Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

My 2009 Canada modified Top 10 list ; over a 2 week / 14-day / 1 fortnight timeframe :

9-10 : average hours of sleep per night

8 : about the number of times I had a BLT for lunch, my summertime favorite!!

7 : ????

6 : thousand pieces of jigsaw puzzles put together

5 : number of approximate variations of my name Lauren had (my 2 year old niece)*

4 : showers

3 : times ten (30) plus mosquito bites (cumulative) **

3 : bruises (and 2 minor cuts) - a low-injury year for me!

2.5 : litres of Jameson

2 : perfect weather days (last two, figures!)

1 : magazine read, and no books ; just wasn’t into reading this year

* including : Bagin, Biggin, Pigin, Pagan, Vagan. She can say Mommy and Mine quite well, so I’m not so sure what the issue is with my name

** if I live my life and don’t die from, or at least contract, some sort of mosquito borne illness/disease, it will be a miracle

I also learned...

--Playing games together as a family is FUN. We played dominoes two nights (I was 2nd I think?) and Scattergories 1 or 2 nights. I ROCK at Scattergories (at least while playing my family). I LOVE that game. Funny though when one list had “Leisure Activities” and I couldn’t come up with answers in the 3 different rounds we played. That doesn’t say much about me.

--Adam, Heather & my mom are addicted to Scrabble (on the laptop, CD-ROM game). Thank goodness no one wanted to play an actual game because they are just too good.

--Who cares about French baguettes when you can have a Tamworth Bakery bagel every morning?? Certainly not me!

-- This was the longest time (continuous days) I’ve spent in one place in the past 2+ months

--While there is so much to see and do in the area (parks, other lakes, natural beauty, small towns, big town, Old Fort Henry, etc.) I just have no motivation / desire to get in a car and drive any farther than the 4 miles into town.

--My French must be subliminally improving because I could tell from the loud speaker announcements in Montreal airport just how crazy the French Canadian accent is! (I dread starting French classes again in Sept after about 3 months off)

--Why is it Canadians seem to be the only country whose tourists have the Canadian flag as some sort of emblem on their travel gear? (Backpacks, hats, luggage, etc.) Are they just that proud to be Canadian? Are they trying to prove they are not American? Are they hoping that if they meet enough fellow Canadians they can have an impromptu hockey game?

A New Holiday

Ok, I’ve come to realise that Easter Monday is about the best day ever!!!

Some background…France calls itself a Catholic country (I believe) and Easter Monday, Ascension Day (Holy Spirit goes up to Heaven) and Whit Monday (day after Pentecost ; Holy Spirit comes back and breathes on the people / talks to the people and all understand in their own language) are all public holidays. But, no one seems to go to church. All shops are open. In fact, people see it as a three day weekend – parties, trips to the beach, even bachelor parties are common on Easter Weekend because it can be a three day event. Oddly enough, though, Good Friday is NOT a holiday here. Even stranger, in the U.S. it is not a holiday, but the Markets (i.e. NYSE / trading) are closed.

For me, since I take Holy Week and Easter seriously, it’s not so much a weekend to party and celebrate. Instead, I go to church Thursday and Friday evenings. Saturday I was at church 2 hours in the morning for choir rehearsal (bells). Sunday I was there at 7:20 for rehearsal and then both the 9 and 11 services. So it makes for a somewhat tiring weekend. Lo and behold though I am now living in a country where Easter Monday is a holiday!

Anyway, I slept in – not setting an alarm (I cannot remember the last time I did that. Seriously.) I woke up about 7:30 and then drifted in/out of sleep until 10. It is now 15:30 and it’s been a great day! Cleaning, organising, throwing things away – just an overall sense of productivity. Now, I am sitting down to do some work (ugh), but I have a wonderful glass of 2006 Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay with me.

Aside : my friend Robin first introduced me to this wine several years ago (2003 maybe?). At that time it was delicious and still affordable at restaurants, say $30/bottle when everything else on the menu was $23 to $32. Now, it is much more expensive and still one of my favourites. I was so excited when our Christmas gift in the London office included this wine. (Further aside : it is custom in England to give alcohol as Christmas gifts ; no wonder the country has a drinking problem and is known for it Europe wide. Our box had 2 whites, 2 reds and 2 champagnes. I traded my reds for whites.)

In my cleaning / organising / sorting, I realise I’ve been moving some of the same papers for years now. Really, why was it necessary for me to keep the 2004 Boston Film Festival schedule? I didn’t even go to it! Some things like cartoons, quotations, photos, I like to keep and I like looking through them from time to time. I did come across many things I had kept in hopes to do in Boston – like the Harbour Islands tours ; Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum ; visit the restaurants in Brookline’s Washington Square more often (some great finds there!). Maybe those of you living there can do these things for me?

Back Where I Come From

No joke, this is a real advertisement. It is from a bench at a bus stop on the way from my parents’ house to the highway. Whenever we drove past it, I couldn’t help but laugh. This has to be the best, most unbelievable, yet sadly believable, ad I’ve seen in a long time.

Besides this, my 12 days in Ohio were pretty standard and uneventful. Lunches and dinners with friends and family, jigsaw puzzles (almost 5000 pieces worth), etc.

We all went to the Cincinnati Zoo Festival of Lights and my 19-month old niece was enthralled by the lights. (I’ll get all the pictures posted soon.) I hadn’t been to the zoo since I don’t remember when. I remember everything being bigger and better and more exotic – but I guess that is how every child sees things. Now, I just see poor animals penned up, the lines, the fussy kids, etc. Still, despite all my cynicism, it was nice to see so many families and young children at the zoo and interested in the animals.

As for Christmas, I didn’t get much as I didn’t ask for much – which was fine by me. I got the usual Snoopy calendar, Swarovski annual Christmas ornament, two jigsaw puzzles, and travel books. But, I did enough shopping of my own that I got everything I wanted and needed.

Happy New Year - 2009!!!

It's the new year already here in London - this is the view from my flat - cold, foggy and cloudy. There was an Elton John concert at the O2 Dome (aka Millennium Dome), but no fireworks outside that I could see; could certainly hear a lot. And the ones at the London Eye / Parliament looked great on TV.