I wish...

I wish Prime Minister Harper was more like President Obama.

Exhibit A:

Blackberry Pictures

So. My boss has bestowed a (dreaded, vile) Blackberry upon me. It's taking some getting used to and I'm determined not to become one of "those people." Sometimes, I can't believe that I'm the one making the clicky typing noise I dislike so much.

However! I have discovered the fun that is taking pictures of my daily life throughout the city and sending them to people, particularly Kirsty in Ottawa.

Below are some highlights from the past week:


This is me talking to D about having a Blackberry on Day 1. Clearly, I'm already stressed out.


Just some beautiful flowers for sale at the market near my house.


Pumpkins piled high in the back of a vintage pickup truck parked in front of the same market.


Toronto at sunset on the Autumnal Equinox.


Where Queen St. passes over the Don River.


Looking North over the Don Valley Parkway. That's how you get to Peterborough.

Letters of Note

I came across this blog, Letters of Note, a few months ago. I instantly loved it and got lost in the many letters published on the blog. Just as I was about to post some of my favourite entries, I was distracted, only to revisit the blog this evening.

Not only are the letters incredible themselves, but I like seeing the handwriting and letterhead of people such as Steve McQueen, Hugh Hefner, Harper Lee, Wil Wheaton and Johnny Cash to name a few.

Fall is here, hear the yell*

Although fall officially begins on September 23rd this year, the season is already here. Whenever Labour Day passes and the new school year starts, everyone feels the pull towards fall and inevitably winter, even if it's still 30 degrees outside.

Though it's not quite over yet, let's take a little look back over the summer:


To kick things off, D opened his new business! Hooray!


We went to the drive-in during the last weekend in May (as mentioned before.) We also got our first sunburns of the summer that weekend.


We had not one, not two, but three garage sales in Peterborough and I believe the above photo is from garage sale number two. This is the most talented Jeff, drawing, while his beautiful art is on display and for sale. (Complete with unicorn head paperweights!)


I witnessed hundreds of teenagers spend 4 days and three nights camped out on Toronto sidewalks for advance tickets to the Much Music Video Award tickets. This meant a whole lot of screaming and mess right outside my office. It also resulted in me feeling old as I stood at the windows, declaring to my co-workers "that I would never let my kids do that." I'm sure fate will get me for that one.


My lovely grandmother turned 86. 86!


We went to the cottage a couple of times. And both times it was lovely to be away from the smelly city and the noise and the attitudes and the heat and, and, and...I could go on forever. We also went to an auction, watched my mother's dog hunt relentlessly for spiders on the dock and attended my aunt's 60th birthday party.


August flew by with a metal band from Timmins, craziness at work, lots of lap swimming at the local (free!) pool near by and some of the hottest weather Toronto has seen since the 50's. Then, at the end of it, M came home (at last) and she gave me this tote bag, among other lovely gifts. The print on the bag is by Mucha, an artist that my Mom, M and I love.

And here we are now, two weeks into September already. The weather is sunny, but cool and it makes for the best sleeping, with the windows thrown wide open.

*This song always reminds me of fall, for obvious and not so obvious reasons.

In the middle of the night I call your name

I think Oh Yoko by John Lennon is one of the best love songs ever written. It couldn't be more sweet, straightforward and passionate.

I heard it tonight, for the first time in a long time, and my heart swelled. I thought to myself how terrible it would be if I had never heard this song. Listen to that piano, listen to John's voice.

If you haven't heard Oh Yoko before, you can listen to it here.

(Photo from the New York Daily News website)

One more month

It's exactly one month to the day that my sweet sister comes home. It will be 14 months since I've seen her by then! Too long, I say!

Here is a picture M took shortly after she arrived in South Korea. I was going to post a picture of her, but I don't think she'd like that. Plus, she's got skills with a camera (as you can see below) and I like to brag about it.

How was your day?

My day was pretty good. It started out a little rough because I may, or may not, have been up late last night with D, drinking wine on a bench down by the lake. Work was mediocre, but then the evening was quite nice. I went to the public pool near my house and swam 12 laps (12!). Then I sat down by the pool and sunned my legs.

Question- Is a lap one trip across the pool? Or is a lap there and back? If it's there and back, I did 6. But still!

Then I came home, ate a burger, and fell asleep reading Under the Tuscan Sun. When I woke up, I went online to find my dear sister in Hanoi. Hanoi! She's a little bit like Carmen Sandiego these days as she travels through Asia. It's hard for me to imagine her so far away, especially since I've never been to Vietnam, or anywhere in Asia for that matter, so I don't know how it feels there.

And now, to sleep! For the second time this evening.

P.S. My sister, cousins and I used to love playing "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" Good work, Gumshoe!