Taxiing day

Today seems to have featured an awful lot of driving around - Man to work, Girl to farm, Girl from farm to JoAnn Fabrics, home, Girl to Irish dance class, Girl from dance to library, Man from work, Boy from buddy's house, Man home, Boy to drum lesson, Girl from library to home, Boy from drumming to home.

Then I cooked dinner, and it got dark.

Tomato

The Man has been tending tomato plants all summer.  Today we finally ate the first fruit, and it was very good.

Sole destroying

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I don't like shopping for shoes. 

I last bought a pair of shoes for myself over a year ago.  They had fallen into disrepair, so I retired them a month or so back, realizing with relief that the pair I'd worn before them (that hadn't quite made it into the rubbish bin) still actually had a squeak of life left in them.  They've been getting me around just about fine, except on extremely wet days.  'Cause no-one really looks at your shoes, after all, especially not the soles.

But today I set out with the intention of buying another new pair.  I did better:  FOUR new pairs, all at discount prices.  This may be the most shoes I have ever owned at the same time.

I reckon I'm done with shoe shopping for at least the next eight years.

Witnessing the American Dream

Three and a half years ago, my Karen friends arrived in Albany from a refugee camp in Thailand with not much more than the clothes they stood up in.  They have faced many challenges here and life has not been easy. They've worked hard and lived frugally in their cramped rented apartment. 

Until today...

...when they bought a house!

The whole process, which they embarked on back in the spring, has been long, complex and fraught with setbacks (for a refugee with no credit history, getting a mortgage is not at all straightforward).  But with help from friends and professionals they have spent the last few months struggling past all the obstacles - and this afternoon at last everything came together and they were handed the keys to their new home.

Their American dream is becoming a reality.

I'm so happy for them I could burst.

Montreal views

As I noted a couple of days ago, visiting a new place can be exciting and fun.  It can also sometimes be, dare I say it, rather hard work.  Unfortunately, such was the case for us in Montreal.

Driving around the city was nightmarish, especially as our smartphone was unusable because it was running up roaming charges at such an obscene rate. And the Google directions to the Longueuil Metro that we picked up on the hotel wifi led us not to a large rail terminal but to a local branch of a Canadian supermarket chain.

The "old town" part of the city was attractively French, but not especially kid friendly on a hot, tourist-packed day.  However we were briefly diverted by a street performer, enjoyed a very fruity smoothie and a gelato, took in the views across the fast flowing Saint-Lawrence, and saw lots of brides.  The Girl, who is not a fan of cities, declared this one better than many. Praise indeed - but she still didn't want to hang around it for too long.

We also had a bit of an explore of Mont Royal, a Hampstead Heath-like park in the middle of the city.  This is where the trip nearly went horribly wrong, late in the day, after we followed a path for some distance in search of the Croix du Mont Royal - a metal cross which honestly wasn't that inspiring and didn't provide any views... The kids were quite disgruntled, until, by a happy chance as we crossed a bridge, the Girl spotted three raccoons sitting in a row on the path beneath us.  We stared at them and they stared at us, then they disappeared themselves into some undergrowth.  Everyone's mood lightened - hooray for raccoons.

It was cool to spend a little time in a Francophone environment, especially since both kids have been studying French at school.  Although it was not our most successful city break, I'm glad we went.

Tired

We're home after a long drive and it's very late - so, more tomorrow about Montreal, and for now goodnight.

Dome Away from Home

So, here we are in a new month - and a different country.  We have hopped over the border to Canada, to visit Montreal.

Our main destination today was the Biodome. It's a little bit like the Eden Project, but more like a zoo than that.  There are four environments featured, starting with a rainforest, moving through Canadian mountains and sea-life and ending in the antarctic with puffins and penguins.  We got to see animals like a capybara, caimans, a very busy beaver and a lynx.  There was also an otter - the Man swears it gave him a nod of recognition.  The puffins and penguins were fun to watch.  We were able to walk through the whole exhibition twice, which gave us the chance to see animals that were hiding the first time around.

Wonder of wonders, there was a gift shop but we didn't have to pass through it in order to exit - that has to be a first.

We also wandered briefly around the Olympic park and admired the Montreal tower.