How I spent my summer vacation (part 5)

After settling back in at Jacquie & Matt's, we decided on Thai for supper. We went to a pretty cheesy looking place that had great food! The imperial rolls were particularly tasty and very fresh, not the run-of-the-mill rolls you get at most places. We even got serenated by our flute-playing waiter. The next day, we thought of maybe going to Annapolis but ended up taking it easy instead. Jacquie made us crepes for breakfast.



Then we went and did some shopping at REI, the closest thing to MEC down there...



When we returned from shopping, Jacquie made some Mexican food and their friend came over and related a bit of his research trip to Alaska.

If you want to see an excellent film (and as of this week, it is still playing at the AMC Forum), go see
Once.
One of the main characters is played by the lead singer of the Frames whom I went to see last spring at Le National. Tim and I had wanted to go see the movie ever since it came out in Montreal, but never had the chance to go. Well, lo and behold, it was playing at the Greenbelt theater so the four of us went to see it Saturday evening.

When we came back from the movies we sat outside and Matt made a fire in the chimenea and we ate chocolate pie, mmmmmmm!



We packed everything up and said our goodbyes on Sunday morning and started on the long journey home. We broke up the drive a bit by stopping at Chocolate World in Hershey, PA.




What a zoo! We managed to make it out of there with only 4 bags of Kisses and a 1/2 lb bar of Hershey's Milk Chocolate. And a coulpe of t-shirts.

We didn't make any other stops other than bathroom breaks until Plattsburg. It was just after 6 by then and we were pretty hungry so we stoppped for pizza at Little Caesar's before breezing through the border. Smart move to come back on Sunday and not on Labour Day Monday.

And that's about it for the trip.

I'm glad we got some hiking and camping in and visiting friends always makes for a fun and certainly more memorable time.

How I spent my summer vacation (part 4)

We arrived at Jacquie & Matt's in Greenbelt, MD on Wednesday evening.We had a really yummy supper with corn, salad, potatoes, salmon burgers and homemade peach pie with ice cream for dessert.

We'd decided that on Thursday we'd head to Virginia to the Shenandoah Valley and enjoy a bit of nature. We made it there by midday and stopped for lunch in exciting(!) Front Royal before paying our entrance fee at the North entrance of the National Park.
We drove along the Skyline Drive which has lots and lots of outlooks on both sides but it was pretty hazy so the views weren't so great. We did have a couple of deer run across the road in front of us in the middle of the afternoon, which seems like an unusual time of day for them to be out and about.
We then stopped at the Luray Caverns and took the tour through the caves and saw lots and lots of stalactites and stalagmites. (Do you know which are which?!)
Most of my pictures didn't turn out so well because of the lighting but I'd love to see the shots one kid took with a disposable camera!



We then picked up some food at the (evil, I know) Walmart Superstore and made it to Big Meadows campground for the night.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of munching just outside our tent and unzipped the window to see a deer wandering around our site.
It was time to get up by then (nature calls!) so I grabbed the camera and walked around the campground and saw a few more deer throught the morning mist.




After taking numerous photos, we had some breakfast and packed up and got ready for a hike.



Down, down, down, we went following part of the Appalachian trail and ended up at Lewis Falls. Or more like the Lewis Trickle. It's been a very dry summer down there.
Then it was back up, up, up.
The 3 1/2 hour hike it was supposed to be actually only took us 2. I really wonder how they calculate these things sometimes.
We were taking our time and enjoying the scenery and stopping to catch our breath so there's no way it would ever take you over 3 hours to hike it.

At the "waterfall", we encountered a couple from somewhere in Virginia and the wife had recently been to Montreal with her granddaughter and had a great time, loved the people and felt safe everywhere she went. It's nice to encounter people who have good memories of visiting your hometown.

After a picnic lunch we headed back to Greenbelt and hit D.C. long weekend traffic at about 3 o'clock. Joy.

How I spent my summer vacation (part 3)

Tuesday morning, after doing the White Water Walk, we crossed the border into NY state at Fort Erie. It luckily only took us about 15 minutes to get through. That wasn't the case in Niagara where there was quite a long lineup to cross the Peace Bridge.
Did you know that there are Tim Hortons' in NY state?! I wonder if anyone down there knows who he was. Come to think of it, how many people up here know that he was a hockey player?

We made our way down to Pennsylvania, discovering that its roads are very scenic, hilly and sinous in the West. But their interstates are worse than Quebec highways. (Is that possible?!)
We made it to Blue Knob State Park that evening and stayed in a pretty deserted campground. The next morning, we had a chat with some redneck dude who had pulled into the site next to us at some point in the night but we had not heard him at all, thankfully. We then went for a nice little hike, which felt good after spending much of the previous day in the car.

How I spent my summer vacation (part 2)

Niagara Falls really wasn't as tacky as I thought it would be. But, then again, I think we purposefully avoided the gawdiness, except for walking up Clifton Hill.





I think one can easily enjoy the falls just as much from the walkways without having to pay the entrance fees to the various "attractions" but we bought a pass that allowed us access to the Maid of the Mist, the Journey Behind the Falls, the White Water Walk and the Butterfly Conservatory.

Then again, I would not have been able to read all about my heroes, the Barrel Riders, if we had not gotten the package.
You see, I am "Official Barrel Rider", as appointed by Olaf (Pronouncer in chief), for the Facebook group "Visited Nifalls".



In the evening, we popped in on Lee and her fiancé (husband-to-be this weekend, I believe.) She's an old acquaintance of Tim's from way back in his high school days.
We stayed at a decent Travel Lodge that night.

How I spent my summer vacation (part 1)by Chris K

Tim took off on Wednesday afternoon for Toronto and stayed with his friend Carolyn and went to a client's office on Thursday before heading to curling camp (tee hee!) for 3 days.

I tried to get the house a little cleaned up before going away, then I left for Toronto Saturday afternoon via VIA!

I stayed at my friends' Mike & Jane place, they used to be my neighbours and good friends before they had to sadly move back to Toronta. Unfortunately Jane was away in Chicago for the weekend but I got to spend some time with Mike and their 2 kids, Kathleen who is 5 y.o. and Jack, 10 months.



We went to the busker festival on Sunday and had lots of fun and even indulged in some cotton candy. Man is that stuff ever sweet!


Also, strange but true, I bumped into Carolyn at the festival, just like that, out of the blue. Weird.

After Jack had had enough action for the afternoon, we headed back to their place and relaxed and then Tim showed up and we hung out a little before deciding to head to Hamilton. Don't worry, we only spent a short time there!
Just long enough to meet up with Coeli, a friend of Tim's from Cegep, for supper at an Irish pub called Slainte. The place was pretty authentic, the food was good and they had football jerseys for sale, albeit, they were a little pricey. We possibly would have stayed the night, but Coeli has a cat and after about 5 minutes in her apartment, Tim had a sneezing fit and his eyes were red and watering. Anyhow, we ended up (eventually, after going the wrong way on the 403) in Niagara-on-the-Lake at a very nice B&B called Merlot House, owned and run by someone Coeli used to work with. We had a lovely breakfast the next morning with a couple who were celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary. After checking out, we strolled the main drag of Niagara-on-the-Lake and went into a few of the shops. Tim and I both bought a couple of rings each, with celtic designs. I bought a Claddagh ring. I'd been wanting one for quite a while and finally found one to my liking.

Then, it was off to Nifalls!
Niagara Falls, for those of you who have yet to hear Olaf's story...

Vacation time again!

Wow, did the last two weeks ever go by quickly...Everyone kept saying that I must be so eager for my vacation to be here. Well, yes and no! Yes because it's vacation, but also not so much as it means it's now the end of August which means it's the end of summer, boo hoo. (Okay, you nitpcikers, and you know who you are, will now tell me summer isn't over until September 23rd, and to you I say phfffflt!)

Other than going by quickly, last week was pretty uneventful. We played our last regularly scheduled softball game on Firday evening and called it quits after 7 innings. Tim bought me a new glove and even if it isn't quite broken in yet, it is excellent! Good pres, babe!
We played again on Saturday morning to make up a game that had been rained out earlier in the season. Unfortunately, we lost both games.
Tim actually struck me out on Friday evening. I should have rushed the mound!
How did he strike me out, you ask, if we play on the same team? You see, in our league the «4 pitch» rule is in effect and the pitchers pitch to their own team. The batter gets a max of 4 pitches and if he/she doesn't put the ball into play after 4 pitches, the batter is out. So Tim's first pitch was perfect, but I didn't want to swing on the first ball. But I should have! The pitches then got progressively worse!
Oh well. It just sucked as that was my last at bat for the evening.

After Saturday's game, we went over to my parents' place for lunch and were joined by my bro and his g-friend, Melora. We stuffed ourselves on my mom's excellent cooking and I got zucchini cake to take home, yummy!
Sunday was quiet, Tim went over to help Paul with his kitchen and I relaxed and finished reading the latest Harry Potter. It was excellent!
We went over to Tim's mom's for supper and she had made ribs on the bbq, again, very yummy! We got field berry mousse cake to take home this time!

What's with all the cake, you ask? Uh, I turned 29 for the 7th time.
It's funny how unnoteworthy my birthday was this year. Which is how I intentded it to be but I guess I didn't actually fully expect it to be so!
Anyhow, for those of you who called or emailed, thanks for the wishes! For those of you who didn't know, that's the way I wanted it to be. For those of you who forgot, YOU SUCK!!! :)

La Minerve weekend

If you're on Facebook, you can see the pictures there...

Last Thursday night was spent getting things ready for the weekend and packing the car so we could head up North straight after work on Friday.

I managed to leave work at 2:45 and went to meet Tim at his office. We got on the road after picking up some Lebanese pizza at Andalos' and made it to somewhere in Laval before hitting traffic. The commuter lane was not any faster. I really don't know how people can do that day after day...Anyhow, we made it to La Minerve in about 2 1/2 hours, I think.
Cathy, Eric, Marc, Laurel and their respective offspring had arrived a few hours earlier and our hosts, Katja & Jouni & their 2, had arrived only shortly before us. We set up camp, dealt with the mosquitoes and greeted the last arrivals for the night, Maya, Katherin, Robbie, France (and Tigger.) We sat by the campfire and gazed at the stars and hit the hay sometime after 12:30.

Not having Olaf to keep me company in the early morning, I slept in til 7 on Saturday. And so day 1 of relaxing and having a great time with our friends began. The first arrivals of the day were Stéphanie and Olaf, later followed by day-trippers Julie, David & Arianne, Gillian and François (with their dog Chica) and finally Geneviève and Stéphane, who stayed the night.

We partook in the usual activities that we all enjoy so much: swimming, volleyball, frisbee-golf, bocce, hammocking, catching up with friends, reading, baby-watching, eating, uh, drinking and then some!

We all had various things that we cooked on the fire for supper but Olaf's grill with charcoal proved to emit a more reliable and even heat source for cooking on.
As usual, no one went starving and everything looked very tasty. We had some very envious looking dogs on our hands!

The rest of the evening was spent by the campfire, toasting marshmallows, talking, singing and listening to the guitar players. ( I won't mention the drinking!)

Sunday morning brought a few raindrops while some of the group packed up. Tim and I were in no hurry to get back to the city so we stuck around and waited for the sun to come out and only left in the late afternoon.

Driving slowed down, as expected, after St-Sauveur but we got home in about 2 hrs 10 min to the wonderful surprise of having the weekend papers sitting on the front stoop even if we'd called to temporary stop delivery.

So, that folks, was, in a nutshell, our first camping trip of the year and hopefully won't be our last!?

Back to my regularly scheduled programming

Two Fridays ago, (already!) we played softball and managed to get in seven innings before the game was called on account of lightning. We were winning so calling it quits at that point was fine by us even if it would have been fun to play a full game as it was pretty close. And we were playing the #2 team in the league.

On Saturday morning we packed up and headed to the cottage, sans bicyclettes, this time. We did a bit of hiking and nature walking instead. This is the view from the top of Owls Head mountain (in NY state, not the Eastern Townships.) The 2nd smaller lake on the right is Mountain View lake where our cottage is.






After the hike, I cut the grass around the whole property. Phewf, a good workout after the hike!
Meanwhile, Tim got the charcoal bbq going so for supper we had some burgers and grilled corn accompanied by fresh green beans from the garden. Dessert was cake and raspberries (we won't mention the whipping cream AND ice cream that I had...) It's been an excellent year for raspberries and I've taken full advantage of it every time I've visited my parents.

On Sunday, we took it easier and packed a lunch and went walking at Paul Smiths VIC and took some pictures. I've been learning to use Tim's Canon S2 as I loaned my camera to Paul & Murielle so they can document their kitchen renovations.










The best thing about the S2 is that I can take pictures of children without them coming out all blurry when they move. It's a tad faster than my A520.

We came home straight from Paul Smiths and then went to a bbq at France's to meet her roommate Clare.

Last Monday, my co-worker finally came back to work so no more 6:30 a.m. starts, yay! It's kind of weird to have three people in the lab again, we actually have time to breathe and sit down every once in a while.

Tuesday evening Tim was an excited and happy camper. I went to meet him after work and we had supper at Casey's followed by going to see The Bourne Ultimatum at Marché Central. It was very good, non-stop action. And I managed to stay awake for the whole movie!

Sunshine Whale

Ever seen a sunshine whale?

My little cousin Sam drew it for me...

Where did the weekend go?

So I'll now try to get back to complete sentences with my posts!
Friday night we played softball (I hope you have all clued in by now that when I say "we", I mean Tim & I!!!) in the intermittent rain. All around, we did not play a particularly good game and our last out was especially crappy as we got an automatic out since dude on first base stepped off before contact was made. What a sucky way to end the game. The rule is there so the runner does not lead off the base, but when your team is already losing by 6 runs, you'd think they'd have cut us some slack. Anyhow, we came home and ordered some gourmet pizza from F&F, so all was good!

On Saturday, I biked over to Cathy & Eric's and Vanessa entertained me while they got things ready for their bbq later that afternoon. Luckily we (this "we", being the general "we" and not just Tim & I, just in case you were wondering) weren't hit by the rainstorm that poured buckets on downtown so everyone was safe and dry outside. It was quite the party and the backyard ended up looking like a daycare with all the toys, the playtents and the chalk drawings. I had fun trapping bugs with Clara. She much prefers ants and spiders when they are safely under a plastic cover!

Sunday saw us going to my cousin Suzanne's 3rd child's christening in Senneville. This is Kate Louise, isn't she precious?!




After the ceremony at the church, we headed towards Rivière Beaudette for an afternoon with the family. We actually kept going to Lancaster for a pit stop at the LCBO for some wine & beer. We then sat around in the garden enjoying the view...







I had not seen my cousin nor my aunt Karlene in quite a few years so it was nice to visit with them and the rest of the family. It was also my dad's birthday, but unfortunately he didn't get much of a celebration.

On the way home, we were hoping to pick up some fresh corn but the farmer's roadside stand we passed was already closed so we settled on salad for supper.

And then the weekend was over way too soon.

A resume of July

Yuckiness of the month: Bought unsweetened, unsalted peanut butter.
Discovery: Has the consistency of sawdust and is just plain disgusting.
Result: Gifted it to Martin.

Started taking the bus in when I start at 6:30. This means I get up at 4:45. It is still dark then. Must make sure I have everything ready the night before as even I am a zombie at that hour.

Started getting a weekly basket of organic veggies. There are way too many green leafy things that taste bitter in this world. But swiss chard and caramelized onion lasagna is very tasty.

Started trying to eat fish twice a week. I think we are slacking at this point.

Crashed a bbq at Joe and Leona's. Always welcome, always well-received. Food is good.
Friends are better.

Celebrated Mémère, Tim's grandmother's, birthday by going out to brunch at Cumulus in the 10-30 complex. Made her day. Very good restaurant. Must go back.

Bought a mandoline (vegetable slicer-julienner thingy). It sucked. Returned it a week later. No hassles, no questions asked. Happy me.

Went to Kay's for a bbq for her birthday. No comment. You had to be there. Some of you were, so I needn't elaborate. It was interesting!

Went to the gym a few times. Weight is stable. Better than gaining I guess.

Went to La Ronde to see the fireworks. Got Tim to ride the Supermanège. Not the most exciting roller-coaster after you've been on the Viper and the Goliath but it did the trick. Fireworks were awesome.

Went to McKibbin's for pub night. Got my eyes checked and my prescription stayed the same. A good evening.

Saw David Usher for free on the street downtown. He is the best. Heidi is in love! Summer in Montreal rules.

Went to the movies. Saw Ocean's 13. It was good.

Caught a cold. Still lingering. I hate blocked sinuses. Snot is gross too.

Jacquie came to town. No words can do her justice. She rules! We miss her. She misses us. We must go to Maryland and visit. Oreo cake is just plain evil.
Food is good. Friends are better.

Our roof leaked again. Thank goodness we didn't fix the ceiling in the bedrooms. Haven't yet made it up on the roof to see where the problem is.

Rode my bike for the first time this month. Hot and sweaty. Still hate riding up Greene Avenue but it beats the less steep but longer uphill of Atwater.

Celebrated Jo-Anne's birthday at Guido and Angelina's in the Pepsi Forum. Food is good. Family is better.

Discovered I like black olive paste. Food is good. Having friends come over to share it is better.

Got a raise for year-end inflation adjustment. Over 2%. Happy.

Gave blood. Donation #50. Found out I test negative for a certain virus so my blood goes directly to Ste-Justine or the Children's. Makes me feel warm inside.

Gave in to all the hype and bought Harry Potter. Don't ruin it for me!

Bought a cabinet/bookshelf to reorganize our DVDs & CDs. Organization takes up a lot of space. Must rethink the CD part. DVDs all fit.

Phew, I'm exhausted!

June turns into July and now it's almost August!

So, faithful reader, do I just give up on catching up on my posts and start afresh with more recent events or do I try and summarize the month of July for you??? Such are the dilemnas on an early Saturday morning. Why is it that I went to bed later than usual last night and am awake earlier than usual??? Such are the ponderings of a fool at this hour...

Well, I do have a bit still from our vacation, so here goes:

After Mountain View, we came back to town on the Friday, not for our usual softball game, but to celebrate Heidi's birthday. We ended up going to Le Nil Bleu, an Ethiopian resto on St-Denis. Ethipoian is usually a good choice, predictable if anything, and, bonus this time, I was pleasantly surprised at the rapid service we got. I had been there many years ago before going to a Dave Matthews concert (oh, what a memory, but that is a story for another day!) and I had also been to Abiata more recently (also on St-Denis) and was less than impressed by the inattentive, slower than molasses service.

Tim took in his first golf game ever that Saturday and now he's hooked! It was the 2nd annual FTR classic organized by Olaf and the foursome was completed by Jouni and Mario, a student of Olaf's. We ended up at Katja and Jouni's for a bbq that evening and spent Canada day, oh joy, cleaning our ever-cluttered basement, followed by an evening at Ysabel's for some more bbq fare and various pot-luck items.

Our last day of vacation was spent going over to Jo-Anne's and then France's to help with some minor home repairs and then back home to the basement.

And then it was back to work. It wasn't too brutal considering it was my co-worker's turn to be on vacation so I had to go into work for 6:30 4 days in a row. Before I knew it, the week was over and it was time for softball again.

Food: the element that links us

So, since so much has gone on since I last wrote (summer is a busy time!), I figure the best way I can tie everything together is through food (big surprise there!) Yes, most of our friendly gatherings revolve around or at least involve food.
I love my friends and family!

Hiking in Charlevoix, way back in June, was lots of fun. The weather was perfect for hiking, not too hot and only a sprinkling of rain when we started off on Saturday. We didn't have to fight off the bugs too badly either. Tim had bought us some trekking poles and I am definitely sold on them. They made the climbing bits much easier to undertake and helped on the descents too. The group (there were 9 of us) ended up separated in two, with the slower, picture-taking, enjoying the scenery, catching our breath, having conversations crowd bringing up the rear. But all was good since we had the evenings at the refuges to socialize with everyone.

Oh, yes, the food...We certainly did not go hungry. Our trip was a 3 day hike with day 2 being the longest, at about 14km, I believe. We were staying in cabins with no running water and we had our gear carried from cabin to cabin so quantity of food was not an issue. The first evening's meal was prepared by Stéphanie and Olaf, consisting of chicken fajitas in vast amounts. Day 2 , again, did not see us go starving. We started with breakfast, courtesy of France and Julie, made up of French toast with candied apples, sausages and bacon.
Everyone pitched in that evening to help Maya make a bean and avocado salad, the perfect entree to delicious chicken mole which was served with corn bread. And can you believe that we had cheesecake for dessert too!
Tim and I served breakfast on the Monday. We had made 2 varieties of waffles at home, banana chocolate chip and whole wheat nut, which have a very good crunch factor.
Stéphane and Geneviève were responsible for lunches , supplying us with rolls, cold cuts and cheese for each of us to make our own sandwiches in the morning before beginning our hike.
We got back to town on Monday afternoon and spent Tuesday doing some shopping, having a nice lunch at Café Passion in St-Lambert and then had Tim's friend Kelly over for supper. We discovered something new while shopping at Loblaws and tried salmon sausages. They are quite tasty although some are of the opinion that they have a weird, unexpected texture they're not sure about.

Wednesday morning, we met up with Catherine, Eric and Vanessa in Mercier and then drove on to the cottage in Mountain View for their first visit there. In the afternoon, we went for a pleasant stroll in the woods at Paul Smith's Visitor Interpretive Center and then visited their butterfly house. Evere wonder what mating monarchs look like???





We pulled out the charcoal bbq from the garage and had some tournedos and more salmon sausages with corn and salad for supper.

The Colby-Critchlows made their way home via Plattsburgh on Thursday while Tim and I stayed on until Friday. We'd brought our mountain bikes so we tried out the Hatch Brook trail where we'd been previously swarmed with bugs when we went with Heidi. The bugs weren't anywhere near as bad as last time. We just had to contend with a few wild turkeys and a very territorial hawk.

On Friday, before heading back, we tried making our way to High Falls with our bikes but the trail is not meant for biking, no matter how serious you are about it. We ended up walking our bikes on and off when the going got tough and then finally gave up and left them in the woods just before the Falls.




So, I'll end this here before you lose interest and I'll hopefully be back soon with another post!

SUMMERTIME!

I really need to stop saying I will try and post more often cos that seems to backfire on me...Anyhow, Tim's birthday was a week and a half ago so we celebrated the weekend before. We went out to supper with a group of friends on the Saturday evening at Fourquet Fourchette. It's a great restaurant with great ambiance and great beer! They serve Unibroue products and much of the cuisine is prepared with beer. We went to the one in Chambly on the South Shore (they also have a resto in the city at Palais des Congrès). Chambly is a very nice community, I suggest a visit, there's the fort to see, bike paths and I'm sure lots more.

To continue with the celebrations, I took Tim to Kooza, the Cirque du Soleil show, on Sunday afternoon. The show has now moved on from Montreal to Toronto. It was pretty entertaining and the air conditioning under the tent was definitely welcome as it was one of our first hot, sticky, humid days. Ahh, Montreal in summer!

And then began my last work week before vacation! I only biked back from work on Monday (Tim had driven me there in the morning with my bike on the car rack) so it was a bit of a lazy week (outside of work, that is)

Friday was a nice way to end the week just before vacation...we had a semi-activity day at work. We finshed at 11 and then went and played softball followed by a catered lunch of pulled pork and roast beef.

Then it was our usual Friday evening softball game with the Curling league which was awesome. We played against the Royals from TMR and gave each other a run for our money but we, the Granite, came out victorious in an extra inning!

Then it was home to pack for our hiking weekend.
Which I might get to telling you about.
Eventually.
Maybe.
When I take the time to do so.

That's all for now!

Tim & Heidi stream crossing

Adventures in Biking

Remember last Wednesday morning and how cold it was? Probably not as we sit here in now 30 degree-plus weather...Anyhow, I should have seen it as a sign when the back brakes on my bike were jammed when I headed out at 6:20 that morning. But no, I didn't woos out and take the bus (stupid me). I forged ahead, against the howling wind. The howling wind that kept me from feeling the drizzle that was falling. I did make it to work in one piece and with a bike lock this time, although it did take me almost an hour and a half to get there. Not to mention the fact that my hands were so numb, I could not unclasp my bike helmet. Let's just say the bike ride home that evening was much more pleasant.
Thursday morning was also much better. Tim drove me to work with my bike so I only had to do the trip one way that day.

And what about the weekend, you ask? After playing softball (and losing) on Friday evening, we headed to my parents' cottage on Saturday morning with Heidi in tow (or more like in VW following us.) In Chateaugay, New York we encountered strange people sporting t-shirts with hearts on them offering us a free car wash. We encountered another group of them upon entering Malone and these folks were even stranger. They were offering free car washes, free blood pressure tests and free hot dogs! Do you take the blood pressure test before or after having eaten the hot dog?!

Well, we got to the cottage hot dog-less, settled in and had some lunch then headed towards Saranac Lake to do some trail riding. If a tree falls in the forest and three people are there, you definitely hear it! Craaaaaaaaack!!! It was quite a bumpy ride with lots of tree roots to maneuver over but we had a blast and didn't have to fight the bugs off too badly.

Sunday was quite a different story. We went back to Hatch Brook where we had gone on Victoria day weekend but this time we took the trail to the left. The bugs were a little more pesky this time out but nothing we couldn't handle until about half an hour in. We must have hit lower boggier ground cos it was HELL I tell you! We couldn't stop for a second or we got swarmed. And I wasn't wearing dark colours. And I was covered in Skintastic AND Muskol. And then we missed the cutoff for the other loop back. Sooooo, we ended up at the end of the trail at Meacham Lake campground with no way back but INTO THE BUG WOODS FROM HELL!!! There was no way we were going back in there for another hour and a half's ride back. So I called my dad from the pay phone at the campground and 20 minutes later, he showed up in his pickup and we loaded up the bikes and crammed ourselves into the, ahem, king cab and headed back to Hatch Brook to get our car. Thank god for dads!!!

I would post some photos but someone's busy at the computer downstairs so you'll have to wait, sorry!

Weekend fun

Our softball game was cancelled on Friday due to the wet weather so we had an uneventful evening instead.

Saturday was a little more exciting. I went to La Ronde (sans Tim, he hates amusement parks) courtesy of the social club at work. We only did 6 rides but went on all the newest rollercoasters. The Goliath and the Vampire are definitely the best. My throat still hurts from screaming on the Vampire. Didn't peg me as a screamer, didja?!
And I also won tickets for the fireworks in July, yay! I've never been to the actual site to see the fireworks, it should be fun even if it's on a Wednesday night, zzzzzzzzzzzzz, it'll be past my bedtime!

I left early to go to a potluck at Paul & Murielle's. The theme was North American cuisine. So we had chips, chicken meatballs, ham casserole, maple salmon, coleslaw, sausages, macaroni salad, apple sucre à la crème pie, fruit kebabs drizzled with chocolate and I think that was it! We were all stuffed!

And yesterday we finally bought our annuals to plant in front of the house. I stick to Impatiens. I know they will do well and they don't require too much maintenance. I also hacked away a bit in the backyard to try and make it less jungle-like.

Tim made it to the beerfest yesterday with Carolyn & Heidi. I stayed home to garden which apparently was not a bad choice. It was crowded and it being the last day, there were a lot of products that were no longer available.

That's it for now, I promise I will write more soon!

Transit strike

I was one of the lucky ones, I guess, having no problems whatsoever during our short-lived transit strike. The bus was a little fuller than usual on a couple of mornings but everything was on time. I actually had more delays in the morning last week, I think my regular 211 bus driver was on vacation so the bus was later than usual making me miss my connection for the 202. But I give myself enough time to still get to work before 8 when this does happen.
On Tuesday I decided to give biking to work a try. It took me 1hr19min to get there and 1hr15 to get home. 25.5km. And I wasn't completely exhausted when I got home. Not completely. So I plan on biking to work maybe once or twice a week. When the weather is on my side. Which it wasn't today, darn. And I'm going in for 6:30 tomorrow so I'll be driving in.

I've been bad.

It's high time I write a new post as I'm sure you're all probably tired of checking out my blog and seeing "Brain Donation" ! That is if I still have any of my captive audience left...So is it too late to tell you about the Victoria day long weekend?
It was excellent.
It got off to a good start with our first softball game of the season on Friday evening. We actually won! 17-16 against TMR. That means we already tied our winning record for last season!
Then on Saturday morning we headed off to my parents' cottage in NY state via Plattsburgh. Surprisingly we didn't have to wait at all at the Lacolle border crossing. We got to the cottage in the afternoon and after unpacking we went for a short bike ride around Mountain View.
That evening we tried a recipe out of my new cookbook, King Arthur Whole Grain Baking. We made whole wheat pizza dough and it turned out very good. And the secret to an even more delicious pizza experience is eating it drizzled with honey and green tabasco sauce. Try it, you'll like it, I swear! My friends Bonnie and Michael introduced me to the concept and anyone who's tried it has become a convert.
On Sunday we packed a lunch and went biking at Deer River State Forest. A nice ride, muddy at times but the black flies didn't get to us too much as long as we kept moving.
On Monday we did the trails at Hatch Brook (which you can also see on the Franklin County North map).

Brain Donation

Here's my public service announcement for the week...

Everyone is pretty aware about organ donation now that we can sign the back of our medicare cards if we wish to donate our organs after our demise.
I've signed mine, what about you?
Don't want your body desecrated? I've always been of the opinion that once I'm gone, I won't know the difference so I might as well help someone prolong their life.

Anyhow, that consent does not include one's brain. In order to give your brain up to science, specific consent forms must be filled out.

The Douglas Hospital requires both healthy and diseased brains (they are all inclusive and non-discriminatory!!!) in order to conduct their research.

You can read more about it on their site...Douglas Hospital

2 concerts in one week...

And the first one on a weeknight. Wow, I live a wild and crazy life!
Last Tuesday I went to see David Usher at Club Soda. It was excellent, although Heidi and I felt our age with all the 14 year olds there. We seemed to be some of the few to know the words to the Moist songs that he played.

Saturday I went out again with Heidi to see the Frames, an Irish band from Dublin. Again, it was a really good show, they played for over 2 hours.

That was just part of a busy but fun weekend.

On Friday night we went out to supper with Catherine and Eric at Gourmet Hot and Spicy to celebrate his 35th birthday (old fart!)
I wouldn't recommend their General Tao chicken or thier chicken satay but everything else was quite yummy, especially the dumplings and the Won ton soup. That is according to the others. I had the Tom yum soup which was also very good.

On Saturday afternoon , we headed over to Katja & Jouni's for a bbq to celebrate Élise's 3rd birthday. Unfortunately, Elise was a little under the weather, but the adults had fun stuffing their faces, as we usually do when we all get together!

Then on Sunday, we headed out to Rigaud to celebrate Olaf's birthday by making sushi. Tim, France & I enjoyed a bit of the outdoors before with a walk on Mont Rigaud.
We also had a few failed attempts at making pop & Mentos rockets.

Click on Tim to see the video!

So it goes

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

On Deceit

I inadvertently found out a pretty important fact today about someone I used to know but have lost touch with lately. I had my doubts about this fact and indirectly asked them about it a while back but they did not respond to my question. (It's a little too easy to do that in emails sometimes and this person is the master of avoidance!)

Anyhow, I don't know if I should be mad at this person for not being honest with me or sad because they might not think I can handle the truth.

But in reality, you know, I don't think I really care. Which is pretty sad in itself considering how important this person used to be to me.

Such is life. You move on and evolve and some things or people don't have a place in your life anymore. Sad maybe, but true!

(And, yes, I am avoiding giving specific details to protect the identity of the guilty party!)

Top o'the mornin' to you!

We started celebrating last night with an evening at the curling club, drinking Kilkenny, Irish coffee (and Labatt 50, it has a green label!) and music courtesy of Salty Dog.

And today? Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Baby news!

You'll have to excuse me if I get overly emotional in this post, I've been up at 5 o'clock the past 2 mornings and at work for 6:30...

So the big news is Tim has become an uncle!

And since no one else has said it (or almost), well, I will - I have become an aunt!

I can assume that title, right? Hey, after all, for all intents and purposes, I figure if I hadn't been married before, Tim and I would probably have gotten hitched by now, so there, I'm an aunt!

Catherine and Eric's bundle of joy arrived on Tuesday afternoon. That's Uncle Tim there holding Vanessa Anne. She is absolutely adorable. No bias here whatsoever! But what else would you expect from such great parents?!

It was well worth being stuck in traffic for a good hour and a half to get to the South Shore to go visit them at the hospital last night. Anyhow, my bad for leaving the West Island at 5 o'clock on a foggy and rainy evening.

Today's traffic escapade was only about 15 minutes long on the 40 just before Decarie to about Rockland. Yes, I do usually use public transportation to and fro work but I can't get to work for 6:30 by bus so Tim has been good enough to let me use the car and he gets my bus pass in exchange.

But I did go pick him up at work on both days. And today I took a side trip to L'Équipeur to see if they had the boots I wanted. And can you believe it, lo and behold, they did. In my size. And they fit. And they were regular $79.99, reduced to $39.99, further reduced to $29.99, less our 20% discount family card (Tim's cousin used to work there), less $10 on a purchase of $50 or more (I also bought socks, lots of socks!) So a true score!

What a week!

Boots, socks AND a niece! :P

Good Intentions

What better way to spend a snowy Friday evening but to meet up with your significant other and a few of his old co-workers for a "6 à 8."
On my way to McCarold's on Côte-des-Neiges, I figured 1/2 a pint would be my intake for the evening. Didn't happen.
Here's the catch...I ordered a Chouffe.
La Chouffe is an 8% blond, not so much a problem.
But little did I know that La Chouffe comes in 750 ml bottles.

Tee hee hee, and we had a pleasant evening!

Not as pleasant, I'm sure, as Steve who had at least 5 Maudites and a mistakenly ordered scotch which we didn't quite catch the name of but tasted like very bad disinfectant.

The pub is kewl and easily accessible by Metro. We will have to make a return trip there soon.

This, that and the other

Well, I seem to have been too busy to bother blogging lately. Busy with what? Nothing special, more or less just the regular routine.

Last Saturday we had a little outing to Ottawa. Steph & Olaf organized it to celebrate Steph's birthday which was the previous week. (Tim & I had also celebrated with them on the day of by having them over for pizza from Andalo's and then going to see Volver at the AMC.)

So a gang of us met up for lunch at the Royal Thai on Dalhousie and stuffed ourselves silly, as usual. I had the chicken pad thai, which was really yummy.

Then we eventually all made our way to Dow's Lake and skated for a good hour and a half. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time although not everyone was at the same level of ability.




Five of the gang of 11




After skating we all parted ways. Ysabel, Tim and I headed back to the Byward Market area and had a beer and dinner at The Olde Dubliner.

Sunday was supposed to be a productive day (no, the kitchen is not finished yet!)
but we got up late and then did a few messages on the Shore. By the time we had done groceries and headed home for lunch, I think it was almost 4 o'clock! We had a late-ish supper of really tender steaks and homemade baked fries which I got to enjoy all over again with leftovers at lunch on Monday!

I am Easy Rider

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I am Abraham Lincoln

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Today's interesting encounter

On the way home on this more than frigid evening, I encountered the nutjob of the week award winner. Said dude was wearing a warm looking hat with ear-flaps à la Elmer Fudd, a parka (not zipped up, mind you), SHORTS and BIRKENSTOCKS WITH NO SOCKS! I have nothing more to say...

Latest change

Oh boy, it's been already a week and I haven't shared...I got my hair cut! Woohoo! It just got too annoying. I had it tied up all the time to stay in the hairnet at work but then I had to have it down to fit my hat on my head to go outside and it would get half untucked out of my coat and I'd get hot in the metro with it on my neck. So it was time to get it chopped! Sorry, no pictures, you'll have to see it in person! It's about the same style I had three years ago, just above shoulder length. Nothing exciting.

I had the pleasure, as I will again this week, of starting work at 6:30 2 mornings last week as one of my co-workers is on vacation. So I got to drive in as I can't get there on time by bus at that hour. Too early! The upside of starting at that hour is I get to finish at 2:30. Or I'm supposed to anyhow. On Thursday it was just too busy so I ended up staying til 3:45. Needless to say I was asleep in front of the tv even before 8 o'clock rang!

I got closer to 50 blood donations this week too. That might have also contributed to my lack of energy. Although I did make it to the gym 3 times during the week.

I've been reading Nora Roberts' Key Trilogy as my public transit divertissement. Decent mindless reading, but man, I can really do without the smutty love parts. I actually skip the pages with those scenes. It's worse than Harlequin romances! Not that I've read any, but, like, totally gag me! I guess desperate housewives have to get it somewhere!

ALL THE BEST FOR 2007!

I count myself to be very lucky, this was the first year ever I've had to work between Christmas and New Year's. And it was pretty busy at work. Luckily on Friday we were allowed to leave by 2 o'clock and I did not have to do the usual Friday inspection. Normally on Fridays they stop production before lunch and then they spend the afternoon hosing down the production and packaging departments after which I have to make sure everything was cleaned properly. Since we only had 3 days of work last week, they forwent the big cleaning.
Tim left the office early, his last day at Montrusco, and came to get me at work. As of Wednesday, he'll still be working for his present employer, ConnecTalk but will no longer be permanently at the same client's office (which was Montrusco.) So he will now be driving to work in Ville St-Laurent instead of walking to the office downtown.
We then did some shopping for the weekend and dropped in at Tim's mom's.

This year we decided to do something different for New Year's as it would be falling on the weekend and various people would be away or unsure if they could make it to a dinner party due to pregnancies and other excuses!
So an ever-shrinking group of us, which was the perfect number in the end as no one had to sleep on the floor, ended up at my parents' cottage in New York state.
Ysabel also backed out on coming so Tim, Maya and I headed down early on Saturday morning in the blowing snow and made it to Mountain View by 11:30 or so after picking up some more groceries in Malone. It's such a pain to not be able to bring meat or fruit across the border. Luckily our dollar isn't at such a bad exchange rate these days.
We went out for a walk in the afternoon and showed Maya the hood and at some point Tim checked his phone and we had a message from Stephanie that Olaf was under the weather so they would only be showing up on Sunday. AAAAaaaaah! They were supposed to be bringing chocolate for fondue for Saturday evening's dessert! So I made the chocolate cake I had planned for Murielle's birthday (on the 1st) instead. Chocolate in any form is always a must!

Murielle & Paul showed up at suppertime and we had fajitas followed by watching Batman Begins. We had brought our projector and screen for the full movie experience.
Steph & Olaf showed up on a beautiful Sunday morning and we spent the afternoon walking in the woods towards "High Falls". As always, go to Tim's site for all the photos but here are a few for now...

Post-Christmas post

Note to self, when you have a instinctive feeling about something, give in to it...upon choosing which bottle of alcohol I was going to bring to a party on Saturady evening, I debated whether or not a bottle of Désirable was still good after being open for 2 years. Well, their webiste says 6 months to a year. And my stomach agreed. So, at 3:30 or so in the morning, my stomach let me know that said bottle of liqueur should have been dumped. I was pretty much out of commission on Sunday. Luckily we had nowhere to go and were not expecting any guests in our home. I was feeling well enough on Christmas day that I was able to eat a normal helping of turkey with all the trimmings at Tim's family celebration at his mom's but only managed one meal yesterday when my family came over and am still a bit queasy today. Not good when your job involves taste-testing!

Anyhow, other than that I had a very good Christmas, surrounded by loved ones. And I was spoiled as usual. Among other things, I got two very beautiful fresh water pearl necklaces, earrings, a belt, gift certificates and a food processor. (which has yet to arrive, I can't wait til it does!)
Today's return to work was made less brutal by getting up at 6:15 & driving in. No traffic today, that's for sure.

Christmas mysteries

How is it that we've already managed to end up with pine needles in our bathroom when all we did was bring our Christmas tree home today and put it on the back porch?!

Shopping is almost all done, yay!

I got most of my Christmas shopping done this weekend as Tim was away in Quebec City for another curling weekend. And I even wrapped everything. I also got a great idea from Catherine was to what to get my parents.

We finally got the front part of our roof done today. I now don't have to worry that I will wake up to our bedroom ceiling falling down on us anytime soon. I also take great solace in the fact that our neighbour's roof is in much worse shape than ours was...
THEIR ROOF

OUR ROOF

Totally Un-PC

Are all metro buskers mentally ill or what?! I made the mistake of walking through the tunnel from Atwater metro to Westmount Square again this evening. And he was there, the "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" dude. He plays this same damn tune over and over and over and over and, well you get my point. And he strums this little blue guitar. I can't even tell what language he's singing in, but I'll give him credit that the song is actually recognizable. I came this close (I'll let you decide how close it actually was) to asking him if that is the only song he ever plays. It's certainly the only song I've ever heard him play! And then it just gets stuck in my head. And why don't even ask me why I know this song! And he looks like Henry from the comics would like if he were a real person and in his 60's! Next time I think I will just grab his guitar and smash it to bits. Dare me?!
Rant over.

Crazy beginning to the weekend

Friday of all days, with freezing rain pouring down and gale force winds blowing, my 4:23 bus either showed up way early or not at all. Which meant I had to stand out there shivering and cursing for about 25 minutes. By the time the next bus showed, the back of my pant legs were sopping wet, my skin was stinging and my umbrella had literally exploded into pieces.

Then as I got home and turned the corner at the top of our street, this is what greeted me...



courtesy of Tim Colby [tcmp.net]

Apparently it made quite a noise and shook the house when it came down! Our neighbour Karina's car had its back end damaged.

So that was Friday night's excitement.

Last night was my work Christmas party at Terra Mare on Sources Blvd. The food was pretty good and all the employees got a door prize and a Loblaws gift certificate. And spouses were invited, all paid for. Not a bad time of year to have started working!

And I spent most of today cooking up what I had begun yesterday: tourtières, apple pie, chili & spaghetti sauce. Now we have to decide which one we're going to have for supper. It all smells so good!