21/09/05: In which we see the town of Hamilton
Thursday, 15 December, 2005
The next day was a lazy day. Everyone, except Phil who had to get up and go to work, slept in. For breakfast Jose fed us wheat squares. I'd forgotten that milk in Canada is sold in bags (you put the bag in a jug and snip the corner to pour it out). I'd also forgotten that taps turn the other way so I kept getting more water every time I tried to turn them off.
We spent a fairly relaxing morning, watching American TV and doing email and internet things (like buying my cousin who is getting married a wedding present off their Amazon registry which, to my knowledge, still hasn't arrived three months later). Contrary to what my father said (he said that by a certain date shopping centres have to turn on their heating systems and that Canada would be cool because they'd be going into autumn), the weather was really hot—28° C! I started to worry about whether I'd brought enough cool clothing.
Jose gave us the house tour, complete with all the nooks, crannies, secret cupboards and the slightly freaky basement (it has its own meat locker). I like the fact that Canadian houses have all this extra space underneath them. Why don't we do that in Australia?
In their massive backyard there were pumpkins sitting there, just waiting for Halloween.
There was a pear tree, an apple tree, raspberry bushes and tomatoes. Next door was a cornfield where corn is grown for cows.
The corn was high enough to go over our heads.
We decided to go for a walk to the local grocery store. All the houses were really cute—like something lifted out of Anne of Green Gables or, as Ben kept saying, “I feel like I'm in an American horror movie.”
Jose asked us what we wanted to do while we were here. Jose works as a stage manager but fortunately she wasn't doing anything for the period we were staying with her so she was pretty much free to take us around places which was lovely.
Ben said, “I want to see a moose. And a polar bear.”
Jose said, “That might be a little too difficult.”
But on the way to the grocery store we saw one of those North American yellow school buses, a dead squirrel, a dead snake, a caterpillar, two great Danes, some horses, barns, giant trucks and a Canada Post box.
Everything was really green (is it me or is the northern hemisphere greener? Must be the greys in our gum trees). Even though we were on the escarpment, the land was mostly flat so it was easy walking in the heat. At the grocery store, Jose bought us drinks (because we forgot to bring money). Then we walked back to the house.
Jose drove us to downtown Hamilton. I noticed that petrol here was 99c/L and you could pay at the pump with a swipe of your credit card instead of having to go inside. We parked near a Swiss Chalet opposite a stadium where Pearl Jam had played a gig just the night before (aaargggghhhh!!) and walked to the Art Gallery of Hamilton. It's heaps better than the Wollongong City Gallery.
In the foyer was a sculpture featuring road signs.
Not being locals, however, Ben and I had no idea what they meant so Jose patiently explained them all to us. On the second floor was a Keith Haring sculpture (“Head Through Stomache”) which I thought was rather cool.
Unfortunately most of the rooms in the gallery were closed because they were setting up for The Feast: Food in Art exhibition which would have been really interesting to see. We watched some of the artists set up their work for a while before exploring the other rooms.
We saw bits and pieces of Canadian art, including a Polish Canadian series which was really interesting (I keep forgetting that Canada is a lot like Australia; people have come here from all over the place and brought their traditions with them). In the back room there were a whole bunch of rather weird installations, including an entire room taken up with a set of doors, a ladder and a pair of windows all sewn together (An Whitlock, “Means of Escape”).
When we had seen our fill, we went across the road to Jackson Square to get something to eat. I wanted sushi but there was none so I got teriyaki chicken instead. Unfortunately we only had a CAN$100 note and a bit of small change from a previous Canadian trip. (NB Canadian money is really cool. It's colourful like ours and the coins mostly have animals on them, like ours do: a polar bear on the toonie [$2], a loon on the loonie [$1], a moose on the quarter [25c], a sailing ship on the dime [10c] and a beaver on the nickel [5c].) Jose paid for lunch for us until we could go get smaller denominations and pay her back.
We had a conversation about the different ways of pronouncing things and it was then that I realised that I pronounce half my words Australian and half Canadian. No wonder no one understands me!!! Maybe I ought to try harder at speaking Australian. For now I was glad to be in a country where I wouldn't get out for saying “tomato”.
Ben, of course, wanted to go to a second hand CD store so we went to a place called Dr Disc where they had CDs for CAN$4. I found a real copy of A Northern Chorus' Bitter Hands Resign (which shouldn't be surprising because they are a Hamilton band) but it wasn't worth buying since Ben had already downloaded it off eMusic. I also found this Oscar Peterson CD that my parents own which I've always loved. After a very long time, we left with a very satisfied Ben.
Then Jose took us to Spencer Gorge and Webster's Falls. It was on the other part of the escarpment and there was a beautiful park where Jose said she once played Ultimate Croquet. There were acorns all over the ground (from the oak trees). The falls were amazing—certainly not your paltry Minnamurra Falls (but then we are experiencing drought); this really was a waterfall. There were no fences so you could go right up to it.
The area above the falls used to be a reservoir and the bridge used to be a dam. There was a plaque saying that the area had been restored by the Parkville Optimist Society. Cyclists rode by—there was a dog chasing a squirrel—and as we crossed one of the bridges, we found a little toad:
Since the walls of the bridge were so high, we thought we'd do him a favour by bringing him over to the other side and placing him among the rushes (I hope we put him on the side he wanted).
On the way back to the car we saw these plants that looked like wattle but in fact were goldenrod.
It was getting late but despite it being 7 pm, it still wasn't dark and it felt like 5 pm. When we arrived back at the house, we weren't very hungry so Jose showed us her wedding photos. Then she started to make dinner and I helped her with the salad. Phil came home to barbecue the pork for us. We asked Phil all the questions that Jose couldn't answer (we meant to ask him using Canadian intonation but we forgot).There were chocolate biscuits for dessert. Phil talked of lighting the backyard bonfire (illegally because they didn't have a fire permit) and then decided to actually do it. (The evening by the bonfire was actually the highlight of the trip, in my opinion!)
He was astounded that we had never heard of 'Smores before and that we didn't know what Graham crackers were. (They pronounce it “Gram” crackers and they're not really crackers, they're more like biscuits because they're sweet). It turns out that a 'Smore (as in &#“Some more please”) is a roasted marshmallow with melted chocolate sandwiched between two Graham crackers:
We sat out there for ages, roasting marshmallows and eating 'Smores, feeding and poking at the fire. It was quarter to midnight when we finally went to bed. And a lovely evening was had by all.
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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I LOVE smores so much. Yum. It’s weird how it’s not a common thing to do here but even roasting marshmallows is a rare occurence what with the fire bans we get!
Hezza, how come you know about ‘smores??
I don’t remember who first told me about them - I have lived in diff places and holidayed in the US a few times but can’t recall. My friend had never heard of them until last winter he went to Crossroads in Hong Kong and the team had a campfire and made/ate them. Smores are great but my fav is a fluffernutter. YUMMMMM! I don’t know if you can get fluff where you live but it’s a staple of my pantry.
You eat fluff ...??
That sounds so odd!!!
It’s marshmallow spread. It’s YUMMY!