Goderich, please

A good part of my summers have been spent in Goderich, Ontario - a place so close to my heart that it pains me when we can't go. This year was looking to be one of those sorely-missed visits, but a change in my parents plans just might make it happen.

There have been talks over the years of relocating our all-family vacation to somewhere within the States to keep it closer to home, but I always insist that it won't be the same. There's a legacy that exists within our family of summers spent at the cottage in Canada (not America). Returning to Goderich is a reminder of all the memories of old and an opportunity to make new ones with the up and coming generations in our family. It's a place to remember and reflect - to think on and thank Nanny and Grandpa, the two very special people who are no longer with us, but without whom the tradition might never have been started. My sense of loyalty to this place and pastime runs deep which must be why I feel it's an insult to suggest that we should ever carry on the tradition somewhere else.

All that said, I'm praying that plans are finalized to go up in August. Due to the growing size of our family (8 grandkids and counting!), we've had to up the rental to three cottages (we started with 1!) and seeing as this is all very last minute, it will be quite the small-time miracle if it actually all comes to fruition. I so hope it does. It would do my heart good to return to the sparkling shores of Lake Huron.

Hal and Jude enjoying the sunset :)

Ranunculous.

Such is the name (I think, anyways) of the unknown flower from yonder post. Quite a mouthful. Seeing as I haven't posted in almost two weeks, this must indicate some sort of busyness in our lives though I can't think with what. The more probable culprit is laziness.

We did go to Ontario again last weekend for a family visit. We're trying to make Canadian ventures a more regular part of our life as it nicely serves as a welcomed change of scenery-mini vacation-fun diversion sort of thing. It's also mainly in want of seeing cousins and sisters and so forth. This trip proved to be a success on all accounts, though I can't say any of us had a good night's rest while we were there. Jack was a peach in the car both ways which was an answer to prayer (this gives me hope for future road trips) and once there not only discovered the joy of Kamut Puffs, but also found a runny nose to bring home as a souvenir. It seemed inevitable as every cousin he encountered was willing and ready to share their own runny noses with him, and he was happy to oblige with the holding of many hands.

In other news, we're going to be starting a crazy radical new lifestyle as of April 1. I'm really praying its not a fad and that we stick to it because I truly believe its going to revolutionize our health for the long run. But more to come on that later!

For now, here are some pictures I snapped of Jack with his cousin Lydia (notice the hand holding):

Americans on Canadians.

Per my last post, here is an example of double satire that is in fact... very funny. Coincidentally, there are even a couple of references to pancakes!

Pancake Tuesday.

For whatever reason, a lot of Americans think they're hilarious when they say things to me like, "Oh, well you wouldn't understand that because you're Canadian." Or if they find something I say strange they love to say, "Must be a Canadian thing, hardy har har." Most of the time, the subject matter is universal and has nothing to do with being Canadian or not - they just love looking for windows to make degrading Canada jokes. I say this sounding as if I'm very offended by it all, when in actuality I think it's... odd, rather than offensive. Odd that people think they're very clever in making these jokes, odd that they believe they're the first to think them up, odd to assume I'd find it funny. For the record, lest I not make myself clear, having lived in the States for most of my life, now with an American husband and subsequent American family members and friends - I don't harbor any ill will towards my fellow countrymen. You are well loved America, even if you do make the same tasteless jokes, without cessation, about the great nation of Canada.

And today I had a rare taste of truly highlighting my Canadianness by mentioning that it was "Pancake Tuesday" (known here as Fat Tuesday) and receiving quizzical looks. This resulted in my having to utter that dreaded adage that it "must be a Canadian thing." And it is. Although it's also a British/European/Australian thing. So who's the odd one out now America?!?! Huh???

Anyhoo, this immediately made me want to make a pancake breakfast for dinner (i.e. brinner) but knowing that Tim is not a brinner fan, I figured my chances of celebrating were slim. However a compromise was reached with the suggestion of potato pancakes. So I'm going with this recipe and pairing it with some bison burgers** that we picked up at the Westside Market.

** being a former vegetarian, I can't help but find it shocking and somewhat disturbing that in the course of about two years I've gone from refusing to eat anything that has "eyes or a mother" to full on carnivorous tendencies (I blame it on getting pregnant.) In my defense, I rarely eat red meat and the only reason I'm going for the bison is because there are claims that it's cancer-fighting. Sold.

Back from the North.

Our trip was much smoother and more relaxing than I anticipated. Traveling long distances with a 7 month old can certainly have its challenges, but Jack proved to be a better traveler than we gave him credit for. Having two weekends in a row with Allie and James was wonderful and something I don't think has ever happened in the history of all our visits.


I should interject here with an explanation about my anticipation of passing the state prison on the way up (as mentioned in a previous post) and my hope of seeing some prisoners outside in the yard. I realized this makes it sound as if I get a thrill from witnessing people being kept behind a barb wire fence when in reality I just find it fascinating to get a glimpse into what seems like a whole other world of which I'm not a part. This is also the case when entering Amish country.

Anyways, now that we've had a fairly positive experience of taking a long car ride with Jack and not arriving home too worse for wear, I feel our future in taking more trips to Canada is a bright one. Something interesting that we, or should I say Jack, picked up along the way was this seemingly unidentified object - which could easily be mistaken for squished poop - is actually a piece of plastic steak. It's only too fitting that the son of a formerly dedicated vegetarian mother and a proudly carnivorous father would develop an attachment to a fake piece of meat. It's from a food play set that his cousin's had for their mini diner and after watching him chew on it all weekend I asked if we could take it home with us. They graciously obliged and it is now our go to object for when Jack is in need of something to do. Aside from chewing on it, he also occasionally enjoys scratching it lovingly over and over with his little thumb nail.

Here are a couple more pictures from Jack's busy visit up North:

Eating a rice husk and being a Cowboy