LL and Chloe enjoying dessert at the local shoppe
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Last sushi meal (stand up bar)
I finally felt healthy again on my last day and and half in Japan. So on the morning of my last day, Ali took us to a great stand up sushi bar in Shibuya so that I could at least enjoy sushi more than once. The great thing about this place were the nigiri sushi which was slightly seared by a small butane torch. Yum. I headed back to Montreal on April 14, while Ann stayed on tour for another few days before heading to Seoul and then to HK.
Returning from TIT
After Osaka I headed back to Tokyo to spend the last part of the trip there. We met up with Yijie again and she invited us to a lunch party with her friends out at Tokyo Institute of Technology. Afterwards we headed to Omotesando and Shibuya and picked up some gifts for LL at a great toy shop called Kiddieland. Here they had stuff from all the iconic Japanese characters.
Church of the Light Chapel shot
Before the orchstra headed to Nagoya Ann had a free couple of hours in the morning so we headed to a suburb of Osaka (Ibaraki) so that I could see the Church of the Light by Tadao Ando. Everytime Ann and I travel we try and see at least one iconic building and this would be the one for our trip to Japan. Ann tracked down some better directions to the church than the ones I had found online and it was well worth the effort to get out there. The church was smaller than it looks in the books and magazines and just as amazing as I thought it would be.
View from Hotel in Oksaka
After Ann and the orchestra started work, I spend the next couple of days wandering around Tokyo on my own. I headed out to Oeno and checked out a couple of buildings by Le Corbusier (National Museum of Western Art) and an addition by Tadao Ando (International Children's Literature Museum). The days in Tokyo were quite rainy and cold so it was nice to keep dry inside these museums. On Friday the orchestra headed to Osaka by plane, so I took the train down to Osaka to take advantage of the hotel room. This was the view from the hotel in Osaka. I kept hearing about Japanese spaghetti and how it is much better than Italian so I finally got to try some in Osaka at a place called Il Alberta. True enough it is much better than Italian spaghetti!
Yijie Tomo and Haru
In Tokyo we met up with my old friend from Beijing, Yijie and her two kids (Tomohiro and Haruto). Last time I was in Japan it was Yi-jie who accompanied me for the whole week and took me around Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Here we are in Asakusa.
view from hotel tokyo
Ann and I made our way to Tokyo on April 8th where the rest of the orchestra was arriving. We stayed at this 40 storey hotel (Grand Prince Akasaka) designed by Kenzo Tange. This was the view from our room. The rooms that we were given were much larger than I was expecting and it was kind of nice to sleep in a western style bed again. By now Ann was on the mend while I still had a few days of illness to go.
ryokan 1
On our last night in Kyoto we splurged and stayed at a traditional Ryokan. By then I was feeling quite sick and couldn't eat very much which was a shame because the stay included a traditional Kyoto kaiseki meal. The ryokan was everything hoped it would be. The room was on the second floor with a view to the courtyard garden below.
ann and TK
Ann got to see her old friend TK who she hadn't seen in almost 10 years. TK lives in Kyoto and took us around town. This was taken in the Gion area known for the character of it's old streets and for the free treats that you can sample along the way.
kyoto blossom 3
Luckily our first full day in Japan was beautiful so we were able to enjoy the cherry blossoms in full bloom. The next few days in Kyoto would be rainy and windy so the amount of blossoms really dropped off before we headed to Tokyo.
kyoto 1st meal
Ann and I flew into Osaka and took the train directly to Kyoto, where Ann had us booked into a room for 4 with Alison and Jennifer. A and J arrived about 20 minutes after us at the Inn. Trying to stay awake for another hour or so we headed out just down the street for our first meal. Ann had started to feel sick the day before we left Montreal, and I managed to pick up whatever she had a couple of days later. Anyways this would be the only sushi I would eat until the end of the trip.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
kyoto blossom
I am now back from Japan! Check back in a day or two for more photos or check out flickr.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Outremont
I am now armed with camera again. The past few weeks have been a little crazy. First there were the snow storms which left a good 3'-0" of fresh snow everywhere. With all the roof collapses in Quebec, I decided it was time to venture out onto our roof and clear the snow before we were tomorrow's headlines. We had a nice visit from Richard, Anna and S a couple of weeks ago during the Ontario spring break. We also had a short but sweet visit with the Olsens, followed by a cabane a sucre organized by Ali for her sister and 20± others.
Then the craziness started.
Ann doesn't usually get much computer time, (seeing as I spend a good 80% of my waking hours on the computer). But when she does get on the computer she does so with gusto. To make a long story less long, Ann found a nice little cottage (this is Quebecois-speak for 'house') and we've decided to return to our Outremont roots and move back into the old 'hood. Finally LL (and others) will have a yard to run in and no neighbours below to drive crazy. We have decided shift the Ahuntsic dream duplex into long term planning as we have been hesitant to stray too far from the Mile End.
More on this later!
Then the craziness started.
Ann doesn't usually get much computer time, (seeing as I spend a good 80% of my waking hours on the computer). But when she does get on the computer she does so with gusto. To make a long story less long, Ann found a nice little cottage (this is Quebecois-speak for 'house') and we've decided to return to our Outremont roots and move back into the old 'hood. Finally LL (and others) will have a yard to run in and no neighbours below to drive crazy. We have decided shift the Ahuntsic dream duplex into long term planning as we have been hesitant to stray too far from the Mile End.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
WestJet Sale One Day sale
For anyone interested there is a one-day sale today (March 6) between Toronto and Ottawa or Montreal for $12.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Time warp
So we finally picked up our film. Lo and behold there were some oldies on those rolls of film. This looks like LL at around 9 or 10 months (Montreal).
Kid's table
We could barely squeeze 13 people in our dining area, so we put the kids in the kitchen at their own table. Left to their own devices, I think they ate two bites and took off to the living room to play.
Happy New Year's
This year we upped the decor and celebrated the Year of the Rat at home. Ann had lots of help again preparing the meal - with Ali, Jennifer, Sarah and Mark making portions of the key courses. In this photo: Remi, Jo, Mark , Me, Ann, Ali, Jennifer and Peter.
Other end
Jennifer, Peter, Mike, Jasmine, Andy, Sarah (obscured), Stephane (obscured), Remi (obscured), Jo and Mark
Friday Feb 8th, 2008
Shot of Ann getting ready for the annual Chinese New Year's dinner at our place.
Birthday toys
Here's a shot of LL playing with some of his new toys. The track has moved off of the table and is now sprawling over our living room floor.
Garderie party
I went to LL's garderie on his birthday for a small party- with Miriam, Matthew, Lily, Alice, Sophie, Elias and Eliane.
LL's birthday party @ home
LL's friends from the garderie (Eliane and Lily) and Jonah came over for a small party- our first birthday party for him!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Camera
Ok. So I think a decision has been made. I'm not going to get a camera. At least not until April (or hopefully March).
That is supposedly when this bad boy is coming out.
I could be swayed by this if it ends up being that much cheaper. It would mean giving up on some zoom and the ability to zoom while shooting movies, but has some gains in the wide angle department.
Assist goes to middlechild. (At least until I change my mind again.)
In the meantime send those unused rolls of film our way. Maybe I'll just paint my portraits from here on in. It seems to be all the rage for the Tsai family.
That is supposedly when this bad boy is coming out.
I could be swayed by this if it ends up being that much cheaper. It would mean giving up on some zoom and the ability to zoom while shooting movies, but has some gains in the wide angle department.
Assist goes to middlechild. (At least until I change my mind again.)
In the meantime send those unused rolls of film our way. Maybe I'll just paint my portraits from here on in. It seems to be all the rage for the Tsai family.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Medieval
Dropped off our film last week- should be developed by tomorrow.
Love this technology.....Perhaps I should wire my payment to them. Can't wait to see what was at the beginning of that roll of film.
Love this technology.....Perhaps I should wire my payment to them. Can't wait to see what was at the beginning of that roll of film.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Update
So, uhm, still no new camera to speak of so any new posts from me are going to have to wait until I take our film in to get developed and scanned. Does photo finishing even exist anymore?
Trying to decide between a mediocre camera (ex- Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07) that has a wide angle lens (useful in my line of work) or something we're used to (but with no wide angle- ex- Canon SD1000) or something new...
Quick! Direct yourselves to http://summitretreat.blogspot.com/
before he loses his password again....
And finally: Congratulations S & P- we're all pulling for lil' Grace now.
Trying to decide between a mediocre camera (ex- Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07) that has a wide angle lens (useful in my line of work) or something we're used to (but with no wide angle- ex- Canon SD1000) or something new...
Quick! Direct yourselves to http://summitretreat.blogspot.com/
before he loses his password again....
And finally: Congratulations S & P- we're all pulling for lil' Grace now.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Cuba!
This year Ann's parents invited the entire family to join them in Cuba (Dec 29- Jan 5). We headed to Cayo Coco and stayed at an all-inclusive resort filled with Canadians. All that was missing, we decided, was a Tim Horton's. Holden and I managed to get in a couple of games of ball hockey but unfortunately my camera seems to have bitten the dust so I don't have many pictures of the trip. Thanks again to Gong Gong and PoPo for the trip. We are now getting ready for LL's birthday followed by some gift-detox for LL. Hope everyone had a nice holiday. Now I just have to figure out what to do about this camera situation....
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
sunny day 3
I think this was taken as the last bit of warm sun was dying and the clouds and wind were picking up.
windy part of the week
The second half of the week was really windy but the sun managed to poke out again on our last day. The flight home was delayed and we finally got back to our house at 4am! (Poor Ann had to work at 10am that same day.)
Friday, December 21, 2007
Montreal parking style
I love it. At about 11:30 pm the guy parked on the inside came out to move his car while Ann and I watched bemusedly from our window.
Roof
Forcast calls for rain this weekend. Paper suggests clearing off the roof. Yeah right. The snow is up to my hips. Where do they suggest I put the snow?
Civic
Just before the second storm hit we decided to take our car in to get the hood latch fixed (a $35 piece), we ended up throwing out the old tires, getting new snow tires, new brakes along with that. Now if we could only find our car.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Popcorn
Chloe's parents had a condo meeting to go to so I watched the two kids last night. Chloe's mom made some popcorn so these two snuggled up and watched some Schindler's List.
Navigator
A couple of weeks ago Ann wanted to go to Toronto, especially to see her grandparents. So I decided to tag along and attend some seminars and get those pesky continuing ed credits out of the way. The drive there was fine but it took us 7 and a half hours to get home (all the while dodging 5 cars pile-ups, 3 jack-knifed semis and various cars in the ditches).
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