Geeky Cat Miusings

I hope everyone had a fabulous long weekend. It is great to have Monday and Tuesday off to celebrate Canada Day AND to get paid to have fun!

My neighbours were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and asked me to join in on their celebrations. They had lots of food but since they didn’t speak a lot of English and I don’t speak any Portguese, I was glad to be called away to visit Port Hope and see The Buddy Holly Story at the Capitol Theatre. Buddy was such a great song writer and singer. It is just tragic that the world lost this star when he was only 22. I heard the song American Pie many times on the old 45 when I was young — and I think I still have it — I guess one of my older sisters was a fan. I didn’t know that the Don McLean song was in part about the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper in a 1959 plane crash. It is quite interesting to learn about a song’s background: what was the motivation, the environment, the mood. It changes the way you feel about a song. I found American Pie engrossing before but many of the lyrics are open to interpretation and so it remains mysterious.

I spent Sunday and Monday floating around Toronto with friends taking in a bit of the Gay Pride Parade, watching movies, going to cafes, missing the jazz festival because of timing, and just walking and soaking up the sun.

Tuesday was a funny day. My friends decided to spend Canada Day shopping in the US. It is unpatriotic but it just happened to be a good day to do so. I missed my opportunity to go last year and so I really wanted to go since I have never been to Buffalo, mostly for the experience rather than needing to do any shopping, since my closet has more clothes than some of the boutiques I visited on Queen Street. And so, on my day off I wake up at 5 in the morning to get ready and go to my friend’s place because we wanted to have an early start to miss traffic. We exchanged cell phone numbers and discussed the route and did some general preparation. My friend still had my tupperware from Passover and really wanted to return it to me, so she put it in the car so that I can take it with me when she drops me off.

When we stopped at the gas station, my driver said that she forgot her registration papers, so we went back to her place and we told the others that we will meet them near the US Canada bridge. Along the way we decided that it would be better if we didn’t go to the US (I’m shortening the story here) and went shopping at Vaughan Mills instead. So while I was shopping in Vaughan my lucky tupperware was out in Buffalo. Does anyone else out there have tupperware that has a more exciting life than you do?

Truthfully, Tuesday was just fabulous. After the shortened shopping trip where I probably saved myself a tonne of money I went downtown and did some people watching. There were some folks doing some Celtic dancing and an artist drawing on the sidewalk. Then I got to do some of my own drawing. This is a first for me: I stopped at Tan Cafe for some refreshments. It is a really charming place and they use Fair Trade Coffee. I used their washroom for obvious reasons and there was writing and drawing all over the walls! The walls are blackboard and they provide patrons with chalk so that they can do whatever you want on the walls. It is interesting that you don’t see any of the typical graffitti that covers typical washroom stall walls here.

There is no need to bring a book when you visit this washroom. One of my favourite quotes is “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”

When I finally emerge from the stall, I request something exotic from the very friendly cafe owner: a cappucino and avocado iced drink and a cashew cookie. She suggests I sit in the back patio and promises that if I fall asleep she can wake me up in a half hour if I need it. I smile and wonder how could I fall asleep, I had a Red Bull earlier (I found it medicinal tasting). When I opened the back door I understand how I could fall asleep. There were two hammocks hanging between posts and there was no one there! I lay in one just swinging around and totally chilling out with my avoccino (I think that is what she called it) and my book. I spent a couple of hours there enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, looking up at the dwarf statues and the clouds, and ordering more exotic drinks like steamed milk with almond flavouring. Those were the happiest hours of my weekend and I didn’t even miss my tupperware.