Brilliant Weekend

Sofia

This past weekend, just as last year, we hosted an International Student who is currently attending the University of Toronto.  We were lucky enough to host the wonderful Sophia from Bologna, Italy who is working on her Masters in Women's Studies.  No one I know loves the snow as much as Sophia as she told me she would rather walk on snow than on a beach full of sand.  I wish I could agree but right about now that sand is sounding pretty damn good to me.

The International Student Weekend brings together 31 students from 31 different countries  for two days of outdoor activities like skating, tobogganing, snow tubing etc.  Some of these kids have never seen snow and  in many ways seeing it through their eyes is like seeing it for the first time all over again.  I can't tell you what an experience it was for my girls  to learn and to speak with students from all over the world......Australia, Turkey, Iran, Denmark, Egypt, West Africa, Ukraine, Russia, England, Mexico etc.  For two days I had the pleasure of watching all these countries together coexisting, having fun and it gave me a taste of what world peace could be and believe me, it was so very sweet.

I was so thrilled to find out that Angie and Mohammed, my friends from last year were participating again this year.  Angie and I have kept in touch and sometime this spring we'll be heading down to Toronto for one of her homecooked Egyptian dinners.......can't wait!  Here's some pics from the weekend.

Me, Mohammed & Angie

                                    The girls and Yin and Yin from China

                           Sophia's First Ride on  A Snowmobile

     The girls and Simon from England, Sophia and Lilly from Portugal

                                           Sierah and Yin

Final Group shot before getting on the bus and heading back to Toronto

An Interesting New Resident and A Trip to The Farmer's Market

I noticed the other day when I was taking out the compost that this guy seems to have taken up residence near my backdoor. Now I'm not someone who dislikes or is fearful of spiders, for some reason they just don't seem to incite the "yuck" factor in me..........for me it's always been about snakes. All that slithering just creeps me out. Not sure what variety of spider this is but if anyone knows I'd be interested to find out. He is absolutely fascinating to watch!

I was at the Farmer's Market on Saturday and always find it to be quite the treat. Nothing tastes quite like local produce. All those vendors setting up their tents at 6:00 a.m. rain or shine. You've got to admire that. Here's a few of my favourites.

This is Mark of Quaker Oats Farm. Hands down he makes the "best" stuffed olives I have ever tasted. I love the sundried tomato ones as well as the garlic. But if you have the garlic you have to make sure whom ever your with has them also......... a little goes a long way. My friend Rob favours the blue cheese stuffed but I'm not a big fan of blue cheese.

Tam makes delicious hand rolled spring rolls as well as garden wraps, sticky rice and curried chicken stew.

Tom is our local honey guy. He owns a small business called "Lavendar Hills Honey". Probably one of the kindest as well as happiest people I know.

Jennifer of "Apple of My Pie" is not only a vendor at the market but also a friend. She and her husband Ford run the booth every Saturday morning. If you don't pick up a pie from her by 10:00 a.m. your out of luck.......she sells out pretty quickly. A testament to her wonderful baking.

Hope however you spent your weekend that you made the most of it.