My Canada Day

Not much worth talking about in the morning. Walked Logan at about 6 a.m. Made myself some 7-grain toast with 1 teaspoon of natural almond butter, side of fresh fruit (kiwi, banana, blueberries) and a cappucinno. Took care of the laundry and did some computer stuff (facebook, blog reading, e-mails, checked on my scrabulous and word twist games).

Decided to go "adventuring" in the afternoon.

I have never been to Parliament Hill on Canada Day so thought this year I would check it out. After lunch, equipped with my trusty fisherman's hat for protection from the sun, I walked the 1.2 km to Baseline Station to catch the 95 downtown.

On the bus ride I exchanged seats with a young mother so she could place her ginormous Peg Prego stroller and baby boy in a more strategic spot. For the rest of the way downtown the baby and I exchanged silly googly eyes — of course I made sure no one ELSE was looking at me!

I spent about 3 hours walking around downtown — a bit at Parliament Hill and then a bit at Confederation Park listening to the last sounds of the Jazz Festival.

I met a man who designed the "Canadian Duality Flag". It's the Canadian flag with 2 extra bars of blue that are supposed to represent the Francophones, and it supposed to symbolize the Anglophones and Francophones speaking together. He's been lobbying for this new flag for the last 4 years. I engaged him in conversation about the flag and then just let him talk.

I met a man with 2 dogs that were wearing Hawaiian leys. I asked him if I could take a picture of his dogs which the man proudly let me do. I mumbled something like EVERYBODY dresses up for Canada Day, but already I thought this would be a good picture to put on a blog and say something to the effect that Logan stayed at home because he didn't have anything to wear.

I stopped and listened to music and watched entertainers:

1. at Parliament Hill there were Pirates walking on stilts;

2. there was also a 15-person drum band who played drums in the style of colonial days, tom-tom like;

3. I listened to a Jamaican band playing music beside the restaurant at the NAC just bordering the canal. People danced in front of the stage; and

4. I listened to 2 other bands at various ends of Confederation Park but stopped in the middle at an ice cream concession to have 1 scoop of mango and 1 scoop of vanilla in a sugar cone.

It was hot and the ice cream made me a bit thirsty. I saw a kid with a cooler filled with water bottles and a cardboard sign which read "$1 a bottle". This is half of what the real concessions' price was. I asked him if his water was cold. He showed me a couple of bottles on the bottom that were almost solid ice. I said, with a grin, "It didn't have to be that cold!" and I gave him $1 for a bottle.

I got a seat on the bus ride home but a few stops later, three generations of a Chinese family got on - a baby in a stroller, his mother and grandmother. I offered the old woman my seat. Behind the seat, were two chubby teenage girls with short hair and various face piercings. At some point on the journey uptown they started making out. I looked again and then wasn't sure if they were both girls or if one was a boy. I guess it didn't matter anyways.

I got home and prepared a BBQ for supper because Son #1 had worked all day at summer camp and would probably come home hungry. Son #1 came home but said he was going out to his friends for supper and then were heading downtown,... so, I made the BBQ for myself – chicken breast on the grill and a "chick pea-feta salad" with cukes, tomatoes, red pepper, red onion, feta cheese and chick peas in a dressing of olive oil, lemon and oregano.

Logan and I took a big walk in the park just before dusk and now I'm home to chill out and protect him from the booms and crackles of the fireworks.

THE END