Canadian National Exhibition

Every single summer, my friend N and I have a tradition of going to the CNE. It's weird, we both have a love/hate relationship with the CNE, but we just can't quit it. Even though we spend most of the day wanting to yell at people to stop walking so slowly, there is just something so summery and fun about it. Since N lives in T.O, he is very good at maneuvering around crowds of people, he just weaves in and out, but I constantly get stuck. Part of the fun is the people dodging.





I drag N to this every year, which is hilarious because the show is the exact same thing every year. It's basically like dogs racing against each other and jumping over high posts. The Superdog announcer is kind of like Bob Barker, but way less cool. But the Ex just wouldn't be the Ex without going to see the Superdogs.



Sand sculptures! I definitely admire people who have the patience for stuff like this! I can just imagine it collapsing randomly and having to start over...arggg.



Butter sculptures! Star Wars ones! When you watch the people make these sculptures, they are all decked out in winter gear because they are basically inside a fridge with windows. The sheer volume of butter was a little gross, but impressive none the less!





I'm always very careful about the rides I go on at carnival type events. Rides that can be disassembled in a day make me slightly uneasy, so I tend to avoid them. The Zipper is a ride I would never in my life go on, and it wasn't helped by the fact that this particular ride had a huge sign posted on it that said "this ride has been shut down for your safety". Okay then!



As we found out last night...deep fried mars bars are basically one of the greatest inventions ever. They were so unbelievably good. We were dubious at first, and were a little frightened that we might instantly have heart attacks,because the whole idea of a deep fried candy bar is a bit much, but hey, it's the Ex! Also, just a note...the booth across from this one was selling chocolate covered bacon. For reals yo. EW! I'm so going to try it next year.





We always, always ride the ferris wheel. Once during the day, and once at night. The midway looks amazing all lit up, and you can see pretty far. During the day when we went on, the Air Show was also happening so we got to watch some of that. The air show was 4 hours long. Never could I sit for so long in one spot just to watch some airplanes do tricks in the air, no matter how cool that may be. The air show is kinda freaky to watch too because the planes fly so close together (or at least it appears that they do from the ground), and I spend the entire time worrying about what to do if they crash. They always look like they are about to crash too, because one of the tricks involves the plane spiraling straight down. You watch in amazement, just kind of wondering, is that supposed to be happening?? and then even if it is NOT supposed to be happening, there is nothing you can do to stop it anyway. Air shows freak me out.

One of my favourite parts of the day involved waiting for the train. I was by myself, so I guess I looked approachable. This lady came up to me and asked me what time the train came. The conversation then evolved into life stories. Which really, I didn't mind, she wasn't crazy and we had a while to wait for the train anyway. But then she started telling me this story that she thought was hilarious, like so hilarious she couldn't speak anymore and tears were streaming down her face. The story wasn't funny....at least not to me. I was trying to get out a laugh because what else could I do besides stare at her? She laughed for the longest time ever, but then just abruptly stopped the story with "so, yeahhhh". It was kind of great. Then the train came and we almost got trampled getting on, so I didn't get to sit with my new found friend on the train. Anyways.

All in all, it was a great day. I didn't win any giant stuffed animals, but I guess there is always next year! Goodbye summer!

On the Weather and Some Books...

It's a hot one today. Grossly hot, like, oh my God, even my thumb is sweating hot. I think it makes people a little crazy. I mean, I was walking through the parking lot earlier, and I swear to God I saw a giant, black, poodle on the other side of the street. It was a mirage! There was of course no actual poodle, but the steamy haze coming off of the concrete sure made it look like there was.

This heat makes people a little crazy for sure.

I went to get gas this morning, and I go inside to pay. The cashier was then randomly like, "I"m watching the X-Files", gesturing towards one of those little dvd players sitting on the counter, that I a)did not even notice, and b) therefore did not ask about. So I said, "oh yeah..'. Then he proceeded to tell me the entire plot of the episode. "It's this one where Scully is examining this body, and some guys are like "Scully, can you tell us how he died", and Scully's all like, "oh I'll tell you", then it's like 1, 2, 3, beeeeeeeeeep.". Except it was longer than that and made even less sense. I had no response other than staring and smiling, because I wasn't too sure why he was even telling me this, or if I had somehow made him uncomfortable so he felt the need to make idle chit chat for way longer than we originally would have been talking anyway. At 8:30am, I don't have the patience for people like this. Especially when it's hot, and I haven't even started work yet and I"m already sweating through my clothes. I like the X-Files as much as the rest of the population, but I don't go around talking about random plot lines of the show for no apparent reason. It was a weird start to my morning.

The rest of the day has consisted of more sweating, getting bumped into by a drunk guy on the street, and listening to a verbal smackdown in front of Tim Hortons. What a day so far!

I can't wait to play two games of softball tonight! I will not be moving very quickly no matter how bad we are losing. It's so hot, it's like you can swim through the air. All I want to do is sit on a hammock (if I had one) and read.

Speaking of reading, here are some excellent books I've read lately:


I'm not a great book reviewer...I usually can only say I like it or I don't. This book, I loved. He does a great job of telling the stories of this entire family over several generations.


Jen Lancaster is a funny, funny lady.


Rebecca Wells is one of my favourite authors of all time. I love the world she brings to life. I'm only half way through this book, but it is pretty great so far.

Summa Time!

Yesterday was the perfect summer day...the one I was waiting for. Summer has begun. The weather says otherwise, but that feeling is there. We spent all day yesterday at:


It was so relaxing. The weather was perfect, the vibe was right, and we spent much of the day laughing which is always needed. The festival is held right in a huge park by the beach, and it is just non stop music all day. Everybody is really welcoming and nice to each other, and it is a really great community event. The music is a little twangy, as a lot of the musicians are from Texas, but we all need a little twang in our lives every so often.

I came across this website recently called Help Others, and it is all about random acts of kindness. Basically you sign up, and they then send you these free "smile cards" that say something like "Smile, You've Just Been Tagged". For example, you are going through a drive thru, and you decide to pay for the car behind you. You then hand the cashier one of these cards, and then ask him/her to give it to the person, so that they can then "pay it forward". The website is run by anonymous people, and I think it's pretty effin great. I mean, especially in the kind of world we live in, where people are always rush rush rush, and barely take the time to smile at each other, I imagine it would improve your mood considerably to get one of those cards. It's almost a little bit silly, and I can imagine that some people would scoff at the idea, but below the surface of 1990s esque smiley faces on cards, it is just a really nice idea.
They list some random acts of kindness ideas on their website, and I thought these were pretty cool, and might brighter some one's day quite a lot. I mean, most times, it doesn't take much.

-tape the exact change needed to a vending machine
-pay for some one's order behind you in the driv thru line
-pay for some one's toll fee on the highway
-leave flowers in front of some one's house (although this might immediately be met with suspicion, and a continuing obsession about who the flowers were from, which might not be so much of a gift after all)
-leave a cd with some of your favourite songs in a random place (on a bus...on a bench). Leave a favourite book with a note!

...and the list goes on

The website just makes me happy. And yes I ordered some cards. As dumb as the cards themselves may be, I can't imagine anyone getting one and not smiling.

I don't have my cards yet, but last night at the Cicada Fest, I thought I would try out my first (well, not my first in my life, but my first since reading this website), random act of kindness. It seemed like an appropriate setting. Anyway, we had left over food/drink tickets, so on the way out I told the lady at the ticket desk to just give those tickets to whoever came up to buy them next. The lady was like "that's so nice!", and then was just all smiley. So not only was she happy, the person who got free tickets was probably also happy. Not the hugest or most exciting random act, but it shows just how easy it is to spread a little happy around.

I can't wait to get the cards, I"m gonna pass them out allll over town.

What Girl Doesn't Like Fireworks?

I didn't always love fireworks. When I was little, they scared the crap out of me. I hated loud noises in general, and I found that whenever we went to see fireworks anywhere, they would always manage to sneak in those ones that you don't see sailing upwards, but then suddenly explode with a bang that changes the rhythm of your heart. I believe they were known as "cherry bombs" (those bastards!) I would usually watch fireworks displays with my hands covering my ears or I would watch from in the house. Fireworks happened every year sometime around my birthday (which usually falls on or near Victoria Day).

As I got older, I stopped covering my ears, and I ventured outside, and my fondness for fireworks eventually grew into what it is today: big love.

During high school, my birthday celebration continued to include fireworks, and every year my group of friends would gather in the backyard for a little BBQing, and a display of pyrotechnics. The boys were in charge of actually doing the lighting, while us girls sat on the deck far out of harms way. The backyard at the house I grew up in was huge and had ample space for fireworks: it was perfection.

One of the boys would light the firework that was sitting in the bucket filled with sand, then run for his life up to the deck. One year the neighbours a couple of doors down were also having a fireworks display, and very shortly into the night, a fireworks war erupted. We were poor high school students, and fireworks are expensive, so the war didn't last long, at least not on our part. The war did include trash talk though, and it produced such threats/insults such as: "This one is called...your mother!!", "what was that one called...crap?". And the forever funny no matter how much time has passed gem, "oh my god, you just shot me in the leg!!". The grand finale on that particular night included all of us grabbing and lighting as many sparklers as we could (we had run out of fireworks), and jumping up and down in my backyard to create the illusion of big time fireworks. I don't think it worked. It was so fun.

The birthday fireworks are no longer, as the group has dispersed and the house has been sold. The new yearly tradition of watching fireworks now takes place on Canada Day (what better reason for fireworks??). These fireworks are of the professional variety, and quite frankly, a lot more spectacular. Our group usually becomes the cheering squad, yelling things like "nice fire!", and ooohhhhing and ahhhhing our little hearts out. I love fireworks.

This past weekend I was at a party that also included fireworks, but unlike high school (what? we were good kids..), added some alcohol to the mix. Fireworks and alcohol is a really dumb combination. And I feared for my life at several points during this firework display. It was especially amusing/terrifying when the boys were holding the fireworks while setting them off. "It's just a roman candle, don't worry!". Yeah, I"m sure that what's one eyed joe said right before the fireworks display last Canada Day.

This led me to google "firework related injuries", and unshockingly, a whole lot of them happen every year. Mostly to men. Probably mostly to men that have been drinking beer.

Next fireworks holiday: labour day. Cannot wait.

Just in Case

Just in case anybody was wondering, this is what plants of various poison varieties looks like:



And in case anybody was wondering, poison oak can stay in your system for up to two weeks. So you could be going along, thinking to yourself, "phew, I managed to escape that unscathed!", then suddenly find yourself really, really itchy. Now, I only have it a little bit, but it's hella unpleasant.

About two weeks ago a bunch of us were helping a friend in her backyard/jungle, and apparently one of the many varieties of plants we chose to rip out of the ground that day was in fact poison oak. Oops!

Personally, many lessons have been learned from this, mainly: watch what the hell I am pulling out of the ground. Never again will I attack backyard plants with such utter abandon that I don't actually look at what I am touching. I will now be on the lookout for poison oak whenever I set foot in a green space.

It's these kind of nature skills I would have learned at sleep away camp, but my parents never sent me. I'm not bitter! But boy, camp sure does look like it would have been fun! My parents tell me when I was younger they asked me if I wanted to go to camp, but apparently I didn't want to go. I think not! And if it's true, I"m a little irritated at my younger self, because what was I thinking!!

Ah well, bygones. I have now experienced what I assume is a natural part of the sleep away camp process!

In other news...it is Scene Music Festival today! Very exciting and usually slightly tipsy times!

Weekend of Fun

Last weekend was great. I know, it's Thursday, and I am only now writing about the weekend...but I try. Lord knows where the week goes.

Reason Number One the Weekend Was Great:



I do love Jack Johnson. I first discovered him approximately in....2005, whilst I was in Europe, and I have loved him ever since. Jack has the kind of music that just flows, flows, flows through you body, and gives you a nice, relaxed, mellow kinda feeling. It's lovely. I kind of feel that Jack Johnson's music has contributed somehow to my being very que sera sera about life. It just really mellows you out. Some of the songs are cheesy and simple, but some definitely make you ponder life. Jack Johnson's music IS summer to me. Sitting on a dock, drinking a beer, legs danging in the water. ohhhhh yeah.

Reason Number Two This Weekend Was Great:



Mason Jennings is my new music love. He was at the concert this weekend. Honestly, I didn't notice him at all while he was actually playing, mostly because I was concerned with waiting in the very long porta potty line, but he came back out to do a song with Jack later in the evening, and I thought "damn! I love this boy!". So I've since bought his album, In The Ever, and it is pretty damn great. Kinda Jack Johnsony, but a little more upbeat.

The concert was at Burls Creek Park in Oro, Ontario. It was a great place for a concert....big wide open field, lots of room to spread out blankets and chill. Finding the actual park proved to be slightly difficult, and what was supposed to be a 10 minute drive, turned into an hour drive. Damn you google maps!! Oro is quite possibly the most hilly city I have ever encountered. My new car was like 'ummm where the hellllll are we going?" She was having quite the time chug chug chugging up and down the GRAVEL road google maps had us travelling on. Turn left on Line 8 my ass!

Some of these hills were so steep, you would get to the top and be like "ummmm where did the road go?" Redonk. Even more redonk since we ended up having to go ALL THE WAY back the way we came, up and down those same roads. Initially when we were going the wrong way, (LINE 8 does not lead to Burls Creek Park if anybody was wondering), we ended up on a dead end road. A family was there taking a midday walk. I pulled up and was like "excuse me, but are we near Burls Creek Park?". They all looked completely confused, which is never a good sign, and then the dad was like "ummm you are nowhere near it, it's about 20km down this same road you just came up, then you have to get on the highway, quickly get off the highway, drive across the bridge, and yada yada". Then the teenage son piped up, and was like "damn, you are almost in Moonstone now!". Then they all laughed. So I turned around, and went back the way we came. Funnily enough, approximately 20 other people must have gotten their directions from google maps, because at some point during our trip back down Line 8, a convoy of Jack Johnson fans was driving down the road. People were stopping their cars, yelling out the window "where's Jack???" It was quite ridiculous. Kinda fun though.

When we left the concert and were heading back to the parking lot, we all got the feeling that it was going to take us a little while to leave. TWO AND A HALF HOURS later, we got out of the parking lot. Seriously. They had us trapped in there like cattle. We played many a game, some of which included "would you rather" and the ever popular "movies...fruits...food that start with a certain letter". It was the longest wait in a parking lot ever! If you ever go to a concert at Burls Creek...don't drive!

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend. It also involved zip lining and tree trekking, but that is another post for another day.