tree planting with Claire and an attorney general

I think I'll try a stream of consciousness for this entry. Today's trip to St. Claire West village was so surreal, it seems appropriate. A timeline too, b/c every minute was full of meeting people, having conversations, adventures and fun!

8:45 - pick up bus tickets from the turnkey
9:45 - head to Waterloo Park for Circle of Creation outdoor service
10:14 - check cell phone and realize i still have time to catch 10:30 greyhound to Toronto
10:27 - pull into grt terminal, lock up my bike and board the bus
10:29 - catch the eye of a cute poli sci grad student from Montreal and have a good conversation about society's little "vices" - lawers, alcohol, stuffy post-protestantism, Eastern European politics...
12ish - walk out of the St. Claire West subway into glorious sunshine and call real estate agent Chris Chopik from EvolutionGreen for directions to the Strawberry and Asparagus Festival
losing track of time and finding myself in a utopian children's garden in conversation with Claire - a middle-aged professional gardener who reminds me of Mrs. Whatsit from Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.
- meeting Chris and being introduced to to Michael Bryant, MPP for Downtown West Village and wearer of awesome brown hemp pants and a snazzy fair-trade cotton shirt he got from BC.
- talking to one of Bryant's aids, an Osgood Hall law student who's into all green social things
- meeting dozens of Torontonian environmentalists and eating Asparagus Dogs with organic strawberry smoothies and certified organic beef stew cooked in a solar oven
4:15 - tour of Chris' awesome green home with dual-flush toilets and bookshelves full of liberalist-envrionmentalist books, like The Everyday Activist, 100-Mile Diet, and The Literary Companion to Sex (I hope I can say that, I mean we're all open-minded here right?)
8:30 - spotting friend from UW Math, and riding home "critical mass" style with only smiles and politeness from passing drivers. except for one strange dude in a pick-up truck who yelled "sexy" at us from across the street. No idea what that was about...(?)

Overall, a very rich and memorable day. (Hopefully Michael's aid sends me the pictures and I'll post them here later)