This message is from Homer the dog: It was a traumatic weekend. Andrew came to visit and wanted to hug and kiss and treat me like a person, and I wanted to treat him like a dog somewhat larger than I am, which means I wanted to run and hide. Several times the family had to put on a search for me because I retreated to the pool house to hide. And it was very hot, with no remedy for a dog who hates water. Saturday night at Joe's birthday there were two small boys and lots of big people so I hid as long as I could. They hung a sprinkler hose from the pergola (yes, my vocabulary is very good, even better than Andrew's) and I finally got so hot I pretended it was rain and ran back and forth getting wet and muddy. The big people thought I was looking for critters, which was the only way to disguise my willingness to get wet. Jon didn't like my mud and he threw me in the pool, which was very traumatic. THEN he put me in Virginia's shower and washed me with eeowwwee Herbal Essence shampoo.

The birthday party was very successful for the bigger people although Andew expressed the opinion that there were too many people there. You can see the pictures at www.virginiahess.shutterfly.com

I'm not in the pictures, because, naturally, I was in hiding.

Toronto Wedding July 2006

I had not been to Canada in 29 years. We went to a beautiful and joyous wedding of the son of lifelong friends. The wedding itself was set on an island in Lake Ontario, very Gatsbyish, elegant, relaxed. That evening there was an elaborate Chinese banquet that lasted past midnight.
On the next day we drove to Niagara Falls, the Canadian side, and rode both a jet boat down to the whirlpool, and the Maid of Mist to directly under the falls.

The things I wish to record here are what we noted that was different from the US. A giant and hokey souvenir store with two entrances and no exits. Don't want to miss any possible tourists. Maps with freeway exits marked. Hotels that rabidly enforced no smoking (not that we would). Lovely courteous people in service positions. The Canadian flag everywhere. Litter bags in the rental car. A sense of Canadian history that we somehow know nothing about. A very large country. Two languages, always. Strong ties to England, still. Great diversity in its population. Here is a link to all of the photos:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AZsWbVy3ZsnI

Here I am on my birthday