Great Ontarion Road Trip 1: Ottawa-Maynooth-Collingwood

I love driving on country roads. I've never been super keen on driving. I mean, yeah, great, it gets you from point A to point B but to understand people's obsessions with it? No, not really.

This is the first trip I've been on where I've been flying solo and at the liberty of being able to pull out a map and go "Okay... there!" and travel completely on my schedule: able to stop and detour where ever I want.

And you know what? I now get the obsession.

So lets see, left Ottawa, picked up maps on my way out of town, headed west. Stopped at various random small towns and scenic water-side picnic spots. Ended up at final stopping spot of Backpackers Hostel at Maynooth (just outside Algonquin park).

Next morning, got up early, due to hot weather warnings, replaced half day hike I'd wanted to do in Algonquin Park with shorter walk at Lake St Peter. Had breakfast on beach of Lake St Peter. Bought fudge. Had a second short hike along random walking path near Tory Hill where I took a lot of pictures of butterflies. Meandered my way over to rendez-vous with Andrea and Jim near Collingwood.

Home again!

9 days, 1500 km, 1 bag of cookies, 4 books, several thousand knitting stitches, $120 in gas (ouch) and 3 provincial parks later and I am back from my great Ontario road trip. Photos will be gradually making their way onto my blog. In the meantime, here is what I have learned/discovered on my trip:

1-) Ontario radio stations like naming themselves after large mammals. Over the course of this trip, I have listened to The Bear, The Wolf, The Fox and two station that go by The Moose (at one point near Gravenhurst, I could only get reception for 2 stations: the classic rock Moose from Muskoka and the everything music Moose from Bancroft).

2-) When you park your car in small town Ontario and return to find 3 OPP cars, a firetruck, an ambulance and half the town between you and your car, expect drama.

3-) Travelling solo has it's fun points. I think I've learned some stuff about who I am.

4-) The expression "Good girl!" is used way too much (or I got it way too much - started wondering if I had turned into a golden retriever). "Travelling to Georgian Bay? Good girl!", "You knit? Good girl!" "Taking a vacation? Good girl!" "Ordering the special? Good girl!"

5-) After extensive ponderings following a conversation with Marieke and Andrea about my need for a theme song for my current part of my life: I found one (I think it was on the Fox...). The Long Way Around by the Dixie Chicks (http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/dixie-chicks/the-long-way-around-17149.html). I'd been toying with Unwritten by Natasha Beddingfield for awhile (the lyrics talk to me) but it's used for a ab track in a recent Body Flow release so that now, every time I hear it, I keep thinking about crunches and one's current theme song should not have them thinking about painful abdominal exercises.

6-) Red convertibles are the best form of transit for going to the beach.

Crazy week

My weekend home (it was supposed to be for an elementary school reunion but it ended up being for a memorial service for Melanie - there is still little news about what happened to her, leaving a lot of room for questions) was a bit of an emotional whirlwind of questioning, sadness, anger, breaking down crying in a parking lot, more anger. Much thanks to the people who took care of me last weekend (especially my mother who fed me and retrieved me from said parking lot and Eric who fed me sushi, let me drag him into a very pink-colored cupcake bakery and snagged me a last minute comedy show ticket) - anyone see a feeding trend?

I've been submerged in work since I've been back (probably somewhat therapeutic): got through a good primary run-through of my experiment today (after, uh... 2 failed attempts). Means I can start once I get back from vacation, assuming my ammendment I'm sending to the ethics board goes through (I'm combining the methods of 2 previously approved projects which means that neither project's consent form actually describes what I am doing). This has been my other little project this week. Got to love ethics.



Oh yeah, and I'm packing my appartment (Casey has a new trick: she likes to rip tape off of boxes and unpack).

Get your jollies where you can...

I've been feeling a little down in the dumps. I just got news that a girl I'd gone to high school with died (the details are sketchy but my understanding is that she's been missing for about 6 weeks and her body was found this morning). We weren't close in high school but our class was small and everyone knew everyone. I've spent most of the day thinking what an awful world this is. I can't imagine how tough this must be for her family and friends.

Here's my attempt to cheer myself up. It's a video I took of Casey caught in the act of drinking from her water bowl with her paw. Maybe it'll cheer someone else up a little too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQtmxV4P708

Casey's great escape

Here's Casey on her make shift dog harness in my parents' backyard. Note her shiftiness. She has a real cat harness and leash now. She likes running around outside my building chasing pigeons. She does not like the elevator ride to get there.

Last weekend - part 3: da wedding

So here was last weekend's main event:

Wedding was beautiful. It was the first time since before high school graduation that our whole gang from high school was together.

Last weekend - part 2: blankies all around

So here was my latest craftiness: theme of the weekend was blankies.

Exhibit A: "The Cookie Monster"
This was Elena and Jon wedding gift. So named due to large dark blue fuzzy nature of said item. It was a work in progress since my trip to Puerto Rico in February, finished 24 hours before wedding. Justine and I complimented Cookie monster with cookie-themed gift pack complete with cookie jar, cookie cutters, fancy cookie mixes and cookie cookbook. See gift strapped into seatbelt on drive to wedding (we were afraid cookie jar might break). Casey was fascinated with Cookie Monster. Kept lying next to it and hoping I wouldn't notice her slowly reaching for it. I have a pattern for a knit cat bed. May have to use some of the leftovers to make one if she is so enraptured by the texture.

Exhibit B: "unisex baby blanket"
This is a gift for one of my expecting friends. As baby's sex is not yet known (at least by me), had idea of using different colors of baby yarn from my stash to make reversible blanket when one side would be boy colored and one side girl colored. Not coming out quite as imagined but I am finding the thick stripes side and narrow stripe side very appealing.