Hi all. Yep, it's been a bit busy around here. But this past weekend with the G8 in Huntsville (2 and a half hours north) and then the G20 here in town and all the hideous things that took place really gave all of us long-standing Torontonians pause. I'm sure you've all seen the headlines. Ugh. It was unbelievably sad for all of us to witness such criminal vandalism and havoc in this otherwise wonderful city. Fortunately, the criminal element was not from Toronto, and many not even from Canada. We'll get more information, no doubt, when the police decide to release it, and for now the rumours swirl and the media frenzy feeds. News junkies are in their glory. We here are just trying to get on with our daily lives.
The worst part of the vandalism is that it overshadowed the messages that the peaceful protesters were trying so valiantly to get across. Not that I'm downplaying the importance of the damages done to the shops and cars in the downtown core, not at all. But all the planning and organisation that took place to coordinate the peaceful marches, tens of thousands strong, all went by the wayside as they were drowned out by the few hundred sadly misguided nuts. *sigh*
It's warm and humid today and I'm happy to be carless now after an early morning errand taking mother to a med lab for a battery of tests. Ted and Mike left together for the financial district. Tony is in California again. I'm baby sitting every morning starting Wednesday until August 1 when Tony's family takes off to Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin and he moves them all into the 3 bed house they have rented for the duration of their renovations. Nick is working too hard out west with 2 club crawls per week for the summer boom.
Yeah, all the craziness up there seemed to be very uncharacteristic for our peaceful Canadian neighbors! I'm sure you're glad it's all over...
KaeEll, you're going to be one tired puppy by the time Tony et al leave in August. YIKES!! You're a very kind grandmother to do this every single day, and I'm wondering if we'll hear from you again (after Wednesday), until AUGUST! LOL...
Good for Nick for being so busy! That's really good news for him, although I imagine he's tired. But he's young, so I'm sure he'll be fine.
Speaking of sons, ours is in the process of moving into his new place. I went out there by myself this morning, and stood in the space, so I can have a fighting chance of visualizing what he needs. The answer is "a lot"... He's got plenty of closet space, so that's good. His balcony is smaller than I'd thought, so I'm going to have to rethink what we put out there. All I know is that he is going to be a happy little camper, having a place all to himself. FINALLY!! I told him that his one bedroom is going to feel like a McMansion, after four years of sharing that tiny duplex. It's farther away than his current location, but it's not too bad. At least he's still local.
Glad to see that you're still among the living, KaeEll. Hang in there!
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Just a quick drive by update. Our middle son, Michael, is going through some sort of delayed adolescent rebellion thing and has rented for himself the most disturbing and vile attic in a part of town that houses many of the refugees from the mental hospitals that were emptied out (by law) many years ago. The landlady is at best a slum lord and has contravened many bylaws. This is the son that dropped out half way through a promising PhD programme to pursue a career in jazz. The german girl arrives here from LA a week today and lord only knows what her reaction to this disgusting attic will be. Ted is presently helping Mike move into this place. Most of his furniture won't even fit up the stairs. It's at best, a fire trap but Mike promised to but some ROPES for the windows. Needless to say that gave me little comfort.
The next door neighbours are holding a garage sale, a huge waste of time and energy. Cars are parked all up and down the street. I did say to the husband that if lucky they'll make enough money to pay for some parking later and he grumbled in agreement.
Jim and I darned near collapsed from The Move, and although there's still a lot to be done, at least our son is out of the other place. I'd write all about it, but that all by itself would exhaust me! The two chairs I ordered for his balcony arrived yesterday, so I'll take them out there, probably later today. I bought two little outside tables for him (very simple), and JUST NOW found an outdoor runner, to cover the boring cement. (Ordered it!) I've got plants potted, and am waiting for them to establish their roots a little more, so he doesn't kill them! LOL... He's getting some of the fabulous mint that originally came from Jim's parents' house, a pot of lavender (just because it smells so good, and he loved his trip to Italy so much), and a bright summer flower. So the balcony is DONE!
Next weekend, we're going to rent a small truck, so we can retrieve his armchair and ottoman from our storage unit, and get his bed and some shelves out of his room here at home.
Today, I'm ordering a dining room table and six chairs so that he can have some friends over for poker night, and board games. The set is inexpensive, but sturdy, and is masculine and contemporary in style. It'll be perfect for him now, without much investment, and he likes it (saw it online AND in a local branch of the store, because I made him go look at it, and sit in the chairs! LOL.)
I asked him if he would trust me to pick out his shower curtain, etc., and he said "yes", so yesterday I hit Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I'd narrowed down my choices to three or four, when I just happened to spy a young man in the bath department, who looked to be about our son's age. So I accosted the poor unsuspecting kid! Under questioning, he admitted to being 24 (JUST as I'd thought!!), so I dragged him over to the shower curtains in question, and he confirmed every one of my own initial gut instincts, landing on the one I'd thought would be my son's favorite too. YAY!! I proceeded then to buy towels, rugs, hooks, and liners...
Jim has very wisely fled to North Carolina (today is our daughter's birthday), so he's well away from the swirling activity that is a female in shopping frenzy/nesting mode!
[I had to edit this post about five times for typos! Clearly my coffee hasn't kicked in yet.]
-- Edited by Moore ideas on Saturday 3rd of July 2010 09:20:54 AM
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
