Country Bumpkin

I'm just a small town girl. Born and raised in ....south Petrolia (kinda)

This song kept running through my head on a recent trip to Toronto. I went to visit my friend Sarah who lives in Etobicoke, which for me, equals Toronto. Visiting the big city is always a fun adventure but each time I am reminded that I wouldn't actually want to live there.

Take, for example, public transit. Wow, that is a crazy world! We took the bus to the subway to the streetcar, all the while cramming ourselves amongst the regulars. You see all kinds on public transit. And all smells too. Wow. I can't imagine herding myself onto those cars each day to be squeezed in between stinky bodies. Eww.

And the smells are not limited to the transit system. It's so strange walking down the street and out of nowhere, a stench will rise up to meet you. That is Toronto.

Awww, but it's not all bad! Sarah and I had a great day exploring the city. We started out in the Kensington Market area where we wandered around some cute shops and inadvertently joined a Chinese dragon parade ...??? We stopped for lunch at "I Feel Like Crepe". Ha ha...great name for a crepe place. We decided that we could not pass the opportunity to sample something from "Pie In The Sky" as well. This was a good idea at the time... best...pecan pie... ever... But, after finishing and running to catch the street car...not a good idea. Wow, my tummy was not happy with that decision!

The Harbourfront area, Sugar Beach and the Distillery District rounded out the day. We were exhausted but we sure packed it in! And what was that I said about Toronto not being all bad? Check out the TTC sign... ya, it's not that bad after all! (for a gum-phobic like myself)

Coffee Update

Some time ago, I wrote about my desire to drink my coffee black. I started as most Canadians - double double. I agree, it has a nice ring to it, but I was determined to work towards my goal. Black.

I moved to double cream, no sugar. This went well. And then I decided I was ready... I made the move to single cream. Success. In fact, on occasion I have used milk and even gone black several times!

In fact, John Tesh offers up this intelligence for your life: Black coffee has been shown to help prevent Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Type II Diabetes, and certain cancers. Wow.

Student Life

I am officially a student at Fanshawe College now.

Kindred Spirits

This is my cousin Wendy. I recently discovered that we are kindred spirits :)

Wendy and her family used to live just down the road from me. When I was about 4 they moved to the Bruce Peninsula. There were infrequent visits, but more importantly there were LETTERS! Getting "real" mail from the mailbox when you're young (heck, at any age) is so exciting. Wendy was really good at sending me mail, including fun things like stickers.

However, over time, communication dropped off and we more or less lost touch. Family get-togethers were less frequent and our letter-writing dwindled. And then along came Facebook. Wendy & I became "friends" on Facebook and started a obsessive Scrabble-playing relationship! I love that she is always up for an online game!

As we have re-connected, I have discovered just how much we have in common. That is really cool. Inspired by my blog, Wendy recently started her own blog. She also loves baking, board games and fonts. Hmmm, sounds like someone I know! She also introduced me to "letter boxing" which I would like to explore a bit more when life slows down a bit.

We recently planned a family get-together where we were finally able to play a game of Scrabble face-to-face! I would like to take a moment to brag and say that I won by ONE point!!

Love ya Wendy!

Sir Paul McCartney

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. Hey Jude.

Singing this song with about 18,000 like-minded people is a pretty cool experience.

Since I can remember, I have loved the Beatles. I memorized songs, read books, did high school projects about them, and of course checked out Liverpool while in the UK. So, seeing Paul McCartney (the cute one) is a somewhat surreal experience for me.

McCartney is somewhat of a mythical creature. Over 50 years in show business as the most successful musician/song writer ever, thirty two number one singles, he was (and forever will be) a Beatle, and is responsible for some of the most beloved songs ever written.That is a tough resume to top! And, it makes seeing him in concert a magical experience.

The opening chords of every song that was played solicited such an overwhelming response. It's just hard to imagine a better show. And the amazing thing is...he is 68 years old and seems to have stopped the hands of time. He played for 3 hours without ever stopping for a break. He still sounds great and was jumping around the stage like a mop-topped lad from Liverpool :)

I am lucky enough to say this is the third time I have seen Sir Paul McCartney and I hope it is not my last. As my shirt says: I <3 p="" paul.="">