make a vacation destination to the real site in Cairo and the Valley of the Kings.  Two - unimpressed with AGO management style whose goal was to squish the maximum amount of people into the minimum amount of space in the quickest time for the biggest buck.  And maybe number three: to leave TO to TO's.  Busy, expensive, mediocre restaurants and 905ers made to feel like strangers in the wilderness.

Nevertheless, a good time was had by all - it got us away from the usual after all!

Lumbricus terrestris.

I will confess to one of my weirder behaviours - I feel so sorry for earthworms that lie floundering and belly-flopping on driveways and parking lots after a rainstorm, that I will resort to picking them up and putting them on soil to save them. Is that not weird?

On the other hand, I also think it weird that in Canada, particularly up in the lake districts (we have 100,000 of them in Ontario alone) where fishing is a major sport, we have a particularly unique vending machine.  Come on up, self-service, stick your money in the slot and take away a cupful of delightful live bait!  What else? 

Then again, this website will not please my Scolicephobic friends - so you will have to quickly move to my next post instead!

Raise your glass to the little critters.

Snowshoes, Firepits and Friends

 What an exhilarating weekend - time with old friends at a cottage in Northern Ontario overlooking the shores of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron.  We arrived in a swirling snowstorm on Friday night and gathered for supper around a big family dining table and celebrated an annual gathering of three couples.  We reminisced and debated, laughed and cheered our way through the evening eventually making our way to bed.  
Saturday morning dawned to clear blue skies and a gorgeous view of the iced over, white expanse of the shoreline.  A few ice fishermen had already settled on the ice awaiting their catch.  A couple of dog walkers braved the icy temperatures for a stroll on the lakefront.  We settled down to a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon and the inevitable coffee.  Our mission today is a snowshoeing expedition in the forests above the town.  I am excited: I have never donned snowshoes before! 
It was a great experience - crunching over pristine, deep, glittering snow in a single line, playing follow-my-leader.  Through the fir trees and cedar, over banks of snow - occasionally diving into snow up to our knees.  Then back again to sit by a firepit dug out of the snow to warm our hands and noses - eat hotdogs and buns warmed on the fire, together with bottles of beer stored in natural fridges - looking like brown mice all in a row. 
In the evening, we sit down to a gourmet dinner - what else, with two cordon bleu cooks in the party - salmon appetizer, beef wellington, and black forest cake, together with some great wines. 
Altogether a satisfying weekend! Great times with great friends - what more could you want?   

Fresh Beginnings

As for me, I dived back into full-time work from the middle of February.  I am the newest member of the school psychologist team at an Ontario School Board.  I work in to elementary schools doing assessment and diagnosis of learning disabilities, autism, add, giftedness, etc., and for three days a week my main task is mental health counselling in a high needs high school.  I am loving it!  The work is rewarding, challenging, and fun; my colleagues are great to work with; I love the learning and knowledge I am gaining; and the students give me hope for our future!

And as an aside benefit - it's grand to have a paycheque deposited every two weeks.  It's a great feeling to just walk up to a cashier and plonk your own debit card down and not feel guilty that you are raiding someone else's bank account.  Retirement had advantages, but steady income was not one of them.  It's a good feeling to be doing my little bit for our little coffers.  And if we remain diligent and conscientious, maybe retirement is not so far in the distance.

Of course, all this hard work means far less time for the things I really like to do: read, write a blog, write to you, post photos, and generally potter - ahh those were the days!!

Inshallah

The Honeydo List

This is about getting organized, tidying up, re-acquainting ourselves with our house and possessions, staying on top of things, or more generally, just trying to keep our heads above water.   Life is still quite disorganized and messy (as it usually is, I suppose), but I would like to at least 'feel' somewhat in charge of things. 

We essentially returned to our home in Burlington after being on the road 'somewhere out there' for the last 5 years. In the meantime, weeds have grown, cracks have widened, paint has faded, rigor mortis has set in on a number of appliances and fixtures .....and cats have used various opportunities and illnesses to stake their claims on our carpets. The biggest job of all - the mountain of paperwork to catch up on - boxes on boxes in boxes of mail, flyers, documents and information both vital and useless - accumulated stealthily over time.

We have made a looong Santa's list of what's good and what's bad, what is an absolute must and what can wait till funds find their way into our coffers.  It's amazing the way a "to do" list can expand to assume the proportions of a Tolstoy novel.

We have shoved, carried, lifted and grunted our way through all the rooms in the house - moved furniture around; piled up the useless debris on the sidewalk for collection; painted walls and ceilings; cleaned and scrubbed carpets, delved into drawers and shelves to discover forgotten treasures and detritus that collects when you're not paying attention. And the book collections - boxes and stacks everywhere - all waiting for their new niche to materialize. I feel we should be fit and buff after all the weightlifting and repetitive exercise, and at the very least have lost that expanding waistline.

I unpacked all 52 containers and furniture that had been stored from Calgary, but before that had to first tidy and chuck the stuff that was already ensconced in cupboards and closets and drawers. I am thinking in particular of my clothes closet, stuffed to the gills with more clothing than I could wear in a year - there is definitely still a squirrel in me - hoarding away for those scant possibilities - like losing 50 pounds! or waiting for that colour, or neckline to rear its ugly head again. I have to say I am proud of myself though - this squirrel definitely has less nuts stored away!

I despair - as I have now come full circle and need to go round the circuit again - the Doha container will be here soon with another load to unpack and stack... goodness knows where right now....but I will think of something. The worst of this job - it will require another go-round in my clothes closet!

I will cease my perseveration on hoarding, collections, and clean up.