sky / dra (***) / (**) mini

Read this excellent post about Canada over @ Yarn Harlot’s blog. It’s a really good & random summary of what’s great about being Canadian.

I’ll add these, some about Canada, and some about Québec (the province, which was celebrated last year):

*Québec is a province in which knowing two languages is sort of a given, rather than a praisable trait.
*Canada’s military is mostly used to rebuild & help countries in need.
*Poutine!
*Québec city is 400 years old this week.
*In the province of Québec there are more festivals in the summer than there are weeks in a year.
*Our legal rights (abortion, morning after pill, healthcare, etc) are not threatened by party changes.
*A Canadian flag on a backpack while traveling ensures awesome reception pretty much anywhere in the world.
*Everybody in Canada has access to a quality higher education.
*Our love of DIY and all things handmade is not a renewal but a continuation of traditions we’ve maintained for generations.
*Hockey is the national password. Like it, play it, watch it : you are in.
*Montreal hosted the 1st World Outgames in 2006 and is one of the gay-friendliest cities in North America, and one in which there is very little tolerance for disrespect based on sexual orientation.
*Québec is a world leader in terms of public transportation.
*Canadians are highly educated throughout the country. We value book-learning, and/but our hobbies are also often about pucks using our hands to create & learn from older gens.
*Canadians have no equivalent to Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Fergie or the Backstreet Boys.
*We have Céline (say what you want about her music, she’s a damn good businesswoman), Ryan Gosling/Ryan Reynolds, Alanis Morissette and Feist instead.

I don’t think people list the positive enough, ever. And there is a lot of positive over here. The cold isn’t that cold when it’s yours, and our natural resources make up in beauty what they lack in accomodation
And I like being part of a country whose people are thought of as non-threatening.. even a little bit naive or slow. It doesn’t bother me/us much because as far as stereotypes go, those are rather mild and acceptable.
Canada, don’t change. Unless it’s to get even betterer.

Sky

So we got back a short while ago. I was tired but not very much so, and sort of antsy too. So I decided it would be good to do most of the cleaning so that it wouldn’t drag on all week.

I spent the next hour or so redecorating my refrigerator. That’s right. All my magnets, postcards, teas and pictures are now in much better order, thanks in part to my OCD. I also did the laundry and folded it and put it away. No small feat considering we got at least some rain on all 3 days away.

You can see the rest of the weekend’s pictures here.

Happy birthday, Québec. I graciously thank you for the 4-day.

Sky

* Not a big fan of twitter. I don’t see how I’m supposed to care enough about it to want to update it and facebook too. Are we friends on facebook yet? At least facebook has an actual purpose (sort of). Twitter is plain ol’ narcissism. Notice I’m not deleting my account, though.

* This weekend is my province’s national holiday. As such, I get a 4-day.

* Next week is my country’s national holiday. As such, I get a 4-day.

* I love this place.

* First major camping trip of the season happening this weekend. I, of course, packed at the last minute (meaning I’m not done, and won’t be done until I leave for work tomorrow) and my feet are dead tired.

* Gauge is too damn important, crochet people. I just frogged three motifs because of an inch difference between specified gauge and mine.

* I got a super short haircut. I was also going to do my colour but I’m due for a change so I’m taking the weekend to ponder that.

* Munchkin graduates the 1st grade tomorrow. She’s sad. She’s happy. She’s a freakin’ pest. She has e-mail. Should you want to write to her, e-mail me and I’ll give you her addy.

* My feet hurt.

* I’m reading a trilogy (La trilogie des fourmis, Bernard Werber) about the clash between the ant civilization and ours, and it is quite surprisingly awesome. Of course, it says a lot about us that the ants are much more believable and likeable than the humans we get to know the most in the first and second books.

* I cross paths with a lot of ants in a day. I love how books make you notice such things. Parfum and its way with my sense of smell is another such book.

* My feet really hurt. ‘Night.

(No tree wifi this weekend. Lea’me alone :))

Sky

As promised, here are a few pictures for you, my sweets.

Munchkin spent most of Father’s Day walking through tall grass looking for bugs and chasing butterflies to capture and deprive of oxygen in her bug prison.

There is always a church close by. I love churches. I find them utterly peaceful.

Duckies! We’re still waiting for the storm that’s making the water brown to fall. But it’s holding its own up there in the sky, making life super heavy over here.

All the benches along the bike path / walkway have different fish mosaics. I thought they was real purdy.

My favorite picture from Sunday.

It was truly a lovely day. My pics are rotten and I can’t fix them because my software is currently being a bitch. But you get the idea.

Sky

there is very little in this world that is quite as good as a warm summer day outside, when you’ve planned a picnic with your parents and brother and his girlfriend and your man and your munchkin, and spending that day watching boats float by and kites flying in the sky, tossing a frisbee, eating italian bakery pizza and mommy-made turkey-nut-apple-cheese sandwiches while sipping a deliciously cool strawberry wine.

the day was barely planned, and it just happened perfectly. we stayed by the river until the winds refused to allow the men to be pulled by their kites. munchkin ran in the tall grass to catch bugs and butterflies and make a pain medecine based on wheat. and i sat and relaxed, never picking up a hook and never feeling like i wasn’t doing enough in that moment. it was enough just to be there.

happy father’s day to my daddy, who mostly spends his time teasing, but who has always been there when i needed him most; and happy father’s day to my daughter’s daddy for allowing me to be her mom, and for being so great at his job with her.

for the record, the man got a car for father’s day… or well, my permission to get a car so much earlier than planned.

sky

ps : i managed to get rid of the stains in the cardigan; pics tomorrow. pics of today as well. and pics of a pretty fish mosaic i did not make but thoroughly enjoyed.