Finish stressful day jam packed with meetings and not time to actually get things done. Leave work...the air is hot and the sun is shining. Have an uneventful drive from home to cottage...sure the usual slow down in Barrie is there, but who cares when you're on the way to a personal paradise.
Turn into the cottage driveway and get that first glimpse of the lake that washes away all the stress. Realize that the hummingbirds cleared their feeder in one week and refill. They're back to feast almost immediately. Head to the lake and the boat for a boat ride. Having a boat at the cottage is like adding a whole new dimension. It's like you lived in 2 planes before, but now you have access to a third plane which is the lake. Cruise around the lake and all the neighbours wave hello as you pass them. See the Canadian flags perched on many docks on the lake. Think about how it is that people in the city are not this friendly and not this patriotic. Return to cottage for a simple bar-b-q dinner. Post dinner, realize that it's a beautiful sunset that would be best observed from the boat. Head on the boat again. Enjoy the view and the wind in your hair. Return to the dock on the lake and sit on the dock and watch the stars appear, literally one by one...count who sees the next one first! Spot the beaver and the loon swim across the lake. And then, when it's fully dark, enjoy the starlit sky, with no moon, and the milky way brushed across the sky. Wow. Love it.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
On a funny note....
I'm a realist, and so I know that my dear friend Cristina is really the only person that actually reads this blog. She played to my ego on several occasions, talking about how much she enjoyed the perspectives Ivan and I shared, and since I'm easily prone to giving in to flattery, I am continuing to blog.
Now, you may have noticed the counter on the blog page...with some rather large and continually increasing numbers. Well, the counter I installed (just a macro on the page) actually allows me to do various analysis on those that visit the blog.
So, every week, I receive a report that tells me how many hits there were on the blog, I can look geographically where the hits were from and I can look at the 'referring' page...meaning the page that led that person to the blog....and this is where the funny part comes in. Consistently, over the last couple of years, the referring page to our blog is based on someone doing a Google search for... where to find Philadelphia Cream Cheese in Bangalore (now we'll get double the hits for those key words!). Googling this turns up an entry we wrote in November 2007. If you've lived as an expat in Bangalore (as my dear friend Cristina has), you know that this will stir up memories of trying to find items you so crave or need, or the excitement when you actually find it. So, sympathies to all those currently in Bangalore Googling on where to find Philadelphia Cream Cheese and good luck finding it!
In other news, we'll be painting the cottage this coming weekend, so I should be able to share some Before & After photos soon :-)
Now, you may have noticed the counter on the blog page...with some rather large and continually increasing numbers. Well, the counter I installed (just a macro on the page) actually allows me to do various analysis on those that visit the blog.
So, every week, I receive a report that tells me how many hits there were on the blog, I can look geographically where the hits were from and I can look at the 'referring' page...meaning the page that led that person to the blog....and this is where the funny part comes in. Consistently, over the last couple of years, the referring page to our blog is based on someone doing a Google search for... where to find Philadelphia Cream Cheese in Bangalore (now we'll get double the hits for those key words!). Googling this turns up an entry we wrote in November 2007. If you've lived as an expat in Bangalore (as my dear friend Cristina has), you know that this will stir up memories of trying to find items you so crave or need, or the excitement when you actually find it. So, sympathies to all those currently in Bangalore Googling on where to find Philadelphia Cream Cheese and good luck finding it!
In other news, we'll be painting the cottage this coming weekend, so I should be able to share some Before & After photos soon :-)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wildlife Weekend
A quick update...last weekend at the cottage has been dubbed wildlife weekend...no, not because of both of our parents being there, but because we saw: a cute frog, a beaver swimming across the lake to get a branch, several deer, ducks and their ducklings and ofcourse, chippy the chipmunk. Other than that, the weekend was full of socializing, fishing, some work and lots of relaxing.
Friday, June 12, 2009
First weekend at the cottage
I wrote this last Sunday but only posting now on Friday when it's time for the second weekend at the cottage!
We took possession of our cottage on Friday June 5, 2009. We heard from the lawyers in the morning that the deal closed successfully. Meanwhile, we rented a van so that we could take some things from our house to the cottage. There didn't seem to be a lot of stuff to take, but there were a couple of big pieces (like a patio set) that we knew we wouldn't be able to fit into our SUV. In the end, we did fill up the van almost completely - with the patio set, various boxes of towels and linen, tools, DVDs and so on. We left the house at 11am and headed NORTH! The ride was pretty uneventful, except that the van we rented seemed to have been used for transporting some produce in the previous rental. The result was a slippery (oily) floor and a distinct aroma. Kind of like olive oil, ripe tomatoes and some oregano. So, the whole 2hr drive up north we felt like we were swimming in a tomato salad.
We reached Huntsville in about 2hrs and went to pick up the keys to our cottage. Of course, there was a mix up and they didn't have them. Yikes! Not to worry, we kept calm and told them we'd go for lunch while they sorted things out. Sure enough, they got them by the time we finished a quick lunch. We drove up to the cottage with a strange feeling - is this really our lake? our street? We own a cottage? And then, we turned into the drive way and got a view of the sun glistening against the lake and felt absolutely amazing! The lot that we had seen a month ago with just budding trees was now filled in with full maple trees resulting in amazing privacy and a beautiful view to the lake.
Well, we didn't gawk at the view too long, because there was work to do. We unloaded the van and took survey of the insides of the cottage. A couple of the things that had been in the contract were not in the cottage (previous owners had taken with them), but not enough to get upset about (especially when you turned around and looked at the lake). Missing were the coffee maker, toaster, kettle, many dishes and the dining room table. The first few things are really minimal, and we were planning to get rid of the dining room table anyway, so they did us a favour. In typical Ryzebol fashion, once we unloaded the van, we couldn't stop working...starting with some cleaning and unpacking and so on. But, we also had to go back into town and get some supplies - food, cleaning supplies and so on. We went for a shopping spree in the large grocery store in Huntsville (20 minutes away) and got everything we needed. We also eyed the BBQ and gazebo they had as something we may come back for the next day.
On returning to the cottage, we got back to work cleaning, moving the furniture and putting things away. We worked at a fast pace and almost didn't really realize how hard we were working. At around 5pm, we stopped and decided it was cocktail time. We opened up a bottle of Australian Chardonnay and headed to the water's edge. Sitting on the dock, with the beautiful lake in front of us was mesmerizing. Watching the water and the reflection of the trees in the water was just beautiful Chico was a little unsure of the whole dock thing, but definitely curious and enjoying all the new smells he was sniffing. Daylight turned out to be quite long...it was light until at least 9:30pm, although by that time we were on our 2nd bottle of Chardonnay, so who really knows what time it was? By the way, did I mention that I don't want to hang a clock at the cottage? Sure, we have a clock on the stove, so we can always check if we really have to. But, I feel that the cottage is all about relaxing and not caring what time it is. So...no clock...
We started the 2nd day at the cottage early in the morning and had beautiful sunshine in the whole living room as we face east. We sat outside with our coffee and again enjoyed the view. We had been talking a lot about bears, given that there had been some recent sightings in the area, but Ivan assured me that we were not likely to run into one. As it turned out, my first run in with the fauna of the region was a chipmunk - oh so cute, but they are rodents!. I saw him come across the deck and figured he'd run away when he realized humans were around. But, instead he tried to climb up my chair! Obviously, I jumped and some coffee was spilled because of this ;-) Probably, he was doing this out of habit, if the previous owners were feeding him while they had their coffee. Ok...no more coffee, gotta get back to work. A couple of hours into working, we again headed into town for round two of shopping. Even though our cottage came fully furnished, there were a couple of things we wanted to change to make it our own. We headed to a store that was having a large sale event and purchased a sofa and two chairs. We took the two chairs with us and the sofa should be delivered in a couple of weeks. Then we went to another store and bought a BBQ and a gazebo. A BBQ is not something you buy that often, so I had forgotten that when you buy one, it requires assembly! Apparently, you need a PhD in order to assemble it....the instructions are a 40 page booklet! The assembly took a while and we did have some bolts and screws left over at the end, so we'll see how long that stays together! ;-)
Another evening with a nice dinner and another bottle of wine...cottaging rocks! :-) While eating dinner, we saw a beautiful wood pecker with a red top of the head. I didn't get a chance to snap a photo, so I hope we see him again! And, we had another night of deep sleep alongside the sounds of nature. Our last day here, it's cloudy and it's raining off and on. We're finishing up some things like cutting back the weeds and then we'll had home in the evening. Chico is now used to being here, used to the dock and running back and forth like crazy.
We got a couple of calls from our parents while we were up here and it looks like next weekend we will have a full house here. My parents, Ivan's parents and my brother. Seven ppl total. Will be crazy but I'm sure it will be fun. And no better people to celebrate the cottage with!
(The photo link is updated with some photos from the weekend and we'll keep it up to date)
We took possession of our cottage on Friday June 5, 2009. We heard from the lawyers in the morning that the deal closed successfully. Meanwhile, we rented a van so that we could take some things from our house to the cottage. There didn't seem to be a lot of stuff to take, but there were a couple of big pieces (like a patio set) that we knew we wouldn't be able to fit into our SUV. In the end, we did fill up the van almost completely - with the patio set, various boxes of towels and linen, tools, DVDs and so on. We left the house at 11am and headed NORTH! The ride was pretty uneventful, except that the van we rented seemed to have been used for transporting some produce in the previous rental. The result was a slippery (oily) floor and a distinct aroma. Kind of like olive oil, ripe tomatoes and some oregano. So, the whole 2hr drive up north we felt like we were swimming in a tomato salad.
We reached Huntsville in about 2hrs and went to pick up the keys to our cottage. Of course, there was a mix up and they didn't have them. Yikes! Not to worry, we kept calm and told them we'd go for lunch while they sorted things out. Sure enough, they got them by the time we finished a quick lunch. We drove up to the cottage with a strange feeling - is this really our lake? our street? We own a cottage? And then, we turned into the drive way and got a view of the sun glistening against the lake and felt absolutely amazing! The lot that we had seen a month ago with just budding trees was now filled in with full maple trees resulting in amazing privacy and a beautiful view to the lake.
Well, we didn't gawk at the view too long, because there was work to do. We unloaded the van and took survey of the insides of the cottage. A couple of the things that had been in the contract were not in the cottage (previous owners had taken with them), but not enough to get upset about (especially when you turned around and looked at the lake). Missing were the coffee maker, toaster, kettle, many dishes and the dining room table. The first few things are really minimal, and we were planning to get rid of the dining room table anyway, so they did us a favour. In typical Ryzebol fashion, once we unloaded the van, we couldn't stop working...starting with some cleaning and unpacking and so on. But, we also had to go back into town and get some supplies - food, cleaning supplies and so on. We went for a shopping spree in the large grocery store in Huntsville (20 minutes away) and got everything we needed. We also eyed the BBQ and gazebo they had as something we may come back for the next day.
On returning to the cottage, we got back to work cleaning, moving the furniture and putting things away. We worked at a fast pace and almost didn't really realize how hard we were working. At around 5pm, we stopped and decided it was cocktail time. We opened up a bottle of Australian Chardonnay and headed to the water's edge. Sitting on the dock, with the beautiful lake in front of us was mesmerizing. Watching the water and the reflection of the trees in the water was just beautiful Chico was a little unsure of the whole dock thing, but definitely curious and enjoying all the new smells he was sniffing. Daylight turned out to be quite long...it was light until at least 9:30pm, although by that time we were on our 2nd bottle of Chardonnay, so who really knows what time it was? By the way, did I mention that I don't want to hang a clock at the cottage? Sure, we have a clock on the stove, so we can always check if we really have to. But, I feel that the cottage is all about relaxing and not caring what time it is. So...no clock...
We started the 2nd day at the cottage early in the morning and had beautiful sunshine in the whole living room as we face east. We sat outside with our coffee and again enjoyed the view. We had been talking a lot about bears, given that there had been some recent sightings in the area, but Ivan assured me that we were not likely to run into one. As it turned out, my first run in with the fauna of the region was a chipmunk - oh so cute, but they are rodents!. I saw him come across the deck and figured he'd run away when he realized humans were around. But, instead he tried to climb up my chair! Obviously, I jumped and some coffee was spilled because of this ;-) Probably, he was doing this out of habit, if the previous owners were feeding him while they had their coffee. Ok...no more coffee, gotta get back to work. A couple of hours into working, we again headed into town for round two of shopping. Even though our cottage came fully furnished, there were a couple of things we wanted to change to make it our own. We headed to a store that was having a large sale event and purchased a sofa and two chairs. We took the two chairs with us and the sofa should be delivered in a couple of weeks. Then we went to another store and bought a BBQ and a gazebo. A BBQ is not something you buy that often, so I had forgotten that when you buy one, it requires assembly! Apparently, you need a PhD in order to assemble it....the instructions are a 40 page booklet! The assembly took a while and we did have some bolts and screws left over at the end, so we'll see how long that stays together! ;-)
Another evening with a nice dinner and another bottle of wine...cottaging rocks! :-) While eating dinner, we saw a beautiful wood pecker with a red top of the head. I didn't get a chance to snap a photo, so I hope we see him again! And, we had another night of deep sleep alongside the sounds of nature. Our last day here, it's cloudy and it's raining off and on. We're finishing up some things like cutting back the weeds and then we'll had home in the evening. Chico is now used to being here, used to the dock and running back and forth like crazy.
We got a couple of calls from our parents while we were up here and it looks like next weekend we will have a full house here. My parents, Ivan's parents and my brother. Seven ppl total. Will be crazy but I'm sure it will be fun. And no better people to celebrate the cottage with!
(The photo link is updated with some photos from the weekend and we'll keep it up to date)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Blogging Again
We've decided to blog again.
Repatriation has been an lengthy experience with many emotions, but it's time to move on now. Time for new adventures, new projects and new experiences.
And so, with this forward looking spirit, we purchased a cottage. Yes, yes, some people may choose to go out for dinner, purchase a new outfit, a new book, a new accessory, but not us. A cottage it is for us!
For our international friends, in Canada, cottages are like weekend or summer getaway homes.
The Canadian landscape offers the opportunity for many different types of cottages....in the bush, on a rock, on an island, on a river, on a (small, medium, large) lake, on the ocean, etc. In Ontario (our province) in particular, there are several cottage regions where the urbanites escape to nature with family and friends for swimming, canoeing, kayaking, waterskiing, fishing, hiking and boating. In the winter, there is skiing (cross country and downhill), snowshoeing and snowmobiling.
Probably the most famous cottage region in Ontario is Muskoka. This region has over 1600 lakes!! Various famous Americans have purchased cottages in that area, and so that area tends to be more well known world wide than others. (Before you ask, no we don't have any movie stars as neighbours). Muskoka has a population of 50,000 that swells to 150,000 during the summer as many tourists come from across the world for a vacation here. Over the last several years, the area has developed while still keeping it's natural charm, so that the picturesque villages, provincial parks and farming communities are together with lakeside vacation resorts, golf resorts, spas, marinas, art centers and theatres.
Although I'm thoroughly a city girl, I grew up spending summer vacations camping in and around this area. When you drive north from Toronto and hit that first view of a Muskoka lake, when you see the large rocks of the Canadian Shield it takes your breath away with it's beauty.
So, my plan is to blog about cottage life. I hope to learn, experience and document lots. (I say "I" because Ivan already seems know so much about this kind of lifestyle. We all know he's that all-round Canadian type, so I'm sure you're not surprised at that. Although, Ivan is promising to make occasional blog contributions on this topic as well :-))
Repatriation has been an lengthy experience with many emotions, but it's time to move on now. Time for new adventures, new projects and new experiences.
And so, with this forward looking spirit, we purchased a cottage. Yes, yes, some people may choose to go out for dinner, purchase a new outfit, a new book, a new accessory, but not us. A cottage it is for us!
For our international friends, in Canada, cottages are like weekend or summer getaway homes.
The Canadian landscape offers the opportunity for many different types of cottages....in the bush, on a rock, on an island, on a river, on a (small, medium, large) lake, on the ocean, etc. In Ontario (our province) in particular, there are several cottage regions where the urbanites escape to nature with family and friends for swimming, canoeing, kayaking, waterskiing, fishing, hiking and boating. In the winter, there is skiing (cross country and downhill), snowshoeing and snowmobiling.
Probably the most famous cottage region in Ontario is Muskoka. This region has over 1600 lakes!! Various famous Americans have purchased cottages in that area, and so that area tends to be more well known world wide than others. (Before you ask, no we don't have any movie stars as neighbours). Muskoka has a population of 50,000 that swells to 150,000 during the summer as many tourists come from across the world for a vacation here. Over the last several years, the area has developed while still keeping it's natural charm, so that the picturesque villages, provincial parks and farming communities are together with lakeside vacation resorts, golf resorts, spas, marinas, art centers and theatres.
Although I'm thoroughly a city girl, I grew up spending summer vacations camping in and around this area. When you drive north from Toronto and hit that first view of a Muskoka lake, when you see the large rocks of the Canadian Shield it takes your breath away with it's beauty.
So, my plan is to blog about cottage life. I hope to learn, experience and document lots. (I say "I" because Ivan already seems know so much about this kind of lifestyle. We all know he's that all-round Canadian type, so I'm sure you're not surprised at that. Although, Ivan is promising to make occasional blog contributions on this topic as well :-))
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Repatriation
Repatriation. It's a subject that really deserves to be the closing topic of this part of our blog. We were warned. We read the literature. So, we knew that moving back to ones country can be just as much culture shock as the initial move out of the home country. For me, I've been feeling this repatriation phenomenon a lot more than Ivan. It's wearing off a bit now, but the first couple of months were hard. It's hard to describe, but I really missed India. I missed so many aspects of it. Whether it be the incredible friends we made, my mobile phone constantly buzzing with SMS activity (it's oh so silent here in Canada), the chaos which really forces you to be creative about getting things done, Anthony and Mary, and even work. And how is it that I now prefer to call a company that always picks up the phone (even if I may not understand the person that picks it up) over calling a company that forces me to leave a message and then never returns my call? Why does it bother me when people send an email instead of calling? In an effort to still stay connected, I read the online version of Times of India. This is silly, because I used to complain so much how I didn't understand so many articles because of the way they were written. And now, I get a happy feeling in the pit of my stomach when I get confused by an article!
So, a couple of things have been very glaring. One is that when we moved to India, we didn't miss home (see one of the early blog entries), and yet when we moved back to Canada, we miss India! How strange! I suppose I could explain it by the fact that when we moved to India, we knew we were eventually returning home, where as it may be a long time before we actually go to India again. The other very interesting point, is that so many people (friends, media, literature, etc.) have referred to India as a very special place, in a kind of spiritual or other wordly way. While I didn't necessarily find this spirituality in India, I certainly found it fascinating. But, now I realize that even for me, it was a special spiritual place. Not so much maybe in the traditional spiritual way, but in the incredible friendships we formed and the way we as persons were influenced by India. These things are now a part of my spirit. (My eyes are actually tearing as I write this.) I've never been particularly good at creative writing, so it's hard for me to put into words the special friendships we made in India and how much they mean to us. We bonded with friends over similarities, differences, hardships, good food, bad food, sunshine, monsoon, gin and tonics, wine, champagne, golf, football, cricket, etc. etc. It's also hard to describe how we have changed as a result of the experience, but I know that we have. I feel like I'm seeing the world with different eyes and from a different perspective.
And, so, I say a big Thank You to that complex and contradictory place that is India. Thank you for an amazing experience and in this global world, I hope our paths cross again and again.
I don't know how often we'll continue to update this blog now that the India chapter has closed, but I'll promise to try!
So, a couple of things have been very glaring. One is that when we moved to India, we didn't miss home (see one of the early blog entries), and yet when we moved back to Canada, we miss India! How strange! I suppose I could explain it by the fact that when we moved to India, we knew we were eventually returning home, where as it may be a long time before we actually go to India again. The other very interesting point, is that so many people (friends, media, literature, etc.) have referred to India as a very special place, in a kind of spiritual or other wordly way. While I didn't necessarily find this spirituality in India, I certainly found it fascinating. But, now I realize that even for me, it was a special spiritual place. Not so much maybe in the traditional spiritual way, but in the incredible friendships we formed and the way we as persons were influenced by India. These things are now a part of my spirit. (My eyes are actually tearing as I write this.) I've never been particularly good at creative writing, so it's hard for me to put into words the special friendships we made in India and how much they mean to us. We bonded with friends over similarities, differences, hardships, good food, bad food, sunshine, monsoon, gin and tonics, wine, champagne, golf, football, cricket, etc. etc. It's also hard to describe how we have changed as a result of the experience, but I know that we have. I feel like I'm seeing the world with different eyes and from a different perspective.
And, so, I say a big Thank You to that complex and contradictory place that is India. Thank you for an amazing experience and in this global world, I hope our paths cross again and again.
I don't know how often we'll continue to update this blog now that the India chapter has closed, but I'll promise to try!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Small Strangeness
BTW, when we paid 1000INR ($25CAD) for parking the other week, Ivan also paid 360INR ($9CAD) for a beer at the venue. Another shocker in price! And yes, I am internally converting prices from $s to INR to be able to gage value.
Last Friday we went to a cute little Thai restaurant in our neighbourhood. It's under new management and we were happy to find it is family run with sweet people from Laos. They were sweet people, reminding us of how much we love South East Asia. We realized later that when we made our order, we said each item from the menu as a question. It was as if we were fully expecting the waiter to say "Sorry, we are out of that", like usually happened in Bangalore. Imagine our surprise when everything we ordered was actually available!
The other funny part was that whenever the waiter came close to our table, I felt like I had to hurry up and eat. My thought was that he was there to pick up our plates eagerly as soon as we at the last morsel. Of course, that wasn't the case, but it's left over automatic response from Bangalore restaurants!
Last Friday we went to a cute little Thai restaurant in our neighbourhood. It's under new management and we were happy to find it is family run with sweet people from Laos. They were sweet people, reminding us of how much we love South East Asia. We realized later that when we made our order, we said each item from the menu as a question. It was as if we were fully expecting the waiter to say "Sorry, we are out of that", like usually happened in Bangalore. Imagine our surprise when everything we ordered was actually available!
The other funny part was that whenever the waiter came close to our table, I felt like I had to hurry up and eat. My thought was that he was there to pick up our plates eagerly as soon as we at the last morsel. Of course, that wasn't the case, but it's left over automatic response from Bangalore restaurants!
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