Brian C’s 50th.

The Charbaums very kindly put up their land for a party; the usual gang of well loved friends was there, as was a proper portable Finnish sauna.  Yay is for Jarmo.  Mike and I slipped away at midnight; he had to go look after his Spuddy-buddy.  I could have spent the night, but I didn’t want Mike driving back by himself.  No, he wasn’t impaired; he’d quit drinking around 8:30; I wanted him to have the company on the long drive back.

The downside is that somehow, probably because I was sitting in Very Bad Chairs, I have put my hip out very badly.  I suspect this is actually referred back pain.  I am stumping round like an old lady.  Jeff will be back with pain killers and milk shortly, and then I’ll make brekky and start laundry and all that domestic style stuff.

I got to meet Braden, Jerome and Shannon’s baby. Never in my life have I seen a 15 day old child with that much blonde hair.  We’re not talking that flossy blonde hair you get on babies, this is like Spike’s do in Buffy, and there is SO much.  I got to see Sarah and Ian’s young pjokk, and had a boo at Vijay’s two gorgeous boys (oldest is 8 already… and I can remember Vijay going through hell trying to get Lakshmi into the country… how long ago it seems) and then there was Elise and Arden (Elise is heartbreakingly gorgeous at almost three) and there were Sigrin and Lobo and Max the dogs, and Ariel, Megan’s daughter, in pre med at UBC while her parents explode with pride. Jenn and Rob, Kyi and May were there… Wally …. Tom U… Otto… Mike of course and Jim E., all the good folks.  Jarmo and Susana, without the boys.  Remember when the boys locked me in the outhouse?  How long ago that was.  Brian said friends and relatives he hadn’t seen in years were there; he was a little overwhelmed.

Next Friday is Sarah’s last at Xantrex.  I’m going to the golf course to see her off.

We didn’t have a campfire…. we respected the fire ban and used a portable campstove on ‘simmer’ for a fire. A beautiful, happy, mellow time was had by all.  Yes, I went in the sauna; yes, I let Jarmo beat me with hot wet birch branches.  It felt UNBELIEVABLY GOOD.  Especially on my back. It was so funny sitting outside the tent and listening to other folks get whacked… the noises!  People might have gotten the wrong idea…..

Storm Brewing Keg.  Jarmo fries.  Nuff said.

Spot the error!!!

This really cheeses me off.  The article says that the Pew Survey identifies under two percent each for Americans identifying as atheist or agnostic.  But if you look at the survey the total percentage of atheist, agnostic and nothing in particular is over 16%, much more in line with my own anecdotal observation that about 20% of the population is unchurched and lovin’ it.  This survey is the kind of thing that could cause theists to believe that atheists should shut up as they are less than three percent of the population.

I would LOVE to see a properly constructed survey for Canada.

Sundry and Various

I’ve been feeling quite odd for the last few days, like I’m coming down with something.  I can’t be too wobbly – my appetite is unimpaired.  I am also completely uninterested in work, which is why I’ve been doing things like posting bits of humour I worked on 15 years ago.  I wrote a couple of movie reviews.  Saw Bon Cop Bad Cop last night and LOVED IT… I will definitely watch it again.  Jeff is starting to see the value in borrowing movies from the library 🙂

Leo and Linda are in Newfoundland.  Here’s a pic of him playing with an outdoor chess set.

leoplayingchess

Tom L’s mother passed away yesterday. I light a candle for the journey.

The carpet cleaning man came yesterday and removed the smell of dog from our house.  The sofa and love seat and the carpet in the games room were all cleaned; Granny’s carpet went away to be cleaned (and the underlay got hauled away, thanks be, so we don’t have to cut it up and throw it out) and will be back in ten days or less.  Harry gave a vivid description of how the carpet is first put into an interesting machine which beats it with leather straps.  Insert random BDSM comment here.

Paul and Keith are back tonight tomorrow night; I have to jump on my bike and get over and feed Kira.

Pork chops marinated in pear juice and rosemary and then barbecued, and home made tabbouleh for dinner last night.  Jeff said, “What’s fer puddin?'” after this minor feast, and I nearly snarled at him; then remembered we had a frozen peach and raspberry pie, and that it’s actually cool enough to turn the oven on.  So we finished up with pie.

I simply did not believe it was possible that there could be an internet timewaster worse than Reddit

omegle.com

I have chatted to a Brit, a Korean school kid, a Swiss metalhead who just got back from Wacken, and about sixteen anonymous wankers.  The Brit was by far the most entertaining.  But the wankers just hang up so that’s okay.  I am currently talking to a 15 year old Brazilian kid.

Errandy day

First get the last of my boxes out of the basement so the carpet cleaner dude can do his thing.

Second get over to Planet Bachelor and feed Kira.

Third get back here to let dude in.

Fourth see birthingway as she’s supposed to drop the bag for the mower off today.  I hope.

Fifth …. I’m thinking it’s finally cool enough to bake.  And Jeff loves him some treats.

And maybe I’ll go pick up the Pretenders tix today.

Cream of condensed Toronto phone book

Circa 1993 – 1994 the following people were in the Toronto Phone Book.  Not all of these names are of real people, but the names were in the book.

BUSINESSES

Baloney Unlimited

Fuk Wai Motors

Holz-Her Machinery

Hustler Young Men’s Bible Class

Hyde-Whipp Interiors

Iona Presbyterian Church

Lolita Gardens Day Care

Mammon Diamonds

Mr. Wizzie’s Patties

Phuc-Thinh Jewellery

Showers of Blessing Evangelistic Ministry

St James-Bond United Church

The Lube Factory

Tita Lingerie

Tung Tai Bookstore

Wineknow

Wing On Funeral Home

More after the cut… Continue reading Cream of condensed Toronto phone book

errands

Kira’s claws were so long that I could hear all 15 of them clicking on the floor.  She put up with me trimming them with a good grace and went back to being cat footed – ie silent – afterwards.  She was very happy to see me.

I ran errands, picking up a steak for myself for lunch and pork chomps for tomorrow’s dinner.  I also got parsley for something resembling tabbouleh and a couple of other items from Joe’s Farm Market.  Jeff requested salad for dinner.

Salt, sand and sunjuice (the day at Wreck)

Mike picked me up around 2:30 – wearing his kilt.  Ten minutes later we were at Suzanne’s; she was waiting downstairs after I called her to come on down, and you should have seen her mile wide grin as she saw Mike’s ride pull up.  They introduced themselves.  We had a gorgeous, rather warm ride in Mike’s Mustang convertible.  We spent about ten minutes gossiping about family members – neither of us being too pleased with the respective number two childer in our families, nuff said, and then dispensed with further whining for the rest of the day. Continue reading Salt, sand and sunjuice (the day at Wreck)