Dreaming in Blue

Fish Lake Revisited

2006-06-08T23:19:00.000-04:00

More pictures from my grandma's home.... click the thumbnails for larger beautiful pics. It's worth it!

My grandma's home

the view from grandma's home

one of many hummingbirds that frequent my grandma's garden

Pictures from the garden....

I was lucky enough to catch a bug checking out this flower..

.... and on this one a bee!

Fish Lake - home to Grandma

2006-05-29T02:18:00.000-04:00

I can't get enough of the lake that my grandma lives on.... such a beautiful sanctuary away from the craziness of the city and my job. And of course, the love of a good grandma always helps. I took these pictures last week when I was working up north and staying with my grandma. Springtime up north!

Quebec City

2006-04-12T08:06:00.000-04:00

Another week, another road trip for work. My new job has had me all over Canada and the US for the last 2 months with the most recent stop being old Quebec City, a place steeped in history as it is the birthplace of Canada. Enjoy the pics!

The Château Frontenac.

There were a couple of buildings that had giant murals painted on them.... it was really quite beautiful.

I loved all the little shops that lined the old city streets...

The Loews Hotel.

Texas

2006-03-04T21:45:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, Texas. If you want to take the American extreme opposite to Canada, than this is the state. Where we Canadians believe in tight gun control, this state believes that everyone has the right to bear arms and has the death penalty still well in swing.

This set the stage for an interesting trip to Texas for me this week when I went down to San Antonio for a national sales meeting. I actually ended up having a pretty good time and thoroughly enjoyed San Antonio's famous River Walk. Here are a few pics from my trip (as always, click the thumnail for a larger view)....

This is me on the roof of the hotel our company was staying in, The St Anthony Wyndham Hotel.

View from the rooftop.

I loved the Mexican style artwork that could be found all over San Antonio.

This is the San Antonio River where you can find the famous RiverWalk.

I simply LOVED the River Walk with it's double layer of shops and restaurants along the river.

The view as I walked along the river was simply breathtaking...

... and as you can see I was a good little tourist and took lots of pictures. :-)

How can ya NOT love all the restaurants lining the river??

With any good river you also have bridges. There were several along the River Walk to allow you to cross over at any time to check out a cute little shop or delicious smelling restaurant on the other side.

The bridges also double as nice spots to cool off in the shade.

Here is where a co-worker and I decided to sit and enjoy the view a little, sipping drinks and people watching for an hour or so.

And don't I look happy to be there! haha..

This was taken the last night I was in San Antonio. My company held their own version of Olympic games and I won in the... er...tricycle event. A mini tricycle. (don't ask)

And I just had to take a picture of the breakfast I ate in the airport before boarding my plane to go home. Only in Texas will you get nachos and cheese for breakfast! hahahahaha..

Florida

2006-02-22T21:17:00.000-05:00

I was sent to Florida on business last week.. here are a few of the pics I snapped between work and sleep....

Here's the plane I took from Tampa to Philadelphia. This was the GOOD flight, unlike the connecting flight which was BAD. Very very bad.
And there's my luggage heading into the plane (on the left). It was funny watching the baggage handler toss my bag around... I became strangely protective as if I was watching over a child of mine. "Be careful with that! CAREFUL!!!" Thankfully he couldn't hear me through the glass.

cereal

2006-02-22T21:14:00.000-05:00

If you know me through my blog at all you know that I love cereal. A LOT.
On a recent business trip to the Buffalo/Rochester area of New York I made a point of heading to the grocery store to pick up some goodies I can't get in Canada. I returned home with 6 boxes of cereal and a t-shirt purchased for me by my co-workers that said "Cereal Killer". Ah, it took only a week with them for them to learn the way to my heart. I think this new job is gonna work out just fine. :-D

Some of these cereals you can get in Canada, some you can't...

I have definitely not seen either of these ones in my town.

The regular Cap'n Crunch and maybe the Peanut Butter one are in Canada... but not the rest!
I think we're only missing the Yogurt ones back home, but I'm sure they'll in Canada soon enough...Ok, now, these two I bought. We have regular Lucky Charms, we do NOT have these two. I was stunned to see them. After trying them both now I can say I wasn't terribly impressed with either one. Go for FrankenBerry and Count Chocula instead.

Toronto Gay Pride Parade 2005

2005-06-27T11:23:00.000-04:00

Pride in Toronto celebrated it's 25th year this year, and what a party it was! Toronto boasts one of the biggest Pride events in the world (the second largest?) with an estimated 1 MILLION out-of-town visitors coming to the city to join in the celebration. Details and footage can be found here. This also marks one year since I started this photoblog....my first post was about the Pride Parade last year!

2005-06-27T11:20:00.000-04:00

I can't get enough of the rainbow of colours you see everywhere at these events.. it's so uplifting. So happy. :-)

2005-06-27T11:19:00.000-04:00

And what would a Pride celebration be without a few queens?

2005-06-27T11:18:00.000-04:00

This is my favourite Pride picture ever. Talk about a dicotomy... a tough leather wearing bearded biker... handing out balloons to children. Also, note the pic of him in the poster in the background, and the offer of not only free sunscreen but of the application of it for you! A-prrow!

2005-06-27T11:16:00.001-04:00

Balloons, balloons, everywhere!

2005-06-27T11:16:00.000-04:00

This handsome lad was done up in sparkling gold.

2005-06-27T11:15:00.000-04:00

I love love LOVE the decorations for the Pride celebrations.

2005-06-27T11:14:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure which I love more... his mohawk or his undies.

2005-06-27T11:14:00.000-04:00

Mohawks seemed to be the haircut of choice among those who attended the parade. Here's the female counterpart to the last gentleman.

2005-06-27T11:11:00.000-04:00

This is Alexander Wood who was, among other things, a "gay pioneer" (so it's no surprise his statue is in the gay district of Toronto). I loved the ribbon that someone tied around the scroll in his hands.

2005-06-27T11:05:00.000-04:00

All along the parade and party route there are people armed with waterguns, often from rooftops, squirting unsuspecting people passing by. It's all in good fun, and given the heat it was nice to be cooled off with a little dousing.

2005-06-27T11:03:00.000-04:00

Every year this guy is at the parade, spending hours doing a chalk drawing. It's different every year, though he always does it on the same spot on the road.

2005-06-27T11:02:00.000-04:00

click on the pic for the larger version to see what message he wrote this year..

2005-06-27T11:01:00.001-04:00

Hard at work in the blistering sun

2005-06-27T11:01:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately I couldn't get a decent shot of his work... this is the best I could do.

2005-06-27T10:59:00.000-04:00

I don't know why but I just love street festivals of all kinds, and this is no exception. I love walking down streets that have been closed to traffic.. roles are reversed and the roads are for people instead of cars.

2005-06-27T10:58:00.000-04:00

My favourite part of the Pride gathering is all the vendors who set up booths and tables to sell their wares. Everything from flags to jewelry to candy.

2005-06-27T10:56:00.000-04:00

Check out the huge crowd in the beer garden area. People line up for hours to get into the drinking areas. One more reason to be happy that I don't drink!

2005-06-27T10:55:00.000-04:00

More heavy beer sponsorship, this one by Labatt Blue. I passed by the water sprinkler there in order to cool off a little.

2005-06-27T10:54:00.000-04:00

Here's everyone lining up along the parade route

2005-06-27T10:53:00.000-04:00

Here's the crowd waiting for the start of the parade.. (I know, where are the pictures of the floats, right? Well, I am short and as you can see.. I couldn't really see much. And if I can't see I can't take a picture. sorry)

Fishing Season 2005

2005-06-27T10:46:00.000-04:00

Every year for 15-20 years I have taken the last weekend in June and set it aside to spend with my grandma. It is the opening of fishing (bass) season and it is her favourite time of year. We get up at the crack of dawn and match wits with the fishies. Here you see a shot of the river that feeds into the lake on which she lives..

2005-06-27T10:44:00.000-04:00

The plants, trees, rocks and waves.... my private hideaway from the world.

2005-06-27T10:43:00.000-04:00

This is one of my very favourite sights in the world... I love to see my grandma fishing. She loves it so much that it brings me joy just to watch her. 85 and going strong... she waits all winter for this moment.

2005-06-27T10:41:00.000-04:00

Just look at this and tell me I wasn't in paradise... this was taken around 7:30am while out in the boat.

2005-06-27T10:39:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how lush and green it is here in Canada, and I've lived here all my life! This is a view just down the shore from my grandma's place, showing her dock.

2005-06-27T10:38:00.000-04:00

Sadly this picture isn't as impressive as I would have liked... but here is a small snapshot of the swarm of dragonflies that were circling over my head at dusk as I fished, snatching up mosquitos, blackflies and deeflies for me. No bug spray required! I love dragonflies, and that's just one more reason why.

2005-06-27T10:36:00.000-04:00

You know what they say about moths to a flame.... but check out this crazy swarm of bugs that went mental when the light came on! The spiders who have been clever enough to set up their webs there were overwhelmed by the number of catches they were making.

Anyway... back to the story at hand. Fishing.

2005-06-27T10:34:00.000-04:00

That's the captain of the boat... she's always been charge of the motor, not me. I'm merely the co-pilot in charge of the anchor and rowing. Gotta love those giant sunglasses (that go over here regular glasses). Space Age Grandma!

2005-06-27T10:32:00.000-04:00

This is my beloved tackle box. Every year, the night before opening of bss season, I sit down and get it all cleaned up and organized for the next day (and season). I am a virgo, afterall, so I like to keep things organized.

2005-06-27T10:31:00.000-04:00

And here are the fruits of our labour... two smallmouth bass. This is also where my grandma and I disagree the most... I like to let them go, she likes to eat them. So into the frying pan they go! (but she has to clean them! the day I have to is the day they go back in the lake)

Weather

2005-06-14T11:56:00.000-04:00

After days of *extreme* heat and humidity the skies finally opened up and dumped the motherload of water it had been storing. As I was leaving work I wondered... why did I park my car on the other side of the parking lot instead of right in front of the building? It was raining SO hard it was actually raining sideways (thanks Hurricane Arlene!).

2005-06-14T11:54:00.000-04:00

What you can't see in that first picture is the mini river running between me and my car. See it? That slightly darker area in the parkling lot? Funny, I didn't see it either until I ran through it and soaked my pants.

2005-06-14T11:52:00.000-04:00

I saw this cloud and sunset when I was leaving my driveway a few weeks ago and just HAD to drive until I found a suitable spot to take the picture. It was the biggest pink cloud I had ever seen...

2005-06-14T11:51:00.000-04:00

An upclose shot of this amazing cloud....

blue bracelet

2005-05-31T18:08:00.001-04:00

This is the bracelet I had made in order to raise some money. For what you ask? Go here for the details....

2005-05-31T18:08:00.000-04:00

This is me sporting my snazzy new "Am Yisrael Chai" bracelet. Pretty cool, hunh? You want one, now don't you? So click the Buy Now button and you too can have one (or two! or five! or twenty!!)

2005-05-31T18:06:00.000-04:00

see how happy I am? you can be this happy too if you bought one of my bracelets! *wink*

Star Wars

2005-05-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

Well, this Wednesday was the premier of the new Star Wars movie, and my friends and I did what many other geeks did.... we waited for hours in line in order to get the exact seats we wanted. For us this meant an 8 hour wait in line... and what else is there to do in all that time than play a little poker? I eventually won, as you can perhaps tell from my grin. A good time was had by all...

2005-05-20T09:27:00.000-04:00

It's all fun and games until someone gambles their place in line or movie ticket!

2005-05-20T09:26:00.000-04:00

These guys were in line just ahead of myself and my friends (my friend is the one in the red hat). A couple of these guys had been in line since 5am (bearing in mind that the movie started at MIDNIGHT).

2005-05-20T09:25:00.000-04:00

These geeks knew how to kill time in a lineup.... they brought a portable dvd player and watched Star Wars: Attack of the Clones in preparation for the next film.

2005-05-20T09:22:00.000-04:00

And of course, once we got into the theatre itself we still had another 3 hours to wait.... so we played more poker. Don't you just love the sexy carpet in the theatre?? Where DO they get that from???

Mother's Day

2005-05-09T11:42:00.000-04:00

For Mother's Day my parents and I drove up north to see my grandma. This pic of me was taken by my mom as we sat and played cards on my grandmother's deck by the lakeside. It was a gorgeous hot day in the "great white north".

2005-05-09T11:41:00.000-04:00

Buds on the trees around my grandma's lake... finally, springtime in the north!

2005-05-09T11:40:00.000-04:00

I'm sure my dad would really appreciate me putting this up on my blog, but I just can't help myself.... I took this pic in the car yesterday as we drove up north to visit my grandma. My dad had been working until 4am the night before, so he was a bit tired. I just love the pose in which he fell asleep.

a random assortment of pics

2005-05-09T11:37:00.000-04:00

How much is that puppy in the window?

2005-05-09T11:36:00.000-04:00

This puppy melted my heart... could it possibly BE any cuter??

2005-05-09T11:35:00.000-04:00

I took this a few weeks ago on my front lawn... it was one of the first really warm days signalling spring. I was just excited to see flowers growing!

2005-05-09T11:33:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure why I thought anyone would be interested in this... but I decided to take a couple of pictures of a typical Toronto subway station and car. Here's one of the stations... though I can't remember which one.

2005-05-09T11:31:00.000-04:00

Here's your basic Toronto subway car. This is actually a fairly new one so it looks pretty nice on the inside.

2005-05-09T11:29:00.000-04:00

I decided the other day that this is where I wish to live. See the condos above the stores? That's where I'd like to be. Ignoring the fact that only in my wildest dreams could I afford such a place/location, I would be in heaven because I am a convenience slut and having a grocery store, Business Depot and a movie theatre all within my building would be simply *dreamy*. Now if only I could win that lottery....

2005-05-09T11:28:00.000-04:00

Yes, I get excited everytime I see a Zim truck on the road. To learn why read this post over on my blog.

2005-05-09T11:27:00.000-04:00

My friend and I spotted this woman while driving into work the other day.... she has a full sun visor over her face (much like a welder's mask) and white gloves to protect her hands. And while I can appreciate being careful of the sun.... is this necessary while in the car?? Crazy, man..... crazy

snow and tsunamis

2005-04-03T18:42:00.000-04:00

Mother nature is an evil bitch. Last week the weather was finally warming up... some of us crazy Canadians were even running around outside in t-shirts! (hey, where *I* come from, 11C/51.8F is WARM) And now look... just LOOK at this snow. The weather this weekend had me convinced that Armageddon was approaching.... though now the snow is mostly gone and we are back to raining. WTF??

2005-04-03T18:39:00.000-04:00

I bet this karate club liked their name a lot more before the big tsunami in December. The "You must survive!" is an especially nice touch. Yikes! (I took this from my car as I was driving around this afternoon)

Springtime Sunset

2005-03-26T14:48:00.000-05:00

I took this picture a few days ago as I was leaving my gym. I just thought it was pretty and needed to be captured.

Oh fishy, fishy, fishy fish!

2005-03-26T14:47:00.000-05:00

This is my fish tank. I know.. you're thinking...where are the fish? Well, if you look you can see a few big ones, but mainly I have a huge guppy population (I would guess around 60). They are the rabbits of the fish world, afterall. I love my little guppies, I don't care what other people say! lol

Baby Isaac

2005-03-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

This is my friend's baby, Isaac. He's about 8 months old. My friend brings his son out to meet me for coffee on the weekend while mom stays home and gets a break. This is how Isaac usually looks when he shows up with daddy at the coffee shop.

2005-03-20T23:02:00.000-05:00

The exact *opposite* of a baby sleeping... baby MAD.

Pimp my computer!!

2005-03-18T16:05:00.000-05:00

Check out my sexy new computer!!!! This has made me a *very* happy little girl, lemme tell ya. The processor is *twice* the speed of my old one and has a video card on board that let's me play all the games I have ever wanted to and more! *dreamy!*

2005-03-18T16:03:00.000-05:00

There's the front of my computer.Curses to my camera for bluring the shot, but I think you get the point. It's shiny and new.

2005-03-18T16:02:00.000-05:00

And that's the side of my computer. Now, normally I don't go for these sort of novelties (being able to see through to what's going on inside), but I had no choice as this was the only tower I could find at 8:45pm.

2005-03-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

But come on.. you have to admit.. that looks pretty darn cool!

snow excursion

2005-03-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

Today my parents and I decided to take a day trip up north to see my grandma; she's feeling a little lonely and snowed in these days. So we drove 2 hours north, ate lunch, played cards, and drove 2 hours back. And the difference in locales in terms of snow was amazing..... in Toronto it was -2C/28.4F and hardly any snow. Up north it was -25C-13F and TONS of snow (and even snowing while I was there!)

2005-03-13T20:15:00.000-05:00

This is the outhouse for one of the nearby cottages.. a little old, but it does the job! Makes me grateful grandma has indoor plumbing. lol

2005-03-13T20:14:00.000-05:00

I love the way the trees are covered in snow... you don't get that in Toronto much!

2005-03-13T20:12:00.000-05:00

This is the snowy road that leads to my grandma's house

winter church

2005-03-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

I took this picture from my car window as I sat in traffic one afternoon. I was bored, waiting for the light to turn green and saw this church beside me and thought it would make a cool picture, so I took it. :-)

every little girl wants a pony!

2005-03-07T11:06:00.000-05:00

This is the bronze statue my dad brought back for me from his busines trip to China. It's a replica of the horse statues in the Terra Cotta Army of the Qin Dynasty.

2005-03-07T11:01:00.000-05:00

When my cat saw saw this statue he immediately froze.. unsure of what this animal would want... and then casually moved around behind it to sniff under it's tail!!

my curling adventure

2005-03-01T14:59:00.000-05:00

So last Friday my friends and I decided to take on the great Scottish sport known as Curling. Oh sure, none of us had actually ever curled before, but who cares! We had us a sheet of ice from 11pm - 1am and we intended to have a great time, damnit! Armed with instructions from the internet, we were good to go.

2005-03-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

Huzzah! Behold me curling prowess!

2005-03-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

Almost makes me look like I know what I'm doing, hunh??? And how about that Michael Jackson look, with the one glove? Oh yeah... I'm da shiznit!

2005-03-01T14:43:00.000-05:00

That's me with my friend Karen.

2005-03-01T14:42:00.000-05:00

That's me... um... pointing to one of the rocks. yup. There's a rock!

2005-03-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

Who knew my shoes had those crazy relfective strips on them?? Not me!

2005-03-01T14:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, so here be the rocks you use in curling. Big heavy buggers, they are! Ya got yer blue rocks....

2005-03-01T14:36:00.000-05:00

...and ya got yer yellow rocks. I don't know what's up with all the names engraved on the rocks... I guess they donated money..or rocks. lol I hadn't noticed the names until I saw the pictures, truth be told. Oh, and I think we all know what coloured team *I* was on..

2005-03-01T14:34:00.000-05:00

Zoooom!! Lookit that rock go!!

2005-03-01T14:33:00.000-05:00

In the end it looks a little something like this. Sure it might be better if there were more rocks actually INSIDE the circles (or "the house"), but it wasn't bad for our first effort! The best part really came the next day... when we were sooooo soooore....

my Oscar ballot

2005-03-01T10:39:00.000-05:00

For Oscar night my friends and I totally geeked out and printed up ballots so we could make our guesses as to who would win. We made it a two-tiered system in which we checked off who we thought would win and who we would LIKE to win in each category.. I got a total of 12 guesses right, bringing me in second place behind my friend who got a whopping 16 right. Damn these graduates of film studies!! They're no fun!!

buildings and tables

2005-03-01T10:36:00.000-05:00

I took this picture in downtown Toronto last week on a grey winter day...

2005-03-01T10:33:00.000-05:00

Check out this wacky pool table I played on last week. crazy L shape, no? It was fun, I liked it.

a Canadian mural

2005-02-18T12:37:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of a mural done on the side of a building (in Aurora, Ontario) which depicts some of Canada's achievements and heroes (the Avro Arrow, Rick Hanson, Northern Dancer, etc..). I was sitting in my car this morning when I snapped this pic.

2005-02-18T12:36:00.000-05:00

A look at the left side (cut out of the first pic)

signs and angels

2005-02-16T13:51:00.000-05:00

This is my friend's cat, Angel (she has been featured on this blog in the past). Is she not simply adorable? Look as she rests her head on the armrest of the couch! Behold her adorable little pink ears!! If only you could feel how ultrasoft her fur is...

2005-02-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

Angel has this cute little foam home with a blanket that she crawls into to keep warm (not much fur on this girl!) and to be left alone to sleep. As you can see she was *real* impressed with me taking a whole bunch of pictures of her while she was sleeping. But she was so cute!!

2005-02-16T13:45:00.000-05:00

This is the sign outside the door of the place in which I go to meditate (with a group of people). Shhh !! take your shoes off and come in quietly!

a motel and some grey hair. gripping stuff, no?

2005-02-11T14:16:00.000-05:00

This is a motel near my house. I just thought the contrast between the neon sign and the nature was interesting..

2005-02-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

This is all my grey hair. Yes I have a lot for someone so young. I've had some since highschool with more and more being added every year. No, I don't intend to do anything about it for a while coz I kinda like it. For now. lol (for more about why I posted this pic go here)

Fog

2005-02-07T11:22:00.000-05:00

This is what happens when you get temperatures far above what they should be in February in Toronto; you get fog. We also had a winter smog alert for a few days as the filthy air got trapped by warm air, blanketing our city in a nasty cloud of smog. Ah yes.... the joy of big city living!

2005-02-07T11:21:00.000-05:00

The view from my car window

2005-02-04T13:33:00.000-05:00

I took this picture from my car while sitting in traffic, heading home from work. Sometimes if take this sorts of moments to look around you may see things you normally just drive by and not even notice. I thought this sunset was beautiful.... as were the trees and birds.