Loyalist Township

We visited our friend Evan, who bought a farm in eastern Ontario with his mother and aunt last fall. The place is in Loyalist Township (where land grants were given by Great Britian to those British subjects who fled the American Revolution).

This is one of the several barns. I am pretty sure it is original to the property, which means it is 225 years old!



Inside:





Live trap. . . . (Evan had to capture a raccoon that was busting up his garden!)



Items for tinkering with the garden tractor/snowblower.



Random . . . stuff.



Swallows' nest!



Robins' nest!



I wonder what those hanging straps are for.



Wire fencing, old jars.



Buncha old doors and shutters.



Hanging things.



Board graveyard.



Work bench.



Stuff that Evan actually uses.

There is a loft, and this is the roof:



You can see the metal over the original planks.

AWESOME!

Reunited

So, Greg and I had a lot of stuff languishing in storage at friends' place in Toronto (this is just a fraction of it).



In addition to, like, four million books, a ton of tools, a bunch of art by Greg, and my sticker and stationery collections, the boxes we stuffed into the rented Prius two weeks ago contained my favorite coffee cups!



I have four of these vintage "curry yellow" Mikasa mugs.

Yay!

More new shoes

Red orthopedics!

Beth and I are twinsies.

1 Runner

I ran a "corporate challenge" race in Central Park a few weeks ago!



With, um, fifteen thousand other people! Can you see me in this picture??

Greg had sprained his ankle so he couldn't come to cheer me on. But when I got home I found this lil award plaque waiting for me!



Hee hee! I may not be the #1 runner but I sure as heck am 1 Runner!

Greggy you are soooooooo cute!!

Fourth of July!

On Sutton Street.

Firecrackers!





BANG-BANG-BANGBANG-BANG-BANG-BANGBANGBANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANGBANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANGBANGBANG-BANGBANG-BANG-BANGBANG-BANG-BANG-BANGBANGBANG-BANGBANG-BANG-BANGBANG-BANG-BANG-BANGBANGBANG-BANG!!!!!



Neighborhood tradition.

Candy canes!

Yep, I staked the tomatoes with them. Works good.

You are jealous

I bought these babies at a yard sale this afternoon for fifteen dollars!







Rhinestones! Quilting! Wings!!

They got it all!

Gasp!

A free safety belt!!!



Oh. Bummer.

Noon

Once again Greg was the hero of the lunch hour.



Thanks for making pork chops, baby!

Fun with Astronomy

Keep that in mind, children.

(Kindra's collection of ephemera is pretty top notch.)

Whooo. . .

I keep thinking I hear an owl in our backyard at dusk.

How amazing would it be to look out of your kitchen window and see this?



Bree's friend Victoria did.

Jealous. (Although Greg and I did see an awesome baby bird this morning begging its mother for sunflower seeds.)

Made!

These . . . belts?





They're a bit weird, but I dig them anyway.

Yum

Homemade maple syrup from our friend Evan's farm.

Shadow and reflection

That's me, in the elevator foyer at work.

Black squirrel of eastern Ontario

Minty and Penelope:



Very interested in said squirrel.

The Black Lancer!

Check out this amazing vintage Stetson my friend Sarah K. in Toronto gave me!





Thanks Sarah!

In front of our motel room

Somewhere in New York state, on the asphalt before the door:



Mysterious wishbone.

I considered picking up and pulling it with Greg, but then I realized I didn't really want to touch someone else's nasty old chicken bone.

It was probably my one magic chance at having a wish come true. It was still there in the morning.

Letter

Greg's father sent us a great letter!



With a picture enclosed that he took in the backyard of his home in Powell River, British Columbia.



"RAAAWWWROOWRR!" [gnaw gnaw gnaw]

Maybe stay inside for a while, Mom and Dad?!?!?

Tomatoes

Remember these little dudes?

Now check out these crazy plants (height indicated for your convenience)!





Yum yum.

Regardez

More toof marks of a skorl.

How to be an asshole

When traveling in rural eastern Ontario, be sure to bring your Starbucks coffee into the local diner.



Also: wear a bright-blue embroidered Mexican dress and try to style your hair in multiple buns.



Then you might want to joke loudly about your "monochromatic" breakfast.



Try it! It works!

Staff sale!

So, at my work the retail department has a sale every year, of samples, returns, and other items they have lying around the department.

It is basically the best day of the ENTIRE YEAR!

I got:



Stationery, with matching stickers!



Stamp pad.



































Van Gogh stamps—cuz why not?



Powder-coated steel wall hooks (Greg is against them).



More stickers!



Little mugs.



A wack of little photography books!



A wack of big books!



Bookends!

Fifteen dollars total!!

YAY!

Embrace mediocrity

Especially when you find it in the trash!!!!!

Fiberglass (?) plant pot:



Ceramic bowl:





Nuthin' special, but functional.

Also: free.

Post–Canada trip ritual

The sorting of the quarters.