Wonderful weekend

Boats and junk food and dog catchers and swimming and the usual general nuttiness all around, lots of fun, but now it's late and so more later.....

Hope yours was a great one too.

I had work to do tonight.

Lots of work to do tonight.

Sat down to start it off, then I got smart and put it away and hung out with the family and some friends.

I mean honestly, which is more important.

Have a great weekend.

O

Rob Ford is breaking my heart

Seems I don't know this city anymore.  How did this guy get in?  Who are the people who voted for him?

I am horrified and baffled.

Amongst a horror list of other cuts - decided on by KPMG of all groups...were they elected????  the fantastic wonderful I dream of visiting it, best I have ever found in the world Toronto Public Library is likely to get hammered too.

Please sign the petition....not that I imagine he'll listen, but what the heck.  Maybe he won't be at the cottage that day.

God, this is making me ill.

Bad dog!

I took his Chuckiness out early early early yesterday morning as the heat has been fierce.  We went to our local park and I was tossing pine cones for him to chase. Unusually, there was a young man with a series of soccer balls (6 or 7) practicing shots on the nets that are up in the park.  As we got closer Chuck went over to pee on the goal posts as he does every. single. day, and as do all the other dogs every. single. day.  The guy stopped kicking the balls at the net.  He wasn't very good and they weren't going very hard or far (and mostly wild) so I shouted down that he could keep going and not to worry about the dog.  "No, " he said, I don't want the dog to bite my balls."

pause


"I don't think he's interested, ya know?"  I called back.

Hmmmm, did he get his own joke?

Anyway, Chuck came trotting back towards me and glanced over behind the net where the guy had dropped his bike and bag, then he looked again and started hollering NOoooooooooOOOO!!!!

Yup, the Chuckster went over and dropped a load on his bag.

Sigh

Fortunately as he was being bellowed at and I was running down as fast as I could he only got out a nugget or two....and to cap it all, I only had a bit of newspaper to pick it us as I'd fogotten a bag, and the grass was long.  Did I get it all?

I was embarrassed enough I just walked away without looking at the guy.  Fortunately I got far enough away he couldn't hear me before I started laughing.

Good thing he'd gotten over his stomach bug, no?  That's my dog, he won't bite your balls but he might sh*t on your bag!

Oh, and the soccer guy?  He didn't come back this morning.

REALLY!?!?!?!?

Margaret Drabble and ASByatt are sisters???? Estranged sisters, but sisters?  REALLY????

and this:

Murakami's IQ84 is not going to be released until Oct?  I read it AGES ago in Catalan.

REALLY?????

Wicket

A post or two ago I used the word wicket for a desk in a series of desks, like tellers in a bank, or immigration officers in a line of desks....

and it sparked comment.

I assumed it was a british word, but Kate a brit was surprised by it so I looked it up in Websters, and American dictionary, and my usage came up numbers 1 and 2  and they said, "Middle English wiket, from Anglo-French, probably of Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse vīk inlet, corner

First Known Use: 13th century"

While word reference (from the OED) had it second and claimed it is a N American usage.  

LOVE this language, I guess it came over with the immigrants from the UK and the older usage stuck as the cricket association didn't?

Cool, no?

I love

I love love love visiting family and friends.  

Love it, the greatest part of being here each summer.

Visiting two in one day though, BIG lunch, multiple desserts, then again at dinner.

Buff....

Glad we walked back and forth to dinner anyway.

What a delightful day.

Anecdotal evidence

We have anecdotal evidence that if a dog eats a shed snake skin, it leaves him rather ill.

We have definitive evidence that an ill dog makes it difficult to put into action many of the plans that the dog's family had for the weekend, specifically going to Ottawa for a wedding.

We also have definitive evidence that it doesn't seem to make the dog ill for very long (12 hours or so) but leaves him lethargic thereafter.

We also have definitive evidence that it doesn't impact on his willingness the next morning should he see a particularly attractive female dog the next morning!

Good times all around.

System based on trust

Something to love about Canada.  Honestly.

Had to renew my driver's license.  Aside from the hassle of street addresses for strip malls - impossible - it was pretty darned good.  There was a line, but there were 6 wickets open, so it went fast (and I had a book).  While waiting I debated mentioning my address change, we've sold the house and our mail is sent to a friends.

I considered not mentioning it at all as they would want proof of the new address etc etc etc, and I didn't have any.  I got up to the desk, handed over my papers, she asked if it was the right address and I held my breath then said that no, we were moving but I didn't have any papers to say it was my address.

NO problem, just tell me the address and we're good to go.  That was it!

I even brought my passport cause I couldn't come with NOTHING, she looked at me like I was C.R.A.Z.Y!

Take that Spain.

HA!

It CAN. BE. DONE!

SOOO many books

So little time!

Lined up:

• The Element, Ken Robinson.
• Out of Our Minds, Ken Robinson.
• The Book of Tea, Kakuzo Okakura
• Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Froer
• The Peppered Moth, Margaret Drabble (WHY haven't I read her before???)
• Googled, Ken Auletta, 
• Shanghai Girls, Lisa See
• The Coffee Trader, David Liss
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brody, Muriel Spark
• Growing Pains, and autobiography, Emily Carr
• Home Truths, Mavis Gallant
• Blinding Light, Paul Theroux

and a whole bunch on hold at the library.

Someone call work, m'kay?  I can't make it next week.