Crossing Paths

About a month ago I ran into an old friend of mine on the street while picking up Margot from school. Margot was being a little chatterbox talking about the latest crisis in grade 3 when I heard someone yelling my name.

I looked back and saw what appeared to be a hobo of sorts coming towards me. I didn't give it much thought until he came closer and then I recognized my friend (the hipster hobo beard had thrown me off!). I hadn't seen him in 5 years or so. He had seen me picking up Margot that day while going for a walk with his own baby and had recognized me.

Incredibly, he lives on the street leading to École élémentaire catholique Saint-François-d'Assise and has been living there for 10 years. Even more amazingly, even though is literally two minutes from my house, we had never crossed paths in two and a half years until last month.

We got together for dinner last week with our families and caught up on all the lost time. It was fun. But I still have a hard time getting over is how close you can live to someone else and yet never see them. I'm not sure if that is a quirk of my particular life (being so focused on my own family situation, taking Margot to school and activities, dealing with work, etc.) or if a lot more people out there are like me and constantly just missing running into friends and acquaintances by happenstance.

Where serendipity happens!

Heh.  If quirks like this happen downtown, where everyone lives pretty close to everyone else and crossing paths must be statistically higher, I wonder how it is in suburbia, with its wide open spaces and car culture. Millions of people living their lives everyday in their own bubbles and only occasionally crossing paths.What a crazy world we live in.

Homemade Birthday Party

It's so tempting to host your child's birthday party at somewhere other then your own home these days. I've heard of birthday parties at museums, festivals, indoor trampoline parks, even grocery stores! I remember when I was growing up the fanciest birthday party was at McDonalds. Oh that orange drink, it was so good (what was that stuff anyways?!)

Glosette Girl and I have held Margot's birthday party at some of these venues over the years. Last year, for example, we went to Ray's Reptiles. A couple of years before that we went to the Agriculture Museum. But I still like the simple honesty of a home made party and so when I suggested that to Margot I was happy to see she went along. It's not the first time we've had her birthday here (two years ago we did the same) but this birthday had an extra bonus: it was her first ever friends sleepover at our house!

The schedule of the day's events:

• 4 pm: welcome 5 extremely happy little girls to our house (and trust me, when you tell parents they can drop off their kid overnight at 4 pm they are there on the dot!)
• 4:30 pm: scavenger hunt leading to hidden pinata (hitting something until candy falls out is a no fail kids activity)

Like manna from Heaven

• 5:00-5:30 pm. General horseplay.

When girls say let's "hug crush" someone, they mean it. Margot broke 2 ribs.

• 5:30 pm: BBQ dinner. Interestingly every kid wanted hotdogs except Margot. She's an equal opportunity burg' and 'dog girl.
• 6:15 pm: visit to the nearby park to let the kids burn off some energy
• 7:00 pm: "presents and cake" - have sweeter words ever been said to a 9 year old..?
• 8:15-9:00 pm: I take your "presents and cake" and raise you "sparklers and fireworks".

Attention on deck!

 
Best. Daddy. Ever.

• 9:00 pm-9:30 pm: kids get ready for bed and lights out*
• 5:30 am the next day: kids wake up. Yup, you heard me, 5:30. Son of a gun!
• 8:00 am: option of pancake or scrambled eggs breakfast. Yes, you heard me, I said option. At chez Hintonburg we don't mess around.
• 10:00 am: kids leave. Funny, the parents seemed a little slower off the mark on the backend :)

* Full disclosure: it may have been later but in case any of the kids' parents are reading this let's just say they were all asleep at 9:30 pm.

Living Life $1 at a Time

Down at the far end of Hintonburg as you approach Little Italy (a.k.a. the "rough end" of the hood) is a Dollarama.

For those who don't know, Dollarama sells things for $2, $4, $1.50, well pretty much every amount other than one dollar (I think the sign made more sense before inflation got in the way). It's a bargain bin store in other words.

I use it to buy things that I only ever plan on using once. Today, for example, I went there to buy birthday supplies for Margot's upcoming b-day. Other good purchases there: holiday supplies (Halloween, Christmas), plastic cutlery, plastic flowers. You get the idea.

It ain't fancy but it does the job!

Things to avoid: anything that has any complicated parts (buttons, zippers or even pens). And definitely avoid the food - especially the knock off variety. Trust me, a cold glass of Coca Bola isn't as refreshing as it sounds!

But our visit to Dollarama today was a success. We picked up lots of goodies for the loot bags we are planning on handing out at Margot's party and it didn't break the bank. Mission accomplished!

Growing season

It's always a bit of a joke when the first day of spring (typically March 20 or 21st) rolls by around here. March 21st is still winter in Ottawa. And this year we had a looooong winter.

On Sunday though - May 5th to be exact - we had our first gorgeous patio-worthy day. It was twenty degrees Celsius. Guess what was the last day it hit twenty degrees around here? Apparently 200 days ago! Which is like, Thanksgiving. Yikes!

Regardless, and perhaps a bit optimistically, I decided to take advantage of the sunshine to plant some veggies with Margot. I actually was a real do-it-yourself-er this weekend and made a couple of vegetable beds to frame our garden areas and separate them from nearby flowerbeds. (Pats himself on back for using real power tools).

Working together on a project makes for some really great daddy-daughter relationship building moments. Margot is very patient when it comes to animals and nature and makes a good assistant.  Honestly though, I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon than mucking about in the dirt, digging holes for plants, and carefully planting them while trying to pass on some basic knowledge of gardening to my lil' girl. 

May our veggies grow and multiply!

It will be fun to see if what we have planted planted bears "fruit" (well veggies - you know what I mean!). There is a real back-to-the-earth movement taking off in Ottawa these days: whether, it's painting your own furniture, raising urban chickens (since banned) or growing your own food. I completely understand the appeal!