the hiatus, it's over!

hi! didn't you get my note? i decided to take a three month hiatus from the toil of blogging life. actually, jane started blogging again and i felt it wasn't fair to my readership (all three of you) to keep agonizing over what i was up to.

since it's been about three months, i'll cut to some highlights.

yesterday, craig messaged me and invited me to join him and some of our old co-workers for drinks at the black bull. a miriachi band appeared and serenaded a couple at the next table. it looked as if they were celebrating some occasion. when they stopped at our table, craig told them it was my birthday. (it's still over a month away) and despite my protests, they started singing. when they got to the part "happy birthday dear ..." craig yelled out my name, "...dear shirley. haaaaappy biiiirthday toooo yoooou!" then they waited for me to tip them.

a month or two ago, anna came over to visit me. the plan was to head down to the music garden and listen to a free concert. before that, we decided to walk up to queen street and try to find something to eat. it was a lovely day, so we each got a box of fish and chips and found a bench in trinity bellwoods. we chatted and ate in the shade of the pretty trees. a couple of other people sat on benches beside us, one of them also had a box of fish and chips. as i savoured the fresh handcut fries, a couple of seagulls made landfall directly in front of us. they scavenged around, and eventually i didn't notice them anymore... until i saw something plummeting from the sky out of the corner of my eye. there was a splat on the back of my neck. i don't think i screamed, but said 'OH MY GOD.' loud enough to startle the people beside us. there was also a clear, wet splash on my jeans, and a spot of wet splash on my shoe. anna told me not to move and took out the wetnaps we got from chippy's. the guy who was also eating fish and chips kindly offered his wetnap. we skipped going to the concert so i could go home and shower. i swear i felt the residual poop burning through my neck. those damn gulls. note, that was the second time i was bird bombed this summer. there were a couple other near misses after that. oh, and yesterday i saw a pigeon poop on the ground in the parking lot near my office. how uncivilized!

my friend nancy and i went to nyc for a few days. we wanted to try flying on porter and almost went to halifax, but thought there would be more to do in manhattan. the whole experience was so convenient. the cab ride to the ferry took a few mere minutes, and check-in was so quick. during check-in, i noticed a short-ish, stocky man with a well manicured blonde woman. it was tie domi! we stood across from each other on the ferry. he didn't seem in the greatest mood, but maybe he was afraid we were all going to mob him for autographs. think again! somehow they got seats at the very front of the plane. we sat near the back, but lost them after they picked up their luggage at newark. don't go to nyc in july. unless you enjoy being in a perpetual steambath. times that by 50 if you are standing in one of their subway stations. we made the best of the situation, hung out in a couple of museums, got tickets to see a play called "country girl" starring morgan freeman, frances mcdormand and peter gallagher. we got on the wrong subway once and ended up in brooklyn by accident. but nancy got to see the statue of liberty out the window, and we had a nice moving view of the brooklyn bridge. one night just after we arrived back in our tiny hotel room, a loud banging at the door caught us off guard. the second time, nancy opened the door. it was nypd, gun drawn and pointed to the floor. "is everything ok in here?" what the hell are we supposed to say to that. and what could possibly happen? our room was the size of my bathroom at home. when we looked through the peephole, we saw 5 to 6 nypd walking around the hotel corridors. and it's not a very big hotel! ah, what's a trip to the big apple without a little excitement?

other highlights of the summer include:

jane's 40th birthday. we celebrated with a great party at their house with her friends. everybody received a big bag of jane's favourite popcorn as a party treat when they left. so fun! jane has also joined the scooter revolution happening in this city. should i get one too?

spent a lovely weekend with my family in niagara falls, about a month ago. i love hanging out with my parents. they are really cool and fun to hang out with. anytime we go somewhere, they always find a patch of grass to sit or lie down on. it also has to be in the shade. no blankets or ground cover. "c'mon, sit down!" hey said. we get all grossed out at the thought of excrement and dirt on our clothing and opt for the slab of curb in the burning hot sun. geez, when did we become such wimps?

i almost forgot. raymond turned 30! jane and scott hosted a nice party and bbq at their house for the fam. pete even came. he never comes to anything!

marcia and derek came down to visit and have dinner. i haven't seen them since our michigan road trip last fall. 9 months? isn't that ridiculous. only a month and a half to go and they will welcome baby milsom into the world. i had burned a disc of old pictures for marce to take with her. before they left we sat and looked through them. they included these insane pictures we used to take on my ancient old webcam from various visits. derek had tears streaming down his face. our bellys hurt. the baby probably did a half dozen somersaults. i love out of control laughing moments like that.

cathy celebrated her 33rd birthday a couple of weeks ago. we had dinner on the danforth, and went to her house to play guitar hero. sarah and i were the clear stars of the evening and blew everyone away with our medium level skill (thank goodness i put in all that practice for the rockvember competition we had at work!) sarah, cathy and gordon (her boyfriend) and i saw some shakespeare in a courtyard off philosopher's walk a week ago friday. we are lucky to have events like this tucked away in nooks like this in the city.

well, that's all i have for now. i need to catch my breath and save something for the next post.

bye!