we had a super fun time in stratford this weekend. let me start at the beginning...
so heading to stratford thru toronto on a friday night in the summer has the potential for a lot of frustrating waiting in traffic. BUT my mom suggested we take the toll highway, which we ended up doing. the 407 was empty and the surroundings were all trees and a few buildings off in the distance. it was really great, much better than driving thru TO. i drove as brendan tuned our radio to the mighty q and before we knew it we were on the west side of toronto and shortly there after arrived in stratford.
hanging out with jill that evening was great. it was really enjoyable justing sitting around in her living room chatting and laughing. her apartment is really lovely and unique. it fits her and her needs perfectly. i was really inspired by the non-clutter of her place and her book collection which was arranged by colour. almost immediately after we got home last night i started rearranging our bookshelves by colour. it just looks so nice, simple and tidy! it's subtle but magical.
b and i slept in our sleeping bags on the living room floor, which is fun because it's truly 'crashing' at a friend's place. super low maintenance and no frills. we slept well except i forgot my eye mask so i slept with my hat over my face.
jill's pet-sitting for her sister's family right now. their little budgie named flash is super entertaining and i enjoyed him greatly. it amused me that spending time with a bird made me want to get my own pet bird immediately, which is normally the reaction people feel when spending time with babies. i spent the whole weekend thinking up where to keep a bird cage so the cats couldn't get to it. i love pet birds. they're way more interesting then fish. i've been wanting a bird since the first time i met aphra's 5+ years ago. my plan is to get one upon returning home from costa rica. brendan is pretty ambivalent about the whole endeavor. i've been trying to come up with a good name, but for now the working title for my future bird is 'menno' after menno simons - the founder of the mennonites.
on saturday we went for a walk around downtown stratford and visited many lovely stores, ate at a pub and got some chocolate at stratford's fancy chocolate place. while we were at the chocolate shop we noticed a picture of the staff with justin bieber. we didn't bump into him at all, but jill is on deck to deliver his future cousin. small world... small stratford.
brendan cooked us a delicious dinner of butter chicken then we headed off to see muchado about nothing. it was really great - the set, the acting, the plot. it turns out that many of the lyrics of mumford and sons 'sigh no more' were lifted from that play! interesting, but slightly disappointing since i love that song and it's poetic-ness and am slightly disappointed that marcus mumford didn't pen the words himself. another noteworthy part was when one of the central characters waxed-poetic about beards :D
during the play i started feeling really sick, and later concluded i was dehydrated. so instead of drinking the wine we purchased for post-play cheese and wine, i drank powerade. i improved significantly, but still felt a little unwell until i had a second gaterade the next day on the drive home. i think because i'm in the habit of drinking a lot of water that i easily become dehydrated, since my body doesn't retain water in reserve.
jill took us for a drive into the countryside to her midwife clinic and we got to see a bunch of mennonites riding in horse and carriage on the way back. that was neat, especially for brendan since he's a big fan but has never seen traditional mennonite people in real life before.
anyways, we really thoroughly enjoyed our time with jill. it was definitely more fun then just staying at a hotel or B&B.
so heading to stratford thru toronto on a friday night in the summer has the potential for a lot of frustrating waiting in traffic. BUT my mom suggested we take the toll highway, which we ended up doing. the 407 was empty and the surroundings were all trees and a few buildings off in the distance. it was really great, much better than driving thru TO. i drove as brendan tuned our radio to the mighty q and before we knew it we were on the west side of toronto and shortly there after arrived in stratford.
hanging out with jill that evening was great. it was really enjoyable justing sitting around in her living room chatting and laughing. her apartment is really lovely and unique. it fits her and her needs perfectly. i was really inspired by the non-clutter of her place and her book collection which was arranged by colour. almost immediately after we got home last night i started rearranging our bookshelves by colour. it just looks so nice, simple and tidy! it's subtle but magical.
b and i slept in our sleeping bags on the living room floor, which is fun because it's truly 'crashing' at a friend's place. super low maintenance and no frills. we slept well except i forgot my eye mask so i slept with my hat over my face.
jill's pet-sitting for her sister's family right now. their little budgie named flash is super entertaining and i enjoyed him greatly. it amused me that spending time with a bird made me want to get my own pet bird immediately, which is normally the reaction people feel when spending time with babies. i spent the whole weekend thinking up where to keep a bird cage so the cats couldn't get to it. i love pet birds. they're way more interesting then fish. i've been wanting a bird since the first time i met aphra's 5+ years ago. my plan is to get one upon returning home from costa rica. brendan is pretty ambivalent about the whole endeavor. i've been trying to come up with a good name, but for now the working title for my future bird is 'menno' after menno simons - the founder of the mennonites.
on saturday we went for a walk around downtown stratford and visited many lovely stores, ate at a pub and got some chocolate at stratford's fancy chocolate place. while we were at the chocolate shop we noticed a picture of the staff with justin bieber. we didn't bump into him at all, but jill is on deck to deliver his future cousin. small world... small stratford.
brendan cooked us a delicious dinner of butter chicken then we headed off to see muchado about nothing. it was really great - the set, the acting, the plot. it turns out that many of the lyrics of mumford and sons 'sigh no more' were lifted from that play! interesting, but slightly disappointing since i love that song and it's poetic-ness and am slightly disappointed that marcus mumford didn't pen the words himself. another noteworthy part was when one of the central characters waxed-poetic about beards :D
during the play i started feeling really sick, and later concluded i was dehydrated. so instead of drinking the wine we purchased for post-play cheese and wine, i drank powerade. i improved significantly, but still felt a little unwell until i had a second gaterade the next day on the drive home. i think because i'm in the habit of drinking a lot of water that i easily become dehydrated, since my body doesn't retain water in reserve.
jill took us for a drive into the countryside to her midwife clinic and we got to see a bunch of mennonites riding in horse and carriage on the way back. that was neat, especially for brendan since he's a big fan but has never seen traditional mennonite people in real life before.
anyways, we really thoroughly enjoyed our time with jill. it was definitely more fun then just staying at a hotel or B&B.
man is a giddy thing.
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