That one, over there, with the hair...

Winter Wanderings

2012-01-12T21:25:00.000+04:00

So, I've been doing a fair bit of flying and general moving about this last few months. So, here is a general catch up/run down, with a few fun photos of the events at hand.

I secretly love taking pictures on air planes. Not sure why... just do :)

There was some play of Cribbage. At one point Tony got this hand, which is perfectly opposite of the best possible 29 hand. It's still a rather pretty hand :)

I rediscovered how awesome my nephew is (who is now walking!) :)

And so did Tony :)

Naturally, there was a frenzy of Christmas baking :) Pretty pies for all the people :)

I enjoyed a green Christmas, as per usual :)

We had a bit of time to wander along to coast, which is always nice :)

Tony and I tasted all that Grandville Island Brewery has to offer :)

Starting...

...and finishing :)

And I got to enjoy a bit of Vancouver's wonders. Here's a short video of the pretty view from Vancouver's Canada Line (metro) :)

And now we're back in Ottawa, one of the only cities in Canada south of 60 that seems to have any snow. I've taken to daily wanders in the snow in any temperature (like a proper Canadian, never being put off by such trivial things as the weather!) :)

Here are some of the pretty things I have stumbled across. As it turns out, it's quite pretty here... :)

There has also been adventures in cross country skiing, but I left my camera in the car (an subconscious effort to protect my camera from damage from falls, trees, snow, etc... I will override said subconscious actions next time, to be sure!) :)

Random Stuff for a Random Time Period

2011-12-02T00:49:00.000+04:00

Well, things have been here there and everywhere for the last few months. At last things are settling down a bit! Anyway, I have had some moderate adventures in the last wee while (Ottawa-based adventures, that is. Vancouver and Ukraine adventures aren't included here) :) So, here is a short summary of the events...

So, first, I survived yet another adventure on Polish Airlines. I got in trouble for taking this photo. I'm not sure if this is always the rule or because there was a military plane just beside this one...

either way, I got a gruff talking to :) Hardly seems worth the trouble...

Here is my view out the window. It was a pretty cool descent into Warsaw, skimming on the top of the clouds for quite some time before dipping down.

As it turns out, there is a nice microbrewery, the Kichesippi Microbewery, here in Ottawa.

Tony and I ventured out one fine Saturday to check it out and take a wee tour

(like, really small, the brewery is basically one room).

I enjoyed seeing the process of beer making :)

The brewery is located in a very uninteresting and seemingly random industrial park in Ottawa

They happened to be brewing this particular Saturday, which doesn't always happen, so it seems...

So they take this malt (big white sacks) and dump it into the grinder thingy...

If my memory serves, this is what malt looks like...

Then they dump the crushed up stuff into this shiny container...

Which steeps the malt like tea (yum, yum) and that looks like this, all hot and bubbly in the pot...

Some of it spewels out like this... I can't remember why... maybe the casings or something...

Then they transfer it to this other identically shiny pot to separate stuff...

so there is no stirring in this pot, but otherwise it looks quite similar to the other shiny pot...

Oh, so here is what the big shiny pots look like... all nice and coppery...

And then the not-yet-beer is pumped into these other shiny pots...

Where this plant matter stuff (hops, maybe?) is waiting...

These little pellets smells nice and fresh and was compared to yeast...

as in the living agent that causes the fermentation...

Then they go through a three-tiered purifying process, which I have pictures of but figured there was enough of these shiny pots for the time being... After that, the beer, now actually being beer, complete with alcohol content, comes and sits in these shiny pots, just waiting for a nice keg to come along and take it away.

And after all that learning, they gave us some samples! :)

It wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated. And so, the beer was tasty and the tour well worth the trip :)

On a different day, we went to what Tony kept calling a "Christmas Market" at Lansdowne Park. I had imagined kitschy crafts and most things relatively useless. However, as it turns out, it was a farmers markets with lots of local food, etc. It is actually called a Christmas market as it only takes place in the weeks before Christmas, but has little to do with knitting or random assortments of fabrics and jewelry. We had a fine time and, had we more cash on hand, would easily have spent more time and money here.

And, most importantly, I would like to introduce Linus, my new guitar :) He is a very lovely Canadian made, solid wood beauty purchased from a local shop, Metro Music. And so, I'm back to guitaring: taking lessons and getting together with a friend to jam (poor Tony has been subjected to both our playing and singing...) :)

Look how pretty he is! :)

And so, with a total of 3 weeks in Ottawa since August, we have managed to find a fair bit of fun and enjoyment. We'll see what the new years holds :)

Fun times in Odessa

2011-11-13T21:19:00.002+04:00

I've been back in Odessa, Ukraine for the last two weeks working and have one more week before I head back to Canada. I always love being here. The girls at Hope House, a group home for girls from orphanages funded by World Hope Canada, are great. There are a bunch of new girls here, even since July when I was last here. I have enjoyed getting to know the new girls and reconnect with the old girls (by old I mean that they have lived here longer, in reality, they are all younger than 20).

Between work and hanging out with the girls at Hope House (Дом Надежды), I've had a good amount of fun and mischief :) Here are some of my highlights :)

I really like it when we all eat together. This usually happens only on a Sunday for lunch.

It can be somewhat overwhelming with sometimes 30 people coming for lunch! Nonetheless, it's fun :)

I got to meet with our foster families. This is one of our three families.

They have adapted well and they will soon have two more girls living with them for our project!

With Sheldon visiting (my boss), we were able to take out the whole LifeStart team for supper.

It was a great time to hang out, get to know each other, and talk a bit of shop :)

I've been able to help Ashley teach the girls English a couple nights a week while I'm here. This can be a sometimes educational time, and often a rambunctious time :) We've caught the girls in a calm moment here :)

Every night the girls gather together for announcements and just to touch base.

Here they are clumping together to receive their transportation money for the next day.

Teaching them responsible spending can be a long road. Lina does a great job, though :)

I visited the only orphanage we were able to work in in Odessa city (the rural orphanages seem more keen on anything we have to offer, but city orphanages, for whatever reason, aren't as keen).

This is one of the classrooms where we teach life skills. Pretty rudimentary, but functional nonetheless.

Kostya, our project coordinator, showing collages with two students that

the class had made the previous week.

Ya, so I let one of the girls straighten my hair... then she gave me this rocking 80s hairstyle.

It's only because they don't have parents that I let them do this to me... :)

And here we are at a rural orphanage where we work. This director was so keen on the project that he wanted it taught to children in grades 8,9,10, and 11! Here is Alyona teaching about trust.

This orphanage had been under quarentine for the last 2 months (it was only chicken pox, nothing to worry about), so this was the first time we were able to teach here. So far the kids love it! :)

Kostya pretending to work, but not fooling me one bit! :)

Some of the orphanages are quite a distance out of the city. This one was 2 hours away and they wanted us to teach at 830 am. We convinced them to 930, which still meant a 7am departure...ON A SATURDAY! :) Needless to say, coffee was essential :)

The village Andreevna Ivanovka where this particular orphanage is located. Not a lot going on around here... But still quite a pretty location.

And then, on Sunday, the girls got to go skating. Most of them had never been before. No matter how many times they fell, they still loved it and were laughing and playing. It was great :)

Here is Yana catching the falling Marina... or at least easing the fall :)

Vika, holding on rather tightly to the boards, but still managing a stylish pose as always :)

Ashley, our resident American, and Nastya :) We from North America were somewhat more comfortable skaters than our Ukrainian counter parts, which resulted us dragging them around the ice, holding them up, and catching them when they fell for much of the evening :)

Yana and Nadya holding on for dear life :)

Still smiling after a mighty spill :)

The whole crew :) A few kids from a local village came out as well. Were were 25 people in all, a daunting crowd, which totally dominated the rink :) It was a great time :)

Then off to McDonalds for a further treat. McDonalds is a big deal here and the girls were pretty pumped :)

Tanya and Nadya who found some balloons somewhere... I have no idea where... :)

Ashley and Jason, our resident Americans who have been here helping out at Hope House for 5 months. They are leaving in 2 weeks, so the skating and McDonalds was their treat to the girls.
It was a great idea. Everyone had a wonderful time :)

Marina, a wonderful and hilarious girl... who also managed to find a balloon somewhere...

these are resourceful kids! :)

Tanya and Lena (who straightened my hair) loving their Big Mac meals :) And for the record, these are teenagers can seriously pack it away! :)

Katya, Nastya, and Vika chowing down :)

Lina, the house mom, and two girls from a nearby village who joined in the festivities, Olya and Vika.

Anya and the boys, all digging in, despite the cold temperature (around zero degrees!)

So, I really enjoy just looking at stuff here in Ukraine: people, places, buildings, cars, adds, everything. Here's some fairly random videos, mostly lacking in context, of driving around in Ukraine :)

So that's all for now. I have one more week, and a busy week it will be! Hopefully I'll have another blog, but I'll try not to subject you to these random videos so much :) Perhaps it is my memories of them that makes them good to me, but maybe they are only good to me :)

Back in OTown

2011-10-30T23:54:00.001+04:00

So, I did some going back and forth this last little while. Only, when I came back, we were many. I came back to OTown with my brother, his wife, his son, and a few members of my sister in law's family... at least temporarily. We came to take over this government town with a little West Coast love and some mischief certainly ensued :)

Just see the mischief in the young lad's eyes! :)

We also saw the Sens play, or, more importantly, the Jets, who lost... :(

And this game was Tony's first NHL game. Good lad, supporting the good side :)

My brother and sister-in-law had fun, to be sure :)

And so did Tony and I, even though it was a hockey event...

I'm just not very Canadian when it comes to watching hockey... :)

And then my family left, but Tony and I still managed to find some interesting things. We participated in the Writer's Festival and went to a Scottish Mystery Writers night. I enjoyed hearing all the Scottish accents and enjoyed having some real life view of Ian Rankin... albeit in the far distance :)

And so, back in Ottawa it is.

Found Art in Sepia and the West Coast

2011-09-19T21:43:00.000+04:00

So, I'm back on the West Coast and was ambling around when I passed these strange structures and an odd man along the coastline. This fellow uses anything that he can find along the coast to make these odd little structures. I enjoyed it, though he apparently has some resistance to his art in the form of an old woman who comes and pushes down his work. I can just imagine it :) And here's a bit of the controversial art :)

Dragon monster of the coastal plains?

Artistic interpretation of the Wright brothers iconic invention?

Sigh post in the midst of the wetlands

Remnants of prehistoric days?

And, of course, the west coast has plenty of un-manned beauty. I have certainly enjoyed how vibrantly green everything seems, even in the onset of autumn.

I may have played with these colours just a little bit...

Berry picking paths a plenty around here, telling of previous berry bounty,

though the blackberries are none to many these days.

And here is a fine example of a charming west coast ditch :)

Autumn colours :)

Kremidovka (uber long blog)

2011-07-12T02:13:00.001+04:00

So, the last days of training went well. I believe we have laid a solid foundation here. Our follow up work will mostly be to support the Ukrainian team and ensure that the pilots improve from this point! After all this, I had a day to wrap up the work and play a bit in the city before heading off to Kremidovka, a village near Odessa.

Naturally, there was ice cream! :)

We enjoyed another trip on the ever entertaining Marshrootka (local buses). I avoided the crunch, but Rick and Anita were caught in the midst of it!

I also appreciated the signs :) This one says: If you want to get off, shout!

And a misty evening at the Black Sea

After two very busy weeks of training, I ventured off to a nearby village with a team of friendly Canadians to help run a camp for the village kids. It has been a busy time, but a different kind of busy that my previous two weeks here! Our schedule is a bit more relaxed and offers a bit more free time! We do activities with the kids from 9am to 1pm and give them a small lunch. We then get the afternoon off, before hanging out with the kids and playing games after supper until sundown!

Life in the village is interesting, at least for a foreigner that is quite taken by all things Slavic! :) And so, as expected, I’ve enjoyed snapping lots of photos of the local scene.

The road to the village was something else :)

And this was a good patch!

I enjoy the gates and vines

There are some pretty photogenic houses.

I’m pretty sure I could have taken pictures of houses and locals all day! :)

On Sunday we wandered down the streets of the village giving balloons to kids

and telling them about the camp.

We passed a woman walking her goat

There were some cool tin roofs

A random truck... potentially a WWII left over....I dug it :)

Community toilets

And then the camp got going!

A pack of young girls ready for some fun!

I worked at the craft station for the week. Our first day’s task was to tie-dye t-shirts!

Even Sergiy, one of our translators, decided to join in the fun

And the final product!

And then we found this massive spider in a hole… talk about heebiegeebies! Blah!

Lena, one of the girls from Hope House who came out to help, enjoying a quiet moment on the swing

Part of our playing area (beside the play park)

Enjoying a quiet moment in the sunshine after most of the kids had gone home for the afternoon

And kids at play

And here are some of the kids hanging about

The local Orthodox Church under construction. Such a beautiful building in the making!

We were walking the tie-dye shirts home to dry overnight...

…when we passed a goat…

…and then a woman taking her cow for a walk...

... and an old man cycling his cow home :)

So pretty! I enjoy the train yards... There`s just something about them... must be in my blood :)

I think my Grandpa would have appreciated this :)

At night, we meet the kids again for some fun and games in the park

Mark evidently enjoying a Frisbee game

Boys playing a rigorous game of soccer, taking every last minute before the sun goes down

Hanging around and climbing around

I totally dig the painted tires around the park :)

We had some hot days... and so decided to launch some water balloons as the children with a slingshot ...which they loved!

We had a pretty rainy day, which flooded our playing field!

We had to construct a bridge to get into the German Centre where we could still hang out with the kids indoords. Here`s Candice (Konfetka, as the locals dubbed her) navigating the bridge! :)

Sergiy cruising on a sweet ride in the rain

The children will not be hindered! Rain is great for playing in the puddles! :)

Vova enjoying watching the final few in an indoor game of musical chairs

Happily, our last days were warmer. The kids definitely enjoyed playing in the sunshine!

Girls stylishly posing on the swing

Boys on the slide :)

All the kids dashing for the lunch outside the German Centre! No patient queuing here!

And once all is packed away and the children off home, the team gets to enjoy their lunch :)

The girls, precariously balancing on one of the colourful tires :)

Two of the older girls who come out to the camp, Nasya and Yulia

Candice and Andrea taking some pics of the kids playing in the evening

Please note that the pink shirt says Aloha from Hell.

I`m fairly certain that they have not idea what the shirt means... :)

This is the gross dog that hung about all the time. It was strangely cute, but oh so very gross :)

And so, pretty picture, gross dog.

Just chillin

The scooters seems to be a rising trend in the village.

It was hilarious to watch them race up and down the streets :)

Kolya, the brother of one of the girls from Hope House. He had no where good to go for the summer from the orphanage, so came to the village to live with the mom of Lina, who runs Hope House. He was both a great help and participant in the camp!

One of the kids enjoying an ice cream. I loved her colourful outfit! :)

And Candice managed to catch a decent photo of me :) Shocker :)

A beautiful night!

And so, we had a great week and loved my time in Ukraine! :) I definitely enjoyed the camp, the kids, and our awesome team, exhausted though I may now be! :)

Odessa

2011-06-29T23:25:00.002+04:00

I havу really come to love this place. We have some mighty hard days here. They are a mix of heavy information as well as fun and games and laughter and learning.

Fun in Odessa :)

дверь

Amphitheatre benches :) I like the colours :)

Some pretty flowers at orphanage

Team LifeStart with our translators and a couple of girls from Hope House

Aftert a long day at the orphange with lots of travel, we took a stroll to the beach and enjoyed a nice evening

Tanya thinking on a rock... or pretending to think, anyway :)

Marina, our translator, and Irusia, a girl from Hope House

So, all in all, we are enjoying things here. It has been busy and we have done a lot of learning (not just training), but things are going well :)

Round 2

2011-06-26T21:10:00.000+04:00

So, I’ve made it back to Ukraine. We had a pleasantly uneventful trip from Canada to Odessa with my fellow teammates and have settled right back into life here! I’m definitely enjoying being back in a Russian-speaking part of the world and, as always, am fascinated by life here :)

Most nights we meander our way to the Black Sea. It’s a nice walk and a fun time to hang out with the Hope House girls and speak some Russian!

Yana walking along the beach at sunset

Katya and Tanya posing oh so stylishly

Girls at beach on rock

Masha and Lena kicking it at the Black Sea

Ducks en route: Part of life in Fontanka :)

After a long week of work, we were able to take a day and wander Odessa.

Local Dance Team having an ice cream

Ukrainian fashion never ceases to amaze me. Check the heels! I would die in these!

The mighty falcon man! Apparently it’s super cool to pose with animals here. Who knew!

Odessa skyline reflected in some reflecty windows. I’ll wave at you if you can find me! :)

Big old ship in the harbour!

Some trains and stuff. I just like the look of it :)

The height of fashion in children’s hair styles! :)

Kim by a Kim-sized car :)

Local Graffiti

Rooftops!

Locks on the love bridge :)

More graffiti

And more graffiti!

And so, life is going well here. I'm tired, but having lots of fun and getting a lot of work done! :) I have 2 more weeks here, so I'm sure I'll get more photos for blogging! :)

May Long Wanderings

2011-05-27T01:17:00.001+04:00

And so came the May Long Weekend of 2011. Tony and I rented a car to make good on the time and exercise a bit of freedom.

Mainly, we hit up some hiking areas: Frontenac Provincial Park and Parrott's Bay Conservation Area. Here's is some of what we came across.

Some local flora

The Trillium: provincial flower of Ontario

And in pink

Our path

Some rickety looking bridges

So green!

Some fauna

A turtle a bit far from the water and looking a might vulnerable...

The mischievous beaver

Tony doing an assortment of poses

Politely posing

The Canadian version of tight-rope walking

Taking photos and losing one's balance :)

And various pretty bodies of water the we came across

And the falling variety :)

All in all, it was a good weekend and nice to at long last have some sunny sunshine!

And there were no sunburns, despite our general pastiness! :)

A Manic Few Weeks

2011-05-02T21:22:00.001+04:00

I apologise for my lack of blogging these past months. It has been fairly crazy here. I completed writing and defended my MA major research paper, which was the last box to check on my Master's to-do list. Yup, that's me done! :)

Then, there was work. Life was pretty busy as we approached a major deadline! :)

Then, Tony's parents crossed that pond called the Atlantic and came for a visit. First they came to Ottawa and my dear friend and Tony's cousin, Karen, came to join the fun. The weather was moderately cooperative and we checked out some fun stuff.

We ambled about Gatineau Park a bit, taking advantage of the rainless weather while we could!

Part of the trails were still closed, but we found some nice walking trails all the same :)

Then we hit up the Museum of Civilisation.

Here's the view from the museum across the Ottawa River towards Parliament

A canoe from the exhibit on Canada's west coast First Nations groups

The following weekend, we, save Karen, headed to Montreal to partake in some French-Canadian culture.

Here we are atop Mount Royal first perusing maps, then observing the city scape :)

Then, en route to the Botanical Gardens, we saw the 1974 Olympic Park

It was a lovely day to wander about the Botanical gardens.

It was early for much growing, but the gardens were still lovely.

I got rid of my home and relocated! It was on very short notice. Yup, me and all the plants relocated to Kingston. This was certainly the most manic and chaotic move I've ever experienced, but we pulled it off!

Here are all the new plants recovering from the journey and settling into their new home! We are growing peppers, tomatoes, basil, thyme, and oregano, plus some house plants (not seen).
Don't worry, there is nothing illicit growing here! :)

Here's Tony driving the big ol' country truck that I used to move (a big thanks to my boss for lending me the truck!). I felt that driving such a truck (complete with wood chips in the box) was a necessary Canadian experience for Tony! :)

Then, we had a day post-move to relax and ventured out to Little Cataraqui Conservation Area just outside of Kingston of a woodland wander.

The birds coming home to Canada at long last :)

A couple of toad kicking it on a log.

Different trails

Chickadees believing that we could have food to offer them.

Poor dears will go hungry today.

And a turtle checking stuff out :)

We saw a representative from each animal group this day :)

A couple of stunning Red Wing Black Birds chillin' on the bridge

And a ground hog investigating some noise (probably us) :)

And, that's been my late winter-early Spring! Crazy, but overall, quite good :) The future holds a trip to Ukraine and whatever else the summer may bring! :)

Carnaval de Quebec

2011-02-08T06:23:00.000+03:00

Tony and I dashed away to Quebec City to catch the infamous Carnaval de Quebec! It was a much needed escape and, though tiring, proved to be an excellent time! :) The place was packed. Everyone was ready for a fun and festive weekend! :) With only a $12 effigy (little Bonhomme figurine) each, we had full access to the park and all the fun it had to offer! :)

We arrived in the city ready for all kinds of fun and games. There were night activities including...

A dance party at Bonnehomme's ice palace!

Live music (french), complete with fireworkds and all kinds of entertainment activities at the main stage

A glittering Ferris wheel :)

A Night Parade with all kinds of wacky floats.

There were icy-snowy activities:)

We went tubing down the ice shoot in a tornado (spinny tube)

Naturally, we went skating on the Planes of Abraham! :) Tony is improving greatly! :)

Soon he'll be playing pond hockey with the best of them! :)

It was all very pretty and enjoyable :)

We checked out a plethora of ice and snow sculptures

First they built some in a 24 hour snow scupturing frenzy

But some were already made and also very cool! :)

There was ice games (games made out of ice), but no touching! :)

And of course, there were kids games. It was hilarious to watch the kids at Carnaval. They were everything from hopped up on too much sugar to totally exhausted and passed out in sleds as their parents dragged them homewards :) I imagine they also enjoyed Carnaval :)

And fun for adults: liquors in icy mugs from an outdoor ice bar. The red one is Cariboo, a traditional French Canadian liquor (sort of like a chilled mulled wine) and the creamy one is a personal favourite Amurulla.

Both fun and tricky to consume :)

Don't worry, with all that snow and ice, we made sure to stay warm. There were fires around which we could loiter, not to mention copious amounts of hot chocolate! :)

There were some quirky events...

Such as ski joring. I had never seen such an event. A skier is pulled behind a horse with the task of retrieving a couple of dangling rings amidst an obstacle course!

And here's a short video. Ah Canadiens! :)

We ate maple syrup off the snow! :) Tony did the honours of rolling it onto the stick. It seemed to be completely foreign to him,but quite the novelty as well! :)

Yum! :)

And pond hockey. This was the celebrities games. We theorised that some of the old Nordiques were out in this game, but neither Tony nor I are authorities on the subject, so don't quote us! :)

We saw some dog sledding! :) Look at the puppies! :)

Of course, we took a spin about the old town, which was very pretty and festive!

All in all, we had a blast! Quebec City was super friendly and a local even complimented my French (mind she was laughing whilst complimenting, nonetheless we had good fun!) :)

Embracing the Ottawan Winter

2011-01-23T22:26:00.000+03:00

So, despite sub-zero temperatures and a frostbite warning, Tony and I ventured out to skate the canal!

First, we managed to get our skates! :)

We started right from downtown. I hadn't skated here as yet and enjoyed skating

under all the pretty capital buildings :)

Of course there were Beavertales involved! It was a nice break mid-way down the canal! Somewhere between the cold and the excise, we avoided the sugar crash that always comes with a Beavertale.

Tony skating solo. We skated a total of 5km this day and Tony averaged 2.5km/fall.

Great improvement, I'd say! :) He only took my down with him once, which is even better! :)

We started to get a bit chilly as we neared Dows Lake and the end of our journey,

but still enjoyed being outdoors! :)

So, despite a bit of cold weather, fun times were had by all :)

The Green Belt

2011-01-06T01:21:00.000+03:00

Tony and I decided to take a spin about Ottawa's Green Belt in our last few days of holiday before our respective terms began. The green belt is this horseshoe of foresty bush running through Ottawa. I believe it is intended for pollution reduction or something, but don't quote me on that. Anyway, it was a frosty day, the trail slippy with ice, and my hands were mighty numb by the hike's end, but it was a good day and nice to get into some kind of foresty bit :)

Our icy trail. Yup, basically a solid sheet of ice. It was fun :)

Some frozen floody bits

This was at a fairly random part of the trail that most folks would likely miss.

We, quite luckily, caught it :)

A typical view of Tony :)

The mighty Ottawa River coming to a slow and icy halt. This part of the trail was COLD, but still fun :)

And some fairly random graffiti.

All in all, a good day. I dare say there will be other Green Belty hikes to come :)

Christmas 2010 and beyond!

2011-01-02T02:58:00.002+03:00

So, Tony and I set off to the charming West Coast for a blissfully green Christmas :) After a not so painful flight Tony met my family and I got to, at long, long last, meet my new nephew, Ethan! :)

We spent a day with my family, before heading off to the Island to spend four days with various members of Tony's clan. We wandered around Victoria for a few days with Gwen and Charlie and saw some pretty lovely sights :)

We visited Craigdarroch Castle, which was all dolled up for Christmas!

We saw and judged the Christmas trees at the Empress Hotel.

It was hard to keep track of your favourite for all the choices! :) There were all kinds to chose from! :)

We saw some wackier things, such as knitted-up trees!

I suppose this is yet another form of graffiti, which I dig :)

We had drinks and calamari at a local lounge,

soaking in the sights and lights of Victoria from across the harbour :)

And we got together with Gwen, Charlie, Joyce, Les, Craig, and Rosio at Butchart Gardens to have a fine, fine meal and see the lights! :)

We had a great time in Victoria and then got to spend a night and a day on Pender Island. It was a great trip and I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know more of Tony's family :) We then headed back to the mainland to enjoy Christmas with the my quirky bunch :)

Us on the ferry having had fun and looking forward to having more fun :)

We spent Christmas day at my brother's house on account of the wee laddie and it was a lovely day :)

Christmas dinner, a group effort and a fantastic meal. Yes, they made us wear those damn hats! :)

Group shot! Compliments of Tony's snazzy camera :) We have me, Tony, Robbie and my dad in the back row, then Colleen's mom with Ethan, Colleen, and my mom in the front row :)

A fine crew for a fine day, I'd say :)

We went for a Christmas Day wander near my brother's house.

The lovely Fraser, only a different arm that I am accustomed to visiting :)

Tony snapping and artsy shot in a pristine location :)

The next day we went to a different part of the Fraser. Only, this time, conditions were much windier! :)

Moderate bundling required! :)

We ventured in to downtown Vancouver.

I am not overly familiar with the area...so, Tony, our visitor, did much of the navigating... :)

Steam clock in Gastown

A naked BC Place :)

And, best of all, I got to know Ethan a little bit! :) Such a cutie and we got along quite well :)

Robbie and Ethan doing some baby aerobics :)

Bitty hand :)

Cutie! :) A charming mixture of his mom and dad :) Handsome devil! :)

And Ethan and I getting to know each other a wee bit :) Such a charmer :)

Then, back to Ottawa with us to ring in the new year. Due to unseasonably warm conditions, we had to go skating in doors. Tony is bound and determined to become a masterful skater, so we went out for a little practice :) Here's Tony doing quite well, I'd say! :) We managed to go without spill or injury! :)

A blurry shot just for kicks, but not due to falling :)

Skates! :)

Tony enjoying dodging around all the kiddies, feeling quite savvy on his own skates :)

So, it's been a great few days of holidays! Our time in Vancouver went much to quickly and I took far too few photos! None the less, we had a wonderful time, seeing lots of good friends, great family, eating yummy food, and feeling quite jolly and festive :)

Stuff

2010-12-14T21:39:00.003+03:00

Sorry for being a bit absent in the wonderful world of blogging! Moreover, I've successfully forgotten my camera on the last number of outtings! Blah! Nonetheless, I will give a quick run down of what was and what is coming up!

First, the Tdot! Against my better judgement, I ventured to the armpit of the nation to visit my long lost friend Karen, cruise the city with her and Tony, and meet up with their cousin Craig and his lovely wife, Rosio. It was a great weekend that involved good food, fun people, relaxing, a bit of shopping, and even a very frosty Santa Clause parade (we didn't get to see Santa, deciding to spare our extremities instead).

I became and auntie! See previous post for overwhelmingly cute photos of the wee Ethan.

Then there was Cirque du Soleil! Tony and I treated ourselves to the spectacle this past weekend. I really dug the bendy twirliness of the show and kind of want to become an acrobat now... However, circus work isn't for everyone. My favourite scenes included people flinging from ropes high above the audience :) It was a great show and a great weekend.

And now, I have one more week of general chaos before heading to home with Tony for Christmas. We will get to meet Ethan, Tony will get to meet my charming family :), I'll get to meet some of Tony's extended family, and we'll be in BC! Hurrah! :) We fly on Sunday. I reckon you can expect many, many photos of the Christmas extravaganza :)

So, that's the plan. I'd love to hear from you over the holidays :)

Oh, well, here's some more lovely photos of Ethan et al to hold you over photo-wise :) They are taken by my brother, but I'll post them here anyway :)

A proud Grandma (my mama), watching the wee lad pick his nose in his sleep :)

Three generations of Reid men :)

And the sleeping lad. So cute :)

Newbies

2010-12-04T21:32:00.001+03:00

Well, today I became Auntie Andrea (or тетя Андрюша). Yup, my brother, Robbie, and his wifey, Colleen had a wee laddie today by the name of Ethan Robert. He was born at 2:52am, 4 December and weighed in at 7lbs and 6.75oz. I wasn't there because I live far away, but I got some photos from my brother, who was there :) Allow me to introduce my nephew, Ethan Robert

Quite a cutie, I'd say. I also theorise that he'll be quite the mischievous little one :)

Fontanka, the Black Sea and Some Thoughts

2010-10-28T21:13:00.000+04:00

Well, It's been quite a trip so far. Our videographers (and fellow English-speakers) left today and I still have one week to tackle what needs to be tackled here. It's been a very educational trip, for sure, though also quite difficult at time. We've been able to do a tonne of research on at-risk youth here in Odessa, which has been incredibly interesting, though often heartbreaking. I was furious at a pair of mothers who, after neglecting their children for years, still reveal no emotion when the government forcibly removed the children from them, placing the children in an orphanage. Though I can take comfort that life will very likely be better for them in the orphanage than in the homes, these kids (5 and 6 years old) will grow up institutionalised, spending more than 10 years in an orphanage lacking parental love and care.

The mama and her beautiful little girl, Sveta. I had a hard time leaving that little girl at the orphanage. Her problem seemed so solvable: a mama who cared about her.

Most of our girls here, despite parental neglect or drunkenness, living on the street or in an orphanage, expressed their dream to be reunited with their parents and family and live happily together. One girl in particular here, will graduate next years and is hoping to go live with her mom. However, her mom doesn't want her and has called Sergei asking him to keep her here at Hope House, not letting her return home. How do you explain this to her: "Sorry dear, I know you want some kind of real family and parental love, but your mom doesn't want you." However, I feel very thankful that I have been able to work with these kids, seeing the successes and playing some minute role in helping improve things. There's not much we can do about replacing their biological family, but we can provide them with people who love and care about them, people who act as a good family should.

Hadya and Tanya, two girls from Hope House. I love watching the girls mix, mingle and laugh together

I'm not sure of this one's life. He was chilling on the street with some friends (who sang me the Spleen song). No one seems to be working with boys here in Odessa... perhaps something for a future project...

Two street kids that knew Kostya, but continue to live on the street

A boy in the orphanage. He was very keen to have his picture taken. These kids swarmed me when they saw my camera. I'm a total sucker for these kids... :)

A little girl, also delighted to have her photo taken :)

A boy in the orphanage, the keeper of the keys.

One of our Hope House girls, Nadya, with her sister, who is still living at the orphanage (she is too young to be taken into Hope House, who can only accept kids once they age out of the orphanages at the age of 16).

One of the main things I've learned here, though, is that it is next to impossible to help kids who don't want to help themselves. No matter how brilliant the program, the kids have to choose to improve their own lives first, then find the ways (such as these programs) to do so.

A boy at First Step Centre grabbing a bit and having a chat with the Director, Tatiana. Living on the street is the way they've decided to survive. Tatiana's task to to show them alternatives and encourage them to choose an alternative.

On a very different note, I ventured out to see the Black Sea today! :) It's a mere 20 minutes from where I'm staying, so I was a bit surprised that I hadn't ventured there yet! :)

I had no idea that some of the houses around here are around 100 years old! I was under the impression that Fontanka, the town where I am staying just outside of Odessa, was quite new and still developing. Some look quite new, though, it seems they are, in fact, quite old, but have undergone some degree of repair.

My first glimpses of the Black Sea.

Strangely, this prime real estate is held by transient workers from Moldova who come here to work construction in the warmer months. It was nice, however, to be able to access the water front without worrying about tresspassing!

Walking the fairly treacherous path down to the waterfront :)

The air was fantastic here: a crisp autumn day with that fine, fine smell of salt water :)

Alla, the cook of Hope House, whom I've become quite good friends with, despite the language barrier :)

Lina, the Mama of Hope House and for sure a big player in its success!

And that beautiful body of water, the Black Sea :)

So, it's been quite a trip so far. I have a lot of work to do yet here in the remaining week, though I don't think we will have a problem working through everything. I hope I'll be able to return quite soon. It's a long and rough road for these kids. I'm happy to be apart of making something a little bit easier... for some of them, anyway...

A Tribute to Slavic Transportation and Some Other Stuff

2010-10-24T15:43:00.000+04:00

Transportation here is an incredible experience, something entirely unique. And yes, I love every second of it. Here are some shots of the various forms of transportation. Unfortunately unable to get a photo of the interior of a bus (маршрутка), which had a leopard interior with pink curtains and was blasting Ukrainian music. However, here's a few shots of what transportations is like here :)

Nothing too strange here.

This is the train station. Trains are also fun, though sleeping on them is unfun...

This is the exterior of the bus with the leopard print seats and the pink curtains :)

The trams, safely stored away for the day :)

A working tram, jammed full of people that just about smoked that rickety red Lada on the left

This is my dream car. Yes, a purple Lada :) What more could I want :)

The inside of one of the nicer Ladas. Here you pay when you disembark the tram. People will often pass up their money, hand-to-hand to the driver and lay it on the red carpet at the front there :)

A lada wagon :)

Train yards. Super cool. I could have wandered around here all day :)

The Marshrootka (Маршрутка). There is no Metro system is Odessa, so this is the usual form of getting around. These yellow buses are privately owned and don't run on any kind of schedule. They just come when they come :)

A green Lada. I really just can't get enough of the Ladas. There is also a Ukrainian brand, which looks like a Lada, but is evidently even worse... :)

As you may already know, I'm a big fan of graffiti, well, only when it's interesting. Odessa has a wealth of graffiti. Here is a taste of some of what is available here :)

And here is a very famous sign post, revealing the directions of all kinds of cities all over the world. I could hardly believe it when I saw that Vancouver was mentioned! :) For the most part, people here don't seem to know that Canada exists, or if they do, they treat is as part of America... I know, I don't want to talk about it... :)

My artsy shot of the cobbles in Old Odessa

There is a plethora of styles here. I dig it. I think this fellow's hair nicely completes his outfit :)

Here's a taste of women's fashion here :) I don't think I can pull this style off... :) Better not to try, I think :)

Here are some pretty trendy lassies doing a bit of a photo shoot. I was told it was because everyone here has Kontact, the Slavic version of Facebook, and you need to have a really stylish picture for this :)

Here are the Potemkin Steps. I didn't think they were all that cool until I spoke to Tony afterwards and he told me that they were cool because they are an optical illusion. I'll leave you to look it up on Wikipedia for a full explanation :)

Some birds flying around at the Port. I was having fun with the very savvy camera that World Hope has let me use for the trip :)

A wedding tradition both here and in Russia, is to put a lock on some famous something in your region. Here, they put the locks on this bridge, which they call the Love Bridge :) The government comes around about once a year to cut them off because there are so many. Kind of a neat tradition, I think.

And here's just a roof top shot in the old tow. I really liked it.

And so, I am very much loving it here very much! :) Living with the girls is fantastic. They are very kind to me and we have a good sum of fun :) Everything is interesting to me and I have way too many photos to put on the blog! :) If you want to check out the work stuff, please click here to the project blog. The next few days will be busy as we will be trekking off to a few orphanages in the area and will be interviewing the kids, the workers, and, hopefully, the directors. I'll keep you posted! :)

Ah, Slavs :)

2010-10-22T01:35:00.000+04:00

Well, I have thoroughly been enjoying my time here in Odessa. There is so much I love about it here. As I've previously mentioned, I'm posting work-oriented blogs on our project blog (here). However, here are some non-work related images and thoughts ;)

First, Things I Love About Slavs: Part 1:

1. That old ladies still wear traditional head scarves and use the totally impractical brooms, despite modern technology :)

2. Polite reminders of what dangers might befall you. This sign says, Beware, Evil Dog Within. Emphasis on: Evil. None of the Beware of Dog business :)

3. I love how raw things seem here, not quite so sanitised and sterile as Canada. This is a rural road in a developing area near Hope House.

4. The hair styles. Mullets are super trendy here for girls. The girls at Hope House want to cut my hair like this, which, I think, would be a very interesting experiment with my hair :)

5. The footwear

6. The Lada. Моя самая любимая машина :)

And now, just some images of life here.

Here we have one of our girls,Vika, walking home from her College to Hope House. I love this shot, though I'm not entirely sure why... :)

Here, dancing seems to be the thing to do. These girls are practising a group dance for the wedding that was on Saturday. They had a great time rehearsing :) They danced to YMCA... I'm not quite sure why... :)

A car ambling down the road past Hope House :)

I never can say what it is that I love about the slavic world, but for whatever reason, I love it :)

Odessa

2010-10-20T01:04:00.000+04:00

Hello from Ukraine! :)

I just want to let everyone know that I am good and alive and loving life in Odessa, Ukraine. The flight was long, but I've known worse :) Work here is on a totally different time schedule, and I don't just mean a different time zone! :) Work here is on permanent island time. I suppose I've become too accustomed to the city its hectic, but maintained schedule :) It has taken 5 days to get the internet up and running, but hey, it's working now, eh :)

Anyway, I will be posting on the World Hope Blog about the project. Check out the first posting here for a work update. I will also post some blogs here, but not today :) Soon, though, soon :)

Okay, hope all is well with you! :)

Another Everything Kind of Blog

2010-10-13T07:47:00.000+04:00

Well, it's been another few weeks with lots of random stuff. So, her it is in just the same helter skelter fashion of my experience :)

We launched a new blog on the LifeStart Odessa project through World Hope Canada. Check it out here. I'll be providing regular (and hopefully interesting) updates through out the duration of the project. Some exciting things will be coming up with my trip to Ukraine!

It was Thanksgiving this past weekend and we had a lovely time with fantastic folks and great food in the charming township of Kingston. Karen, my long lost friend/fellow vagabond, ventured up from the distant Toronto (and her current stomping ground) to join us for Thanksgiving. And it was a great weekend weather-wise, to boot. Here is some photo documentation of the goings on:

Together again! Hoorah! :) And what mischief, to boot :)

We hit up a football game on Saturday. It's happened to be Queens vs University of Toronto, which made things interesting. Alex, a friend here from Germany, joined up for much of the weekend's festivities as well! :)

There was some displays of loyalty!

And though the prospects of Queen's winning against UofT (based on performance thus far this year)...

...Queen's did quite well. In fact, the final score was 60-ish (68, maybe...?) to nil! This poor cheer squad was probably regretting the decision to do push-ups for every point for each touchdown!

The crowd also dug it when the Queen's Gael's scored a touchdown. The usual procedure seemed to break into song: a long tune in both English and Gaelic. Strange lot, Queen's folk are :) Here's a short video of their crazy. I believe this singing session happened to be sung in round... but maybe not intentionally... :)

And some autumn pretty!:)

Tony capturing the autumn pretty :)

Моя красивая Катуша! (my beautiful Karen) :)

Silly and happy :)

And the crew on a lovely Sunday morning on a stroll through a park :)

And here is our Thanksgiving feast! Despite oven issues, Tony cooked a mighty fine duck with all the fixings! :) It was a mighty good feast with some great company (Karen, Tony, and Alex). We had some rounds of cribbage following the gluttony. And, I will subtly mention that the girls beat the boys each and every round, totally 4 victories :)

And we've finally managed to make the new apartment feel homey and even take some pictures. Here is the living room. I'm afraid my room was in the midst of packing chaos, so not quite photo-worthy. However, I have very lovely curtains (purple and green) made by my marvelous mother on my window. I just don't have photo proof, but they are there. I promise :)

The living room :) Yup, that would be a colour combination of deep purple and lime green :)

And, of course, the fish, Jeff :) (named after my roommate's thesis supervisor!) :)

All in all, it has been a busy, but wonderful time. I am now packed and ready to fly to Ukraine (Tomorrow! Gah!).

An Everything Blog

2010-10-05T07:15:00.000+04:00

Well, I was kindly reminded by my family this evening that it has been over a month since my last blog. A question along the lines of 'what the hell have you been up to?' was posed. I figured I'd take some time to update you on the goings on :)

In August I went to a cabin with friends from Ottawa and a bunch of their friends. We did things like: drink coffee, play cards, read, stare at the fire, play in the water, pet the dog, wander into the random and small Quebec town, and other cottage-type activities. It was a fun time and a delight to be out of the city! :)

Playing with fire, as Canadians do :)

I house/cat sat for a friend. This pest, Charlie, pestered me for a solid two weeks. This included being head-butted by a needy kitty in the middle of the night. But he was so cute, so it was okay :)

Then I moved, but I still don't have any pictures of our new place. Soon, though, soon :)

I was flew to my homeland and hung out with my family on the west coast. During this visit (and one of the main reasons for the visit), I was a groomsmaid for my oldest friend, Colin, as he married his lady, Suzy. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of this day, but rest assured, I was in a dress and it was a fine, fine day :) It was so great to see these two tie the knot :)

We got to ride on the ferry (to another wedding the following day of a family friend, Chris, and his lovely lady, Sam). I love the ferry! :)

This past weekend I ventured to Kingston. Tony and I went out wondering in the autumn pretty for a photo taking extravaganza. Here is the result :)

Here are some of the pretty colours on a very shiny day :)

Tony hunting a playful squirrel for a photo :) This was entertaining to watch :)

Tony looks so small compared to the tree! :)

A good many of Kingston's buildings are slowly being eaten by these lovely vines :) I dig it :)

The fire escape from Tony's office at Queen's. Looks like all the engineers would have to pull a Tarazan to escape this building in an emergency! :)

Then we tried the new poutinery in Kingston. I hurt for the duration of the day, but the pulled-pork poutine was absolutely worth it :) It may look disturbingly gross, but this is pure tasty! :)

So, I got some new sunglasses (prescription and worth than all my other belonging cumulative!), which led to a certain degree of silliness on a fine Kingston afternoon :)

Here's me practising my tough look in preparation for Ukraine. I'm told I'm not supposed to smile on the street. If I do, there's a good chance people will think me either drunk or insane... :)

Ooo, bad ass :)

So, life has been busy, but good. :) I am now preparing for a trip to Ukraine (I leave next Wednesday!) and am still working on my thesis. Somehow, everything seems to get done, but I'm not sure how that is, exactly. Upcoming, we also have that charming holiday of Thanksgiving. In this event, Karen, Tony, Alex (our visiting friend from Germany -here on a study-work thingy at Queen's), and I will be having a grand old time in Kingston. Pictures to follow!: )

Summer to Autumn

2010-08-27T02:01:00.003+04:00

First things first, I am moving yet again. However, this time around I have signed a lease and will be in this place for at least 12 months... unless things change, that is :) I will be living with a colleague and friend from my program at Carleton in a charming 2 bedroom apartment in Ottawa. I am most excited to be living with fellow students again, but also that everything will be so much more accessible from this new place. We are within walking distance of a major bus exchange, which means all of Ottawa is within 10 minutes of me! :) Pictures and further details to follow in a later blog. My phone number and email are the same and I will email out my address shortly (once I confirm my postal code, that is).

And now for some other stuff:)
I can hardly believe that summer is coming to a close already. It feels like June and that I have all of summer to go yet! But no, the trees are turning, I've heard the geese on their practice runs, and the biggest indicator of all: Carleton has resumed inundating me with emails. It has been a wonderful summer, busy, and moderately stressful summer. And now, we'll jump into a very busy, but fun and exciting, if not a bit stressful, autumn. The autumn is looking to be heinously busy, but I think it will provide sufficient fun and excitement :)

My department is currently welcoming in the new MA students. I've had the opportunity to help plan the welcome week orientation and look forward to meeting some of the newbies! :)

I will be heading to Vancouver in September to see family and to see two awesome friends of mine get married. I will also get to be a groomsmaid in this wedding, which should be fun and interesting.

In October I'm off to Odessa, Ukraine for 3 weeks for work. This is both incredibly exciting and terrifying. I will have to work hard in the meantime to brush up my Russian, that's for sure! :)

I am helping plan a conference at Carleton on 11 November. Again, a new, fun, and learning experience :)

And work is really getting going. We've put together teams of volunteers to tackle some of out tasks. I'm looking enjoying the switch from the research component into working with our awesome volunteers on some pretty cool stuff. Here's hoping we can pull it all together!

And who knows what else this autumn will offer! :) So, though I am saying goodbye to summer, the autumn is looking pretty fun and exciting! Drop me a line with what is going on in your world! :)

Wallace

2010-08-12T03:32:00.003+04:00

I have been looking for just the right guitar since arriving back in Canada last June. I suppose I should have swallowed the cost and brought the one I had in Scotland back to Canada... ah well. At long last, I have found a guitar here! And not just any guitar, but Wallace! :) Kijiji came through and I was able to obtain Wallace, complete with case, for a manageable sum of money (previous searches rendered only guitars far above what I was willing to even consider paying. I'm sure Wallace and I will have a wonderful time together.

It seems I've seriously digressed (not that I had made much progress) since my time in Scotland. I swear you need to be a contortionist to be able to pull off some of these cords... Anyway, we'll get back into the swing of things, I'm sure. Needless to say, I am giddy with happiness :)

August Long

2010-08-03T20:29:00.011+04:00

And along came August long. Tony and I had big plans for the weekend and had a blast with various adventures. We decided to rent a car for the long weekend and explore the area around Kingston.

When we picked up the car we were happy to discover that Pete the PT Cruiser was not available and that we got a much less pontsy vehicle for the weekend:

We took off fairly early on Saturday am for Prince Edward County, an island about an hour south along Lake Ontario from Kingston. Happily, we got to take a short ferry ride over to the county.

Now, why would we venture to this part of Canada, you ask? Two reasons: beaches and wine. Prince Edward County boasts the largest inland beach in Canada, if not the world. We decided to check out Sandhills and see what all the fuss was about. The beaches were for sure long and lovely, but they were also heavily populated with awkward Canadian beach goers. Nonetheless, we picnicked, wandered, found ice cream, ate ice cream, waded, played frisbee, went on a woodland wander, got hot, and then boogied onwards :)

Proof that Tony went barefoot and that his English toes touched Canadian sand and water! :) Check the tan lines! :)

Neat tree on the path from the parking lot to the beach

From there we drove around the county sampling wine and meandering through vineyards. We found some tasty wines and each came away with a bottle.

We even learned a bit about the vineyard/wine making process and the different grapes involved! :) All in all, however, it was prettier than educational :)

We were there during a process where they hack away the excess leaves and expose the grapes to the sun.

And the mysterious lake on a mountain. At approximately 30 meters above sea level, no one can really figure out why the water is there, lacking inlet and outlet, so I hear.

We had a beautiful day in the County. We had a pub dinner in a country pub surrounded by a lovely garden and lush fields. Eventually, with the sun sinking away, we headed back to the ferry to head back to Kingston. I would for sure recommend the place and if you come to visit, this destination will very likely be on the agenda! :)

The next day, we headed off up the road to Ganagnoque. Again, we took off early and had to dodge cycling triatholoners on our way out of Kingston. We had a quick peruse in the touristy township. Here we managed to find a very cool cafe, the Socialist Cafe, and had some iced drinks before heading onto the next adventure.
My first impressions were promising! :)

And I was not disappointed. Now that is my kind of bar! :)

We then headed up the road to Ivy Lea to catch a boat tour in the Thousand Islands (not to be confused with the salad dressing!) It was wonderful to get out on the water and into the sunshine!
The boat heading under the big bridge to the USA...

...making sure not to be mistaken for Americans!

To observe the sights with :)

Tony was digging it, to be sure :)

The main sight of the tour was Bolt Castle on an island that was made into the shape of a heart (kitschy, much?!).

Boathouse!

It was a good boat trip, for sure. The rest of the day we moseyed around the area, before heading back to Kingston in time to have supper at a local pub and enjoy some Kingstonian wanderings :)

The next day, again, we were up and out fairly early and off to Frontenac Provincial Park, about 40 minutes north-ish of Kingston. After pillaging information and maps from the information centre, we found our trail head and ventured off into the great Canadian wilderness.
This hike was spectacular. I seriously had to resist taking photos every 20 second, when the terrain seemed to totally change! We also got to see a variety of animals, covering all the groups, except for fish (strange considering we were constantly near a pond...). Here are some photos of the pretty:

Creepy Catepillar

Disoriented frog that only just survived getting stepped on!

And we came across a family of deer

Navigation

Silliness on cliff tops

Pretty trail

Dam!

Precarious crossings

Following some pretty random signage

Lots of pretty ponds full of carnage caused by the beavers! :) I thought it was pretty cool :)

Tony also got some pretty cool pictures of two snake battling and the victor swimming away with the prize: a tasty frog. I was too busy preventing the snake from getting anywhere near me to take photos... :)

All in all it was a fantastic weekend, if not somewhat exhausting. Time passed rather quickly, feeling quite short, actually! :) But, I suppose that is a good indicator of fun times :)

Wolfe Island

2010-07-26T06:57:00.007+04:00

Despite the ominous title, Wolfe Island is quite a pleasant location. This particular destination had been repeatedly recommended to Tony and I, but took us nearly a year to take the free ferry from Kingston and check out the island. All in all, it was a pleasant place, though not really designed for pedestrians. We will likely return with bicycles at some point, or potentially to get lost in one of the two corn mazes this autumn :) Here is some of the island pretty that we stumbled upon :)

Docking the ferry :)

Townhall, build in 1859 (pre-Confederation), or something... :)

Island signage

This sign was unfortunately quite common, thus often preventing us from partaking in the shoreline. It seems the islanders, though largely reliant on tourism, hate tourists or there is some inner-island feuding that I was unaware of :)

Bull rushes :)

More island signage :)

Our wandering led us to the wind turbines and a wee kiosk telling us about them :) I thought they were pretty cool.

The pretty wander back after picnicking and meeting some quirky locals :)

And of course, some silly moments waiting for the ferry at a nearby marina :)
Marina contraband

Fun with reflections :)

Silliness

And good behaviour :)

All in all, a lovely day trip on a lovely weekend :) Summers are fun :)

Orchestra in the Park

2010-07-23T06:44:00.005+04:00

Well, summer in Ottawa is proving to be quite interesting with a myriad of events going on over the summer. Alexei, Nicole and I headed to the site that very recently hosted the Bluesfest. Armed with blanket, snacks, and camera, we settled in for an evening music provided by the French Orchestra. Some folks came with full picnics, complete wine! We all settled in on the flats and enjoyed the outdoors, good company and great music :)

People meandering across Lebreton Flats towards the stage with down town Ottawa in the background :)

Alexei arrived just in time and was quite keen to catch the tunes :) Awesomeness?

My attempt at an artsy photo :)

Alexei's view of the stage :)

Nicole seemed to be enjoying the atmo :)

The stage which got brighter as the sky got darker :)

All in all, a great night. Ottawa puts on another great event, and free to boot! We totally dug it :)

Ottawa Bluesfest

2010-07-12T06:52:00.008+04:00

The Ottawa Bluesfest began this past Tuesday and will be going for about two weeks. Tony and I decided to venture out this Saturday and see what all the fuss was about. Now, contrary to what the name might suggest, there was very little blues at this festival. Sure there was some blues and (sadly) some country, for the most part it seemed to be alternative music, local bands, etc. The event is held in a big field-thing downtown, so once you enter the site, you are free to travel around, eat, drink, and catch any of the shows that day at any number of stages.

Here we have a great local band, The Love Machine, who were totally fantastic. I loved the tunes as well as their stage presence. They played early on in the day, but drew a good crowd considering the time. They seem to have a pretty loyal following!:)

I really dug the music! :)

Proof that Tony and I are old! Yes, you had to get id bracelets to prevent the babies from consuming alcohol. We, however, are safely over the age limit :)

Food was plentiful, tasty, and decently priced, so we saw no reason not to partake. First, ice cream. Then, dessert, sweet potatoe fries :) We ate a healthier dinner, but festival food is part of the experience! :)

Aperitif, complete in classy plastic cup :) A fine Mill Street Tankhouse.

We caught a mellowish band for the dinner hour, That's the Spirit, which proved to be quite enjoyable.

Then, on to another excellent band, Bear in Heaven. The crowds were starting to fill out in anticipation for the evening headliners.

And Metric. This is a Montreal band and a mighty popular group in these parts. They put on a great show and the crow was well pleased :) It seemed most folk came for the big band (suckers missed out on some great music going on all day), so after the concert it seemed as though thousands had entered the site.

The main headliners for the evening were the Flaming Lips. They put on one hell of a show, with lots of lights and antics. We even had some hippy chatter about love and peace. It was a great show and a good cap to a great day.
The anticipation

And in full swing. Balloon & confetti! :)

All in all, it was a fantastic day. (Photo taken somewhat earlier in the day. We probably didn't look this energetic by the end). We had a great time and enjoyed a bunch of great tunes (almost 12 hours of concert hopping!) :) The experience was prime. By the end we were thoroughly exhausted and I have no idea how we managed to carry ourselves home. It was totally worth it though. I was all smiles all day :)

The Great Canadian Canoeing Extravaganza

2010-07-05T05:02:00.015+04:00

Along came a nice long weekend, so Tony and I made plans for a 4 day camping/canoeing trip in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. This would be a great weekend away from the city with lots of time to dabble in the Canadian wilderness.

We set off at a relaxed pace on Thursday morning in the rental car (a pontsy PT Cruiser that we fondly called Pete) and car camped in the park near where we would begin out canoe trip early (by my books) the next day.

Here's Pete, loaded with all the gear

Before finding out campsite, however, we took a wander along one of the many short hiking trails along the highway in the park. It was a beautiful day and a great way to stretch our legs and check out some of the scenery.
Here are some sights. I must say, I had a hard time selecting only a few, but I did my best :)

Part of the trail was on the old rail line that went through the park, which was pretty cool :)

The hike and car camping was a good way to break into camping and test all our gear before we were far away from anything! :) We had a good wander around the camp site and enjoyed being outdoors and the general sense of adventure! :)

The next morning we set off down the road to the Portage Store on Canoe Lake to get our canoe, pack up and head out. I was a bit worried how busy Ontario's Premier Provincial Park would be on the prime mid-summer long weekend, but we had no problem getting into the canoe, hitting the portages, finding camp sites, and just muddling around in the canoe. For the most part, the park felt like a great getaway from just about everybody and we enjoyed pristine and untouched settings!
And so we set off with me steering (crazy, I know) into the great Canadian back country!:)

Some directions, though this was rare. For the most part we actually had to know where we were going! :)

And the last signs of civilization other than fellow caneoists for the remainder of the trip. I don't know why it's so fun to canoe under stuff, but it for sure is! :)

Tony quickly mastered steering and general canoeing savvy! See how happy he is! Settled right into this canoeing business! :)

And the pretty island in front of our camp site in the evening light

So we made out way up Canoe Lake to Tom Thompson Lake where we found a lovely camp site that caught the evening sunlight. We would stay here for the two nights and proceeded to make ourselves quite comfortable!

The next day we did a wonderful loop away and back again to Tom Thompson Lake and our camp site. This day trip had a number of portages, which Tony and I each tried our hand at. We both tried portaging solo as well as mastering the technique to both portage for an especially long portage to Sunbeam Lake.
Bracing for the portage! :)

Padding through the pretty water lilies! :)

A lovely island lunching spot.

And catching some rays at long last! :)

The trip included a long and lovely paddle down a creek, which required dam hopping and some masterful steering from both of us. It was beautiful. Here are the charming bends and curves of the Canadian shield! :)

On the final stretch home, though, we hit a strong headwind. Only with a massive feat of mental and physical strength, did we manage to make it back. We had a nice dip in the lake, which no camping trip is complete without. The swim served to both clean and refresh us. We then cooked and ate dinner, cleaned camp, hung the food (successfully prevented any unwelcome instances with large wildlife in the camp site), and enjoyed the last light of the evening before collapsing into a very solid sleep.
Due to lingering evening winds, we cooked under the canoe! Quite effective, I'd say :)

And then the beautiful evening with lots of loons calling and hollering. What a day! :)

Our final day would prove to be a long one. We got up a bit earlier than usual to cook breakfast and break camp. We were away just after nine am and began the 3-4 hour paddle back to the canoe shop. This paddle back was really the only point that we encountered many other canoers. We had met others en route, but everyone was on their way back home after the long weekend. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed a fairly pleasant trip back. Before hitting the road back to Ottawa, we treated ourselves to a fantastic ice cream for a job well done! We then hit the long road home, which was made a bit longer with construction and lots of other weekenders making their way back to the city. I was a bit sad to be leaving the lovely outdoors for the city, but alas, such is life. At last, we made it to Ottawa. Tony had a quite bit to eat before heading back on the road for another 2 hour drive to Kingston.

For other pictures you will have to check Tony's blog. I admit, I was a bit lax with my photo taking, though not for lack of photo opportunities! :)

And a great weekend it was. If you can measure fun by the level of exhaustion, we had a total blast! I will certainly sleep well for a few nights to come! :)

And so we are savvy wilderness survivors that really dug this camping canoeing experience! :) Awesomeness! :)

May Long Weekend and the Ottawa Tulip Festival

2010-05-25T05:06:00.001+04:00

And the long weekend found us at last and my was it a hot one! :) Ottawa put on the tulip festival, but due an early and hot spring, the tulips were mostly done for the festival. Nonetheless, the festivities went on! :) Tony was in Ottawa for the long weekend and we made the best of the fine Canadian summer weather.

Here is my photo of one of the last remaining tulips in Ottawa.

Evidently, however, they put up some wooden painted tulips. Here are some of my favourites :)

Of course, on a weekend of such hot weather, gelato was certainly in line! :) Promt consumption was in order to preserve the ice cream against the heat :)

And due to the lovely weather, I shot some fair weather photos of downtown Ottawa.
Here are the canals and the Chateau Laurier. We saw a boat go through one of the locks.

Here is an artsy photo of one of the locks refilling or draining, I'm not really sure.

And Parliament heaving with tourists in for the festival.

The lovely Parliamentary library that I am so taken with.

And the charming Ottawa River on a fine summers day :)

All in all, it was a wonderful and relaxing weekend. I have been a bit nervous about the living in the city during the summer. This will be my first summer in the city in a good many years. I wondered how people cope with the heat when a lake or river isn't easily accessible or what they did for fun in their free time. This weekend made me understand how enjoyable a summer in the city can be. All in all, I feel much more settled in my new digs, work is picking up and getting very interesting (beyond the gauntlet of reports), some very cool plans are in the making (music festivals, a canoe camping trip, etc), baseball, good company, the weather is amazing, and I am convinced it is going to be a great summer! :)

Hitting up QC!

2010-05-08T07:47:00.021+04:00

Well, with the time when the Brits leave Canada drawing near, the idea for a road trip to Montreal and Quebec City popped up. So, for a wee holiday and good hurrah with the Brits, I headed off to Montreal on Saturday to meet up with the Brits, Marty, and Tony.

It was great to visit Montreal again. I really enjoy the bustle and lighthearted fun of the city. After meeting up at a cool hostel in the old town (Auberge Alternatif), we headed out for a wander through the underground city (due to rain) to Mount Royal for a wee hike up the hill (I'm sorry, I just can't call it a mountain...) :) Happily, it was relatively rain-free (or at least, walkably rainy) by the time we resurfaced from the strange and windy undergound city to head up the hill :)

At the top, finding an interesting sight, evidently! :)

And the camera wars continue! :) Bwahahaha! :)

Andy and Sarah finding shelter under Sarah's tiny umbrella on the way back.

And taking refuge from the rain in a divey pub, which we all quite enjoyed :)

Enjoying the cool lighting (from a heat lamp on the patio) at a pub after supper. This scene is just oozing with artsiness! :)

And I was right on board with my attempt at an artsy salt shaker shot :)

The next day we enjoyed some random wanderings before saying goodbye to Marty (who had to head back to Kingston) and hitting the road to Quebec City!

Here is a cool restuarant that my folks hit up when they were in Montreal in the 1970s/1980s! :) Now it is uber posh, but still looks quite cool being in an old warehouse and with a super nice patio/garden area. We did not eat here being budget travelers and all, but it was cool to see a place my folks hit up WAY back when! :)

And the Montreal rubber metro tire shot that I just couldn't manage the last time around! :)

And a cool bustling farmers market!

With some tasty samples! :)

Complete with amazing busker lady with very sultry voice!

The Brits then hit up the Contemporary Art Gallery, which Tony and I saw at Easter, so we took off to the Archeology Museum for a quick peruse :) It was a pretty cool museum telling the history of Montreal. It also happens to be built over some of the old ruins of Montreal, which formed the main "gallery" of the museum.
Here's the waterside vista from the tower

Here's a selfie of Tony and I at the view point. What you are supposed to be seing is that I am wearing a purple shirt, whilst Tony is in a green one. Completely unplanned, of course, but a very pleasant surprise! :) Sadly, my selfie is lacking and you can't see how wonderfully the purple compliments the green of Tony's shirt :)

Yes, then we sadly bid farewell to Marty and all piled into the car. Yes, we were 5 in that car... it was a cozy ride to QC to say the least! :)
Upon arrival in QC and settling into the somewhat strange hostel, we mosied into the Old Town to see some sights :)
The old city walls. Evidently (as I learned from Tony's blog) Quebec City is the only walled city in North America!

We also partook in some Quebec fastfood poutine, which was rather tasty. I, however, do not have pictures of this event.

We began the day with an epic breakfast at an excellent cafe inside the walls. Then, somehow, we wandering the walls.

And the Plains of Abraham where that epic battle occured! The Plains are now a pleasant city park without any sign of this decisive battle :)

However, there is this fortress/battlement thingy

I just couldn't resist the bi-lingual stop sign. France doesn't even put Arret on their signs! Ah, Canada! :) I love it! :)

City Walls in the daytime.

Street shot. It kinda felt like Europe. The Brits kept asking my if I still felt like I was in Canada. I definitely did, but I dug the European flavour :)

And some local art and such

The old rail station all jazzed up for the tourist season! :)

Wandering the lower old town in the early evening :)

Some cool lighting of buildings, I must say. Sadly, my camera doesn't do super great in the dark. Nonetheless, we managed some decent shots

Grabbing a pint in a former cellar, now pub. I dug the atmo, fo sho :)

The excellent Funicular, which I thoroughly enjoyed

And the Chateau Frontenac! It was built in French Medieval style, which was rather stunning! :)

And wandering the old battlements and the other side of the wall the next day

Complete with an over abundance of modern graffitti

And the wee eco bus that was so totally cute, I just couldn't resist a picture!

Fun with cannons! :)

And a nice sculpture of the old log drivers! :) Remember the song? ...Rolling, rolling down white water... or something :)

Some old town roof tops. Quite nice :)

Finally, the sad time came for us to leave Quebec City and head back to Kingston. So we all piled into the wee car once again for the long journey home (made longer due to obscene traffic through Montreal!) Then, I had a relaxing day in the charming Kingston before heading back up to Ottawa to start work! All in all, a great wee holiday! :)

Charlotte: Progress Report 6: Purple!

2010-05-01T03:23:00.003+04:00

Well, the weather has been off and on this week. In addition, now that I've moved into my new place, Charlotte has been in high demand as the only efficient form of transportation! So, with my going away for the weekend, I figured it was a good opportunity to get a base coat on Charlotte and have her dry while I'm away. I still have to take her a part to get at some of the finickier places and give her another coat or two to really make her shine. A small detail came to light, however, once I had started painting. The midnight purple I thought I had chosen turned out to be slightly lighter and brighter than I intended... Nonetheless, she is mostly purple and looking close to lovely :) I was also reminded how easily paint gets all over me... Yes, I took steel wool to my hands to get the paint off for lack of gasoline! :) The result: Charlotte is mostly purple and I am mostly purple-free :)

I was also wondering this past week how reliable Charlotte would be in the long run. I took her into my new favourite local bike shop, The Cyclery, for a wee check up. The fellow there was very kind and gave me some great sage advice. Ultimately, he confirmed my suspicions: Charlotte is great for a Sunday spin, but maybe not so up to the role of main form of transportation. She will need some major overhauling to get up to commuting standards, which will be expensive, involve hard to find parts, and require skills far beyond my own. With that in mind, I tested my route to work, which further solidified this in my head. The road to work is incredibly busy, lacking a proper bike lane, and with a broken and rough sidewalk, which means a lot of curb hopping on my part... Maybe not so fun for Charlotte. So, I'm looking into getting my good bike sent from Winnipeg. Failing that, we'll find some other solution. I have also realised how reliant I am on a bike in my new place and am not interested in taking the bus for an hour to somewhere that I would be able to cycle to in twenty minutes! So, that's the skinny. I still very much intent to keep Charlotte for leisure riding, just not commuting! :)

New Digs... again :)

2010-04-29T06:28:00.004+04:00

Hi Everyone,

As you know, I've moved out of dorms and into a house in Alta Vista. So far, I like the place well enough. I am still a bit uncertain about the location. It is accessible on wheels (ie bike or car), but is a bit tricky by bus. Other than that, I really dig this area of Ottawa. It's more or less purely residential, but I like the slower pace and escape from the touch and go of down town. Anyways, we'll see how it goes. Here are some pictures in the meantime :)

Here is my room. It's small, but cozy and everything fits, so it works :)

The desk where I will shortly commence writing my major research paper for my MA

The ominous, steep and wooden staircase upon which both I and the residence critter tred carefully...

Kitchen, complete with oven (all the better for baking, you see) :)

Dining room and living room. There is a massive tv here... I have not yet figured out how to work it... there is a good chance I will never take the time to learn how to work this behemoth... :)

And, of course, the resident critter, the shockingly cute (though sometimes smelly) Harley.

So, I'm hoping for a fresh start here in Ottawa. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this town, but we'll see how it goes from here on in.
So, here are somethings I intend to enjoy whilst living here:

1) I have discovered the awesomeness of the local library, Alta Vista Branch, and intend to make use of the nice study spaces and welcoming environment.

2) The GSA softball league for exercising and socialising

3) A book club that meets on Sundays in the Highlander Pub

4) My new job, which is both terrifying and exciting

5) My bike as my main form of transportation, a method of exercising, and a means to enjoy the sunshine and lovely weather (and occasionally the terrible, snowy, and rainy weather)

6) Taking advantage of the relative closeness of places we only hear about in Vancouver: Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Niagra Falls, etc :)

7) Whatever other good-hearted mischief I can find around here ;)

Charlotte: Progress Report 5: Brakes and Idiots

2010-04-27T01:19:00.004+04:00

A completed Charlotte, except for pending paint job

I went into university to pick up Charlotte now that I have moved and settled into my new place. After a short test ride, I realised that her brakes needed more work than was in my abilities. So, I nipped over to the Glebe (5 minute cycle) to ask for the professional savvy from one of the 4 bike shops on Bank Street. Just my luck, I chose the biggest twit on the street to check out my bike. I poked my head in to McCranks on Bank Street to make sure it was okay for them to see Charlotte. I wheeled her in after receiving the okay. I thought the name was intended to be comical, but it turned out to be a warning of what lay within. From the moment they had her, the owner was flat out rude, inconsiderate, and a general F#$*-head. I was stunned at the penchant for the shop owner to treat the customers on whom he relies like utter crap. I was pretty choked, as my experience in repairing Charlotte had been mostly positive thus far and a wonderful learning experience. I had chosen this shop because it seemed lower-key than the others on the street. Nonetheless, the kind helper, despite the grumblings of the owner, repaired Charlotte's brakes. I had intended to buy lights as well, but figured I would be better off taking my business elsewhere.

So, with brakes repaired, I pedaled down the street to the Cycle Shop. This place I had previously scoped as a bit elitist and tried to avoid it. My experience this time, however, was completely different. I was not pushed into buying the most expensive products, but was able to get a front and rear light for a reasonable price. I was also given a great deal on an awesome seat, which I totally fell for :) This seat will certainly be more comfortable than the antique one I had previously acquired. I am all for comfort, especially as Charlotte will be my main mode of transportation this summer.

The new lights and seat

And the lesson I learned today is not to judge a cycle shop by it's window display, but rather by how you are treated when you walk in the door!

So, with all my goods, I meandered home (about a 20 minute cycle from the Glebe) and set to installing the lights and new seat. Now that I have some time and the weather is nice, I hope to paint her in the next couple of days! :)

The Next Step

2010-04-24T00:59:00.005+04:00

Well, it has been one hell of a term! I can't say I'd like to relive it, but there have been a good number of excellent moments that I am not soon to forget! :) Nonetheless, it is time to boogie. I am packed and ready to move out of residence (very thankfully with no intention of ever returning to live in student residences again) tomorrow. I will be living with 2 other girls, a wee dog named Harley, and a fellow in a house in Alta Vista for at least the summer! I am very excited to have a home with a yard and a garden, an oven for baking, and a relatively undergraduate-student-free environment :) I will email out my new address shortly (ie. once I know the postal code) :)

And now it's time for summer! I will be working full time at World Hope full time throughout the summer and beyond, start researching and writing my major research paper for my MA, playing softball with the grad students association, and other random Ottawa-based activities! :) I am excited for the summer and my new work. First, though, a wee celebration holiday next weekend to Quebec City with Tony and his Kingston Brits! :)

Hope all is well with you! I'd love to hear what you're up to these wild and wacky days of 2010, so drop me a line! :)

The Ass-End of the Rideau Trail et al :)

2010-04-14T00:32:00.007+04:00

Well, it has been quite a week! The term is coming to a close and the campus is getting quieter. A few of us from residence wanted to have a last hurrah before we all went our various ways. So, after peer pressuring Stephanie to come along and getting all dolled up, we headed off for a great night out :) Here is all the photographic evidence you will get to see :) The following day, I headed down to Kingston. Some of our weekend adventures included a hike along the final bit of the Rideau Trail. The trail covers teh 500km of terrain between Ottawa and Kingston. As we didn't have enough time to do all 500km, we did the short bit through Kingston. It was quite nice, if I do say so :) Now, in this video, I attempted to capture the sounds of the wild. Unfortunatley, I am evidently unable to keep quite for such a duration and took to pointing out the blantantly obvious... So, if you would like to hear some ramblings and some nature, feel free to have a listen.

Otherwise, here are some pictures of the hike :)

Dare-devils that we are, we took to the trails despite ominous warnings!

MIND THE GAP!!!

And the trail proved quite pleasant, except for the odd mud pit... :)

Nonetheless, I was pleased and enjoyed the day thoroughly :)

Ooo, artsy train track shot. I know, you're dazzled :)

And, of course, an epic shot of our trail marker :) Yes, that's right... :)

The pretty marshes, complete with fuzzy bullrushes and snakes! :)

Another exciting element of the weekend was a jazz concert at Kingston's Grand Theatre. We saw the very excellent Brad Mehldau Trio. It was a great concert. I would highly recommend catching this trio if they come to your town! :)

Oh, and the concert goers :)

The stage, oozing jazziness! :)

So, all in all, a great week, to be sure! :) As of today, I have handed in my last paper for the term. Now, my mom comes to the O-Town for some fun and games!!! Hoorah! :)

Ah, the Proletariat

2010-04-10T02:50:00.004+04:00

Hello Everyone! Well, I have some great news to share with you. I am very lucky to have found a fantastic job here in Ottawa in my field of interest! I will be working with World Hope Canada in conjunction with World Hope Ukraine as a researcher on a 3-year project working with youth at risk! World Hope is a faith based non-government organisation, but out work is purely humanitarian. World Hope is working closely with the Ukrainian government on these projects with the hope that this project will serve as the foundation for much greater initiatives to address youth at risk. The project has 3 main components:
1) To build a curriculum to help institutionalised kids transition into independent living.
2) To create a model foster system for 6 high-risk women as a means of human trafficking prevention.
3) To expand the capacity to address youth at risk by working in conjunction with the local, regional, and national governments.

I am super excited about this project. It is exactly what I am doing my MA thesis and is such an amazing step to addressing some of the problems of youth at risk. This project will most certainly include research trips to Ukraine, which will be both amazing and scarily intense, I'm sure! I am also very nervous as this will certainly be the most intense project I will ever have worked on. I have never done research of this caliber or have been as close as this to such an intense issue (human trafficking, street kids, etc). I will also have to manage my time carefully as I will be working on my major MA research paper and maintaining my Research Assistant position with my department as part of my funding contract. I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity and to be able to work on such a fantastic project with what seems to be a great team of people.

So, wish me luck! I'm sure you'll be hearing more about all this! :)

Here is a link to World Hope Canada's website if you're interesting in checking out the organisation :)

Charlotte: Progress Report 4: Butts and Colours:

2010-04-07T20:51:00.005+04:00

With the lovely weather on the weekend, I figured this week would be a good week to paint Charlotte. With this in mind I headed off to the local hardware store to get the paint, brushes, etc. Now, I’m pretty sure the hardware store in the Glebe is just about the happiest place in Ottawa. Everyone has been incredibly friendly and helpful whenever I’ve been in for whatever random item. I explained to the fellow at the paint desk that I was painting an old bike and wondered which paint was best. All smiles, he launched into all kinds of helpful information on metal paint, finishing by asking me which colour I wanted to paint my bike. I timidly said that I was kind of thinking of painting my bike purple. Yes, he laughed and then showed my every shade of purple I could possible imagine. Inconveniently, I chose a colour somewhere between a deep plum and midnight purple, which happened to be called Never Enough Shoes. Oh yes, the mocking came quickly :) I said I may as well fully live up to the stereotype and buy shoes to match the paint :) Nonetheless, he mixed my paint and had me laughing my way out the door.

Today, I went to get Charlotte a seat and a lock. After Swinging into the Bike Dump to obtain an old seat ($15 as opposed to $65!) from one of the motlier boys, I hit the posh bike shop for a swank new lock. In my travels, I realised I had forgotten to pick up sand paper to prep Charlotte for painting and quickly nipped into my favourite hardware store to get a sheet of sandpaper. Yes, the paint guy spotted me and shouted across the store, “Hey Never Enough Shoes!” It was a good day and had me smiling all the way home.

And so, I have the new seat and will likely tweek it, ajust the handlebars, and sand down Charlotte to get her ready to paint on the next lovely day and when I have time! :)