Murphy and his law

So we - ok, I forgot Bean's DMV handicapped placard in the rental car in Arizona back in July; no luck with lost and found, fill out the replacement form, ship it in to Sacramento. Expect something within two weeks, as per their instructions on the website.

HA.

Two MONTHS later perhaps - but not before I slogged through the DMV phone tree and Byzantine online appointment scheduler, set something up for tomorrow at 9:50 am, canceled an existing appointment I had (nothing major at least), and was all set to go, loaded for bear as to their lackadaisical service policies.

You'll just never guess what showed up in the mail today.

Shocked.

Shocked, and appalled. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

My grandmother made a lot of date squares.
My dad loves date squares.
Frankly, I love date squares.
Had dates in the house, think, oh, date squares.
I had no date square recipe

Isn't that bizarre? For the record, I do have a butter tart recipe at least, so I've got one of the iconic Canadian desserts covered. I don't like Nanaimo bars, for the other record.

Coastal Living

Vs Midwestern lakeside living: winter hours. As in, not open.

Cryptic time over. We are discussing going to Toronto (with a short side trip to Montreal) over U.S. Thanksgiving; we've often enjoyed going up to British Columbia during a holiday that is not a holiday, plus Gene could have some face time with the Toronto sales guy, plus it would be visiting grandparents and aunt, plus I haven't been back to my hometown for four years. Which, weird. It didn't bother me particularly until this past summer, when I started thinking about all the fun things I'd like to show my girls about my city, nostalgia abounds, etc.

At any rate, I am beginning to realize that a lot of the fun summer things will not be available as fun winter (late fall) things, because shit closes up in September in Canada. No Centre Island, no Ontario Place, no picnics in High Park. This is not a problem in Northern California. Nothing ever closes - why would it? I had that initial moment of "oh, well, hell" before thinking, on the other hand, what sort of fun autumnal and chilly things could we do that we can't do here, pretty much ever, or at least not with any degree of authenticity?

Well. Riverdale Farm is fun any time of the year, but warm cider afterward only underscores the 19th century Ontario experience. St Lawrence Market is nice during the spring and summer, but stepping into a warm and tasty-smelling covered market from the brisk outdoors and going to find a peameal bacon sandwich is a distinct pleasure. Maple leaves, on the ground. We'll miss the Santa Claus parade, but Christmas decorations will start going up. Maybe there will even be snow! I miss mittens, sometimes. I miss the lovely feeling of coming in from November or December and thawing out somewhere bright and warm and busy (this is where I do have to insert my dad's comment that "It's Canada. The heat goes on October 1, even if it's 90 degrees outside". He needs his own Twitter feed).

On the other other hand, I will be glad to only have to argue/cajole/manipulate coats and hats on a 3 year old for a short period of time. I do not know how parents do it for 6+ months.