Devils vs Leafs

Yes, we went to another hockey game!

It was awesome—the Devils won but Leafs scored during a power play (in which THEY were two players short) and then almost tied the score in the third period. Woot!

But the best part BY FAR was—singing "Oh Canada!"

Living in New York you don't get too many chances to salute your home and native land in song. I sang "The Star Spangled Banner" too, obvs—but it wasn't the same.

A freezer full of Canadian butter!

President's Choice, yo!

Evidence of a weekend in Montreal.

Canadian Thanksgiving

Combined with sister's birthday!



Heirloom taters = pink!

Toast

Mmmmm, blackberry jam and Canadian butter.



CHOMP.

Butter chronicles

Greg brought this home yesterday.

So far, I think the Président butter is best, but delicious Canadian butter is the best deal.

Hello!

Goodbye (going on a little trip).

New Canadian friend!



































Body language indicates they are still getting to know each other...

Airplane!

Hudson River:



Good-bye!

Oooh, snowy fields!



Top secret spy pictures of Greg:





By Greg:


YI-I-I-I-I-IKES!!!!!

Oh, hello fleuve Saint-Laurent:



Yay Montreal, Quebec, Canada!!

Purchased

Tonight, from Fishs Eddy:



A small brown ceramic pot for $1.64. Yep, it doesn't "count" if you buy it with coins.

(Unless you live in Canada, where coins are so ubiquitous you need a specially designed change purse to manage them. The government gives one to every child at age 12—that's Socialism, y'all!)

Canadian cabin cookery

Beef roast!



Pasta!



Thawing the pork chops . . .



Barbecuing them . . .



DEVOURING THEM!



Mmmm, fat-free, low-sugar, bran health cookie. Coffee. Iris Murdoch.



Greg deals with a chicken.



Chicken joy!

And . . .





Samosa satisfaction at the Kingston farmers market.

I wanna go back! NOW!

Post–Canada trip ritual

The sorting of the quarters.

Canada!

Have you heard of Value Village, the Canadian chain of thrift stores? Nothing like it exists in the New York area (that I can find). Organized, huge, and cheap! Even though we were only in Toronto for ten hours this weekend, we spent two hours at VV.

Check out my treasures!

Hand-embroidered white cotton napkins:





Linen napkins with maroon stripe:



Yaller stripe napkins:



Seersucker tablecloth!



Pierre Cardin placemats!





Whoa!

Some wool yarn:



(For a minute I was actually like, "Hey, cool! Yarn from emu wool!" Errrr. . .)

Vintage wrapping paper (my weakness):



And . . . one of these tube knitting dealios (which I had totally been wanting!):



Sigh. So so so happy.

It ain't for nuthin' that Canada's my home and native land.

Canada long weekend!

Bye everyone!

The most beautiful breakfast ever photographed?

And with friends, to boot!



On a related note, I would like to mention that I love grits! But do you understand the enigma they presented to a girl growing up in Atlantic Canada? They came up now and again in books I was reading, and I imagined them as something sort of "gritty," dry and fried. The truth came as a pleasant surprise!

Note the godly light illuminating them, above. God loves grits too!

Most prized possession

This is an amazing piece of work: an oval of wood, with bark carefully outlined, topped with a cat-shaped wafer with a woodburned drawing, plus the word "Canada."





The whole front is smothered in about a quarter-inch of varnish; it is indestructible.

Which is good, because unbeknownst to me Greg was using it as a shim for one of his desk legs!

I guess it was just the right height.

Thanks Mom!

In addition to the camping kettle, my mother brought us:

Canadian butter!



And a beautiful bowl she made herself.





Thank you!

Oh no!

At one time we had eight pounds (8 x 454 g) of Quebec butter in our freezer. Now we have only one.



We visited Montreal in November, and on the way to the airport to come back to New York Greg popped into a dépanneur and filled a bag with butter.

It really is delicious butter. Good call, Greg! (I was skeptical.)

Now we need to get some more.

Christmas cactus

Smuggled into Brooklyn from Canada (I wrapped it in like five feet of toilet paper):



































Nice, right? A gift from Greg's brother Jim and his husband, Trevor.

I was going to crop this picture but then I decided I liked how you can just see the spines of the other cactus sticking into the image on the right.

"Old Fort," the famous Canadian cheese

Poll: Do you get this joke?

Check it out

This is a very interesting old (1998) book about tree planting in Canada.



A representative spread:



Wait—something looks...familiar. Greg? Gregory...Reynolds? Is that you?



































Here he is again, in the "cook shack" (facing the camera, in the background with his foot out):