School Trip

I accompanied Dylan's class on a school trip by streetcar.
His class has been studying bridge and building structures and stability. So, it was only appropriate that we start our journey at Toronto's most famous structure, the CN Tower. My fear of heights came back as I watched my son playing on the glass bottom floor 583 m in the sky.
Later we went on a walking tour of some beautiful structures such as the Union train station, BCE place and Skywalk.

The trip concluded with a visit to hear the Toronto Symphony at Roy Thomson Hall.

Lunch with my Father

My father recently returned from a vacation in Cuba (he was there when Fidel Castro announced his retirement). He took me for 2 1/2h lunch at a nice Italian (of course) restaurant. It was good to catch up as I have found the post-Christmas time to be very hectic....everyone is busy hibernating and working and I have not seen many people that I normally see. This was a nice interlude from life's craziness. The next day my sister called and we agreed to make a point of getting together over the next couple of weeks.

Collingwood Dinner

We have been travelling to Collingwood to ski every weekend. This weekend we had a fabulous dinner at a resort restaurant, within our own private dining room equipped with bigscreen TV and audio system! We dined with "old" friends which I say in both a figurative and literal meaning as these are people with which we have been teaching Track 3 for over 12 years.
Dylan Entertained Himself with his Book

Winterlude in Ottawa

We had the good fortune to spend WINTERLUDE in the city of Ottawa with my in-laws. During this winter festival we visited the beautiful (but melting) ice sculptures.

We skated Canada's longest skating rink (i.e. canal) with Grandma.

Our tradition is to always eat a hot beavertail (pastry) after our exercise and have a maple syrup taffy dipped in the snow.

In the evening we had a lovely dinner at an avant garde restaurant with our (always photogenic) friends Daniella and Bill.

The next day we got together again, this time with our children to play their new Wii game, Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). This is an energetic game where you compete in dancing contests. This was even more fun for the adults and I was surprised to see even the men dancing to Madonna!

Andrew and Bill in a Dancing Battle!

The Next Generation Also in Dance Battle!

Baby Dylan Does Karate

This is one of my favourite videos of Dylan as a baby. His Aunt Arleen is helping him learn some karate moves. Press PLAY for this 20 sec video.

Don't Worry....my Mom's a Nurse!

A Nurse Practioner has started orientation in our Palliative Care Unit. I realized that she and I had worked together at St. Joseph Health Centre, Emergency Department in 2003. Dylan would have been 4 years old. She began to laugh when she saw me and said she wanted to share a vivid memory of me. During the summertime, all the emergency department physicians and nurses were invited to an outdoor bbq, along with our families. Our children were being entertained by jumping on a bouncy castle when one child fell off and began to cry.

Casey clearly remembers my son Dylan running over to the boy, putting his hands up to calm the adults (i.e. emergency doctors and nurses) and shouting out, "DON'T WORRY EVERYONE, MY MOM IS A NURSE!!"

SHROVE Tuesday (Pancake Tuesday)

Today was SHROVE Tuesday or PANCAKE Tuesday and we were invited by neighbours to their church for a pancake supper.

Shrove Tuesday is a term used mainly in the U.K. and Canada and comes from the word "shrive" shich means to confess. Since the middle ages people were encouraged to confess before Lent began. In the french language it is MARDI GRAS (grease or fat Tuesday). Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent (and the the day by which time all fats and cream had to be used up, hence the making of pancakes). It is a time for celebration and penitence before Lent begins.

Lent begins on ASH Wednesday, the day after Shrove Tuesday. Lent lasts for forty days (not including Sundays) and ends the day before Easter Sunday (March 23, 2008). The forty days marks the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering through the desert and the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert.

During Lent Christians would fast as a way to remember the 40 days that Jesus spent alone while fasting and facing temptation by the devil.

School's Out! Snow Day!

A snowstorm dumped 25 cm of snow on Toronto this past Friday. At around 11:30am Dylan's school decided to close and the teachers began to call parents to come and pick up their children. This was highly unusual because the last snow day called by the Toronto District School Board was 30 years ago.

Unfortunately, I had just come off several night shifts and I was asleep with the phone ringer off and my white-noise machine on. The school called our home, my cell phone, and finally they contacted Andrew. Andrew phoned and phoned but could not rouse me. Finally, he called our neighbour who came pounding on our front door. I finally made it to the school around 1:30. Here is a photo of Dylan, heartbroken, as he was lead away from school (NOT!)

Dylan was able to spend the day making a wonderful snow fort in our neighbour's yard and enjoying some decent snowfall.

Winterlicious

Our city tries several things to help make the winter months pass quickly. One such event is the three-week long dining extravaganda named "Winterlicious". For a "prix fixe" of $25 one can dine on a three-course meal at some of Toronto's top restaurants. Reservations can be obtained from Sun - Thurs only.

I had the opportunity of dining with three ladies from my street on Sunday. We had a very unique ceasar salad, Tandori salmon and a trio of creme brulees. Since we had booked our reservation during the heart of SuperBowl Sunday we, along with several other ladies and a handful of gay men, had the pick of the seats at a fine restaurant.

Bon Appetite!