Weekly Update: 4 Days 'Till We Put In at Rain Lake!

• Current Scholastic Vacation Pursuits
• That's right, there's only 4 more days until we Put In at Rain Lake to paddle 170km - West to East - across Algonquin Park! I'll be gone for 2 weeks to do this trip, so there won't be a blog update next weekend, sorry. However, if you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll be able to see our location on Google Maps as I'll be sending in daily GPS coordinates with my SPOT device.
• This is certainly going to be an epic trip - we've been planning it for years and I'm so very excited to go. There's no doubt that it will be wet and muddy. It's guaranteed that with all the rain we've had this spring, the bugs will be at their worst. And since it has rained every day this week, and every day last week, it's going to be a miracle if it doesn't rain every day of our trip. But that's ok - the title of this trip will likely bear the subtitle, "Mostly Awesome with Brief Periods of Terrible" and our mantra will be muttered a thousand times per portage, "Just Because It's Insane, Doesn't Mean It's Impossible!"

• Recipe I've Been Drooling Over
• I haven't really been drooling over anything but freeze-dried meals in the aisle at MEC since the preparations for the canoe trip have fallen squarely on my shoulders. However, rhubarb is out in the grocery stores at last and I picked up some of the juiciest stalks... I'm going to make rhubarb and rosemary crisp to bring to family dinner tonight. It'll be a self-concocted variation on this brilliant idea: the rhubarb rosemary lemon spritzer.

• Favourite Thing on Etsy this Week
• I fell in love with these origami lotus flowers... they would make the perfect place settings at some future formal dinner. Especially if those future placemats were made out of maps... honestly, how amazing would that be?!

• What I'm Reading Right Now
• I'm reading and re-reading the map across algonquin, my to-do list, and my menu planning lists to make sure everything is ready for the trip. I'm currently trying to decide which book(s) I should bring... I've added a poll to the sidebar on the right, perhaps you folks can vote for which one you think should make it into my pack?

• TED Talk I Watched This Week
• Here's a great tip on how to tie your shoes correctly - you probably think you already know how to do that but this 3 min vid might just prove to you otherwise! 

• Song of the Week
• Here's an amazing video for Jeremy Messersmith's, "A Girl, A Boy, and a Graveyard"

• Thing I'm Most Grateful for This Week
• I'm really grateful for my family- our trip across Algonquin would not be possible without the help of my Mom: she's driving us to the Put In, meeting us for a resupply halfway through, and picking us up at the Take Out PLUS looking after the buns while we're away. Thanks Mom!

• Thing I'm Most Looking Forward to This Week
• Putting In at Rain Lake!!!! YAY!

• Bunny Photo of the Week
• I have 2 couches: one seats 3 people and the other 2. I usually sit on the 2-person couch because it's just the right length for me to sprawl... which leaves the 3-person couch the default territory of the bunnies. Sometimes, they take this a little too seriously since Hoyle has been known to gently nip people who sit on "his couch" when I have company over. Here's Hoyle with his most regal expression, attempting to prove that he's King of the Couch: