2018: Annus Horribilis?

I've seen a lot of news articles online debating whether 2018 was one of the worst years ever. Here's a sampling from USA Today, the Guardian, and Time Magazine.

Why are many so glum?

• For those on the traditional "left", there is the ongoing Trump saga, the election of Doug Ford as Premier in Ontario (who some claim is a Trump-lite), Brexit in the UK and the spread of populism everywhere.
• For those on the "right", there is political correctness gone amok, the attacks on free speech, mass migration, and Brexit again (both sides appear have reasons to be glum about this one!).

And that's not to mention all the urban/rural (gilet jaune anyone?), religious/secular, and east/west tension (which has an international dimension [think China vs. the West] and a Canadian one [Alberta/Saskatchewan vs. Ontario/Quebec]).

Everywhere there seems to be anger. At least by "everywhere" one means everywhere reported on by the news.

One of the reasons I like to write this blog is to remind myself that there are still places where life consists of mundane activities like holding the occasional election, and simple pleasures like going for a haircut, enjoying restaurants, and watching your children growing up. I am sure there is anger and despair here too. But there is also a lot of joy, laughter and hope.

2018 was rough. But the world moves on and from what I see around me there are lots of reasons not to give up on it just yet.

Anyways, here is what I am going to try and do in 2019 to keep some perspective:

• Read less opinion and more news. While some opinion pieces are quite well written, I find they often preach to the choir. I am going to make a concerted effort to find out what the "other"side is thinking and reflect upon it. Be willing to change my mind.
• Volunteer for at least one local cause I believe in (food bank, city environmental clean up day, etc.).
• Eat more ethically-produced food.
• Kiss my girls' (Ms. Glosette and Ms. Margot) every night and thank my lucky stars.
• Not take myself too seriously and be silly once in awhile.

...and continue to appreciate nature (this snap taken from "Baird Trail"). Happy New Years!

A Very Big City Christmas

Glosette Girl, Margot and I don't really have a routine when it comes to Christmas day. I don't mean the build up to Christmas - we always do certain things in the month leading up to the big day:

• Put up Christmas lights around the house about a month before Christmas.
• Put up a Christmas tree a couple of weeks before Christmas.
• Go see the Aylmer Christmas parade.
• Watch Margot in her school Christmas concert.
• Attend a kids' "midnight" (i.e. 4 pm) Christmas church service.
• Watch cheesy Christmas movies (Glosette Girl has a soft spot for Home Alone, I'm more of a Rankin/Bass person myself)
• Listen to way too much Christmas music.

But when it comes to Christmas itself, we're all over the map. The same goes for New Years. Last year we jetted off to El Salvador immediately after Christmas. In 2016 we were in Costa Rica. In 2015 we were living at our old home in Hull, Quebec. That was the year it was almost 17 degrees Celsius on Christmas Eve. The next day we went for a "winter" walk in light jackets. Hard to believe when you look out at the snow blanketing everything now!
 
There are a couple of reasons for this seasonal excitement. First, Glosette Girl is a teacher (her students call her Ms. Glosette) so Christmas is one of the times that are easiest for us to travel. Second, my family lives in Toronto so we try and make a point of visiting them at this time of year. And that's where we were this year on Christmas day. Here are some snaps from our urban Christmas 2018!

#1: Skating under an elevated highway

#2: Visiting the most castle-y house in Toronto - Casa Loma!

#3: Enjoying Toronto's version of "snow" (it's warmer here than Ottawa - white stuff falls but it doesn't stay on the ground!)

Honestly, I'm just super grateful to be able to share all these cool Christmas experiences with my family. And Margot takes everything with stride. Let's listen to her opine about our latest adventure:

Chat you later!

Christmas Tiggly Winkles

It's here: the last week before Christmas!

This time of year is always a bit hectic due to all the parties, events and shopping going on. It can be fun but also a bit overwhelming. Breathe! Breathe!

Fortunately, Glosette Girl and I don't have to do any last minute Christmas shopping. Our last stop, last week, was to the local toy store, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's where we picked up some gifts for my nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's, like most brick-and-mortar stores is usually more expensive than online competitors like Amazon. But there is something magical about going into a toy store at Christmas time, what with all the knick knacks and doo dabs buzzing about. You literally breathe in joy! I'm willing to pay a little bit more for that experience.

Full disclosure: I did a large portion of my shopping at "big box" stores like Walmart or via online shopping, but I'm glad I was also able to support a local business (extra bonus - what we we were looking for was on sale at Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's so I scored on the money side too!).

Amazingly, Margot didn't ask for anything for herself on this visit and she remained focused on our goal of picking out gifts for her cousins.  It was cute to see her burrow her forehead in concentration as she thought about what Calico Critter or Beanie Boo (we call them "Big Eye") stuffie will make her cousins happy the most - you can't take these things lightly!

I really do like these moments when she thinks about other people first. She can be a hell raisin' son-of-a-gun (wait, that means I'm the "gun") so it's nice to see that in these literal kid-in-a-candy-store moments, her less selfish side comes out. One more point for getting on the "good list"!

Go Sens Go!

I'm not really a sports guy. It's not that I don't like sports - I love World Cup soccer, for example. It's just that I have a hard time justifying spending $150 (at least) to go see guys chase a ball or puck or whatever around a field for a few hours when there are so many other things I could spend my money on.

This past weekend though, my employer threw me some premium hockey tickets in recognition of some hard work I've been doing. At first I wasn't going to go but when I saw how good the tickets were I couldn't pass them up. I called up my friend "Big D" and off we went to my first NHL hockey game in ...7 1/2 years.

 

How do I know it's been 7 1/2 years? Because amazingly the last time I went to see a hockey game I blogged about it. And who do you think was my guest at that game? You guessed it: Big D!

Me and D circa 2011

Me and D today! Except for a few "Dad" wrinkles I don't think we look too shabby!

Anyways, this time it was the Ottawa Senators versus the Boston Bruins in a high stakes game for the ages! Well...not really. Both of these teams kindof, well, hmmm how shall I say this politely....stink like wet dogs. It was also a low scoring game (2 to 1 for the Bruins) and there wasn't too much excitement overall.

Ottawa is a tough market for sports. It's full of Government employees who aren't really prone to lavishing money on luxuries like hockey. And living where I live (in the city) it just isn't that easy to make my way out to the 'burbs where the Sens play (thank you D, for driving this time). So it'll take some convincing for me to get out there again.

Still, it was fun. We scored $1 hot dogs before the game (and washed them down with $14 beer) And unlike last time when, we sat in the nosebleed section of the stadium, this time we were only 15 rows from the front. So maybe I won't wait 7 1/2 years for the next visit.

What Kids Worry About

As an adult I find there are so many things to worry about: global warming, politics, poverty, current hot button issues like immigration, the list goes on and on.

As an antidote to the age of cynicism and pessimism I find we are increasingly living in, it really helps me to put all these "big picture" issues aside and concentrate on what directly affects my family. And a good way for me to do that is is to talk to Margot and listen to what keeps her preoccupied.

Increasingly she talks about the trials and tribulations of dealing with boys (ah! that's another blog post) but another big issue for her is birthday parties.

This past weekend she went to the birthday party of her friends E and S. The party was held in the east end of Ottawa at a trampoline place called Flying Squirrel, which is an indoor trampoline park. It was pretty sweet seeing E and S rush up to Margot and give her a big hug. They moved schools last year but it looks like the friendship is still going strong.

Luckily for Margot, going to parties doesn't appear to be an issue (she gets invited, she goes - case closed!). The bigger concern is Margot's own birthday. Even though it isn't for another six months, Margot confided to me on the drive over to Flying Squirrel that she doesn't know who to invite to her next birthday. She seems to be "friends" with a lot of girls in her class and she feels an expectation to invite everyone. I use friends in quotations because, reading between the lines, I think the real issue is that she feels pressure to invite a lot of girls as they are cool or popular even though they may not be the nicest kids.

Big worry? Looking into Margot's eyes and pensive expression I can definitely say "yes it is!" Although I am sure she could eventually sort all this out herself I love how she freely talks to me about this. If I can play a small role in calming her fears along the way, I think that's pretty cool. I can't help solve all the problems of the world but I can help solve this.

Loot Bag Joy

Centre of the Universe

Ottawa is a pretty mellow place so it can be pretty easy for me to forget that it's the centre of political power in Canada.

Occasionally though, when my family comes to visit, I have an excuse play tourist in my hometown. This past weekend I took my Dad on a free tour of the House of Commons, which is where Canada's Parliament sits. I've done this tour a couple of times in the past but I couldn't remember the last visit very much.

It was pretty interesting.

First off, I was surprised to see there were so many other tourists on the tour considering it's the end of November - a typically dead time around here.

Second, even though the tour is a brisk 40 minutes or so you do get to see the main room where legislative debates happen and the House sits. For people with a slightly policy-wonkish nature, like me, that's pretty cool.

Where the Law of our Land gets made

Our tour was cut a bit short because an actual debate was going on in the Senate regarding a postal strike that's been happening. But we did get a chance to see the Parliamentary library, which is probably the most beautiful library in Canada.

Queen Victoria minding over the books

Now, as someone who has actually testified before a Parliamentary committee, and seen how Parliamentary work came be overly theatrical, you might think that I would have a jaded view of all this but surprisingly I'm still an optimist. Call me naive, but compared to most places in the world I think we Canadians have figured out how to run a government pretty well. And seeing all the places where work is done reminds me how close to the centre of power normal people (like me) can get.

No tour is complete without climbing something tall and this one was no different. We ended the tour by going up the Peace Tower, which is the big tower that you see in the middle of our Parliament buildings. From there my dad and I could see from the golden fields of Saskatchewan to the potato fields of Prince Edward Island.

Just kidding.This is Canada. All we saw was snow :)

Air Millenial

My job can be pretty intense sometime. But once in awhile a little adventure will happen that is kindof cool! This past week I had an opportunity to hop on a 6-seater plane because I had to travel to a little-used airport in St Catherines, Ontario.

The airport "lounge" for the airline I took, FlyGTA, was pretty funny: it was basically a shed next to a parking lot. All the pilots and crew seemed to be in their mid twenties. I kept wanting to ask them to show me their ID.

Me and my chariot

The airport we landed in was tiny. It's the first time I've ever been to an airport with literally no staff - just the ones who flew in with us on the plane! There was no baggage check, security or anything else. Just us.

But the best part was the flight back to Toronto (where I had to transit through in order to get back to Ottawa). The twenty-something crew flew in really close to the CN tower and then banked pretty hard to avoid hitting the tower! OK I'm exaggerating a little :) The ride was actually pretty smooth. Props to FlyGTA (pun intended).

Hard Left!

Definitely an unexpected but fun mid-week adventure. Just another day at the office!

Remembrance

There are so few things in modern society that everyone can agree on. I would like to think that having a moment's reflection for the people who sacrificed everything they believed would help make a better world would be one of them. Sadly, that's not true. They, and the symbols around Remembrance Day, are just one more thing to analyze and critique and debate.

I love a good debate. And I'm trying to equip Margot with skills that, I hope, will one day allow her to consider the tough questions of the world. But I am also trying to help her realize that the world wars of the 20th century involved real people - my English family members among them - persevering through the scariest situations possible.  And maybe it's not too hard to give them a minute of respect.

One day soon the last living connection to those people will pass on. There won't be any veterans (like my grandfather), children of veterans (like my father) or even grandchildren of veterans anymore. But I will do my best to ensure that at least one more generation in my corner of the world remembers.

Lakes of Canada: Get Out There!

On Saturday morning I happened to hear on the radio that a band called Lakes of Canada was playing a 4 pm kid-friendly show on Sunday.

Now, for the most part, I stopped going to see concerts at least 10 years ago (not counting local festivals). I'll be honest, even in my heyday I was never a huge concert-goer. But a couple of things about the Lakes of Canada show appealed to me.

For starters, they were playing in a small little church.  I liked that because even when I used to go see more shows I much preferred seeing them in small, intimate spaces instead of massive venues (I once saw Radiohead play in front of 35,000 people in Montreal...I got bored about 30 minutes into the performance even though I liked many of their songs. In contrast, Glosette Girl and I once dropped in on a free concert to see a bunch of nobodies play in a small New York City bar. The musicians were 25 feet away and they passed a bucket around to collect money at the end instead of having a cover charge. It was random, quirky, and...brilliant!)

Just your typical rock-and-roll venue

 Second, although I had never heard of the band before, I found the way they described themselves ("a four piece progressive pop group with gospel and soul vocal harmonies") intriguing.

Finally, I liked how it wasn't a concert aimed at kids but still something kids could enjoy. I mentioned it to Margot and as she seemed up for it, on Sunday evening Margot, Glosette Girl and I made the drive up to the Mill Road Community Space in Chelsea, Quebec to see the band play.

Rockin' out with the band

It's hard to convey how happy I am that we went. There were only 50 people (at most!) there but the band made the room come alive with their presence. Their songs were, at times: atmospheric, haunting, uplifting, loud and beautiful. The a cappella style songs at the end were especially catchy. Honestly, Lakes of Canada rekindled my interest in seeing live music.

A capella NOW!

So a good show! But as we were driving home I couldn't help but think, it would have been so easy for me to have skipped this - to have stayed home and watched Netflix or done chores. And had I made that decision I would have missed something that really inspired me. How many people make choices like that everyday - to decide to do nothing because its easy and familiar rather than trying something new? I know I've made decisions like that all the time...

If there is a morale to this story I guess it's that there are amazing things going on at every moment of every day often just a little outside your comfort zone. But you'd never know unless you get out there and experience it.

And guess what? This is Margot's first true concert (not counting 'fests or kids shows)

Lil Mac's

Margot isn't a super picky eater but I'm not at the stage where I can take her to a fancy restaurant and feel good about it. Hell - I feel guilty even when Glosette Girl and I go out sometimes when I think about how much other stuff I could buy for the price of a fancy meal!

So we're still pretty selective about restaurants we take her to. Cheesy-but-fun-suburban-bar-and-grill is more our thing for the most part.

This past week we tried something a bit more adventurous: Little Mac's, a little hole-in-the-wall down the street. It's a diner - but a diner with an edge.

 
There was ultra cool music playing in the restaurant when we arrived (the kindof music that makes you cooler just by being in its presence). So that was a good start. Also, the food selection was very Margot friendly (lots of fried food) but with a twist.  I had a big plate of of fries, waffles, gravy and chicken. I think the whole waffle/chicken combo is an American thing. I've never had it before. It was...interesting...but I'm not sure I'm sold on waffles for dinner just yet!

My big plate of waffles and ribs is looking at Glosette Girl

As for Glosette Girl and Margot, while they loved their meals, a portobello mushroom burger for Glosette Girl and chicken and fries for Margot respectively.

So if you're looking for something different than your standard McDo's and you're in the area check it out. Just a heads up though: there is no insulation in the walls. So if you go in the late fall or winter - bring your coat!

The Front Seat: It Depends

Everyone remembers the milestones when a baby starts becoming a toddler: first tooth, first birthday, baptism, first word, or even first cold. Those are the kinds of things that retail chains like Hallmark create albums and scrapbooks for that they can sell by the dozen to new parents.

But what about those middle-of-the-pack childhood years? They are important too!

I thought Margot's first day of grade three was pretty important. But I saw that event coming. More recently, something happened that I wasn't prepared for though. Ever so casually, Margot just started asking if she could sit in the front seat of the car. And guess what? I let her!

Unlike booster seat requirements, there is no law that requires children to sit in the backseat but in my mind I was thinking "Whhha... but kids go in the back...". I know, I know there are lots of good safety reasons why kids should stay in the backseat until they are older (depending on their size and weight). But whereas before I was certain Margot should always be in the backseat, now I'm entering a whole new era of grey where...it depends. Maybe on a clear sunny days where I'm just taking her over to her ballet class she can sit in the front seat  whereas during a snowstorm where the roads are more slippery, the back seat seat is better. That might shock some parents who may always lean towards safety over everything. But that's not me. I'm more of a life-is-for-living-and-bending-the-rules-here-and-there kindof guy.

So here I go, entering into a brave new world of "it depends". I think that sums up my parenting style right now. Who knows, before I know it she may be walking home from school BY HERSELF! Ahhhh!

Haha what a sly smile

Something Old becomes Something New

I popped into Trove a couple of days ago to drop off some clothes. Trove is a consignment store, which originally focused on women's clothes but has recently started accepting men's clothes as well.

Although I occasionally shopped at second hand stores in the past, actually dropping off my old clothes for resale isn't something I've ever tried before. The main reason is that I thought it was more generous to drop off my old clothes in one of the numerous charity clothes bins that are all over this neighbourhood (the ones that say on the side of the bin that the funds from the clothes go to good causes like the Big Brothers or Big Sisters of Ottawa).

There's been a lot of negative press about those clothes bins recently.  Contrary to what a lot of people think, a lot of the clothes that go into those bins go into landfills or get exported to third world countries where first world second hand clothing has contributed to wiping out local textile business.

That's no good.

However, as much as I'd like to stop using those bins, I don't just want to dump my clothes in the garbage. And that's where Trove comes in. It's not a charity (I'll actually make some money if my clothes sell) but at least I'm helping a local business and giving a second life to something that I don't want anymore. So if anyone out there on the Interweb is interested in a blue stripped sweater - check out Trove on Wellington Street while supplies last!

The Flambée des Couleurs - Misty Edition

Tough Cookies: Hintonburg Style isn't intended to be a travel blog.

I like to write about what happens in my neighbourhood, the restaurants I visit and life with Margot and Glosette Girl. But sometimes that life involves visiting new places and trying new experiences. And this just happens to be one of those times. So hot on the heels of last week's fall camping post, I'm going to write about another mini adventure: a visit to Quebec's Eastern Townships.

The Eastern Townships are Canada's New England.  It is a place of hills and lakes, agri-tourism, monasteries, small mountains, and cute little villages and towns. Glosette Girl went to University in this area so the area will always be special to her. To me it's just a really pretty region that's just close enough to Ottawa (a hard 3 hours or more realistic 3-and-a-half hour drive) for a long weekend visit.

Normally I like planning an itinerary for even mini trips like this but with the fall camping trip and life in general being generally busy I wasn't able to do much more than check out a few websites and get a rough idea of what I wanted to do.

Still, we were able to cram a few cool things into the weekend.

We started out with a trail run (Margot's training for the cross country team if you can believe it) on a forest trail. Then it was on to our B&B where we relaxed in a hot tub (I'll spare you the photos even though you know you want to see them!)

Then we were off to experience Foresta Lumina, a night time multi-media walk through a forested valley. I'm only going to say one thing: holograms are awesome.

The weather didn't quite cooperate this weekend - it was more grey than anything. But sometimes them's the breaks folks. And at least it didn't rain. Actually, even though the fog and clouds obscured most of the fall foliage views we were hoping to get (the big attraction in this area at this time of year) the grey weather made for an eerily beautiful atmosphere.

I'll have a ghost on the side please

Those snaps are from Mont Orford, in case you were wondering. In the end we hiked and walked a lot, saw a cool nighttime show, and visited the nice little town of Magog, sortof the hub of the region and which legend says sits on the shores of a lake with a monster hidden in its depths.

Monsters? Mist? Night time walking? Either I'm developing an interest in the occult or Halloween is just around the corner.... bwah ha ha!

Ontario Provincial Parks: Ranked

This past weekend I packed Glosette Girl and Margot into the ol' roadster, threw on some tunes and drove up to Silent Lake Provincial Park for our first ever autumn camping experience. Although we were probably a week early for fall colours it turned out to be a great experience; no bugs, no hot tents (especially in the morning - ugh) and a lot less people!

Unsurprisingly, the park has a big lake in the middle of it!

That got me thinking, I've been camping for almost 20 years. Just how would I rank the parks I've visited? Are there any shining stars or obvious disappointments? One would think that from the glowing reviews travel writers give all these parks they would all be amazing. Unfortunately, they would be wrong.

Trekking the Silent Lake woods with my sis and her family

Hmmm here's my 100% objective-no-bias-at-all-list-of-Ontario parks that you can take to the bank. Full disclosure: I've only included parks where I've slept overnight. OK, let's go:

The Best of the Best

• Awenda: quiet beaches, nostalgia from visiting during my childhood days and beautiful Georgian Bay. Perfect!
• Charleston Lake: classic Canadian shield park with awesome hikes.
• Silent Lake: maybe my weekend visit is too fresh in my mind but this small park really impressed me.
• Murphy's Point: for a park that's barely over an hour from Ottawa this park hits the right notes. It has a mine that you can visit, nice geology and geography, and pretty vistas.
• Pinery: the only "beach" park on my "best of the best" list. Although it's a bit busy and not a nature park, the  Oak Savannah and long beaches on Lake Huron are too nice not to like.

The Middle-of-the-Road-sters

• Algonquin: whaa..? Alonquin is only average? Yup, for me, that's what it is.While I appreciate it's a quarter the size of Belgium, meaning it's great for the environment, in terms of scenery and facilities for me, your standard car camper, I just find it...OK.
• Silver Lake: the lake is nice but the park is small and a bit too close to the highway for my liking.
• Sharbot Lake: it's been awhile since I went to Sharbot Lake so my memory is hazy. The words "distinctly average" keep coming to mind though.
• Killbear: I debated whether I preferred Killbear or Murphy's Point and in the end I settled on Murphy's point. Maybe I just had too high expectations for Killbear seeing how it's supposed to be one of the highlights of Ontario's cottage country.
• Bon Echo*: has cool ancient petroglyphs so it's a potential "best of the best" but I was sick the last time I went and that's coloured my opinion...for now.

The Dregs

• Rideau River: OK, to be fair, I had a great late summer experience at Rideau River recently. And Margot had fun. But because it's only 30 minutes from Ottawa it's a bit too urban for my tastes. The heavy boat traffic in the summer on the river doesn't help.
• Fitzroy Harbour: a decent park but again, being so close to Ottawa it seems a bit overpopulated and not outdoorsy enough. The big dam within eyesight doesn't help.
• Sibbald Point: a park near to my hometown of Newmarket, Ontario, on the Shores of Lake Simcoe. Has some interesting local history but otherwise kindof "eh". A fun place to party when you're a teenager though!
• Six Mile Lake: I used to love going here when I was a kid but the Government ruined it unfortunately. First, they crammed a gazillion campsites into it. Second, a major highway now runs right by the park. I visited the park last year and was heartbroken!
• Voyageur: I made the mistake of visiting Voyageur, a somewhat dirty, uninspiring park on the shores of the Ottawa river, after visiting Maui so perhaps my perspective was a bit skewed at the time...but too bad! Other than Six Mile this is probably my least favourite Ontario provincial park. Sorry Voyageur!

Wow that's a lot of parks! Lots of great memories too - even in the "dregs" :)

Hopefully Margot will always have a connection with nature

* Oops in an earlier version of this blog post I forgot about Bon Echo.

Dependancy

This past weekend was a literal whirlwind.

Two tornadoes hit the Ottawa area on Friday. The immediate devastation in a couple of neighbourhoods in Ottawa-Gatineau and the small village of Dunrobin, was unreal. Particularly heartbreaking was the story of the father in Gatineau who just barely held onto his little girl from being sucked out of his arms.

In my neighbourhood I remember how unusually warm it was as I was walking home. It was windy, but not insanely windy. After I got home, there was a 30-minute period of intense rain while Margot, Glosette Girl and I were having dinner. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary until just after 6 pm we lost power.

Unbeknownst to me, one of the tornadoes had just hit a power station knocking out electricity to 200,000 people.

Clueless, we went for a walk in the warm evening air underneath an eerily calm sky. Stella Luna was still open so we enjoyed some cake there. They actually did an amazing job rolling with the punches. No power? No problem! Candles were on every table.

The harsh beauty of a post tornado sky

Same with a nearby yarn store where we enjoyed shopping by flashlight.

After our walk we went home and lit some of our own candles and had a little drawing party. It was actually kindof fun. So for us at least, the first night of the power failure was fun.

The second day...not so much. 

It was only in the morning, listening to our battery powered radio that we realized just how much damage had been done and how long it would take for the power to come back on. Afraid that the food in our fridge was going to go off, we moved most our perishables over to Glosette Girl's parents (they still had electricity).

It wasn't like the whole city was without power - the downtown core, the east end and most of Gatineau was unaffected. That allowed us to go on with our lives with only a few inconveniences. But we did make  changes. There was no Internet (except for limited cellphone service). No TV. We went to bed really early on Saturday. And I went to the store and bought a ton of candles...just in case.

Fortunately, by Sunday morning we were back in the "juice". Some people may still be without electricity though. You try going without electricity for four days - it gets old, trust me. We live in an interconnected electricity-dependent world. It's actually shocking how little it takes for the whole house of cards to start to fall apart.

Festival Fail

Sometimes things don't work out.

Last weekend was Tastes of Wellington West, a one-day festival in my neighbourhood where all the local stores offer discounts or freebies. Sounds good, right? If you read the news articles about the event you'd think so - hey hundreds of people came out - it must have been great!

But as a local resident I hafta say it was ...not good.

Part of the problem with this fest is that people are desperate for free stuff. They will line up 30 minutes for just about anything. And that's what what happened whenever a store gave something away. Want a tiny cup of free ice cream? 30 minutes. Stella Luna, one the local gelato stores, had an insane line right to the door. OK, OK, maybe I'm exaggerating - Margot was able to score a free cotton candy pretty easily. But still, sometimes the effort people make to get something free is kindof silly.

The spoils of war

Another part of the problem with this fest is that the sheer volume of people piling into the limited number of small local stores actually makes it one of the hardest days to shop. There are just people constantly in and out of stores and in your face that it makes it hard to want to try or buy much of anything.

It probably didn't help that it was hitting 40 degrees Celsius on Saturday - even the air felt like it was sweating.

Do I sound like a grumpy old man? Hurumph.

I am sure festivals like these are lifeblood for local business. So I would never say don't hold them. But like Canada Day in Ottawa, which often sees worst and slower service for more limited selections, maybe the best option if you're a local resident is to get out of dodge until the brew-ha-ha is over!

My Life in Schedules

Maybe it's just me, but I find these days I need to schedule everything if I'm going to get anything done. I was always pretty organized but I've taken things to a whole new level as I approach middle age.

Here are some of the things I schedule in my life:

• French practice: 15 minutes per day/6 days a week ("Bonjour monsieur! J'aime ta moustache!")
• Piano practice:15 minutes per day every other day. I used to do this every day but I have decided to dial it back slightly - a boy's gotta relax once in awhile!
• Gym/jogging - minimum of two but hopefully three times per week. Just call me Mr. Muscles.
• Take Margot to church: once per month.  A slice of spirituality with a side order of optimism.
• Haircut - once every five weeks (which is probably pretty slovenly compared to some of the hipsters around here who always seem to have perfectly coiffed hair)
• Writing a blog post - once a week. Gotta give my fans their Tough Cookie: Hintonburg Style fix ;)
• Hike with family - once per month except for the summer months of June-August (too hot). If you're curious about some of the hikes I've done check out this cool website.

That's just my activities. I didn't mention Margot's activities, work-related obligations, the day-to-day grind of chores, cooking and shopping. Plus I have to budget some time for "date nights" with Glosette Girl (ooh la la!)

It's kindof anal when I lay all everything I schedule in my life on one page like that. But honestly, I don't see anything changing anytime soon. If anything, it'll probably get worse! I just feel that at this stage in my life planning my life just helps me make time for all the things I want to do.

Day 129: All Done!

On day zero I huffed and puffed and used my muscle to get rid my old appliances out of the house.

On day twenty eight I gulped and pulled my hair out as my contractor explained to me just how many "old house problems" my kitchen had. Instead of tearing stuff down my contractor had to build scaffolding up just to prevent the ceiling from collapsing over my head!

On day fifty seven I basked in all the light pouring into my kitchen space and admired the new bones (a.k.a joists) that had been put in. I gritted my teeth with Glosette Girl and tried to avoid fighting too much due to all the stress from eating off of paper plates and relying on a mini "beer" fridge to keep our groceries cool.

On days fifty eight through one hundred and twenty eight I lived my simple little life here in Hintonburg, went on vacation hoping it would all be over, came back to realize that was wishful thinking and continued plodding along.

And, today, day one hundred and twenty nine of my reno, I can finally say that my kitchen reno is over!

We went from this:

(Oh and by the way - we realized today that we forgot to take a "before" photo of the kitchen so you'll have to use your imagination a bit based on these old snaps!)

To this:

Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Shameless plug and shout out to our contractor Chris at M3D Renovations. Thanks for all the hard work! Enjoy the tequila - you earned it!!

Do you remember...the first day of Grade Three

Do you remember the first day of grade three? Or any "first day" of elementary school? The air is filled with a mix of contradictory emotions.

Kids are filled with a nervous energy as they wait to see if their friends from the previous year are in their new class. Shouts of joy can be heard from those who find out that their friends are with them in their new class while kids who aren't so lucky look around pensively.

Parents, seem to share a bemused look as they try to make sense of the madness of hundreds of children milling around teachers holding signs and calling out their particular class and grade.

"Any child who has been assigned 'Lac Erie' as their class please line up over here"!
"'Lac Huron' kids are with me over there!"
"Here?"
"No there!" 

Are parents happy that the summer break is over and they don't have to constantly figure out what summer activities they need to do with their kids? Or are they a touch sad as they witness yet another milestone in their children's lives? mmmm I'm guessing the former :)

Teachers - wow! The summer has worked its refreshing magic and they radiate newfound sources of energy. They are dressed to the nines and giving high fives and hugs to all their last years students. Haha save that energy teachers! You'll need it in the depths of March when that kid with the curly hair in the back of the room has glued a pencil to his hair again.

The first day of grade three. Definitely not for the faint of heart!

Guest Post: In Her own Words

Sometimes, words just don't do the real world justice. This past weekend I recorded Ms. Margot, a.k.a. the star of Tough Cookies: Hintonburg Style, answering some basic questions to show a glimpse of just what really is going on in that little mind of hers.

Question #1: What is your favourite subject and why?

Question #2:  What is something you're good at?

Question #3: What is something you would wish for if you could make the world better?

And just so you don't think she's a little Goody two shoes, here's a taste of what she does when she grabs my cell phone camera behind my back at the local Canadian Tire:

WHO-HUG-A-CHUGA-CHUGA

Day Trips: How Far to Go?

"Day trips" have always been important to me since I was a kid: packing a cooler into the car, driving to a nearby provincial park and then kicking around until the afternoon before returning home... ahh that's the stuff of life.

Now that I'm an adult I find they are also a great way to enjoy weekends, learn about some local lore, or just do something other than plain old house chores. Because let's be honest, there are always more chores to do if you stay home!

If you've read a few blog posts on this site you may have noticed that Glosette Girl and I try and do a lot of day trips. Whether it's winter walks, experiencing local fall festivals, going apple picking, or climbing the Gatineau Hills, we're always on the lookout for something new. Sometimes they are just mini day trips: a couple of hours. Occasionally they are full day affairs. But interestingly, if you were to pinpoint on a map all the places we have been you would realize that they are all within a roughly one hour drive from my house.

That seems to be the maximum range of driving I'm willing to do without spending the night at wherever I am. Maybe...maybe I would do an hour and a half. But I'm pretty consistent with the one-hour limit.

This past weekend we took Margot kayaking for the first time at Parc National de Plaisance on the Quebec side. It's a decent destination for water sports, birding and cycling that's just under the one-hour mark from me (so looks like I'm putting my money where my mouth is!).

How to give a "handshake" with a padle

I'm curious what other people's day trip limits are. 2-hours? 3-hours? Am I too conservative with my driving limits or just about right?

Poor ol' Magee!

This neighbourhood has a fair bit of history by Ontario standards. My house is over 100-years old, which is almost as old as it gets. Almost...but not quite the oldest. There are some buildings in the area from the 1870s.

So it's sad when something happens to one of those older buildings. Just a couple of weeks ago, this happened just down the street from where we lived during a rain storm:

Why do I sense a lawsuit here...?

Luckily no one was hurt.

Apparently this building was known as "Magee House" after its original owner who was a "energetic Irish widow who became a shrewd real estate speculator." In subsequent years it had a diverse history as a bank, catering service headquarters, menswear store, hardware store and even had a car dealership.

We were actually in Newfoundland when the building collapse occurred so we didn't hear about it right away but the media appears to have picked up on the story. Probably because buildings of this age are pretty rare in Ottawa.

I wonder what will happen now? Another heritage building in downtown Ottawa partially collapsed in 2007 and over 10 years later it still hasn't been reconstructed. Hmmm. Is endless discussions, delay and litigation the future here too? Hintonburg has a good community spirit so hopefully we'll have a more positive and timely outcome.

Exploring the edge of the World

I've travelled far and wide in Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick, Quebec, PEI and Nova Scotia. Everywhere I've been (even francophone Quebec) has felt reasonably similar to my home in Ottawa, Ontario. For that reason I've tended to make certain assumptions about how Canadians live and who we are as a people.

All my assumptions have been thrown out the window now that I've visited Newfoundland.

Glosette Girl, Margot and I are currently wrapping up our 12 day tour of this far flung province perched on the edge of North America. It has been been an eye opening experience. I don't want this blog post to sound like a tourist ad but the scenery has been spectacular.

I mean, what's your fancy? Haunting beauty?

The gates of "Western Brook Pond"

Vertigo inducing hike?

Hiking in the clouds of the Skerwink Trail

Or just your regular, run-of-the mill, breathtaking lookout?

Lobster Cove Lookout

Of course, pretty much everywhere in Canada has pretty scenery. What has made Newfoundland extra special for me has been the people. The people here are different. They say "hi" and look you in the eye. They are rougher but nicer. And everything you've heard about the Newfoundland accent is true (other than in St John's, where the accent is less pronounced). The words are English, I suppose, but they just come out of people's mouths in a different way!

And I haven't even gone into the traditions yet. Ever heard of a Mummer's parade?

This weather here is harsh and to add to that (or sometimes because of that) history has not been kind. A melancholy feeling hangs over the air. Yet there is a fierce and authentic happiness that is hard to put my finger on. I can see why, even with its seemingly endless winters, people can fall in love with this island.