Chillin'

   So, it's been three weeks since my last missive and I can hear all of you breathing a collective sigh of relief. "Where's he been?", I can hear you asking. "Where's my periodic dose of jocularity?", those same voices plead. Well friends, your long wait is over. To quote Randy Quaid in Independence Day, "I'm baaaack!"

  No, we're not on the road exposing those dark little out of the way places to our illuminating observations. Right now, we're in the deepest reaches of Scarborough, in Toronto's east end. We're sitting for friends Ben and Sandra who are off at a cottage this week cavorting on a clear, blue lake, laughing and drinking and having lots of fun. We, on the other hand, have accepted the sombre responsibility of caring for their cat and making sure their house doesn't fall down while they're away frolicking. Someone's gotta do it.

  Joining us this week is our eleven year-old grandson, Ben who, for the sake of clarity, I shall refer to as Benjamin. He seems to be coping with the myriad hardships this duty entails. Why, it was just this morning he volunteered to test the temperature of the water in the pool! What a trouper. Benjamin's been in the water so much this week he hasn't had a chance to unwrinkle. Like I said, hardships.

  The house is in a charming 1960's neighbourhood close to Rouge Park and Lake Ontario. It's so old that they even get mail delivery... to their door! I've been watching out for the milkman but I suspect I'm not getting up early enough to catch him although I figured the clip-clopping of his horse's hooves would awaken me.

  We've spent most of our time hanging with Benjamin at the pool but we did manage to do some exploring a couple of days ago. We first attempted to check out the view from atop the Scarborough Bluffs, a sandy cliff lookout high above the lakeshore, but all accesses are blocked with signs warning of outrageous fines for trespassing. Apparently, the authorities are worried setting foot on top of the Bluffs could cause the entire city to fall into the lake, or some such calamity. Anyway, our efforts were in vain with sights unseen. We did try to see it from the bottom, where there is a beach, but parking was impossible due to the number of people, like us, discouraged from seeing it from above.

  Undaunted, we headed off for our next stop, Guild Park. Toronto locals will know this as the home of the Guild Inn, a famous hotel throughout much of the latter twentieth century. What most people don't know, however, is the property is home to many architectural details from long demolished buildings torn down since the Second World War. It's a fascinating display with columns, facades, arches and other bits of stone masonry, scattered throughout the park.

  Of course, our time in Greece was put to work when we discovered some Ionic columns. Who said there's no real history here?

  Benjamin and I spent some time trying to determine the fictional origins of some of the pieces as there was no handy reference for most of it. Of particular interest was the barcode on a piece of plywood that covered a window on the Osterhout log cabin built on the site of the future Scarborough in the late eighteenth century. Benjamin didn't believe there were steam-powered point of sale terminals in 1795. I countered with the thought that 1795 was probably marked down from 1995. With that, it all made sense.

  The finale to our day of exploration was a visit to Rouge Beach, just south of the house. It's an interesting spot shoehorned into the mouth of the Rouge River, a stone's throw from the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station. Between the warning signs about water quality and atomic imaginings Benjamin refused to stick his toes in the water for fear they'd dissolve or be left glowing from radiation. I, having no such fears, did manage to cool my tootsies in the radioactive petri dish of Lake Ontario and was the better for it. Of course, I did wash them when we got home. I'm not stupid.

  We'll be here until week's end with our next sit due to start the end of the month. Yes, another house with a pool. More hardships. After three weeks of interminable misery we'll be off to a sit near Ottawa for ten days with, yes, another pool. Now before you get all jealous about us spending the entire summer hanging out at other peoples' houses sipping umbrella drinks by their pools remember there's a lot of work such sloth entails. For example, I have to add chemicals once a week. We have to raise and lower the umbrella every day. And someone has to make those drinks and find the little umbrellas to stick in them. Not so attractive now, eh? And you thought we had it easy. Sheesh.

  That's about it for now, so keep smilin' and stay tuned for more adventures.

Waterfront, Sort Of

   It's July and we're back home. Well, "home" is a relative term. We're back in Newmarket... in someone else's home. This is a bit of a novel concept for us since all our house sits, except for family, have been in far-flung locales. For the summer we'll be local and that engenders quite a different experience for us.

  For starters, we don't need to explore. We've lived in this area for most of our lives so there's nothing new and unusual to see. Toronto's not known for a preponderance of things on sticks or archaeological excavations. We speak the language. The exchange rate is 0%. They drive on the right, albeit with questionable skill. We already know where to buy groceries and what they cost (a lot). We know that receiving a parking ticket won't cause our license plates to disappear. Things are usually open here and Newmarket's waterfront is only a creek. No surprises.

  What is different here is our family and friends are around so we won't be missing anyone. Strange.

  We're in a very comfortable house here and the owners have had the foresight to install a pool and a hot tub in anticipation of our visit. Smart. They went on vacation in the summertime and invited us to watch the place for them. Also smart. They have a little Bichon Frise named Macey.

  Last night I would have said that was not so smart but, after sleeping on the bed with us,  she's toned down the incessant yapping and become a bit more sedate. Of course, she goes crazy when someone comes to the house so I'm sure things will be significantly less sedate once the fam discovers the pool. She also suffers from LDS. No, not LSD. Little Dog Syndrome. Hates all dogs. We'll see how this goes.

  This is the first in a series of house sits we've arranged so we can be around home for the summer. All of them have swimming pools so Gran and Granddad's place will be the "in" spot for the next few weeks. Our fall plans are slowly taking shape and will likely include a western jaunt to spend some time with our Yellowknife friends, Bryan and Sheila. Since son David seems ready for me to attack his basement renovation this fall it looks like we'll be around home for the rest of the year.

  As you know, all my blogs have focused on the travel aspect of house sitting. Since there's really nothing for us to explore around here I'll refocus on other stuff that comes up along the way. That means I won't be writing as often as there's less material from which to weave these tales but I may meander onto current affairs or other things that occupy my mind as we wile away the days living in OPH (Other Peoples' Homes).

  It promises to be different but always interesting. Stay tuned.