Canada Day 2007

In the normal course of events, our friends Chris and Liza would hold the Canada Day barbecue. However, this year, there was a snag: Liza needed to work over the Canada Day weekend. Her job was to crawl around in a swamp over toward London, determining the number and types of plants in various predetermined plots, part of a continuing ecological study which had been done over many years.

Unable to do their normal Canada Day barbecue, Chris and Liza outsourced it to Michael and Lorna, who proposed that the venue be at our place, our back yard being somewhat larger than theirs.

Thus it was that there were two barbecues in a row at our house over the Canada Day weekend.

The difference was that on Canada Day, someone else would cook and do things. My objective was to sit around and eat and drink my face off, including getting some of the fabulous blueberry pie that I had missed out on the previous day. In addition to the Usual Suspects, we were joined by Bob, Elaine, Robert, and Lisa.

Here then are some highlights of the 2007 Canada Day celebration.

Karl was working on the final book of his "Virga" trilogy, and had not made it the previous day, but was able to come with his family for Canada Day.


Corwin had a new geek toy -- a calculator watch.


Lisa and Bri continued their visit.


Bob was very mellow...


...as was Jill.


For the second time in two days, John and Leanne made the trek in from Burlington.


Michael and Dave share a quiet moment over beers.


Sean (son of Kevin and Sue) and Corwin getting their water guns prepared.



Sara, taking time away from sailing.


Allan, back for more.


Two pies -- a strawberry rhubarb pie and a blueberry pie, hand made by Elaine -- had been held back from Saturday's ravening hordes. I tried to claim the entirety of the blueberry pie, but was made to share it with the undeserving masses. I did manage to get a single small slice out of it, though.


Sherry, being happy...


..and likewise Sue...


...and Liza, back from the swamp.


The group was much smaller, and the day was much like the previous day -- a gray sky clearing to scattered clouds, cool in the evening.


Madeline and Dave talking.


Mark, being happy.


Lisa being exuberant.


Sara, Madeline, Dave, and Robert -- huddling together for warmth after sunset.


Bri and Robin having fun.


Kevin and Sue.


Canada Day sparklers after sunset.


The kids came inside when it got too uncomfortably cool. Robert had cycled through Undying, Halo, and Quake 4 through the day. Toward the evening, his audience grew.


Various adults came inside to sit around the dining room table.



The evening ended with Bob and Jill and I sipping scotch after everyone had left. Bri and Lisa had gone over to Bob and Elaine's hotel. Robert would continue his videogame marathon at our place into the night.

When Bob left, it had cooled even further. The sky had cleared, and toward the south, Jupiter was shining brightly -- a perfect end to another Canada Day.

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Mid Year Barbecue 2007

The last Saturday of June -- the day of the Midyear Barbecue -- began at 7:30am with a telephone call from the delivery service, to let us know that Bri's lost luggage would be delivered before 2pm.

With most of the prep work done the night before, there were only a few last minute things to handle -- getting the barbecue grills cleaned, getting drinks outside and into coolers, getting plates, napkins, utensils set up. In the midst of these preparations, Bri's luggage arrived amid much rejoicing.

I had already filled one tank of propane, but at the time had decided that the second tank still seemed to have at least some propane inside. Confronted with the final opportunity to decide, I reconsidered the problem and decided that the risk/reward model pretty well meant I needed to have it filled. When I took it in, I got a rude shock -- it was a vintage 1995 tank, according to my propane supplier, and so therefore couldn't be refilled, although they were happy to sell me a new tank. My recollection is that this was a new tank that I bought only a year or two back. I think from now on, we deal only with a larger outlet like Home Depot or Canadian Tire -- one with less incentive to sell a new tank.

I got home and got the tank set up under a sky that was getting progressively grayer. It never rained, and the Weather Network never changed their forecast from 10% probability of precipitation. When Bob, Elaine, Robert, and Lisa arrived around 1:30, the sky was still gray, but shortly after, when Michael and Lorna arrived with both beer and ice, the sun began peeking through the clouds.


Mike and Glen also arrived early.


Bob and I made our annual trip to get chicken wings. By 3pm, the party was in full swing, and the sun was out with only scattered clouds in a blue sky.

Early preparation had significantly reduced the workload and stress. Perhaps there is a life lesson in there...



Mark, Elizabeth, and their children Ben and Olivia also came this year. Ben took a while to get over being shy, but ended up having a great time with Corwin later.


I cooked turkey sausages first. Although these would not have been good for people with restrictions on eating pork (since the casings were pork), we had obtained (through Michael's efforts) some halal lamb sausages that I intended to cook later. Even before the sausages were cooked, I put on the first installment of pork tenderloins.


Marlene, Ted, Marie, and Michelle were able to come, which went a long way to making the day even more special for me.


David and Sandy came, with David bringing a giant ice cream cake -- much appreciated by both children and adults on a warm afternoon.



Karen and Paul brought their son Zach, who went off with Corwin to do Kid Things involving water guns and explosion sounds.


Paula brought her son, Howard. She had come up with Catherine, Griff, and Jim. Griff and Beverley had been the first ones to accept this year's Midyear invitation when it was e-mailed a few weeks ago, but unfortunately, Beverley had caught a bug and was just getting to the symptomatic stage.


The day was warm and sunny, but not oppressively hot like previous Midyear Barbecues have been. Our friend and neighbour, Pam, has been to every Midyear barbecue, and has helped in the past with chairs, umbrellas, and barbecues. It wouldn't be the same without her, and it was nice that she was able to make it over late in the afternoon.


Mark and his family hung out with Glen.


Michael and Lorna, as usual, helped to make the party a success.


Patty, her husband Mike, and their two boys came in from Kitchener.


Madeline and Robert (not pictured) were first timers at the Midyear Barbecue this year.


Good news from Kathryn and Ken -- with their respective children moved out, they are getting married. Their date is New Year's Day, 2008.



The day had been warm, but not hot. It cooled off rapidly after sunset down to the low teens. Jackets and sweaters became necessary -- especially for Bri, who had limited experience with the concept of "cool weather" in the southern USA. Seated in front of Bri is Allan, who just finished his first full year of teaching at York after getting tenure and a professorship two years ago.


This group shot shows Jill and her former IOF colleagues -- from left to right: Pam, Karen, Suzanne, and Jill. Had I been more alert, Patty would have been in this shot as well.


In the end, we determined that 62 people (adults and children) attended this year's Midyear Barbecue. The count of 62 includes Jill, Corwin, Bri, and me.

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Midyear Barbecue Preparations

Preparation for the 2007 Midyear Barbecue continued on Friday.

After breakfast I got a barbecue tank filled, got the remaining pork, and got sausages. This year, we went with turkey sausages in order to try and accommodate some people who have dietary restrictions with pork. Unfortunately, the pure turkey sausages use a pork casing. Note to self -- read the fine print **first**.


Michael stopped by and helped with returning the collection of empty beer bottles and with doing the last major grocery run. Over the last few weeks, Jill had done a lot of work to get us to this point.


We tried out out the turkey sausages for supper with Michael and Lorna. The sausages were determined to be suitable for serving to midyear guests.


This year's marinade recipe went as follows:

8 jars of Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce (available from fine grocery stores in many urban centres)
1 jar of Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce
1 jar of minced garlic

All 10 jars of ingredients were combined in a large pot with very low heat. One of the Char Siu Sauce jars was set aside for measuring one jar of water which was added to the pot. The same jar was used to measure out one jar full of Heinz tomato ketchup, again added to the pot. A small shot (equivalent to two or three tablespoons) of Yeo's Sweet Chili Sauce was added.


There was enough to marinade 52 pieces of pork, with four jars set aside for use during the actual barbecuing process on Saturday.


There are some other preparations of note.

My neighbour's cherry tree overhangs our yard, and he has always encouraged us to pick and eat the fruit. This year, there are so many cherries on the tree that the branches are hanging low. Jill is going to set out a basin so that people can pick and wash and eat right at the tree.

Earlier in the week, we heard from Bob and Elaine up in the Ottawa Valley -- three blueberry pies had been created for the barbecue. However, due to local circumstances, one of those pies became unavailable, although the other two are thought to be likely to arrive on Saturday.

The countdown is on...