our love is amazing

These are pictures of my friend Shannon wearing a moustache she made out of her hair.

I took these pics at night in the park, we were hanging out there because that’s what people do here in summer!

She was dressed up to go to a queer party that was part of Gay Pride weekend here in Gay Toronto.

I do think she looks so great. “gender bender”

Today was a beautiful day. I’ve been holed up inside studying for my statistics exam on Tuesday but I took some time out to “jog” down to the lakeshore. It is so amazingly different in the summer. Swarming with peeps.

The “beaches” are so crappy, but its also kind of nice, because it’s like they (the Canadians) don’t realise how crappy they (the “beaches”) are, and they all just love it. I find it cute. The “beach” is supposedly swimmable, though few people do, because apparently the bacteria levels are …disconcerting. (Dogs get sick when they swim in there.)

What’s amusing is that there are warning signs all over about swimming between the flags. Amusing for two reasons, one being that the water is flat and still and there’s a barrier a few metres out so you can’t swim very far. And two because with all those parasites, drowning is the last thing on your mind.

But still, they persist in having lifeguards on duty. I guess it’s wishful thinking. They want to act like its regular to go swimming, as though the lake hasn’t been thoroughly polluted beyond all decency…

Ever-vigilant, slightly redundant lifeguard

I gotta say I’m still so thrilled by the change of seasons, I’ve taken some more before/after shots, or should I say seasonal comparison shots. I still find it AMAZING all this colour that wasn’t here before. It is just a different place. The atmosphere is so dramatically changed, every day I marvel at it.

Looking east on King St outside our apartment last December

Today

Our apartment in December

Nighttime with snowfall

Today

SIGH. I love this neighbourhood/city/country.

I had such a time in Kentucky on the weekend. What a blast. It was so fun being away by myself with my hillbilly homies… cutting loose. The music was great as ever. I stayed up all night every night drinking with ‘the gang’ and listening to the musicians playing around the campfires. GOOD TIMES AS ALWAYS!

AUSSIE WIFE KICKS BACK IN KY

Me and “the lads”. The ratio of dudes to ladies in our campsite was about 6:1.

“the guys”

Muddy festival grounds (plus my buddy Nick)

I was particularly enamoured with this Amish fried pie stand

Too cute [how I covet that green dress]

Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining
Shine on the one that’s gone and left me blue
Blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining
Shine on the one that’s gone and left me blue
It was on one moonlight night
Stars shining bright
Whisper on high
Love said goodbye
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that’s gone and left me blue

Kids learnin’ bluegrass
I Love it!

Here is a really CUTE story about my “work”.

On the past few Wednesdays I’ve been taking Georgia to my favourite Toronto park, Dufferin Grove, where we hang out with Ian and Ilija (our friend Paul’s 4 yr old kid who lives with Ian [and Paul]) and two other friends Jennifer and Rachel and their babies Sonny and Isaiah. It’s a really fun time, because I get to hang with my “adult friends”, and Georgia gets to play with Ilija and the babies which she loves. Also it’s such a beautiful park and this time of year is so dreamy.

Anyway I LOVE wednesday mornings. We ride over on the bike and Georgia is so damn cute, she sings all the way and chats to me as we ride and the whole time I’m like “can it really be that I get paid to spend my days this way?”.

So today after our morning at the park when I put Georgia down for her nap she was taking a while to go to sleep and she wanted me to lie down with her. So I was chatting to her, and I said “I had a really fun time with you at Dufferin Grove this morning. Thanks for coming to hang out with my friends… Did you know that all my friends love you? Ian loves you, Ilija loves you, Jennifer loves you, Rachel loves you… BJ loves you… everyone loves you… does that make you feel happy?” She put her face really close to mine stared into my eyes and nodded solemnly. Then she was quiet for a few moments and we chatted about some other things.

Then she leaned over me and said “Can I tell you something?” I said of course, wondering what the hell she was going to say, because she has never prefaced anything with “Can I tell you something” before. And she said, “Ian loves you, Ilija loves you, BJ loves you, Isaiah loves you, everyone loves you…” I was so TOUCHED I got all teary eyed and didn’t know what to say. I think it is the sweetest thing she has done to date.

The kid is PRECIOUS I tell you, PRECIOUS!!! I am so lucky and blessed to have such a nice job. Not only do I get to sit around with my friends in the park while I’m “working” but I get this treatment as well. Blessed.

Here’s some photos from Dufferin Grove-

Ian, Jennifer, Sonny and Isaiah

Jennifer and her hobo child Sonny

Rachel and Isaiah

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KY part III

SO this weekend is the Festival of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Kentucky. I had hoped Bj and I could take off for our summer travels at this time, starting with KY. Alas that is not to be, because I have to be back here for exams later in June (my teacher pal Serena is “invigilating” for me) and also Bj has an intimidating workload right now with deadlines for the end of June. So he is not ready to travel yet.

I tried to convince him to drive down to KY for the festival, (it’s a bit further than Sydney-Melbourne) and return, but he was not at all into that idea. So instead I am flying down solo, tomorrow morning, until Sunday eve. Mallory will pick me up from the airport and I’ll be camping tent-style with the hillbillies. am VERY EXCITED. I leave tomorrow.

Bj and I are quite captured by these biscuits that you can buy at the No Frills for $2.97. I think they are the best chocolate biscuits ever. There is something deeply seductive about embossed chocolate. Also they are not salty. (That is my complaint with most chocolate biscuits. The subtle salt component.) They come in a pack of 24 with a variety of musical instruments including a piano, a fiddle and a timpani drum.

This post is long overdue. I’ve been meaning to talk about SPRING. Because IT IS AMAZING. Of course everyone knows that spring is great when you live in a cold, deciduous climate, but it truly truly is so dramatic, I don’t think I even have the words to describe it. The ELATION one feels when the weather warms up, but it’s less about the warmth than about the COLOUR. Because when the snow is there, everything is white and beautiful. But once the snow melts, there is really so little colour. No leaves on the trees and no grass on the ground.

You don’t realise what an effect it’s had on you until suddenly there’s all this colour around and you feel so, so different. The neurotransmitters actually go crazy in your head. You are in another place. a “different world.” It’s like being in jail one minute and then Hawaii the next.

In an attempt to show you how dramatic it is, let us take the view from our back room window. This is the view in December:

And this is the view in about April when it’s ugly and brown:

And this is the view now:

It is so different you wouldn’t even recognise it as the same place. All that colour. It makes you feel SO happy to be alive.

And it’s not just that grass goes green and trees grow their leaves back, there is an ABUNDANCE of flowers and blossoms literally everywhere you look. I have been so excited about all the colour, that I tried to capture some of the beauty.

Blossoms

Flowers

And just in case you forgot what country you were in

Lately I’ve been listening to a whole lot of Ralph Stanley (aka Dr Ralph Stanley, official doctor of bluegrass) that BJ downloaded for me, he is a real grandfather of bluegrass, a banjo pioneer blessed with such a beautiful voice, still singing and recording at 82.

I am crazy about him. I would dearly love to see him play. Maybe this summer I’ll convince Bj to do a pilgrimage to somewhere he’s playin’. Something great about him that is a bonus is that he did a little promo for Obama last year. This is a big deal because bluegrass and country music is one of the few areas of “the arts” where the artists are notoriously conservative, god-fearing and republican. It’s weird to be such a fan of these right-wing artists.

Oh Ralph Stanley I just LOVE him. So many of his songs bring tears to my eyes every time I hear them and this song just KILLS me, about the missing truelove:

Pretty little miss out in the garden
A strange young man came riding by.
Down at the gate he did address her,
Saying “pretty little miss won’t you marry me”

“Oh no my love is on the ocean
Seven years out on the sea.
And if he sails seven years longer
No man on earth can marry me.”

“Perhaps your loved one he is drownded,
Perhaps he’s in some battle land.
Perhaps he stole some girl and married,
You’ll never see your love again.”

“If he is drownded I hope he’s happy,
Or if he’s in some battle land.
Or if he stole some girl and married,
I’ll love the girl that married him.”

He pulled his hands out of of his pocket
His fingers being keen and small
This is a ring he placed upon her
Down by his feet she did fall.

He picked her up in arms so tender
Kisses he gave her one, two, three
“This is your little single soldier
Returning home to marry thee.”

Unfortunately there’s no youtube clip I can find of this song, but you can hear him sing another great song here. From some festival. (yeah I just learned how to embed a youtube clip.)

I love being a nanny to Georgia. She is great and I love her more and more. She talks constantly and says such great things, it’s generally entertaining to be in her presence. Also she has such nice manners and is extremely affectionate with me…

Apparently last weekend she was sick, her mum wrote me an email saying “She was up in the night calling “Vebecca! I’m in here Vebecca!” I crawled into bed with her and assured her that you were ok and were sleeping at your house. She asked if we could go to your house.” So cute and touching! Also today her mum told me that sometimes when she’s buying a treat for Georgia, Georgia asks if she can get one for me too. Too cute for words.

So her parents paid for me to get this attachment to my bike so I could put the baby seat on and ride around town with Georgia. I’m totally into it, we now can venture out of the neighbourhood. Yesterday we hung out at the lake and then went to my 2nd favourite diner for lunch.

She wanted a cheeseburger because that’s what I was having (vege version, that’s why I love this diner) and she was so excited when it came. She loves going to restaurants and cafes. She just sits there and talks to herself and looks around, and never does anything that makes you feel like you have to leave. It’s pretty great for me.!

-Eat breakfast

-Clean kitchen (wipe all the bugs off the surfaces)

-Attend to warts (it never ends)

-Do laundry

-Check weather

-Go to No Frills and buy things necessary for lifestyle

-Continue preparing study notes for exams

-Go to the post orifice

-Go on the internet

-Luxuriate in the ineffable beauty of Ralph I love you Stanley’s heartache singing in my ears

Oh I’ll pawn you this gold watch and chain love,
I’ll pawn you my gold wedding ring.
I will pawn you this heart in my bosom
Only say that you’ll love me again.

Yesterday I went to a baseball game with my pals Rani, Jacob and Andrew. We watched the Toronto Bluejays play the Chicago White Sox. The Bluejays totally slayed Chicago. I’ve always loved how the team is called the Bluejays and I’ve always loved their logo. So I was glad to actually engage with the Bluejays “on a deeper level”.

Oh Beautiful logo

Our view of the game

I had never been to a baseball game before. It was very SURREAL. The most surreal thing is seeing something in real life that you’ve only ever seen on tv. That is totally “trippy”. It’s like being in the presence of a great celebrity who you’ve seen on the box throughout your whole life. Finally there they are and they’re real. “Wow, amazing.”

The other surreal thing is being inside a space so big. With no walls or anything and it’s all enclosed. They have a roof that opens up but it was shut. It creates such a strange atmosphere to be in such a huge, enclosed, artificially lit space. With thousands of other people and this weird game going on way below you. Because the space is so big sound gets diffused so it seems quiet, even though there are thousands of people talking. That’s part of the surrealness.

Jacob

There were a lot of people there in this huge stadium. But it wasn’t full. We got seats all the way up the back, very high up. It was very cool looking down on the game. To quote Rani it was like being inside a TV. The light is very strange in there.

Jacob and Rani

Lots of stupid shit goes on at baseball games in the name of promotions and advertising. But watching the game was actually very fun and interesting. I’ve been to the cricket before so I know about long, slow, boring games. But it really wasn’t very boring. Andrew explained the rules to me.

He also told me all about fantasy baseball which he and Jacob both partake in, this I was FASCINATED by.

Anyway, great day. The tickets were only $9!

Me (after the game) see I really was there