Happy Repetition

This skirt and t-shirt combo is one I repeat nearly weekly in the summertime. The skirt is both light and well-structured, which is good in this hot and windy city. There's much less chance of this one blowing up in a gust of wind. I wore exactly this outfit about a year ago - plus belt and different shoes - and it's interesting for me to finally be able to look at older photos of myself and not notice as many physical differences. It took a while for my body to figure out where it wanted to be but this seems to be it, and I'm more than happy with that too.

T-shirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Sandals - Fluevogs

I had a really great Canada Day long weekend. My Saturday was spent helping a friend start packing her apartment for an upcoming move in return for a tasty meal and lots of laughs. I think the best moment was when we were taping up boxes and I turned around to see she had taped an empty box shut. We spent the next several minutes laughing over this until we were both red in the face. Good times!

On Sunday my friend Tina and I went hiking in Gatineau Park. We did the King's Mountain, Champlain Lookout and Pink Lake circuits before calling it a day and sneaking off for an afternoon swim in a friend's backyard pool. It felt really good swimming after getting all sweaty on our hike, and I was able to wear a new string-bikini I got. I'm still a little amazed at my willingness to wear it, and I don't know if I'll actually wear it out in public around strangers, but I'm sort of okay with my friends seeing more parts of me than usual now.

I'm still happily hauling around my parrot purse. My mother always said I'd see the light and understand why she carried around huge bags someday, I just never figured it would be with the help of something so gaudy. I love my drunken parrots though! They make a great example for how to spend my free time this summer... partying and enjoying life! (And keeping hydrated and wearing hats to avoid sunstroke!)

Mister Caramel has naughtily been sneaking off to the neighbour's whenever he gets out onto the terrace, so he's been relegated to the inside until I get a dog harness - he's too big for cat ones - and can tie him up outside. The last thing I need is one of my neighbour's getting up in arms about my cat wandering onto their terrace.

 I was officially accepted into the Cordon Bleu's Basic Pastry program here in Ottawa, and I will be starting classes in October. I'm still kind of amazed that this is actually happening. My last day at work will be July 11th, so less than two weeks from now. I cannot wait to leave this building and never set foot here again. While I'm thankful for the things it has allowed me to do, I am also very thankful I am leaving this place. I was talking to my manager this morning and she's found employment elsewhere and will be leaving two days after myself. In her words "This isn't a healthy place." Good to hear it from someone else for once.

In two weekends I'll be heading out into Quebec for another festival, this time Space Gathering. It's a new one for me, but I've heard great things and I'm very excited. I do have to get myself a bigger tent though, just because now that I've acquired an air mattress, my little 3-man just isn't cutting it. (Who are the men they use anyway, there's no way you could fit three grown men in my tent.) It certainly won't go to waste though since I plan on spending plenty of time tenting this summer. I hope you all had a really great weekend and that your weeks are going well. Cheers!

Canada Day!

One hundred and forty four years ago today, Canada came to be as a real country. It had a long way to go to get to the size it is now, but humble beginnings mean not a humble end. Canada is indeed one of the largest countries in the world, something I took for granted as a child.

 

The Ottawa River in the Gatineau hills of Quebec, Canada.

I grew up in rural Northern Ontario, and have only recently ventured outside my home province. As I grow older, I learn of all the amazing places held within this country's borders. Coast to coast, ocean to ocean, the breadth and size of this nation and its people is astounding. Not to mention our ability to live in a land where winter lasts anywhere from 4-8 months of the year, depending on where you're situated!

Frozen Lake Nipissing in Ontario, Canada.

I'm always going to love this land I was born into. There's a piece of me that will always be attached to North Ontario's rolling hills and valleys, its abundant swamps and ponds, numerous lakes and the web-work of rivers, streams and creeks. This land is vibrant, filled with a pulsing life imbued by generations of settlers and immigrants that came to conquer her and call her home.

A hayfield near my hometown of Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, Canada.

My own relatives have been here since before Canada was in existence. My ancestors helped forge a path for those of us here today. Not many people I know can trace their lineage back so far. My blood has walked this land since it was named New-France and even before.

Lake Nipissing, Ontario, Canada.

While my love for this land is undying, I will admit the institution that is Canada's government does not illicit such fervent emotions of love. I know I am lucky to live here, in this country where I am free to be who I want to be and do what I want to do. But I still also believe that this country still has a long way to go before I can really be proud to call myself Canadian in political terms.

 

  The Ottawa River at Deux-Rivières, Ontario, Canada.

But if anybody asks, I am Franco-Ontarienne, a French Canadian living in Ontario. And I am proud of that. So Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians, and an early Happy 4th of July to all you Americans! Cheers!