Days 5 & 6 - At Sea and Copenhagen

After Belgium, we had a day at sea. We started the day with a late breakfast, then went to a lecture on our next two stops – Denmark and Sweden. We had lunch, then discovered a pool (the terrace pool) at the end of our floor. The day was cool, but it was quite pleasant in the sun, so we found some lounge chairs and read in the sun for a while.

After that, we went to a second lecture – on Norway – then went to trivia. We were terrible (6 out of 20).

It was formal night, so we got dressed up and went for dinner, then went to the night's show – Siobhan Phillips. She was fantastic – far and away the best performance I've seen on a cruise ship.

Copenhagen – August 28, 2012

We were supposed to dock by 9, so at 8 I went up on deck. I watched us approach the port and dock and looked around for the Little Mermaid. She was nowhere to be seen, so I went back to the cabin and we went for breakfast.

After breakfast, we went out to look at the shops along the dock. After that, we got back on the ship and spent a few hours lounging around and eating a small snack before our tour at 12:20.

We choose the city tour. Unfortunately, it was raining, but we still got to see the Little Mermaid, the Gefion statue, and the royal palace. Next, we went to Tivoli Gardens, where we had 90 minutes on our own.

Little Mermaid

Gefion Fountain

At the palace

At the palace (with bonus umbrella)

Tivoli Gardens is a permanent amusement park. It has rides, gardens, shops, and cafes. We didn't do any rides (although some of them looked fun), but walked around and took lots of pictures.

Tivoli Gardens

Wanda at Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli Gardens

The rain cleared up, so we decided to walk back to the hotel. It was a long walk – it took about 2 hours – and it started to rain again en route.

The other issue was that I didn't have any local currency, and the toilets along the way were pay toilets.

Nyhavn

It was a sad, sad day, but eventually we ended up by the palace again, and so I stopped at the toilets I knew were there. That made the rest of the walk a little better. We passed the fountain again, and the Little Mermaid.

By the time we got back to the ship, my legs were extremely tired. We got changed and immediately went for dinner, since I knew that if I sat down, I wasn't going to want to get up again. After dinner, we went to trivia (Tri-Bond trivia, specifically). This time, we got 20 out of 20 and won a bottle of champagne.

Day 3 & 4 - Southhampton, UK; Bruges, BE

I mentioned that we took the tube to our hotel. The station we ended at was Victoria station, and it was about 2 blocks to the hotel. Behind Victoria underground station is Victoria train station. I assumed Victoria Coach Station wouldn't be far.

It wasn't – about blocks further – but when you're pulling a suitcase and carting a carry-on, it's farther than it seems.

This morning, we got up and made our way to the coach station for our transfer to Southampton. (Yes, we decided to take a ship out of Southampton. What could possibly go wrong?)

We got on the ship around 2:30. By the time we got ourselves organized, it was almost time for the life boat drill. That seemed to take forever. (I get that it's important, but I would have been less antsy if I had had time for lunch first.)

We registered for our excursions, then it was finally time for a snack – it was too late for lunch by that point.

After that, we explored the ship, then had a relaxing dinner two other groups of travelers, all from the UK. It was a nice meal (with vegetables!). Next stop: Belgium.

Bruges

We took an all-day tour of Bruges, Belgium. Bruges has an inner city surrounded by canals, surrounded by an outer city, also surrounded by canals.

There are a lot of canals, in other words.

I started the day by leaving my camera on the boat. Camera-less, we took the 30 minute drive from Zeebrugge to Bruges. (Why does one have two g's and the other one? It is a mystery.)

Our tour guide gave us a little background on the area, then we did a walking tour of Bruges in the rain. We walked on the city wall, crossed bridges over the canals, and learned that the step-gabled houses are newer than the houses with the straight gables. After about an hour and a half, we stopped our tour at the belfry – a landmark in the center of town. At that point, the group split up for time on our own.

Step-gabled houses

We went for lunch – including French fries, which our guide explained were traditionally Belgian. (We did not have mussels and fries, which is a local dish.) Lunch was good, but after lunch, I managed to miss a step leaving the restaurant and landed on my bad ankle.

We walked through the market area, looking at (and eventually purchasing) lace and chocolates. At 2:30, we met up with our group again for a canal cruise. By this time, the rain had stopped. The canal cruise gave us an alternate look at the city – I was very glad the weather had improved.

Bruges has a traditional parade and ceremony (held every 5 years) celebrating the marriage of Catherine of York to Charles (?). Today was the day. I would have liked to see the parade, but our guide was concerned we'd get caught up in the traffic, so he led us through streets lined with people to a different part of the city, where we had more time on our own.

Since I couldn't watch the parade, I went with the next best option – a Belgain waffle. We have chip trucks, they have a similar type of way of serving waffles.

My ankle was pretty sore by that point, so I was glad to get back on the coach for the 30 minute drive to the boat. When we got to the boat, I got up – and spectacularly realized I was still belted in.

Days 1 & 2 - London, UK

Our flight left at 11:25 at night. (Apparently, there's an 11:25 at night now). We got to the airport super early – not long after 9 – and had a nice long wait there.

The flight was uneventful – you don't get much time to sleep on the direct flight between Ottawa and London. It's a 7 hour flight, and it takes them about 2 hours to serve dinner and 2 hours to serve breakfast. Since Air Canada thinks a bland carrot muffin is “breakfast”, I'm not really sure how it can take so long, but such is life.

We took the tube from Heathrow to the station closest to our hotel. It was pretty easy – one transfer, which was the easiest subway transfer ever – and walked 5 minutes to the hotel. Naturally, our room wasn't ready, so we stored our bags and walked down the road. Our first stop was lunch – awesome fish and chips for me – and then we kept walking. We passed the headquarters for the British Girl Guide Association, then continued on to Buckingham Palace, which was just down the road. (Actually, the front of the palace is down the road - the back of the grounds is across the street).

By that time, it was late enough that we could check in, so we went back to the hotel, where I gratefully washed my face and changed my shirt. (Sorry, London, the shower had to wait.) It was about 3 by then, so we started a hop-on, hop-off tour, which is good until the end of the next day. We thought it would be 2 hours.

It took 3 and a half. We were tired and cold, so we went back to the hotel, dropped off our cameras, and went for supper. (Italian-style pizza, for anyone who was wondering.)

By then, it was almost 8, and we'd been up for … a long time, so we called it a day.

Day 2 started with a shower. (Yay for running water!)

We ate, then got back on the hop-on, hop-off tour and went to Hyde Park. We walked through the park to the Serpentine, saw Rotten Row, then walked back to the bus stop.  I was surprised how many paths in the park are still gravel/sand for horses.

The Serpentine, Hyde Park

We got back on the bus and went to Picadilly Circus. We walked around there for a while - it's very touristy, kind of like Times Square in New York - then, that's right, got back on the bus.

This time, we went all the way to the Tower of London. We grabbed some lunch, then went inside. We were lucky enough to get there just as a tour was starting, so we joined the tour. Our guide was really good, and pointed out Traitor's gate, the White Tour, the Bloody tour, the ... spot on the lawn where they executed the people lucky (?) enough to have been executed in the tower, and the chapel, telling us stories all the while. I'd share some of the stories, but I don't remember many of them well enough to share them. (I remember generalities when it comes to history, but for things like that, you need details.)

The White Tower

After the tour, we went through White Tower, an exhibit on prisoners in the tower, and an exhibit on instruments of torture. We walked on the inner wall, then decided that was enough.

We took a boat cruise (included in our hop-on, hop-off tour) back to the Parliament buildings, then walked over to Westminster Abbey. By that time, we were tired, so we took the bus back home, grabbed some food, and called it a night.

London by the numbers:

Number of slots in a post-office box - 2 (for stamped mail and franked mail - not all mailboxes, but some)

Number of times I've needed an umbrella - 1 (to run across the street for supper tonight)

Number of times I've inadvertently eaten peppers - 2 (I need to be more careful)

Number of bags of McCoys crisps I've purchased - 3

Number of bags of McCoys crisps I've eaten -1

Number of vegetable dishes I've eaten - 0 

Number of times I've been to the Tower of London (lifetime) - 3

Number of times I've been to the Tower of London (this trip) -1

Number of pictures I can upload using this dreadfully slow internet access - 0

Cost of dreadfully slow internet access - 6 pounds for 90 minutes

I just got a call from an unknown number.  Usually, I let those go to voicemail, but today I actually answered.

I was just about to hang up when an automated voice told me that a credit card company wanted me to answer a 3 minute survey about my recent call to them.

The thing is, I didn't call them.  I don't even have a credit card with them.  They were calling about Wanda's recent call.

Since it was automated, my choices were:
- yell at Wanda and hope she picked up before it asked me a question, or
- hang up.

I chose the second option.

I guess most people have cell phones these days, so they're the only one who answers the phone?

Either that, or they don't actually want feedback.

And now, since someone asked, here are pictures of my new hair cut / colour. It was crazier in person - it has calmed down a bit. But it still looks purple in the work bathroom.

I'll be the one limping

My foot hurts.

It started hurting yesterday on the way to the gym for this month's class of torture (30 seconds squats with shoulder presses, 30 seconds alternating row, 30 seconds alternating chest press in the bridge position, 30 seconds lunges, 30 seconds lunges on the other foot, 30 seconds renegade row, 30 seconds pullover in the bridge position with alternating crunch-like things with your knees - then repeat the whole sequence another 5 times).

Naturally, I went to the gym anyway - it didn't hurt that badly, and I hadn't really done anything, so I figured it would be fine.  It didn't hurt at all during class.  (Um, that may have been because everything else hurt - see above).

This morning, it started hurting again. Naturally, I went to the gym for cardio class.

Yes, I am a slow learner.

(As an aside, I've never done the cardio class before.  It was basically low-impact aerobics, and it was ... fine.  Not my favourite thing, but fine.)

Now? My foot hurts.

I'm starting to think signing up for the work Olympics (which seems to involve bouncy-castle-like-things for adults) might not have been the best idea.

But I'm going to be there tomorrow anyway.

Like I said, I'm a slow learner.

More about vegetables

Well, it's been quite a few weeks and I'm still getting my CSA box.

I have to say I love it. I've even found a way to cook swiss chard that I don't hate (fry onions, garlic and mushrooms; add cut-up swiss chard when the other vegetables are mostly cooked). I've tried several vegetables I've never tried before, and I'm eating a lot more vegetables overall.

The only downside? The lettuce. I simply can't eat that much lettuce (nor do I want to, because I'm not a huge fan of lettuce). I've taken to pawning lettuce off on people - if you invite me to your house, I will show up with a bag of lettuce. If you don't invite me, I might show up with a bag of lettuce anyway. Soon I'll be putting a bag of lettuce on a stranger's front step, ringing the doorbell, and running away.

This week's box included:

• mushrooms
• potatoes
• tomatoes
• lettuce
• more lettuce
• an onion
• beans
• patty pan squash
• beets
• corn on the cob 
• cucumbers
• zucchini
• swiss chard
• carrots

Some of the lettuce and the swiss chard immediately went to a neighbour, who thought I was being nice. Some of the tomatoes got cooked with some onion, garlic, zucchini, and beet tops and frozen as spaghetti sauce. We've eaten more of the tomatoes, the carrots, one of the cucumbers, and the the corn on the cob.
I guess that means that for supper, we'll have squash, beets,beans, mushrooms, potatoes, and a salad with the remaining cucumber and lettuce.

Well, maybe that should be more than one meal.

Yes, I'm still alive

Well, after the initial misstep, I've remembered to do the exercises every day. (I've even done the exercises every day, which is a whole different thing).

I worked the stat holiday last Monday.  I didn't have to work it, but since I was covering for one of my coworkers, I wanted to work it so the rest of the week wouldn't be too busy.

(That coworker returns tomorrow.  I'm thinking of throwing her a "Never Leave Again" party.)

I also have a new manager at work - I'm still doing the same job, just in a different group - so that has taken up some time.

It's been rainy in Ottawa lately - not all the time, but enough that I wore a jacket to work one day last week.  (Not Tuesday, when I got soaked going home from boxing. Some other day when the farthest I had to walk outside was from the car to the house.)

In other sad news, summer is almost over.  That means Sparks will start up soon.  I'm not sure I want to continue with Sparks, so I probably should get on that and figure it out.

Oh, and I got my hair cut & coloured yesterday - dark, with a slightly crazy red that I love.

In other words, not much is new.

Sigh

Guess what I totally forgot to do yesterday?

If you guessed the exercises I resolved to do 24 hours earlier, you're right.

(I did them this morning, then again tonight.)

In which I take ages to get to the point

Back in June, my right knee started to hurt.

I had injured it years ago (back when I still was working at the big telecom company and doing Irish dance once a week), had physio, and, although it has never fully recovered, it pretty much didn't hurt unless I tried to keep it bent. (I am fun to sit beside on airplanes and at movies.)

But in June, it started to hurt again - mostly manifesting itself as stiffness after I'd been sitting for a while - and I thought "oh well, haven't been to physio in months", ... and then did nothing about it.

In July, my Monday class at the gym started doing a really painful workout. Six rounds, with one round being:

• 30 seconds shoulder presses
• 30 seconds front squats
• 30 seconds dead lifts
• 30 seconds bent over rows
• 30 seconds split squats (leg #1)
• 30 seconds split squats (leg #2)
• 30 seconds push up/mountain climbers (so as you lower yourself into the push up, you also bring one leg up towards your elbow.)

Everybody (including me) was sore the day after we did this the first time. And the day after that. And a little the day after that.

The thing is, while I was doing the dead lifts, I noticed that my right hamstring hurt, but the left one didn't. My whole  knee issue wasn't my knee at all - it was actually the hamstring.

And after I started doing this workout (3 times in July so far), my knee stopped hurting.

So, after the longest intro ever, I'll get to the point.

In order to hopefully fix this more permanently, I'm going to do hamstring exercises every day in August.

I'm also going to do some shoulder/flexibility exercises, because ... well, it just seems like a good idea.  I have no natural flexibility.

Day 1 is done. 30 days to go.

Organized

This house was built in 1959.  I believe, I'm the third owner. 

Right now, there are three steps in the kitchen, then a little landing, then you walk into the porch, which is where the rest of the stairs to the basement are.

The porch was added by the second owners. From what I've heard, the stairs to the basement originally started in the kitchen, basically attached to the three stairs that are there now.  Moving the steps allowed for a bigger dining room.

That's great. But, when the porch was added on, they didn't allow any space for stuff - jackets, boots, shoes, gardening supplies, etc  All the porch is is two doors and a set of stairs. 

 

Looking from the kitchen into the porch

Not long after I moved in, I added 4 hooks on the wall to the left of the outside door,and a picture with 4 hooks on the wall to the right of the door. Back at the beginning of July, I took down the picture and replaced it with 7 hooks:

This weekend, I put up some IKEA kitchen rods and organizers:

Note the optimistic cycling supplies, in case I want to go for a bike ride on a moment's notice

It's still not great, but it's a little better than it used to be.

The Most Sensational, Inspirational, Celebrational ...

Last Tuesday (the day we caught the mouse), my mom and my niece arrived for a visit. We had a really good, surprisingly Muppet-filled week.

Tuesday night, I brought my niece to my boxing class so she could see what it was like. She fell asleep in the car.

Both ways.

Wednesday, we took it easy, although we did make a trip to IKEA. My niece B bought a mouse stuffed animal, then promptly left it on the table. I put it in a mouse trap.

Thursday was Calypso. My mom hurt her knee a month ago, so we rented a chalet so she'd have somewhere to rest out of the sun.  It was a really good day, and I got less sunburnt than last year.


Friday we again took it easy ... until Friday night, when my niece and I went to see The Muppets at Westboro beach.  It didn't start until after 9, so that was a very late night.

Naturally, that meant that we went to the Bonnechere Caves on Saturday.

In the caves

 The caves were interesting - they did a talk about fossils and how the cave was discovered, and then we got to visit the caves.  At other caves I've been to, they ask that you not touch anything, but here they encouraged us to touch the walls. 

B and her favourite auntie (Wanda)

 On Sunday, Wanda and B went for pedicures, then we all went downtwon and walked around the market.

Aren't these cool glasses?

Monday was another easy day - we went to Bayshore for an hour or two, then went to Britannia Beach until we got kicked out of the water due to thunder.

We then stopped at the grocery store, and the power went out.

Yes, we had a storm on Monday. 

While they were here, I tricked my niece into doing three Brownie badges. She doesn't mind doing the things you need to do to earn a badge, but she doesn't want to work on a badge because it's summer.

("What? This was for a badge? I can't believe I fell for that.")

I also made her cook several meals and help replace the towel bars in the downstairs bathroom. This earned me the title of her laziest auntie, because I make her do everything. (Wanda is her favourite.)

Somewhere in there, we also watched all but one episode of the Muppet Show, season 1.

It was a good visit.

Even if I'm not her favourite auntie.

So You Think You Might Have a Mouse in Your House

Let's say one day you come across a crust of bread (formerly sitting on the toaster to dry) that has been gnawed upon. You're pretty sure you haven't gnawed on it, so you think you might have a mouse.

Step one is to thoroughly wash the counter, because ew. Step 2 is to pull out the mouse traps (last used in 2004).  Set three traps (2 of those wooden ones, one clothes-pin like one) and bait them with peanut butter.

Wash down the counter.  Go to sleep.

If you wake up to find that all three traps have been licked clean, you have a mouse. A mouse who likes to taunt you. (Wash down the counter.)

Re-bait the clothespin-like mousetrap. (Do you really want to scrape a mouse out of the wooden ones?) Add a nut, hoping that the mouse will have to spend a little more time dealing with the nut and thus trigger the trap.

Wash down the counter. Go to sleep.

Wake up to find that the trap has been triggered, but there is no mouse. Wash down the counter. Re-bait the clothespin-like mousetrap.

Go to Canadian Tire. Buy a live mouse trap. (The 2004 incident was in February, when catching a live mouse wouldn't really be helpful - were you going to feed it until spring?) Bait live mouse trap.

Wash down the counter. Go to sleep.

Wake up. Check live mouse trap - it is undisturbed.

Glace at clothespin-like mousetrap. Lean closer to see if the mouse really ate all the peanut butter. Realize you're looking at the back of the mousetrap

BECAUSE THERE IS A DEAD MOUSE IN THE TRAP.

Scream.

Weasel Wanda into taking the mouse outside for disposal.

Wash down the counter. Wonder if you will ever sleep again.

Kablamo!

You know what makes it hard to fall asleep?

An loud explosion that makes the house shake.

That's what happened Thursday night at around 9:20.  (OK, I wasn't trying to sleep yet, but it was close.)

Naturally, I turned to Twitter to find out what was going on, but for the first time I can remember, Twitter had no ideas to share.

It took about half an hour for the adrenaline to wear off, so I wandered around the house. Half an hour later, Twitter was still clueless, so i went to bed not knowing what had happened (like some sort of pioneer). 

One of my coworkers is married to a fire fighter, and she found out what had happened for me.  It turns out it was the police, detonating some explosives confiscated from a house in Centrepointe.

Maybe I should start following the Ottawa police on Twitter.

Going back to work for a rest

I was off work all last week.  It was a fantastic week, and I got a lot done.  Here's what I did:

• went to see Brave
• made popsicles for when my niece arrives (1 can frozen orange juice, one big container plain yogurt)
• got the oil changed in the car
• made 3 dresses - 2 for my niece, one for Wanda
• added hooks in the back porch
• moved a picture (with hooks) from the back porch to the bedroom
• cleaned out the fridge (It's so clean, it makes me happy every time I look inside)
• updated LinkedIn
• replaced a board in the back step
• painted the back step and boards around the lawn / flower garden
• with Wanda, trimmed some of the trees and hedges in the front
• visited with some old friends 
• ate grape tomatoes fresh from the garden
• weeded the vegetable garden
• washed all of the old clothes that are no longer wearable and cut them up for rags
• washed the kitchen floor
• organized the Halloween costume
• went to Prescott for the day 
• went through my old cassette tape and recycled them
• read at least 10 books (none of which are the ones I've borrowed - I need to get on that)
• saved Princess Peach
• made 3 pendants
• painted my rain boots

Aren't they awesome? Sesame Street / Muppet craft books are the best.

There are still a few things on my to-do list, but I'm happy with everything I accomplished.

Got my daily dose of clueless early today

This morning, I was stopped at a light on Woodroffe.  It's in a construction zone, but since traffic is only one way, there's not really an impact to North-bound traffic. 

Anyway, I had been stopped at the light for a while - probably at least 30 seconds - and suddenly I felt a jolt.

That's right, the crazy woman behind me (who had also been stopped - remember, I'd been there a while - suddenly rear-ended me.

I looked in my mirror, still trying to figure out what was going on, and she waved in what I assume was intended as an apology. I got out of my car to see if there was any damage, and she yelled "Sorry!" out the window.

(For the record, a shouted "Sorry!" is not the appropriate response when you rear-end someone.)

As I suspected, there was no damage, but in the meantime, the light had turned green.  I got back in the car, closed the door, and put on my seatbelt.  As soon as I started moving, she switched to the other lane, sped past me, and cut me off. 

The rib bone's connected to the ...

Last night, I went to RibFest. 

I have to say, I was shocked at how many people were there.  Outside of Canada Day, I don't think I've ever seen downtown that crowded.  I didn't really expect that.  For one thing, ribs are pretty specific.  For another, the festival was on for four days.


My default parking location downtown is World Exchange Plaza - it's easy to get to, it's conveniently located, and it's free on weekends.  Today I had to park on level 4.  I never have to park on level 4.  I actually thought there was something else going on to bring so many people downtown.

Award-Winning Ribs

I was with a friend, so we split up and got ribs at two different stands. Both of them had long lines.  (Actually, all of the stands had long lines.)  Hers was faster than mine, so she waited with me.

When we both had food, we went to the War Memorial and picked a bench.

We then swapped, so we both got to try both kinds of ribs.  They were both good, but surprisingly different.

I did not need the bib.

Dental floss would have been nice, though.

Bejewelled Collar

This morning, I got up bright and early (6:30-ish, if I remember correctly).  I took my time reading and having breakfast, and managed to almost be late to my one day jewellery-making course.

The finished project

The finished project is above.  It basically involved threading wire through each bead, bending it back over the bead, then wrapping it around the original wire to anchor it.  The ends of the wire were twisted into spirals. (I loved the spirals - you can see two of them in the next picture:

Hint: One is just above the red rectangular bead

I enjoyed making it, and I like how it turned out.  I'm already thinking about what I want to make next.

Dear Princess Peach

I'm finally on my way to rescue you.  Feel free to help.

Yours in plunging to your death when confronted with meteors, lasers, and places where you have to walk carefully,
Mario

Salad Days

Last week, I signed up for a CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) basket.  The one I chose wasn't the cheapest, but it had three points I liked:

• It delivers to my door.  Since I'm both forgetful and lazy, that was a plus.
• I can do everything online, including suspending delivery if I don't want a basket.
• It lets me specify what I don't want to get. (Peppers of any sort, I am looking at you.)

My first basket arrived today.  The contents are in the picture above - 2 full bags, containing some things I don't recognize, asparagus, potatoes, tomatoes, broccolli, mushrooms, multiple kinds of lettuce, peas, carrots, and onions. 

Yes, I had a salad for supper.

A touching story

Wanda bought a hard-cover book yesterday.

That was very exciting for me, because while she's reading a physical book, she's not reading her Kobo.  I immediately offered to keep it company, because I knew she'd bought a couple of books I wanted to read.

I have the wireless Kobo, and she has the Kobo Touch, so it took a while to get used to how to use hers.  It's much faster at page turning than mine, which resulted in me accidentally turning too many pages a few times.  It also has a dictionary feature, which lets you look up words your finger rests on for too long.  I took advantage of this functionality to accidentally look up unfamiliar words like "rule" and "it".

Over all, I really enjoyed it - not enough to go out and buy one, but it is definitely a step up from my model. 

When I was done the books I wanted to read, I went back to my Kobo and found myself tapping on the screen to turn the pages.

Things I've said while playing Super Mario Galaxy

At some point (last weekend? two weeks ago?), I started playing Super Mario Galaxy.  It's taken up more of my time than I'd like to admit. That's not why I skipped Blog Out loud last night - I had my last boxing class before summer, and if I'd gone to BOLO instead, my elbow, knee, and ankle wouldn't hurt today, so as you can see, boxing was the obvious choice.

(As an aside, two people in my department at work have required unexpected medical attention so far this week, so when my knee started bothering me last night, I thought "If I have to call in and say I'm going to miss work to go get my knee looked at, my manager is going to have a heart attack."  I fully expect her to bring rolls of bubble wrap in on Monday.)

Wanda laughs at me if she happens to be upstairs while I'm playing.  First of all, I tend to plunge to my death.  A lot. Secondly, some of the things I say are apparently weird if taken out of context.  Things like:

• Stop falling and don't get eaten by bugs. Words to live by.
• There's no "almost" in bees.
• Why can't I ... crap.
• Stupid Mario. I don't know why they call you super.
• No! I hit the button! I HIT THE BUTTON!!!

It's all worth it, of course.  If I get another 16 stars, the space station will start flying again and we can go rescue Princess Peach (who is kind of a dolt - she sends the same letter over and over again, and she really should get off her butt and rescue herself instead of waiting for Mario, who is probably plunging to his death somewhere).

Totally a good use of my summer.

3053 Words

Remember that surprise birthday party 6 weeks ago? At first, I was waiting until it deflated before I tossed it. Now I'm wondering if it will last all year.

The green cloth is shade cloth - my backyard gets a lot of sun.

The clover is a little spotty, but it's growing.

A zoo of a weekend

This weekend was Doors Open Ottawa.  Building around the city that aren't usually open to the public open their doors.  Some offer tours, others allow you to look around at your own pace.

I haven't been in several years, in part because for the last three years, some fool keeps booking Spark camp for the first weekend in June. (Yes, it is me.)

This weekend was also Spark camp at the Papanack Zoo.  We decided to make it a day camp - it's cheaper, and a lot less packing - so we all met at the zoo at 10 (except one girl who was sick, one girl who was MIA, and one girl who got scared by the rain).

It was pouring when I left my house, but when we got to the zoo, it wasn't nearly as bad.  There was some drizzle, but not too bad.

After lunch, it progressed to misting - constant really light rain. Everyone was a pretty good sport about it, but by the time we got to feeding the animals at around 3, it was raining pretty hard.  We packed it in and went for pizza early.

(We went to the Friendly Restaurant and Pizzeria in Rockland, and the pizza was really good, so keep that in mind if you're ever out that way.)

Last night, I put away most of the camping stuff (although my hiking boots really need to be cleaned and put away, and I still have a cooler of drinks in my living room), and this morning, I headed out to Doors Open Ottawa.

The old Ottawa train station was open to the public and I've always wanted to go in, so we started there. After we looked around (and ate some popcorn), we went through the tunnel to the Chateau Laurier and took a tour there.

We didn't get to look in any of the guest rooms, but saw the drawing room, heard about the history of the hotel (including the Titanic connection) and visited the pool.

As we were hearing the history of the pool, and older woman felt the need to put up her hand and say that she had swum in the pool.  That prompted two other women to tell us about how they used to swim in the pool. I didn't really care, since I naturally assumed that people I don't know had swum in the pool at some point. If not, they really didn't need to keep full of water.

Overall, it was a good weekend.  I might even make it to work tomorrow.

But I should really clean my hiking boots first.

50th Anniversary

The community association in my neighbourhood turns 50 this year.  Yesterday, there was a parade throughout the community to kick off the celebration. The local groups (Scouts, Guides, the two schools, and various other organizations) were asked to participate, and so my Sparks got to march in the parade.

I cleaned out the Sparks box a couple of weeks ago, and one of the things I found was a stack of pages of Girl Guide stickers, so I cut them up so that they were one per sheet. We were following a vintage car in the parade, and I gave each girl a stack of stickers with instructions to run out and hand them to any kids they saw, as long as they could make it back to the group before we were too far ahead.

They loved it.  They must have run three times the parade route by the time we were done. We didn't have trouble keeping up with the car in front of it. In fact, there were a couple of times when I had to remind them to stop before they ran into the car.  The girls all were pleasantly surprised to see their parents (although ... I'm not sure why, what else were their parents going to do?), and they were super proud of themselves.

We were one of the first groups, so when we got to the end, we ducked into the parking lot and watched the rest of the parade come in. The Shriners were there, as was the RCMP marching band and a bunch of other local groups. There were clowns, who then did a little show for the Sparks. (One of the Sparks, upon seeing a clown - "I was in the parade".)

The girls' parents met us at the end of the route, and then everyone took part in the other activities. They had some games (like whacking a lever to try to get a plastic frog into a bucket) as well as inflatable slides and obstacle courses.

I left at 3, and when I came back at 6 (to work in the kitchen), two of my Sparks were still there.

I miss Tuesday garbage day

These days, Thursdays mean work, boxing, then house cleaning. It's the perfect day to do it, since garbage day is Friday.

Today was no different. I went to work, hung around an extra 45 minutes, then went to boxing. (You know it's hot when the coaches bring super soakers. We all looked like lobsters by the end. It's been 2 hours and my face is still red.)

After that, I came home, ate, and then took the garbage out.

Then I came back in the house, consulted the calendar to find out whether it's blue box or black box week, and discovered garbage day has been moved to Saturday.

Crap.

I went back outside and brought the garbage cans (one can for garbage, one for yard waste, and the green bin) back to the house.

Friday is far too long after Monday for me to remember that last weekend was the long weekend.

The part that puzzles me is that they're clearly moving garbage day so that they don't have to pay the garbage collectors for working on the stat. holiday, but ... then they have to work on Saturday.  It must be cheaper to have them do that then to make them work the stat. - it's certainly not better for the workers.

I should ask my city councillor. I bet he'll be at the community anniversary celebration on Saturday.

Is it Monday yet?

You know, it seems like every Sunday night I say "I had so much more I wanted to get done today. I wish this were a long weekend."

This weekend is  long weekend and I have to say, I don't think I could survive this on a regular basis.

So far, I've:

• Bought groceries
• Bought bedding plants
• Planted the vegetable garden
• Planted the flower garden
• Went to Lee Valley and bought shade cloth
• Set up the shade cloth
• Helped a friend with her air conditioner
• Went down to the market
• Went to IKEA (to pick up one thing - it took 20 minutes, which I thought was pretty good)
• Turned on the outside water
• Dug the hose out of the shed
• Watered the vegetable garden
• Fixed the wall in Wanda's room
• Did laundry and hung it outside to dry
• BBQed (3 times, which might be a record for a weekend)

Left on the list for tomorrow:

• Fix the front door
• Organize the craft supplies
• Type up recipes
• Cook something for lunches
• BBQ the corn on the cob that I just realized is still in the fridge
• Plant clover in the lawn
• Pull grass out of the perennial gardens
• Paint the downstairs bathroom door
• Touch up the windowsill in my bedroom
• Hang the pictures I took down three weeks ago (during the first paint session)
• Paint the back step

To be clear, it's not like I've worked constantly - there has also been a reasonable amount of watching TV / playing wii / messing around on the internet. However, much like the week I took off, I'm going to be glad to go back to work to recover.

And that will be $0

Many years ago, I bought some Tupperware containers.  I had six of one type and four of the other, and I use them to bring my lunch to work.

Before Christmas, I noticed that some of the lids were peeling, so I e-mailed Tupperware and explained I wanted to exchange them.  They put me in touch with one of their reps, so I e-mailed her and explained the situation.

She replied and asked me to call her.

I hate calling people - particularly people who work out of their home - but I called her. She told me she was going to order the replacements and they would be about 10 days - which would have been the last week in December.

I followed up in January.

And February.

And then I started asking around to find another rep.

A friend recommended one, so I e-mailed her (... and she asked me to call her) and eventually I met up with her and dumped what had turned into 5 dishes & lids in her lap.

That was about 2 weeks ago.

Today, she dropped by my workplace and gave me replacements.  Yay! (Somehow, she gave me 6 replacements, so I need to get on that.)

While this whole saga was going on, my laptop cord died.  That would have been back in January, because I bought a replacement - 3 year warranty - on January 16.

It died yesterday. I had visions of having to send it off to get a replacement and not being able to use the laptop for weeks. (That would mean no internet AND no Kobo ... unless I walked downstairs or used Wanda's laptop, which clearly would be too much to ask.)

I've started putting the receipt into the packaging when I bring something home so that I only have one thing to find, so today I hunted down the package and read the warranty information. It said, "Bring it back to the retailer", so off I went.  Ten minutes later, I had a replacement power cord.

It was a productive day. And my laptop is fully charged again.

Good fences

Last year, one of my neighbours started playing a radio - loudly.

Now, I don't mind occasional noise - you're having a party, for example - but this was every nice day.  I'd go outside and be forced to listen to their music. I'd come inside and, if there was a window open in the house, I'd be forced to listen to their music.

I like quiet, especially when I'm reading outside.

(It wasn't a teenager - I'm pretty sure the culprit was a man in his sixties.)

If it was the people on my left or my right, I would have walked over and said, "Hey, can you keep it down?" However, it was the people whose backyard meets mine - which means they live on a totally different street.  I never got to the point of walking over (but I did daydream about "accidentally" using the hose to water their entire yard until the radio shorted out).

Fall came, and I forgot about it, until last weekend.

That's right, it started again.

I decided to take the direct - albeit lazy - approach and yelled "Please turn the radio down" every time I was outside.

The next step in my plan was to walk over, follow the loud music to find the right house, then ask them to keep it down. (I also mused on twitter about blasting Barney's "I love you, you love me" back at them for a while, but sadly that would probably just escalate things.)

Yesterday and today? It was quiet.  I got to sit outside and read a book for the first time in 2 years.

Man, I hope this lasts.

Sigh

Every spring and fall, there are camp clean-up days for the local Girl Guide camp.  I try to go if I can.

Today was one of those days.  I had to be there at 8:30 (In the morning, On a Saturday.),  so I got up and got ready.  When I got there, I was assigned to a site.

(The camp has 15 or so sites within it, so a bunch of groups can be up there at once.)

On our site, we had five things to do:

1. Chop up felled trees and stack the logs in the woodshed.
2. Fix the drain on the outdoor sink.
3. Find and uncover the grey-water disposal pit.
4. Fix the front steps to the building.
5. Fix the back steps to the building.
6. Fix the railing on the bridge to the next site.

Hmm, that's six things.  OK, we had six things to do.

We started with #6.

That task involved the following:

• Tear down the current railing.
• Pull out the nails from the old boards.
• Cut 20 new posts.
• Put notches in 20 new posts (4 got one notch, 16 got 2).
• Attach 20 new posts.
• Brace 20 new posts.
• Add top rails.
• Add lower rails.

 It took ... I'm not sure exactly because no one had a watch and cell phones don't work there, but I'd say it was about 5.5 hours.

About 5 hours in, I made a mistake.  I was sitting on the edge of the bridge, leaning out to attach a brace. I had the cordless drill (being used as a screwdriver) in my left hand and was holding the board with my right (dominant) hand.

The drill slipped.

I lost half the fingernail on my middle finger, and prompted a discussion about where the nearest first aid kit was.

It's nothing serious - just an annoyance - but it makes it tricky to type or drive. On the way home, I kept accidentally turning on the windshield wipers with the top of the gauze on my finger. It also prompted a stop at a drug store for those bandages that go over the tip of your finger, and for more gauze as I have already exhausted the entire supply in the house.

(I currently have gauze wrapped around the finger and taped down. I'm hoping to move to the bandages by Monday, when I have to type for work.)

But it's amusing to say "the drill slipped" when someone asks what happened to my finger.

Titanic

The Chateau Laurier is next to the Parliament Buildings.  It opened almost 100 years ago - a little later than expected because the man who commissioned it (Charles Melville Hays) was on the Titanic.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary, they have a special menu available on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays until the end of May. Tonight, Wanda and I went down to the Chateau Laurier for the Titanic Dinner.

When we ordered, the first thing our waiter did was switch the order of our forks - because on the Titanic menu, the salad arrives after the main course.

The first course was Oyster a la Russe (Raspberry Point Oyster, Vodka Vinegarrette, Caviar). It was fine - mostly, it tasted onion-y.

The second course was Consomme Olga.  The waiter brought us soup bowls with a small pile of vegetables (glazed carrots & celery root).  She also brought a small metal teapot.  Once the bowls were on the table, she poured the beef broth from the teapot into the bowl.  The resulting soup was very tasty.

We had the choice of Beef Lili or Roast Duck. We both got the beef, and it was absolutely amazing.  I've never had beef that was that good. The beans, potatoes, and carrots were good as well, but the beef was definitely the best part.

Next was the roasted squab salad. (I didn't know what squab was at the time, but I googled it when I got home.) Even without knowing what squab is, I wasn't a huge fan, but the rest of the salad was very tasty.

Last was the dessert - Waldorf pudding, chocolate eclairs, and vanilla ice cream. The desserts were fine - not exceptional, but adequate.  The raspberry sauce the plate was decorated with was quite good, though.  I'm not really a dessert person, so I'm not the best person to judge.

It was expensive - $64 a person - but I really enjoyed it, and it was fun to do something out of the ordinary.

A Conversation I Had While Painting

Wanda, concerned: "I heard ow ow ow ow ow?"
Me: "Yes, I ran into the top of my closet."

Me, explaining further: "It's on the floor."
Wanda, now totally confused: "So what I'm hearing is that the top of your closet is on the floor."

Things I did today

• Moved most of the furniture out of my bedroom.
• Went to the paint store.
• Vacuumed.
• Washed down the walls.
• Found my paint tray and roller.
• Painted the ceiling.
• Thought "Oh, I can move the ladder with the paint on it."
• Discovered I could not move the ladder with the paint on it.
• Wiped up paint.
• Figured out how to open the door when the handle has been removed ... while covered in paint.
• Combed paint out of my hair.
• Painted the ceiling again.
• Painted the trim.
• Returned excess bricks.
• Bought new cordless phones.
• Shoveled dirt.
•  Painted the trim again.
• Took three showers.
• Sat down after shower #3 and discovered my entire forearm was blue.

The best birthday present ever

Today is my 40th birthday.

I didn't really have any plans. People kept asking me what I wanted to do, and I mostly shrugged. I wanted to get my raised gardens built, and that was taking my focus.

The before picture

The bricks were delivered Saturday morning. I totally would have taken pictures of the forklift delivering them, but I had left my camera in the house.  After that, I had a hair appointment, then I was meeting a friend for lunch, then we were going to move a piece of furniture she was giving me.

I wouldn't be able to really get started with the bricks until Sunday, but I was reluctantly willing to wait.

After we finally got the furniture loaded (it fit in my friend's Yaris better than in my Protege), my friend ran inside to get an ice cream cake because she had somewhere else to go that night, and we went to my place.

(I thought nothing of it, because I am very gullible.)

We got to my place, I went inside, and ... there was my mom, 2 of my sisters from Regina, my cousin from Woodstock, his wife, and their daughter and granddaughter from Ottawa.

I was a little surprised.

And then I went outside to finish moving the furniture. 

Sunday, we started on the raised garden beds, and my family started wishing they had told me they were coming. (If I'd known, I wouldn't have planned to do the gardens, but since that's what I was doing, I guilted them into helping.)

There was digging.

My sister, who is much better at leveling than I am.

 And leveling.

Bed #2. Not yet totally exhausted.

And digging.

My sister, wishing she had made other vacation plans.

And leveling.
It took 4 of us 7 hours and two trips to the hardware store, but we got it done.

And then I realized they look like wishing wells.

This would be when I realized they look like wishing wells.

There's still more to do - I need more dirt, I have leftover bricks to return and I'll probably put stepping stones between them - but it made a huge difference to have three more people helping. 

Biting off more than I can chew

Every year, I think, "I should really change my vegetable garden", and every year I procrastinate long enough that it's too late to do anything about it.

This year, I decided to make a change.

First of all, I get vacation, plus I still work stat holidays on occasion, which means I have to take those off as well.  I'm also getting an income tax refund that will pay for the cost of the work.

(I know if you're all about the math that it makes more sense to adjust your income tax so that you don't get a refund.  However, life is more than math, and I'm OK with getting a refund.)

The plan started as an easy project, which then morphed into a more difficult/expensive project of building 4 raised beds using landscaping stones. I've been doing some shopping online for the stones I'll need, but I needed to see them in person before I could make a final decision as to which way to go.  On Wednesday, I checked out a couple of places.

Did you know that garden centers opened this weekend?

In other words, most garden centers weren't open on Wednesday.  Still, I got some ideas. On Friday, I went out again and checked another couple of places.

Yesterday, I got up, determined to stake out the areas for the beds.

Naturally, it was raining.

I waited (im)patiently for the rain to stop, then went outside and measured and staked the area.  Once I had the dimensions, I went back to the store and placed my order.

It arrives on Saturday, and I have the next week off.

Wish me luck.

I bought these flowers for Easter

They are still very pretty.

Dear cold virus, I have stuff to do. Please go away.

I'm taking a sick day today. I think this is my first sick day since 2007.

Of course, I've been sick since 2007, but I usually just work from home. Now, though, I have sick time, I didn't have anything critical, and my eyes felt like someone had sanded them while I was sleeping.

(I'm pretty sure no one actually sanded my eyes while I was asleep.)

I was sick all weekend, which was really, really boring. I spent the weekend reading/watching stuff about the Titanic, playing Super Mario, and moaning about how sick I was.

I'm feeling better today (except for the eyeball thing), so hopefully I'll be able to go back to normal life tomorrow.

Cabbage roll update

On Saturday, I made the cabbage rolls.

I mixed ground beef and ground pork and added some minced onions (the dried ones you buy in the spice aisle - I'm way too lazy to actually mince onions) and rice.

Then I started rolling.

Some of the cabbage worked well, but some of it was too stiff and broke, so eventually I gave up and made lazy cabbage rolls. I layered the cabbage, then the meat, then cabbage, then meat.


I then stuck the whole thing in the fridge.

On Sunday, I pulled it out and poured a can of tomatoes over it. I then stuck it in the oven for a couple of hours while the turkey roasted.

It was very good.

But it's possible that that casserole dish will never be the same.

They're in my hair!

I can always tell it's spring when the spiders move in.

For some reason, they live in tiny webs up where the wall meets the ceiling.

I'm not a huge fan of spiders - unless I'm at camp, then I'm all "oh, the spiders live here, this is their home" - so I usually try to weasel someone else into killing them, but if that's not possible, I'm quite capable of doing it myself.

The thing is, though, when the spider is on the ceiling, there are really only two choices:

• vacuum
• broom

The broom is easier - it's usually closer, to start with, and it doesn't require an electrical outlet, but if you take that route, you end up with an angry spider on a broom, and that tends to end with an angry spider in an undisclosed location.

I usually go for the vacuum.

Or I go for the unofficial third choice - pretend you didn't see the spider and go somewhere else.

On Tuesday night, I took the relocate approach. You see, I went into the kitchen. In one corner, there was a spider. In the opposite corner diagonally, there was another spider.

I assumed I'd stumbled into some sort of turf war.

I backed away and hoped they'd settle it without my involvement.

When I came home yesterday, the kitchen was spider-free.

At least, I hope it was.

Sour

A couple of weeks ago, I had the brilliant idea that I wanted to make cabbage rolls for Easter.

Now, in my family, cabbage rolls are made with sour cabbage, so the first step would be to make sour cabbage.

I called my mom and explained my plan. She reassured me that making sour cabbage only takes a week, and she gave me the recipe for sour cabbage, which I wrote down on an extremely secure location - the back of last month's water bill.

I planned to make the sour cabbage in the crock of my crock pot, so when I did my grocery shopping I bought a head of cabbage. I came home, only to discover that it was too tall for the crock pot. I needed another location to make the sour cabbage.

I went out to the grocery store again and found a set of stacking plastic canisters. I brought them home, and the head of cabbage fit in the third biggest one.

I followed the recipe, which involved hacking out the core of the cabbage, adding salt and vinegar, and filling the container with water. I'd share the proportions, but am unable to do so due to the extremely secure location of the recipe.

When that was all done, I weighted it down with a plate ... except I have wimpy Corelle plates, so I added a bowl to keep the cabbage under the brine solution.



I waited a day, then hauled the cabbage out of the water and rinsed it off. Back in the brine it went.

I repeated that every day, pulling off loose pieces of cabbage whenever possible. It was a slow process.

On Saturday, I forgot to rinse it until I got home from a movie. That's the day it really started progressing - a bunch of leaves loosened that day.

Today, I was able to loosen all of the leaves, which made the cabbage much bigger than the jar.

I stuffed the cabbage into sterilized jars and filled them with the brine. When that was done, I processed them in the canner.

Now I'm sitting in the living room, listening to the pop of the jars sealing. (We're at 5 of the 6 so far).

This weekend, I'll open a jar and make cabbage rolls. I've never done that, but I have a recipe.

It's in an extremely secure location.

Ninety five

Today would have been my grandpa's 95th birthday.

He was the youngest boy in a family of 15. His parents immigrated from "the old country" before he was born. They had seven or eight kids before they immigrated. (My sister, the informal family historian, thinks the eighth child was born on the way.) By the time he was born, they had a homestead. He grew up there, and when he became an adult, he took over the farm.

He married my grandmother in 1939. They had a double wedding. At the time, you couldn't eat between the time you got up and the time you took communion at mass, so weddings were often held in the morning, but they couldn't afford to feed their guests both lunch and supper, so they waited and got married in the afternoon.

They had three children and sixteen grandchildren. My family lived in Regina (a 2 hour drive away), and we visited roughly every second weekend. When I was twelve, my parents bought an old house in the tiny town 1/2 a mile away from the farm, and we were there every summer as well. (The joke was that we doubled the population of the town when we went out for the weekend.)

He loved horses. When we'd look at old pictures, he didn't always recognize the people, but he knew the names of every horse. I was the oldest grandchild, and when I was about five, he bought a pony. (Her name was Blondie. She had three colts, and when I was twelve I fell off one of them, landed on a fence, and broke my arm.)

For years, they had a dog. They were farm dogs - bigger dogs who stayed outside and followed my grandpa around while he did chores. (I did the same thing, but I got to go in the house, too.) When I was probably around 8, the dog was Charlie. Charlie was part-collie, liked people, and when we climbed a tree, he climbed the tree with us. He could also climb the ladder into the hayloft.

Sometime after Charlie, they had Amos. I was probably around 13 at that point, and Amos was my dog. It used to drive my grandparents crazy, because when I was out there, he'd come to our house and live there. He'd never bark when someone drove into their yard, but he'd wake the entire town if someone drove by on a road that might eventually allow them to reach our house. I spent hours petting that dog, and I held his head while grandpa pulled out the quills from his latest tangle with a porcupine.

The farm was full of fascinating things - an old blacksmith shop, old farm equipment, dozens of places to explore. They had a ... thingy that you use to make rope out of twine (I feel like there should be a word for that), they had a butter churn, they had crow bars and air compressors, a drill press and vises. The basement contained shelves of books. I spent hours lying on the bed reading.

Grandpa always made sure we had snacks - Old Dutch chips or bugles, usually - and sometimes we'd get a whole bottle of pop to ourselves. He was also a big fan of stopping for soft ice cream when we were in town. I never objected.

On the farm, you do pretty much everything yourself, and I remember helping reshingle the barn roof and put siding on the garage. (I'm not sure I was actually any help in either situation.) We weren't allowed on the barn roof normally, so this was exciting. (Um, and if you're reading this, mom, we never went on the barn roof except that one time.)

We rode in the back of the truck and in the front-end loader on the tractor. I got to drive the garden tractor - which was exciting when I was eleven, but now just looks like a big scam to get me to mow the grass. They had some old bikes that we could ride. One of them was one of those bikes with the high handlebars, but the handlebars wouldn't stay up, so we had to lean over to ride it. We called it the jelly roll. (Looking back, I'm not sure why they didn't just weld it into position.)

When I was sixteen, grandpa let me drive his new truck. When I was pulling into the (also new) garage, I hit the side of the door. He had to go out and use a sledge hammer to get it back in line.

My grandma died in 1994. My grandpa was lost without her, and he died in 1997. It's weird, but I still dream about him.