Parklife

This week we looked at the calendar and realized we've been back in Canada for three months-- it seems time flies as quickly in the old familiar north as it does on Thai beaches.

Lately we've been exploring our neighbourhood a little more, and spending our free time soaking up the last of the balmy fall days in the fabulously huge and peaceful Trinity Bellwoods Park, just down the street from our apartment. Along with the thrill of seeing the trees change to orange and yellow (something we haven't witnessed in three years), we've discovered a love of Frisbee. We've also become acquainted with a certain cute and furry local: a cheeky white squirrel who also enjoys hanging out in the park.

We've seen him frolicking about a few times now, making a spectacle of himself and posing for photographs. One afternoon, we watched quite the exchange between the squirrel and a woman who we gather lives next to the park, and decided his name is Joey. We stifled giggles from our park bench as she called to "Joey" as if he was a trained dog, and then obediently fetched him a snack as soon as he hopped down the tree. "Joey! It's lunchtime! Hey Joey! Come here!" etc., etc. In between feeding Joey his peanut 'lunch', she then went on to have an irritated conversation with a cat that followed her to the park, perhaps for peanuts as well: "Puss Puss, I thought I told you to stay inside! Go back home!" Insert cat staring blankly at her and definitely not going back to its home. Squirrel Whisperer Lady stomps over to Puss Puss, shoos him in the direction of his home, and goes back to her conversation with Joey as the jealous cat glares on. It all reminded us a bit of this lady we encountered on the Australian west coast who fed, petted, and chit-chatted with these big stingrays that circled her feet by the shore. Only difference is she hadn't named them (not to our knowledge, at least).

But anyway, "Joey" is pretty photogenic and we're pretty sure he's excited for the first snowfall, when he'll be camouflaged and all of those snickering black and brown squirrels in Bellwoods can stop razzing him for his eccentric fashion sense. Can't say we share his excitement for that dreaded white stuff ourselves though!

Halloween in Canada- finally.

This weekend marked our first Halloween back in Canada, and it was definitely a good one. After passing two very anticlimactic October 31sts in Australia-- 2007 spent camping near Brisbane, sans costumes, and 2008 spent eating candy and dressed in togas at our very own tiny, only moderately successful Halloween costume party in Melbourne-- we have to say we're happy to be back in North America, truly the land of Halloween!

Though there were parties galore we wished we could have attended, we opted for nostalgia, and joined the masses dressed up and roaming the gated-off blocks of Church Street in the Village. This year didn't disappoint; there were many fabulous costumes in the crowd. Some of our favourites included: a gang of cereal box mascots which included Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Captain Crunch, and that pesky leprechaun from Lucky Charms (what is his name, anyway?); Bill and Hillary; Queen Elizabeth and a bearskin hatted guard; Jon and Kate plus 8 [sewn-on doll babies]; Sonic the Hedgehog; and a giant jellyfish. We recycled some old favourites and went as a Top Gun pilot and a geisha, finding about five other geishas along Church Street (making for some good photo ops at least) and a fellow Top Gunner at a great party later on. Talk to me, Goose!




















































And a few more...