New Start 3

I've just realised that you're going to be looking at Canada photos for ages as I have so many so you had better be ready!! At least it'll only be a few each evening rather than the marathon session that my poor parents had to endure. And they only looked through the edited Summary file not all 600 odd photos I took! I think I've got Japanese blood or something. It's safe to say that I got my money's worth from the new camera I bought from Kitty a few months ago. I just need to learn how to use it to its full potential now as, at present, I'm really just pointing and clicking!

Anyway, above is Anne, the daughter of my friend from my first job in London, Rich and his Chinese wife, Qing (pronounced Ching) as well as the whole family and D and I on the lakefront of Lake Ontario.

Rich moved to Toronto a few years ago and married Qing shortly after Anne was born. She's gorgeous, a real livewire. Qing chats away to her in Chinese but she's decided that she will only speak English so replies in English - her Chinese grandparents are horrified!

They seem to have a really nice life (for city dwellers anyway!). They live quite close to downtown and don't own a car so cycle everywhere or use public transport. Anne has a lovely routine which involves both parents equally and seems really happy and healthy. I was particularly impresed by her diet - all fruit, freshly prepared fish and veggies with only a small amount of meat and rice with everything.

Rich seems really happy on it to but says he periodically craves potatos and proper meat meals so every now and then Qing relents and buys him a steak.

I was not eating much in Toronto as it was at the start of our trip but I did have Dim Sum with them and a few bites of most of what they had - sushi, the most gorgeous marinated steak I have ever seen (I really wish I'd had more than a bite of that!) and the lovely strawberries and mangos that Anne had for breakfast every morning.

Made me think about how I want to eat when I'm back to it. Healthy and fresh. No processed stuff. If I want cakes or biscuits then I have to bake them myself. Very little bread and what bread I do eat must be wholemeal and complex carbs not white flab. Loads of fruit, veg and fish and lots of variety.

The Asian food I had in Canada from Qing and my sister in law Hadi was so lovely it has made me realise how lazy I had become in the cooking department - so reliant on meat and 2 veg.

Anyway, enough of that. I've had a busy day. the surveyor came this morning to value this house so I was late in but worked from home. Meetings meetings meetings thereafter.

I had arranged to jog with Shelley this evening but it was chucking it down with rain (really chucking it down!). Well, I didn't text to cancel but I was hoping she would and, dammit, she didn't! So I went and she said she had been hoping the same! We went out for a new run which she found while I was away. It's great but it was like running along a stream. Soaking wet and throwing it down with rain. It would have been really pretty but we couldn't see much due to the rain and having to watch your feet. Looking forward to doing it again though. A massive hill to start and finish with. Loved it. So glad to back to the old routine.

Now just doing some washing and about to watch a crappy DVD with the dog.

She's got her procedure under General Anaesthetic tomorrow so I'm a bit nervous for her. Poor beastie. Still, the swelling on her paw is pretty big so it's time to deal with it.

Wish us luck!