NYC

Posing outside the United Nations, New York City

I took an extended weekend vacation at the beginning of March. The whole idea of getting paid to take a vacation day is still pretty fresh for me - but I think I can get used to it!

There was a destination involved in my mini-vacation: NYC.

I hooked up with an EMS and Fire show while I was there. There were a few interesting things, but it wasn't even close to a highlight of the trip.

Did you know that the Statue of Liberty isn't really as big as it looks in all those postcards?

At Ground Zero, a crazy man who tends to the monuments recited some street poetry about how the official count from 9/11 did not include a lot of people. It had never occured to me - people working illegally and street people were not counted.

This fire station is literally across the street from where the World Trade Centre stood. Their staff was decimated.

The day I was to fly into New York, my flight got cancelled. No matter. My travel companion had travel insurance so we lived it up in downtown Montreal!

Getting "stranded" in Montreal wasn't so bad. Here's the view from the hotel!

Swimming excellence and Santa - all in a weekend

Arch, on the left, waits with one of his classmates for the word from their instructor.

The A team both went to the next level in their swimming classes. That makes one in level 3 and one in level 6 for the next go round. Arch has decided he's taking a break next session, so that'll give Angus a chance to get a little closer to his brother's level.

This is the first time Archie actually jumped, but he's sort of 'gone off' the diving board all year.

Angus had a tough time getting a hang of the hole floatation thing, but now he's psyched a swimming. He's excited to keep on going - and I'm excited to let him!

This is the last class of level 2 - and the very first time Angus went off the diving board all on his own! You've got to watch close, 'cause he was so fast!

Archie wants to try Tae kwon do. I guess he doesn't remember that he did this before. It wasn't too interesting to him when he was 4, but now he thinks he'd like to learn how to break through a board. With his bare hands. Or, feet. I'm happy as long as he picks out one physical activity so I guess that's it.

Angus had a good discussion with Santa.

We went to the annual children's Christmas party on the weekend. The kids were chuffed to sit on Santa's lap, even though they've decided that this fellow is likely not the actual Santa but a helper of sorts, who plays the part so that Santa can attend to his affairs at this time of year.

Archie said Santa asked if he'd waited long, and if the wait was worth it.

We rounded out the weekend by doing some Christmas baking, the first of the season. Angus decorated the cookies including the one pictured below, which he affectionately labeled 'Elvis' and insisted that his father eat it.

Driver Refresher

Another Driver Refresher session will take place beginning at 6:30 on Monday, July 27, at the Community Centre. If you have not yet driven the course, please make arrangements with Charlene to do so. This is a mandatory refresher.

Wet. But, still summer, yes.

Well, here I am. It's Saturday evening and I've got no date. I had an offer, but I declined. Instead, I'm at the office doing the last bit of admin after a day on set shooting another video for Face a Face.

As you might have noticed, the last one we made for them did quite well. This one is part of a training module with some pretty nifty interactivity ... I should know because I'm building it.

The summer so far has been work and work. I occasionally meet up with Rob in the hours just before bed for a late-night dinner. We went to Anis et Marjolaine one night this week. It had been so long since the big guy and I had been there that the owner asked us what we were celebrating. "It's Wednesday!" we quipped, but it actually seemed like a great reason to go out to a nice bistro. Last night we grabbed a roti at our favourite spot for such things in Montreal. And, La Belle Province is a regular spot for us, being as how it's 132 steps from our door to theirs.

Eating out has been in and out of my good books. There are so many things that we can make at home, that I actually enjoy making, that I'm often disappointed in restos. For the moment, I'm indulging out of twin needs. First off: we've got no water chez nous.

The hot water tank was the first to go. Water, water everywhere. Just as we got that mopped up, the cold water, too. It started splurting from the one of the last bits of copper piping in the house. We're going to need to do a big plumbing job ... as soon as we can decide what should be included in the job. Water of all kinds is, obviously, the priority.

Here we sit in Riverside, NB, at Char's brother's place.

That brings me to the second part of the rationale for eating out all the time this summer. With the kids on their summer vacation in Cape Breton, the big guy and I are working a lot. Every day, pretty much, and long days at that. At the end of a day, meeting your sweetie and having someone else prepare you both something fine ... well, it's civilized and swell.

roadtrippin' to Deepdale via stopover in Moncton

Reports from the lads are that Deepdale is t-rriffic! The boys took the July 1st Holiday as their opportunity to skedaddle. The little red car took us all as far as Moncton, where we visited with James, Debbie, Donna, Nicolas, Jeremy, Pam, Bob, Kathy, Mark and his wife and daughter that I met for the first time. (Nicolas is getting married in September!) That night there were fire works, and the next day, the lads went East while the big guy and I headed West.

Swimming lessons are rounding out for another session. The boys' time in the ocean water will now be spent playing instead of learning.

Rumour has it that the lads' Bubba - that's grandfather to you - had a hand in building the raft

Last weekend, I said, "I'm going for a hike. Wanna come?" to my sweetie. He's always up for one of my wacky adventures. Hiking might not sound like much, but keep in mind that it's rained every damn day this summer. It's raining right now - even though the sun is shining brightly. That's just how it is, and a person needs to do summery stuff regardless.

We decided to do a sort of pilgrimage/hike up Mt. Rigaud to the chapel. The drizzle started on our way to Rigaud. Then, it rained. It poured. And, just as we made the top of the mountain, the thunder began. By the time we got into the chapel, lightning was all around us. Scurrying down the mountain, we looked like two wet sausages. Not that there were too many others braving the extremes of summer 2009. We had the picnic area just about to ourselves.

Cheers. To summer.