Happy Thanksgiving

I am very blessed with a delightful family even if we can't see each other as often as we would like, wonderful friends who bring me joy, the fortunate position that our jobs are relatively secure, that we live in a country that is doing pretty well with respect to keeping our people safe, and that we have become more aware of those segments of society that are NOT kept safe and we are trying to rectify that. I am hopeful that the awakening that has accelerated during these times of forced introspection continues and is a lasting legacy to the younger generation. 

We had a great Covid-Thanksgiving. Although we were unable to visit with our family, we had a delicious outdoor Thanksgiving dinner with our Toronto bubble on Saturday afternoon. Lots of food, conversation, and music. 

David was super excited for outdoor Thanksgiving. No pants or shoes but he did have his mask!

On Sunday we enjoyed a socially distant visit in the backyard. We opted to order in dinner from a local restaurant as a show of support for small businesses that must shut down with very little notice and full freezers! Cumin Kitchen provided a feast that the whole family enjoyed.

On the holiday Monday we arrived just before 9am at Rouge National Park for an 8.5km family hike.

 

Chris was dressed for adventure!

I was very thankful that we got to the park before 9am. By the time we left, the trails were crowded enough that masks were a good idea and there was a traffic jam looking for parking!

Cottage conviviality

We are very lucky to have many wonderful friends. One of our newest friends deemed us worthy of a SECOND! invite to their family's gorgeous Georgian Bay retreat. Unfortunately, Chris was already committed to a work retreat, so the four remaining Taylors joined our friends for a weekend of water, nature, and friendly competition ;)

David enjoyed an early morning read out at the beach.

We geared up for a lovely hike around Kettle Lake at Awenda Provincial Park.

Vi's eagle eyes spotted a few amphibious friends.

David thought the tree in the middle looked like it was dancing, or praying. Either way, it was joyful!

The water was actually not that bad, once you were in and had gotten through the numbing process.

The kids really enjoy water sports.

A rousing game of "Secret Hitler" meant this is the closest photo I got to a sunset! lol

After playing several rousing games of Hide and Seek in the dark (which Brett definitely won) we played another few rounds of Secret Hitler. Here the kids are going over video evidence of accusations and betrayals. The smiles indicate it was all in good fun.

David was channeling his Titanic cameo moment as he sang Celine Dion in to the wind.

We are so fortunate to have such great kids who have great taste in friends. Happy end of September everyone 💖

Lucas gets a hair cut

It has been a while since Lucas has had anything more than a trim.

A month ago, he said he was ready to cut his hair. It took me a month to call a salon that accepts donations and another week to get an appointment.

Lucas was able to provide well over 10" of hair and still have shoulder length left over.

The cutting.

The donation, to a children's wig charity. Not sure when the donation will actually happen. Manzer hair studio will store donations until the charity is accepting gifts again.

The new look.

First in person day of school

Here they are! Grades 6, 10, and 11! David had the first 2 days off, will be in school today and tomorrow with half of his class. Then another week of 2 days off and 2 days in school with cohort B before the full class starts next Friday. Lucas and Michael had their first 2 days online with half their class at the school. This will continue for now: Monday, Tuesday, every other Wednesday online followed by every other Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at school. They will have 2 classes per day on a 2 day rotation. Assuming they figure out how to give Michael his 4th class (right now he and several friends only have 3 out of 4 courses...)

Lucas's first day of grade 11 was online!

Michael's first day of grade 10 was online.

David was relaxing in his pajamas for the first 2 days of school.

Family bike ride

In a desire to include some movement in the kids lives, I am attempting to do something active and outside each day since the beginning of this week. Monday we went across the road and played frisbee. Monkey in the middle with David and Lucas became a contact sport. Today we did a bike ride to Taylor Creek Ravine. The ride up the hill out of the ravine certainly got my pulse rate up!

Pot and Gay Marriage

Hurray Washington, Colorado, Maryland and Maine! 
War on drugs = Fail
War on equal rights = Fail
Legalization = Winning!

Gay marriage, I just don't understand the opposition at all. Completely confounded as to why this is an issue. Let LGBT people be as miserable as the rest of us married folk. Just kidding sweetheart, if you ever read this :)

War on drugs, I understand the controversy. But, as soon as you do any kind of research into it, it becomes abundantly clear this is not the best, most efficient way to tackle the problem. Unless of course you are in the drug trade, or correctional institute providers, or security firms.

What's up?

The Honourable Jim Flaherty

I have no idea if this will be the first in a series of posts, or if I will again allow my blog to languish unattended. What brought me back today was this article about the budget. I wanted to say something about it, but I'm not so much into twitter, I try to keep politics to a minimum on Facebook, so Blogger seemed a likely pulpit from which I can vent. Especially since there are normally only 2 people who read this blog, and I am unlikely to offend either of them :)
Jim Flaherty, my second-most politician I love to hate, is trying to balance the budget. A laudable goal to be true. His approach seems to be to cut anything that actually helps Canadians who need help or that protects our environment/cultural diversity/real science. My loathing of this politician has been ongoing since at least 2006 when he became Minister of Finance, although he was pretty annoying during his time in provincial politics in Ontario as well. So when the budget officer says the current round of cuts are primarily going to affect services while the "Honourable" Member of Parliament, Mr. Flaherty, says they are primarily to affect "back office", I have to call "pants on fire" on one of them. And for me the pattern of obfuscation and out and out untruths would fit the Harper government modus operandi. The outrageous part, for me, is that no one knows where the cuts will take place. Not the MPs who voted on them, not the departments affected by them, certainly not Kevin Page who is trying to give an independent assessment of the impact of this budget. I don't even know if Flaherty himself knows.
Ok. All for now. But if I continue to use Blogger to vent, expect a lot more posts :)