"pruning" wasnt the word I was looking for there, was it?
Preening, yes (thank you!)
I'm smile'n today, because gus is back!
Semiramis, now that's an evocative name . . .
Dining rather fancy-schmancy, n'est-ce pas, Habibi?
A subject of fascination for the Greeks,
Semiramis was the archetypal warrior-queen, and a fierce Assyrian, at that . . .
It is also a marvelous
opera by Rossini . . .
Now yer Semiramis reference made me happy today . . .
Quote: Four Toronto beaches are world class
June 30, 2005 - 11:24 am
By: Anne Winstanley
Four Toronto beaches are world class. Woodbine Beaches (formerly Woodbine Beach and Beaches Park), Cherry, Wards Island and Hanlan's Point will all fly the Blue Flag this summer.
They were given the international award for clean beaches by Environmental Defence, an organization that protects the environment and human health.
Toronto is the first city in the country to receive the honour.
To qualify to fly the Blue Flag, beaches must meet 27 specific criteria based on water quality, environmental management, environmental education and safety and services.
Water quality at Blue Flag beaches must meet Ontario's standards for recreational water quality (the most stringent in North America) at least 80% of the swimming season. Blue Flags are awarded at the beginning of each swimming season.
Beaches can lose their Blue Flags during the season if they fail to meet the required criteria.
http://www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20050630_112437_2368
I'm smiling cuz one of those is MY beach!
Set, The ambiance of that dining room is quite nice. But here's a picture from my birthday party from last Saturday. We had about 12 dishes. What you see on the table are steamed fish, beef and vegetable, chicken and lobster.
40 years ago my neighbours came to Canada from Sicily. About 5 years earlier, Rosario's brother had immigrated to Venezuela.
Today, Rosario's brother and his wife arrived for their first visit to Canada. First time the brothers have seen each other in 45 years. Which is smile-worthy in and of itself.
Seems the Italian community in Venezuela is not as active as the Italian community in Toronto. Venezuelan brother and sister-in-law didn't realize they don't really speak Italian anymore. Rosario's wife never really learned to speak English here. Since he retired, Rosario has been speaking more Italian than English <we have a lot of Italian men's coffee clubs nearby>.
My neighbours had to call their daughter-in-law (originally from Scotland, but lived in Spain for close to a decade) to aid in the translation.
Cath is very busy tonight. Spanish into English, pause for her husband to translate into Italian. Johnny translates from Italian back to English, Cath onto Spanish again. There are translation pauses, but no talking pauses. I figure Cath'll be finished with tonight's dinner conversation translation about noon tomorrow.
It's going to be a long month.
Oy! Poor Cath and Johnny!
The joy (as the neighbour who can listen over the fence, and commiserate when they're taking smoke breaks) is that the older generation is talking at full Sicilian speed. No pauses at all.
I'm loving it.
Once, when I was on hols at my brothers place near Geneva, we decided to all go for a drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel into Italy (Courmayeur I believe...excuse the spelling).
Now, my sister in law is French, but her father is Sicilian, and stayed in the area after working on the building of the Tunnel. Therefore my sister in law is fluent in both French, and (Sicilian) Italian without accent.
The Italian border Guards stopped our car and tried to converse, but couldnt really understand any French or English......so, she piped up in perfect Sicilian (god, they do yabber at tremendous speed) and the Guards just looked totally puzzled for a split second, then all fell about laughing. A long conversation then ensued, as cars started to form a queue behind. After several minutes, they waved us through.
My brother asked what all the talking was about, and his wife just shrugged her shoulders and said "Nussing really, zey were just chatting me up".
Italians, eh?
The people at the Jewish bakery demanded where I'd been yesterday; only relented when I assured them that I hadnt bought anything anywhere else either.
(ok, so I lied)
That's funny, nimh.
So you bought from the opposition?
Is there any better encore for a really good cover band playing a free outdoor concert with a ton of kids and their parents and sundry other adults as the sun starts to go down and the fireflies start to come out than a really really rousing rendition of "Twist and Shout?"
<grinning and twisting...>
ok so it was yesterday but anyway, shewolf, mr wolf and the beanwolf (age 15 months) show up at our home last evening and we are on the patio. We make a "bean corral" from some chairs and the loveseat on the patio and now the "bean" is free to explore sans restraint. Sally (our rescue dog) is also in the "bean corral" and the bean is adopted by sally as her new "puppy" who neeks constant attention as well as face washing. Sally washes 'the beans" face-the bean delights and squeals-runs over to my chair where she submerges her face in my glass of ice (with a splash of water) and then runs back to sally for another face wash. This process takes about 90 minutes, it is now dark 30, I am out of ice, the bean and the sally dog are exhausted. Was a wonderful 4th of July. Mr wolf finishes his Fat Tire beer and the wolf family head home for r & r. The dys heads for the bedroom for same. The rockets red glare continues into the night along with the firecrackers, Sally hides in her bed beside the dys and dreams of rabbits in her little head, feet are going 60, eyes are closed and it's 10 p.m.
My wife and I had the best of intentions to go to the Santa Clara Central Park fireworks about two hours before sunset, but I felt too tired to get my arse off the couch. Feeling my age.
I got a package in the mail today - from my sister Catherine - and in it were dvd's of classic Andy Griffith's episodes and classic Dick Van Dyke episodes. I love Andy sooo much -because he reminds me of my Dad - who I miss desperately. My only question is will I be able to watch it without crying? But today I'm smiling...
I got a package in the mail yesterday from my sister Sarah - and in it was five bags of hershey kisses (which I love and can't get here) and a card.
What would I do without my sisters? I'd be smiling a lot less, I know for sure. Doesn't it feel good to have people who know what you love and love you enough to make sure you have it?
Aw, family is great!
I cracked up at myself today. Just now I was trying to install a slide-out keyboard shelf on a desk I just bought at a yard sale. I took the shelf off my old desk and then put it on the new/used desk. Anyway, I marked the holes through the brackets with pencil and realized I couldn't see them very well. So, I grabbed the first thing I saw that would be better: a lip liner pencil (black cherry).
I was helping out at this institute today in order to get a discount for a training they offer. my task was to post flyers around town. i spent an hour in a book store, about 2 if not more hours at Marshall's, another hour at Anthropologie... bought a ton of clothing....then ran around trying to post the damn flyers at least somewhere. Guess I'll have to finish it tomorrow...
