Monday Betsy and I went to the Canadian National Exhibition. This is kind a big-city version of the county fairs I used to go to in Kansas, except here in Toronto at "The Ex," there are a lot fewer animals and 4-H competitions and that sort of thing. I mean, they still have a few cows and chickens and milking demonstrations, but it's much smaller scale than even the smallest county fair in the midwest! Replacing the critters are lots of kiosk versions of various chain restaurants. Lots of fast food. But the grace comes from some of the independent outfits. One such operation providing some very nice BBQ ribs for our lunch. Another provided us with funnel cake for dessert!

We caught a show--an Ice Capades-style extravaganza of singing, skating, and acrobatics that was loosely themed on popular movies like "Top Gun" and "The Godfather." Mostly it was for the kids, but I still enjoyed it!

We picked some cat toys from a very enthusiastic vendor/maker and called it a day. A very enjoyable day.

Heck of softball game in the evening. My team lost, but I played pretty well, including making two nice catches of fly balls. After the game another guy and I started sparring Karate-style for fun. I haven't done this in MANY years, but I held my own pretty well. I got in some nice shots and even threw my opponent (who studies Karate currently) off balance and onto the ground. He came back and pretty soon we were grappling like Judo wrestlers. At that point it took him two or three attempted throws to return the favour! We decided to call it a draw after that. Fun, but exhausting. I also managed to skin my knee pretty badly when I went down. Oh, and I jammed one of my fingers pretty good. There is something very satisfying about having your wife dress your sports wounds! I was quite proud.

All-in-all, a very satisfying day-off!

-t