I missed Blissed

I already mentioned that we recently finished a vacation odyssey. It was a fabulous trip (fab, fab, fab) - in total we covered 6 provinces and 15 states. 7500 miles of driving. Lots of friends and family. Lots of strangers. Long time on the road but also not long enough.

In looking back, there's one disappointment though.

I missed Blissed.


They were on the road and we had a (granted slim) chance to hook up with them somewhere in northern Pennsylvania. But time and tide and all that stuff meant we missed them by about 40 feet. Or three hours, depending on how you look at it. It was late, they were trying to get home, yada, yada ...

A few people might be surprised to hear that this is a group I would be willing to meet in a dark parking lot. Even a dark alley. But it still didn't work out.

And now I find out they're launching a new CD soon. MAN!!

So here's a sneak peak at the cover. Not autographed or anything. But still...


Keep an eye out. They may be driving past your place in the dark, too.

These are my favorite (Canadian) things

We've just returned from a vacation that covered more of Canada that usual. It was an odyssey. The funnest part was walking into a store and saying "Oh, yeah!!!" when something that we haven't seen in awhile was on the shelf.

So we've compiled a short list of some of our favorite Canadian things. (I know, some are available across various borders but not where I live.)

What tops the list?

Coffee Crisp (It's really the only way I do coffee.)

Lynch's Honey Mustard Sauce

Bird Custard Powder

Old Dutch Ketchup chips (and Creamy Dill, too - thanks, Julie, for the introduction)

Aero Bar (not so much the Bubbles, though)

Iced tea (real iced tea, not just tea that has been iced!) - particular favorite: No Name California Blend iced tea mix. The irony is almost as delicious as the iced tea.

SHREDDIES!! (The diamond thing? Really! Don't need it.)

Boston Pizza (only the Canadian ones, though. The US ones did something nasty with their menu. And the service typically stinks.)

Nanaimo squares

Creamed honey - preferably from Podolski Honey Farm (it's so good even customs' officials don't let it through)

Ozonol (the best thing for a red tissue-buffed nose EVER)

Matrimonial cake

Barq's Red Cream Soda


There's a few I've probably forgotten but if you are ever not sure what to put in my Christmas package or have a little more room in your suitcase, maybe put this list on the fridge.

I'm just saying...

Hotel showers & other strange weather

I've been doing some traveling lately. This year has had more time on the road than usual, in fact. And it has confirmed a suspicion of mine:

Hotel showers are like weather systems.

It's like this:

You can pretty much be certain that in most hotels in North America there will be a shower in the bathroom. (Occasionally, it's beyond the bathroom but that's a statistical rarity.) Likewise, most places in North America have weather.

People always try to predict the weather. "Red sky at night, sailor's delight" and that sort of thing. Some people even get paid to predict the weather: "Tonight's forecast is sunny with scattered lightening and big gloomy clouds." (This type of weather is perfectly possible in Kentucky, by the way.) Paid or not, there is pretty much an equal rate of success.

I've learned that some hotels will also predict their shower's capacity. Holiday Inn Express, for example, appear to have invested in some heavy duty showerheads that prompted an entire line of postcards. (Photo to come after I've dried my hands off. - (later) okay, that's it up in the corner...) Others promise downpours in the morning but the best you get is a heavy mist. Mist in the weather makes my hair curl. Mist as the shower makes my toes curl.

Some hotels fool you with those "space-adding" curtain rods but an actual curtain that leaves you feeling like you're fighting a ghost in a lo-budget remake of "Psycho" as it clings to your legs. Others use an exhaust fan that threatens to suck the curtain right off the shower bar.

And some wise guys, thinking a fan is too big an expense or that ventilation is a waste of time, put in heat lamps - you know the red bulbs that make you think a lizard was the last one to use the room? Or that the room doubles as a greenhouse for the local nursery when they can't dupe anyone into paying for it? I've never understood the logic of those bulbs. "Let's take a room that will get hot and steamy (depending on the capacity of the hotel's hot water tank and the tendency of the temperature to drop if a neighbor flushes the toilet) and add HEAT so it will let the air hold MORE moisture and turn that morning pick-me-up into a sauna instead!" And ironically, humid areas seem more likely to think this is a good idea. The chronic weather conditions of an area are, oddly enough, often reflected in the local restrooms of the area hotels.

So do I have a point? No. But unfortunately I am a slave to my morning routine. And if two teaspoons of shampoo and a bald pipe gushing out of the wall are all that's available to me, I'll have to pretend.

But don't expect to see me in any of my vacation pictures.