Parkour!

I took a quick trip east this past week to visit my old friend and former co-editor of the Chronicle, Lisa DeMoor. I blame our shared history of ridiculously late nights spent bonding in the Chronicle office for the silliness that eventually ensued. But I'll get to that later. First I have to mention a few of the other things that I did while I was away.

Firstly, we drove straight from the airport to Toronto to see U2 play a show at the skydome. It was awesome. They had the roof rolled back, which meant that the CN Tower was visible right next to us, all lit up in (slightly tacky) coloured lights. Summary of the concert: Bono's still got it. Photo of the concert = don't have one, so you'll have to settle for one of me reading a review the next day on the train.



The next day was tickle trunk day! We went to the CBC museum and saw it. For reals. It's amazing. They had old clips of Mr. Dressup shows and other such delights. No puppets of Casey and Finnegan though. Other item of note: Mr. Dressup's glasses back in the day were essentially the same as Joel's current glasses. I feel that Freud would have something to say about that. Gotta love him.

The rest of the day was spent going up the CN Tower, shopping, wandering through Chinatown, finding the best coffee of our lives, seeing Kensington Market, and being taken out for a lovely French meal by my cousin Aaron and his fiance Karen. They took us to an art opening after dinner. We are so scene.

Next day we drove back to Ottawa. I cheated on the Lush pact* because I was seduced by a coconut scented product and then caught up on the season premiere of The Office. Well worth it, considering our activities the next day when we decided on a whim to head to Montreal (because we could) and spend the day wandering around. We managed to see a bit of the waterfront and Old Montreal before we regressed into a fit of parkour madness, inspired by The Office. In the end, we didn't actually see a whole lot of Montreal. But we sure had a great day.

Parliament the next day, where we crashed a suffragettes tea party and then I sat on Lester B. Pearson's lap. And then we headed off to eat some sandwiches. Apparently I am a big jerk for wanting swiss cheese on mine, but I suppose that was evident already with my choice of a red sports car avec spoiler for a rental. And that's the summary of my most excellent trip east.


* Lush Pact is a vow to never shop at Lush that I made with Joel some time ago. We made the pact because the store stinks and we hate it. Well, mostly hate it. Except this one product.

summer pout

we went for a lovely picnic on the pedestrian bridge by louise mckinney park tonight. i forget how exactly i offended joel before this picture, but that is a real pout my friends. ahh the magic of summer evenings.

Camp Counsellor

Today I sorted through a huge box of letters and notes that I had stored at my parents' house. I figured it was time to get them out of there and get rid of some of them. You can see the bag full of recycle next to me, and the consolidated letters sorted into shoeboxes.


Of course in the process a few gems were discovered. Like this picture, drawn by Tash. She hates cats. The sketch below is a cat being run over by a truck that says "devil patrol" on it.


I threw away most of the letters from people I have lost touch with totally, and a lot from summer camp friends. But I couldn't bear to get rid of one letter...most of you know that at one time I was a summer camp counsellor. Those were some of my glory summers, and one of my favourite campers was a 10 year old girl who came to the 'roughin' it' camp out at the tipis, where we lived away from the main camp and cooked our meals over a fire and played in the creek and all that good stuff. Anyways, this letter wins points for cuteness. Click on each page to view it larger - it's much more readable that way.

Our very own town troubadour

ALL CAPS UPDATE: HE PLAYED 'ALL AROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH' AGAIN THE OTHER DAY, AND THEN LINDA FREAKING DUNCAN WALKED UP AND GREETED HIM LIKE AN OLD FRIEND. I STARED. AND MISSED MY FRIEND KERRY.

One of my favourite things about Churchill Square on weekdays is the busker on the corner who calls himself "The Electronic Busker". Most days he's out there with his silver sequined suit jacket and his flowing grey hair. He is often playing familiar riffs from classic rock or whatever he feels like. One time, two or three days after I had a conversation about the song "Ghost riders in the sky" with Lewis, he played that very song as if he knew. Today it was "All around the mulberry bush". Made my day.

I didn't know this, but I just checked and he sure does have a website, with an entire album available for download. Check him out.

Decidedly not

Do you ever go through a phase where you find a new hairdo and it works perfectly for a couple of weeks, and then all of a sudden one day you wake up and it's impossible to get it to do that ever again? It may not look that fabulous to you here, but I was having some seriously fabulous and huge messy buns just after my trip to Europe with Joel, and now they are gone. The fabulous hugeness has disappeared, which is decidedly counter-intuitive since my hair is longer and huger now than it has ever been. Sadness.



Speaking of Joel, there is a rumor floating around Kings-land that we are engaged (we are not). Here is a cute picture of him lying on my sidewalk though. Is it wrong that I am amused and almost pleased to know that I am being discussed among the peripheries of my acquaintances? Maybe we are not supposed to admit it when we get pleasure out of such a narcissistic thought. But I just did. Don't judge too harsh.

That's all folks.

Think Big

Above: Joel and Tash looking conspiratory

JK thinks big when it comes to gift giving. He thinks big a lot of other times too, but I'd say this feature of his personality is really highlighted around holidays such as birthdays and Christmas. You may recall the thoughtful the handcrafted ampersand as an example. Well, this year for my birthday he FLEW MY FRIEND NATASHA HERE FROM SEATTLE TO SPEND THE WEEKEND WITH ME. It was the best conspiracy I have ever benefitted from. He sent us off to spend the day together with his polaroid camera. I PROMISE to scan them in so you can see them. Just not tonight.

Beth and Tash on their way to Capital EX



Beth making out with a corn. And twirling his silk in her fingers.

Ha ha.

London: The Last Europe Installment

• First meal in London: theme song from Notting Hill plays in the empty pub.
• Sushi and Starbucks on Shaftsbury Avenue
• Letterpress extravaganza at Covent Garden
• Fish and chips and disgusting gravy. Also, room temperature beer
• British Museum of Natural History Gift Shop: Should I buy a miniature bust of Charles Darwin?
• Awww, Joel loves little birds
• Flashback to Paris: thirsty pigeon falls into the pond
• Hunting for peacocks in Holland Park. We find the most boring peacock of all time
• pints of cider over ice at the Churchill Arms. No celebrities spotted.
• Hey, remember that trip to Europe when Bethany ate meat salad twice?
• Jamie Oliver's restaurant: when the appetizer comes on a cutting board you know it's going to be good
• Tate Modern: big table and chairs make me feel like a little kid
• Millenium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral
• 20 pence for a toilet. Don't tell Kaeli!
• Camden Market feels just like Whyte Ave
• Coffee at Flat White in Soho
• Harrods London - I mistook it for Buckingham Palace
• Krispy Kreme donuts in Harrods? Weird. But tasty.
• Cruising on the double decker night bus
• Three o'clock in the morning at the bus stop Joel discovers the yogurt has spilled all over his cameras.
• It's not white. It's oat.
• 4:15 a.m.: 30-something man walks past in a plaid suit and orange dress shirt...is it Elton?
• Soundtrack of 4:30 a.m.: "Sugarlumps" for JK, "Ain't no Sunshine" for BB
• Apparently other people are awake at 4:30. Who knew?
• Joel drinks 5-hour energy followed by a latte. All before 4:30 a.m.
• Free breakfast on Eurostar first class trains
• Joel loves butter
• Joel: "I am the world's best traveller! Oh wait a minute...where are my boarding passes?" Bethany: "Over there on the floor of the airport".