Canada — Page 13 — You are in My World Now

Time for a home town visit?

June 10, 2009 by Tricia

Do you ever get homesick? I think I’m starting to become home sick. I haven’t visited my home town since 2005 when I went to one of my remaining aunts birthday parties (she was turning 80).

My brother still lives in my home town of Ottawa, but other than him, my aunt and her children I don’t have any other relatives there anymore. My mom died in 2004 and that ended all regular visits. When she was alive my husband and I tried to visit every two weeks (five hour drive each way from Toronto).

My husband is trying to book off for his vacation time. We’re hoping he’ll be able to book off for the last week of July and the first week of August. Perhaps some time during his vacation we’ll drive to Ottawa to see my brother and other relatives.

I’d kind of like to see our old house where we all grew up, but I’m sure that will bring back some painful memories. Not that my time there was bad or anything, in fact I had a great childhood and got along well with my parents … but it’s kind of sad since they are gone and the house is no longer ours.

If we do visit Ottawa I’d want to go to the Experimental Farm and Dow’s Lake. It was was walking distance from our house and I spent a lot of time there as a child going to see the farm animals and skating and boating on the lake and of course the Ottawa Canal. I suppose I’d probably find a reason to visit the Westgate Mall which was near my house as well. Just for old times sake.

If you no longer live in your home town do you try to go back for a visit every now and then or are you like me … haven’t visited for 5 or more years?

My Husband is NOT a Guinness World Record holder – unfortunately

June 6, 2009 by Tricia

I was hoping that I’d be able to announce that I’m married to a Guinness World Record holder this evening, but I’m afraid that I can only say that my husband attempted to break a Guinness World Record and unfortunately failed because enough people didn’t show up. Shame.

Sp what am I talking about? Well, earlier today a large group of guitarists gathered at Toronto’s Dundas Square in attempt to break the record for the largest guitar ensemble. They needed 1803 guitarists to break the 2007 German record of 1802 guitarists playing Smoke on the Water, but they were apparently short by about 123 people.

My husband was disappointed when he came home, but he still said he had fun playing Neil Young’s Heartless and meeting several other guitarists. Oh well, maybe they’ll try to break the record again next year. He was so excited too … he even wrote a post about the attempt to break the world record on his guitar blog.

I was going to go to watch the event, but I wasn’t feeling all that well. Remember I have Crohn’s and it’s acting up lately. To tell you the truth I kind of feel like I’ve taken a colon cleanser today. That’s what life with Crohn’s is like.

If Chris had only been going downtown for an hour or so it wouldn’t have been that bad, but registration was supposed to start at 2 p.m. and he heard on the radio at noon that people were already starting to gather so he left at about 12:30 pm. All the guitarists didn’t start playing the song Heartless until 6 p.m. so that would have been a lot of standing around for me. Still … I would have liked to have gone as I’m sure I would have taken some cool pictures of all those guitarists.

Change of plans for Easter weekend

April 7, 2009 by Tricia

Relief … do you remember last week when I told you that my Brother in law might come to visit us here in Toronto from Chicago? We just found out that he’s not coming. Short notice, but personally I’m relieved.

I wasn’t looking forward to a houseful of guests over Easter weekend .. especially when we’re still trying to clear out our basement for the oil tank replacement next Monday.

He changed his mind because he couldn’t get the great airfare deal that he thought he was going to get. So instead he’s going to take his family to one of those Pigeon Forge hotels in TN for a family vacation over Easter weekend. I think his wife has relatives in TN.

So now … other than going to the in-laws for Easter dinner on Sunday Chris and I and our dog Midnight will have a little staycation at home. I doubt that we’ll do anything interesting, but I know that Midnight will have fun whatever we do … she always has a good time as long as she’s with us.

Here she is playing in the yard and chewing on her leash …

When we try to get her to come to us while we’re outside she always runs away, making a game of it. I think she was about to run when I snapped this shot.

What are you doing over Easter weekend? Spending time with family?

Time to do some yard work

March 22, 2009 by Tricia

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If you live in a northern climate you’re probably fairly excited that Spring has finally arrived. I know I am! We’ve actually had fairly nice weather most of the month, but I just got my first confirmation that Spring is truly here… I discovered my first crocus’ blooming in my backyard just a little while ago.

Crocus’ are usually the first flower to bloom in my garden each year so it’s a sign that my personal gardening season has begun.

Now I can’t wait to get out in the yard and start clearing the dead leaves and dead foliage out of the garden beds! I need to rake the lawn as well. I guess we didn’t rake it much in the fall and it has a matt of dead grass that I’m sure once we rake it off we’ll see some signs of life in the lawn below.

I’ll probably have to wait a few weeks for the Hyacinths to start to make an appearance, but I can’t wait to see them and smell their heavily scented blooms. Don’t you just love the heady scent of Hyacinth?

Do you garden? If you do, what’s waking up in your garden beds right now?

The Crocus’ are coming

March 8, 2009 by Tricia

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I’m getting excited – one of my favorite seasons will soon be here – SPRING!

Ok truth be told I enjoy Spring, Summer and Autumn almost equally, well Autumn might be a little less on the fav scale but it’s up there compared to Winter! Oh and Winter will soon be over! Yeah!

I think plants celebrate when Spring arrives … maybe that’s why there are so many beautiful Spring flowers.

The Crocus is always the first flower to appear on my property each spring … aren’t they pretty?

Lovely little flowers of purple and yellow that bloom during the day and then close their blooms as night falls.

Another spring flower that I enjoy is the Columbine or Aquilegia. Such pretty ornate flowers.

When I was a kid we’d go up to our cottage almost every weekend from Spring through fall and often in the forest I’d find red flowers that my mother told me were called Honeysuckles. I think they were some form of wild Columbine. I guess that was my first introduction to Aquilegia.

Do you have a favorite Spring flower? Oh and what’s your favorite season .. if you have seasons, that is?