The Scene of the Crime

When Gavin and I were married six years ago, we were expecting to share our vows amidst our friends and family in the picturesque rose garden of Victoria Park in Kitchener. Of course, it rained the week leading up to our wedding, and so the day before we made it official, the city gardeners cut the roses, leaving a pile of limp looking, flowerless bushes behind. It was like Mrs. Adams' rose garden, minus the spiders and cobwebs, and plus all of our friends and family. I thought it was hilarious at the time - and I thought it was just a fluke caused by the weather and conscientious city employees.

It was our anniversary on Sunday, and to celebrate, we decided to take Morgen and Lillian to Victoria Park to see the rose garden and the park's gigantic spashpad and playground. And guess what? The roses are just as sickly. I noticed a handful of pale red blossoms and a vast number of freshly trimmed rose bush sticks. They must have "trim the roses before August 1" pencilled in on their calendar down at city hall.

Silly Lillian

After months of ignoring her as much as possible, Morgen, I'm happy to report, has begun to see the fun of having a little sister. Today she got just close enough for Lilly's grab and goober maneuver to succeed. Morgen, giggling, said "Silly Lillian!" and then, realizing how much fun it was to say that, proceeded to offer her finger and hand up again.

So, it was fun today, because despite her ferocious size, the baby is still all gums. Wait until she really tries to chew on Morgen, and can crawl after her little big sister in a more determined way. We'll see how silly Lillian is then, won't we?

Rain bug

I discovered to my horror, after nearly six years of marriage, that despite owning and loving the movie Singing in the Rain, Gavin doesn't enjoy actual walks in warm summer rain. Really? Really.

He doesn't like dancing in thunderstorms, doesn't like that transition from being thoroughly soaked to being wrapped in warm towels and sipping hot chocolate or tea. He must not have had a fun umbrella like this to dance around with when he was little. I'm sure that if he had, his opinion would be entirely different. The only thing Morgen didn't enjoy about being out in the rain last weekend was having to come back in so Mommy could feed Lillian.

Scenes from the life

...of a very happy, slightly chunky and definitely advanced three-month old.

Kickin' it Old[e] School

We decided to visit Historic Fort York today - one of the forts that was nearly destroyed during the war of 1812 (although, confusingly, the fort wasn't actually blown up until 1813). I know there are some Americans reading this who are wondering who was involved in the war...Gavin tells me the subject gets lost in between the American Revolution and the Civil War. If you don't remember the war of 1812...it's probably the shame blocking the subject from your memory (not that I'm biased). But enough about America, this is Canada Day! And while next year we'll probably do cake and balloons on the nation's birthday, today we dug into her history. Sort of.

Actually, we marched ourselves down to the old lake shore (now several city blocks north of the actual lake) in order to watch the morning muster and flag raising. I thought this would be an appropriately Canadian thing to do. When we arrived, we learned that this holiday is also the first day of the new "guard" at the fort.

How does that sound, as a summer job for high school and university students? Woollen uniforms, blazing sun, living history. After running out of their barracks and lining up to the tune of fifes and drums, these guards were inspected by their superior officers, turned about, and marched down the road. They raised the flag (the union jack) while the anthem (God Save the Queen) warbled in a key that must have been hard for the fifes to play in. The British Brigadeers was sprightly and sweet in comparison. The ceremony complete, the brits performed a very interesting maneuver that allowed them to about face without ever about facing (if you know what I mean), and proceeded to march around in the sun for the rest of our visit there. Poor lowly guardsmen and women! You can catch them at the fort every hour on the half hour, marching around and looking historic. But if you wait until next Canada Day, you can see it all for free, PLUS there will be the drama of the new guards. Did they all shine their muskets? Do they know how to walk in close formation with twenty of their newest friends?

Happy Canada Day - I hope that Canada is as happy as a 143-year old can be. I'm glad that we went to Fort York today, but next year I'm buying fireworks and sparklers.