Darko, Vic, G-ma, Dan and Milka, after one of the many fabulous mealsI drove into Bowmanville on Wednesday, and then after some debate - drive into Toronto? or Go Train? - decided to drive. Despite the heavy traffic warnings, the 401 was deserted on Thursday afternoon, and I had no problem whatsoever getting into town. I don't recall seeing any cops, or many people... it really was like a ghost town - kinda creepy I must say. It was also smooth sailing to Niagara Falls, and we arrived at Milka's mom's place in almost record time. Milka's mom Gordana (G-ma) is awesome, and spoiled us rotten all weekend long. She showed me pictures, told us stories, gave us advice, told us about pregnancy and what this means when this or that happens, why and how our men will change with a baby in the picture, and much more. In a way I wish that it was all recorded, so I could just press play and hear it all over again... oooh, and do the same with the food, but for real. We were SUPER spoiled with the food - breakfast every morning (rice pudding, crepes, vanilla'd cream of wheat), snacks all day (ruska salata, bread, meats, cheese, fresh figs, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples and bananas) and dinners (barbeque, salads, rice pilaf, salads). "Eat, eat! the baby is hungry, eat for two," she'd say, and away we'd all go. We relaxed on the couch and in the garden, reading, chatting and watching soccer, the news and old cartoons on TV. We walked down to the Falls and through the casino, bought lottery tickets, and visited Milka's brother and his wife in St Catharine's. It was one of those perfectly paced weekends, with the right balance of laziness, activity and food that leaves you feeling perfectly content. On our way back into the city on Sunday, we lunched in Niagara on the Lake, and topped it all off with ice cream and a stroll before making our way into Toronto.
With all of the ridiculous protests - wait, it wasn't the protests, it was the thug-vandal destruction so let me rephrase; with all of the vandalism and destruction, we were curious about what the mood in the city would be like when we rolled in. We didn't see any hooligans or troublemakers in between the Gardiner and Dan and Milka's beautiful little home, but we did see amoebas of police, some small some large, some lunching some lounging, some standing, some sitting. I suppose that police were stationed all across the city, and that they were on high alert for vandal-destructos, terrorists and protester-mobs, but the cops that we saw looked quite bored. Maybe they were in the thick of things on Saturday, and had earned an easy post... hm. I say better safe than sorry, even though the $1 billion security price tag seems a bit ridiculous.
Anyways... so the weekend was wonderful. I was back in Bowmanville on Sunday night, and had some more good relax time chez Bob and Marg, sitting around, reading the paper and playing games. And then today it was back to the Gat, but via Gananoque, where I stopped and had lunch with my most elderly friend, Helen. She's in her 90s, and I'll have to blog about her another time; she is an amazing woman and has done some amazing things in her life. She had no trouble getting in and out of the large Expedition, and we drove down the street for the $6.95 soup and salad lunch combo at Bravo's: beef and veggie soup and BLTs, yum.
To finish: after a weekend of eating eating eating eating, I have a bump. From the food? Maybe, but maybe not. I'm 18 weeks, and the bump has definitely arrived... !!
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