Pet Cargo

So today was a kind of momentous day ... I took Fletch to Petsmart to get his crate for his flight over to England. He did pretty well, although he did initially hesitate to go in, and when I tried to make him I got the old defiant eyes ... when he does that, I know not to force him .. so I lured him instead. The salesgirl and myself used his tennis ball (which we brought along), as well as a cookie, and a pigs' ear (his fave, but fattening treat) and he finally went in long enough for us to close the door. Once in, he was able to turn around with ease and didn't seem too much that he was in there. Air Canada is very specific about the size of the crate, they have to be able to turn around and lay down comfortably .. so while this crate looks soooo huge to me, it was the best choice for his comfort. Once home, I somehow managed to get it down to the basement, added a blanket and some toys and he seems to be getting a little more comfortable with it - it has only been an hour though : ) I am hoping that by the time we leave in May he will have used it to relax in a few times - its down near the tv so that is where we hang out. And, when he was a puppy he used to like to chill in his puppy crate sometimes .. so we'll see how it goes!

My Celebrity Look-alikes - part 2

My number one match this time was Candace Cameron ... if you had told me in 1990 that I resembled her in the least I would have been thrilled (I really liked her from 'Full House'). And, interestingly enough, the only celebrity that I've ever been told I look like is Naomi Watts ... and here she is in this match up .. maybe its true then : )



You knew of course, that I would have to try out a photo of Peter .. he is, afterall, half of Team PM ... so here it is:



I think he does kinda look like Hugh Jackman ...

My embarassing match was Patrick Swayze ... Peter's was Daryl Hannah ... I'm sure he would prefer for all of you to keep that to yourselves ; )

My Celebrity Look-alikes

I wanted to see who I looked like ... but I also did an experiment. As you will notice, there are two different photos used of me: the one in this entry is from Christmas 2006 ... apparently in this pic I resemble Christina Applegate, among others, which is kinda neat because I have a pic of myself beside Christina Applegate when I met her in NYC in 2005 (i didn't think we looked anything alike) The photo used in the next entry is from June 2005 when we went to NYC ... as you'll notice by the second celebrity match up .. I look like a whole bunch of different celebrities ... among the ones I didn't allow you to see was Patrick Swayze, now, come on! I look nothing like Patrick Swayze! I know that the match up is based on the shape of your face, and jaw etc., but I am starting to think that the whole thing is a little on the phoney baloney side ... but, its still kinda fun ... and i totally fell for it :)

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Winter Woes

Peter complained today that he was cold walking home ... in 5 degree Celsius weather. Meanwhile, here in Ottawa it was -42 with the windchill ... decidedly more chilly. As a result, I feel the need to relay the following story, purely for its entertainement value as I feel that many of you (ok, all of you) will find it quite amusing ...

When I got home from school today, around 5:30, I decided to take Fletch for a walk since I was already all bundled up from the trip home...we walked down the street and around the playground and into the park where I let him off his leash to run around for a bit. He ran over to where the doggie play group meets (they weren't there at the time) and was sniffing etc while I started to walk towards the sidewalk to leave. I turned around and noticed that he was having a poo, so I had to untie the bag from his leash and walk over to where he was ... as I was getting the bag organized to pick up the poo, the wind whipped it out of my hand - I had already leashed Fletch by this point - so, I start off running to catch the bag because I didn't have another one ... Fletch thought that we were playing a running game and started running also ... meanwhile, I am concentrating on the bag and not the fact that he was running really fast and would soon be at the end of the leash. Well, I caught the bag, and just as I did I was pulled down and got a nice facewash in the snow....it was awesome. Except, not really because I'm pretty sure that at least one family saw through their window since their dog was barking at us, and, oh yeah, its -42 out! So, getting a facewash is not the most pleasant thing. My face is still stingy ; (

I hope you all enjoyed laughing at my expense ... I'm sure looking back, I will also find this story amusing.

Our visit to Bath

On Friday, Peter flew in the morning at 8:30 and after debriefing was home at about 11:00. So, we took off for the day to visit the UNESCO heritage city of Bath in Somerset. It is really hard to describe how beautiful and unique this place is ... it is most famous for the Roman hotsprings which were established during the first century AD and still stand today. Much of the original pumping and draining system is intact, as is the lead lining that kept the pools watertight. The hot water that was naturally pumped from the ground was thought to be a gift from the god called Sulis Minerva, who was believed to be the patron deity of healing. People came here for centuries to sit in the hot spa waters in hopes of finding healing for whatever ailments they suffered from. It wasn't known until the mid-19th century that the reason for this naturally occurring bath like water, was in fact due to rare seismic action under the earth's surface. The steam continues to rise from this water, and much of the structures surrounding the baths have been trod on for nearly 2000 years! Its really quite amazing to see this place ....

The second place we visited in Bath was the adjacent late-Gothic style Abbey, almost equally as well known as the Roman Baths. The present building dates to 1499, but the area has been the site of a place of worship since the 7th century, starting in 675 with the establishment of a convent, and later, a monastery. It would even later become a Norman cathedral. We visited the Abbey Vaults museum which shows layers of ground in which can still be seen remains of the Norman ruins from the original church. The current Bath Abbey is built with the same cream colored stone that is seen used in nearly every building in Bath, its like nothing I've ever seen.

On the advice of a friend of mine, we also visited Minerva's Chocolate shop for some yummy hot chocolate with views of the Abbey out the window in front of us ...

As always, check www.flickr.com/photos/teampm if you'd like to see more pics ...

Team PM

Robin Hood's castle

I am back from my second England trip - Peter and I were commenting on how fast the time is going, he is already in his 3rd month of the course ... there is still 12 weeks before I will be heading over permanently, so hopefully those will go as fast as the last 2-ish months have gone!

The rest of my week, after Wales, was pretty relaxing which made it easy for me to get over my cold. On Wednesday Peter got off early and we headed on a short road trip to visit Old Wardour Castle, which, excitingly enough for me was used in filming Robin Hood: Prince of Theives with Kevin Costner. The drive to reach the castle was one of the nicest I've been on in England ... we drove through many tiny picturesque villages, I wanted to take a picture of everything! There were also a lot of really narrow country lanes, not as amusing as the pretty villages ... the castle was perched high on a hilltop above the very small and cute village of Anstey on one side, and the larger Tisbury on another side. It made us wonder how on earth the location for this castle was ever found, how its 14th century builders got the necessary supplies up there to build it, and how on earth they got their horses/wagons and what have you up those steep, muddy hills. It was hard enough in a car, and on roads ... though there is something to be said about the English version of 'roads' in some areas.

We knew the castle was closed that day because it is not tourist season yet so we weren't able to go inside. We did get some great views from the outside, as we wandered up a forested trail that lead us in behind the castle. It was pretty amazing, and I will definitely be venturing out that way again ...

Team PM