Forever A Fangirl

POOL RESCUE

Current mood: thirsty OMG. I just went to the pool to do laps and the (cute, blond) lifeguard informed me that "it should be okay" (to swim in) as she had added POOL RESCUE this a.m. as the chlorine count was so low. She also assured that I shouldn't worry as she'd have the pool "all cleaned up" by tomorrow. She went on to describe a litany of pool offences created by the substitute lifeguards that had been on duty whilst she was on vacation... Ewww. (Yes, I am going right now to take a shower.) Currently reading : Bad Twin (Hyperion) By Gary Troup Release date: By 02 May, 2006

From One Extreme to the Other

Chris, Raven, & Roger being rowdy.

Morning break our first day there.

Ontario Canada or, Maple Lake Redux II

Fall Waters (ok, not technically Maple Lake  but still Haliburton Highlands)

Maple Lake, 5 a.m. July 16, 2006 (Sepia toned)

Same time and place as above, different space (histogram adj.)

I'm home

5 a.m. Eastern, July 16, 2006 Arrival...

I'm home and this is the first chance I've had to drop by here. I haven't even checked my two email accounts (I'm afraid to. But I'll start tomorrow) though I took a quick peek at the gmail account once while at the Lake.

It was a nice visit w/my immediate and extended family. And it ain't over yet. My younger son asked the day before we left if he could stay on. He doesn't ask for much so I figured he must really want to. But then this year one of the families that we are friendly with and who reside less than an hour from Maple Lake so are at the Lake frequently--got a big motorboat so they and their younger sons are there a lot and other relatives and neighbours are there too, esp. Fri-through-Sun. I guess tubing is fun--I've only done the lazy river thing (on a real river). The owners of the luxury liner also have a smaller fishing boat and are devout fishermen but so far, my son has taken a pass on that. The cousins play a lot of hide and seek just like I did when a kid. It's lake, open spaces, cottages, and woods so lots of places to hide. (But not from the mosquitoes.) 
My favourite cousin was there with her 4-person family unit. It was really nice to catch up with her a bit.
I'll motor up there to retrieve Chris but since it'll just be him and me I'll take the 'stang this time. 

Weather at the lake got HOT so I know Toronto must have been and here (Chicago burbs) was--IS!!!--too. I am not big on super hot heat. It's just too much for more than a day. Our air conditioning is running all the time. My mother kept talking of thinking she would "die of the heat before we had air-conditioning" (and she never lived further south than Toronto!). She forgets that I too remember the pre-air condtioning days, though at age 18 I finally moved to more civilized environs--Huntington Beach, California and finally in my home felt the wonderful thing that is AC.

There's no AC in the cottage. One must be in the lake all day to stay cool--and with a hat and/or shades that works. Someday I'd love to host a meet-up there or even just invite whomever who wants to come up but a few things need taking care of first--and though my Dad says it is my cottage, in truth it is as good as mine/ my brother's as it is willed to us--so I consider it my parents and before I do anything, I have to consider them--and fix up the one room that is terrible--the kitchen and freshen the what-could-be gorgeous, large, screened-in porch with a primo view of the lake. Here though in Chicagoland my home is open to friends at all times.
So I'm meandering here.

5 a.m. Eastern, July 16, 2006

 _________________
If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be. ~ Yogi Berra

I'm here, where are you?

I'm here, where are you?
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Life

Hi from Maple Lake, Ontario!

My week here is near an end and the phone, hence dial-up Internet has been down the whole time. :/
We are at my parents summer place and they only arrived hours before we did.
So there is is quite a lot to do besides bask in the weather in/by the lake. Our first day and my spouse & dad were in the lake trying to determine where the water line was losing pressure. They rigged something but the problem is not atypical due to the cottage sitting unused for most of the year.

So Day One was a day with no running water--very much like camping--which thankfully, I've done. But
overall, we've had fun--lots of relatives are in surrounding cottages atm, but no one else was here for several days. They all live varying easy distances from here--as I probably would if my father had not been transferred to the states when I was 6 y.o. Oh well, that's really neither here nor there. :shrug:
I'd hoped to spend some time helping my dad with some computer/ Internet stuff but I guess since I need to leave for home in the next 36 hrs. there won't be much of that.
My younger son Chris is staying on for a bit though, so perhaps he can help Grandpa with a thing or two. Regardless, I bought 3 mos. of service so my dad may as well haul the little Dell PC that we gave him this Christmas past up here so he can get his fix of world news.

Anyway, wanted to say hello and send my .

Cheers!

--Cyn

Currently reading: The Center of Everything: A Novel By Laura Moriarty Release date: By 14 July, 2004

All you need...

Found this banner whilst I was looking for ideas for giving my blog a face-lift.

Grain of Sand

These photos are from an email my spouse forwarded to me. They kind of look like someone's school Science project. No source though--that would be cool to verify it all or at least the gist of it.

Certainly seems plausible to me.

 

The first three pictures are of planets of our solar system.

The last two pictures are sizes of different bright stars.

This can really make you feel small...

 

Pirates of the Caribbean~Dead Man's Chest

...which we saw last night and I thought was great.

At 2.5 hours there's nary a nitpick.
It was entertaining. Depp and the supporting actors were great--including Orlando--who IMO is not "bland." (Even if he was bland his chiseled handsomeness more than makes up for it.)  :) I think though a better description of Orlando's character is "earnest." And that plays well in this story.

As one might expect from a Gore Verbinski/Jerry Bruckheimer collaboration, POTC: Dead Man's Chest is a fantastically well-crafted spectacle. Johnny Depp has made pirate Captain Jack Sparrow a truly unforgettable "lovable scoundrel," a pirate through and through. Added to the supporting cast, many of whom return from the first Pirates film is a really cool voodoo lady, Tia, who should be in the third instalment, too.

Tia: To find it (where Jack has gone) you must sail to the end of the eart(h) and beyond.

I'm a huge Disneyland fan with the Pirates ride having been one of the two that I originally fell in love with. I couldn't help but notice elements that evoked the ride were integrated throughout this film with my favourite probably the Davy Jone's ship's hundred-year-old-plus crewman resembling a ancient carved face briefly struggling out of his eternal prison giving our heroes some obtuse clues about Davy Jone's locker before sinking back to his "carved" status.

We are flying out to CA next month heading first ot San Diego, then as always when in SoCal to Disneyland. We'll stop at Universal Studios as well for the first time in years. A friend of mine who is big into amusement parks believes that my son will like Universal more than Disneyland. I really had to stifle a snort when she said that. Poor ignorant (I mean that in the nice way--look it up) creature. She just doesn't get it. Once a Disneyland devotee, one never abandons ship.

After thoroughly enjoying all two hours, thirty one minutes of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, an example of what the modern Disney has to offer, I feel even more confident in that assertion.

Elizabeth: There will come a moment when you have a chance to do the right thing.

Jack Sparrow: I love those moments.

Jack Sparrow: I like to wave at them as I pass by.

So You Only Want To Outlaw Disrespect?

When this subject came up my almost 14-y.o. was indignant.

He just could. not. believe. that those in power are going to such lengths to stifle freedom of expression.

Don't we have more pressing issues to address? (that's rhetorical, btw).

The Year of Magical Thinking/Batman Begins

I checked out from the library the Joan Didion book that is in the subject line of this post and I cannot put it down. It is just so powerful-- her narrative is like a freight train of emotion.

Earlier tonight we watched Batman Begins and it, IMO, is hands down the best non-animated Batman I've ever seen. Christian Bale nailed the role and l just love the notion of Batman as a ninja!
I read Batman comics for many years as a child and at that time he really wasn't as dark as some of his later incarnations. Though Bale did convey the aura of "darkness" it wan't so heavy that it weighed down the film. The film struck a nice balance and with the exception of the beginning it's 2-hour run time kept a pretty nice pace. It's probably one of the best superhero films I've ever seen and it absolutely rates a second viewing before we send it back to Net Flix.

Currently reading: The Year of Magical Thinking By Joan Didion Release date: By 04 October, 2005

Currently Watching: Batman Begins (Full Screen Edition) Release date:

Hair

I spent $70 on mine today to have a friend colour it.
Seventy dollars. Plus probably another seven in gasoline to drive the 50 miles round trip to get it done.
Vanity is expensive.

Hotter Than The Hubs

Today was beastly uncomfortable.

It wasn't unpleasant activity-wise--went swimming (lap & play after with the fam); we were going to go to the local 'fest but the weather was ominous--watches for nasty storms--hail--high winds--it was enough for us to go to Prairie Rock microbrewery for dinner instead of walking around an outdoors place with lots of metal rods (tents) and rides.

Appetizers were very good, especially the crab cakes & artichoke dip w/pita bread. I ate too much of the dip though and now I'm suffering for it. I had a stuffed chicken breast for the entree and it was only fair. The service could have been better. I didn't like using the same little plates and the same silverware for appetizers, which also included  buffalo wings (messy) and chicken sticks, and for the (very good fresh) bread and for the the entree. For a place this expensive we should have gotten fresh plates & silverware, IMO. We had fun just the same.

When we came back I wanted to watch Batman Begins on On Demand but we waited too long and they've stopped running it. We caught the last two-thirds of Mars Attacks which is always amusing..

That's about it.

Cheers!

--Cyn

Blogged with Flock

Home ownership is such a treat sometimes

Woke to find that my dishwasher imploded and emptied itself in our (finished) basement. It was still draining itself near a bunch of my books, supplies, and other assorted goodies including a nice Oriental rug that is there on account of when the washer imploded about six months ago and we had to tear up the carpet.
Home ownership is such a treat sometimes. :insert heavy sarcasm:

So I went into panicky mode and moved a lot of stuff and frell! it's humid without all the water coming through the ceiling. With it, forget it. Then I went to the store and sweated like a pig and really had to work to not to lose it with the woman who was "helping" me sort through books. She just gets in my way and slows me way down but I'm soooper nice because she is in fact mentally retarded. She's maybe 5 years old equivalent and they stuck her in books (which has now expanded to media) and she peels price stickers off of books. She was kind of shunted there because she tags along with her father --an old guy-- and her brother who is also mentally retarded but no where near as severely as "J." I can't very well make her stop but she asks me to okay every.single. book. and I gotta look up from what I'm doing, have her show me and give the yay or nay and today was just not good for me to have to do that. And I don't feel bad about it (very much) either 'cos I was not snippy at all with her. I saved that up for spouse after I got home.

Have a good evening and a very pleasant tomorrow.

Independence Day Parade, Palatine Illinois, 2006

It was Canada Day as well. I thought the Americans were very nice to celebrate with us. ;)

So that's essentially a link which should take you to yet another download. 
I get so perturbed when I go to play a file with a funky extension and I gotta do that.

Happy Canada Day!!!