My weekend in Montreal left me with mixed feelings. First we heard on the radio that Marlon Brando had died. I was rather sad. Did anyone ever notice that his face is the face of the sphinx for the Hollywood Pictures logo?

We arrived in Montreal Friday evening, and had an awesome dinner out with one of my very good friends. After dinner, we headed downtown to meet up with my best friend and her husband, who were at the Theatre du Plateau seeing Evil Dead 1 & 2: The Musical. We headed off the Club Date in the Gay Village for karaoke. There's a guy there who does an amazing, virtually impossible Celine Dion, and a not-half-bad Alanah Myles. My friend's husband was duly impressed.

The car was broken into. It was a rental, and thankfully they did no damage, but they stole everything in the car. I'm glad we left our luggage at our friend's house. They took our pack of CD's, including the one my husband made me for our first Valentine's Day, with letter attached. That was the most valuable item in the car, as far as I'm concerned.

Saturday was hectic, trying to visit with everyone before being the guests of honor at a barbecue celebrating Canada Day.

Sunday morning dawned hot as Hell, and we were off to bury The Cottage. It was the saddest day of my life. There was nothing left to look at. Everything had been plowed into the ground or removed. The nextdoor neighbor, a friend of my dad's, said that the fire burned so hot that the cast iron woodstove melted to a bubbling pile of nothing. We did a bit of archaeological digging, and uncovered some beer cans from 1976, when my dad and his friends were laying the foundation. We also recovered a door handle, a charred support beam, and a tiny fragment of the woodstove. We baptized ourselves in the freezing Laurentian lake, and then headed back to the city.

Dinner with friends, and we left Monday morning. The traffic on the 401 heading back to Toronto was a nightmare (it always is - the 401 is the worst highway in the world), and I was glad to finally make it back.

I started my new job today, and it's non-stop stress already. I'm already doing overtime, and it's my first day! So I will blog whenever I can. They're setting up my network access tomorrow, so I can be Right Girl on my lunch break - if I ever get one!