OK and another February post... A lot of people think February sucks. However, February becomes March and March becomes April. Actually, February is as close to April as it is to December, if you think of it. We made a trip to the Thrift Store in New Hamburg, which I love, which happened to have a great selection of books for Black History Month. Right now I am reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I also got Sula by the same author as well as Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. What I am really gathering from this book is how internalized racism affects every aspect of life for the characters in the book. Maybe that's really obvious, but I never realized it in quite the same way. There is much talk of how marginalized populations are affected by tangible things such economic access but Morrison really hits home the notion of how the root of the problem is something much deeper and less tangible. And this happens as my daughter discovers "Full House" reruns...no doubt the Olsen twins were my generation's Shirley Temple...The Bluest Eye makes references to Shirley Temple as an ideal that all girls were to strive towards. Full House had the added twist of being three blonde girls raised by three men, who, though definitely white, were mostly not blonde. We went to the Thrift store because Paul was looking for a new sweater, which he found, and I found Things Fall Apart. i went back for the Toni Morrison books and saw a Valentine's Day mug that I liked but didn't get. I went back a third time for the mug and I got the 9th Season of Roseanne!! We have the first season on DVD and Lily has seen all of it. The 9th was the one where they won the lottery so it's a bit silly, but I do hope to acquire the full collection some day. Roseanne is another sitcom from a similar era as Full House, and with lots of social commentary, of course. Eventually, I made it back to Toronto with the Valentine's Day mug. I was going to get some Valentine's Day candy at Bulk Barn but by February 13th they were out and had moved on to Easter candy. Can you believe it?? Not that I mind thinking that spring might be that near. So, I got Paul some regular pink and red gummies- cherry and blueberry-pomegranate, which he really liked, especially the cherry, they were shaped like cherries and had real cherry juice in them. I worked 'till midnight on Valentine's Day but got out a little early so we decided to go out somewhere. We were looking for somewhere we could eat AND drink at midnight. We left Riverside and went well into Leslieville, and, not finding what we were looking for, walked back to a place just about across the street from us, called Comrade. It was not too thrifty but it was fun to be so spontaneously extravagant. We shared a platter of specialty cheeses and cured meats and mustards and stuff (Paul ate all the deviled eggs) and then Paul had a Manhattan and a fancy Quebec beer and I had a cardamom coconut rum cocktail that came with crushed ice and looked like a milkshake as well as something called a Lillet Blanc. (pronounced Lily Blanc). It was so dark inside except for a lit-up retro motel light, and it felt surreal. The next morning we went to brunch at Prohibition. The food was great. There were lots of babies, and a TV showing Olympic Skeleton boarding even though there was a hockey game on, much to Paul's chagrin. But he had a Rolling Rock and I had a Spanish coffee so all was good. Then on Monday we met my family again at a great Indian restaurant in Milton, about halfway between my two homes!!

Ah and February is almost over... Not that I am sad, the opposite in fact. Paul has a tradition of celebrating Groundhog Day!! However, on the first weekend of February, he was not feeling well (he's been feeling much better since then and it's been confirmed it's not likely to be anything too serious- YAY). His tradition is to make Buffalo chili. That is, chili from ground buffalo meat, or bison, as the stores call it. So, the second weekend in February, we were going to be out of town visiting my family. I ordered the bison from Vincenzo's. The problem was, our train was scheduled in after 7 and Vincenzo's closed at 8. To make matters worse, the train was a bit late. Well, all's well that ends well. We found out you could buy Sleeman's on the train, so everything was good. And we JUST made it to Vincenzo's on time. Then, we met my family and we all went to Starbucks for much merry-making. It was Friday and Lily had "college-night" where she got to stay up as late as she wanted. We watched the Fairly Oddparents movie and then the "New Brian" episode of Family Guy. Paul made Lily a late-night grilled cheese sandwich which she said was the best grilled cheese she'd ever tasted!! Paul decided that, since it wasn't technically Groundhog Day, he wouldn't make buffalo chili after all!! But he did make buffalo burgers and homemade french fries on Sunday night so all was well. Then, on Monday, we got the news that Lily had been accepted to an arts-oriented high school as a dance major!! Yay!! So that will be next year. What an awesome weekend.