I gave birth six weeks ago. Since then, I've lost a lot of the baby weight. Partly because the baby that I was carrying was so huge that his expulsion from the womb represented a massive weight loss, and partly because I've hardly been able to eat anything since he was born, what with his unremitting need to be held ALL THE TIME HOLY HELL. Hardly anything but cookies, that is, and maybe the odd bagel or two. Which, you know, is not the best post-partum diet.

Happy Canada Day! Ok, Canada Day isn't until July 1 but we're close enough right? And what better way to celebrate than with a Canadian themed reading challenge? None! So step right up and explore the world of Can-Lit.

I'm about to hop in our car and hit the road heading east to the Canadian Maritimes so I thought that it was a good time to continue heading east on our Cross-Canada blog tour. We'll be continuing east on this tour but instead of heading to the Maritimes we're cruising up in the north to Nunavut.

When I first started breastfeeding my first child, I was totally anxious about nursing in public. Was anyone looking? Was anyone freaked out by my boob? I sought out nursing rooms wherever I could, until it became clear that if I was to move about in the world with my child and not spend all of my time in stuffy nursing rooms or - horror - washroom stalls, I would have to chill out and just bare the booby. And so I did. And it was, mostly, fine.

One thing about Canada that you need to understand is that Canadian's are very into hockey. It's our game. Even people who aren't into hockey find themselves suddenly into hockey for a big game - be it the 1972 Canada-Russia game or a gold metal match at the Olympics against the US team. We are a hockey nation and as we have a second national anthem - the Hockey Night in Canada theme. Or...at least we did.

When I was growing up, until I was about ten or eleven, we had a vegtable garden every year. One of my earliest memories is getting in trouble for stealing baby carrots from the garden and harvesting raspberries that would be turning into yummy jam. It was A Lot Of Work so it's probably no coincidence that gardening was put off after all the free labour (ie my siblings) moved out. Luckily we have relatives who plant way too much for themselves and we still raid their gardens.