Oui, Montreal

We went to Montreal. In May.

Yes, I've been a bad blogger.  Mainly because it has been the end of the school year, though not mine, and the kids and I have been on the road a lot.

J had a work trip and E is enrolled in French Immersion for Senior Kindergarten next year, which is just regular old kindergarten in America, so we thought we would drive the 6 hours and meet him there.  It is actually a great drive up the St. Lawrence River, past the 1,000 Islands along the border with New York state.  E and S watch movies most of the way, so I got to listen to a David Sedaris book on my iPhone and the first part of Bossypants by Tina Fey on the way home.

Everything was fine until we crossed over into Quebec.  As most of you know, Quebec is a French-speaking province, and I took Spanish in high school. Because, I thought, 'Hey, I live in California, next to the border with Mexico. Why would I ever need French? They shouldn't even teach French!'  Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

We stopped at the most inspired rest area ever.  It had... a playground. For small children. Who are restless after spending hours cooped up in the car.  I would show you the pictures I took, but little gremlins deleted them from my phone.  We also ate the most delicious chicken croquettes ever (they are not nuggets in French, no, no!).  St. Hubert was the chicken place we ate at in the rest area. The rest area even had sculptures. As in, real life artwork. Can you imagine that on the New Jersey Turnpike? And the conversation Snookie would have with the Situation about it?

I couldn't understand the French to pump gas, even though I have been pumping gas for my entire adult life, but eventually we figured it out and continued on. And our adventures in Montreal continued.

I know people love Montreal, and it is nice and all, but overall I think I am glad I live in Toronto.  I think that they are underserved as far as the Canadian dream.  Toronto is uber clean. True story: one night J and I drove home in the pouring rain around midnight to see someone powerwashing municipal garbage cans.  Montreal was plagued by a lot of graffiti*, and just overall looked like another large North American city, just one that spoke another language.   They pay a lot of taxes in Montreal, like in Toronto, but it doesn't look like they get the same level of services as we get in Toronto.  Who knows, though?

We went to this awesome environmental museum:

and the kids got to learn all about how water works, different fuels for cars, and how to make a dress out of hair (which was sort of gross).  The museum is in a park in the center of the river, so you get a great view from the lookout point.

There was a station about how most of the world got their water, which included filling up a bucket at a pump and then filling a bathtub. I loved this station. My kids worked so hard to fill it, and they made it realistic enough that is was a real walk.  It prompted some good questions about water usage and the world.  Manual labor is good for kids.

At this station, you could adjust the flow of the water through the community through adding canals, dams, and building or removing shoreline.  It was super awesome.  We could have stayed at just this station all day.  I recently found this toy for home use.

I don't remember the point of this exhibit, except that it poured water out of the toilet when it tipped over and my kids thought it was hilarious!

We also ate poutine in Montreal, at a hot dog bar with some of J's colleagues.  I am not a huge poutine fan.  I tend to enjoy french fries plain, so I don't need to add gravy and cheese curds to them to make them better.  They were fine, but I enjoy other things in Canada more, like skiing and smoked meat at Caplansky's.  Oh, and Olive et Gourmando.  This was my favorite place in Montreal. We ate so many meals there. I actually took a picture of my yogurt and fruit, but it seems weird to post it.  They had amazing coffee.  Delicious baked goods. Amazing sandwiches. The brownies!  Worth a trip back alone. It was always packed and full of people eating food that was making them happy.

    

We saw the church that Celine Dion got married in.  It was big and fancy. They were advertising a light show, so J and I looked at each other, shrugged and bought tickets. Normally we wouldn't really go for the church thing with the two small kids, but a light show sounded OK.  This show was heavy on the God and the history of the church.  Interesting, but not what we were expecting.  We weren't going to go in otherwise, so it was good to know, and helpful to get an overall picture of Montreal, but we laughed at ourselves that we were that gullible.  And then we were also gullible enough to go on the carriage ride around old Montreal, but we have a 5 year old girl and she is into princesses, so what do you expect?

S and E both got to feed the horse, which was an unexpected surprise and perhaps not a welcome one in the end.

We went out to the mountains outside of Montreal one day, where Mont Tremblant and the skiing regions are, to scope it out for next year. It was late May. People were still skiing. Because it is cold in Canada.  This is why hockey playoffs aren't until June.

J had the biggest coffee ever at a little shop that roasted its own beans, and we stopped at another village with the most beautiful grocery store ever (below).  

 

J had to work some more, doing important lawyerly things, so E, S and I went to the olympic village. They have converted the old biking arena into a museum hosting several habitats. Here are S and E in one of them. I think they are pretending to be animals.  It was really remarkable.  It is also remarkable what kind of infrastructure you are left with after the olympics are over.  Montreal has done a great job of turning them into public parks, but losing their baseball team to Washington has meant that part of that park goes unused now. Oh well.

On our way home, I took a wrong turn because listening to Tina Fey and the Garmin can sometimes be challenging.  We ended up in the area of 1,000 Islands, which is so beautiful.  I was on a side road and found this beautiful outdoor shrine/meditation area. I drove away, and then turned around and decided to go back and take a picture of it.  The owner of the house was out this time and gave me permission. Beautiful, eh?

*Including one that in my head I call my first swastika.  Someone had tried to draw one, couldn't get the two pieces to fit together right, and then did it again. Ah, success! If you are going to try some hate graffiti, please practice it at home first.

I'm lost! I'm homesick! Where's home?

I'm finishing up some time here in the states, mainly for family reasons.

When you hear a song that gets a lot of play on CBC radio 2 on DC101, I think it is time to go home (Steve B - The Cave by Mumford and Sons.  I think you'll like it).

I'm feeling really adrift these days, probably why I haven't blogged in some time.  I'm not sure where my roots or sense of place or belonging is, and I am someone very rooted in a sense of place. One of the things that was so upsetting about leaving California was that it has such a sense of itself.  Northern Virginia, not so much.  I was able to make connections in the DC area, but that was mainly because of the warm and wonderful community that J and I, and later E and S, built over time.

Canada definitely has a sense of itself, and it is NOT America North.  It is a different country, and one that we ignore to their benefit, I think.

But it is still not yet home.  While we have good neighbors, and growing friendships, those are still young, and they are not the long lasting ones that we have here.  And while I really like Canada, I really, really, really miss the people back home.  I miss seeing new babies - there are so many!* - and letting my kids run wild with their friends in the backyard or basement and most of all, just hugging my friends hello just because I am excited to see them.  Canadian Tire and nanaimo bars just can't make up for some things, though they sure try.

So, if you reread this post you will see that I've used home for two different locations - Canada and Northern Virginia, which means that I am still very confused about what is where.  Oy.

*Luke and Anya arrived. Hi Luke! Hi Anya!  And I missed Bailey. Kisses to Bailey!

Family Near and Far

We were just in Connecticut this past weekend celebrating a cousin's Bat Mitzvah and saw J's extended family.  And some of you know there has been a lot going on in my family, with my parents moving to Arizona and my sister H living in LA.  I'm feeling reflective about the role of family and friends in our life, especially since once we return back to Canada, as lovely as it is, we don't really have many.   We're making some, slowly, but our social life is much slower up here.  Which is both good and bad.  There is only so much you can talk about with a 5 year old and a 2 year old ("I'm 2 and a half!").

I recently put up this photo wall in my kitchen eating area:

I used these clear photo clips from photojojo, so it is like a big mat hanging from some nails at the top. And conceivably, it should be easy to change and add pictures.  Reflecting on these pictures, and the ones I just hung today from our wedding (yes, it has only been 5 months since we've moved in), I was so contented and happy to see so many of the same faces.

We are lucky in our family to have a warm, welcoming family, on both sides.  There is a picture of my Aunt Craze, and boy, she has earned her name.  And there is a picture of J wearing a blue velvet suit, and other male members of his family admiring that suit, because, of course, every member of J's family should really consider owning one (it was his Dad's).  We laugh a lot at family gatherings, and sometimes people throw up purple ice cream.  

Our extended family is just as fun. Auntie M and Auntie J will soon welcome someone new, we hope, and we'll get to add a new picture, FINALLY!  Uncle B's other profession, when he is not being important and checking his blackberry, is being a baby whisperer.  Uncle E has already been up to Toronto and gave J a great hangover.  There are pictures of them with Auntie Haha when she was still in elementary school.  They are coming up for Canada Day and will pretend to be patriotic Canadians. 

Soon we will go visit Auntie Haha and some of my high school friends in California.  We have other Aunties, Uncles, friends, and loved ones, too many to mention by name here. But doesn't that make us so very fortunate? To have an extended family, around the world - in California, DC, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, Afghanistan and another one may be there soon, South Carolina, Germany, Nevada, Canada now and soon to be Arizona.  Wherever we are, we are still connected by email, airplanes, phone, skype, facetime, package, mail, photo, letter, postcard, and most importantly, love.  

The Election

Wow.

If you thought U.S. elections were crazy, then you've not seen a Canadian election. I think Canadians lie to pollsters for fun to make election night more exciting.

As you may have read (or not, because there was some other big news on Tuesday morning*), Stephen Harper won re-election as Prime Minister and his Conservative party won a majority government. This means they elected enough Members of Parliament (MPs) to vote through any of their legislation.  Previously, they had formed a minority government.  This was a big win for the Conservatives and came mainly from vote splitting on the left between the liberals and the NDPs.

The NDPs had a huge night, winning over 100 seats and becoming the official opposition party to the Conservatives.  This is a first for them and they are trying to prove they are up to the task.  They have a very diverse group of MPs, which include a 19 year old college student and a cocktail waitress who went to Vegas during the campaign, doesn't live in her district and doesn't speak French (and who is from Quebec).  Aw,  your elected officials.

Liberals had a terrible night, only winning 30-some seats.  Our MP, Borys W. lost by only 26 votes, proof that every vote counts.  There was one Green party win, and the separatist Quebec Bloc party lost in record numbers, which is causing commentators to predict that Quebec is ready to rejoin the country again.  It may be too soon to tell.

Prime Minister Harper has already gone to the Governor General to ask for the new government to be formed, because remember, he has to ask the Queen as a Commonwealth country.

And everyone liked Kate's dress?  Some of my neighbors were up at 3 a.m.! People at J's work wore big hats, and traffic was very light into Toronto on Friday morning.  E liked seeing a real princess on T.V.



*The cheering? I was not into it.  We watched Obama's speech on Monday, because we were up watching election coverage, and J and I disagreed about the cheering GW students outside the White House.  I thought it was so sad. The assassination operation was a necessary evil.  Given some different clothes and some guns, those students would be a crowd that would be burning American flags in another country.  You cheer when war is over, because killing is over, because people are safe again.  You don't cheer when you drop a bomb on someone, or when you kill someone.  That is succumbing to the basest of human instincts, the darkest and most evil part of our hearts, and not where I want our society to be. It was difficult to watch.  

Election Update - One week!

You may not know, but the election is only a week away up North.  We can't vote, but it has been so much fun to watch!

Our current representative is Borys W.  I would spell his last name, but it has 12 letters and a lot of consonants.

Borys and Gore

He is the liberal candidate. Here, there are 5 parties: liberal, NDP (New Democrats), Bloc (a Quebec-only party), Green and Conservative.  Confusingly for Americans, liberal signs are red and conservative/Tories are blue, flipping Obama's whole "purple" country around, and adding orange (NDP), green and light blue for the Bloc.  I don't know who the other candidates are, because the day after the election started, a large red yard sign with BORYS went up next door and so I haven't paid much attention.  (And I do mean LARGE. Canadians are serious about their yard signs. These things are a meter long, and put up with wood stakes.  On some streets, there is serious color as neighbors are fighting to show who they support.)

Michael Ignatieff, the liberal leader and candidate for Prime Minister, is from the riding, or district, just to the south of us, and so there are also a lot of signs for him as well nearby, and we regularly drive by his campaign headquarters.  We've also driven through the NDP's leader's riding, which is also in Toronto.  (Harper is from Alberta, which is out west, and the Bloc guy is obviously from Quebec, and the Green leader is not really considered a serious candidate since the Green party does not hold any seats in Parliament.)  I just heard that there was vandalism in Toronto last night to yard signs and tire slashing, so things are getting nasty.

There is a lot of campaign coverage on traditional Canadian media outlets. To find out who you would vote for, you can visit CBC's Vote Compass*.  Of course, if you haven't checked out shitharperdid.ca, it is worth a visit.  The videos are especially fun (Ryan Gosling. Watch the Ryan Gosling one).  

There are also some interesting grassroots websites designed to avoid a Harper majority. Stephen Harper is the current, conservative Prime Minister.  So some have created http://www.projectdemocracy.ca/ to help people vote to avoid a conservative majority, whatever that looks like in their riding.  There are other websites as well, to collect donations in a similar fashion.  It will be interesting to see their effects.

Finally, today there was this article about a person who passed away last week, and who put in their obituary, "In lieu of flowers, vote LIBERAL."  

*Prediction: MD will be NDP.  

Oy Vey, Part 2: Pesach Edition

I forgot to mention what ties it all together:

Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher.

Written by a friend of a friend of my cousin R,  J has promised me a copy for Mother's Day (maybe signed, J?) which I will then frame and hang proudly in my kitchen.  I hope to follow it up with a copy of Larry the Lobster, who wants to go to Seder (which doesn't exist, but should, because most Jews I know eat more shellfish than pork).  Family members of J's will remember fondly how I shared with the Rabbi about J's Dad's fondness for lobster after he passed.  

I'm still very sorry.  The Rabbi handled it with remarkable tact. The two younger brothers, though, laughed their asses off.

Anyway, I first found out about this book at Caplansky's, where it is displayed, and then I found out about the Jewish geography connection, and then there was the Gaga pig connection, and now my Pesach joy is complete.  

I ordered lamb from the butcher* for Easter, just to confuse everyone.

*I found my butcher now! Incidentally, it is from White House Meats. Love the D.C. connection, right?

**And Baxter is not really about a Kosher pig, but really about the joys of Shabbat dinner. Read more about it here at Amy's blog. 

Oy Vey! And, Gaga's Got a Gun

I forgot to post about my other new favorite restaurant, Caplansky's Deli. Yum.  Montreal smoked meat is really, really good and I had the hash. I can't eat it often, but boy it is delicious.  The t-shirts say that they are "Kicking it Old-Shul" so next time my meat-eating friends come up (I'm talking about you, Dad, B.R., and any others interested) we will need to go back.




But really, we need to talk about the fact that my mother, who is turning old this year (sorry, mom), informed me that when she moves to Tucson later this year, she and my father will be purchasing guns*.  Ostensibly, they will be to kill the Javalina pigs while she is walking in the desert.  The desert is a dangerous place full of animals to kill. 

As it is clear in the picture, a bow and arrow would work just as well, Mom.  And now my dad's annual gifts from the Bass Pro Shop won't go to waste, because my mom will really be able to use desert camo.  I expect pictures like this to be posted regularly to her upcoming blog, Gaga and Guns.  I asked if guns come in pink and flowers and if the gun safe will be purple.  My mom actually marched in the Million Mom March, so this turn of events is somewhat surprising.  

J was shocked... and appalled.  Then he realized the possibility of Javalina back bacon and ribs, and he became a little happier.  We've not yet identified if there is a butcher in Arizona who will process and ship meat internationally, but I'm sure that Gaga will handle that right after the gun class.  And we decided if the pig killed her, and we had to have a funeral, we would serve Javelina carnitas at the funeral.  That wouldn't be in bad taste, would it? 

So, sing with me in this tune, dedicated to my mom:

Gaga's Got a Gun

Gaga's got a gun

Gaga's got a gun

Her mind has come undone

from being under the hot desert sun

What did that piggy do?

Did he snort on you?

They say when Gaga moved to Tucson

She went a little crazy - Tea Party! ! !

The piggy didn't have it comin'

Now that Gaga has a gun

Things ain't never gonna be the same

*No one in our family obviously supports violence against people, including the most recent violence against Gabrielle Giffords and staff in Tucson.  I felt like I needed to make this disclaimer given the topic/location. 

And my Dad is less easy to make fun of, because he is a Air Force Veteran, so has firearms experience. Actually, I have more firearms experience, because I've actually taken a firearm safety class. Little known fact, eh?  Thanks for being a good sport, Mom. Love you.