There are long weekends and then there are the longest weekends - this past July 1st weekend seemed to go on extra days. And people are still celebrating today on the Monday. That's known as a four-day bridge weekend.
In countries where Monday is the first day of the week on the calendar, a long weekend is often known as an oval weekend - you have to draw an oval to reach around the days rather than a circle.
What about next year? It's on the Saturday - so which day will be the off of work day? In 2024 it is on Monday and in 2025 on Tuesday. Those years are simpler and Tuesday would mean a four-day bridge weekend again.
What I've noticed is that in both Canada and the US, the holiday has a number of protests.
In Canada we had the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa on July 1st. That made non-news, being a heavily policed and ticketed event so was orderly. There were no updates after the warnings in the early morning of the 1st.
Today is the U.S. holiday and the big protest is over the loss of abortion rights. This is going to get lots of coverage. That is additional to the anti-Black racism and indigenous activities protests on this day every year, so a lot is going on this year. I wondered how many protests there would be in the U.S. There were no numbers or statistics on the CNN website. Not very good coverage in my view, and I've started to think that CNN has sort-of articles in order to present the extensive gallery below full of click bait advertisements for Empty Alaska cruise Cabins, Stars you probably didn't know were twins, New seniors apartments coming to Grimsby (looks like Colorado ski lodge houses to me).
I did notice how many of these gallery headlines were travel-related - it is a fever in our consciousness now:
Here are the highlights:
Put your luggage in the hotel bathtub tip - Snopes says TRUE mostly. But you won't find out by going through 30 pages that mention nothing about luggage. Snopes research gives the reason: bedbugs. And the technique is for those who are fearful of bedbugs rather than a precaution for all. You are supposed to search the room for signs of bedbugs and then bring the luggage in if it is all clear. (Yuk!)
And why would we put coins in the bathroom sink? To stop the sink in order to fill it up to wash clothes. (Travelling too light? Another Yuk}
And then always put a towel under the hotel door. To keep out noise and light (perhaps a college graduation party hotel).
These are like silly jokes that I could never guess the punchline for. And they are superior to hotel jokes which turn out to be repetitively the same 5 sexist, racist, and lewd jokes. There should be a joke that starts: What does Jesus, a photon and an American Indian have in common? They all show up in horrible hotel jokes.
On to the beauties of summer. These are roses in the Bakker's growing field. This year there is a field on Seventh Street just south of the QEW exit. Can you imagine how many plants are growing here? They will all disappear in the fall - dug up as bare root plants and off to new gardens in the spring sales.
Being a member of the older generation that is compliant and willing in the pandemic to do what's needed, I was irritated yesterday to hear this during a CBC interview on pandemic mental health.
The person said the Omicron travel restrictions were difficult for someone whose mental health needed a boost and had booked a Caribbean vacation to a Jamaican Beach. I was astonished that this might be within the scope of uplifting mental health issues. Perhaps because I am a member of the older generation, this seemed pathetically self-indulgent. There must be an expression for this sort of thing.
So what would be an example of what we should be doing in these times of constraint? This article from CTVNews is a story about what I was thinking we should do for mental health and well-being:
"A group of Toronto residents have reimagined a section of the city’s Bloordale Village neighbourhood as a sweet treat just in time for the holidays.
Created by Lori Steuart, Olivia Jewer, and Lenny Olin, the 15-pound gingerbread sculpture features a number of buildings along the Bloor Street strip between Landsdowne and St. Clarens avenues, all of which are bedazzled with a healthy amount of candy.
“We thought, ‘wouldn’t it would be fun to do a whimsical cityscape where everybody knows and loves all of these businesses that are on the north side?’” Steuart said.
A detailed Hasty Market, Penny’s Bar, Wine Rack, and Carribean Queen Patties can all be seen in the festive display. In keeping with the Toronto brand, racoons are also featured heavily throughout.
“It started last year, we made [a gingerbread house] and it was mainly because we were all in lockdown, everybody’s bored, let's find something to do,” Jewer said over the phone on Wednesday."
You can read about the project HERE. It was 6 weeks, 150 combined hours, 15 pounds of gingerbread, 10 pounds of candy, 5 pounds of icing.
I haven't taken any pictures along that stretch of Bloor Street as it isn't particularly attractive to me. The gingerbread display is at Penny's Bar, if you are out on Bloor Street West for your pandemic walk.
A little bit of nostalgia in our picture today - Longwood Garden's Christmas display a few years ago.
