I thought I would spend July 1st joining in the Canada Day celebrations all over Toronto but I went to a movie instead. Actually, I was a bit too hungover to do much that day. I am going to need a vacation to recover from my vacation! I am eating and drinking WAY TOO MUCH! Please don't say anything about my excess "baggage" when you see me. Trust me, I know! I will be going back to the gym upon my return to Mexico and sweating it all off there.
Alcoholics Anonymous held a huge convention in Toronto on the long weekend (Friday was a holiday for Canadians and Monday was a holiday for Americans). It seemed like every alcoholic in the WORLD was in town! So what did we do? Planned a tour of wine country in Niagara-On-The-Lake. Tee hee! We had small tour van take us from downtown Toronto to various vineyards, from the very large and modern facilities at Jackson Triggs and Stewn to various small family-run operations like Coyote's Run and Maleta. We tasted everything from Reisling to Shiraz to Ontario's famous ice wine. We also learned a few things about decanting red wine.
It was a beautiful sunny day, not too hot, and we had a great time laughing with our driver, Peter, and meeting new people at every tasting. Lunch was a two hour affair with a couple who actually live just down the street from my condo in Toronto. We also bought a bit of wine! I only bought 2 bottles of red wine while Rose and Heidi sought to supplement their wine racks with 5 or 6 bottles each. Being the Goddess that she is, Heidi brought along a small tote on wheels so we could get our wine home on foot. A couple of blocks into our walk, I realized the irony of our pulling over half a dozen bottles of wine through the hundreds of alcoholics touring around the City with their telltale nametags. As someone pointed out to me, these alcoholics were not so anonymous!
The next day, I decided to do some more shopping. :) Heidi met me later and we walked up Yonge Street, looking for an inexpensive wine decanter. Now that we are wine experts, we need the proper equipment! We went one of my favourite stores, Kitchen Stuff Plus, and found a reasonably priced decanter. We strolled around the Yonge and Bloor area of downtown Toronto (a.k.a. Centre of the Known Universe!), stopping into Indigo Book Store, HMV music store and finally ended up at Spring Rolls for some Thai food. As we sat there, enjoying our separate libations, in walked three alcoholics. Initially, they sat by the door but eventually they got up and moved to the very back of the room, BY THE BAR, and sat there. It was very surreal.
On Monday, I left for Ottawa with my friend Jo-Anne. I met Jo during basic training in 1984 when I was in the Canadian military. I got out; she stayed in and is now a Captain. She is attending several meetings for work here in Ottawa and invited me for the week to stay with her, at the Marriott. Rough life! So while she is working, I've been out running around on my own, pretending to be a tourist. I used to live here from 1986 to 1992 and I still have a few friends here with whom I keep in touch. The city is as beautiful and clean as I remember it. I hope to get a battery and some film for my camera so I can take some photos from our 21st storey window. I plan to go see the changing of the guard tomorrow morning on Parliament Hill. This morning, I walked past my old apartment building on Waverly Street. Ah, the memories! It's good to be home again ...
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