Our "European Vacation"

My bride and I decided to take a short vacation to "Europe" this week-end.  Two of Brooke's siblings are actually going to Europe and so as not to be left out of the fun, we decided to travel to Toronto, Canada.  It is very much like Europe.  There is London, Paris, the Thames river.  One needs a passport.  There is a border crossing.  It's quite wonderful and foreign.  Of course our favorite person in the world is there.  His picture is part of this blog, in case you were in doubt.  We took Gabe to a park with some neighbor twin girls and their Grandfather.  He speaks Serbian.  Very little english.  How European.  We also took Gabe to a very nice pre-school drop-in center.  This place was great!  Clean, very well organised, nice people in charge.  I was in a nice frame of mind(those drugs are great) and my mind set seemed to match that of most of the adults there.  Similar drugs?  The place reminded me of the pre-school center we took Jake and Emma to so many years ago.

We also went to a nice coffee shop that Brooke had discovered on her previous visit.  It has free wi-fi and very nice tables and chairs plus book shelves and some decorative items.  Very pleasant.  On Queen Street there is one shop after another and quite varied.  Many countries of the world represented.  We took a walk down a side street off Queen and found beautifully landscaped yards.  The houses are close together and all somewhat different.  They were really interesting to see and it would probably be a nice place to live.

One thing I noticed, since the last time I was there, was the people from the Community Center have these electrically powered vehicles that they ride up and down Queen Street on.  They are customized with rear-view mirrors and headlights.  The people from the Center park in front of the Salvation Army Store, sitting on their "rides" and conversing.  I'm sure if we visited more often we would get to know more about the habits of the people there.

I was alerted to the fact that someone had thrown out an oriental rug.  It is common practice to recycle no longer wanted items by leaving them in certain areas where others can inspect and retreive them if desired.  I was too tired to go out that night but the next morning we chanced by and the rug was still there.  It was in excellent condition, but had been cut in half.  It wouldn't have lasted twenty minutes if it had been whole.  But, no one wanted a half-rug.  I left it also.  Later when we had returned I decided to take it.  It could be used somewhere.  Maybe in the camper.  Maybe in the side bedroom.
Whats left of it is in great condition...beautiful deep colors and little wear.  I've been thinking about getting an oriental rug for a while, so this could satisfy my desire.  The price was right.  John suggested that I use it with a mirrored wall so with the reflection one would get the effect of a full rug.
Wonderful idea.  We returned home fully energized and at a bargain price.  Caio!