Today I...July 30th

Today I...

...am sharing t his picture of a streetcar on Dundas Street in Toronto with you. I took a whole slew of pictures of streetcars at the same time as I took this one, so be prepared to see more :o) I'm a huge streetcar fan and try to ride on them as often as I can when I'm in Toronto, which my Sweetheart helps me achieve since he knows how much I love these delightful vehicles. He never gets tired of seeing me get all excited when they ring their bells, which I find most endearing since some people might actually get sick of being seen with someone who goes 'Ooh, he rang his bell! He rang his bell!' every time two streetcars cross paths. And yes, I really do do that, absolutely shamelessly I might add.

...had an agonizingly slow day at work. Ii took three calls all day and just couldn't wait to be done with work so I could get home for the weekend. I've had a cold all week though so I was tired and cranky and I was actually more stuffed up today than I have been all week, none of which helped the situation.

...went grocery shopping after work and was amazed that, despite my tired and cranky state, I managed not to forget anything!

...spoke with my Sweetheart for the first time since leaving him behind at the train station on Sunday. Only for 15 minutes because he's as wiped out as I am since he has the same cold as me and spent all week at a conference downtown, but I was still so happy to hear the sound of his voice :o)

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch photo is a shot I took a week ago today of the CN Tower seen through the streetcar cables on Dundas Street West in Toronto. I was in total streetcar heaven when I took this shot and series of others of...well, streetcars! I love streetcars, you see, and I never get tired of seeing them when I'm in Toronto, especially when they cross paths with each other and ring their bells :o)

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, click here

Edited to apologize for my link photo not matching this one. The one I used for this post, for some reason I can't figure out, wouldn't show up when I had to choose a thumbnail, so I used another one of my CN tower photos as a thumbnail instead.

Today I...July 28th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo of a community bulletin board in Kensington Market which was covered with stories from people who participates in the G20 protest. Enlarge it if you would like to read some of them, but keep in mind that a lot of the people who wrote on here were 20-somethings who were arrested, some of them for (supposedly) nothing, so there is some language on there. You've been warned ;o)

...had a bit of trouble waking up this morning after taking a NyQuil to tone down my cold symptoms so I could sleep last night.

...handed my only tour of the week of to one of our summer guides because I could barely talk this morning.

...spent a good bit of time in the info booth again.

...went to the Oratory's gift hop with C to buy a departmental birthday gift for D.

...wished I had brought some DayQuil to work with be when I got all congested and had trouble concentrating.

...am having a laid-back evening.

Today I...July 27th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture of a sunflower that was growing in one of the many front-yard gardens in Toronto's Kensington Market district with you.

...received confirmation from my body that I did indeed contract a cold while in Toronto. Hopefully I didn't give it to my Sweetheart, but we were both suffering from similar symptoms on Sunday, but I'm still hoping that maybe both just had indigestion.

...had another pretty busy day at work, although the work was shared between C, D and I, so that helped.

...spent an hour and a half in the tourist information booth, which was n ice because I had been missing it, but not so nice because I ended up having to go in there when I should have been starting my lunch hour so I was completely starved by the time I was done working there.

...went to by brother's place so he could make me a cheeseburger and shrimp skewers for dinner and then we went out for gelato near his place for dessert. It was a truly delectable experience.

...got to go for a nice long ride in my brother's super cool car when he drove me home. He has a very funky BMW that everybody loves to ride in, from my grandmothers right down to his larger circle of friends.

...am hanging around on Skype on the off chance that my Sweetheart makes it home earlier than expected so we can chat.

Today I...July 26th

Today I...

...am back to my regular blogging schedule after a hectic week last week followed by a lovely four day trip to Toronto a bit over half of which was spend with my Sweetheart :o)

...am sharing this picture that I took in Chinatown in Toronto while passing through there with my aunt on our way to Queen Street for some (more) shopping.

...spent part of the day in a post-too-short-weekend-with-my-Sweetheart fog, which I eventually snapped out of when I started having to deal with a whole bunch of stuff by myself since I was alone in the office today.

...had to take out my boss hat to try and get to the bottom of an issue and apparently did a very good job of it, which is always good to know :o)

...walked home from work for the first time in a while.

...am in the process of doing my laundry. It's the last thing I wanted to be doing tonight, but I was in dire need of my capris. Long pants were fine for today, but it's going to be much hotter tomorrow and I won't be able to get by by cheating, not if I want to be comfortable anyhow :oJ

...am missing my Sweetheart a lot, but am helping myself get by by thinking about the fact that I'm going to be seeing him again in just three weeks, this time when he comes to Montreal.

A note to my readers

Hello all!

You may have noticed that my regular daily posts have been touch and go since mid-week. I've been very busy and will continue to be very busy during the upcoming week due to my grandparents being in town and appointments to keep. I'm then taking a few days off to head off to Toronto to visit my Sweetheart and some family. I will therefore probably not be posting very much for the next week, but I will do my best to keep up with your blogs as much as possible. Keep enjoying the summer, I hope yours is as lovely as our Summer in Montreal has been so far. We were much more than due for a real summer as we had been let down by Mother Nature two years in a row. For Canadians, that's a tragedy by the way. We put up with such freezing cold, snowy Winters that if our Summers are, excuse the expression, crap, we feel like we're putting up with Winter all year round by the time it comes back. We do need time to thaw out, you know :o)

See you all in a week!

Bumble Bee

This week's Camera Critter is one of the bumble bees that often flit around my mom's gardens. I took a whole series of photos of this fella and another bee as they drank from these purple flowers. Apparently they're quite tasty to nectar-drinking insects as there were several different kinds of them around that day.

That's Camera Critters for this week, I hope all of you have a lovely weekend! If you would like to see more camera critters, you can do so by checking out the Camera Critters blog

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch feature is a photo that I took in Vancouver Harbour of the conference center and the cruise ship harbor with North Vancouver in the background. This was one of the only nice days my boyfriend and I had while we were in the city, but in Vancouver, four out of five days with rain is not too surprising. It's a truly lovely city though, so don't let the weather scare you away ;o)

To see more skies from around the world, head on over to the Skywatch Friday blog.

Have a great weekend!

Today I...July 14th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture of a ritzy condo in Old Montreal with geraniums in its flower boxes. This windows are actually about 10 feet tall and the condo is undoubtedly worth upwards of a million dollars!

...was happy to see D back at work after his two week vacation. He had a nice time and is looking well rested.

...gave a tour to a fraction of a pilgrimage group that has been coming to the Oratory every year for the past 75 years! We always give our repeat pilgrimage groups a bit of a special welcome since we appreciate their coming back every year so much.

...was supposed to go and see Twilight Eclipse with my friend V tonight, but it fell through. I'm okay with it though since I got a terrible night's sleep last night. A quiet evening at home is just what I need I think.

...bought a hairstyle magazine to help me make up my mind about my new do. It gave me a few ideas and I have a few pictures to show the stylist on Saturday.

Today I...July 13th

Today I...

...am wondering why Blogger won't let me add images to my post?

...had a very quiet day at work...except for the part where a couple, the woman wearing a purple bikini and the man wearing swimming trunks, walked all the way up the hill at the Oratory and then all the way back down again in a huge rainstorm. Why? We had no clue, but since we have a streaker incident about once a year, we figured that at least these guys were partially clothed.

...was happy when the rain let up in time for me to walk home from work.

...spoke with my Sweetheart for a little while. He's decided to forgo his bike ride up to Lake Simcoe on the Friday that we're going to meet up since there were no rental cars left at our usual agency and renting from another place was looking like it was going to be pricier and a headache. He wouldn't have been able to ride up to the lake and back in one day and I wouldn't have been able to go and pick him up without a car, so he's going to go for a shorter ride instead and we're now planning on going to the beach at the Toronto Islands instead since I've never been.

...sent out an invite to all my friends for my housewarming party next month...which my Sweetheart said he would attend! He's going to come right over here when he gets off the train for his weekend visit home and come over to my place :o) God bless his employer for giving his staff leave two and a half hours earlier every Friday during the summer, it means that my Sweetheart can get on the earlier train home when he comes in for the weekend :o)

Today I...July 12th

Today I...

...am sharing a picture of the ripening raspberries on my mom's raspberry bush, which she is sadly thinking of pulling out because she finds it invasive.

...had a pretty busy day at work since my phone kept ringing. I actually left my desk for a bit because I got tired of answering the phone all the time, so I went to bring some leaflets that the director of communications had brought us down to the information booths and then helped my colleague 'J' put some wheelchairs back in their place after a group who had borrowed them were done with them. I was most impressed when I got back to my desk and didn't have any messages! Turned out the phone was just waiting for me to come back to start ringing again though lol

...walked home from work since it was nice out. I managed to make it almost all the way here before really starting to feel the heat!

...am continuously flattered by all the compliments that the polo design I picked for the tour guides is so popular, now everyone wants one the same!

...spoke to my aunt and my grandparents and had a lovely time doing so.

...seem to have missed speaking with my Sweetheart this evening since I was on the phone with my family for so long. Quite the double-edged sword that...I'm hoping that my Sweetheart's computer has merely gone into sleep mode and that he hasn't signed off for the night, but I think I may be out of luck :o( Oh well, I guess I'll talk to him tomorrow.

Today I...July 11th

Today I...

...am sharing another picture of my aunt's daisy patch with you, along with the roses that are behind it.

...suffered through a day of sunburn induced discomfort.

...went grocery shopping.

...did my laundry.

...finished a book.

...took a brief nap.

...tried twice to reach my friend 'V' and left her messages, but she has yet to call me back. We've been playing telephone tag since Friday at least and it's getting rather annoying.

...spoke to my Sweetheart for the first time in nearly two weeks! He got home from his vacation early this evening. It felt so good to talk with him, I missed him so much. I'm going to call him again tomorrow and am already looking forward to it :o)

...laughed when my Sweetheart told me how he fell asleep at the airport in DC and only woke up when they were calling his name on the PA system to get him to the gate so his plane could leave.

Yesterday I...July 10th

Yesterday I...

...had an insanely good time at the water slides. I hadn't had that much good old-fashioned fun in ages! You know, the kind where you do something that you know is going to be scary and make you scream your head off while being perfectly safe? Add getting soaked and walking around in a bathing suit all day into the mix and yup, loads and loads of fun!!!

...did indeed do things that scared me silly, but I came out of all but one of them smiling and laughing.

...made a collective, although we didn't know it at the time, bad decision for the first slide I went down with my friends. We all agreed afterward that that slide was not nearly as much fun as it looked so for the remainder of the day, inner-tubeless slides where we were encased in a cylinder slide that was pitch black were a no go.

...was concerned that my turkey salad might have gone bad due to a lack of coolness in my friends cooler and ended up tossing it and sharing their cold cuts with them. Better to be safe than very, very sorry. Food poisoning sucks, but food poisoning at the water park? That would be even worse.

...got a pretty bad sunburn as did one of my friends and this despite putting sunscreen on and religiously reapplying it. Next time I'm going with SPF 150!!!

...was all tired out at the end of the day, so I was in bed with my light out at 11:00 P.M. and slept right through until 8:30 this morning. I had some seriously wacky dreams though, I must have swallowed too much water in the wave pool lol

Today I...July 9th

Today I...

...had a crazy day at work.

...was amazed by the powerful storm that blew through just before I went to lunch. The wind was so strong that the door to the information booth was being blown open, even with me leaning on it, so I had to lock it shut. It also rained so much that one of the sewers backed up...twice. The Oratory and its pilgrim and office building also flooded in several places and the security and janitorial staff spent the rest of the afternoon vacuuming and mopping the water up. Is this something extraordinary for us? Uh...no. We're sitting on a rather steep downward slope, so every time there's a long period of steady to heavy rain or a major downpour that lasts for a half hour or more, we flood.

...knew that there was going to be some nasty weather because I woke up with a migraine so bad that I nearly didn't make it to work.

...was thrilled when my friend S called me and invited me to go to the water slides with she and her boyfriend tomorrow. We're going to have so much fun!!! This is the park we're going to, isn't it nuts???

...am nearly counting down the hours until my Sweetheart gets home from his vacation. I should be able to talk with him on Monday, I can't wait!!!

...made an appointment to get my hair cut next Saturday, so I'll try and make up my mind about what I want done before then.

...am so happy that my apartment is feeling cooler since the cold front started coming through.

...am shamelessly watching back-to-back episodes of 'Say Yes to The Dress' on TLC.

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch photo is a view of Downtown Montreal from just above McGill's soccer field, taken about two weeks ago.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and are keeping cool if you're affected by the heat wave that's hitting most of the Eastern half of Canada as well as part of the U.S. If you would like to see more Skywatch photos from around the world, you can head over to the Skywatch Friday blog.

Today I...July 7th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo of a bee flying up to some flowers in my mom's garden with you.

...had a phone call and e-mail filled day at work.

...was very happy when the polo shirts I selected and ordered for our tour guides finally arrive. My interim boss, Father D. was very pleased with how they turned out.

...told my tour guides that they were more than welcome to eat lunch in the air conditioned office building to help them cope with the hot and steamy weather we've been having.

...went to an OB-GYN appointment. Just a routine check, but he told me that he'd like me to go for an ultrasound because he suspects I may have a little fibroid, but he wants to make sure. I seriously doubt there's anything much there since all has been functioning normally down there, but fibroids do run in my family so it wouldn't be too surprising if I do turn out to have one.

Today I...July 6th

Today I...

...am sharing this photo I took of the daisies in my aunt and uncle's backyard on Sunday with you.

...had a busy morning at work followed by a quiet afternoon.

...ate sushi for lunch.

...realized that I am a victim of depleted funds this month. The usual rent+transit pass+cable, internet and phone bill would have been okay, but add electricity (with an exorbitant file opening fee) and gas bills on top of that and ouch...my checking account is hurting. Can't wait for my pay to come in next week and until then, the only things I'm spending on are my previously schedule spa appointment and groceries!

...would love to soak in the tub, but it's just plain too hot. If I sit in the tub, there's no way I'll be able to cool off after, even with the AC.

...found myself thinking that the temperature 'cooling off'' to 28 degrees Celsius really will feel like a cool off after this week, especially if the humidity bites the dust.

...am going to see if I can sleep with the AC running on low tonight to keep from waking up all sweaty at 3:00 A.M. like I did last night.

Today I...July 5th

Today I...

...am sharing this picture of Montreal's 1000 De La Gauchetière office building, the tallest office building in Montreal and Marie-Reine-du-Monde Cathedral with you. You can also just the top of the Marriott Hotel beside the Cathedral's dome.

...am ever so grateful to work in an air conditioned building and to have an air conditioner in bedroom because it is HOT in Montreal!!! It's 9:00 P.M. and it's still 31 degrees Celsius with a humidex of 41 and it's only going to get hotter as the week goes on.

...tried to walk home today, but only made it halfway before getting on the bus. I've been feeling kind of off since then, tired and blah. I went to bed late last night, so that's probably a factor too, but I know that I also got a bit overheated.

...am missing my Sweetheart, I haven't spoken to him in six days now since he left on vacation. T-minus seven days until I can talk to him again.

Today I...July 3rd

Today I...

...slept pretty darn late, like until 10:30 or maybe even a little later.

...am thanking my lucky stars that I have a functioning air conditioner, because we are indeed starting a heat wave. I love the heat and sunshine, just not when I have to sleep in it without AC!

...went out to buy my Grandma G her birthday card and birthday present.

...went to check out an ice cream parlor called Meu-Meu on Mont-Royal Avenue. Their pumpkin ice cream is to die for, but the vanilla brownie (I had one scoop of each of these) was pretty run of the mill. Meu-Meu therefore has not stolen the Bilboquet's crown in my ice cream parlor standings.

...did my laundry and saw that heavy-duty machine was on the fritz. I needed two machines since I was washing my sheets and towels along with my clothes, so I was quite happy to be the only person needing the machines! Nothing worse than having to wait on the machines when you want to to your laundry.

M. True and M. Griffin

This week's Camera Critters are two of my mom's dogs, True on the left and Griffin on the right. They're starting a round of tug of war, one of their favorite games which always ensues after Griffin chases True around in circles while glued to him, trying to grab a hold on whatever toy True has. True growls at him telling him to bugger off, but Griffin, of course, never does, because for anyone out there with a younger sibling, you know that no toy is ever as good for them as the one their older sibling has. Can you tell I have experience in this sector? Anyhow, watching True and Griffin wrangle over a toy is way more fun than when I had to tell my younger brother to get the heck away from my stuff when we were kids, I'll tell you that much!

I hope you all have a wonder weekend and Happy 4th of July to all my American readers! Also, be sure to take the time to check out more camera critters on the Camera Critters blog.

Today I...July 2nd

Today I...

...caught up on all the office work I didn't have a chance to do yesterday when I was with the film crew. They came in to film at the Oratory for a 15-20 minute sequence in a TV show and it took them from 9:00 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. to get most of their filming done. I have no clue if they came back later in the day after I was gone or not, but I was kind of relieved when I left that they hadn't called me to meet them for more shooting.

...was alone at work for the second day in a row. I moved my Canada Day holiday to later in the month when I go to Toronto yesterday, so I ran the office on my own while C took the day off and D was on vacation. Today I ended up on my own because C had to go to an unscheduled appointment. It slowed me down in getting my work done, but I will admit that I liked the quiet :o)

...moved heaven and earth to get my hands on a window AC unit because there's a heat wave on my way and I was not willing to give up a week of good sleep.

...was so happy that my mom was willing to go out and pick up a unit for me. She also got me a crock pot as a gift :o)

...was grateful that my dad came over tonight to install the unit with me. My bedroom is now cool and the cool air is making its way through the hallway into the living room. Talk about the little unit that could!

...ate dinner very late because my dad only left at 9:30 P.M.

Skywatch Friday

This week's Skywatch photo is a shot of two of Montreal's Downtown office towers framing a beautiful June sky :o)

To see more Skywatch photos from around the world, you can head over to the Skywatch Friday blog.

Have a great weekend!