Jon's Mom's place and Toronto...long one but you can just look at the pix

First of all lemme say... we're currently in Montreal and the people are so sweet and funny.  I'm sitting in McDonalds for internet use and a mcflurry fix, waiting out Jon's migraine and my first encounter was with an elderly man who immediately complained to me and mentioned that a woman had almost run over him while walking just now, and expressed to me that he doesn't like his fellow French Canadians.  He is very ill about the hastiness of drivers and worse, that people talk on cell phones and pay no attention to the road... per the scar on the bottom of his chin.

Anyway, back to backtracking... so we made it to Ben's house in Scarborough by 11pm or so, then caught up and went to sleep.  

this is Ben

We went to Jon's mom's (Lucie's) place the next day in Shannonville, Ontario to visit.  

First we stopped at the big Apple and grabbed an apple/caramel pie and laughed at the llamas. 

probably wanting to prepare a spittle for revenge from the laughter...

showing his ass

We picked her up and went first to a diner called "Griddle Me This" in Deseranto and had a wonderful lunch and walk around the cute little town. 

Our conversations ranged from catching up, to Native American reservations and residents and stuff (Jon's mom lives on one), to Buddha, cats, and details of her move to this little town where we were eating.  With her we visited the beer store, the dollar store, the bank, and her new location.  We helped her set up a screen for shade for the cats when they're brought over, then I had to break up an argument between Jon and his mom about switching her refrigerator from propane to electric since she would now have access to power.  After the argument settled, we had a picnic at a local park with chicken, salads, pork, wine, and irish cream liquor in a brown bag for Lucie. We enjoyed ourselves until dusk, when the mosquitos cut it short.

Lucie's old place

Lucie and Jon

adding flare to her new spot

little boat houses along the lake near our picnic

a fallac tree near our picnic table

 two of Jon's mom's neighbors

another

and another

some of Jon's mom's cats

On the way home, Jon and I stopped at another lake (can't remember the name...I'll get back to this) for a picnic of our leftover pork, honey mustard and bread, and a couple o' Heinekens again.  

This should say "butt out" instead (zoom for view of cig butts)

our picnic spot on the way home (gotta get the name of the lake)

We reached Scarborough and headed to the Beaches area for rollerblading after Jon rode a little flatland.  While Jon rode, I took Rudee right across to the dog park to play... and was entertained by these fellows:

black squirrel

We went back to Ben's, grabbed a Hawaiian pizza from wonderful Pizza Nova, and headed back for beer and pizza and a celebration for something I'm not supposed to mention yet.  

The next day we rode into Toronto from Ben's place in Scarborough, and stopped at the Black Bull or something (gotta double check this) for a Steam Whistle pilsner(local beer).  We chose this location b/c we thought Taro had recommended it but turns out... Taro had said it was an expensive touristy place, but it we kept it simple with 2 beers and bruschetta anyway.  Here, we rested our legs and had a nice view of the CN tower.

We walked around an art market and did the CN  tower, which was very cool.  We opted for the cheaper view, which is the first notch up... but next time maybe we'll go all the way if Jon's not scared again?

the art market was a beauty in itself, positioned below the buildings of Toronto

ha ha

our scrumptious Shawarmas at Nora Shawarma

reflection of middle eastern onlookers through the plexiglass at CN tower

Jon reflecting

and then launching his tiny paper airplane for take-off

at dusk, red lights

view thru the gated walkway

CN tower at night

We had a $12 pitcher with Taro that night and rode bikes around again, then took the subway closer to Ben's house and peddled home by 2:00 am.

The next day was Jon's, since he had spoiled me the day before for a fun day of looking around, art, CN tower, beer, and people watching.  We started the day at Christie Pitts park where Jon rode flatland while I visited a cute little cafe for computer stuff.  Then we headed to the dirt trails with Ben, Taro, drifter Dave, Enrique, Tammy (Ben's girl), Scotty, and some other dudes.  

Jon shredding

Rudee shredding

That night we cooked out with Taro, then walked downtown for the tail end of the Salsa festival.  We saw the last of a parade, a girl fight (wish I had pix...), and then went to an AWESOME little bar 

called the Wailers. 

salsa girl

the end crowd

a bad ass looking security guard with stance and all

We called it a night early to get some sleep before Jon's family get together the next day.  When we arrived in Richmond Hill to Cathy's house, we were proud to deliver the 2 Sweetwater 420 cases (Kroger was out of Terrapin) we brought, because sometimes we forget to be prepared with a booze contribution... but not this time.  We had a great time visiting with Jon's awesome family, eating chips, dips, fruit, grilled chicken, salads, and birthday cake for the summer birthdays!

Jon, his bro, cuz, and dad

cake!

Jon's cousin Cam showing the family his special jump

Jon's task

  So finally... after making another trip all the way back to Ben's b/c Jon forgot his computer, we headed to Montreal.  I'll end with a pic of the weird mannequin in Ben's neighbor's yard...