I have too much to do at home and decided to skip NTT this time. I got a call from someone at the course around 10:45 - make up races from saturday finals finished at 10:30 am and they were finally starting the 500s. I feel for the paddlers, officials and supporters - I hear the conditions haven't improved much.

Check out this ad for World Cup in Hungary.



Meanwhile at World Cup 1 in Račice, Czech Republic...

Adam has launched his 2009 season with a gold. In the K1 1000m, he posted the fastest time at all the splits and won the gold in three minutes 38.492 seconds. Rene Holgten-Poulsen of Denmark was second in 3:39.969 and Anders Gustavsson of Sweden was third in 3:40.355

Results for C1 1000m (keeping in mind all our guys are at NTT);

1st FRA Mathieu Goubel 4:06:159

2nd UZB Vadim Menkov 4:08:003

3rd POL Marcin Grzybowski 4:09:679

K1 500m

1st FRA Sebastien Jouve 1:36:614

2nd SWE Anders Gustavssen 1:37:448

3rd DEN René Holten-Poulsen 1:38:524

C1 500m

1st UZB Vadim Menkov 1:47.420

2nd BLR Dzianis Harazha 1:47.716

3rd LTU Jevgenij Suklin 1:47.836

Oh wow, results for the 5000m?? I am so out of the loop.

K1 5000m

1st BLR Aleh Yurenia 18:09,0

2nd CAN Adam van Koeverden 18:09,2

3rd ITA Maximilian Benassi 18:12,0

C1 5000m

1st POL Marcin Grzybowski 20:57,5

2nd RUS Pavel Petrov 20:58,0

3rd ROU Iosif Chirila 21:30,6

It sounds like conditions at Welland couldn't have been any worse! The wind blew over two porta-potties - no word if there was anyone in them. Afternoon races were cancelled so basically none of the finals have been run. They'll start running them at 7:30am tomorrow but it sounds like paddlers are in for a long day. I'll be checking the weather before I decide on going out there...
I was going to that reunion which was being held in the east end - Westney and Bayly. The weather was ridiculous as I drove across the 401 (although Port Credit was fine with just a little rain).

Good luck to everyone racing at national team trials this weekend. I have a high school reunion tomorrow afternoon but plan on being there for 500s on Sunday. My son and I had my mother's day dinner tonight so I'm good!
I'm hoping you have no rain and no wind.
Get out front, don't get tired

My dad is back in the hospital. This was a pretty long stretch - he hasn't been admitted since the first week of January so that's...3 months and a bit of good health. That's something!

Wasted.
The day, not me. I can't believe I slept until 2pm.
I didn't go to bed until 3am but still - that's no reason for an 11 hour snoozefest.

It was my brother-in-law's 50th birthday last night and my sister had a blowout party - 140 people - at their new home. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a blowout like, say, the senior party at nationals in Dartmouth. The guests were mostly affluent, middle-aged and figure prominently in business, politics and sports.

The invitation said BBQ but I knew that meant something completely different with this crowd. I struggled with my wardrobe (gaining so much weight doesn't help since most of my 'cute' clothes don't fit) so I settled on black dress pants and raspberry camisole with a wrap sweater. So glad. As I searched for a parking spot on their street, I noted the trail of people heading to their house - suits on the men and everything from cocktail dresses to pleated Burberry skirts topped by Lacoste polos on the women. At least I'd blend in. My sister looked fantastic in white linen pants and a loose, patterned shirt she had picked up in West Palm beach on their last ladies' group trip. She's slimmed down incredibly since I last saw her at Easter. She has always been able to starve herself leading up to any given event. On the one hand, I wish I had that ability but on the other, it's completely unhealthy. Either way, she looked incredible and happy!

Randall is a pretty laid-back guy with a good sense of humour. Loves the cottage, fishing, golf...so the caterer went with a cottage theme. There were massive posters of him on the living room walls - blow ups from the family albums of him waterskiing, scuba diving, driving the boat...and outside there were portable bonfire pits where you could roast marshmallows and make s'mores (with imported chocolate, of course).The hired musician was playing the grand piano in the foyer early in the night and later brought his guitar out to the bonfire where he played a lot of Dylan, Neil Young, Springsteen...(basically the music of our high school years and definitely nothing recorded after 1980).Tara's male friends loved it since that's what 17 year old boys are listening to right now.

And then there were the bass... in the hot tub. Yeah, that's right, I said bass...as in fish. The hot tub wasn't heated obviously - and I guess the idea, stay with me here, was for the pro photographer she'd hired to take shots of these people in Armani suits and cocktail dresses wearing hip waders and holding up the bass they'd "caught". Unfortunatley, the hot tub borders the chlorinated swimming pool. Three of the bass jumped the breach into the main pool. They were netted and returned to the hot tub (fresh water) where they instantly died and sank to the bottom. Am I the only one reminded of the WKRP thanksgiving media event where Les throws turkeys out of a helicopter not knowing they can't fly?

The food was pretty amazing with staff circulating an endless stream of french fries in small take-out containers - topping choice of ketchup, malt vinegar, mayonaisse or truffle mayonaisse - and trays of shrimp with coriander, mini burgers of pulled pork and a dining room buffet that featured mango salad, a variety of pasta dishes, pad thai, roast beef, etc....I didn't actually see the entire buffet. I had eaten dinner and was cursing myself for it. I wasn't at all hungry so only viewed the spread from a distance (although I did have some of the truffle mayonaisse fries). There were 3 bars going but since this wasn't really a drinking crowd, they shut down the one on the patio once the speeches started.

I left at around 11:30 and headed out to Pickering where there was a going-away party for Ryan. He's moved to Carlton Place and taken the head coaching job at the club there. He has a line on a teaching job and Julie will join him in September.

Since I was so late, lots of people had already left but Kevin & Karen, Schro & Amy, Pete & Sarah were still there. I also ran into a db paddler I haven't seen in awhile, Mike. Mike's a hardcore Salsa dancer and I've been wanting to ask him about where I can take lessons. I start an introductory class at the Spanish Centre next Saturday but if I really enjoy it, want to take classes from someone from within the (extensive) Toronto salsa community. Mike has put dancing on the backburner these past couple of years while he went back to school to add some letters to his name. He's finally finished his degree so I'll get in touch with him after this 5 week session is over.

The Clarkson contingent left with me around 1:30. The Gardner was closed and there was construction on the 401 with a massive backup from around the 409 exit. I took the detour towards the airport and swung back around to the 427 south in order to miss it. Bad news for the people in the car who desperately had to go to the bathroom.

When I got home, I wasn't tired and finished watching the movie Delirious.

So now, I'm eating a Burrito Boyz chicken burrito and watching Quantum of SOlace. Might as well make the day a complete write-off!

Nice - got my new passport yesterday. I just sent in the online form along with my old passport to Gatineau, QC and had the new one in my hands in less than 2 weeks! This is so much better than standing in line. The last time I had to renew, I left it too late and had to go to the passport office. What a zoo. Being 3rd in line at the post office in the back of Turtle Creek is way better than being number 572 in a skeevy government office.

Special bonus: I like my new photo better than the old one and they even returned my old passport. Those stamps and visas remind me of so many great trips.

While searching for a photo of a Canadian passport, I found out that Canada will be introducing a higher security, electronic passport valid for 10 years, starting in 2011. This makes so much sense, especially since Canadians are required to present a passport to enter the U.S. when arriving by air or sea and, although it's not strictly enforced, proof of identity and citizenship when entering by land. Currently, that means if you don't have a passport, you have to use a driver's license combined with an original birth certificate. Taking this into consideration, the Canadian federal government is developing an alternative secure travel document for short-term travel to the U.S.. Ottawa will spend $6-million over two years to support enhanced provincial drivers' licenses that will also list the driver's citizenship.

Having this new passport makes me want to try it out. Gah. Not good. I can see the airport from my office window and Flaco says the Bali Trip is ON...

ugh....
Today I found myself in one of those awkward situations... I was talking to someone and they said,"oh tomorrow I'm doing blah blah and then I have this with these people..." and I remembered that I was invited to this about 6 weeks ago and said, "Oh right, I forgot about this with them ..." and then let it trail off as realization sunk in that this person knew I'd been invited but there'd been no follow-up phone call or email - to me. I'd been dumped!
Stuck now, the other person said, "oh, do you want to come?" so I made up some reason for not being available. But then I thought maybe I was being over-sensitive. I mean, why invite me in the first place? So I said, "Maybe I can make it, what time?" But there was that weirdness again as they gave me the details. Now we were both really uncomfortable and I couldn't take it back and since I haven't been in this situation since high school, I didn't know how to smooth over the moment. Now it's just sort of out there and I feel like a big social duffus, with greasy hair and a skin condition.
erm...

Winnipeg is sinking....

My brother just sent this photo. Both he and his girfriend, Jo-Ann, are researchers associated with the University of Manitoba.

He wrote, "Thought I would send along a photo taken this past weekend of our research farm located about 15 km south of Winnipeg. It’s the island in the bottom right corner. The larger farm in the center of the shot is the University of Manitoba’s research farm. Jo-Ann and I are spending the night manning the pumps as there is some seepage through culverts in the dike. Not to worry...we have a boat in case the water comes up over the roadway. Oh...and a bottle of wine."

What??
You know, I don't like to miss a TFC game but I wasn't too upset when I realized I couldn't make tonight's game because of a coaching gig. De Ro is out with a groin injury and we were up against the undefeated Chivas USA. Plus it was cold and rainy (although it's always a good time in 119!).
So what do they do?? Instead of continuing their slippery skid of defeat, the Reds delivered their best home performance of the year! I got a text from my son as I was leaving Sunnyside and I thought he was just being a jerk because I couldn't be there;
1-0 for TFC
Chya right.
No, we won!! :):)
Really??
crap, I missed it.
Anyway, this is all it'll take to get the fans up for Sundays game against K.C. Can't wait!!

It's still cold and grey out there. Tonight's my first night of the year for coaching db at Sunnyside - Greg and I are co-coaching a corporate team that has an A & B crew. Should be fun (as long as I remember to take a hat and gloves). With the weather I'm guessing we'll be lucky to get one full boat, let alone two.

Gah...the wind is ridiculous! It was rainy, cold and windy all day. And of course it's the day I get two emails from the guys in C.R. telling me how great the waves are - head high - and asking if I miss the warm weather and the skinny men with big feet.
I do! I really do.
In the afternoon, there was a major accident that shut down the QEW westbound. I had a very brief window to go to the gym before heading downtown but traffic was crawling on the Lakeshore. I was talking to Pete and he wanted some computer help at the club so I ditched my plans for the gym and headed to MCC instead.
It was good to see more people back from school and Florida. I think everyone should be home within the next week or so.

So, I had been thinking about taking the subway downtown from Kipling, because the Spanish Centre is right at Yonge & Bloor but the weather changed my mind. The wind had to be over 70 km/hr a straight headwind as I drove east. The force was so strong, the wipers couldn't even clear the water. It was like having one of those indoor waterfalls on my windshield.
The Spanish Centre is a 3 storey building just east of Yonge, south of Bloor. The instructor for this beginner class, Carlos, has the most amazing, deep voice ever. I laughed because it's exactly like the guy in the video we watched the other night. Anyway, he's a Phd student at U of T, dynamic with great teaching skills. There are just 9 of us in the class which makes it easy to be speaking all the time. First class was easy, especially since Spanish is such a logical language - at least with the regular verbs. We'll see what happens next week when we start with irregular verbs.

Hey, Kris Sziraki and Sue Boruvka are doing the Spring Sprint 2009 in support of Canadians affected by a brain tumour. Please check out Team Szirak Attack - you can pledge something or join the team in London with your own pledges!

Bugger. I went out to buy a book this afternoon and ended up buying a dresser and bedside table at Interiors. Don't get me wrong, it's actually a good thing because two drawers in the antique dresser in my room broke a long time ago. I've been keeping my clothes...well, all over the place. So I really need a new dresser. I just didn't intend to spend more than $60 today. I like it though.

Oh, while I'm here, I want to address this whole Susan Boyle viral ...whatever it is. Doesn't anybody remember Paul Potts?? He was on this same show 2 years ago. It was exactly the same scenerio. So I'm just going to put it out there - this is their thing - they scour the country for a very talented, less-than-attractive performer, create the set-up, "sad-sack mobile phone salesman or 47 year-old, never-been-kissed--lives-with-cats" and it's a slam dunk. Free advertising. I guess what's really bothering me is that in all the high-profile interviews (Larry King, Oprah), they're all, "Ooooo phenomenon, what a surprise, who'd have thought?" and no one is saying, "Hey, this is just like 2007 when Paul Potts did exactly the same thing"! And not to take away from the person's talent but it just seems a little devious. Plus, there are a ton of highly-trained, talented people out there who never made it for one reason or another. Hey, they should have a program that filters throught the general population and then they could win a contract or.....
....oh...

Never mind.

Impromptu cocktail party for the girls at my house last night. Carrie, Marisha, Eve, Katy, Karen & even Chrissy (who I didn't know was home from London) dropped over. I had a bottle of pomegranate liquor that has been hanging around for ages and I wanted to try it and a couple of appetizer recipes. For some reason, my recent vacation reset my cooking gene. There were quite a few things changed by this trip but more on that later.

So I had planned to do all the prep work on Thursday night but didn't get home until late and ended up doing everything on Friday. I was still mixing up the mushroom stuffing when Marisha arrived. She brought me a beautiful serving tray as a gift for no reason. It's beautiful - I love it! She said there was a complete line so I asked where she got it. Laughing she said, "you'll never believe it, Winners!" This just confirms my belief that I need to go to Winners more.




So, my planning and organizational skills are rusty but it was a fun night and the food I'd made - guacamole, shrimp skewers and stuffed mushrooms - disappeared so the recipes were a success. I'm going to entertain more this summer, I think. I just need to get that rooftop deck built so we can do it outside!

We mostly drank wine all night but after a few glasses, I decided it was time to try the pomegranate mojito recipe. (ps new rule - friends don't let friends blender drunk). I ran up to the computer to check a website that had recipes, ran back downstairs and muddled the mint leaves in the glass as directed, forgot part of the recipe so ran back upstairs, ran back downstairs and added the rum and pomegranate, ran back upstairs to check if there was anything missing, ran back downstairs and threw everything in the blender with ice - mint leaves and all. When I poured the mix into glasses, the chopped up mint just floated on the top like a crust of mown grass. I didn't have any straws so just handed the drinks out. I'd had too much wine to have thought about straining the mint off and everyone was too polite to say anything. They sat there drinking it with green goo stuck to their lips & front teeth. Now those are good friends!

(btw, I know you're thinking,"why not just print off the recipe?" but they're those dumb flash animations that can't be printed or cut & pasted.)

On a sidenote, why do you always get the good hair day when you're not doing anything special? My hair looks fabulous right now and that's not just the hangover talking!

This afternoon Ryan came over and we walked down to the lake. It's so warm we're wearing shorts and t-shirts. There were deer in the marsh and then this crazy fish carnage on the little beach where the marsh empties into the lake. Usually, it flows out through an opening but I guess the waves this past week built up a temporary wall of rocks. It looks like the fish (we couldn't identify the species) got stuck on the marsh side and tried to swim across the rock bridge. There were dead fish everywhere and there were still a bunch of live ones thrashing around in the shallow water, apparently trying to tunnel their way to the lake.
Afterward, we walked over to the grocery store, made some dinner (not fish) and we watched a video my boss had given me on Guatemala. She's from there and told me about a town she thinks would be good for me to visit. I asked if it was a town of single men. She laughed and said no, it's supposed to be the best place to learn Spanish. It's won all these awards because that's the town's main tourism - the entire place is geared to helping the tourist-students learn the language. We decided that if Pete has to cancel the Greece trip for any reason, we'll go to Guatemala instead. Really, the video was about 20 years old - 80s-licious - but the place looks amazing!

Also, talking about learning Spanish
got me thinking I need to do something new so I signed up for Spanish lessons at the Spanish Centre in Toronto. I start on Monday so we'll see if the trip reset my learning gene too! I'm excited. They also have merengue and salsa lessons so I'll probably sign up for those as well. I saw some pretty good salsa dancing in CR and would love to be able to do even the basic moves.

We had pretty amazing weather all through the long weekend. It wasn't excessively warm but at least it was sunny. I slept in late every day and then paddled once the air warmed up a bit.

My good friend Susi drove down from Sutton for the night on Friday, a big undertaking since she had to organize the care and feeding of her 3 dogs and 1 cat. We had burritos (did I mention I make a perfect burrito now? Yep, as good - no - better than Burrito Boyz, no lie! Just ask and I'll make you one!) and drank pina coladas because I hadn't made it to the liquor store before they closed for Good Friday. We ate cheezies and gained, I mean watched, Seven Pounds. And then talked until 3 in the morning. She had to leave pretty early the next morning because her grand-daughter was going to her house to colour easter eggs. I did some gardening - which as you know means mostly ripping up weeds in my backyard - until I got tired of it. I decided to head down to meet the guys at the Brazen Head early after all since I was bored of the garden.

So, game 2 . I met the other guys from our section (Toby, Larry, Attila and a bunch of Burlington guys they know) at the Brazen Head for a pint. Harely and PJ (Dominique's husband) were also there on someone's extra tickets. So great to see everyone. The bar was packed - all TFC fans. Around 3:30 we headed back to the stadium where I met up with Blake and Greg outside Gate 1 - they were taking my other tickets.

I'm loving the new seats. I prefer standing and think it's actually easier to stay warm! Tie 1-1 but at least they played better this week. I had driven down and parked behind Medieval Times so Blake, Atti, PJ, Harley and I went out for some refreshments while we waited for the post-game traffic to lighten up. We went to a place called Jolly's just north of the Dufferin Gates. Their server is the cutest guy with the sexiest french accent ever. Definitely not from Q.C. since he was as easy on the ears as he was on the eyes. I haven't seen Blake or Harley in ages so it was great catching up. Harley, who was in Costa Rica at the same time as me, was trying to convince me to go back with him in May but since he's actually going to visit someone there and isn't offering to pay my airfair, I said "pass".

Huh. I had written the owners of GI a note about what a great time I had in Costa Rica and I just got an email from them tonight saying 10% off my next visit or for any of my friends who come on my recommendation. Pretty sweet since it took no effort to be positive about my experience. It's especially good because you don't have to take some mega-package, they also just rent boards or give one-off lessons.

Meanwhile, back at the canoe club...
They put the docks in a few weekends ago and they've added some braces to hold them out and away from shore. Really good, especially for when the river's low. Drayton checked the water temp a couple of days ago and the river was 10 degrees. The lake is also warmer than normal which is a little weird. The water level is really high right now so I'd expect the water to be colder. I'm not questioning the conditions though - too many years we've had the opposite.

Most of the canoers and kayakers are on the water. There are some really good midget-juvi paddlers coming up. And with women's canoe potentially getting an event at the next worlds, there are even a few girls out there in C-boats. The other day, Olek broke his paddle mid-stroke and fell on the broken shaft, face-first. It cut his face pretty badly but no stitches. He's pretty sure it happened because he's just too strong. Anyway, pre-season injuries aside, I think Missy will have a good year. Trials are in Welland this year. I'll probably go to take photos but haven't decided about Worlds in Dartmouth. I'll be there for a wedding a couple of weeks earlier so may not make the trip again.

Oh yeah, nice weather is always a plus. I paddled tonight in spite of a ridiculous wind coming straight down-river. I was actually surprised at the water temperature. I'm not going out on the lake yet but I was in the harbour and it was reasonable - probably about 8-10 degrees! It's also nice to be back at the club. I haven't seen any of the kids yet - they're always in paddle pool or doing weights - but I'm looking forward to the summer.
Peter and Jess were there, they just got back from Florida on Tuesday. Peter was booked for 4 full weeks of camp this year and it sounds like there are some interesting stories.
I saw Daddyo out walking on my way home. He looks good! Nice to get a visual since I haven't seen him since I got back.

Back to C.R. - Tuesday.

So there are a few things on my schedule that I kind a go "hmmm...." about. One of them is this morning's Spanish lesson. However, after 3 and a half days I've realized what a dope I am to come here thinking that similarities between French & Spanish would carry me through. I haven't gotten my 'ear" for this language yet so when people in stores and restaurants say anything, I can't even catch a word of it. I've already got a bunch of questions for J. when she meets me at the pool bar with a green blackboard.

This is the first time I've met J-3. She and her husband are the managers of the surf camp. She's the epitomy of a California girl - blond, tanned, fit and an accompished surfer. She has a degree in Latin studies which is what brought her here originally.

The stuff she gives me is so useful that I'm glad it's on their program. Thanks to our diverse coffee community in North America, I already know how to ask for coffee with milk but there is one phrase in particular I want to learn and she writes it out for me on a post-it. "Cafe con leche para llevar". It'll be no surprise to my friends that this is so I can ask for my coffee to go.

I learn more in an hour than I did from listening to "Rush Hour Spanish" for 3 weeks, the commuter Berlitz CD I picked up once I'd decided on a trip to Central America. Granted, I learned how to count to 12 and name the colours of the tie or skirt I might wear...

J. and I end up chatting more about ourselves by the end of it, how she came to be here, her surfer-life in CR with her husband and their 4 year-old daughter Alana. When I mention that I'm already comfortable in Dominical and would consider getting a residence, she makes an off-hand comment that I should just marry a Tico. This isn't the last time I'll hear this recommendation during my trip.

It's low tide by the time we drop R. and V. off at the DiuWak and head back up to Dominicalito. So this is what's under the water when we surf in this bay... Hard to believe since I have a clear memory of my face being dragged along the bottom when I got taken down by a wave this afternoon!



J. assures me that the force of the waves at high tide completely buries the rocks and crevices with sand. So obvious, but when you don't live on the ocean it's all new info.

There are a bunch of fishing boats I want to take a pic of but as I walk over, I notice that the vultures sitting on the beach have surrounded a little white dog. Really weird dynamic. None of them move as I approach so I assume the pooch is okay. I often see the dog and vultures together on subsequent visits to Dominicalito.





We visit a few other scenic points - the cliff overlooking the coast has an amazing view and there's a restaurant here which J-2 says is too expensive for the tiny portions they serve. He suggests fresh shrimp at a local restaurant on the highway. We head up there and he is so right -fresh jumbo shrimp sauted in garlic with palm salad, potatoes, a glass of wine and a cup of amazing Costa Rican coffee for about $12 and we've still got time to get back to the beach and watch the sunset!


Later, I'm having a beer at Tortilla Flats when R. & V. drop down into the seats at my table. We order ceviche and Imperials and have a really fun evening. We've all travelled quite a bit but to different places so it's really interesting to share stories and descriptions. After a couple of hours, I hit a wall. I figure it's about 11:30 and head back to my room via the beach. It's pitch black but the stars are brilliant. Fortunately I have a flashlight or I would have tripped over the various pieces of driftwood and random surfers lying on the beach on my way back up to the road. When I get to my room, I'm stunned to see it's only 8:30pm. Either way, I'm exhausted and crash.

March 9th


My schedule indicates a visit to Posa Azul in the morning and a regular (meaning 'not beginner') surf lesson in the afternoon - both with J-2 as instructor and "Rob + 1" as additional students. I feel kinda like I passed my tadpole swim test or something!

When I arrive at the GI office, I recognize the other students as a couple I noticed around town yesterday. Hard to miss because he has a ridiculously swollen ankle and is hobbling around on homemade crutches while she, exceedingly blond and fair, is burned as pink as a Rimmel retro lipstick shade. I introduce myself and ask what happened. Apparently in his beginner lesson, Rob stepped back off the board thinking he had about 2 feet of clearance before hitting bottom. He only had about an inch and came down with his full weight. His wife, Venetia, had clearly just spent too much time on the beach without adequate sunscreen.

Anyway, the 4 of us jump into the GI van. Before we head out of Dominical though, we stop at the pharmacy to see the on-call doctor who confirms that Rob's ankle is severely sprained and not fractured. We travel another 10 metres before stopping at Delicias - a bakery cafe with amazing breakfasts. It would become my Helen's and Starbuck's combined while I was down here. J-2's best friend works here and is quite adamant that I shouldn't use my breakfast ticket for only coffee and a fruit plate. It's worth 5,000 colones, which could easily buy breakfast for 3 of us, and she doesn't feel right about letting me waste it. The fact is, if she didn't say anything, she could have submitted an inflated receipt to GI and scooped the balance for herself. We agree that we'll stop by on our way back to top up with more food and coffee. This was not the first time I encountered this remarkable honesty. In fact, every server in every other restaurant in town (with the exception of the Tu Lu) did the same thing. If my breakfast/lunch/dinner didn't use the full amount, they would offer to tag on something else. I usually just had them add the drinks or appetizers of my tablemates. The guy at Tu Lu took the ticket and a tip. Once I realized it and stopped using my tickets for my 3000 colone breakfasts there, he would always ask, "Don't you want to use your GI meal ticket?". Chya right.
All the chatting about meal tickets has grabbed Rob's attention and he wants to know why I have meal tickets and they don't. Both his wife and I explain they're part of a particular package but he is ready to march back to the GI office and demand his meal vouchers. I get the idea that he doesn't like anyone getting something he's not.

Once we got our stuff (on Tico time) we head along the ocean highway for about a kilometre before turning into a dirt road with a guard stand. J-2 waves at the guard as we pass a soccer field with a practice going on and enter a small community. This is called Dominicalito (a town and beach) and J-2 lives here with his wife and 6-month-old daughter, Ciara. After driving through a shallow stream, J-2 stops at their house and brings Ciara out to the van. She is incredibly sweet natured and has no problem being plopped in my lap! She is fascinated by me and all I can think is how this poor little thing is stuck to a sweaty stranger! (I was like a sprinkler for the first two days until I got used to the heat).

J-2’s wife cares for another little girl during the day. I wish I’d gotten a photo of her but she was behind their security fence and I didn’t want to impose. She's about 3 and walking around carrying a purse with 7 thick bangles on her little arm – basically bangled from wrist to armpit. I saw her a couple of times after that and it was always the same, playing the lady. Omg, she was so cute! I tell J-2 I can’t believe he’s old enough to have a baby but he says he’s 19 (and I can’t say anything because I was only a few months older when I had Ryan).

We proceed up the road for about 500m and we’re at Posa Azul (Blue Waterfall). It’s beautiful and the freshwater pool at the bottom is so cool after the 85 degree saltwater of the ocean!

J-2 climbs up and swings off the rope while I snap photos from the water. Rob and Venetia just hang out on shore. They don’t seem too impressed. Suddenly, there’s an American voice out of the shadows on shore. Some guy has been sitting there all along but since he’s very tanned and wearing a brown speedo, we didn’t notice him. He’s an ex-pat from Boston who has retired here and is farming... something. As he comes closer, it’s obvious he’s recently smoked a joint or possibly many joints. Surprisingly, he’s very chatty and follows me as I swim all around the pool talking about his life here. I wish I could say it was interesting but it wasn’t. I mean, he was stoned and mostly just kept repeating himself.

Rob and Venetia aren’t enjoying the pool as much as we are so J-2 and I decide to do a tour on our own after the 12:30 surf lesson.


The surf lesson went well and I'm impressed that Rob still goes out and tries to get up on his gimpy ankle. Venetia and I are doing really well and getting up on almost every wave which doesn't improve Rob's mood since he's (understandably) unable to stay upright.

I'll start updating now - please be patient as it'll be disjointed. I'll probably switch tenses and insert wrong dates constantly but will get it sorted eventually.

So, to backtrack...first day in Dominical was pretty quiet. I realized early on that I was pretty much the only guest at the DiuWak hotel. There was a Japanese couple next door, Akio and Sachi, but because of the language barrier, we restricted our communication to shy smiles and waves of acknowledgement. Akio spoke enough English for me to understand that he was a shaper from Kyoto, here to deliver a new board.

I dropped by the GI office on my way to breakfast and introduced myself to the guy at the desk, Jorge.

I had a fruit plate and coffee (!!!) at the Tu Lu restaurant and then went exploring. After establishing myself as the most recently arrived tourist by exposing acres of pasty skin and taking photos of basically everything in town, I covered myself in 40 Spf sunscreen and settled at the beach until my beginner surf lesson with Junior at 2:30pm.

There's hardly anyone on the beach. In fact at the moment, there are as many lifeguards as surfers/swimmers. The waves were pretty small (it was about 2.5 hours after low tide) and, after a brief lesson about rips and how they're formed, we went out into the white water. It was great!! I got up easily and was pleasantly exhausted after 2 hours of paddling out, riding in...rinse, repeat.

After the lesson, I grabbed a cold beer and dinner at Arena y Sol - arroz con pollo which, strangely, came with a mound of french fries - before heading down to the beach to watch the sunset. (I think they threw the fries on because I'm new to town & "american". Once I start ordering in Spanish, I never see another french fry)

As I returned to my room after a glorious sunset, I wondered if I'd made a mistake by coming for so long on my own. I had expected to meet people through the surf camp but so far there was just me and another couple who I'd meet at tomorrow's regular lesson. The average age in Dominical was 25 and I am basically invisible (picture a town full of skinny 20-something girls in bikinis). With all the activities we had planned I knew I'd be busy during the day but I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of eating dinner by myself 21 times. As it turned out my concerns were groundless.

I'm home! I had a fantastic trip and will do my best to post some stuff in the next few days. Internet access was so sketch there, I bought a notebook and kept a written journal.

I´ve been here for just over a week. I´m really not spending a lot of time on the internet so will just give a brief overview.
The town I´m in, Dominical, is basically a surfer town. I arrived about 2 weeks before the big tourist season (spring break) so it´s been pretty quiet at my hotel and in the surf camp. Worked out well, having an instructor to myself. So the week broke down like this.
Day One was all about the simplicity of surfing - you have a board, a wave, you stand up and you surf. We spent the afternoon at in the whitewater at Dominical. There are two rip currents at this beach so it was interesting to finally be able to see what that´s all about from beach level. I did well, and was really pumped about the rest of my lessons. Just thinking that if I had never taken up paddling, I would never be able to do this.
And if day one was all about the simplicity of surfing, day two was all about learning to respect the ocean. My instructor Raymond took me over to Dominicalita - a smaller beach in a protected bay. No whitewater surfing here - the waves were 4-6 ft and I got my ass kicked on a couple of them. Wiped out on one wave and as I was standing up, got taken down by the next one in the set. Tumbled, dragged across the bottom of the ocean, came up on the wrong side of the board and got a good crack in the quad. Learned some good lessons on this day!

First, just want to update on two multi-bypass surgeries on men who are so loved by all who know them.

My cousin Graham is finally through the worst of it and has miraculously done it without brain damage or other (predicted) bad stuff. Let's face it, a few days ago, they were saying another hour of life would be a blessing.

And Daddyo, just 16 hours after his 7 bypass surgery was on the phone and talking with the family.

Both these men are so good at their core and have engendered so much love in those who know them, this has only strengthened my belief in Karma and the power of love.

I have a ton of stuff to write about Costa Rica and photos to upload - unfortunately, the internet here is so slow it times out before I can get even one photo up. Lots to tell! I can pass along this though...weather forcast is sunny, mostly sunny, sunny, more sun....well, you get it.

Well, I'm in Costa Rica. The flight was great, we got in early and my driver was waiting after I cleared customs with a sign pressed up agains the main window. It's a 4+ hour drive from the airport in San Jose to Dominical but I was so pumped to be here it didn't matter. Jony, the driver, speaks some english (lots more than I speak spanish) so we were able to communicate a bit but for the most part it was a pretty quiet ride. We stopped partway across the mountains at at a resaurant where I had what will be my first of many plates of rice and beans and chicken. It was fantastic though for only 3,000 colones (1$C = 555 colones). And I didn't realize how hungry I was until I put the first forkful in my mouth.
I'd forgotten how bland Canadian chicken is for the most part. I will sometimes buy free-range at the St.Lawrence Market just to get that true chicken flavour. It tastes amazing here.
We didn't get to Dominical until about 7:30 and by the time I unpacked and cleaned up a bit it was almost 9:00. I had a corona at the hotel bar and then walked around the corner to the soda. I'm too tired to bother with food. I picked up a 6 pack of Imperial beer and pringles. I got a little packet from the green Iguana Office. It has a bunch of meal vouchers and a schedule of the surf excursions. The tide progresses by 45 minutes every day so it changes. Plus we go to different beaches. I'm pretty excited.
My first session will be at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon which is great - I can use a sleep-in. My cousin Graham is still struggling so I've been a little anxious. They had to put him in a temporary state of paralysis to get him to stop fighting the equipment and staff.

From today's Globe & Mail Re: Mike Schaus

No news came through the night and I expected the worst this morning. I was surprised to see that his daughter, my cousin Susan, had posted a message on Facebook shortly after midnight asking friends to pray for a miracle. He is still in this!

This morning at 9:30, more than 24 hours after he went in for surgery, I received a text from Susan. Unbelievably good news! Graham's made it through the night. His heart stopped for 2 minutes sometime during the night (I guess that was the code blue) but he's still in there, fighting for his life. He's developed a slight fever so they have fans all around the room. I called Susan right away. She understandably sounds strung as thin as wire but is hopeful. Enough so that they were able to convince her mom to go back to a friend's to get a few hours sleep.

I guess this is when religious people would pray and it would be so much easier to have that outlet. Instead I'm sending all my love, good thoughts, calm, regular pulsing thoughts towards Saskatchewan.

I'm waiting to hear news about my wonderful cousin, Graham Taylor, who is out in Saskatchewan. He went in for bypass and valve reconstruction surgery thrusday morning at 9:00am.

At 4:00pm he was out but by 5:00pm he still wasn't stable. His heart wouldn't maintain a steady beat and his blood wouldn't coagulate.

By 8:00pm they were working on him and wouldn't let the family in to see him.

At 10:00pm they were using the paddles for a third time but he wasn't responding. Currently they are in a full code blue (I don't even really know what that means except that in hospital shows it's really bad) but I think it's complete heart failure. He's already had two other triple or quadruple bypasses in the last few years. Susan says they did 6 bypasses this time (is that even possible?) and reconstructed a valve.

He's also got an old surgical scar that runs straight down the centre of his chin. That's from when they split his face open to remove a tumor the size of a baseball from his throat back in the 90s. Seriously, it was huge - when you looked in his mouth, it looked exactly like a baby was crowning and about to be born. Basically, this guy is a survivor. I can't imagine him losing this fight.

He's actually my mom's cousin so he's about 74 years or thereabouts but he's ageless. Intelligent and funny, he's a bull of a man who ran his farm on his own up until a couple of months ago when he and his equally dynamic wife, Isabel, finally decided to move into town. He's written a number of books, had a regular column in their local paper and was minister of tourism for the Saskatchewan Legislature. Well-travelled and educated, they lived in Hong Kong throughout his cabinet posting, raised their younger kids over there before returning to Wolsely to continue his political career locally and take care of the farm. I can't imagine not being able to pick up the phone and call him so we can discuss Canadian politics and laugh at my 80 year old uncle Max with his steady stream of 30 & 40-something girlfriends.
I will wait.

Just a couple more days before I'm out of the cold and wind!! Three weeks in Costa Rica is the best cure I could think of for this winter of my discontent. And when I get home it should be spring...

One day last week, I think it was Friday, it was incredible in the morning +9, but the temp fell steadily over the course of the day until it was -25 in the evening.

I had dropped by Jackie and Blake's in the evening (missed Sydney who was already in bed) and got home shortly after midnight. I heard a loud bang from my bedroom. I went upstairs and heard a couple more loud bangs before deciding it was just the house timbers cracking. All that moisture generated by thaw and then extreme temperature drop.

I spent Saturday morning at the nail place in Credit Landing - personal maintenance. It's been ages since I've had a pedicure. Transforming into my summer self!

After the gym last Friday I dropped by Rogers and grabbed a movie to take over to Alyson's. I was planning to pick up Sex & the City for girls movie night but made an executive decision to change it when I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona on the shelves. Timely, since the Oscars are in two days and Penelope Cruz is nominated for best supporting actress for her role in this flick. I got to hang out with Meredith and Hilary before bedtime. Carrie came over too - with a giant bag of ju jubes which we hid from the girls under a blanket. What?? We were thinking of the kids! Alyson told Meredith that it was time to go to bed so Mummy could have some time with her friends.
Mizz M.J. told Alyson that she didn't think she should have to go since we're her friends too. Pretty funny (and she kind of had a point)!
Anyway, the movie was really good and P.Cruz is amazing as the crazy ex-wife.

Saturday, I had to run some errands at Sherway, went to the gym and then pretended I was going to do housework by lying on the couch - you know, my usual Saturday.
Saturday night I met up with Eve over at Katy's. Omg, that poor girl. She blew out her knee playing soccer in their mixed league (she was in goal and some guy totally took her out). Rich saw her leg bend the wrong way and told her to stay down but of course she didn't. She tried to play out the rest of the game but realized something was really wrong because her leg felt "all rubbery". turns out she tore her MCL.
She spent a brief amount of time on crutches with a robocop leg brace but now she has a cane and soft splint. I took some photos which I will add later. It was so much fun even though we just sat in the kitchen eating snacks, drinking cranberry martinis and talking. And talking and talking. We haven't had any time together in ages and now that I think about it, the main reason has been because Katy is always busy with some team or other. She must be going mental having to sit on her butt all the time.
The next day I spent 2+ hours sweating vodka out of my system at the gym. Seriously, think Gavin on a spin bike.

Somewhere between 1200-1500 people turned out for Michael's wake. His friends collaborated to provide a playlist of his top 25 songs and helped out by driving airport shuttle for friends arriving from all over to celebrate Mike's life.

click image to enlarge

I was going to post about my weekend but will do that later. A young paddler from Banook, Mike Schaus, died in his sleep early Sunday morning. I didn't know Mike and have only had a couple of brief phone conversations with his dad about a team he was putting together. However, like everyone in paddling, I was aware of the family who are very active and popular in the Atlantic Division.
Mike was a member of the 2007 Junior Worlds Team and a member of the National Development Team last year. He was supposed to be heading down to Florida on Sunday morning. Some of his friends have returned to Halifax from the Pines to be with the family and Mike's girlfriend, Laura. All my thoughts and sympathy are with them.

We're back in the deep freeze. ugh brrr.

I was watching the coverage of Obama's visit to Ottawa last night and as he and our governor-general, Michele Jean, strolled down the red carpet, I realized that the cool kids are running things. Not in a John Hughes creepy-rich-kid kind of way, but you know, like in high school - the attractive, athletic, popular kids were running for SAC president, playing the lead in the school musical, captain of the ski team, head cheerleader, etc.

This an observation only, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. I'd certainly rather watch the social confidence of the Obamas, our G-G and even P.M. Harper than the grating awkwardness of a G. W. and Laura or Nixon for example. I wonder if this is part of why everyone has so much confidence in the future. For North Americans, this just kind of confirms that we can relax, that the social order has righted itself.

I had dinner with Johnny O last night. Ostensibly arranged as a client meeting, it was really more of a catch-up. We just went to the Pump but it was nice to sit and talk in our local (while someone else served our food and took away dirty plates). Btw, it's wing MONTH at the Pump if you're into wings.

Johnny's doing really well. We talked a little bit about all his trips in the past few months - Colorada, Vancouver, Kashagawigamog - but mostly we talked about how we miss our paddling friends and how close our relationships are with them.

Okay, I started writing this on my morning break at work and never got back to it. As an illustration of how true our conversation was, when I got home tonight and collected my mail (seriously thinking, "what bills will there be today") I was very suprised and intrigued to see this undersized envelope.


What a rush! This is the first card I've gotten as Grandma Lynne! It was from Andrea Paiement's daughter, McKenna. I think the poor thing is really confused about where I fit in the gene pool but we'll work that out later. She knows I bring her Easy Bake oven supplies and that seems to be enough. This photo with her soon-to-be little sister was taken just a couple of weeks ago

ugh.
I've been running on a treadmill all winter and don't ever let anyone tell you it's the same as running outside.
The past couple of days were pretty nice so I ran outside. Yesterday was a longer run but felt pretty good - mostly, I suspect, because I was just so darned happy to be doing something in fresh air and light.
Today, I ran during my lunch hour and
every
step
was
an
effort.
The whole time I kept thinking, "Why is the wind so strong and blowing from every direction?" "Why is the road on such an extreme angle?" "Why can I feel the pebbles right through my shoes?" "Is this what a heart attack feels like?"
Okay, it wasn't as bad as that but considering I've been running on average 40 minutes a day, 6 days a week, I didn't expect to feel this out of shape. It's the cardio that is so different. It's so much easier to get my heart rate up when working against inertia and pavement.
Anyway, in spite of all that it feels really good to be challenging myself again.

How's everyone's doing in Florida? I suspect today will be the first full day of training for most. How hard to go from the university life to the Pines. However the atmosphere makes up for any pain and fatigue. Hope you guys are having a good time!

I went up north for the weekend. There were a lot of deer where I stayed. When I came home, I went for a 7km run around my neighbourhood. As I was running along Orr Rd (by the Petro Canada property) I saw deer at two separate spots. They were inside the fence, just standing there looking out.

I was so wrong on the ice breaking up.

Take a look at what a difference a few days (and a few degrees) can make.

neato. The New version of Google Earth 5.0 now lets you explore the ocean!

It is POURING here! We've had temperatures upward of 10 degrees and it's been raining all day. All that snow laboriously shovelled onto my lawn by moi is almost gone! Thank goodness I live on a hill or all that water might be collecting in my basement. I wish I could take a picture to show you how my street has turned into a river. If it freezes overnight, we might be in trouble.
My brother emailed me that Winnipeg has been in a deep freeze since Sunday night - literally. He sent a video some kids made of themselves skating down Pembina Highway. Talk about making the best of the situation. This isn't the version my brother sent, I've chosen the one added to youtube later because the girl skating in the video also wrote and performed the music.Very cool song - reminds me a bit of the Be Good Tanyas.

Okay, the ice won't be breaking up for a long time but it was really nice to see some open water in the harbour this weekend!

Finally, we get a break from the freezing, snowy weather! The weekend temps have been pretty amazing and it's supposed to continue for the rest of the week, getting colder again on the weekend.

Saturday went up to about 10 degrees. I think they said we broke a record from 1991 for highest temp on this day. Whatever, Ryan and I had planned a day of shopping on Queen St. West and this just made it that much better.

The idea was to get some stuff I need for my trip in March so we hit up all of the board stores (they're all along one strip): Billabong, Roxy, Quicksilver, Oakley. But here's the thing - I really just wanted some board shorts and a rash guard but since there isn't a huge demand for surf gear in Toronto - der - and even less for womens surf gear, these stores only carry fashion shorts and no rash guards. The guy at Oakley was able to find one in their storage room (he was almost more excited about my trip than I am) but it was a men's large and white. I decided to hit Sporting Life on Sunday. They're so overpriced but sometimes they're the only source.

We stopped for brunch at the Rivoli before dropping our bags at the car
and heading over to the Eaton Centre. Ryan was looking for some cologne (he's never been a big cologne guy but thinks he should be wearing it now that he's single). And that's where I made my favourite purchase. We stopped in at Lucky Brand Jeans and they had this great tote bag - the Cherry Bomb! The bag I currently use for travel is an old leather Roots messenger-style bag. I bought it back in 2005 just before our trip to Berlin. Anyway, it's in pretty rough shape and since I only plan on taking carry-on with me to C-R, I was so happy to find such an awesome bag! (oh man, there are two cats gearing up for a fight - or maybe sex, hard to tell - outside the window - sounds so weird)

Ryan found some cologne he liked - Code by Georgio Armani - a really nice, subtle scent. I gave up on trying to find surf gear and we called it a wrap. Good thing - it was already 3:00pm and I'd spent waaay too much!

This morning I dropped by for coffee with Alyson and Carrie and then went to Sherway. I spent about an hour trying on board shorts and rash guards (see, Sporting life has everything) and was able to settle on a couple pairs of shorts. I ended up getting a medium men's rash guard because they're the only ones that come in 3/4 sleeves. Plus most of the girls' are too ...um... girlie for me. Most are turqouise or pink with Love or Peace or polka dots splashed across them.

In about 15 minutes I'm heading out to meet Andrea - we're going to see Taken at the AMC Winston Churchill. It's a thriller and since she's 34 weeks pregnant, I made her promise that I don't have to deliver her baby if she gets scared into labour, haha. Oops, turns out she's only 31 weeks pregnant. Who can keep track with so many people pregnant and expecting around the same time? That reminds me, I think Sarge and Marie's baby is due any day now.

It seems so long since I've posted. I'll have to backtrack ...let's see, chili ....

Oh right, on Saturday, January 24th, a bunch of us planned a trip to Dagmar for some cross-country skiing followed by dinner at Karen and Kevin's, hence the chili.

I had arranged to meet Dray at the club in the morning to find out about paddle pool for wics. I tried to time it so I got there when everyone would be out running but the midget boys were sitting on the front stairs. When I asked if they'd already run, they said no, it was too cold and that they never run if it's colder than minus 6. Weird. Man, we were never allowed to use that excuse (the infamous Robbie Burns run when the temp was minus 38 comes to mind). Granted we never liked running when it was freezing but there was a certain satisfaction after saturday morning practices. I really felt like I'd done something and when I got home would light the fireplace and sleep in front of it for an hour. Actually, I would pretty much be bagged for the rest of the day so maybe it's not such a great thing.

Dray was in a meeting so I wandered around the club. I haven't been there all winter and it's funny how a couple of months changes things. Aside from the fact that all the bantams and midgets have grown a foot, there are two brand new Schwinn spin bikes in the breakfast room (there may be more, I just stuck my head in the door) and someone has contributed a Nike 'Wings' poster for the weight room. You know the one - it shows the full wingspan of a young Michael Jordon. It's hung up behind the chin up bars and looks so good! Being down there reminded me of how much I miss the days of training with the kids. No one complains about mortgages or rush hour or bad relationships. It's just laughs and posing in front of the mirror the whole time. Oh well, I'm hoping to be around more this summer so it's all good!

After I left the club, Chanda met me at my place and we picked Marisha up on our way to Karen's. It was a pretty cold day - minus 26 - but the sun was shining and some of the trails are protected from the wind. In the chalet we ran into Scott Madill and Jill and a few other east enders. I haven't seen Jill since she started her chemo and almost didn't recognize her with super-short hair. She looks great! She's through the treatments now and just waiting for the all-clear.

I haven't been skate-skiing for a couple of years. What a gong show! My first loop around the Meadow was pretty heavy going but I got a laugh and some inspiration from Boogh and J.R. as they flew by me in the opposite direction. Was all of Frenchman's Bay on the trails? On my second loop a guy just yelled as he went past, "Stay over your skis and get your nose over the tips". I had to laugh. That's what Eve and the guys would do when I first took it up - passing lane coaching. It doesn't matter who it comes from - it helped me ski better and things went smoother from then on.

Back at Mr. & Mrs. Chief's we warmed up with some wine, chili, crusty bread and minstrone soup. I was reminded of what a great bond we've all forged over the years. I'm not sure exactly when we went from being teammates to family but that's what it felt like as we passed around the food, refilled glasses and talked about everything and anything. We literally had to force ourselves to go home, we were having such a great time.

I dropped Marisha up the street from her bf's place. She staggered a little but I'm not sure if it was exhaustion or wine.

I helped Chanda load her gear into her car and then ran inside. I was freezing and realized how rarely I've been outside this winter. I'll have to make more of an effort, especially since we've had soooo much snow this year. I've complained about not being able to skate-ski for the past couple of years due to lack of snow (which is a crock since last year had heavy snowfall too) and should be thrilled with what we have this year.

Okay, so after my post about the presidential inauguration, there was a startling increase of traffic on my blog. I drilled down in my site metre and noted that most of them came from a site called the Texas Predator Posse...Uh oh, that can't be good. Their logo is a deputy's badge with the view through a scope in the centre.

I followed the link back and was kind of alarmed to see my blog url embedded in a forum thread about how bad it's going to be now that Obama's president. The members are from Texas, Bush supporters, conservatives, members of the NRA and definitely not happy about the situation in Washington.

At first I took it to be a bunch of aging veterans pining for the old days when I realized that the majority are about the same age as me. I noted with interest that one link originated in Washington on the US Department of Justice server. These guys are on someone's watch list. Either way, the whole thing was a little disconcerting. A couple tried to leave comments on my blog but either couldn't figure it out or, more likely, were afraid of identifying themselves. Kind of a moot point since I have their site but they didn't know that until now.

Anyway, once I realized I wasn't going to become a target (literally, given the photos of and references to dead animals and guns - one signature reads, "There is room for all of God's creatures, right next to the mashed potatoes" haha ) - anyway, I forgot about them.
Until last night....dun dun dunnnn... just kidding

You see, I volunteered to cook chili for the ski trip this weekend. I googled "chili recipes" at work which of course pulled up 4 billion - all claiming to be the best and the original. I couldn't decide on one so went home to check out a couple of cookbooks. I was leafing through the current LCBO magazine and found this "Deep-in-the-Heart-of-Texas Chili" recipe. It looked pretty tasty and, since Texas has been on mind this week, I decided to make it as a tribute to the good ol' boys of the Texas Predator Posse. We'll never see eye to eye on George Dubya but I think we can agree there are a lot of other great things that come out of Texas.

Haha, Max Larose is such a clown! No, really. He's a clown called Pédalo - very funny and talented. Here he is with Nanane (Andréanne Thiboutot). He also performs in another troupe called Les 3 Garcons. He's the only paddler I know who's found a job he loves where he can still wear spandex every day and is the perfect application of all that training.

Obama keepin' it real

The presidential inauguration ceremony did not disappoint. Too often the president-elect is amazing during the campaign only to fall into old and tired political rhetoric on the day - trying to create that Hollywood snapshot of what Americans seem to think is appropriate for the world stage. There's no question that this day will be immortalized in that way - not by design but because it was so genuine and so significant.

Barack Obama was able to move the people simply by stating the way things are. Granted, he's an incredible orator but it was the words and the conviction behind them that determined the power of this discourse. He attested to the reality of the american economy, the peoples' accountability for environmental, martial and political issues. Without bitterness, he addressed the struggle of the people to achieve equality, included references to the founding fathers, to the immigrant population and even to their enemies, without that worn-out, american bluster. I laughed at this little bit of samurai swagger, "We are strong and we will defeat you", words that are exceedingly appropriate for this generation.

One of my favourite parts of the ceremony (there were many) was the benediction given by the Reverend Joseph Lowery. He spoke to the world but asked that Americans cling to the spirit of fellowship embodied at the inauguration. In essence, he petitioned the american people to walk the walk now that they had talked the talk. He finished with words that I haven't heard since the '60s and '70s but were common at the time, “...work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man and when white will do what's right” .

How wonderful for the people of the United States that they can hold their heads up again and be proud of themselves and the man that represents them in the community of nations.

"With a little help from my friends"

For the past couple of months I've been pretty miserable. Oh really, you knew? I wasn't hiding it well in my Little Miss Sunshine posts? Yeah, sorry. Usually I keep my more personal diary-type entries hidden but I've decided to track noticible trends around certain times of the year or in particular situations where my attitude goes in the toilet.

Well, last week after my Starbucks post, I got an email from a friend, an incredibly intelligent and insightful friend - wise beyond his years, who offered some suggestions for pulling myself out of the pit in which I'd found myself. He suggested as a starting point, listening to the Beatles, which was coincidental since I've been listening to them again recently.
Anyway, the one song he commented on was "A Day in the Life".
He wrote, "Not necessarily the lyrics, but the title. I find it puts things in perspective. Things happen. Sometimes they're good, great, Grand. Other times, well... not so much. But either way, it's a day in the life and it's better than not having it at all. If it's a bad day, it reminds you that it's only a day, it's an experience, though maybe not a good one. Like the theory goes, how do you know what happiness is without sadness? And if it's a good day, well, it's a reminder that not every day is like that, so enjoy it. Either way, it's life.... and while not always fun and super, it's something to experience."

Aside from the sheer, reassuring 'human-ness" of his email (I'm not going to lie, I cried a little bit), it reminded me that: I've developed a lot of good coping skills over the years. I can find any of my personal "pick-yourself-up & pull-yourself-together" songs on iTunes or youtube in an instant (that'll be tomorrow's post), I have a wealth of photo reminders of good times and wonderful friends. And above all, I have friends who care enough and are empathetic enough to act on impulse with a simple email or phone call.

Literally, in a moment I turned the corner.

That day, I put in for 3 weeks holidays in March and have spent the past week checking out dream travel destinations like I'm in the tourist candy store - Asia, Africa, South America and the US (California and Hawaii - warm weather only). I don't know if I'll actually end up in any of those places but what the hell, it's only money right?

Today I called the ORC and inquired about tennis lessons (I've never played). They said can you come tonight? I said sure! $105 and they give you a free racquet and 7 lessons. I had so much fun on my first night. I'm meeting new people from my neighbourhood, learning a new skill and you know what? I'm pretty good!

Honestly, I'm shaking my head because I have no idea how I let myself get so wrapped up in grief and self-pity. Who was that person?

So, since I can't come up with a way to close this, I'll leave you with a quote attributed to Albert Einstein (among others) that sums things up...

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”

A U.S. Airways passenger jet had to ditch into the Hudson on Thursday, January 15. Intial reports say the pilot radioed to say he lost 2 engines when birds were sucked into them.
Here's the footage, released by the US Coast Guard today. The action starts around the 2:00 minute mark - you'll see a small white object enter the frame from the left. Reaction time for the rescue was very fast and the pilot is being commended for his heroics.

Sometimes you just have one of those days. You know, where it feels like you're stuck under a dark cloud? Eventually it'll go away but right now it's completely obliterating any bright spots and you lose all perspective. I've kind of felt this way for a couple of months. The concern over my parents' steady decline, constant, EXPEN$IVE car problems, issues at work (somebody didn't enter our vacation time properly for last year so even though our managers authorized all vacation requests, they're now saying we took extra days off and have to take it out of this years vacation. bah.), I'm sick, the weather sucks, the drivers are worse, I can't get out of the city but even if I could, I don't have anyone to go with....erm, okay this is pathetic. I'll add 'bad attitude' to that list....

Anyway, it all kind of piled up and hit me today. And I could boil my life down to 4 words - sleep, eat, work, gym. I was hoping a good workout would boost me up. I ran...boring...rode the bike....yawn...glided nowhere on the eliptical...sooooo tedious....

After I hit the sauna and shower, I went outside where it was minus 20 and found the roads (and my car) snow-covered. Defeated, I walked over to Starbucks. I thought a berry chai might give me a lift before I headed home to my Eleanor Rigby life. I'm ordering my drink, pulling out my wallet and running the speech in my head that says I'm ridiculous for spending $3.40 on a beverage just because it says Starbuck's on the logo when the girl behind the counter says, "Oh, you can put your wallet away. Someone came in earlier and covered all the drinks for tonight!"

I was like "What?"

She said, "That's right. free".

I said, "You mean like a customer came in and said, "Good evening barristas, bevvies on me and money's no object!"??
She said, "Yeah, that's pretty much how it happened."

Wow. Nameless, faceless Starbuck's person, you made my day!

I've been ridiculously sick this past week. Since I was useless for anything else, I decided to do some clearing out and go through the crawlspace under the stairs. It's full of boxes that I put there 9 years ago when I moved to Port Credit. I had no idea what was in them but figured since I haven't missed anything since the move, they're probably full of junk.


Instead, I found a box of CDs I thought were long gone, and then - PHOTO GOLD! An entire box of photographs I forgot even existed. Pictures of my son's first trip off the continent at 15, a 3-month exchange program to France, getting his drivers licence, paddling pics from '96-'99 and a nice surprise, a few pictures of my friend Susi's dogs.

That may not sound too important but about 9 years ago Susi turned the corner on her way home from work and was horrified to see her street full of firetrucks and firefighters trying to put out the blaze that was her house. Her children were grown and away from home but firefighters kept her at the end of the driveway, helpless and crying, as her house burned to the ground with her adored pets - 3 dogs and a cat - inside. The fire was too big and too hot, there was nothing they could do to save them.

When people say they've lost everything in a fire (aside from living creatures), I always think of the big things - the roof over their heads, furniture, appliances, that kind of stuff. But a huge loss is the memories contained in photos. I can't even imagine. My mom used to tell me that if our house caught fire, after her children (thanks mom!) she would try to save her photographs. Anyway, I knew Susi had been able to get a single photo of one dog from the breeder but that was it. I was so glad to be able to find something to replace them.

Long time. Christmas seems about a year ago but I want to get some stuff down. I'm really sick at the moment though so that may colour the way it comes out - sort of ho-hum....
I had a great Christmas season - lots of parties, lots of people to see. Louise, Jonathon and Mia were home from Hong Kong and we partied it up at her mom's as usual.

I attended a memorial for John Boy Ryan where I saw dozens of old friends from 15-20 years ago. Sounds weird I know but it was one of those sad-happy occasions.

I had our C-4 + a few over on the 23rd - Chrissy & Jeff, Jess, Larry, Chanda, Marisha and Carrie came by for some Thai food and a relaxed night. Marisha had to head to her brother's in Montreal so missed Chrissy & Jeff.
Ryan came over on Christmas Eve. After he shovelled the driveway, we had leftover thai and watched back-to-back movies.

Christmas day was the nursing home run. My sister picked up my mom and brought her up to my dad's (they're in separate homes by circumstance, not design) and after a visit, Laurel headed home to make sure Christmas dinner was on track. Ryan and I took mom back to her nursing home - my father is aware but cannot get out of bed whereas my mother is completely mobile but has Parkinsons. She has no idea who or where she is or any recognition of us or, quite frankly, of reality. However, with all that, this is the first year we weren't all together for Christmas dinner. It was definitely less exhausting but it's one of the moments. You know?

New Years Eve, I went to Tammy and Greg's for an early new year celebration with the Seckos and kids, Charlotte and Kyle, Blake & Jackie with Sydney, Rich & Steph Phelan with Brady and 1 week-old Griffin and Julie Secko. We rang in 2009 with the kids at 8:00pm and then played Wii until about 11:30. Marisha called to say she was at the Harp with a few people if I wanted to join them but I felt like I'd had a new years and wasn't feeling the pub vibe at the moment. Went home and flipped between Nathan Philips Square and Time Square until midnight.

I was supposed to go to Andrea's on friday night but came down with a really bad cold, high fever. I cancelled and went to bed instead.
Even though I had this stupid cold, I wanted to carry on as planned. The weekend after New Years was starting to shape up as a fun one: a fashion photo shoot for Danielle with Rachel E as a model at the lighthouse and a jewellry class in Bloor West Village for Tammy's birthday, then snowshoeing on Sunday. It all came to a crashing halt when I got a call that my dad was rushed to hospital.
He was at Sunnybrook and when I arrived he was still out in the hall with paramedics. He was there for about 2 hours. The medics who brought him in had to leave - they're on the ETF squad and got a call - so another couple of paramedics inherited him, staying with us until he was admitted.
The hospital was on overflow and he was shifted from one hall to another until a nurse took a look at him and said he was too sick and had to be put in ICU.
Thank goodness. He was freezing cold but sweating and having difficulty breathing. His caregiver said he hadn't eaten for a couple of days. Hours later, the doctor came to me and said his circulation system had already shutdown and his kidneys were not functioning. He said he didn't expect him to last more than a few hours and I should call the rest of the family. My sister was already in the air, on her way home from a vacation in Whistler so I called my brother in Winnipeg and asked if he could come home. He called me later and said he couldn't get a flight until morning. The end of christmas holidays and EVERYONE on the continent was flying somewhere.
I called Ryan and asked him to come back to the hospital - he'd just left 45 minutes before. We stayed in dad's room overnight, sleeping on chairs. Not really sleeping though. It was pretty awful because every 20 minutes or so my dad would stop breathing and clutch his arms to his chest. Each time we jumped up to grab his hands thinking it was his last moment. At no point did he seem aware of us, the few times he opened his eyes they were unfocused and looking past us.
By the morning not much had changed but his fever was gone. His skin was still freezing to the touch though and his pupils were pinpoints. My sister and brother arrived about the same time - shortly after noon - I stayed until the doctor came and looked at him, said no change. I tapped out. He was stable and I'd been at the hospital for 30 hours. I was exhausted. Of course there was a parking ticket on my car in the emergency lot when I came out.
Anyway, they kept him in the ICU until Tuesday when they moved him to a regular room. Today a speech therapist determined that he's able to swallow so he'll be allowed to have some food. He's actually aware now and recognizes us. I planned to go back to work today but am now so sick that I sent an email around 1 am to let them know I wouldn't be in.
My car's in the garage and I'm driving the Honda Fit dad bought for the caregiver to drun errands when he was still living at home. Kind of good to have this floater vehicle for times like this.
Once I know my dad's stable again I'm going on a long holiday.