First stop: Toronto

JUNE 6TH - 10TH
Left Vancouver June 6th, and made it an entire 5000km, to Toronto, to visit a few dear folk before leaving the country.

My cousin Diane, who many of you know and love, bringing back the fanny pack. I felt very honoured that the occasion of my visit was celebrated with the purchase of a juicer, and the revival of a little game called "Guess What I Put In This One". We consumed a lot of fruit and veggies! Punctuated by visits to the hippest coffee shops around, of course.

As Dechiefs will do for fun when they get together, we also set about getting crafty. I realized that I didn't have a big enough shoulder bag for travelling so Di helped me to make one, while regaling me with stories of people getting their bags stolen in France. If anyone steals this bag, we all know that it's because it's so beautiful and impeccably made!

Met up with Patrick (as exuberant about biking as ever!) and he took me on a fantastic ride out past Cabbagetown and Rosedale into the Don Valley.

We stopped in at 'Brickworks', the factory that made bricks for local buildings until the mid-80's. His mom is instrumental in the organic farmer's market that just opened there, and there are plans to create a year-round market (that you can skate through in the winter!), nursery, ceramics museum, brewery, outdoor education centre, etc. , all based on sustainable design principles. For the design geeks in my life, more info at: http://evergreen.ca/rethinkspace/

Patrick invited the chocolate makers in the market (who are super young, buy their organic cacao beans directly from farmers they met in Oaxaca and grind them using pedal power) to come into his grade 6 classroom to talk about fair trade. (Apparently, kids really get the concept that people should be paid a decent wage for their hard work. Duh! Adults can be so dumb sometimes.)


Had a yummy brunch in the village with Ro, a dear old friend from my rugby-playing days, philosophizing about life, love and happiness.


Really appreciated the neighbourhoods I got to stay in and visit and definitely gained a new appreciation for the city.

I liked the mix of new and old architecture - although my definition of "old" is likely to change drastically in Europe.

Missed photo opportunities:

1. The guy with hoagie buns woven through his bike spokes. Seriously!!

2. The guy standing in the middle of a forest in the park that Diane and I went for a run in, playing the bagpipes! That sound really travels, hey? It was a really big park with lots of winding trails, so we used his lilting tunes to navigate our way back to the right entrance.