poulet and piscines

I'm going to go ahead and say that chicken is not the first thing that I want to smell when I wake up. Oh, and that I don't love smelling the chicken aroma for 14 hours straight. There's no doubt about it that I'll be glad that we threw the roast chicken remains (carcus - ugh) in the slow cooker overnight when I'm eating the stock in some sort of delicious meal, but for now, when I'd rather be smelling bakery smells or summer smells or fresh air, it's a bit much.

The auctioneer in action

We ran errands like crazies this weekend and still have a list. And, on the very top of that list is (for me at least) to get bikes! We gave it a good try on Saturday at the Gatineau police auction, where there were over 200 velos for sale... some decent, some baaaaaad. Apparently we could have gone on Friday to size up the stuff and see if it would fit us tall folk, but we didn't. And so we sat for a few hours (or four?) with a crowd of eager bidders and came home empty handed. There were bikes that went for $160 and bikes that went for $2; there was also a whole lot of junk auctioned off, and it amazed me that people actually bid on and bought backpacks full of random, junky tools, and bags of socks and underwear... hmm. We took a break and had brunch at Cora's (yum), and then after another round or two of bikes, got on with it. The new sport centre had an open house in the afternoon, so from ice-rink-auction to sportsplex we went, and while Steve saw the physio guy, I toured the premises. AND, the best thing about the entire complex (besides the great training facility for the team) is the brand new, beautiful 50-meter pool, and the fact that it opens next Monday! Eeeeeee! It's a 5-minute bike ride from our place, and a 15-minute-ish walk - soooo close! I've been driving to a pool in Aylmer, 20 minutes away, so I'm really excited for this close-to-home piscine to open. And, with my Access Gatineau card, it's free! FREE! Can't wait.

The gymnase...

Underwater hockey?

The pool! And Steve. :)

And it was a month on Sunday that we left Japan - it's only been one month... crazy. We've been all over the place - Vancouver, Bowmanville, Toronto, Gatineau, Toronto, Gatineau - and I'm ready to stay here, at home, for a while. There are things that we still find ourselves talking about and thinking, as far as differences go - bike, walk, transit vs car culture, sensory overload vs. sensory underload, clean streets vs litter here and there and there... those are the big ones. People stare here too, but they also say hello, which is nice. Okay, the slow cooker is beeping and I'm going to put a stop this chicken smell already - can I put it outside on the balcony to cool? Will that dispel the soupy aroma? Leftover chicken for lunch, no merci.... I need a break.