Not Quite Edinburgh Yet

Ew! - These are milkweed bugs, I assume another branch of the family of monarch butterflies. Maybe millions of years ago, one life form fed on milkweed and, through mutation, came to be two or more. Note how the colour scheme is the same.

I am officially on vacation - a status Bruce enjoys 24/7 - but we don't fly out to Edinburgh until Sunday night. 

Thanks to tailwinds, it's a 6 1/2 hour flight - short when compared to the 9 hours it took me to get to Ottawa the other week.

TIFF Types

The Toronto International Film Festival just wrapped up. Bruce went with a friend to see a documentary on electric Formula One race cars. 

I made a more marginal effort and sat on a Yorkville patio on Thursday night to watch the TIFF types walk by. They stick out - even in the flashy Yorkville crowd - like poppies in a wheat field. They always look a little overdressed, a bit more groomed than the rest of us. Overall, they seem to be taller than average and painfully thin - especially the men. And I knew I'd seen everything when a woman walked by wearing a knapsack, made of some see-through material, perforated with loonie-sized holes so that the parrot sitting on a perch inside could see its surroundings and breathe.

Another Bad Business Idea

The week we spent celebrating Kim's 60th birthday was rudely interrupted every hour at ten minutes to the hour by our Fitbits bugging us to get up off our butts and wander around. This became annoying. How great would it be if someone could have showed up, strapped on all our Fitbits, and taken them for a walk. I figure with the right clientele - I'm thinking downtown office workers bound to their hoteling stations - you could make a couple of hundred dollars an hour as a Fitbit walker.

Holiday Goals

Because I don't have a vehicle and live within walking distance of just about everything I have to do, I average about 14K steps a day. On weekends I'll get to 22K and even sometimes 25K. But I've never done 30K steps in a day. I'll set that as my goal in Edinburgh, even if it kills Bruce.

Speaking of Bruce's life expectancy, he has bravely undertaken the difficult challenge of quitting smoking. And he got started soon enough that he won't be grumpy as an incompetent Supreme Court nominee defending himself at his confirmation hearing when we get to Edinburgh.    

The daily dispatches start Monday.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen