Book Reviews and more views of home

The biggest news from the weekend is that Noah took his first steps! We were all there, including the great grandparents, and he got up from his chair and took four steps right over to his mom. We all cheered him on, and Noah looked so pleased with himself! He kept performing for us, but he didn't actually manage to walk that far again last night.

Saturday was the Hallowe'en party at Nina's. Mike's friend Jeremy and his wife Nina opened a restaurant a few months ago, and named it Nina's. They decided to throw the party there, and everyone who showed up in a costume got a $5 drink voucher, good for any other Saturday but that one. First prize for costume also received a prize, and guess who won?! None other than my lovely blushing bride. He won a $100 bar tab, which I'm sure he will be able to use with no problems. I dyed my hair blonde to be Marilyn Monroe, and I keep wondering who's in the house if I catch myself in the mirror out of the corner of my eye!

Friday we did more running around and erranding, surprise surprise. Got a few more things for the apartment, and a few things we didn't really need but thought would be fun. We got our Hallowe'en costumes all finished up, and by the end of the day we were so exhausted that we didn't do anything.

Thursday night, the boys came over to watch the Leafs game, and I almost felt out of place, but it was fun anyways. The guys are all good people, so it's never tough to hang out with them.

On the way out to Mike's parents' yesterday, we stopped off at the top of the escarpment to take pictures. There is actually water visible in the distance, and we actually got up out of the valley a fair distance! Mind you, that's the absolute top of the escarpment, which isn't really that high when you think about it. the pictures should show Dundas better, I even put a square around our building, which you can see from the viewpoint! The weather was fairly clear, but rather chilly. It's really fall now, you can smell winter in the air.

Book Reviews:

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards

Set in 1960s USA, the book follows the story of a set of twins separated at birth. The boy is born healthy and normal, the girl born with Down Syndrome. True to the 60s conceptions of Down Syndrome, the girl is sent to live at a home. The nurse in charge of dropping her off at the home, however, refuses to leave her there after seeing the condition of the home, and instead raises the child as her own in the big city.

It's an interesting exploration of changing social views of mental conditions, and the uphill struggle of acceptance into mainstream society.

The Other Side of the Bridge, Mary Lawson

Set in Northern Ontario, the story winds through the differences between family expecations, native Canadian stereotyping, and the demands of rural farming. The story spans five decades, and encompasses the Canadian response to the second world war, along with the post-war social reconstruction.

The challenging countryside, however, is nothing compared to the demands that family and society put upon the characters. Familial obligation is a major theme throughout the book, and the characters are continually faced with decisions about how much they are willing to give up to keep others happy.

A Pocketful of Pearls, Shelley Bates

A little heavy on religion at times, it does not distract from the author's examination of an isolated religious sect. The leader of the religion finds it easy to get away with incest, rape, and betrayal, passing it all off as his right as the voice of God. Using fear and conditional love as tools, he creates a warped and twisted view of God, which is accepted as truth by his victims.

As the protagonist comes to dread his presence, she becomes emotionally stunted and lives in a constant state of fear. Bulemia becomes a crutch, as it is the only part of her life she feels she can control. A stranger one night begs for a meal, and she offers him a job, against her better judgement. As they slowly develop a friendship, she begins to question the religion that she has been taught is right since birth.

I enjoyed all three of these books immensely, thought they were great. I'm working on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy right now, about half way through (it's the trilogy). It's fun!

Boys and their Toys

Last night was hockey night. Not only were the Canucks playing (they lost 3-2 to the Flyers), but so were the Chuck Norris All Stars, Mike's team. The CNAS played much better than the Canucks, winning 5-1, and dear Mike actually got an assist. He, of course, insists that he played poorly, but really he was quite fine. Lauren and her Mike came to watch the game as well, and we joked about my Mike blinding the opposing team with his shiny face mask and thus scoring lots of goals.

Well, he didn't score lots of goals, but the whole team played quite well, even though they wound up with two penalties (fighting, which the other team shared, and high sticking). In a 30 minute game, that's not too too bad... I asked Mike why they didn't play REAL hockey, and he looked at me blankly. I said "well, your periods are only ten minutes each, that's half what the NHL plays!". He looked shocked and said "we only play for ten minutes?!". Guess when you're in the game it feels a lot longer than that!

Today I signed up at Curves. I'm officially a middle aged lady going through a midlife crisis. They have a half hour strength training circuit, and membership is only $44 a month, so I decided it was worth it. I want to strenthen up my core and legs for the boarding season... Jumping around the spare room on my board is fun and all, but there's nothing wrong with an organised plan of attack either! Curves is a ten minute walk from home, and they suggest doing their circuit three times a week for best results, any more and you're just hurting yourself, any less and you're just cheating yourself. Off days you are to do cardio however you choose. Cardio won't be a problem in winter for me, hello snowboarding! And I suppose if I get really desperate I can run up and down our stairs a bunch of times. I did that yesterday and it worked.

Speaking of snowboarding, as soon as it snows around here, Mike and I found the perfect place to build a bit of a jump to practise our 'getting air' skills. Actually, I'm fully in support of it, because it is close and will be lots of fun. We have our passes all set up for Blue 'Mountain', and we get to ride 5 weekdays and 7 nights a week. Currently Mike's working day shifts, so evenings are perfect for us. Hopefully I'll be working days as well.

The job hunt isn't progressing very quickly. There haven't been any new care jobs in the past few days, but I'm applying for every one I see. Haven't heard anything yet, but most of the jobs are advertised until November, so there's a while yet until their close date, so I'm not too worried.

I made fish pie for supper last night, and it was a bit of a disaster. It overflowed in the oven (Mike's casserole dish was just a little bit too small), and was pretty runny. It did taste delicious, though, and Mike took leftovers for lunch today! He has tomorrow off, so we will both get to sleep in for a change. It seems like no matter how quiet he is in the mornings, I still wake up. As soon as he leaves, though, it's right back to sleep for me!

Tuesday night we had trivia at the local pub, and we won again. That brings our total up to 2 wins, 1 loss. The gang is pretty excited about that! This weekend is the Hallowe'en weekend, so we have to decide which of the 10 parties we want to go to... I have my costume all set up, but I'm not sure that Mike does. Either way, we'll figure something out, and have a good time.

New Beginnings

So here I am, starting all over again in a new place, what better way to share it all than on here? Seems to work for other people, why not me?!

Mike and I went walking yesterday, taking pictures of Dundas, and I thought I'd like to share some. We startled five deer at an abandoned house down by the river, it was totally unexpected. As we crossed the bridge, Mike pointed out a doe lying by the river, chewing some grass. He went down to find her, and I explored the old house, destroyed by fire. I managed to startle four more deer, two good sized bucks and two does. I got out my trusty zoom to prove that, in fact, there are wild animals around!

One of the things I like best about Dundas are all the old buildings. The history here is obvious, which isn't necessarily what I'm used to. On our walk, we took pictures of an old alleyway, which looks quite ancient. One of the walls has a gate in it, which leads to someone's home.

The walls are made of stones piled on top of each other, and the trees create a nice archway over top. It will be even more spectacular once all the leaves change colour.

It seems like the leaves are changing colour late this year; I remember being here for Thanksgiving last year and the trees were already almost bare. The tree outside our window has only just started to turn yellow, and it makes me wonder if it will ever be bare!

The abandoned house where we startled the deer was an anomoly... River front property, no neighbours, and it's still sitting abandoned. The graffiti dates it back to the 80's (according to Mike anyways), so I wonder what happened that it hasn't been renovated, or demolished at the very least. It looks like at one point it was at least an interesting house, but time has had fun with it.

We wandered down Spencer Creek for good measure, and I used up the rest of my film so I could get it developed. I don't always wander around taking photos, but I do like it. But then, of course, I want to share them, and nobody's really THAT interested!

The weather's decided not to be nice today, so it gave me the perfect excuse to suck it up and apply for some more jobs. It's been raining since I woke up this morning. Not like I'm not used to it, I guess, but still!

Every time I pass my new board in the spare room, I want to go riding. It's definitely been at the front and centre of my mind lately, I can't wait for boarding season! Hopefully the snow won't hold off this year; Mike and I found a nice place to build a little kicker near the river, should be fun. Close, too.

Well that's about it for now. I'm willing to bet this will be pretty randomly updated, if at all. We'll see where it takes us!