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Published: September 2nd 2009
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Downtown Toronto
with the CNN tower visible. We didn't spend much time touring Toronto, but mostly visiting George's friends. During the best years of my life (i.e. 24-26 years old), I was a Master's student in the physics department at the University of Guelph in Ontario, just west of Toronto. Some of you may have better lives, but I enjoyed my time there and made some great friends. I try to get back there whenever I can to visit the few people who are still around. This was my first trip back in 4 years, and the first time Eva and I have ever gone together.
We were picked up at the airport up by my good friend Natasha on Saturday afternoon, August 15th. Natasha and I go way back - she's an old friend from Newfoundland who moved to Ontario around the same time I did, but we hadn't seen much of each other since I left. Like almost all my Ontario friends, Natasha was now very much in the 'family way'. I knew she was pregnant. However, I didn't know until we were stuck in traffic on the ride from the airport that she could deliver "any minute now". We arrived at her place to meet her cute her little toddler Declan, and reconnected with her husband
Playing with a toddler
Ronan, Natasha's brother and "armchair uncle", attempts to play with Declan. Joe.
I wish I could tell you that they were running a B&B, because I couldn't think of nicer place to relax than Joe and Natasha's sweet house in Toronto. We spent the afternoon playing with the kid and recouping from last night's packing marathon. That evening, they served us blackened halibut and the best jambalaya I have ever tasted. We spent the night drinking wine, talking old times, and making fun of Natasha's brother Ronan (also present), who just hurt his back in an accident (which involved jumping over a fence in flip-flops). We're nice people, really.
The next day after breakfast, we headed to that land of heart's desire, Guelph. We caught a ride with my friends Richard and Lisa and their 1.5-year-old Tegan. Our destination was the house of Mike and Denise, my only Guelph friends who stayed in Guelph, and their toddler Carl. Richard and Mike were both housemates of mine during my Guelph years. They started dating Lisa and Denise around the same time, so I thought of the girls as housemates too. We actually took a detour to the old house in the university arboretum. It was unoccupied and looked exactly the
Is anyone there?
George and Richard peeking in the window of their old shared house at the University of Guelph. same. We considered a little B&E, but settled for pictures of the outside. We arrived at Mike and Denise's house around 4 pm and spent the afternoon drinking beer, chewing Nicorette (long story - nobody actually smokes), and attending to the toddlers. Mike made Denise do a whole bunch of work in the kitchen, and then he prepared some hamburgers on the grill. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon, yet not so different than the afternoons we had all the time back in the old days.
After 2 fairly relaxing days with a gentle exposure to the phenomena of "live-in-children", we were at least somewhat prepared for the chaos and energy of the Macleods. My good friends Jennifer and Alan Macleod have lived in Caledon, a suburb north of Toronto, for a dozen or so years. Jennifer is a fellow Newfoundlander, while Alan is a vet from that other island (i.e. Prince Edward Island or PEI). He does things to horses that you and I would not be willing to do. Jen has had 12 kids, but lost 8 of them in a berry patch. She's left with 4: Ben, Hannah, Abbie, and Reuben the toddler.
Alan and
The Beer Store
George and Richard stop by the Beer Store before heading to Mike and Denise's BBQ. You place your order and the beer arrives down a conveyer belt! Jen et al. live in a big house with a barn for chickens and horses. Visiting them gave us a neat taste of country living. We herded kids. We listened to Hannah and Abbie play their violins. Eva and Abbie fetched chicken eggs. Jennifer and I prepared pancakes and sausages as the sun rose (a phone call from her father had us up at dawn). Later, Ben and I took an ATV around the grounds checking for varmits. We ended our Toronto area visit with a spirited hike with all the kids. We were exhausted as we boarded the train for Montreal.
Thanks to everyone we visited with during our Toronto visit! We look forward to seeing you soon!
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