Ooh, I can see the fireworks out my window...pretty lights!
I don't think I've done anything particularly exciting for Canada Day in a while. Today was very nice though. My friend Kyla and I went out to Toronto Island armed with a picnic.--Almost missed the ferry but luckily the holiday crowds kept it behind schedule.
I always find that Centre Island is too touristy so we walked over to Ward's and ate our picnic under a tree in the soccer/baseball field...very nice. We had huge sandwiches and multiple helpings of salad followed by brownies, which we decided to pair with ice cream from the snack bar, espresso flake...YUM! After lunch we met a really cool artist guy who was selling handpainted t-shirts, the majority of which were sunflower paintings (which of course is what attracted me.) At first I thought he said they were $14 so I was really considering buying one of the really large ones to make a pillow out of. But it turns out he really said $40...I wasn't about to pay that obviously. We ended up talking to him while we were waiting for the ferry. He's an Island resident so he was totally into everything...very enthusiastic! He told us about a really cool theatre production that's going on in August that I'd really like to go to. Apparently each scene takes the audience to a different part of the Island...neat! He was so much fun that despite my attempts to be frugal (who am I kidding huh? We all know I'm no good at that!) I couldn't resist buying something from him. He had a kids shirt that was only $20 with a sunflower on it so I went for that. It'll probably be too small and it's not as nice as the bigger ones. But it's cute and if it doesn't fit I'll make it into a pillow...I thought I could make a cool petal-like boarder to make it really nice.
When we got back to the city side we headed over to Harbourfront to meet our friend Dyan and catch Mike Ford's set on the "Canada stage". Perfect thing to do on Canada Day! Why sit at home when you can learn a little Canadian history and have fun doing it? *hehe* The silly woman who introduced him introduced him as "perhaps best known as one fourth of the ecclectically successful vaudville group Moxy Fru*vouse*." Now how exactly do you gain ecclectic success?
The kids (young and old) were getting a kick out of him. It was a lot of fun. He seemed slightly nervous and looked a little hot and stuffy in his all black stage outfit. I mean, when it's 30 degrees outside we'll all understand if your couteur doesn't come off as totally suave Fordy! He did The Seaway, Les Voyageurs, Louis & Gabriel, I'm Gonna Roam, Crossroads, a song that I hadn't heard before that is apparently by "a great Canadian musician", The Arrogant Worms' We Are the Beaver, I've Been Everywhere and one of the new ones that is set to appear on the upcoming Canada Needs You vol 2. We totally failed in the trivia department though. Fordy likes to ask random Canadiana-based trivia questions and today he asked the one about Diefenbaker's dog again and neither of us could remember the answer...blah, bad history students! Then he prefaced "We Are the Beaver" by asking "It's Canada Day and we are the...?" We figured out the Arrogrant Worms part but the rest was just a big DUH! I'm sure the question was directed at us too...oops! In all fairness the Worms do have a lot of songs about Canada.
I wore my "I Love Canadian Boys" Fruvous shirt, both as a joke...and because it really is my only Canadian-themed garment. When we were talking to Fordy afterwards he looked at my shirt and said "hey, I forgot about that shirt! I lobbyed pretty hard against it." *Heh* I probably would've too if I were him...but how ironic! He did comment on his fine handiwork though *hehe*.
Poor Dyan had to hightail it outta there shortly after the show because as usual she has a million things on the go that she is behind in. Hopefully she'll see the light at the end of the tunnel soon. But Kyla and I walked around and looked at all the pretty things that were for sale.--Kind of a painful practice when you're totally broke, but we both ended up getting a pair of earrings. I got a pair that are large pieces of white shell with red birds painted on them. They're kind of tackey but I really like them.
I was supposed to head out to North York tonight to catch Cuff the Duke at Mel Lastman Square with my friend Tara. But when I came home to change around 6:30 the sky got black and it started to pour rain. Tara said it was even worse out there so sadly, we decided to forget it. I had a feeling that it would clear up (and I was right!) but by the time it did it was too late to get all the way out there in time. Boo...now I've missed Wayne twice in two weeks! I suppose it's just as well cuz I was out in the hot sun for almost 8 hours today and I'm SOOOO tired! I really did want to see CTD though...grr, stupid rain!
*Heh* before I left today I grabbed a pair of red earrings out of my beading box so that they would be all Canada-themed and match the red in my shirt. On my way to the ferry I thought one of them had fallen out of my ear, so as not to look silly wearing just one earring I took out the "remaining" one and put it in my bag. I just went to scratch my ear and it turns out the earring was just caught in my hair a bit and I didn't feel it earlier. So I spent the day in an A-semetrical earring situation anyway!
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