Only Fruit

A belated garden update: About a week after my first pepper, I was looking at my garden wilting and suddenly saw a huge zucchini on the ground, a good 40 cm long, 10 cm in diameter and heavy. I have no idea how long this gigantic fruit had been growing clandestinely under the leaves, but either it'd been undercover for a while, or the plant had an abrupt growth spurt and died, leaving all its energy in this single mammoth squash. I detached the fruit, which fed me for the next two weeks, but nothing I could do would revive the wilting plant. I have a feeling that this is the only zucchini coming out of my garden this year. I wonder if I realize how many parents sacrifice their lives when they bear offspring.

It's been a cold summer.

It's not summer anymore.

Cast Iron

I played MAGIC: The Gathering for the first time ever! I've heard all about it for 15 years or so, but never knew how it worked until my boyfriend taught it to me last week with some Ravnica starter packs. Apparently, a single game is supposed to take 20 minutes, but ours were running around 2 hours each. (Poor him!) I'm happy to report that I, the neophyte, won both games against the seasoned veteran... although to be fair, I think he let me win on Game 2. Game 1 was played open-handed and I got lucky by drawing my favourite card in my deck, Spectral Searchlight, early on, so I trounced him good. Hey, the Searchlights cost only 50 cents each! Imagine what I could do with 10 of these. Hmm....

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A few days ago, I got a physical checkup. I now have a name for the shooting pain I get in my knees sometimes, when it feels like my legs are going to buckle under me: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome. I'm not sure what causes it, but at least I now know what it's called. I hadn't realized how much the Health Care system in Canada has declined. Since I tend to get sick whenever I visit the doctor (waiting room contagions), I've been trying to avoid doctors' offices in Canada for the past 5 years or so. Opthamologist's Eye exams are no longer covered. Call me a bleeding-heart liberal, but it seems to me that it's pretty important to EVERYONE for EVERYONE ELSE to know when their seeing is going. Maybe we don't have enough Canadians dying in traffic accidents, so the government figures it's best to stop checking our eyesight. Apparently, if I had better health insurance, my doctor could order x-rays and see if I need physiotherapy for the knee thing, but since it's not covered, I went home with some photocopies. Good ones, though!

I don't like needles, especially the kind that takes more than it gives, so I haven't done any bloodwork for over a decade. The doctor who gave me my last physical just handed me a form for the bloodwork to bring to the lab and said I didn't have to do it when I asked about it. So I didn't. Stuffed it in my bag and let it go. My new family doctor, though, is sure keen on all that health and medicine bunk, so she convinced me it was critical to check the blood. Wouldn't take No for an answer. So I went with the consensus... down to the laboratory in the basement and let them jam a needle into my arm. The doctor's office called me the next day. Apparently, I have an iron deficiency and need to make another appointment with her for that. I'm not sure where this goes next... I could go to the doctor again, and either need to take vitamins or eat better, and then what? They take more blood to see if it worked? When will the bloodshed stop?

The Ex

We went to the Ex for its last day, to check out everything we missed when we went on the first day back in mid-August. It was Labour Day so the Air Show was on, but I was too late to catch any of it, although we still did see some other shows. I didn't bring my camera, but I'll post something from the first visit.

This time, we were able to catch an aerial acrobatic and ice skating show. One skater did an Inspector Gadget routine that I loved -- he had this great energy and charisma and the choreography reminded me a bit of Kurt Browning's Charlie Brown routine with its humour and charm. Most of the other skaters were mediocre and just did formations and some low jumps. We also checked out the Arts and Crafts pavilion where I bought a few (too many?) things.

Last time at the Ex, we went on a ton of rides and I learned that my body's constitution is not what it used to be when I was young. We saw a cabaret called Cirque Envol, which took place in a beautiful building with a huge dome. Lit up, it was perfect for a circus/acrobatics show. Take a look at the pic!

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I realized I might have to limit comments on this blog to registered users, since I got my first spam comment today. Not that there are a lot of comments here, but I don't feel like having this blog being used to sell every Internet product/service/website out there. But, for the sake of entertaining free speech, here's the comment text for anyone who is interested: "Hey, check out this site - these guys pay you up to 30 percent money back for all of your normal online purchases! How does it work? They give you the money they earn from their affiliates whenever you buy through them. Click here for more info". Not very exciting, is it. Thank you, Anonymous! Perhaps I should give another chance to the other Anonymous commentators out there who have more relevant remarks to make.