Tennis, Tots & Dinosaurs

One of the highlights of this month for me was, undoubtedly, the opportunity to attend the ATP Rogers Cup tennis tournament held on the campus of the university where I work. I was lucky enough to have tickets for three of the sessions throughout the week. I've never managed to get tickets to Wimbledon yet so to me this was the closest thing and it was pure heaven for me to watch some of my favourite players battling it out.

I was privileged to see the likes of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Monfils all strut their stuff and show how the game should be played. Sadly, my dreams of a Federer v Nadal final didn't materialize and Federer played Murray instead. I was very torn as to who to support in the final but Murray played incredibly well, beating Federer, to become the Rogers Cup champion for the second year in a row.

The humidity of the week made me realize how talented the players are in terms of being able to demonstrate such great athleticism and endurance amid such trying conditions. The downpours experienced during the final were actually welcome relief as the stadium was quite simply one giant steam bath!



The week after, the temperatures dipped. I have theory it was my guests from England bringing the good ole British weather with them, as the temperatures soared again the day after they flew back! My schoolfriend, Jo, her husband, Jules, and two boys, Leo and Seth, came to stay for a few nights on their way to a wedding in Niagara and a week RVing their way around Ontario. It was fantastic to see them and we had a couple of really nice days exploring the city. The boys particularly enjoyed the children's theme park, Centreville, on the island, where Tom Cruise's wife and daughter hung out a couple of days after us. We had a lovely time and Leo appeared thrilled by his ascent up the CN Tower on his last evening.

Summer is just about still here and the many Toronto festivals continue. Buskerfest is an annual festival held in my locality to raise funds for epilepsy awareness, a cause close to my heart, and, since I last attended three years ago, has grown in both scale and quality. This year I was amazed by the fire and aerial acts, in particular.

An incredible act, which wowed the crowd, was a trio of Dutch stiltwalkers from a company called Close Act. Their three giant dinosaurs were a sight to behold and were actually scarily real when I saw them at night coming down a darkened street towards me. I hope they don't give you nightmares!