The land of the maple leaf...

We arrived in the land of the maple leaf Canada Day – fireworks, cotton candy and beers by the lake in small town Peterborough, celebrating with the locals, and our two dear friends Chris & Alysha, who put us up in their little flat.

The long sunny days that followed were filled with day trips to beautiful lakes, rivers and mountains courtesy of Chris & Alysha's awesome van, named Blurj, and lots swimming.

If you know anything at all about Shaun, you know that bombs and 'horsies' are obligatory activities when around any body of water.

Shaun and Chris sang a few songs at a local open mic night in a bar which lays claim to having hosted a few drunken performances by Hank Williams back in the day.

Alysha and Chris took Shaun to visit Omeemee – a little town where Neil Young lived when he was a boy.
I wasn’t there, so I hand over to Shaun to recount:

"The trip was a pilgrimage of sorts, and I had Neil singing in my head while we drove along – past old barns, on green hills…

‘the red river still runs through my home town, churning and splashing all the way, carving its way through the west prairie …., While a boy fishes the morning away’

‘there is a town in North East Ontario, blue … and comfort to spare, and in my mind I like to go there sometimes, all my changes happened there’

We went to a Neil Young museum which was fantastic.

Neil’s father had lived nearby all his life so it seemed like anything that Neil needed to get rid of had ended up in the museum – including the old family piano which I couldn’t stop looking at. It also had the guitar that Neil reckons he wrote natural beauty on.

There was also a picture of Neil and his brother in the museum from the previous year. I thought that Neil must have had the same stylist and Michael Hager – either that or Michael had lent Neil some clothes for the day."

Alysha’s Dad’s (Tom) farm in Norwood was a storybook setting amongst pine trees, rolling fields, maple groves, giant dandelions and old wooden fences.

Chris has been keeping his drum kit in the big old barn on the hill, and the rustic space and surrounds have all the makings of the next big country music festival (which I believe is in the making! Tom-fest).

Some skeet-shooting rounded off our Canadian activities nicely.

Shooting, you say? Well, I always presumed that if I was ever going to shoot a gun, it would be in the mighty US of A. But here we were in the late afternoon sun on Tom’s farm shooting off rounds at clay skeets.

That shotgun had a hell of a kick, and my shoulder ached for a few days, but it was a bit of a thrill.

And for the quintessential Canadian experience, how about a visit to a maple sugar shack? A tractor ride out to the wooden shack in the middle of the maple grove where Tom boils up home-made maple syrup.

We saw the taps that are literally screwed into the maple trunk, a bucket under each catching the drips of golden liquid which are then boiled down to the thick treacle, which we sampled by the spoonful.

As is customary in my posts to date, a mention of the food is a fairly sure thing. Canadian food is something to write home about, and we were treated to all sorts of new tastes by Chris and Alysha. For you foodies, I’ve put some of our more memorable eating experiences at the end of this post in a glossary of sorts.*

A bevvy of familiar Melburnians had all congregated in Toronto to attend Luke and Tracey’s wedding, and our hotel was full to the brim with northside regulars.

Shaun and Steve learnt quickly that Toronto’s ‘street meat’ is a game of Russian roulette. Here we see them ‘enjoying’ a hot dog of dubious carnivorous content at some ungodly hour.

A group of us went to a Leon Russell gig. Not being a fan of the encore, I especially liked his philosophy on ending the show.

“This is the part in the concert where we’d normally leave the stage and return for an encore. But when you get to my age, you’re too damn tired to get up and walk off the stage. So let’s just pretend that we’ve gone and just returned, huh?”

The aforementioned wedding arrived on July 9th, and was a really special day at Tracy's mum's place in Cookstown.

Shaun, Steve and Logan were best men, and they did a stellar job of keeping the groom calm and watering him with plenty of Canadian beer. They also did a pretty damn good job of looking cute in their grey waistcoats and Converse.

There was a minor debacle when the best men realized the Canadian barman hadn’t managed to get any beer on ice before the wedding guests arrived. Scenes reminiscent of a Barry McKenzie movie ensued and the situation rose to fever pitch when Australian guest Mark Rhoden was advised of the oversight. Tables were nearly thrown as Mark started to make his way over to the bar.

However the best men managed to get the situation in order. After much persistent diplomacy said barman started to understand the serious nature of his cultural blunder – and the beer remained plentiful, on ice, and ‘only for Australians’ for the entire night. You bloody little ripper!
Here's Mark and his lovely lady Anna...

...and a few more familiar faces...

Tracy was a most magnificent bride in a handmade dress of the most delicate vintage fabric, which suited the 1950’s mood. She and Luke were radiant.

Special mention to Christine, Eleana, Taj and Seika who looked divine and performed their bridesmaidly duties in a most stately fashion.

Luke and Shaun played a few songs at the wedding ensuring that the Idle Hoes were represented.

*Here is a glossary of some of the Canadian delicacies (I use this in the loosest of terms for some of these foods) that we sampled:
Clamato juice – tomato juice with clam extract. Sounds wrong, tastes right.

Ceasar – Like a Bloody Mary, but made using clamato juice, and garnished with a rim of celery salt.

Poutine – Classic Canadian hangover cure / drunken snack. Chips and gravy, but with the addition of twisty bits of cheese curd, which melt into the gravy. Sounds wrong, is wrong.

Peamail bacon – a thick cut of Canadian bacon that is juicier than regular. Particularly delicious with a side of house-smoked beans (and drizzled with maple syrup if you’re feeling completely indulgent).

Blueberries - Summer is the season for blueberries and they were the size of small grapes.

Wings – Although not a Canadian delicacy per se, these wings deserve special mention because they were consumed en masse at a 35 cent wing night. 35 cents!!

Tim-bits – Tim Hortons is a Canadian donut and coffee chain that can be found in every town, village and suburb. Tim-bits are like the donut hole, arriving in a cute little take-away box as a 10-, 20- or 40-pack. 40 donut holes for $6.29. Never has so much sugar and fat come in such a cute pack.