Today, the new Yankee Stadium opened to the public for the first time. It looks beautiful. I can only imagine how exciting it must have been for my Grandad to contribute to “baseball’s cathedral”. Maybe we’ll make it to the “palace” before we leave NYC in June.

Yes, we are headed back to Toronto at the end of June!

• eh (Karyn’s been working hard on stopping Marley from saying “huh”)
• washroom (many people have no idea what we mean in the U.S. unless we say bathroom – all I have to say is where’s the bath? – come on)
• the CBC (CBC Radio rocks – sort of)
• Hockey Night in Canada
• beer
• Tim Horton’s
• Swiss Chalet
• Hudson’s Bay Company
• Roots (started by two Americans, but now a great Canadian retailer)
• “Canadian Thanksgiving” (in October due to the earlier harvest – not half as significant as Thanksgiving in the U.S. – the start of the holidays and a really family occasion)
• the “Canadian accent” – I finally hear it after more than a year – a day rarely goes by without my accent coming out and connecting me with other Canadians or stories of Canada – that’s what it’s all about, eh!
• cottaging
• appreciation of nature
• The Tragically Hip
• Inuit art
• The Group of Seven
• Emily Carr
• Gordon Lightfoot
• beer
• The Loonie
• Twonies
• multiculturalism
• peacekeeping (still? we like to think so)
• Corner Gas (best current Canadian comedy)
• self-deprecating humour
• did I mention beer and hockey?
• The President and all his Choices (a la Loblaws, not Bush)

What else do you have to offer? Leave your impressions and contributions in the comments. (you don’t have to be Canadian to respond) Be sure to include a little bit of context.

I had been there on business speaking at a client convention. The weather was beautiful in Denver, but a huge storm hit the east coast, shutting down most airports on the seaboard. I decided to make the most of my fate. I walked for miles around Denver on the Friday afternoon. On Saturday, I found time to take in the popular St. Patrick’s Day parade. I took the shot standing at the back of the crowd with my arm way above the crowd. Snap… Schmap.

Denver is a great city and I hope to return for another visit some day.

This year’s vacation was the first I can remember when I didn’t take anything from work. No laptop. No Blackberry. Nothing. My biggest adjustment was not having these devices during the first couple of days. But once I was well-adjusted the real vacation started. I actually felt relaxed. Wow.

I was actually able to spend time with my girls, something I rarely have time to do when work is all-consuming, as it’s been of late. I know I’m returning to a firestorm. Oh well. Life goes on.

We’re really excited about life in New York this Fall. It’s such a great time in this city. Here are some highlights we’re excited about:

• We just signed a two-year lease on our apartment, having decided that Park Slope is the NYC neighbourhood for us.
• Nicole weaned herself which means Karyn and I can get out a bit earlier on our twice monthly dates since we no longer need to wait for her final nursing of the night. So far we’ve only been out in Brooklyn (within walking distance), but no longer. Manhattan, here we come.
• Marley starts French classes on Friday afternoons in SOHO. This will ensure Karyn gets into Manhattan at least once a week and provides a great excuse to get out for dinner on Fridays. Yay!
• Marley got a kite for her birthday that we look forward to flying in Prospect Park.
• Karyn is going to finally get her aquarium set up which will add new life to our home.
• We are going to tackle “Ask Marley”; we promise. We started the idea so long ago but work got in the way.
• I started running again this summer vacation, after almost eight years on hiatus, and look forward to making this an early morning habit. This will be a great stress buster, not to mention part of a much healthier lifestyle.
• We’re going to subscribe to the NHL package on cable. We realize that Toronto is a hockey mecca, unlike New York where hockey news is relegated to a paragraph at most at the absolute end of the Sports coverage.

We also look forward to more visitors this fall. Drop us a line if you want to take advantage of autumn in New York. We’d love to see you.