Summer of '09

My quest to search for information on new era fad of Blogging has brought me here to this page and guess what...I am blogging!!!


hhmmm...so what should I be blogging about. Oh here is an idea, how about summer of '09 in Toronto to get my feet wet in this area. In our great city, which I simply love, we were hit by lots of un-summerish things this wonderful year of recession and unemployment, just to name a few. As soon as the summer was turning our corner, to be precise on June 22nd, we were hit by the City strike which lasted for 36 days - it brought down city-run day cares, island ferry, parks and swimming pools and above all garbage pickups to a feet-grinding halt.


It left working parents scrambling to make alternative arrangements and the most populous city in the country smelling like...uh, garbage, instead of lovely smells of BBQing meats and corn wafting in our summer skies. It seemed like Toronto was raised above ground level, turned upside down and then shaken till all pieces of garbage fell out and just lay strewn all over the place. Picture this by visualizing if a garbage-bin goes through this act. Sorry, I leave it to your imagination as I don't want to post a picture of my beautiful city littered with litter and spoil the image for all and sundry.


Everybody took a breath of relief when an agreement was reached and the workers finally went back to work. Must say that even after it was called off the breath that we all took of relief was stopped mid-way due to the worse stench that permeated our neighbourhood for 3-4 days after the garbage was removed from the vicinity. Phew...suffice to say everybody is thankful we are all finally breathing clear, unadulterated air.


And I have to do this, being a Canadian I have to complain about the weather. 'Coz if I don't there is no full enjoyment out of the weather system every season. We are never satisfied about this one aspect in life where no human on this planet has any control. And we always forget that our very own past acts have resulted in some unusual conditions and as bad Karma would lead to it we are all paying the price in this very life - you know the affects of Global Warming and all. So this summer doesn't feel like summer at all. It seems like a mix of monsoon-early winter conditions. And then there are few spurts of really humid days where the weatherman takes a wicked delight in saying that due to humidex it feels like 41 degrees Celsius.


Despite all these oddities summer has been a good, enjoyable one and I must say it will remain in our mind, so it was a successful one. I traveled to two wonderful cities in North America - one being New Orleans and the other our very own country capital Ottawa. Wonderful people and beautiful cities. New Orleans culture, music, cuisine, architecture, street-car, people, oak-trees and all were so unique. Loved every moment of being there. Ottawa was beautiful even though we were barraged with incessant rain - Rideau Canal, By-ward market, Parliament Hill, trip to Carp to a farmhouse, picking fiddleheads, eating Beaver Tail and Obama cookies were some experiences of their own.


Still enjoying the summer which will come to an end in a month's time. Having great, wonderful time with friends, dinners, going for walk-trails, world-festivals, movies and being invited to BBQs, weddings, bachelorette party, baby shower, cottaging, picnic, working out and eating clean and healthy - between all this, life is good.


I am looking forward to the new movie Julie & Julia this weekend, being a foodie I already know I will love it. Guess what, for that movie it all started with blogging. Bringing my very first blog-post to an end by wishing readers all the best and enjoy the rest of the summer, wherever you are. Cheers!!!