Toronto, Twins and a Tree

[captainsblog]

It's been quite a week. Only four workdays, with the Fourth coming in the middle and making much of the whole week less than productive either side of it. I still had two court appearances to end the week, and spent much of the rest in a downtown clerk's office basement doing detective work on a 45-year-old real estate problem involving the "trifecta" of death, divorce and debt.  More on that as it unfolds.

For the Fourth itself, I'd long ago made plans to spend it Oop North with the 7 Line Army- a fiercely loyal, yet very well-behaved, group of Mets fans who go to several home games a year together and have now also done road trips to 17 other ballparks.  This was the first north of the border, and obviously was my shortest trip ever to join them. (I did one at Citi with them a few years ago on Memorial Day, then grabbed a cheap seat near their section at Yankee Stadium, which I count as a WW -"went with," not "wasn't watching";)  The Mets are now 3-0 in those  trips. Maybe they should start comping me.)

It was odd enough, scheduling the Mets out of the country on its national holiday. Stranger still, they made it a night game. But that gave me the entire day to explore, experience and eventually enjoy the company of several hundred of my fellow disease suffererers in a country with free healthcare.  I'd considered bailing, between the team's awful June performance and Pepper's trouble with me being away the previous week- but Eleanor insisted I go, as she'd made plans with a friend to come over while I was away and the dog wound up doing fine.

I cleared the border a bit before 11 and decided to take the train in to the city from the relatively close-by suburb of Oakville, as I've done once or twice before.  Just over $20CDN round trip; parking anywhere near Skydome would have been triple that up until 6 p.m. and then charged again for the night price atop it.  I wound up leaving from a newer stop in that area called Bronte; no cries of "Heathcliff!" went up on the return, but I'm pretty sure that's the inspiration. (There's also an exit on the QEW before that in Hamilton recently renamed for Nikola Tesla, honouring the city being the first ever to adopt his AC form of electric delivery over Edison's DC preference.)

This got me a block from the ballpark around 1, and I came out of the majesty of Union Station-


- into what, for Canadians, was hey hey hey just an ordinary day.

That's a Great Big Sea reference, son.  And that leads to where I first headed once above ground:



You may have heard of this musical: it's about the sadly amazing experience of hundreds of mostly Americans whose planes were diverted to the Canadian Maritimes in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and about the locals who welcomed and nurtured them until the imminent threat passed.  I first learned of the show from the GBS mailing list; their longtime member Bob Hallett was brought on as a consultant- "to ensure that the play’s music has an authentic base in traditional Newfoundland music."

It's gotten pretty big since then, playing on Broadway and at Toronto's Royal Alex to sold-out crowds for months. Once I learned of the July 4th outing, I started checking for seats, but they came in three categories: obstructed, ridiculously expensive, and both. The morning of, not even those were on offer. But I still showed up in hope that a kind soul or a less kind scalper might be there with something.  I Came From Away with neither, but, especially after how badly our neighbours have been treated by our Dear Leader in recent weeks, I am glad I tried.

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That left a gap to mind- the pregame party with the Met fans was set for a bar about a block from the theatre, but not for hours. So I just wandered, taking in a city filled with culture and multiculturalism. Some was above in 30-degree heat (90 to us back home), some in the Underground City of shops that connect most of the downtown skyscrapers from below ground.  I eventually surfaced in search of food and, possibly since I wasn't driving, beer, and found a joint on Yonge offering both- including this as a local brew option:



I usually don't get the "flavours" they talk about in either beer or wine, but this? Totally a beer milkshake, with the fruit puree making it.  A turkey-and-non-Canadian-bacon sammich on ciabatta made the rest of the meal.  I found a place to turn my $$s into CDNs, and then it was back to the 200 west block for the meetup.



Met fans are nothing if not loyal, and this one won the "best effort" award, even needing a wheelchair to get him into the venue. I knew exactly one fellow fan there, who I (thought I) introduced myself to and got a cold reception.  Nope, not her and her husband. (I'd meet the real friend and husband at the game itself.)

Meanwhile, I saw a "NOT MY PRESIDENT" bag on a random fan, introduced myself, and it turned out she and HER husband had come up from Rochester. We hung out for most of the pregame party.  In time, some Toronto cops joined us. They heard about our visit and graciously provided a bicycle-patrol escort all the way to the ballpark, and got a "THANK YOU COPS!" chant from us on arrival.



We settled into our not-quite-nosebleedy seats after I acquired more beer and a serving of poutine, and after the two anthems, it was Game On!  The rookie Mets pitcher fell behind, but amazin'ly, his teammates homered and even struck out (passed ball-take your base) to build him a lead. Sadly, he didn't last the full five innings needed for a W, but the bullpen held up and didn't blow a 6-2 lead like they did the previous night, and we Put It In The Books! as a win before 10 p.m.

I had the crowd to entertain besides the game. Several rows below me was this charmer, who was about the same age Emily was when we took her to this very venue for her first ex-utero MLB game in 1992:



Behind me was a couple with a very young daughter and, more to the point, an inquisitive son who spent the entire game peppering his dad with questions about the game, the scoring, who and what to root for, and most importantly, when they would get ice cream.  He reminded me so much of me in my first two seasons, annoying the shit out of my dad asking about the same things. They've been bringing both of them to Mets games since way before I got to my first. I gave them my hearty approval. And the kid got ice cream before the eighth inning, which remains my traditional time.

After the win, I wandered back to the train station, got the 10:13 Lakeshore westbound right on time, was at the border by midnight and home before 1 a.m. All was good.

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Two workdays followed, with more misses than hits, but then came today.  I took Pepper out for her morning walkies and she spent more time than usual staring down a squirrel in our own yard, which gave me time to contemplate one thing in it:

Eleanor transplanted this tree from our back yard to out front several years ago. It honors the memory of Kathy, a dear friend and neighbor claimed by cancer way too young. I don’t get to focus on it much other than mowing around it, but Pepper stopped in front of it for a good long squirrel staredown this morning, so I got to take a nice long look at it. I worried a bit the first few years that it might not make it- but it’s as beautiful as she was and still growing as her family still is.

That was enough, but my mind and memories had to travel not quite Border-North after that, because I got word earlier in the week that the mother of two dear friends had passed and would be remembered at calling hours today. And so, I headed to North Tonawanda-  for more memories, of another Cathy, also taken way too soon by cancer. Another beautiful woman with an amazing family. I'd only met her once briefly, with her daughter Sara,  who I saw again today, with her awesome husband Jeff. I also finally met Sara's twin Erin for the first time. Their dad Vince graciously accepted our sympathies and shared his memories. He also drove his awesome car to the funeral home so friends could easily find it-



I parked just to one side of that classic Bug. On my other side? An electric Smart car driven by a longtime family friend, who bought it from a Staten Island Smart dealership (still apparently selling the product, unlike ours) for all of $6,000 with no ongoing car or battery lease payment. If that deal holds up, we may be visiting Richmond County sometime between now and next March when Ziggy's lease is up.

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Next week will be busy busy busy, but this week's been perfectly lovely. Enjoy it all, yourselves:)

Comments

[thanatos_kalos]

*wistful sigh* Toronto looks so beautiful in the sunlight (&, given the research I've been doing, your description of the city & the cops' escort sounds perfectly in line;). (I might be turning the research into a book, btw, in which case I'll have to visit...)

& I'd love to see Come From Away (not least of which for the GBS connection) but I've heard tix are impossible to get. :(

[warriorsavant]

Two food faux pas/sacrilege: (1) beer and milkshake in same glass, and (2) poutine in Toronto. Otherwise enjoyed the piece.