moving right along

New list of potential places for us to consider:

Santa Fe, New Mexico (pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease)(three yarn shops)(amazing food)
somewhere in Maine (would totally love that too) (they have maple syrup)
Pennsylvania (I'd have to learn how to spell that unassisted)
Phuket, Thailand (O heavens, of all the places in Thailand, does it have to be Phuket?)(Thailand's sex trade capital)

or here. Here is good. I went to Kennedy Lake with new friends yesterday and today. Swimming. in. a. lake. Who knew it was so much fun? I don't even feel self-conscious in my bikini. I'm shapely.

So much going on, so much to consider.

O! An update on my dad. He's still in the Ukraine or Russia. We aren't sure, exactly, he hasn't been great at keeping us posted. Apparently he hurt his back though, (he had three of his vertabrae fused together in a surgery in the 1990s, has never really recovered from it and takes a daily dose of morphine to combat the pain) and was unable to travel. So he'll return to Canada any time now. The lady, my current new step-mother, has a name: Tamara. Apparently she'll be following my dad to Canada in three months, after her paperwork has been processed. Well, at least he hasn't been kidnapped.

In other news, we helped Ellie move her yarn shop Knits by the Sea to its new location on Sunday. Now with moving a yarn shop you'd think yarn isn't that heavy. And it isn't. But the shelves - I hope we never have to move those suckers again. Eight feet tall particle board shelves with lots of cubbies - they were heavy. I'll spare you the pictures of the bruises on my arms and legs from moving them. I won't whine at all about the pulled muscle in my back or my sore shoulder. They took us out for sushi afterwords! (Alas, Tough City Sushi does not live up to its reputation). It was fun though, and the new space is much more suitable. I'm looking foward to having knit nights out on the back deck.

Also, Dan is on an ice cream and sorbet-making kick right now. Golden kiwi sorbet. Vanilla custard ice cream. Pink grapefruit sorbet. Apricot sorbet. Root beer sorbet. White peach ice cream. Mandarin sorbet. He couldn't have picked a better week: we're expecting temperatures in the high twenties later this week!

One other random thing: we were having a conversation with our neighbours last night about unions. A long time ago, in a past life, I was on the executive of a very weak union and held the position as president for about eight months, until I realized that that I was completely unsupported by the executive and membership (I was 27; most of the membership was at least 20 years my senior). I thumbed my nose at these people and left the country to teach English in Korea. After my union experience, my politics have changed drastically (actually, I try to stay out of political discussions as much as possible now). After thinking about last night's conversation, Dan had an idea: that perhaps unions are unnecessary in first world countries because we are already so protected by labour laws. It's an interesting suggestion. If you agree or disagree, I'd love to hear what you think.