Paranoid Parents

It amazes me. Parents realizing their precious little snowflakes suffer from obesity now signing them up at Kiddie Gyms. I used to get comments when my daughters were younger for letting them play outside. Something much healthier then having them cooped in the house with a game playstation or computer all day.

The first house we bought had a nice fenced in yard with a 5ft gate on one side and 6 ft gate on the other side. I naively thought that it would keep my daughters, then aged 21 months and close to 3, in the yard. The first day I let them go in the back yard, I found them both on the front lawn not much later. So I watched. The baby managed to climb the 5ft gate to end up in the front yard, and the 3 year old, climbed the 6ft gate. I realized that the gate climbing in itself was dangerous. Their clothes could get stuck on the gate. I sat down my 2 toddlers and had a talk with them. I told them that I would leave the gates opened, but if I so much as caught any part of them off our property, in particular in the street they would never play outside again.

I didn't think it would work, but it worked well. They stayed off the street, and the area where they could play got to include the next door neighbor's property. They had 3 children around the same age as my 2 daughters and all 5 children could play in both yards. I'd watch them in my yard, the neighbor when they were in their yard.

I put them both in preschool starting at age 3. Basically it was 2 hours a day 4 days a week. The preschool was about a 15 minute walk away, and I'd walk them to the preschool regardless of the weather. My daughters got so used to walking even in the -20 weather, that we'd get home from the pre-school and they would want to stay outside and play, regardless how cold it got. I'd have to tell them no, when it was less then -15, because little ones don't move enough and don't realize when their hands/feet start to freeze, even if they were well dressed for the temperature.

Sadly we didn't stay in that house for more then 2-3 years, their dad and I split up, and I moved to a low-rent housing complex. I was warned by everyone I knew that it was the WORST place in all of our area of Montreal. That it had a high rate of crime. I was thinking, well duh, you put 3,000 people in a tiny area, and you will get more problems then if you spread them out.

I got an appartment in a building that was on the edge of the Bois de Liesse. I figured at least my kids would be able to play on the edge of the forest, and in the few park areas designed for the multitude of children living in the area. One of those parks had monkey bars that were 2 meters high. I remember driving home from work on day and seeing a very small child sitting on top of the monkey bars. My first reaction was "What kind of parent leaves a child that small climb up that high". Then it hit me. It was my baby, Isabelle, the one who is always climbing, that was sitting on top of the monkey bars. I decided NOT to stop the car. Because I thought if I yelled out her name, it might startle her and she might fall off. I reminded myself that I taught her how to climb, because she was a climber before she started to walk before age 1, and that despite her clumbsiness, she was also good at climbing.

As for the forest, I told the girls, they could play in the forest so long as they can still see the buildings of our complex. I figured it was healthier and safer to play in the woods, then in the street. The most dangerous animals in that stretch of woods in Montreal are red foxes and owls. And generally children make too much noise, tend to scare the away. My daughters actually have wonderful memories of living in the low-rent housing complex. In their words "There was parks, the woods and tons of children, always someone to play with".

Of course they weren't allowed outside after dark, and alternatively in the winter, not after 6pm [since it's dark at 4:30] and if it was dark they had to stay within earshot. I'm sure it was great for Izzy living there, as between the ages of 5-10 if I was looking for her, the most likely place to find her was up a tree. Izzy was a lot like having a son. She was fearless and it still amazes her dad and I to this day that she made it to 16 without breaking anything. Of course we're not sure she did break something at 16, but she had a cast on her thumb and wrist for 6 weeks, doctors never were able to say if it was a cracked bone, a broken bone, or just ligaments & muscles so strained and swelled that they couldn't tell if something was broken.

I mean sure I put Sam in little league baseball at 8 and Izzy in little league soccer [football for people outside north america] at 7, and they both took swimming lessons from the time they were babies. I figured most kids like playing in water, the earlier they learn how to swim and pool safety, the safer it is for them. Izzy also played basketball at school and in a league for a year. Both also played for their school volleyball team. And of course both got into Rugby at the end of high school and played in college as well as in a league. I've taught them to to ice skate as toddlers, and how to ride a bicycle. They also know how to in-line skate since it was something we could do together, as mom is less athletic then both daughters. I'm happy that they are athletic enough to handle team sports, unlike me who did best at individual sports.

But they got to play outside, get familiar with their environment use their creativity, and stay in shape. It drove me nuts that others labeled me as a bad parent, because I didn't control what they did 24/7 Kids need time to be just kids. To not have anyone telling them what to do, and to be able to just lie in the grass and watch the clouds in the sky.

Bursitis

I have developed bursitis in my right knee. A side-effect of gardening. Thankfully the people I've told haven't made stupid jokes about "ah spent a lot of time on your knees? " [with the implication of doing so to service a male]. Of course other professions include washing floors and being a nun.

I've seen 2 doctors so far and been put on Naproxen [similar to Aleve sold in the US], and I've had it aspirated and been given a cortisone shot. My knee is still swelled up like a golf ball. It's still painful when I move, and anytime I lift anything remotely heavy [meaning more then 5 lbs or 2 kilos] it swells up more.

It's ruined my vacation. I was planning on taking Samer around the maritimes. We'd drive up the North shore of the St Lawrence, via Trois Riviere, up to Quebec City and continue up to Riviere-du-loup before heading towards New Brunswick and the bay of Fundy, home of the world's highest tides. Then from there, taking hte confederation bridge, canada's longest bridge, to PEI, spending a day or 2 around PEI, since it's very scenic with it's red earth. Next we were going to take the Cariboo-Woods Island ferry from PEI to Pictou Nova Scotia.

Once in Nova Scotia I hadn't decided if I we were going to sight see along Cape Breton Island before going to Halifax, or after. It made sense if we were in Pictou to go around Cape Breton first and then go to Halifax. But I hadn't decided. I mean I just want to see the coastal area's which are generally scenic. Cape Breton is supposed to be mountanous and I know Samer likes the mountains.

But my knee cannot handle a minimum of 20 hours driving each way... and due to the incredible slowness of the SAAQ, Samer still doesn't have a Quebec drivers license, and he can no longer use his Dubai one. So he can't legally drive, and it's really not worth the risk of getting stopped. The penalty for driving without a license is I believe 2 years where you are prohibited from having a drivers license plus a $500 fine. Of course if you are prohibited from having a license, it makes it more expensive to insure you when you do get it back and get a car.

It upsets me. This is the third year I want to go to Halifax and it doesn't happen. I will look at several day trips assuming my knee does get better then it is now. I'm sitting icing the damn knee. It's like all those falls I took on this knee throughout my youth has finally come back and bitten me in the ass...

Oh well.. time to check out what alternatives there is for at least some visiting during vacation.

Love at first fight

Here is Celes, my daughters 6 month old female kitten and Jethro, my not quite 3 month old Maine Coon kitten.

They are having a friendly wrestling match on top of the new cat condo/tree that I got to keep them entertained.

Just one more little fellow joins our brood

Today we drove to Newbliss, Ontario. It's about 3 hours drive from Montreal taking Highway 401 up to Brockville, then road 29. It wasn't raining, but it was 'spitting' part of hte way, and very gray most of the day. We drove up there to pick up a polydactil Maine Coon kitten.

Yeah I said there was too many cats in the house, but I've wanted a Maine Coon for so long. We decided to call him Jethro. A name that suits him well. He's so incredibly adorable, and apparently his dad was a 20lb cat. So he's going to be a big cat :) That's him sitting on the dashboard of my car while we were parked in Brockville on the picture.

I realized since we had to get out at the Brockville exit that we couldn't be far from the St Lawrence, so after picking up the kitten, we stopped at the Harvey's in Brockville for a bite to eat, then I kept driving towards the St Lawrence. We went to the waterfront and then I decided to drive back on the road that followed the waterfront, from Brockville up till past Cornwall before we got back on the 401. I figured Samer would enjoy the scenic ride.

Racial profiling, stereotyping, and labeling

I grew up in what the news has been reporting as Montreal's North end. In fact it's called Montreal-North - but technically it's a north-east chunk of Montreal. I went to school right around the block from Henri-Bourassa park. It's also right around the corner from where I had my ballet lessons.

I saw the event reported as a problem in Montreal's Haitian neighborhood. I wonder how long someone has to reside in a country before his ethnic background no longer becomes an issue?

When I was a child in the early 60's living in Montreal-North, I had neighbors from Haitian background. How long is it before they are considered Canadians or Quebequers? Forty years? Fifty years? Montreal-North when I was a kid, was a mix of French, Italian and Haitian backgrounds. I doubt it's character has changed all that much.

When are law enforcement officers going to stop stereotyping people by a quick glance? Just because you're not white and French speaking doesn't mean you're up to no good.

You know to this day, I have never been stopped by police for no reason when I am alone in my car or with my daughters. Of course I'm alabaster white, all year round and I speak "de Joual" perfectly.

However while I was dating this half-Mohawk feller, we got stopped at least 3 or 4 times for 'verification'. They would ask my bf for his papers because he had long hair and looked very native. Usually upon reading his name [a very pure-laine name I might add - you know like Tremblay or Duplessis] on his driver's license, they would let us go. But sometimes it was tense.

He's not the only person I've been subjected to verifications with....

As for the riot, it's sad that whenever enough people accumulate with emotion, it turns into a riot with looting and violence. Usually it's over winning or losing the Stanley cup... but I suppose any excuse to cause violence and unrest for some groups is a good thing.

It's sad when the people who are paid to protect us end up harming us. Or in this case an 18 year old boy. There are laws in most suburbs of Montreal that prohibits being in parks between 11pm and 6am. Or something to that effect. However during the hot summer months when school is out, where do the teens hang out? Traditionally in parks... The younger kids use parks in the daytime, the older kids in the evening. If we aren't providing safe places for our teens to be able to hang out then we are failing as a society.

Often those good kids who fall through the cracks are from single parent homes, who have to take jobs in the evening or night, to pay bills. Leaves teens with no adult supervision We need youth centers where they can go hang out, and stay out of parks, streets, trouble and avoid getting shot at in general.

Stereotyping of people based on race, religion & nationality should stop. Just because you live in a 'poorer' neighborhood doesn't mean that you adhere to lower moral standards either. Same applies for having a different religion or no religion. Just because you follow the teachings of prophet XYZ doesn't mean that you practice what you preach. So spare me your speeches your moral righteousness, and indignation.

Montreal is a great city to live in and I love it's multi-cultural aspects. I love the fact you can find someone from just about any nationality in Montreal. I would really hate it if it got so ghettoized, that you couldn't do that anymore.

Let's hope that something good comes out of this... though it will never bring back Freddy, may he rest in peace.

Attention Whores, all of them, I tell ya!

What is wrong with those people? Their idea of a fun week-end is protesting funerals. I mean are their lives so boring and lacking of excitement that they plan trips to protest funerals...

The big problem I have with fundamentalist Christians is that they don't follow the word of Christ. No where does Jesus ever say to picket funerals. Jesus carried a message of love and tolerance. Something the people from the Westboro Baptist Church should perhaps consider.

What did Tim McClean ever do to them? He was some poor sap at the wrong place that the wrong time who got killed and beheaded in a greyhound bus by some crazy dude. And somehow this bears picketing? Oh right! Because we Canadians are a bunch of immoral people.

With some people it comes down to one thing, they hate anyone who aren't them. If you aren't with them, then you obviously are against them. Their view of the world is so narrow minded that it doesn't include having the choice of your own opinions.

Personally I like The adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Highly entertaining film. Any man who feels uncomfortable with this movie, isn't the type of man to hang out with me. In fact my girlfriend and I like watching this movie with the men in our lives to ensure that we didn't chose close-minded jerks. :)

Perhaps we should all send the Westboro Baptists copies of this movie :)

Pleasantly Surprised

I own a Craftsman 6.75 horsepower self-propelling lawn-mower. Despite it's quirks, I've gotten fond of the old beast and it does the job. In June of 2007 while I was galavanting in Cyprus, it seems the lawn mower had a mishap and the 'control bar' of the lawn mower, some piece of plastic that you keep depressed while mowing lawn that serves as a dead man's clutch, cracked.

We spent all of last summer, using electrical tape to tape this plastic piece to the handle so that it would stay on and mow after we'd get the beast started. I wanted to order a new part, but could not for the life of me find the owner's manual, and yet I knew I had 2 of them, one in French and one in English.

I finally stumbled upon the manual about 2 weeks ago, found teh part number and called Sears to order the part. When it arrived, I took one look at it and figured they sent me the wrong part. It looked nothing like the original part, in black plastic. This was black metal. But I tried the part, and low and behold it fits, and being in Metal, it's far more robust. I don't think I'll be changing this part again. I was incredibly surprised that the replacement part was made to last.

I also ordered a filter and a spark plug for the lawn mower. To be replaced next spring when I do the oil change. And since we were calling sears we also ordered new sensors for the garage door opener. Samer examined the garage door opener it and he concluded one of the two sensors was dead. I had gone to the conclusion that it was either the sensors or the wiring to the sensors. He narrowed it down. Here's keeping my fingers crossed that the new sensors will fix the garage door opener.

Samer painted the cement floor in the garage. It makes it look so clean and pretty. Reminds me of that Canadian Tire commercial where the husband just finished organizing his garage and asks his wife to take her shoes off to come in and see what he did with the space. :P

Of course now that the lawn mower is fixed, I have no excuses to avoid cutting the grass. Sigh.

Together at last!

My husband had an interview on June 4th in Beirut and it went well. At the end of the interview he asked if there was any chance that he might make it to Montreal for our wedding anniversary, June 15th. The employee said he would try, but he was making no promises. Samer got email from Embassy in Damascus on the 11th to pick up his Visa, which he picked up on the 12th, and flew out on Saturday the 14th at like 3am , to arrive here at noon. Talk about tight!

Today is Canada day, and we've been together a bit over 2 weeks. It went so fast. My vacation is over already.

I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.....

Still too many cats

My two older cats, Motley and Furball both had to be euthanized this winter. Furball went first, January 20th, 2008 - it was a head tumour, found in white cats, caused by the sun. He was 12 years old. Then a month later, on February 21st, Motley, my 17 year old female, suffered renal failure.

I found at a pet shelter, a cat called Zeke, about 18months old who has incredibly huge paws. He's got like 10 toes on each front paw, and 5 toes on each back paw. Total mutant, I love it.

Sam ended up adopting a female kitten, barely 2 months old, from a co-worker.

I was thinking about the current cats in the house and their characters....

There's my daughters cat Lynx. He's got too much balls.
There's my cat Pixie. He's just got the right amount of balls or Catspah :P [chutzpah for cats? ]
There's Zeke. He doesn't have enough balls.
There's Celes, my daughter's fearless kitten.

So if I was to walk into the room where all the cats where lounging, and say OUT OUT OUT, in a loud voice, I could visualize:

Zeke, running into the basement screaming "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Pixie, walking slowly towards the door saying "yeah yeah... I'm moving"
Lynx, wouldn't budge and say "Make me"
Celes, would be running wilding around the room going "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

Still 4 cats is too many fucking cats!!!!!!!!!!!

Ottawa Tulip Festival

I was in Ottawa yesterday and my buddy Chris and I went to see the tulips around Dow Lake. This is one picture I really love. I look forward to having an area in my garden with as many tulips. I can't help but wonder how they manage to keep them without the squirrels digging 'em out. Things that make me go Hmmm....

Here bunny bunny bunny bunny......

So I go outside earlier this afternoon, and I notice there is a rabbit in the yard, which neither cat had yet noticed. In fact I think this is where Lynx finally spots the rabbit and then tries to run after him. I had chance to walk around and take photo's from several angles, of the two cats and the rabbit. This rabbit has been around for the past months and I affectionately call it bunny-butt.

Jumps-at-door-bells is a weird cat.

My daughter's cat Lynx is a smart and weird cat. In the past half hour he's been jumping at the bells hanging on the back of my front door. I have bells hanging on the back of my main doors because I'm jumpy, and I don't want people to sneak into the house.

I'm not sure the point he wants to make, whether he wants to go back outside on a leash to enjoy the warm weather OR alternatively try to find my daughter. I mean after all she left through the door and the past couple of days she's not giving him much attention, it's the new kitten she's adopted thats getting all the attention. He's now jumped at the bells a dozen times. The best I could get was this photo of him about to jump at the bells. I hope that realizing it will get him nowhere, he will stop. I would be pretty upset if he spent all night jumping at the door.

So his current nickname is now Jumps-at-door-bells.

My husband is in West Beirut...

The physical distance between my hubby and I is hard enough to take, I have not seen him since January 2nd of this year, but now I am also worrying about his safety.

I keep reminding myself that aged, 30, and having spent 28 years living in Beirut, and surviving it all, that he obviously knows how to carry himself. I mean I trusted it enough to land in Beirut 3 times in 2007. To visit Beirut and surroundings when some Lebanese I know in Montreal wouldn't even set foot in Lebanon last summer.

I told people if my karma was to die, it wouldn't matter if I was in Beirut or Montreal. I was correct, the closest to danger I was in was early June, when my husband took me near the waterfront in Beirut at the exact location where an explosion would be 2 days later killing and injuring several people. I'm thinking that was June 13th, 2007. We were in Cyprus by then. I was unphased, my reaction being "Can I see the damage when we get back to Beirut"?

Hopefully things have really calmed down where my husband is. Generally when you are chatting your loved one you don't want to hear "Hold on sweetie, I'm moving to the other room where there is less chance to get hit by a stray bullet"

It's so foreign to my mind that people would just go out in the streets with guns. And yet gangs have guns here too. Thankfully I live in a nice suburb where gang violence is rarely an issue. Thankfully as well, Montreal isn't known for it's murders. On average we get 50 murders a year. About 1 a week. For the size of the city, it's reasonably safe. Also worth mentioning that of those 50 murders, a certain percentage is family violence [generally hubby kills wife, but other combos seen too] or gang settling of accounts. Being the random person getting killed is rare. I think our rate of pedestrians being hit by cars and killed is probably just as high as our murder rate.. :P
Of course you have a better chance of getting your car stolen or broken into :P

Anyways I knew it wasn't easy to marry a Lebanese national, the long process before he's given a Visa, but I didnt' expect the last mile to be this hard... I know it's more a matter of weeks before he gets a VISA, then months.. but it just makes my resolve harder. I never thought I'd be able to handle a long distance relationship, but I guess it really depends with who you are in a relationship. I love my husband more every day. The distance so far has not killed things between us. I can't wait to hold him again. I dream often of the day I will finally be able to pick him up at Pierre Trudeau Airport [and in my mind it's forever going to be Dorval Airport].

The past 4 days have been really stressful. Especially Friday morning. He wasn't online, there was no reassuring email in my mailbox and he didn't reply my text message. I knew it was entirely possible that there was no electricity, or no internet, or cell service so jammed that messages weren't getting through. I got to work I was a bunch of nerves, and finally I checked my cell phone again, and there was message, he was asleep when I SMS'ed him. Everything was ok.

Of course while the internet connection to Beirut has been flaky at best, and MSN messager has also been flaky at best, it's been far worst since the sectarian violence in Beirut. Because of course, everyone, their mother, and their friend in a hijab has been contacting friends and family to tell them they are ok. So the traffic makes it worse. It makes it almost impossible to chat. There is no flow. Convo just dies. Makes it hard to connect emotionally, and it is that connection that keeps Samer and I close, and has for years before we were lovers. Without that connection I feel this incredible yearning and longing and well... makes me grumpy and miserable.

I keep praying things will calm down and he will be able to visit the friends he wants to visit before leaving for Canada. Spending all his time in Beirut a virtual prisoner of his home is probably not what he had in mind when he returned to Beirut.

I'm a Uber Cool Nerd Queen

Tulips, Dafodils, Crocus, Oh My!

Amazingly my daughter agreed to help me plant bulbs. In the time she was outside, with her whiny cat, she planted 45 purple tulips and 12 mixed daffodils. Mostly in the back. Hopefully it will naturalize and spread.

I planted 60 crocus, mostly near the front path leading to the balcony, along with 10 dafs. I planted 2 friterella's. Those bulbs smell like skunk, but squirrels HATE them.. Anything squirrels hate has to be good. I also planted 3 blue and 3 white Camassia's. I've never planted those before. Wonder how they will come up.

Near the west wall I planted some 22 black tulips. 10 of them were positioned in a star design with 5 dafs in the same pattern. I wonder how it will come out when they bloom in spring...
I also planted 8 early tulips, called "Quebec". These are shorter smaller tulips, then the traditional ones...

Well all is said and done, between my daughter and I we planted 170 bulbs today. I had planted 157 last Sunday. That was 133 crocus, in a spiral design at the end of the lawn in the tip of the property, 10 variated garlic, 8 allums, and 6 hyacinths all in the flowerbed where the roses are. I am hoping the garlic and allums will be a deterrent for the sawflies.

One it got dark around 4:45, I started to pick all the fallen apples from the tree. I managed to fill 3 plastic grocery bags, which I put to compost. One year I should actually try to make some apple sauce and see how good [or bad] these apples are. I have no idea if it's a crab apple or an actual apple. The other thing is, I have no idea with what tree in the neighborhood this tree is being polinated by....

To bulb or not to bulb....

I wasn't planning on getting up early today to go shopping, but the day turned out that way. At midnight when my youngest came home, on crutches no less, she asked me if I could drive her to work in the morning. Of course that meant drive me to work for 7:45. Thankfully she does not work so far away from home.

Why is it though, that despite her crutches she can manage to go out on Friday night, but needs a lift to work Saturday morning? Things that make mothers go HMMMMMM.

I ended up waking up for the first time at 4am, then at 5:30 and again at 7am. Which is when I finally got up. After driving daughter to work, I cleaned my car windows cause I was getting glare at night. Then again it's never too much to wash my car windows. I'm not one of those people who think about washing my car. So it gets washed once a year - if that. It rains enough in Montreal to keep it acceptable.

I went to Carrefour Laval to shop. Mostly I wanted a pair of black full length winter boots and black jeans. I lucked out, they were having this huge blow-out sale at FX-Lasalle and got some really nice, normally $150 winter boots for $118 all taxes included. Warm sexy boots that are waterproof, saltproof and lined in wool for maximum warmth. I hesitated between that pair and another pair, that was $10 more and looked more like mocassins. It was a tough decision. I took the one with a bit of heel. It's still a relatively flat heal with an anti slippery sole, to handle those days with snow and ice. If I had listened to myself I could have bought half the Mall. I was good. Other then the jeans and boots, everything else I bought was seriously reduced. I also got myself 2 pairs of mittens and 1 pair of gloves. Dunno how I manage to destroy my mittens each year. And I have to wear mittens/gloves from the minute it gets cold in November otherwise the cold completely destroys the skin of my hands.

Now I am hesitating.. Should I go outside and finish planting my bulbs? It's all of 2 C today and cloudy. Dunno if my back can handle it. As well, my eldest offered to help be plant bulbs this week-end. But watch she will have some tournament on one of her games and she will blow me off. But I need to plant the remainder of my bulbs this weekend. Otherwise I'm going to lose them all sadly. I dunno if my back can handle planting some today and tomorrow.

Pakora's anyone?

I attempted to make pakora's today. I dunno why I started mid afternoon having a hankering for pakora's, but I did. This is weird because I really haven't been feeling well all week. I'm fighting something and my back is reminding me that I'm not 20 anymore. Sometimes though when I'm fighting something I find myself constantly starving. Which has been the case this week.

So my pakora's turned out delicious. They feel more like veggies fried in batter, except it's a chick pea batter. I had too much veggies for my batter. The batter should have been thicker and once cooked should be the same color as falafel. However.. the fried pakora wanna be's were pretty damn good. I'm stuffed. I used onions, red and yellow pepper, green hot pepper, cilantro, carrots, parsnips, zucchini, turnip, potatoes and yams. So that's quite a nice selection of veggies, in chick pea batter or not. I can't believe that despite me putting a full teaspoon of cayenne pepper, I did not find the veggies hot at all. Dunno what it is with me, but ever since my trip to Dubai back in February, I can't get enough of hot peppers and hot food.

Speaking of Dubai, I will be back there in 21 days. I'm leaving Montreal the 29th of November and coming back on the 2nd of January. From December 17th to 27th I'll be in Beirut. Though how wise it is to travel to either location? There was a bridge that collapsed today near where my husband is living, at the Dubai marina. And well I don't need to say much about Beirut and relative safety. I should ask my Lebanese coworkers which ones have decided to buy plane tickets for Christmas...

I can't wait to spend time with my husband. We left one another about 5 months ago at the airport in Beirut and it feels like it has been forever...

I really haven't feel much like blogging the past few months, but I made an effort today at the request of my mother-in-law, who is probably one of the few people who actually reads my blog. [Me waves excitedly at Sonia!!!!]

I'm glad October is over though. I find it hard between mom who died on October 11th, [1999] and dad that died on October 5th [2003]. I feel sorry for my youngest daughter who's birthday is October 7th, and who gets a mom in a mood around her birthday.

At least I will be spending my 45th birthday with my sweetie, at least it will be nice I'm sure he's going to spoil me in some way.. I hope I will be alive enough on his birthday. I arrive in Dubai on the 30th.. so I will be there for his entire birthday... It's funny I can remember last year holding secret conversations with his friend in Abu Dhabi about me showing up for his birthday as a surprise. But I could not pull it off last year. I did not have passport. And it took until the 15th to receive it, though it was issued the 11th of December and expires in 2011 [For Samer who likes 11's and 15's... ] This year it won't be a surprise per say since I planned it probably 7 or 8 months ago... but it will be nice.. we will spend our respective birthdays together for the first time. Create new traditions and new bonds. :) Maybe I will be less pissy on my birthday now :P

Bah

I've not had much to say in the past month. In fact sometimes I struggle to write my daily emails to my husband.

I've been spending some of my spare time drawing, and I'm not sure how much I like the results. I mean I've sketched 2 pictures of Samer and neither one look much like him.

This whole distance between my husband and I drives me NUTS. That and the 8 hour time zone... And I shouldn't complain too much since in the winter it's 9 hours difference. Sigh.

Off to draw some more.

Companions for Roses

My rose bushes for the third year are being eaten alive by sawfly larvae. I haven't found a better method then to hand pick the larvae one by one.

I've been looking for companions for my rose bushes to help with the sawfly. I put marigolds along with the rose bushes, but either they didnt' get watered enough while I was gone, or the rabbits like the marigolds, because most are either dead or have few leaves. I've never seen marigolds being destroyed like that. Also I'm realizing I didn't put enough. Will have to stop at a nursery and see if they still have marigolds. I don't care if they are ugly.

I've also put 2 plants of chives one on each end of my 5 rose bushes. I was just reading now that it can take up to 3 years for the chives to be beneficial to the rose bushes. I also get the feeling that I will need to spread the chives.

I was reading that geraniums, nasturtiums, parsley, rue, marigolds, thyme, garlic, chives, and garlic chives, and alliums are all good companions for roses.

This fall I will add alliums to that flowerbed

I wonder if there are companions for lilies. The other pest I'm fighting with [Other then the squirrels and the rabbits] are the lily beetle. Those red fornicating bugs. Those I have to hand pick too. It's amazing the damage they do to the lilies.

Stormy Skies

I dunno if my moods are like the weather these days in Montreal, what weatherperson loves to call unsettled weather. It drives me nuts What the heck is "unsettled weather". Is weather ever settled?

There was severe thunderstorm alerts. They were even afraid of 2cm sized hail and possibly tornadoes. Nothing of the sort happened. Heck in Montreal we just got a little thunder and some rain.

Now I was in a mood today, I could have killed. Very little got me all grumpy. Was it weather related? The storm has passed outsdie, I can see the setting sun.. and suddenly I'm feeling far less grumpy.

Of course my underlying reason to be grumpy is that I miss Samer.. I miss him so much it's like I was missing a limb. But most of the time I pretend everything is good, cause so long as I don't think about it I can get through the day. Get through work, get through the bills, get through the groceries, and the garbage, Alleluiah!

There's so much I want to do and yet all I do is sit and mope and sigh... and look at pictures, remember moments we shared. Just the intimacy... being able to look at each other and know and smile back. Shared laughs, shared moments. It's so hard after spending 3 weeks constantly together to be apart again. But somehow I will get through today like every other day.

Stormy weather.....

Back home in Montreal.

So I've entered all my thoughts in this steno pad for the past 3 weeks. About 44 pages worth. Now I must transcribe all of these entries into this blog. Will probably take me a week or two.

Mind you I won't be transcribing everything. For one I was taking notes to remember events, so I can write about them in chronological order, and secondly I kept a dream journal and no one needs to know those.

Some of the entries are very mondane and boring. They will be entered with the correct date so will appear before this one, dating from June 8th to June 28th. The first Entry is called "Flying to Beirut Today"

More ramblings from the Air Canada flight

3:00PM Montreal time
Half an hour more. I'm so impatient. So fed up of being on a plane. So sad that my sweetie and I had to split up at least until December. Sigh. I managed not to cry somehow, by not thinking about it. I'm so tired. I don't think we managed to sleep more then 2 hours last night.

We got back from Byblos with Sandra and Patil around midnight. Then we had all this paperwork to fill, pack our luggage. He had to burn for me several DVD's. We had to be up at 5AM to catch the cab at 6AM. Beirut airport is always fun. First before entering airport, you get some of your luggage searched. As luck would have it, we got the surly guy. HE was obviously not pleased to have the early morning airport duly. He even opened the file folder from my carry on with all the immigration papers.

Then you line up for a securty check, where all your luggage is passed through the x-ray machines. People taking you to the airpot must leave you there. You cannot get in airport unless you're flying. THen you check in your bags, and go through yet another security check with your carry on. And people worry about security???

Just like yesterday walking in Beirut to set get to this university type bookstore. We had to go through an army checkpoint. Samer was surprised they did not stop us and search my purse and frisk him. I never went anything in Beirut without my passport. And while we went through dozens of chec points, in the 4 days I was there, non gave us any grief. THough it's fun to navigate in parts of Beirut. THe streets are a veritable obstacle course, meant to prevent anyone from going fast. One of the taxi's we took commented about if they could make the obstacle course any tighter. Gotta love the sarcasm.

Neat taxi system. For 1500 leb pounds per person [or $1 USD], you get a 'pooling taxi". If the cab is going your way he picks you up. He picks up to 4 passengers. If you're walking along , each cab that passes you buy that has a free seat will honk to let you know he might be going where you're going.

You get used to the constant honking after a while. Not that I'm not used to it in Montreal, but usually it's because I'm female... :P Beirut is a city that never seems to sleep. Between the honking cabs, the noisy mopeheads, that also beep, honking people, Mosques with loudspeakers, roosters, and local cafes, there always seems to be noise.

Also it seems there are very few single unit homes left. THey all get torn down to make 12 story or so buildings. Despite the buildings taking up every inch of available land and living in close proximity to neighbors, people manage to have vegetation growing along balconies, roofs, and edges of buildings. Saw Laurel and hibiscus trees.

Also what amazed me was just the sheer volume of Lebanese flags everywhere, lining streets as banners, off balconies. Of course pictures of various leaders are displayed on homes, billboards. Most buildings have some kind of shop on the ground floor. Near the gate of the building Samer's family lives in, on one side is a little convenience store, on the other a small coffee shop/casse croute type place. All mom & pop type shops.

Another thing I found surprising were the metal doors in front of the wood door. Mostly to prevent people from barging into your home. Handy during war times. Of course it probably makes it theft proof as well.

I was toured quickly through "downtown" Beirut, which is almost all new buildings made to look like the older buildings that were destroyed during the civil war. What struck me there is that other then army checkpoints, there seemed to be a security guard outside just about every building. The downtown area was very quite, so where the pubs in both areas I was driven around in both Beirut and Byblos. Seems the explosions in the past month has killed business and tourism. People stay home, visit with friends.

Blogging from the Air Canada flight

2:15 PM Montreal Time
As per usual food, on AC flights suck. THere afternoon snack is a pizza pocket. Loaded with white flour and sugar no less. Funny how other companies, including MEA tend to make their veggie meals without tons of sugar or white flour. So I'm setting here feeling totally hungry from the semll of food, knowing I'll be sick if I eat

I'm tired and crabby and I want to be home already. I know there's about an hour before we land and I have to be patient. But after the stress of Charles de Gaulle, I'm feeling pretty annoyed. And the worst part is that I'm going to get thome to an empty house and there won't be food and I won't be able to sleep in the morning since tomorrow is Friday and my cleaning lady will be in bright and early.

Rant from Charles De Gaulle Airport

Paris 1:13PM
I've never seen such hell to get passengers between terminals. I was sardined for over an hour in terminal 2F waiting for a shuttle. Cattle are better kept. People started getting impatient and rude and almost caused a mob scene.

Mental Note: when I travel to Dubai in December, I'm not going to transit via Charles de Gaule. At least the security check in Terminal 3 in Heathrow might be a bitch to get through, but at least there is a longer corridor and people do not mob so much.

THankfully I'm in my place finally, which should be leaving in 5 minutes. Plane seems reasonably full, it might actually leave as planned. I was one of the last 3 passengers onboard they were waiting for before departing.

THank God, I do not faint as easily as I did at 18, and I have a decent control over my claustrophobia. I mean were were squished likie sardines. Worst design I've seen in a long time, like WTF? Charles De Gaulle airport SUCKS! I'm so grateful at the moment to be on a plane. I was starting to think I'd miss it [Breathe girl, breathe]

Ramblings while waiting take off from Beirut Airport

The two days spent in Beirut were so incredibly rushed. Somehow managed to meet 20-30 of my hubby's closest friends and relatives. Friends took me sight-seeing in both Beirut and Byblos. So much in so little time in Beirut. Pity we spent so little time in Beirut. However Sonia suggested we spent a week in Beirut at Christmas. But as it goes with travel to Beirut, I bet it will be a last minute decision. I will book my UAE tickets and if things look good, we will fly to Beirut for Christmas. Will get to see a bit more and who knows things might be less tense by then. [After which all I can hear in my head is an uproar of laughter]

We flew in from Cyprus on Monday and arrived just after midnight. There I got to meet Karim, Samer's "Step-dad". He picked us up at the airport with Samer's mom. Tuesday morning we woke up early. Samer, his mom and sis were supposed to to to some notary's office but it was closed till afternoon. Samer took me to a souvenir shop on Hamra street. Then we ended up at Cafe Prague and had some lunch. Got to eat some falafel. Was quite yummy. Did some more errands. I seem to remember we picked up a hard disk. We also went to a couple of bookstores, one of them "La librarie Orientale", where I bought 2 humourous books on the Lebanese, One caled "Life's like that!" and the 2nd "Live's ... even more like that!". Also picked up "Le Liban, Vue par l'objectif de Munir Nasr". At least I have pictures of all the things I was not able to see.

Side note on Cafe Prague, really unique decor and menu's. Pub at night, hangout place with decent food by day. You know the type of place people go hang out to meet up with friends, or to pretend to work with laptop. Everything from the menu's to the bathrooms was unique, and artsy.

After our errands, we went back home, Sonia was working hard to make sure everything was ready for the party that evening. Around 4PM, Samer, his mom & sister went back to the notary. I was left in appartment with one of his mom's friend, Jumana [I think that's how it's spelt]. Ended up showing her pictures of my kids, and some of my garden on facebook!!!

Does not seem like there is a woman in Samer's life who did not check me out. However, I was told most seemed to think I was fine. Only 1 person at the party seemed to think I was too old for him. Though the party was at 6PM of course no one arrived before 6:30PM. His friend Souad was there first. Then slowly people arrrived. I'm guessing a total of 40 people showed up, though some came early and left just as quickly and some came late. But it was still a lot of people for shy little me to meet. I pretty much stayed in two seats most of the night. Thankfully some of Samer's closest friends were nice enough to try to engage me into convo, like Bshara, Sandra and Patil. Sadly I was too shy to say much, but there is always a next time.

Last day in Cyprus, she can only whine about the heat.

It is so bloody hot again today. Been wearing a wet face cloth on my neck to help no9t make heat rash worse. Dunno if it will work or not. It's about 40 here and will be for the rest of the week. IT's about 33 in Beirut. At least will be somewhat cooler.

Baby and 2 of her kittens have been hanging out for the past ho0ur, resting in a shady spot. Hot for them too.

Ubber cute kittens

It's so cute, 2 of the kittens are sleeping in the house beside the kitchen door next to the vacuum cleaner. Today is probably the warmest day we've experienced here. IT was still incredibly warm when we went walking around 7PM and we only walked to the golf club. Sadly by the time we decided to leave, so were the remaining of the golfers, and there was way too much dust in the air.

Made French fries from scratch for the first time. They came out reasonably good considering it was my first time and on a gas stove. I wonder if it will be as warm in Beirut the rest of the week? I hope not since it is more humid there then here.

I woulnd't do anything rash

I'm not a happy camper today. I've realized the rash in my neck is a heat rash. And on my hands it's exzema. From the water and the soap. So I have rashes on the various parts of my body and it's not even the same.

I probably haven't had a heat rash since I was a child! My allergies are really bad today. It's going to be 35 in Limassol, meaning 39-40 up here. Thankfully it's not humid.

Walk to the golf went to the dogs.

We walked to the golf tonight and sat the the bench in front of the driving range for an hour enjoying the wind. It's always so peaceful up there. At some point 3 dogs came around. Guessing some golfers let their dogs roam while they play. A white female, some type of retriever, a chocolate brown male, he looked more like a Labrador, and a white male, shorter legs and obviously an ear infection as he kept stopping to shake it and to whine .

When we walked home, we saw them running about on the road, and they decided to follow us to the village. As we approached the first house, a man came running out to shoo the dogs away. In broken English he mentioned that the female had killed a chicken before and he did not want her near his chickens. We said the dogs came from the golf. Once at the Old Mill house, the white dog kept standing in front of the house for a while then she finally ran off.

Tomorrow is our last day of doing nothing in the hills of Cyprus. Monday night, we fly to Beirut.

Post mortem on the tourist day

We ended up talking till around 1AM yesterday. Sadly when I went to bed I could not sleep. First I was too hyper, then he snored! By 2AM the rooster was already at it. Obviously something woke him up, and he kept crowing. If anything I tossed and turned most of the night. I probably fell asleep between 5 and 7AM only. I'm not tired today despite the heat.

I think visiting all those sites yesterday, some which dated back to 2000 BC really recharged my batteries. Especially standing in several pagan worship circles at both the Amathus and the Appollon Yliatis site.

It's like 36 or 37 out today. The wind is actually warmer then the outside temperature. This is the third ant infestation we've had this week. Ants are the same everywhere. Haven't seen any cats today, except the little gray female this morning. This is a first. The long bowl I'm using to feed multiple cats [Often Baby Sr, and her 3 kittens], still has food in it.

This morning the church Bell rang around 7:45AM. WHen I looked out, there was more cars then I'd ever seen parking in our village. I looked out the window and I noticed that there was about 2 dozen people in the courtyard of the 16th century Church, near the crosses on the side. Seems like it was a memorial services. They all scattered around 9:15. Some went to one of the houses in the village, others just left. One of the crosses is always decorated with fresh flowers. I'm guessing this is who the memorial service was for. So despite the age of the small church, it still seems in use. The mutka of this village apparently has the key, and I've seen her show it around some of the neighboring Brits, and their guests. I should have tagged along. I'd like to see the inside of the church. It seems hundreds of years old

Touring the Antiquities

I'm exhausted and a bit burnt from all the sight-seeing. We started our day by visiting the Amathus Archaeological site. It's not far from where we are staying but closer to the waterfront. It boggles the mind how those who lived there so many years ago had running hot water! We think we're so cool with our technology, but we're not.

We then drove along the waterfront to Lady's Mile beach. Some some blokes para-surfing. Like having water ski's and being drawn by a parachute. Then we found the Convent of St Nicolas of the Cats, or "Agios Nikolaos ton gaton". Coming back we drove along the salt lake.

Our next stop was Kolossi Castle, was a medieval castle. Not a particularly big castle compared to what I've seen in other parts of Europe. Then we went to Kourion Archaeological site. There's a small amphitheatre that is still used even today for Shakespeare plays. The view from there was breath-taking.

From there we went to Kourion beach and stopped at a restaurant right on the edge of the water for lunch. After eating, I could not resist walking in the water. Took pictures of the sea and the rolling hills while I was walking in the water.

Then we stopped at the Temple of Appollon Ylatis, another archaeological site. Interestingly enough, most of the sites we visited were on hilltops, from where one could see the Mediterranean sea. It was funny. Both Steve and Samer thought that the Appollon Ylatis was something else. Samer thought it was the Kourion site, and Steve thought it was at the birthplace of Aphrodite. But when I pointed it out along the road, they were both surprised. It was one of the bigger archaeological sites, with nice remains. Loved the circle there. Stood for a few minutes to feel the energies.

Our next stop was "Petra tou Romiou", the birthplace of Aphrodite. Basically a series of 3 large rocks on the waterfront. Steve stopped at a nice Vista point from where we could see the rocks down below, and took a picture of Samer and I with the rock in the background. Then we went down to see the Rocks proper. This particular waterfront is not so much sandy but has tons of 'gallets', round rocks polished from the sea. I could not help myself but had to walk into the water there. Also 5 stones decided that they must come home with me. And I also ended up tying a kleenex on the ribbon tree before leaving there.

We drove to Pafos, to the harbour. Kato Pafos, in the old harbour was another medieval Castle, which we visited. Seemed from the same time frame as the Kolossi castle. Nice view from the top. Perfect lookout to see if enemy is approaching. From there we also visited the Kato Pafos archaeological site. This is a huge site, that includes 4 homes, excavated to show teh ceramic floors. Took lokts of pictures. There was also an amphitheatre, which Steve thought was bigger then the one in Kourion but didnt' seem to be. People were starting to set up for a play, we took pictures of the set too :) We also saw mosaicsm and the ruins of a 13th century castle. We picked up some souvenirs at Kato Pafos for Chris, Michelle and Eliane.

Antiquities, here we come!

Today we are going to do the tourist thing with Steve. We've going to visit all sorts of Antiquities, near both Limassol and Paphos. Looking forward to checking out "The Birth Place of Aphrodite". Good place to bring back a souvenir for my friend Chris.

The purple tree in Kellaki

We walked to Kellaki today around 6PM. We went to the school yard to take photo's with the purple tree that had caught my attention each time we cross the village with Steve. We also walked up to the church "Agios Georgios", which is an ancient church. The view from there is pretty nice. We stopped at the local store to pick up more phone cards for Samer's PDA so we can get our internet fix. We're both such addicts! Of course since we ended up walking past the Taverna 4 times, we got gawked at 4 times!

Cyprus' rolling hills vegetation

It feels so hot already and it's only 10AM. It's sunny, not a cloud in the sky. The kids seem home today so perhaps yesterday was the last day of school.

I'm amazed at all the vegetation there is despite fact that the land seems so dry, and no rain. I mean of all the wild plants I've identified, there's lavender, some yellow sedum, different types of thistles, some wild rose type flowers, and other vegetation I have no names for.

THere's this flowering tree that comes either with white, pale pink or dark pink flowers, that can be found along most of the main roads, that we also saw in a deep crevasse yesterday on our way to Akapnou, in full bloom too. What makes me smile is all the bushy red hibiscus. Mostly they are red, but I've seen pink ones too. Hibiscuses, especially red ones, already remind me of my mom. Brings me a warm fuzzy feeling.

The geraniums are absolutely the biggest I've ever seen. All sorts of shades of reds and pinks. Also various types of palm trees and cactuses seem to both grow wild and people seem to cultivate them too.

In the back near the patio of The Old Mill House is a fig tree, with tons of green figs. Sadly it's too early in the season to be able to sample some fresh local figs. I was so looking forward to eating fresh figs.

Owls, and Cats oh my!

I managed to get a better picture of the Owls tonight. I tried while it was on the edge of the 16th Century church facing the Old Mill House, and I guess the flash annoyed it, so it flew on top of an electrical pole which was closer to me. So I took 2 more pictures, which probably pissed it off more, so it flew away.

Earlier when I noticed the first one on the church, it flew in my direction and I guess my presence in the street distracted it, so it flew into the electrical wires, and barely made it to the top of another electrical pole. What huge wing-span that bird has. Comes out around 8:30-9:00PM just as night falls, and sings all night.

As for the cat count? Baby has 3 kittens, Mommy has 4. That makes 9 cats. Then there's the 2 big male black tabbies, then there's the one male that looks like baby, one male that's all black and white, one that looks calico, so should be female. So easily about 15 cats that roam around this village. And I thought I had too many cats at home!!!!

Where has all the time gone by?

Where is the time flying buy? Only 8 days left of vacation. I could get used to doing nothing! Today we got up pretty late. I could have slept more except for the fact I was asleep by 10:30 last night, and so tired, I forgot to tkae off my contacts! One of those rare times I slept so much. Must have been the heat in Nicosia yesterday.

Today we walked to the golf club in Vilka, then to the other village, Akapnou, then back to Klonari. TOok us about one hour for the round trip. THe section between Vilka and Akapnou was mostly all steep downhill. Was hard on the calves, but Samer wished he had a bicycle to go downhill very fast. Of cousre since it's a dirt road, he would have had fun trying to stop and get the curves.

I made pasta for lunch today, and made 2 sauces. One with ground beef for Samer and one with Zucchini & lentils for me. Both also had onions, garlic, green peppers and carrots. Both came out well, though I must take Samer's opnion for the meat based one since I didn't touch it myself. Still get grossed out, especially by uncooked meat.

I thought we had filled out all the immigration forms the other day, we had spent 3 hours doing so, but apparently we forgot to fill out the Quebec specific ones it seems. Ahhhh, more flucking forms! Oh well one must do what one must do!

I talk about the weather because I'm Canadian.

It was more then 40 in Nicosia today. Thankfully, it was mostly dry heat. Was about 29 in Limassol, and about 35-36C in the hills of Klonari. We waited around 6PM to go take a walk to the golf club before heading back. I was amazed how hot it was even by 7PM. Usually where there is a lot of vegetation, it cools faster. It's actually cooler in Limassol with the breeze from the Mediterranean sea then it is in the mountains.

Nicosia, Lebanese Embassy Part Deux & Sightseeing

We went to Nicosia again today. Didn't leave quite as early as yesterday. The Canadian consulate had stamped our marriage certificate. We were in and out in under 5 minutes. It took maybe half an hour at the Lebanese Embassy. She was unhappy with the fact she didn't get the original, but we h ad told her it was with the Canadians. So she stamped the copy. In 15 days, Samer must call the embassy to get a number, which he presents to some Foreign affairs office in Lebanon, and our marriage will be registered with them. But the documentation they wanted. In duplicate.

After we finished with the paperwork, we went sight-seeing in the "old Nicosia". Inside the old Venetian city walls. We walked around, and went up on teh Shakolas building on Ledra street, which boasts a panoramic view of all of Nicosia. From there we can see the Turkish side. We saw the Turkish flag carved into the mountains. What an insult it must be to the Greek Cypriots.

We had lunch at a nice little place on Ledra street. Samer had a spicy folded pizza and I had an eggplant, mozarella, tomato salad. Our guide buddy Steve had an orange juice. We went into a tourist shop, but nothing was appealing. We also went into a Tourist Info center and I picked up a few brochures, makes for nice souvenirs.

Internet hasn't been working on Samer's mobile today either. Annoying really since we are both internet addicts! He could live in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, so long as there was fast internet. :P

It's more fun when you're Lebanese

So we get to Nicosia. First we stopped at the Justice Ministry and they told us because we're Lebanese and Canadian we do not need them stamped by the Justice ministry but by Foreign affairs. So we went to Foreign affairs and we got the original and the 3 copies stamped. That proved to be cheap and painless.

Then we went to the Canadian consulate. They wanted a bank draft for $50 CAD for certifying the paper. I gave them the original. We figured we'd pick it up on our way back after going to the Lebanese embassy. Well the Lebanese embassy wanted all sorts of papers. Including a paper which Samer will have to fill out with my name in Arabic.

ALso need to put a religion for me. So since we didn't have half of these papers, we had to go to Limassol, to get copies made at city hall. Orthodoxia, was there smiling and very helpful. She even made copies of our passports for us free of charge no less.

So tomorrow morning, we're going back to Nicosia to pick up the original from the Canadian consulate, and to deal with the Lebanese embassy. With all our papers with copies in duplicate.

Baby my adopted Cypriot cat is doing so much better. Her eyes are brighter, her fur is shinier. She seems more energetic. In fact she didn't touch the food tonight. She let the kittens eat it mostly. I saw her later in the filed behind the house with several kittens. She seems to be teaching them how to hunt. Good for her!

Nicosia bureaucracy

Today we were up at the crack of dawn, well 6AM and I was awake at 4:30AM when Bob started signing, because we're going to Nicosia. First to the Minister of Justice, then to the Minister of Foreign affairs. After we have to hit both the Canadian consulate and the Lebanese embasy. This will be fun. Supposed to be over 35C in Nicosia today. Weeee!

Rice and Lentils.

I'm exceptionally pleased with the rice & lentils I made today. I'd never cooked with a gas stove before this week. Last time I made rice it was sticky & burnt. Gaz cooks so much faster then my electric cook top. But I figured out how to make perfect rice, not sticky, not burnt. The lentils came out better too. I added carrots, onions & garlic,. Much tastier. I had to laugh. I realized though, the packaging was in Greek, the lentils were Canadian!

We walked all the way to Kellaki today. Took us about an hour each way. Probably a total of 8 or 9 KMs. Funny that the sign next to the Old mill house says "Kellaki 5KM" and the sign in Kellaki says "Klonari 4KM"!

Keep your rooster away from my bedroom

So this morning it seems Bob was in our bedroom. It turned out he was standing right outside our bedroom patio door, saying "Wake up lazyheads", at 7:30AM. We ended up only getting up around 9:30 AM. Probably the latest we stayed in bed so far.

Restlessness settles in

Today we walked around 6PM. We got 2/3 of the way to Kellaki village. Tomorrow we will attempt to make it all the way. My legs hurt from all the up & down hill walking. Went up to 28 today, though it felt warmer.

I'm so not used to doing absolutely nothing that I'm feeling incredibly restless today. I mean I never do nothing. I work, I garden, I do stuff around the house. I watch TV, but doing nothing is a novel concept. Heck I'm generally on the laptop doing something when I do nothing. I attempted to draw the road leading to Akapnou. Not one of my best works.

After the ceremony

It was a cute marriage ceremony, even for a civil union. The whole ceremony lasted about 15 minutes. The text the marriage officer reads is obviously a direct translation from the Greek. Steve took lots of pictures. Of course my fingers had swelled so I had to argue to get the ring on, but I got it on.

We went to the Venetian restaurant on the seashore road between the Amathus and Limassol. They served a vegetarian moussaka that was to die for. I brought the rest home in a doggie bag, to eat later tonight. The owner Tony, was pretty friendly, and they also serve good food for the carnivores in your life.

My hair looked nice with the orchids as a crown and it worked well with the weather, about 34 today. I made two braids and pinned the flowers through the braids on the top of my head.

Wedding day in Limassol

It's the morning of the big day. I woke up at 6, 6:30, then finally got up at 7:15AM. I did want originally to get up at 6 to start on my hair, but rarely, I was too tired. I decided to let Samer sleep in while I ate breakfast.

I opened the door to the kitchen and it didn't take more then 5 minutes for Baby to show up for her breakfast. She ate most of it before the other female cat, I nicknamed "Mommy", came around and pushed her out of hte way. She didn't seem to mind so much and just went on her merry way. She's looking less skinny already, but she was full of sticky plant seeds, which I removed most of while petting her. She's quite affectionate and purrs if I pet her.

There's 5-6 children in this village and the school bus, a white volkswagen mini-van, picks them up around 7:15AM for school. The bus driver, a girl of no more then 20 helps them into the vehicule. They come back home at 1:15PM. Before the heat gets oppressive.

It's the Mediterranean, and people tend to stay in during the hottest hours. Only the crazy tourists go about in the midday sun.

Internet in the hills of Cyprus

Samer figured out how to get the internet going on his PDA today with the memory chip for his pay as you go he got for Cyprus. This permitted us to go on gmail and on facebook. I realized I did not have hair pins to hold the flowers in my hair. My gut told me that Steve would be at the golf today and so we asked him to drop in on us on the way back from golf. We went to the nearest store which is a grocery/pharmacy - a Cash & Carry to find hair pins.

It's amusing, now that I've been making meals for the past 4 days Samer seems to trust my cooking. I guess he was really 'traumatized' by his mom's cooking. It's one of the first times I cook with a gas stove. I like the speed at which things cook compared to my electrical range top I have at home. Today I made pasta with a lentil tomato sauce. I had fried some chopped garlic, onions, green peppers & carrots. Added the lentils and tomato sauce. Turned out pretty good, considering I don't have any of my cooking spices.

I've been afraid that food will be bland since all I have for seasoning is salt & pepper. For lunch we had a tomato, cucumber, onion, carrot and black Olive salad, with lemon and Olive oil as dressing, along with the baby potatoes from last night.

Tonight we walkede about 1 hour. We took another road, which claimed to be 5 km to the village of Akapnou. But I think their signs are wrong. Took us longer to walk to the golf which they claim is 1km away!

Picked up some cat food for my Baby and her babies today. She's this white cat with splotches, that seems to have 3 kittens. She's so incredibly skinny, I've been feeling compelled to feed her. Had been giving her milk the past 2 days but while they like it, I know it's not good for their digestive track. Got her some Whiska's dried cat food, 2 small bags. One of tuna, one of beef. She eats it so fast. Hopefully I will put some weight on her in the 2 weeks i'm here, so she can better fend for herself later.

Otus Scops

I've identified I think the birds that sound like someone raking over cement. It looks like some type of owl like bird. We tried taking pictures, but they are too far away on top of a neighboring church, that even the flash didn't help.

We went for another walk, this time we walked 45 minutes towards Kellaki, which is 5km away. We didnt' see either a car or a person walking. Something did grunt at us while we walked buy, but nothing we could identify. Perhaps a boar? The sky is so full of stars. Of course the only thing I can clearly identify are the dippers.

Sonia called Samer to tell Samer that the explosion in Beirut tonight was no where near their home. However it was near the waterfront between where we went for lunch on Sunday and where we went for a drink with Patil on Sunday night. Spooky. Since we're not listening to news and we don't have internet, we won't know much from the outside world.

First walk to Golf club

We walked to the Vilka golf club. It took us about 45 minutes to get there and come back. THe view is breath taking. Just funny to me to see a golf club in teh middle of nowhere in hte mountains. I didn't put any sunscreen on since it was around 3:30 PM when we left. I might be a touch burnt but it will give me a little more color later.

I'm a suck for a cute cat.

It's a lazy day at the Old Mill House. I was awake around 5AM. Bob the rooster was obnoxious, but despite his constant noise making I slept again. Despite the heat, there's a nice breeze in the mountains. The old mill house stays relatively cool. This morning I had 3 cats hanging around the front door. One seemed so think, I ended up giving her a bowl of milk, which she lapped away in no time. I know. I'm such a suck for a cute cat. The picture is of the thin mother cat, I called "Baby" and one of her kittens, which ended up being "Baby Jr", since she would also respond to my 'Hello Baby".

The black orchid and tourist shops...

We went around the tourist area and picked up some souvenirs mostly for the women close in our lives and of course for my gay bf. Got him a postcard with a naked guy! After we did that, we took a walk on the waterfront of Limassol. Then we went walking back into the tourist area looking for the Black Orchid flower shop.

Samer remembered a George street.. so we went that way. But apparently it was a George church we should have been looking for. However we walked through the red light district of Limassol it seems. After walking around and not finding place, we called and realized we were in completely wrong area. So we tried walking to the flower shop but gave up at some point, we were both too tired of walking, and took a cab.

We now know the Black Orchid is near the Pizza hut and the Holiday Inn on the road between Amathus and Limassol on the waterfront. The owner, Anthony is pretty nice. He suggested Orchids for my hair, and suggested I go for white rather then pink. Said if was in Pink dress, the flowers should be a different color. He also insisted on making a small bride bouquet, his gift to me. Was made of miniature roses mostly.

Musings

Despite fact Steve told us we were going to have sunny weather for the duration, it's cloudy and it looks like rain clouds. Ive told it occasionally rains in the mountains. The only traffic we see is people on their way to the golf usually mostly middle-aged men, Brits.

It was funny, when we went to the immigration office to extend his Visa for 5 more days, we saw several middle aged men, with much younger women. Samer suggested perhaps the women were the house keepers. But the 10-14cm heels, tight jeans, or short tight skirt they were wearing suggested that they were mail-order brides to me. Most were either asian, Philippina, or Russian.

We mentioned it to Steve and he told me this is pretty common. His comment was something to the effect that Cypriot women were no pic-nic. However he wondered how the Cypriot society would b e affected by this. I find it interesting how when women get emancipated, they tend to look for men who appreciate that them as such. However to a woman from a third world countries the men who we find too old fashioned seem great to them.

Just like I read about in the UAE, the women tend to marry an ex-pat [American, British, French. Germans]. Whereas the men go for the Philipina, and asian women who are generally most submissive.

Paperwork, paperwork, more paperwork.

Incredibly it only took 1 1/2 hours to get through immigration office for Samer to get his Visa extended for another 5 days. His Visa for Cyprus was shorter then the time we were staying. Then it took 30 minutes to apply for a marriage license at the city hall in Limassol. The woman who served us was very efficient, nice and friendly. Seems that her name is Orthodoxia.

By then it was 11:30 and so we stopped at "Cafe Dome" near the city hall in the tourist area in Limassol. He had an English Breakfast, and I had a veggie burger. Sadly they put ketchup on my veggie burger but otherwise the food was good.

Day 1 in Cyprus

I had a dream sequence between 6-7AM. Was of course woken up at 5AM by the rooster, which I nicknamed Bob. Two cats have come to check me out. There's a pair of swallows, dark blue almost black that have been flying together around the old mill house. Looks like there are a couple of nests around the roof of the house. The stars were beautiful last night. I hadn't seen so many stars in years.

Flying to Cyprus

We got up at the crack of dawn [4:00AM] to catch a 7 AM flight from Beirut to Larnaka. It's only a half an hour flight, but of course we had to go through like 7 passport checks, and a bit of a search entering the airport by the Lebanese army.

The flight to Cyprus was quick. Barely go up and then back down. We had this guy Steve pick us up at the Larnaka airport. I'd forgotten that Cyprus was under British rule at some point and that they drive on the left side of the road. I'm grateful we didn't rent a car. It's hard for a dyslexic to change orientation!

Our Villa, The old Mill Hous is in a small village near Limassol, called Klonari. About 20 stone houses. It's in the rolling hills. To me the scenery is new, but Samer tells me the hills feel a lot like the country side in Lebanon. It is quite peaceful, except for a bunch of Brits having a party a few houses down. We've beeing hearing them signing and someone playing guitar for the past 3 hours.

It made me laugh, that they sang "Achy Breaky Heart". Overall the singing is quite pleasant, like a bunch of friends singing around the campfire.

Day 1 in Beirut

I was hoping I would not get same sensation as in Weymontachi, where I just wanted to run away from there as fast as possible. Right now it feels really calm. I've seen dozen's of army check points but that's all I've seen.

Today I got to see a bit of Beirut. Samer took me to his university, to his favorite coffee shop, "The coffee shop", and to a little restaurant on the Corniche near the Roche rock, or "La grotte aux pigeons". We also went back to the waterfront with his friend Patil to Rawda Cafe, which Samer tells me is one of the older cafe's around that area.

So far I've met his mom, Patil, and his old boss, choir director and friend, Leila. I'm always so incredibly shy with people when I first meet them. But I got a warm fuzzy feeling from all three.

On my way to Beirut

So more then half way through the flight, I realize that I'm sitting in the wrong seat. That in fact if I'd sat in the right seat I would have had more rooms for my legs cause it's the emergency exit. I was in the seat directly behind it. Like usual I was not able to sleep. I pretty much checked the time every half hour. If I slept at all it was no more then 30 minutes.

Got to Heathrow 2 hours late, and of course had to go through security check of terminal 3. I don't get that coming off a plane where you've just gone through security to get on, you must go through security immediately. I mean where do they expect us to pick up stuff. I suppose that it's easier to scan everyone then to figure out what country they were from and how heavy duty they have been checked.

Of course you must only have one bag, not even a purse along with a bag, and you must take off your shoes. Waited 30 minutes in a line-up of probably 500 people along this endless corridor it seems.

While waiting in line, my sighing got the guy next to me talking. Just from the sound of his voice I knew he was Lebanese. He had the same accent as Samer speaking English. He bitched about how coming off a plane, we have to go through security.

Finally get through security at same time as Lebanese guy, and we both end up in the same area looking for the MEA counter, there isn't any. Finally we look for information and they tell us it's gate 27, and the plane is boarding. We run like mad to gate 27, and there they checked us in. Apparently a plane from NYC had landed at same time as mine, and I'm guessing between my plane and his plane about 4o passengers were flying to Beirut with MEA. So at least the plane waited for us before leaving. This was rather fortuitous.

We get on the plane and I have to fill a card to enter Lebanon as a foreigner. That is when it hit me that I had left the address where I was staying in Beirut at home. I stressed on the plane hoping my cell would work in Beirut airport so I can call fiance.

The MEA flight was interesting. It's the most children I've seen on a plane in years. Everyone is so friendly> Everyone and their mother talks to you. THere is a certain joy de vivre. Of course I surmised that a lot of Lebanese were coming home to visit. I was one of hte few non-Lebanese on the plane.

Just as we were about the land in Beirut, when I saw the outline of the coast and the buildings, this incredible urge to cry hit me. It wasn't because I'd finally made it to Lebanon after this dreadful week. It wasn't because I was reuniting with my fiance after 3 months apart. It's the first time I go anywhere that I get such intense emotions.

We landed and I noticed army dudes in the Airport. But they seemed more docile then the ones I saw in San Francisco in 1991. I was expecting the military presence. I get to the customs officer and thankfully after telilng him all I knew is that I was staying in Beirut, and that in the excitement of getting married in the next few days I'd left the address at home. He finally said he'd let me through 'this time' without the address.

A friend who I mentioned this, says, you always say "I'm staying at the Plaza hotel". Apparently every city in the world has a plaza hotel :P

My luggage was easy to spot and as I crossed customs I ran into my Lebanese companion of earlier one more time and then found my fiance and his mom waiting for me at the airport arrivals.

Flying to Beirut Today

Already that I hate flying, for starters I found out that while my flights were confirmed, Travelocity had not reserved my vegetarian meals. It didn't help any that I was so busy getting my government issues, notarized, government stamped documents, that I only called to confirm my flight today.

The plane was late arriving from Toronto due to thunderstorms and so it left at least 30 minutes late. And just to make life interesting, as I sat in the plane I realized that there was lightning outside. Prediction is that we will arrive at least 15 minutes late at Heathrow, which if nothing else will keep my 3 hour stop-over shorter.

The plane appeared full, not surprising, more people travel in June then when I had last traveled in February. I was a mixture of bored, stressed and exhausted today. Oh and the first smell that hit me boarding the plane was the smell of urine. Such a delightful aroma. Thankfully in the back of the plane the smell is much better then in the business class.

Down the hall, to your left, just past the ATM

All I can say is AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I really dislike bureaucracy. Why do I need to get government issued papers, first notarized and then stamped by the government as authentic? What a crazy world we live in.

So today I made a trip to Ottawa to "Fort Pearson". I had been warned that I'd take a wrong turn and end up in Hull. Well I did end up in Hull twice. From 2 different ways. Finally I ended parking under 111 Sussex Drive, which cost me $2 for an hour, cheaper then downtown Montreal where it's $5 for half an hour. People in the 111 Sussex Drive building were most helpful. I was mentioning to my daughter we had to figure out which way to go and this woman just offered point us in the right direction.

I mean it takes less then 5 minutes to get the papers stamped. But it took 2 1/2 hours to get there. We finally leave the 111 Sussex Drive and in an effort to avoid landing in Hull again, ended up in the free parking of the building where to get papers stamped. Life's little ironies.