When I was a small child watching Sesame Street, I thought Prairie Dawn was the most beautiful name, never having seen a prairie dawn at that point in my life. Have you ever ridden through the Canadian shield on the train, with the sun setting in front of you, only to wake several hours later to a real prairie dawn, with the sun rising up behind your back? If you had, you might even consider naming your daughter Prairie Dawn, even if it meant naming her after a Sesame Street character. Paul is in the habit of waking up early, and it finally occurs to me why. Speaking of Paul, who insists that the Paris of the Prairies must be Winnipeg, of course, I think I am driving him batty with my worrying. But you would worry, too, trust me. It`s not that he has never had any serious health problems- I mean he`s been well for the last fifteen years, much longer than I've even known him, but still...he sometimes goes for long stretches of time without eating much. And I seem to be getting more work. I was going to work Saturday evening and then he was making dinner for midnight on Saturday night but the night person cancelled and we couldn't find anyone else to come in. Fine, then, we would have our dinner on Sunday night. Sunday evening I had a bbq to go to in the afternoon and by the time we were both back it was 9pm and, guess what, the phone rang, they needed someone to come in for midnight. They called me in for midnight Monday night, too, but I was already scheduled to come in Tuesday morning. Well, I got back after 5 on Tuesday and, whaddaya know, the phone rang... Well, the $$$ will be useful, but I am going to have to be more deliberate about spending time with Paul, particularly if he works the opposite hours of mine. Oh, he did make two fantastic dinners, lamb and mashed potatoes one night, steak and rice another, threw the Keg to its knees. I ate both of them before heading off to work. And Paul ate them, too!! I was so happy. Oh yes, and I did go to a bbq on Sunday, a reunion for my daughter's camp. I think she really enjoyed seeing her friends...after a whole month apart, or not even, since she has gotten together with some of them since. And it is good for me to get to know her camp friends' parents. Camp, the same camp I went to as a child. Revisiting my discomfort with the Israel thing every summer. What do I like about the camp? It's socialist, it has an emphasis on social justice and a strong sense of community. But this is a tangent. A friend of mine just reminded me that blog posts must be as succinct as any other form of writing. I will talk more about this later, when it reinforces the central theme of the piece. And now I am back out in the country. Lily and my mother went for ice cream and I went with them for the ride. Tomorrow, work at my job here and then head off to the Berkshires for my grandfather's 95th birthday celebration.

You will notice, firstly, that the last two blogs are backwards. I wrote them in order but saved them as drafts and published the most recent one first. Well...labour day weekend was quiet in comparison to the previous weekend. I listened to the spirit of the west album labour day. The first time I heard Spirit of the West, I was the age my daughter is now. This was before I'd ever heard anything like it, not even The Pogues, though I would be introduced to them two years later by an older boy at my school. In any case, when I first heard Spirit of the West, I didn't even know what I was hearing, something I would listen to or something my father would listen to. I liked it nonetheless. Got a cassette tape to listen to on the next family car trip, and I was kind of disgusted that my parents and I actually liked the same music. At the time, I didn't even realize that the style of music Spirit of the West played was more suited to eastern Canada. In my mind, that was the sound of the west. My parents had taken me and my brother on a train trip to Vancouver, and most places in between, the summer after I turned thirteen. We stopped in Winnipeg, of course, actually that was one of my favourite stops. Paul lived in Winnipeg as a teenager and young adult, then he moved to Vancouver for most of his adult life. Once he went from Winnipeg to Vancouver on his bike. I asked him if he was ever scared on that trip and he said only the time he bedded down one night in the dark, and was awakened with the earth around him rumbling. What he didn`t realize in the dark was that he had gone to sleep very, very close to some train tracks. If you live in North America but have never left the Eastern Seaboard, I strongly urge you to. It will change your life. Now I have a little bit of the west, albeit a very important little bit, lying next to me three or four nights a week. I don`t think I would appreciate his stories as much if not for the train trip I took at age thirteen. Well, that was a tangent. On the Sunday night I cooked at the Mudhouse. I made pasta and someone else had made pie. It was fun hanging out with the Mudhouse gang, as always. When I got back, Paul had fallen asleep and I lay down beside him. Lily got off to Grade 8 ok, although I am not sure I am ready for her to be in her last year of elementary school. She says that every year of school is a bit better than the previous, so hopefully high school will be great. The next Sunday, Lily came into town and she, Paul, and I went on a 4hr shopping spree, mostly at the Eaton Centre with a little bit of Queen St. I had this idea that we would go to the Eaton Centre, then down along Queen St. and then end up in Kensington market. This turned out to be totally unrealistic given the time we had, but all were happy. Paul decided he didn't need to go into Pink so he sat on a bench next to some other guys and they chatted a bit. Turns out there is quite the community of people who get dragged on these shopping sprees. We went into J Crew and Lily really wanted to get something but it was mostly a bit outside of the price range. Lily picked up this *thing* and said well, can I have this, for $75...Paul said, what is it and Lily said I don't know...so Paul said you want to get a $75 thing that you don't know what it is... I don't really want to think about how much $$ was dropped. I guess if this only happens once or twice a year, its ok. This week, just to add to the excitement, the fair came to our town. Nothing compared to the Ex but fun nonetheless. Lily went with some friends while I was at a badly-timed meet-the-teacher night at her school. Lily joined us at the end for a special meeting concerning a trip to Quebec City for the Grade 8s at the end of the year. Exciting!! And back in Toronto, first stop a strike fund benefit concert for bike messengers. Paul and I were impressed with the bands. I hope things turn out well for them.

So, I think I will start by writing about the last few days, and what a few days it has been. Well, I worked on Saturday but I got out of work early and went to chill with some friends who were having a Galaxy-clothes making party. Actually, the idea to make Galaxy clothes was, amazingly, started by my friend's 7 year old daughter, but everyone got in on it. I didn't make anything, just drank beer and ate chips and bunny crackers and pulled pork wrapped in lettuce leaves and placed an order for T-shirts for me and Paul and a tank top for Lily. Paul was supposed to meet me there but he had been called in to work too and it ended up being a long day for him so we just met back at home and he ended up taking me to the Keg Mansion for an 11pm steak dinner. It was surreal and spectacular. The next day brought an afternoon nap for me and then some errands in the neighbourhood. Our usual cheese store was closed for Pedestrian Sunday (a wise choice, I imagine) so we went to this cheese store instead and got a very potent stilton to snack on along with leftover steak. Then...Riot Fest!!! We heard the Weakerthans playing as we walked up to Fort York. By the time we got settled, Iggy and the Stooges were about to come on. Paul wanted to go up to the front and did not recommend this course of action for me .However, I was close enough that I could see Iggy's face which was quite awesome. He is no spring chicken but he still rocked. When The Stooges were finished there was a bit of a break but I could see that Paul would not be able to get out of the pit. Finally, the Replacements came on, their first show in 24 years!! The last time they played I would have been but a wee lass and Paul barely old enough to drive. It was great, I got to sing along to Can't Hardly Wait and Bastards of Young. Then, to reunite with Paul. Apparently, the buttons had come off his shirt while dancing, and he had also noticed Mike Watt on stage playing bass with Iggy and had thrown the shirt to him but Iggy caught it instead and wiped his brow. I know Paul really wanted Mike Watt to have it but the image of Iggy wiping his brow with Paul's shirt gives me goosebumps. We even managed to get a cab -even with Paul's not having a shirt- when our tendency to get caught in sudden freak torrential downpours began to kick in. I got back to my other home in the country/suburbs Monday night and Lily informed me that Tuesday would be the best day for her and a friend from camp to go to the CNE. So we turned around and went back to Toronto. Now that Lily is almost thirteen and now that I am getting more familiar with the CNE, it is less stressful and more fun. We ate at the food place as soon as we got in (no cronut burgers!! I looked at the Jack'd but decided on a pulled pork sandwich with pierogies and coleslaw on a pretzel bun was weird enough). Then we went to the midway where we spent the remainder of the day and the girls went on rides that made my stomach turn from just looking at them. I went on a few rides- there was one where the girls laughed at me because I thought it was fast and they thought it was relaxing. Truth be told, I used to be quite ride-goer myself, but I guess I am getting older...When we left the CNE, we got on the streetcar just as the downpour was beginning.

Calm after the storm. Lily got invited to an all-day pool-party BBQ thingy with some kids from school. I got some work done, covered another screenplay, heard back after a long hiatus from another film company that I am doing Assistant Editing work for...I might be busier than I thought. Still trying to get more social service work, too. I guess in the whirlwind of the weekend one thing that got left out was the fact that I think I had some mild food poisoning from something I ate on Thursday night before heading into the city. If that was it, it was very mild, but I think I will stay away from ground beef from now on. I was definitely completely recovered by the end of the week and had my first run since feeling sick. Small, not even a km, but better than nothing. Tried this nice wine. It says it has hints of chocolate and coffee but to me it tasted like chipotle peppers. Well, Lily's getting her hair done on Friday evening but I won't get to see it until Tuesday when I am back from the city, the same time as I hear how her first day of school went. When I got into Toronto I went to a big LCBO to look for Grinder Pinotage but found none so I got a Hungarian red I'd never tried and some pumpkin ale!! Yes, Hallowe'en is in the air!! I love it!! Before I left, I had asked Lily if she wanted a Hallowe'en party this year and she said no!! Then she said this would probably be her last year trick-or-treating and that next year she would invite her friends over to sit in the house and eat candy. Oh well, I guess getting older is inevitable (glad it's just her and not me...) Good thing for my niece and nephew... So- arrival in Toronto after a relaxing week, take-out from New Ho King, and sleep. For me. Paul played his new computer game until 6am.