Hey now

This is not normal.

As I walked home from getting groceries today, I was waiting at a busy street corner for the light to change. A black sports car pulled up to the intersection and stopped at the red light. A young man wearing an A-shirt jumped out of the passenger side and motioned for the driver to go through the light and meet him on the other side of the intersection. This young man crossed traffic and approached another young man who was standing a few yards away from me, also wearing an A-shirt. I thought they were friends, and they were going to say hi, but instead the man who came from the car started punching the waiting man in the face. The only part of the verbal exchange that I heard was the victim saying, "Man, I didn't touch your pills! I only had those ten!!" I was quite disturbed, not knowing what to do, particularly as the victim's lips were now gushing blood. Then, as quickly as it started, the aggressor ran across the street, met his car, jumped in a drove away. The guy with the bleeding face walked a few yards ahead of me down the street, and kept walking straight when I turned onto my street.

This is not supposed to happen here. It wasn't even that serious--the guy walked away, three or four punches were thrown--but it was just too ramdonly violent. Crazy, in light of my second-last post.

as promised, but not to bore

Day 1 of the conference in Kananaskis, Alberta: 1 hour from Calgary.
3 inches of SNOW! After the May long weekend!!

Day 3: what a sight! And 20 (70F) degrees, two days later...

That little rascal!! I left him and his 4 1/2 year old sister alone for FIVE MINUTES and he was covered from head to toe, literally, in marker... thankfully, washable.

She is so excited about her new complete set of "Little House on the Prairie" books ("with hardly ANY pictures, just like dad's books!"), that she falls asleep with the book propped up, "reading" it.

Me and Jenna, the bride, at her wedding in Indiana last weekend. She's excited!

Of course I could post piles and piles of pictures of my adorable niece and nephew, but I will spare you. I do realize that they are probably far more adorable to their aunt than to her friends! :)

tranquility in the urban jungle

Lately I have been walking around my neighbourhood. And beyond. Usually at dusk. Or dawn. Those are great times of day, and not only because one avoids the smog warnings of midday. I usually walk east on a residential street a block north of the Danforth--which won't mean anything to those of you who don't know Toronto. But the Danforth is a main east-west street in Toronto--busy and bustling with cars and commerce.

What has amazed and calmed me during recent walks is that only one block away from the Danforth the streets I walk are peaceful. I am rarely passed by cars. I wave to the occasional dog-walker. Kids play in the school-yard playgrounds with their parents. People work in their gardens. In the morning many residents pass me on their way to the subway. I dare say, at least from an "outside" perspective, the neighbourhood is peaceful. I am overwhelmed by contentedness when I walk through it. This is one of the many things I have grown to love about this city: its residential areas. It is really rare for a city of 2 million+ to have dedicated residential areas so close to downtown--and, in fact, right in the heart of downtown you can find many side streets full of townhomes and duplexes and parks and gardens.

This city feels livable.

The more I explore this city, the more I love it. It has its heartbreaking areas too--like boystown, the powerplants on the waterfront, the financial district oozing with greed, the congested smog-producing web of highways, the spaces under bridges that too many call home--but these areas too give me a bigger heart for this city. My heart breaks for those who may never know the peace of the neighbourhoods a block from the Danforth and as I realize that the natural beauty of those neighbourhoods is threatened by the pollution we produce.

back. sort of.

right now i'm home at my parents' house. i was back in toronto for a day and a half before leaving again for the wedding of a cousin, after which i came home with my parents and sister Joya to hang out for a few days and to celebrate Dad's birthday. it's been good. i'm going back to T-dot tonight.

the trip to the west was fabulous!! words cannot describe it. so, hopefully tomorrow, i'll put up some pictures. mostly of an adorable niece and nephew and a very pregnant oldest sister! oh, and while i was in the calgary area (kananaskis, to be exact) 3 inches of SNOW fell. SNOW!! after victoria day!! nutty alberta.

(thanks for anticipating a new post, matt!
you rock.)