Summers Back - Told You

Fake fall has left me.

Back to the 90s. Doesn't help the mood.  

So air conditioning is back on, as are the shorts.

This morning, Rick saw that there was a 2-hour season premiere of Dateline on Friday.

He said, "I've got good news for you today."

I thought perhaps we won the lottery or he was healed.

Nope.

He said, "Friday is a 2 hr Dateline. So I'll make the popcorn so you can be in murder and mayhem heaven."

I admit it made me chuckle.

I didn't have the heart to tell him the Yankees were on TV Friday.  I'll record both just in case. :-)

There are only 6 games left in my baseball life. 

4 I don't get to watch. The last game is blacked out.  I hate that they think Baltimore should be blacked out. I know, I know, I whine about this every year since moving here.  But honestly, wouldn't they black out Atlanta for me, living in the south and not Baltimore? It makes me so mad. The owner of the NHL team here, the Hurricanes, is looking to have an MLB team here. I hope it's an American League team so I can see some baseball here besides the Durham Bulls.  And I would hope they would have a dome. Because 100 degrees is not what I want to sit in to watch games.  I don't think the boys want to play in that either. Isn't that why Tampa and Houston have roofs?  Okay, enough baseball.  ⚾

We were watching PBS last night. You know, before Mango Mussolini removes it.

They were traveling through Canada.  I have only been to Ottawa, Quebec, and Ontario.  I so wanted to go to Calgary and Alberta.  I knew someone from Calgary, and she would wax poetic about it. Alberta was because of Banff. God, it looks absolutely like God's country.  Except for Quebec, I found the people of Canada beautiful. I hate to make a blanket statement, but it was my experience.

I'm sure there are kind people in Quebec.  I just wasn't there long enough to find them. 

Here is my American view of what I visited.  Ottawa - I went as a kid. I was 22.  I found it boring. Today I think I would love it. The architecture alone. I stayed for a day and decided to leave with my friends. On to Ontario.

  

Quebec.  It was beautiful and European to me, but I found they didn't care for my French or the fact that I tried my best to use my high school French. They were more than rude. From the front desk to the wait staff. I remember the front desk as we walked into our beautiful hotel. The woman at the desk never smiled. I said, "Bonjour, in my perky way with a smile."  

She actually appeared to snear at me.  She never spoke to me. Handed me a key. We thought that odd, but figured it was just her way. We were wrong.

Everyone was like that. You know how you get a kick me sign on your back as a kid?  We felt like that after being there for 3 days.  We had had enough. My ex-husband said, If they don't want us here, perhaps we should just leave so we did. 

I thought maybe when I apologized for my high school French by saying, 'je suis désolé,' I was saying something wrong and possibly offensive, so I would stop saying it and say, I'm sorry in English. I smiled and nodded a lot. It was so uncomfortable for a people pleaser. 

On to Ontario. (a theme here)

Ontario.

We have been to many places in Ontario. Hamilton, Mississauga, Toronto.

And plenty of fishing trips with Rick as well.  I don't know where the hell I was but salmon were biting. 

We absolutely love Toronto, and we know our way around, and we feel comfortable there. We speak the language, and they don't get mad if we goof up the French.  

**This is where Rick used sign language with me to make a beggar stop asking for money.  God, that was a classic that I know I've shared with you.

**This was where Howie Mandel picked on me all night long from the stage.

But then bought us some drinks later.

**This is where a man told me if I just smiled, he'd give me this album for free in a record store. I'm not dumb, I smiled. I think it was my shirt more than my smile, but I wanted that album. Dumb men. 

**This is where a man from Australia told me he had a kangaroo farm and sold the meat to McDonald's. I was so appalled. I asked so many questions and he had answers for them all.  Apparently, when I went to the bathroom, he told Rick he was pulling my leg and said, "My goodness, she is gullible."  Rick said, "Oh, don't I know! It's fun, isn't it?"

** This is where I ruptured my first disc in my spine in 1979 at the CNE. I was at the concert at the stadium for Burton Cummings. Damn him. :-)

**This is where I took the subway (any subway) for the 1st time, and I was high.  For my whole life up to this point, the lake (Lake Erie) was my directional point of reference. If I were facing the lake, it was north.  So I was so confused because when we got off, I kept saying we were going the wrong way, the lake is over here.

I was in such a panic because I felt we were lost.  But you see, Ontario is on the other side of Lake Erie.  The damn Stoner.  So while I was being hysterical, Rick grabbed my shoulders and said, "Margaret, get a grip, the subway goes in a circle, we can get off in the right corner again."  

"Oh, yeah"  

I laugh at this now because I was truly convinced we were lost in Ontario.  Worse things there could be. However, I was in a different state of mind, shall we say.

So that was our evening. Reminiscing our way through Canada and oohing and aahing at the places we'd like to go.  A VIA rail trip would be fun, wouldn't it?

Any Canadian thoughts?  I hope I have not offended anyone.