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News and Zoos
April 26, 2006 - 7:19 p.m.

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I've been a lousy diarist. Sorry about that. There's just been precious little news to tell.

That's not quite true, actually. This past Sunday the good people of St. Bart's threw me a going away party. I have one more Sunday left, but this week we'll be having a meeting about the future of the parish and they wanted to do it when we had time...time for cake and speeches and gifts.

And oh, what lovely cake, speeches and gifts. I'll spare you a description of a dessert you can't eat and speeches you won't really understand and just tell you about the gifts.

They gave me a wonderful book (The Stripping of the Altars) and pyx and green stole. The book is a defence of pre-Reformation Roman Catholic practice in England; essentially refuting a lot of the "evil Catholic Church" nonsense that English Protestants have clung to as justification ever since Cromwell dragged England into the dreary Puritan period. Not that I'm anti-Reformation, but it's good to remember that the story has two sides and to recognize the Reformation for what it was...and wasn't.

The pyx (a small box for carrying communion to the sick, shut-ins, etc.) is very pretty and just what I'd have picked for myself - gold, topped by a red lid with white crosses. It's simple but elegant. The stole is equally lovely, with a very simple Chi Rho (the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, XP, overlapped...you probably know what I mean) and dove on each end. It's nice because it doesn't scream, as some stoles do, "The chasuble is lost or tattered, so I'm just wearing the stole!"

It was a very pleasant almost-going-away party, and I'll miss my St. Bart's family dearly. It's sad that, as I said in my last post, leaving has to be part of the game. Then again, without letting one thing die nothing else can grow.

Speaking of letting things die, Amy and I killed our legs today. I suppose fun grew out of it, so there's your death/life cycle. By way of translation, we went to the Toronto Zoo, where we have a membership.

I like zoos, a lot, and so does Amy. I had a membership at the Milwaukee Zoo and went there often...when you have a membership it's OK to go for just an hour or two. You don't feel like you have to get your money's worth that day. The TO Zoo is a bit harder to get to, being way the heck on the edge of the city. Milwaukee's zoo was also on the edge of the city (since most people don't like hearing lions and wolves calling hungrily at night), but it was the western edge and Milwaukee is taller than it is wide, if you see what I mean. Toronto is not only much larger as a whole; the zoo is also on the very furthest edge from Little Poland. I swear we're close to Quebec when we get off the bus.

OK, no. Not really. But it feels that way to a guy who rarely goes east of Yonge St.

Today we saw a swimming Polar Bear, some very cool Sea Horses, Elephants and Giraffes and a pack of Wolves...among other things. There's an area called "Canadian Domain" that is, as Amy puts it, as difficult to access as they can make it. It's in the farthest corner of the zoo, at the bottom of a huge hill which is the only exit, so you have to walk back up it when you're through. Actually, as difficult as it is to get there, it's harder to leave.

Amy's convinced that there's an anti-Canada conspiracy...the Royal Ontario Museum also stuffs its Canadian exhibits in a remote location, as if they're ashamed. "You want to study your own country? Fine, but you're going to suffer to do so!" The zoo's Canadian section is lovely, and includes a very nice nature walk...but it is a pain to get to. On the other hand, I need the exercise and that hill is a real workout.

Amy and I are making a point of spending time together because she leaves soon for a three-week tour. She'll be going out west with a children's show, as far as Alberta. The fun part is that they'll spend a few nights camping, to save money. See, nights are still cold here in southern Ontario...what it'll be like in northern Ontario and the Prairies? I do not envy her those nights, though I would like to be able to see the country. Alas, I have CPE and will have to wait.

That's not a very well-written entry, but it conveys the essential news. Now I have to go put my aching legs up. Ow!

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