Last two weeks have been very airy. Saw a movie or two, finally got a chance to listen to the Wolf Parade CD, went to a lecture on the Florence scene at the time of Leonardo and Michelangelo, went on a few bike rides, fussed over the move and furniture arrangements.

We started packing though somewhat half-heartedly. I’ve packed up the basement last winter when I decided to get rid of cardboard and put everything in plastic containers. Other than that we just have the books, chachkas (I hope this means what I think it means, I could not find definition in any of the dictionaries), kitchen stuff and clothes. It amazes me how much stuff we have that we don’t need but are not going to get rid of.

While I’m writting for the thrid (!!!) time this week, I want to say what I think is going to happen in the seventh Harry Potter book. I think Harry is the Horcrux and he is probably going to be killed off at the end. I think Harry is going to kill Snape and then find out that Snape was on his side all along just as the other one dies. I think Ron will stay alive. I think that Viktor Krum should come back into the story (the other kids do not have the skills to fight Death Eaters). Luna Lovegood should …

Today was the second time this year that I biked from Kanata to downtown. Unlike last time I went with Heather and stayed on Carling the whole way, I decided to go on path ways for most of the way. I made it to the Chris’ baseball field in an hour and a half averaging 20 km/h.

In any case, I can’t find my hard copy of the city bike map so I wanted to make a link to a soft copy. City has a relatively decent map on their page.

Chris and I are getting really excited about our new place. Chris’ mom and uncle were here and we took them to see the house. I had to drag Chris out of the backyard shortly after 10 in the evening because – well – people still live there.

Ever since then we’ve been even giddier about the place so we started arraigning the rooms. Here is the office:

Figuring out how to fit our existing furniture is a bit of a trick. For living room, I used imaginary furniture we don’t own and probably aren’t going to buy any time soon:

We’ve been researching different things, making lists and planning all weekend. There’s 50 days left!!!

St Andrew’s Lake Campsite

Camping was fun despite my worrying about the mosquitoes. We left straight from work on Friday. Picked up the canoes and got to the drop off campsite. We got back home on Sunday night so grubby I can’t remember ever being grosser. We still had a blast and can’t wait to go again. The mosquitoes were in full force and went after me, but somehow I managed to survive. I think I’m building up tolerance for Ontario bugs since I did not keel over and demand to go to the doctor after four bites like the last time we went to Algonquin. The scenery was beautiful and the campsite we stayed at the second night was perfect. Julia and I went for an evening paddle and followed a beaver around. A fox came into our campsite and we saw many pollywogs and frogs (and some in between). I saw some loons and a black and white duck with ducklings. I was practicing my paddling technique and doing pretty well. I want to learn how to stir the canoe next.

My visit to Croatia was successful as I managed to do what I set out to do – spend time with family and close friends.

Croatia is slowly developing into an EU acceptable country. It was nice to see some, at least as far as I can tell without looking into it too much, positive changes. The absolutely awful dance school I attended closed, got gutted and turned into a funky Lounge Bar. They knocked out an entire floor and extended the building into the courtyard. The evil aura of the bitter dance and music teachers remained as some (but not all) waiters are jerks. Despite that, the decor is fantastic.

Barbara and I in Zagreb

Island Cres was busy with tourists even though the season hasn’t even started yet. They’ve been fixing up the town for a while now and it is looking great. The infrastructure looks ready to handle an even larger number of tourists.

Lubenice beach