travel

Reached Toronto via various interstates where the speed limit appeared to be a 'suggestion'.  Curious why both the US & Canada don't just increase the rate (but I suppose the habit of going 10 above the limit... would follow).  Our new old Toyota Corolla "as fun to drive as a washing machine" lived up to its stereotype and we arrived with no incidents, having left Boston early enough to miss the winter storm that hit several hours later.  Maya was buckled in with a doggie seatbelt that keeps her in one place but with enough room to lie down or sit up as she likes.  She only properly fell off the seat once - and never again!

Nice news is Steph's accustomed to driving automatic now - though the 9 1/2 hour drive was thanks to me, and my sore butt - cars are not comfortable after that much time!

So far have managed to catch up with a few friends and Maya finally met Denise's dog Tucker.  The family is well and looking forward to seeing the rest of the family when they arrive. 

Other good news of note, the Sunyata Retreat Centre is LIVE and open for donations (http://www.sunyatacentre.org/donate).  They're a beautiful retreat centre in County Clare, just outside sixmilebridge in Ireland and I for one think they're worth donating to.  I'd be sad to see them shut down for lack of funding as they're trying to upgrade some old farm houses to be warm and comfortable for people attending retreats. 

It rained for two days straight.  My birthday came and went and we celebrated by going for Japanese with Lin Clark who is now taken up position in Galway as a replacement for Steph.  Nothing much to report and so no major blog entries. 

We had a few friends over for a game of Werewolves - Oshani, Mithushi, Varuni, & Rukshan.  I made a pumpking curry for the first time - and learnt how to make watalappan as well.  More pictures are on flickr. 

On Sunday we went up to Newburyport to visit Lisa Rex and had an amazing late lunch at the Starboard Galley restaurant (two thumbs up!). 

Highlights c/o Flickr

Only other thing of interest is I'm finally caught up with Heroes (thanks to Netflix).  Being a full time stay at home wife takes a LOT of work... ;)  Well, at least to keep myself occupied so I don't gnaw through my foot!  Time seems to pass quickly. 

I will be putting in some time to my 'recipe' page on my website - to my fans: please remind me if there are any culinary delights you'd like to see up there!

Picture with zoom: 

Several BOFs were carried out last night enroute to Boston with Lisa, Susan, Jeannie, Travis, and myself. Incidentally we also got held up in customs due to yours-truly and I am greatly thankful for their patience (and nonchalance) at having to wait an extra 1.5 hours to cross the border. ;)

That said, I'm officially a glorified house-wife with a CAPITAL H-4! :) I still qualify for the TN and customs were happy to reassure me that I could return once I have a job offer suiting my credentials. PHEW!

The drive back was relatively uneventful for the first half with us trying to guess at what just crossed the road (otter or fox?, most likely the latter!). There were loads of discussions ranging from restaurants and karaoke joints in Boston to "how do you get that image to load onto your blog?".

The one most eventful thing was when a car behind us swerved off the road! Jeannie in her fast thinking sped up the car thus avoiding a collision and Susan called 9-1-1 to report the accident. We were all a bit shaken after that!

I'm looking forward to having all of my new found Drupal colleagues over to the apartment sometime for a group-problem-solving BOF & some kick-ass SLan food!

Guidebook for the trip: The Rough Guide to Italy (We found this to be adequate to our budgeting needs though it's lacking the history and detail of some of the other books.  Ideally would have taken the DK guide - but decided budget factored over history and interesting detail.  This english version was bought at the last minute from the Gibert Juene in St Michel, Paris.

Places visited: