Canada Day Long Weekend PT1

Cocaine Princess here.

Friday June 27th was a glorious morning. I was sitting on the patio drinking a shake. The gardener had just finished mowing the lawn and the smell of fresh cut grass is always a pleasant fragrance. The sun was shining bright and and no rain was scheduled in the forecast for the entire long weekend, only sun and lots of it. My neighbors behind me like all the others were gearing up for the long weekend decorating their fence posts with numerous Canadian flags and red and white balloons while others were getting tents set up by party planners. We Canadians are very patriotic but during the winter months, not so much. In the corner of the garden I noticed a big ball of fur curled under the snowball tree. I walked over to get a closer look. It was breathing. It was a cat. I figured it was someones pet from the neighborhood that wandered into my yard. I didn't know what to do so I left it alone until I heard the little boy next door say, 'Ollie, Ollie where are you?' I looked at the fur ball and thought Ollie? On top of the hideous looking but well behaved creature a cat now lives next door. Almost starting to cry he said to his nanny, 'I can't find Ollie, where is he?' I went over to the fence and asked, 'is Ollie a cat?' 'It's my kitty,' he replied. 'Have you seen him?' 'I think Ollie's over here.' I opened the gate and he came running in and I pointed out where Ollie was. Following him was the nanny and oh my God!! On a leash she had not the hideous looking creature, and I didn't think it was possible but an even more hideous looking creature. An Afghan dog. Good God the thing was humongous! The creature is angelic looking compared to this monster. I've seen pictures of an Afghan but to actually see one up close is another story. The monster came up to my waist and looked more like a camel than a dog. Cradling Ollie the little boy came over and made himself comfortable on one of the chaises. 'Is Ollie your new pet?' I asked. 'No. Grammy's in cottage country so we get Ollie and Scooby for the summer.' 'Scooby, that's his name?' I asked looking at it. ''Just like Scooby-Doo. Grammy said we could pick the name. I watch Scooby-Doo every morning.' A more appropriate name would have been Scary-Doo.

Friday was also the last day of school. For 'A' it was half day who was home by noon. 'Did any of your students even show up?' I questioned. 'For ice cream and cupcakes they all showed up,' she answered. She had a bag filled with gifts that were given to her by her students. I peaked inside to see what she was given. Numerous coffee mugs that said A+ TEACHER and one was filled to the rim with Hershey's kisses, scented candles, an aromatherapy kit, chocolates in the shape of trophies with a medallion that said #1 TEACHER, several gifts cards to STAPLES, eight movie passes, one entitling her to one year of free movies- one per month and a gift certificate for ten free tennis lessons at the local tennis club. 'This hamlet we live in has a tennis club?' I asked. 'It's on the outskirts of town,' replied A. 'We live on the outskirts of town. Where exactly is it?' 'It's straight down at the end of road,' she replied. 'At the end of the road is the Equestrian School.' 'It's behind there.' She also received what seemed to be a lifetime supply of Tim Horton's gift cards and a membership to the country club in the city. 'One of your students has given you a one year membership to the country club. How nice,' I commented. 'The student who gave me that, her dad is VP of the club,' informed A. Two funny gifts and when I mean funny I mean in the strange sense was one, a gift certificate for Free Laser Eye Surgery. 'You don't even wear glasses,' I said. 'The student who gave me that, his dad's an ophthalmologist,' replied A. The other was a gift certificate entitling her to 50% off any cosmetic procedure. 'And the student who gave you this?' I asked holding up the certificate. 'Her dad's a plastic surgeon.' 'I didn't want to say anything but you're starting to get crows feet around the eyes so you may want to make an appointment as soon as possible,' I said jokingly. 'A' picked up a sofa cushion and threw it at me.

While 'A' was packing a few last minute things for our mini trip I was watching a movie on the M-Channel, 'STARDUST,' (2007). The movie is based on Neil Gaiman's book by the same title. Wow! It's a beautiful, honey of a film with a marvelous song by Take That that plays during the end credits.

We left the house by 1:30pm. On the car the radio started and what song was playing? RIO by Duran Duran! The day was off to an even better start. 'A' opened her bag and pulled out The Best Of Eagles CD. 'Oh God,' I groaned. 'You don't want to listen to them?' she asked. 'I tried and made an effort but I just can't get into their music,' I replied. God knows how I'm going to sit through their concert. I downloaded some of their songs into my MP3 and when I'm in bed I'll listen to them but I find myself switching over to something else, or if I do manage to listen fully through, I'm not paying attention because my mind either starts to wander or some other song starts playing in my head. I opened the glove compartment and pulled three CDs out and gave her a choice, 'Madonna, Britney or Duran Duran,' I said. Which was picked? None. We decided to listen to the radio, XM81.


My shoot was scheduled for all day Saturday and Sunday in Niagara-On-The-Lake which sits minutes outside of the Falls. It's a really visually attractive and touristy town especially in the summer.

As we made it to the main highway to NF I'm singing along to Lady Gaga's Just Dance when 'A' turned down the volume and asked, 'did I turn the stove off?'

To be continued...

XOXOXOXO,
Cocaine Princess