And this week in the front yard...

There are wonderful perks about living in a city core. I don't live in a huge city; smaller than Toronto but certainly much bigger than the small town of Woodstock I grew up in. I frequently comment to friends how lucky I feel to be able to park my car on a Friday night, and if I want, not have to start it up again over the course of the weekend because everything I could possibly want is within walking distance.

I've got a wonderful variety of restaurants, arts centres, grocery stores and I'm pretty sure I've mentioned Lake Ontario is in my front yard. Not too shabby.

Also in my front yard is a large community park and usually on weekends during the summer it is filled with festivals of all kinds... Music, arts, kids, crafts. There is something new to be found every Sunday as I stroll across for my visit to the lake. This weekend is "Canada's Largest RibFest."

Carnivores everywhere are salivating in jealousy. And of course we are grateful the event has never been protested by PETA. At this, like most of the festival offerings, there are musical acts scattered throughout the day and that coupled with the consistent drone of increased traffic, crowds, horns and vendors calling out about their wares means the next three days will be filled from 10:00 am to 11:00 pm with white noise. What it will also be filled with is the smell of ribs.

I love ribs as much as the next carnivore but trust me, after smelling them consistently for three days straight even the most die-hard rib addict may have had enough. I will have my one and only rib dinner on Sunday but the smell will make everything I eat this weekend have a "meat finish" to the flavour.

Next week, I shall be vegetarian. But only for a week.