Adam and I went for a stroll through the neighbourhood last night (perambulated as he would say) on our way for gelato. My apartment is surrounded on all sides by gelato and taking a loop a few blocks out of the way seemed like a good plan and preventative measure.

My neighbourhood is mixed - it was Toronto's first Little Italy (Corso Italia) and it fell on some hard times - years of streetcar track construction didn't help local businesses. Now with real estate prices being what they are it is on it's way back up. So there are first time buyers, renters (of variable reputation) and some original home owners. (They are the ones with the amazing rose gardens.)

I'm used to strange things that people do in their garages. Barbeques, sitting on lawn chairs until the wee hours, beer pong. But I think this was a first for me. In a garage - thankfully detached from the house but attached to another garage - was a very large green oil drum sitting on top of a propane burner. On high. We could smell the propane from the middle of the street (where we moved). I can't think of what the old Italian man whose garage it was (he was standing in front of it with his dog) was making. I mean you don't heat up wine or beer like that. Moonshine?

10 years on

I feel today very similarly to how I feel every year during the Toronto Air Show. When the fighter jets practicing for people's entertainment buzz low over my midtown neighbourhood, I'm always reminded to be thankful that we live, in general, in a peaceful country, because in many places around the world that one plane and the body shaking sound that comes with it would be hundreds of planes, and they wouldn't be there so a crowd could oooh and aaaaah at their power.

9/11 changed the way we live. But as much as the security and travel challenges are now commonplace, I am just grateful events like those don't happen more often and how lucky we are for that. How in general, in the West, in the "first world", we are removed from mass violence, war and terrorism. The horror of 10 years ago cannot be changed and we all have been changed and scarred by those events, but while we remember and reflect we should also find some room to be thankful. May we never see the likes of them again in our lifetime.

A couple more pics...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

This place makes everyone look like an expert photographer...

and yes, that is a staircase that goes from the river directly in to the living room...

Covered bridge in Woodstock, VT.  I believe this one weathered Hurricane Irene.  A couple of the others in the area weren't so lucky.  All the news coverage was on New York and New Jersey and what didn't end up happening, while huge devastation was felt in Vermont.   I believe Woodstock and the surrounding area were hit particularly badly.  My friend lives in nearby White River but fortunately is up a hill and so was spared.  I believe she didn't even lose power.

Okay so 9 days turned into 12 and 7 states into 10 (partly because the GPS took us to West Virginia more or less by accident and I'd forgotten about New Hampshire...) but we made it and lived to tell the tale!

I will share a few shots here over the next little while as I sort through them.

First, this is how I like to camp...

Road Trip!

For the first time in my adult life, I have taken two weeks off in a row. This may prove to be a life changing plan. I have usually been one of those workaholic types that don't use all their vacation (though I have always taken some vacation - I'm not completely insane).

Perhaps I've just gotten smarter, or age makes me more tired, but I decided that nothing at work or anywhere else was that important and I was closin' up.

This decision allowed Adam and I to hatch Road Trip 2011. I haven't done a long multi-day road trip since I was a kid and traveled across Canada and the US with my family. It must have been challenging planning those trips before the age of the internet and GPS, so kudos to my parents for figuring out the timing. The timing is the hard part.

You may not realize this, but I'm also quite Type A. (it's called sarcasm people! work with me here) This means that not having every detailed planned ahead of time is hard for me. I'm going with the assumption that this is also quite good for me as it allows for ...spontaneity. Crazy.

So roughly the plan involves 9 days, 7 states and 2 countries. And Dolly Parton. Everything in between is up for negotiation.

He hasn't told me his name yet...

But I have a feeling that it's Gnorman or Gnorton. He's quiet so far so no complaints from the neighbours...

There are many pluses to living in a very old Italian neighbourhood not the least of which is the beautiful rose gardens. I keep forgetting to take my camera out so for the time being you'll have to take my word for it - they are beautiful. It's like the whole neighbourhood has a green thumb. The house on the far corner of my street takes first place though. He has tomatoes along the side of the house with a system that would make professional farmers blush. And his daughter got married two weekends ago and the house is still decked with white bows - it was very sweet actually.

They are also it seems a very patriotic bunch. The flags came out in the dozens for Canada Day this weekend. The downside of that has been the fireworks - they are still going off tonight 24 hours late. There seems to be a tendency to buy sparklers, fireworks and other things that go bang, and just set them up in the driveway or backyard. This is somewhat unnerving as the bang bang bang surrounds the apartment. One just went off in the street actually. So far they've not set anything on fire but I wouldn't be too shocked if that happens at some point!

In the meantime, this visitor was spotted in a parking lot down the street....

Happy Canada Day!!