Jul 18

The “Rose of Sharon” trees in my yard have finally started blooming and, as promised, here are some pictures of them (they are the flowers that look like hibiscus flowers – because they are actually a variety of hibiscus).  They are beautiful!  The trees are covered in flowers and (as you can see in the top left corner) there are a tonne of buds still ready to bloom.  I have also posted pictures of a few other flowers in my yard that have bloomed since my last post about my yard.  And yes, those are actual pears growing on the trees in my yard!

Recently I’ve experienced two of the “tourist attractions” around here. One was called Storybook Gardens which is a kind of zoo/spray park/super-huge-playground with a couple of kiddie rides.  I was a little underwhelmed by the actual park since the website made it out to be some kind of mini-disneyland.  Which it was not.  What the website did not include in their write up was that the tour would include some ducks humping each other to death.  At first I thought it was a parent picking on it’s baby because it was so aggressive in trying to peck it and climb on it and then oh-my-word-the-ducks-are-doing-it!!!  They should have some kind of warning.  Storybook gardens: rated PG-13.  But the kids had a great time and totally enjoyed themselves.

The other place I went to was Stratford, Ontario which is only about 45 minutes away.  Every summer they have the Stratford Festival where there are a variety of Shakespearean and other plays performed by professional actors.  I went with a couple of friends to see The Merchant of Venice.  I never read TMOV in high school so I didn’t know much about the story but one of my friends gave me the short synopsis and that was enough to get me through.  The performance was quite good and I followed the language without too much trouble.  I was surprised to see Graham Greene (see picture bottom middle)  performing as the character Shylock.  Greene has been in a tonne of movies and TV shows over the years. I remember him from Maverick with Mel Gibson where Greene played the Indian Chief Joseph but you may remember him from such films as Dances With Wolves, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, The Green Mile and that old CBC show Northern Exposure (and about a million others).  He is a fantastic actor and the way he performed his character made Shakespeare sound like modern day language. I didn’t have to concentrate. I just sat back and took it all in.  It was truly a pleasure to watch him.  I would definitely go back to Stratford just to see the interesting ways different plays are interpreted. The set was very simple in this version of TMOV but the costumes were very different. They didn’t fit into any particular era but they certainly weren’t traditional Shakespearean garb.  Everything from wacky dress designs to men’s tights and a t-shirt to a business suit circa 1940.  If you’re ever in the area I highly recommend taking in as many plays as you can.  If you are under 30 you can get tickets as low as $20 per play which is an amazing price.

Jul 16
  • The local Tim Horton’s has a Safe-Disposal Unit for dirty needles.
  • The weeds are taller than you in many yards (possibly including your own, but let’s not focus on my shortcomings).
  • There are TWO houses in a half block radius whose addresses have 1/2 in them!  I’m not joking!  There is a 820 and 1/2 AND a 932 and 1/2!!!  I laugh ever time I walk by them! 
Jul 16

Yesterday the stars aligned and PMS collided with a very overtired and cranky toddler and it was not good.  We were all a tad on the grouchy side.  The night before I had finally gotten the date that I’ve been waiting, oh, three months for.  My parents are visiting and so we had free babysitting which was awesome.  It was great to get out with the Man and have dinner and go to a movie.  But we were up really late because we foolishly decided to see the new Harry Potter and our kids, as usual, were up at way-too-effing-early-AM.  As a result I (in the words of a friend) “let the bitch out”.  And it wasn’t pretty.

I have realised that I am not a big enough fan of Harry Potter to have waited in line for an hour before even being allowed into the theatre (the actual theatre where you sit down, not the building itself). We showed up 45 minutes before our desired show time.  But they were all sold out until the late showing. So we bought tickets for the 10:00 show and were told to come back by 8:00.  I thought that was ridiculous. I obviously don’t know how many hardcore HP fans are out there. There was already a line outside the cinema where our movie would be playing (still inside the building) at 8:00.  It wasn’t too long so we chilled for a while before joining the growing masses.  It was at this point that the Man decided to pick a fight with the powers that be and drag a couple of chairs into line with us.  Of course when he was told to get rid of them he argued with the poor teenage minion who was sent to do the evil media overlord’s bidding.  I was embarrassed.  He was filled with self-righteous indignation.  Romantic night out off to a good start, right? 

Anyway, we did finally see the movie and it was good. However. I would have been just as happy to see it a few weeks from now and not have had to buy tickets three hours in advance.  Whatever.  In summary: Hormones bad. Harry Potter good.  No sleep bad (for babies and mommies).  Date night good. 

Jul 13

Many homes in London have different varieties of crawling plants on the outside of their house.  I had always thought that this was a charming accent to a dwelling until I started to notice how many homes here use plants as a type of siding rather than as a decorative accent.  They seem to be of the opinion that plants, like children, should be allowed to run wild. Let me give you a couple of examples:

Charming Accent….

Houses Being Devoured By Vines…

They’re not the greatest pictures because I didn’t want to walk around my neighborhood taking pictures of peoples homes and get asked what the hell I am doing.  I’m not a great liar.  So I tried to act all casual with the kids in the wagon and stopping briefly to adjust a hat and snap a photo.  Oh dear, you dropped your sippy cup.  Let me just take a picture of the house across the street.  Who am I kidding?  I’m sure people who noticed me thought I was totally cuh-reeeeepy!  Oh well.

Anyway, it’s really just a matter of taste.  Some people prefer a more tailored look while others are going for the ancient ruins look that is totally in this season.

Jul 11

No matter how much the whining is getting on my nerves, watching my one year old son attempt to do this

totally made my day.  I laughed and laughed.  FYI, he wasn’t successful… but I think I’ll try and make him do it again tomorrow. His sister did this obsessively at this age.  The comparisons start already. :)   Actually I just enjoy laughing at him.

Jul 10

So I forgot to tell you, dear internet, that we finally got our water tested for lead and received the results back not too long ago.  The testing actually happened within about a week of me putting our name on the list. I was quite impressed with that. They came on a Saturday morning, too. You know the city is really taking something seriously if they’re coming out on the weekends to do lead-testing.  Anyway, a month or so later we got a letter giving us the results.  Water is considered unsafe it is more than 10.0 micrograms per litre (I think that’s what the units were called).  Normal water in the pipes in the city of London is at about 1.0.  Our water was 9.3!  So yeah… basically it is “technically” safe although very close to the limit. And because our water was tested mid-day I’m a little curious what kind of reading they might have gotten if they had checked first thing in the morning after the water had been sitting in the pipes all night. 

I informed our landlord of the results and expressed a bit of concern.  But, of course, my landlord simply replied that he was “glad it is safe”!  :) Super.  The city will replace the section of the pipes that are on city property if the owner first replaces the portion of pipe that is on their property.  This is quite expensive (we’re talking thousands of dollars).  My landlord tried to tell me he believes our pipes are copper but it’s hard to believe that the city pipes are all that are responsible for such a high lead reading.  But he is obviously not willing to spend much energy to follow up on this problem.  So, needless to say, we’ll be continuing to use our Brita filter.  Religiously. 

Jul 9

In winter in Saskatchewan we always have two temperatures.  The actual temperature and the “with windchill” temperature.  Out here in Southern Ontario we have the same thing, only in summer. The real temperature and the temperature with the humidex.  Today it is 33 degrees outside but with the humidex it feels like 37!  That is crazy hot.  Too hot to be outside in the sun. Dangerously, flesh melting off your body kind of hot.  Yuck.  I guess you win some and you loseWeight Exercise some when you change climate zones. I may be doing a little dance of glee if I actually get a brown Christmas. I have heard they have them out here quite frequently! 

Jul 7

All these beautiful flowers are actually growing in my back yard!  Can you believe that?  It’s quite lovely.  Somebody has taken a lot of care to plant all kinds of perennials and there seems to be something different blooming every week. The trees around the edge of the yard are some kind of huge rose trees (I think my neighbour called them Rose of Sharon or something). They are covered in buds and about to bloom as well. I’m looking forward to that as I expect it will smell awesome around here.  Our backyard is small but pretty and we are really enjoying it.  The picture to the right here is taken from a small deck that comes right off the back of the house.  I will try and post pics when the Rose of Sharon trees start blooming which should be any day now.

Jul 6

I was reading the London Free Press today and on the front page there was an article about how a lot of people are planning to get married this Saturday, July 7 (07/07/07) because they feel it is lucky or easy to remember or hip or something.  Anyway, they interviewed several couples whose nuptials are fast approaching and one bride-to-be was quoted as saying “I don’t think we’re necessarily superstitious.  We just thought seven would be a lucky number.”  Pardon???  Is that not the definition of superstition?  To attribute special powers (a.k.a. “luck”) to objects or, in this case, a date?  Hmmm…let us consult the dictionary… Ah yes… there we go:

su·per·sti·tion      [soo-per-stish-uhn] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation –noun

1. a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like.

Yes. Well.  Thank you for clearing that up.  I’m sure this woman would also tell you that, like, math is hard! Moving on….

I mentioned recently that Kieran was walking and I just have to say that I had completely forgotten how cute it is to see your “baby” toddling into the room, grinning from ear to ear, looking like such a teeny tiny human being.  Especially when they have a fresh diaper on and it’s making that cute little “crinkle” sound.  As opposed to the non-fresh diaper which announces it’s presence by it’s aroma.

Also.  I think someone needs to invent some kind of a gauge which tells you when your propane tank is low because there are few things more annoying than marinating your meat, firing up the old BBQ and getting halfway through cooking it and suddenly having no more heat.  I was not happy.  I briefly considered lighting a squirrel on fire and tossing it in there but decided it would be too messy and who has the time and energy to catch a squirrel?  Seriously though, isn’t there something that can tell one when the propane is almost gone?  Anyone?

Jul 5

Here are a few of my thoughts on a couple of the stories I read Avery tonight before bed.

I’ve spent more than a few minutes in bookstores and libraries looking for age appropriate books that would adequately explain the basics of reproduction to Avery without overwhelming her with too much information. This has proved to be harder than you would think. There are plenty of books for kids about sex out there and many of them look really good. But, unfortunately, all that I found were a little more than my three year old is ready for.  When I came across So That’s How I Was Born! I had to laugh because it’s the very same book that my parents read to me as a child.  I thought there must be something better out there by now but I haven’t found it yet.  This book is perfect for preschool aged kids and explains how babies are made using all the correct terminology.  The illustrations are adorable (in my opinion) and only ever so slightly outdated (in one picture a little girl is wearing leg-warmers.  Avery asked why her pants were down around her ankles!).  The only problem I have with the book is it’s very watered down description of labour.  Contractions are described as “small stomachaches” and when the main character asks his mother if it hurts a lot she lies outright, telling him that although there is some pain, it’s “really not that bad”!!!  While I recognize that it probably wouldn’t be best to tell a little kid that “your mommy asked the doctors to kill her because, good Lord, the pain was excrutiating”, every time I read this section I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  But all in all, I recommend this book to parents who want an easy way to explain the birds and the bees to their kids.

A book that I had completely forgotten that we own made it’s appearance again recently.  It was given to Avery when she was very little and she is now old enough to enjoy it.  The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish is a hilarious story about a boy who, obviously, trades his Dad to his friend for some fish. The real tale is in the boy trying to get his Dad back.  The author is very witty and I can’t help but laugh when I read this book which is nice.  For example…“Some people have great ideas maybe once or twice in their life, and then they discover electricity or fire or outer space or something.  I mean, the kind of brilliant ideas that change the whole world.  Some people never have them at all.  I get them two or three times a week.”  I ask you, how can you not enjoy that?  I think my daughter is a little afraid of the cover with the man having a goldfish bowl for a head. The first time she really looked at it I think she thought it was a horror story.  But I believe this is the European cover because on amazon it has a much more normal looking cover.  The illustrations in this book are very different than a typical children’s book.  They are so different from what I am accustomed to that I can’t decide if I really like them or completely hate them.  But it’s definitely nice to read something different once in a while.  A good read for adults and kids alike.

« Previous Entries Next Entries »