Trying to make light conversation, the receptionist at the dentist’s office asked if I had done anything fun during the summer. I stammered; I had trouble thinking of anything.
Thing is, I was just a very distracted unit at this point. My cat Mac had managed to somewhat seriously injure his paw on a sharp section of our catio (since repaired), leading him to have to be isolated, medicated, and coned. This threw the usual cat routine—which is a significant part of our overall household routine—into some disarray.
My mind was full of that (plus, having to get my dental appointment). No space to think back on what fun things I might have done of late.
Mac is now on the mend—no longer isolated or coned, just on medication and laser treatments for a few more days—and that gave me some time to review the calendar and recall that I did, in fact, do some fun stuff this summer… And that I should maybe document it.
While we’re still nursing a general reluctance to travel much, there have been some sojourns to nearby towns and cities; quite a few visits to local restaurants, often while catching up friends not seen in some time; and enjoying the outdoors through hiking, biking, and gardening.
Visiting nearby towns and cities
Back in June, we took a day trip to Toronto to attend a National Ballet performance. We took the GO train there and back, which worked well. (We took taxis to and from the GO station.)
On arrival, after visiting a few shops, we had lunch at The Rabbit Hole, a kind of upscale British pub. Though the forecast was a mixed bag, it turned out to be a nice enough at lunch time to be able to sit out on their patio. The space was pretty; the food was very good; all in all, a very enjoyable meal.
The ballet, however, was… not entirely successful? It was called Maddaddam. It was based on a trilogy of futuristic Margaret Atwood novels, which is a pretty ambitious thing to try to cover in 90 minutes of dance. Though they used video and narration to try to help things along on that front, it was still often just confusing. On the bright side, the dancing was excellent, of course, and I did like the score.
Later that same month, we carpooled with some friends over to the hamlet of New Hamburg to dine at Puddicombe House. It was a lovely day, which made it good that we had booked veranda seating. Great catching up with these friends, whom we hadn’t seen in about a year. We also quite liked the food. I even took a photo!
On the day of the Apocalypse…
If you live in Southern Ontario, you know the day I mean. The day the air grew thick and smokey, and the sky turned yellow, and blocked the sun. If you live in other parts of the world, you possibly had your own such day or days—if you were lucky. The unlucky had to flee their homes due to actual wildfires, not just its smoke.
Anyway, on that day, I carpooled with three friends to Stratford, Ontario to see Waiting for Godot, starring Paul Gross (of Due South and Slings & Arrows fame) and Tom McCamus. I had never seen the play before and didn’t know much about it, beyond the fact that there isn’t much of a plot. I did listen to a podcast related to it beforehand, which was helpful, though it seemed wrong that Godot (Go-Dough, to me) was pronounced God-Oh (by them).
I enjoyed the play. It was actually quite funny. (Though I still didn’t care for the God-oh pronunciation.)
On a much better air quality day later on, we drove to Cox Creek Winery, near Guelph, to meet some friends for lunch. It was a Sunday, and much busier there than the previous time we’d visited (last year). So we didn’t get as much personal attention as we had that time. But that was OK, because it gave more time to catch up with the friends (last seen about 2 months previous; not so long!). We all had wine flights, and we also tried their charcuterie and woodfired oven pizza. Good stuff all around.
Later that week we took a GO train to Guelph to meet friends for lunch at Mijiidaa Cafe. The ride takes just 20 minutes, which is faster than driving to Guelph, and the restaurant was about a 5-minute walk from the station. (Of course, we had to get to the GO station, which isn’t a great place to drive to—busy and little parking. So we did city bus, Ion train, and GO bus to get to the station, which worked pretty well. On the way back, the GO bus was delayed, so we walked to the Ion station.)
The restaurant has a nice patio, and it was a beautiful day, but we didn’t have much shade at our table. Fortunately we were able to switch over to a more shaded spot about 20 minutes in. Great to catch up with these friends also, and Jean and I enjoyed both the pickerel and chips and the smoked trout entrees that we had.
Dining out locally
We didn’t make it to Sole last summer, somehow, so this year, on more or less the first nice summer day, Jean and I biked over there for a late lunch. Their patio is beautiful as always, and we really enjoyed the new menu addition of duck rigatoni. The yellowfin tuna niçoise appetizer was also nice.
Jean did manage to get away in early July, to the Sault Ste Marie area for some biking, and during that time I went to Sole again, to meet up with a friend. Another patio seating, and I ordered the exact same items! (But it was a completely different conversation, as we were catching up on the last two years.) I took the bus / Ion in, which went well, and she kindly gave me a ride home.
The second day of the Apocalypse, when Jean was back, he and I ventured out again in our N95 masks for an early anniversary dinner at The Odd Duck. (We took the bus / Ion, but the Ion couldn’t continue the full journey due to a fire, I think it was? I mean a fire in a local building on the way, apart from the distant forest fires causing the smoke. At any rate, we then switched to a taxi. All was resolved for the trip home.)
Obviously patio seating was no option on this day, but it was fairly quiet at this small restaurant. And to make it special, we reserved their Trust Us experience, whereby we get six courses (plus amuse and palette cleanser) of their choosing (after mentioning any food avoidances or particular dislikes), with wine pairings.
It was a fun time. All the courses were good, and the wine pairings were just spot-on for each… Although for one course, we were initially poured a sparkling wine, which seemed a bit odd when a lamb entree was then served. Turned out the pour was from the right winery, but the wrong wine. It was then switched for a red, which made more sense.
The week following, the air clearer, we were able to join a friend (whom we see regularly) at La Lola Tapas Bar’s patio. We’d been to this establishment for the first time in May with other friends, and this time were able to try some of the tapas we missed then, plus ones not on offer that day (as they change their menu regularly). Fun time. The bus / Ion rides there and back were smooth.
For this month, I signed up for a University of Waterloo alumni event, which started from their Pharmacy school in downtown Kitchener rather than the main campus in Waterloo. It included free gelato scoops, then the option of a Mural or Technology walking tour of downtown. We selected the Mural one (by Stroll Walking Tours).
The tour was quite interesting. It hadn’t particularly struck me that there were murals in downtown Kitchener, but there are quite a few. It was good to learn about artists and how the works were commissioned and some history of Kitchener (formerly Berlin) itself along the way.
Afterward, we had a patio dinner at La Cucina, an Italian restaurant that is an offshoot of one by the same name in Guelph. We both had a tomato and boconcini or burrata-based appetizers. And both weregood, though the tomato wasn’t quite as primo as we expected. It was pasta special day (Wednesday), so we each tried a different type of pastas as our main: black truffle ravioli for Jean and gnocchi a la pomodoro for me. Both of those were excellent, with fresh-made pasta and sauce.
Transit would have worked well for this excursion, but this was near the start of the Mac injury drama, and I wanted to save time by driving (particularly that free parking was offered as part of the alumni event).
The great outdoors
I got a new ebike this year (lighter, with a seat that rises and lowers) and have regularly gone on little excursions with it.
My sister and brother-in-law stopped in town for a bit, and we went for a hike in Schneider Woods. Apart from slightly buggy bugs, a quite enjoyable walk.
I planted a wildly successful herb garden. (I’m adding so many herbs to all my recipes these days!)
Our front garden has also grown to heights we weren’t expecting, attracting many butterflies and bees.
And I’ve still been helping out at the cat shelter. Which doesn’t quite fit into the outdoor theme, but they do have a catio there! (That has yet to injure any cats, as far as I know.)
The tally
So I guess that’s:
- Four day trips to nearby cities and towns
- Conversations with eight friends and two relatives
- Dinners or lunches at seven restaurants, four of them new to us
- One wine tasting
- One walking tour
- Plenty of time outside and at cat shelters
- One Apocalypse
If that’s not fun, I don’t know what is. 🙂
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