oh canada.

i drove an hour and a half after my last day of work (woot woot) to exeter. i had an early flight (seven am) and i decided to stay the night in exeter. it was the best drive ever, the sun was low in the sky as i drove west, up and down the hills, along the coastline, past thatched cottages and quaint little villages. not bad.

exeter airport. tiny airport.

the plane landed in newcastle-upon-tyne to drop off and pick up passengers. after take-off from newcastle, the captain presented a good news/bad news situation. uh oh. sharp intake of breath..."the good news is that england is winning one-nil against slovenia, the bad news is that we have to touch down in montreal because we won't have enough fuel to make it to pearson".

three take-offs, three landings and twelve are-you-freaking-kidding-me  hours later...i landed in toronto. i have never been on a plane for that amount of time and all i did was fly from england! customs wasn't a problem, the uk ancestry visa is like a free pass - no hard hitting questions, just a welcome and off i go. the first thing i noticed was the heat. england doesn't have the humidity like southern ontario. i wish i had a toonie for every time i said, "it's so hot" in the first hour. ma and pa picked me up from the airport and it felt a little strange to sit in the passenger side seat and not be driving.

after some jet laggyness, the whirlwind began.

first up, annual mulholland picnic. ma and i went the night before and hung out with my cousin, his girlfriend and some aunts and uncles. managed to stay up until four thirty in the morning on the back deck, laughing, wine consuming and cigar smoking. thankfully, i have no pictures of this. went to the t-burg air show the next day as gramps was scheduled to go up in a harvard airplane, but due to the weather, it was cancelled.

picnic time.

dad and i left the picnic early to high-tail it to toronto for the toronto fc and la galaxy (david beckhams' team) that evening. (sadly, all the photos i took are on my blackberry and i can't figure out how to send them to my email) thoughts? toronto fc are a young team and there is quite a difference between their style, maturity and experience versus the premiership league. it's nothing like watching chelsea fc play, but i think its evident that toronto wants a football club and this was confirmed by the crowd. the fans were completely involved and it was fun to watch them cheer and chant with their red and white displays. and, it was fun to watch the game with the bear pops too.

a lovely surprise when i came home was the literary genius presence! sleepover! church the next day and it was nice to catch up with some people. then i was off with the literary genius to the knitter's parent's house to cook her mashed potatoes. the knitter was recovering from a wisdom teeth extraction. that sounds awful.

but, she was a little loopy. more than normally. (i'm so getting in trouble for this). we watched holland beat slovakia and painted our toes coral.

i hitched a ride with becks and brady to b-town for a pool party with dini. baby brady went swimming! bwahahhaha. so cute!

my parents and i cat-sat marigold for the week. i think she had a nice time. i know we had a nice time too.

one more and i promise that's it.

canada day with the girls, minus the photographer. wine and zilch. the knitter did well at keeping score. better than i could ever have done.

hi john denver.

chair dancing

to be continued.