weekends are too short. there's always something really different about visiting your hometown. you're reminded of how much you missed your friends, of memories you thought you'd forgotten, and of how a few hours' distance can seem like oceans apart sometimes. it was really hard for me to come back to toronto today, after six hours on the bus, feeling completely carsick and tired as my allergies flooded back as soon as we entered the smoggy city limits.
i was in ottawa for a really short period this weekend, just long enough to apologize to my dad that i'd be missing his fiftieth birthday, and to grab a (delicious) Bridgehead coffee. mmm, how much bridgehead makes me miss ottawa. most of the weekend was actually spend in lanark, at the Concert on the Clyde which is held yearly at the Diaks' cottage. this year we went down with meg and karen, my girlfriends from undergrad, plus adrian (from my high school), and rob's brother and sister. its a fun event that was started up by robs' friends from his Glebe high school days, so it's kind of a high school reunion that gets bigger every year. they have a lot of great bands from Ottawa's music scene playing all day, particularly country bands like Steve Stacey and the Brothers Chaffey. The Chaffeys were the highlight of the night this year; they had a big crowd dancing along to their tunes, including their father, who has a habit of using these chances to dance with young girls half his age. other years we've had bands like the Million Dollar Marxists, Tokyo Police Club, and Land of Talk playing. this year's headliner was Kate Maki, and it was the first time i was able to stay awake long enough for it. i suppose that says something about how depressingly old i am getting.
after the bands, there are always after-parties that go on in the barn as well as campfire singalong jam session in Tent City, but i'm always too sleepy to stick around for them. i am, however, that asshole that gets up early at 8AM the next morning, pulling out a banjo and wondering why nobody else is up. oh well, i suppose i am an old woman at heart.
we went for a swim in the Clyde River this morning which felt great on my mosquito bites (the bastards bit me all over my feet) and i found it hard to leave. even though the Concert has become a huge licensed event, it always has this friendly cozy cottage party feel to it, as though everyone is part of one big family. you start to recognize faces after each year, and watch people get older, bringing along their new spouses, babies, children. plus listening to the country music in a beautiful scenery like the Diaks' is an experience that is true blue Ottawa. there is nothing quite like it, and i feel a little sad that i wasn't able to stay in ottawa longer this summer.
but that's okay. i've got my new home in toronto , an empty downtown condo with cats that drive me crazy. i might not have my mom's home cooking, but i do have my roommate's bag of frozen peas that i am using to cool the mosquito bites on my feet, heh heh...
