Toronto, Waterloo & Hamilton

Sunday evening, we went back to Kensington Market in Toronto where I played a solo set at The Boat with my friends The Hamilton Trading Co. The whole show was completely unplugged, which meant my set was just me, my guitar and and an audience. It was really quite amazing. Everybody was so attentive, and so interested. The atmosphere was moving. I wish every show I played could be like that. I also got to sing some songs with my friend Mary, who was once a drummer in Sleepless Nights. We actually played one of the oldest Sleepless Nights songs together, a song called "Amen."

Monday morning, we set out for Waterloo but got stuck in a near two-hour traffic jam just outside of Mississauga. That sucked. We got to Waterloo in the afternoon and went to our friend Joe's place where we made some supper and spent a leisurely evening playing video games and catching up on some must-see-tv.

The next day, I went to Wilfred Laurier University and talked to a prof about their MA program in Religious Studies. Seems like a nice school - reminded me a lot of the faculty at SMU actually.

On our way out of town to Hamilton, we stopped in at Nigel's Athletic Direct in Kitchener, which is a shoe store run by my friend Kerri's father. I bought some sweet kicks, a pair of black and white Chucks. Great summer shoes. Desperately needed.

Between the 'loo and the hammer, we stopped in a place called Millgrove where we visited by old college roommate Aaron. He took us to see the farm behind his house where his neighbors raise sheep and cattle. They also have llamas! Aaron also took us out on a hike to see a waterfall and the most amazing view of sub-rural Ontario I have yet to see.

After a delicious BBQ of home-grown beef burgers (grown literally in the back yard), we set out for Hamilton where we went out for drinks with my cousins Pam and Dave - which would actually be something like my second cousins (they're my dad's first cousins).

Today is an early day. We're off to Niagra Falls and then we're dipping down for a three-day stint in the US. Tonight we're hitting Cleveland, OH where we'll visit the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and go see a Kings of Leon Concert!

Wooo!