This week has been a week of adjusting to life back in Ontario.  It’s been 6 years since either of us have lived here, and although I grew up here (and Peter spent his teen/young adult years here), it is evident that there are many things to which we need to re-adjust.

One of the most glaringly obvious things is the landscape.  Although we lived in Winnipeg for 2 years (which is FLAT!), we just spent 4 years in Victoria which is rather mountainous (well, we can see the mountains and it’s rather hilly) as well as its foliage is green and lush.  For example:

And Ontario has beautiful lakes and greenery all of its own, but it’s just different.  It’s still green and fairly lush at this time of year, but the foliage is entirely unique from B.C., and it’s not as “Jurassic Park-like.”

I find myself looking out on Lake Ontario thinking I’ll see mountains on the other side…but they never appear.  HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean we aren’t appreciating the nature here.  It’s nostalgic of our youth, our dating years, and even our wedding!  It’s just an adjustment.  But one I’m looking forward to embracing even more in the weeks to come.

The other thing we’re adjusting to is TRAFFIC.  Gosh, it’s ridiculous.  The most traffic we had in Victoria was an extra 15-20 minute delay between Victoria and the western communities.  Which, in the grand scheme of life, ain’t that bad.  Check out this Toronto traffic in the rain from yesterday:

8 lanes across, and if you can read the orange words on that sign it says that it’s moving “very slow.”  No kidding…

And you know what the kicker is?  It was was only:

IN THE AFTERNOON!!!

Insane.

That is one thing I am not looking forward to adjusting to.

The only plus side to it is that we get to read a bunch of fun trucks.  For example, there were two Sobey’s trucks (grocery stores) that had cooking advice:

“Sprinkle sugar into boiling water for perfectly sweet corn.”  I would also venture that honey would do the same trick!

This one was a little too far ahead to read, but it says “Want to cut down on salt?  Grill meat with lime juice and chili.”  This sounds like good advice to me!!

We will have lots more opportunities to adjust to things over the next few weeks and that’s the fun and excitement of moving!  Even if it is back to somewhere a little more familiar.