I finally got out of the office at 7:30 on Friday, after finishing last of the long-overdue performance reviews. Yesterday I went to a local SCA event where I had a blast - literally. Someone was foolish enough to let me have a nicely carved little horn, which of course I needed to honk on at random times throughout the day. I also took on a new student - Laughlin is an adorable red-headed four-year-old. He wants to learn about all the Viking things, so it should be fun. We packed up before bad weather hit and three girlfriends and I went to Sundae School, the fancy ice cream shop just down the street from my house. I was convinced to go wild and change up my order (normally I get a single scoop of the amazing raspberry sorbet in a waffle cone). I got raspberry sorbet in a waffle cone, topped with a second scoop of loaded butter tart ice cream. Yum!
This morning I got up far too early (5:30) to go for a swim with Nadine and Aimee. They both had plans for a 10 km swim, and I decided to paddle along at my own pace. The water was warm but really choppy, so it was a tough swim. I got 4 km done, but it took me close to three hours and I was really tired at the end. Aimee and Nadine gave up at 9 km and sent a message asking me to drive down to where they had gotten out of the water. Luckily, Nadine had given me her car keys on the assumption that I would be done first. Then it was home to cook up a bunch of the things from the CSA basket that wouldn’t survive in the fridge for the next little while (lunches for my first week back to the office are done - yay!). After that, I did a major kitchen cleaning as the girl has plans to have friends over for a little party while I’m gone. By then I had just enough time to pack, do a quick clean-up of my community garden plot (my mustard is almost ripe, so I hope it holds off until I get back, and I have some cute little bush beans that I hope will be ready too), and pick up some groceries for the kid.
I am currently sitting in the lounge at Pearson airport - sad that my flight to Istanbul is delayed by an hour, but being mollified with Pinot Grigio and snacks. I also figured out how to download a Persian keyboard onto my phone, and have been messaging with a friend in Dari.
Apologies for not checking everyone’s updates, but LJ is giving me troubles again. Will check in again in a couple of days.
It was pouring rain last night so I left my bike at work and got a ride home. This morning I asked if I could get a lift back if she had time before work. She said yes depending on when I would be ready. I said 15 minutes. She went upstairs so I finished cleaning up her mess in the kitchen and waited - but not long because I wanted to get in early, if possible (it’s my last day before three weeks away). I reminded her I was ready, which is when I got a tanto outburst about how she didn’t have time now. So I walked. It is humid, I’m in my good office shoes instead of walking shoes, and I missed my bus by 1 minute (it’s a km walk just to the bus stop).
This is a CBC show currently available on Netflix, so it might be available outside Canada. I had heard good things so have started watching. Four women of a certain age doing sketch comedy. It is freaking hilarious - they skewer office life, wine drinking, obsessive parenting, sex.
Are you ready for the hot nights?
and a whole lot of fooling around
Meatballs 1979
1. How do you beat the summer heat?
I swim, of course.
2. Do you have air conditioning?
Yes, but I try not to use it too often.
3. What’s your idea of the perfect summer day?
Not too hot, but sunny. No bugs.
4. What’s one thing you always seem to do every summer whether you want to or not?
Work instead of taking all the vacation I want.
5. Are you ready for the summer?
Sort of. Sadly, I will be traveling for part of July, but I am arranging a couple of days as a stopover so I can go sightseeing.
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I rode to swim practice this morning. It was raining. I swam for an hour then rode home. Raining less, but still coming down. Rode to the swim club’ s AGM. I got soaked. It seemed to be clearing up until just before I biked home. I was drenched to the skin. I did see a nice rainbow tonight though, after dinner with my parents, sister and son. Tomorrow is the last day of swim practice for the season. I learned some things to improve my strokes - hope I retain them until we get back at it in the fall.
1. What was your favorite childhood vacation? Probably the month we spent in Spain. I got a flamenco dancer doll, learned to skip double-Dutch, went to a bullfight, and spent endless hours at the beach. We sang Lemon Tree at the tops of our lungs (maybe that was just me and my parents were more restrained) every time we saw a lemon tree, which was often. We lived in our VW van at a campground called The Happy Whale in Sete, which is a bit south of Barcelona.
2. What is your dream vacation? Someplace exotic and off the beaten path. Ideally with a UNESCO World Heritage designation. The standard answer used to be Machu Pichu, but lately I am leaning towards Bukhara or Samarkand.
3. If you could take a trip around the world, what locations would you be sure to include? This question is way too hard. By sea? By air? Overland? Does it have to be something approximating a circle route? I need the parameters defined because otherwise I would want to go absolutely everywhere. I love traveling and would probably only leave out the actively dangerous places to which Canadians are told to avoid all travel - Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan would all be off the list, but everything else is fair game. And I would go to those places if I needed to for work (I do go to Afghanistan a couple of times a year, but wouldn’t consider it without the security I get for the job).
4. Do you prefer vacations to new destinations, to familiar destinations, or a mix? Generally, new destinations.
5. What activities would you plan for a two week staycation? I usually visit museums, catch up on chores, swim, and do some crafting.
I had the privilege of visiting the new Afghanistan memorial at the DND complex in west-end Ottawa today.
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