Ski-Doo Water Races, swimming, MOS, and a sub

I had never heard of this until last Saturday morning Mat called his brother to ask what he was doing and he said he was going to see the ski-doo water races in Lavaltrie. I said "what? you mean sea-doo, right?" "no, SKI-doo!" "ok I have to see this for myself!" so I went with him to see, although I had originally planned to stay home for the weekend. We went with his daughter and met up with his brother, his nephew, his friend and his girlfriend. It was fun, there were 3 competitions, speed-laps, figure 8's, and jumps, but we only stayed for the first part. Here's Mat and his daughter on the right (her eye is fine, she just wears a patch for a few hours each day to train her other eye) and his friend Kevin and his girlfriend on the left:



They had helicopter rides too, but $40/person for 10 minutes was too much so we didn't go:



The crowd on the edge of the lake:



Me and Mat's daughter:



Mat and his daughter:



The races:







Afterwards we went to swim at Mat's dad's place, he had just bought himself an inflatable pool on sale. Here's me and Mat's daughter in the pool:



The pool:



Here's some flowers I saw when we picked Mat's daughter up for the weekend:





After swimming at my father-in-law's we went to the brother-in-law's place to have dinner and after dinner my dad came to pick me up and I drove back to my parents place so I could go to church, seeing as there's no Orthodox churches in either Joliette or Lavaltrie. After church on Sunday my dad drove me back to Joliette to the brother-in-law's place and Mat was there with his daughter. So we drove her home and then I drove part of the way back to Montreal.

This week I did a double take on Monday night when I was walking home after work when I saw this:





It originally looked like this (one end) and this (the other end) and all in between as well. So apparently Meeting of Styles is gonna redo it next weekend, can't wait to see what it'll be like!

And here's a pic of one of the amazing subs I made this week:



Open a 10" sub bun, layer with mozzarella, thinly sliced and fried beef, pepperoni, and smoked meat, and then a mix of friend peppers, onions and mushrooms, and more mozzarella on top, and then grill in the oven. So yummy!

Tomorrow I make TAMAGOYAKI!

A story to inspire

about an angel in Queens.

Hope

This article, in particular the last paragraph, gave me hope for my husband, who will be joining the army soon. Lord have mercy on him!

I love reading the back articles from the Road to Emmaus journal, they're very entertaining and inspiring.

Sunset and a truck

Took these driving up to Rawdon last night when we drove the girls home:







I had a good weekend, on Sat. I went to Steph's place at around 3pm, we watched a movie and then my sister and her friend arrived and I went swimming with them. At 8pm Mat came over too and we had dinner, then we all left to go to the fireworks, which were amazing (see previous 2 posts). There was soooo much traffic on the way there, we left at 8:30 and got there just on time at 10pm. They ended at around 10:45pm and we walked back to the car and drove home, arrived at around midnight, and I got to bed by 2am or so. Then on Sunday after church we decided to drive the girls home instead, and watched a movie in the afternoon and left at 7pm. We arrived in Rawdon at 8:15 or so, and Mat tried installing WoW on my sister's computer while I slept. He woke me to leave at 11pm or so, and we drove back and I went to bed really late again last night, so I'm off to bed in half an hour tonight lol.

Cats, sister, bridge and the city

My sister sleeping in my livingroom, she came over for the weekend with her friend:



Licorice napping:



Sambuca napping:





Last night we went to watch the internation fireworks competition, the closed off the Jacques-Cartier bridge so people could watch from there:





Here's a view of Montreal from the end of the bridge:







The fireworks were amazing, I'll post the videos once they're done uploading.

Off to make dinner!

Various pictures Aug. 09

Here's the pics I took at the beach in Rawdon when I went to visit my parents 2 weeks ago:











On the way home from work one day:



Driving on the way home last weekend:



Mat, his dad and his daughter:



Mat, his daughter, and Dew



Sausages on the bbq at Mat's dad's place:



The flags outside of church at the Francofolies de Montreal festival last weekend:



Here's me and Olivia, Mat's friend's daughter, she was 1 week old here:





Olivia:



Mat and Olivia



Mat, me, Olivia's mom, and Olivia:



Here's last wednesday after I set the pot of oil on fire:



Scott with his new mullhawk which I shaved last Thursday:



And some qurban at church last weekend:

I HAVE MY FIRST CLUNKER!!!

I need this gene!

I came across this article about a gene they've discovered that makes some people need less sleep. It's rare that a day at work goes by that I'm not nodding off in the afternoon. Even if I've had 8 hours of sleep all week, I need at least 9.

I've been so busy the past two weeks, I haven't had time to post any pictures up. The usual routine is get home at 7-7:30pm, make dinner, tidy up, take a shower, sit in front of the computer for a few minutes and then realize it's already 9pm and I have to start my bedtime routine if I want to be in bed by 10. So clean the cat litter, brush teeth, wash face, say prayers, read 2 pages in my bible, straighten out the bed, with lots of interruptions and forgetting what I was doing lol.

On Wednesday I set a pot of oil on fire and stank up the whole apartment. I forgot the lid on while I was heating it up, and Mat commented that it was smoking, so I lifted the lid to check and smoke came billowing out, so I quickly put the lid back on and took it off the ring, when it promptly went *POOF!* from the oxygen I had let in and the lid popped off, flipped over and landed upside-down on the pot. I figured I'd leave it there till it cooled off, but then realized that the plastic knob on the top of the lid was frying in the oil. So I tried to gingerly turn it over with a garlic crusher that happened to be at hand, which didn't work, so I asked Mat if he could and he grabbed the lid with a fork and tossed it in the sink and brought the furiously smoking pot out on the balcony and set it on the corner of the railing. By then the smoke from the burnt plastic and oil was so thick in the apartment I couldn't breath and both cats were gagging, so I went out on the balcony with the cats, but still couldn't breathe because of the smoke from the pot so I went back in and went out the front door to stand in the alley across from my balcony. The pot wouldn't stop smoking so after 5 minutes Mat asked if there was anyone under the balcony and I told him not to pour it out, he asked me again and I told him again, he asked a third time and I said no, so he poured the smoking oil on the asphalt under my balcony. I stayed outside for half an hour or so, and then went back in to go straight out onto the balcony cause it still reeked of smoke in the apartment, and stayed on the balcony till it got dark. When I went in I tied a t-shirt over my head, t-shirt ninja style, and wore it till I went to bed. Mat took some pictures of me after he told me I looked like a muslim woman :P I'll post them up tonight if I have time.

Speaking of tonight, I'M GONNA GET MY FIRST CAR!!!!!!!! I got my learner's license back in June, and since then I've driven a few times with Mat's car, but he's always hesitant to let me drive it because he's only insured on one side (is that how you say it in english?) and if I scrap the car he doesn't have any money to buy another one, so I don't get to practice often. I was telling that to my dad and my dad told me he'd lend me one of the two old clunkers he has, a slate gray nissan maxima 1992, till November so I don't have to change the tires and have the hassle of parking it in Montreal in the winter. It has a few problems, the transmission slips so you can't go up hills, and the alternator doesn't work when the motor is hot, and the air conditioning makes a lot of noise, but other than that it's ok. So my dad is driving down to Montreal from Rawdon with it right now with my sister and her friend Meaghan, who will stay the weekend to go shopping at the Eaton Center, and leave on Monday or Tuesday by bus, and my dad will take the bus back home late tonight.

My dad is gonna stop and pick me up from work on the way, and we'll go home and have dinner and plan how to coordinate things so we can pick up the two girls at the mall and not have to leave my dad there to wait for his bus for an hour and 45 minutes.

Tomorrow me and Scott (who's head I shaved last night so he now has a mullhawk, which I took pictures of, and hopefully I'll get to dye this weekend and take pictures of too) are gonna go to Steph's place to go swimming, and then on Sunday I don't have any plans besides going to church. I hope I have time to put up some pictures tonight!!

Motor City a farming town?

This sounds like fun. I can't imagine 2/3 of the island of Montreal with NO GROCERY STORES. There's practically one every 3rd block!

Click twice for full view!!

KITE by ~hira-geco on deviantART

This is why

I never wear sandals.

I think I'm gonna wash my floor with bleach tonight!!

Pretty picture

of the Glastonbury Festival. For some reason I can't embed it so I guess I'll just have to link to it.

Anchovies and Lighning

I love good-quality anchovies, and I think other people should too! Speaking of which I have to go back to the Atwater market tonight and get some :D

Lightning is cool, and these guys get to watch it every night! Lucky Venezuelans :P

Tempura, Fritters, Neighbors and a Bug

On Wednesday I made some zucchini and sweet potato tempura, it was sooo good! I had made pan-fried zucchini before but wanted to try it in tempura, and the sweet potatoes I got the idea from a restaurant (top right hand corner). The sauce too I based it off what I guessed they had used at the restaurant (soy sauce and lemon juice) and made some of my own with soy sauce and vinegar since I had no lemon juice. It was great for dipping!:





And here's a recipe I got from my father-in-law Michel, he calls it "Tapettes de ble-d'inde" I guess an approximate translation would be corn fritters? Anyways it's just crushed up soda crackers (saltines) mixed with a can of creamed corn, then fried. They're really yummy:











And here are my neighbors across the yard in the back all outside on their balconies:



And a pretty bug I found on Mat's car, don't know what it's called:



I'm in Rawdon visiting my parents for the weekend. It was so nice to sleep in this morning, first time I've slept till 9am in I don't know how long lol.

Yesterday me and Mat went to the grocery store in the morning to get stuff for breakfast, and came back around noon, made crepes and corn fritters for lunch, then watched a movie, and by then it was 3:30 and I had to pack and leave for my parents place at 4 to make the bus to rawdon at 6. There was another bus at 5:10 that I thought I'd be in time for but I missed it by 10 minutes so I wandered around in the mall for a while before catching the 6pm bus. Got to Rawdon at 7:30, went to the grocery store with my dad to pick up the ingredients for Cheesy Poofs and Bacon Cheese Casserole that I'll make for my parents today (actually the cheesy poofs I made last night and my mom loved them). I think I'm gonna go walk then dog and then ask my sister if she wants to go to the beach with me.