The past week has been great. Philipp came up for a visit for the past week as he needed to return to Canada for a work Visa in Brazil. Turns out he got offered a two-year position in some Health Institute affiliated with the Government of Brazil. Sweet! So he did what he needed to do in Montreal and came up for a week to spend time with Vero and I.
Friday I was in Toronto for a conference but flew back in during the evening and headed straight for Darcy McGee’s to meet up with Cousin Rick and company. It was funny to see Rick again so soon as we had met at the Queen and Beaver Public House for some excellent burgers and cask beer the night before. I highly recommend the place!
Darcy’s was bloody cold in the basement as you get the draft from outside. It didn’t help that it was -35 outside! While I can say the night was memorable, they weren’t good memories of freezing our asses off down there. In the end, we realized that we may have to put the Darcy McGee’s outing to bed next year and choose another (warmer) locale.
The rest of the week consisted of a few beer and watching with Alfred Hitchcock films with Philipp. I found it quite entertaining as Philipp is like me when it comes to films…we can watch a bunch in a sitting! Vero finds it hard to sit through a bunch of films. I thoroughly enjoyed our Saturday evening of staying inside the warm house and proceeding to watch five films! It was a great time to spend with Philipp and I’m sure he will have a fun time for the next few years down in Brazil! I doubt that we will return there anytime soon, but there are always other locales that we can all meet up to (like Nottingham!).
My parents ended up ending their whirlwind tour of Southern Ontario by staying with us for a few days. Vero prepared some excellent meals and proceeded to introduce me to the cleanliness of a ‘woman’s touch’ in the house. My Dad even ended up complimenting Vero on how the house looks now! We ended up going over to Lynn and Sue’s one night to find out that it very well may be the final time we set foot in the place as they are trying to sell the house and move to a place in Perth.
On Friday night, Mike and I headed to Stittsville…home to a silent charity auction for our friend Mike’s step-sister. While we didn’t know many people, it was nice to see Maureen, Melissa and Mike and also walk away with some sweet auction items! Mike scored a nice piece of artwork for $90 and I scored some car items for Vero’s new wheels (notably a Beatles travel mug which was last seen (unbeknownst to me as I never participated in the gift exchange) at my own Christmas party!
Saturday, we headed down to the Canal bright and early and arrived there at 10AM to meet up with Shirley, Peter, Aunt Dinah and Uncle Richard, Danny and Kathy. It was quite the group and it was a cool morning. My face was quite cold but the pain went away once it was frozen! Dad and I walked up the Canal as the others skated ahead of us. All in all, I would recommend going to the Canal earlier than later in the day as the ice is beautiful and there isn’t as many people. We headed to the Royal Oak for a bite to eat and found out (to dismay) that lunch wasn’t being served until 2PM! Argh. After a few beers and a Western sandwich, we looked at the ice sculptures. Seeing that it was the first weekend, most of them were not completed but they were hard at work on them all and they looked quite interesting. I especially liked the one that was a giant tarantula.
An afternoon nap was calling our name so we headed home and relaxed and then went out to Rockwell’s Diner on Merivale for supper along with the same group and the MacLeod (Ottawa-side) clan joined us. I had a good laugh when Laurie was offering her services as a wedding planner even though I have no intentions for a wedding anytime soon. She had just got married last Fall and it seems that she still loves to talk anything about weddings.
We headed home, watched the latest Indiana Jones film (which I still say is quite entertaining) and the next day, went to Costco to get Dad some cheap Coors Light and spent the evening relaxing and playing some guitar. All in all, a great couple of weeks with some visitors and they are welcome anytime in the future! Especially when they offer to help me fix my dryer, finish the trim in the kitchen and general maintenance! Thanks Dad!