the garden

damned mystery atheist!

2012-01-26T21:27:00.004-05:00

Can an atheist suffer religious persecution at the hands of another atheist? Looks like it.

I've had a little tiny bell at my desk for a long time, pinned to the cubicle wall; it's got a little card attached that reads "hope" and has a blurb on the back about how my contribution has helped the St. Something organization care for the community. The message isn't overly religious, but definitely has some sort of churchy association.

Today was my first day back at my desk since leaving on vacation, and while reorganizing all my desktop stuff I realized that someone had taken down my little bell and added a sticky note that read "c'mon, be reasonable, God doesn't exist!" and left this on the middle of my desk. This instantly made me unhappy, but it took a good 30 minutes or so of back-of-the-mind thinking to find that I was really angry about it. What kind of person does such a thing? Who goes snooping around someone's cube when they're not home, touching and moving their stuff, and then leaving an anonymous note with their unasked-for commentary? The note ended up with my manager, as I ranted in a fairly controlled manner about the inflammatory nature of this cowardly, presumptuous note.

I asked around a bit, thinking that perhaps someone who knows me was just joshing around, but I soon realized that the people who know me well enough to joke would know better than to do such a thing.

I'm not angry with the stealthy note-writing atheist for being an atheist, I'm angry with them for being a passive aggressive loser, for touching my stuff and for getting me to fall for such juvenile attempt to get my goat :P Not sure what else I can do except hang up the bell again.

I never realized this before

2012-01-18T16:39:00.002-05:00

but I think smoking helped me get off my bum and do something else once in a while.

Now that I'm back at home (and not yet back to work) I'm finding myself at times just standing around wondering what to do now. A smoke break used to force me out onto the porch to look around and collect my thoughts. I think Byron is quite vehemently opposed to substituting chocolate for smokes, so I'll have to think of some other way of addressing this.

a new year, 7 days in the sun and $30 in my pocket!

2012-01-17T22:21:00.002-05:00

hooray, it's a new year! Byron, Frank, Anne and I have just returned from a well-earned week in Montego Bay. Byron and I logged about 40 hours in the water, futzing around with our new snorkels and also managed to get a good amount of vitamin D and some pretty hearty meals as well.

Byron and I had also decided to quit smoking on this trip, and had our last cigarettes over a week ago. We purchased Nicorette inhalers but they're not really a great substitute for smoking, so Byron's going cold turkey, while I'm using the inhaler to hold in my hand and wave around in a cigarette-like fashion every once in a while. The change of scenery and routine certainly was helpful in distracting us from our cravings; I did feel a little unstable and cried a fair bit for the first two days or so, but a steady diet of cakes, watermelon, frequent naps and plenty of paddling around the coral reefs soon had me feeling better :)

During the flight home, I figured that I've already saved about $30 that would normally have gone towards smokes during the week. Over the course of the next year, that could either be a nice bonus chunk to stick on the mortgage, or a nice getaway next winter. I'll keep this in mind when battling the cravings that are bound to plague me over the next while.

While I'm busy patting myself on the back about being smoke free for over a week, I'd also like to brag shamelessly about my tooth flossing: I've flossed before bed for 399 of the past 401 days, hooray for me! This impresses no one but myself and my hygienist, but I just had to get it out there. :D

November!

2011-11-16T20:27:00.001-05:00

whoopee!

2011-07-13T23:10:00.002-04:00

a few things that make me say whoopee tonite:

my back feels much better...am now ambulatory and back to work and am hobbling my way back to a normal life, have been able to stop taking the brain-numbing muscle relaxants

the Live Green Toronto festival is on this Saturday and I'm helping to man the beekeepers' booth, it'll be grand to see my bee buddies again

Monday and Tuesday are days off for me

The last Harry Potter movie is out soon, and we're working our way through all of the previous ones, merrily shouting "Potter!" as we go

I got paid for overtime that I had completely forgotten about having worked

whee...

herming like never before

2011-07-08T21:47:00.002-04:00

The past couple of weeks have been an exercise in full-blown hermitry for me. I've just finished looking at my hellokitty.com email, and it appears I haven't checked it in over a month! So then, I've been part-time herming for a month or so, but last week ended up being an actual house-bound hermit when my back decided I'd been taking being ambulatory for granted and blew up for no good reason. True, I did fall down several weeks back (twice, actually, both times on top of a ridiculously heavy bundle buggy full of mulch that I was pushing down the street-- the first fall-down was accompanied by a deliciously humourous shout of "UHHH!" that startled neighbours and still makes me laugh upon recollection) but that was *weeks* ago, and was the last serious trauma that I can recall.

The horribleness started with a twingy lower back, which quickly became a backache that extended down into my leg. A visit to my doctor got me a prescription for some anti-inflammatory pills and some muscle relaxants that goof me up and knock me out, as well as a diagnosis of sciatica. We made a quick visit across the border last weekend to pick up some audio gear, I spent many happy hours doped up in the passenger seat and enjoying the scenery. We also painted our new bedroom, with Byron doing most of the work and me being the drugged out trim-painter. It looks grand, btw :)

Beyond our road trip and the painting I've spent most of the last two weeks hanging out, missing work, making brief excursions to the back porch, creeping around the veggie bed, playing cribbage on my phone and having naps. Sounds like a relaxing time, and it is, except for the periods of excruciating pain and only being able to stand for about 10 minutes at a time :P

I'm confident that things will get better though, the internet tells me that the pain often goes away on its own within a couple of weeks. Looking forward to that happy day!

a quick question

2011-06-23T22:37:00.002-04:00

what kind of person uses silicon caulking to put up shelving? the kind of person who feels that 6 screws on their own won't do the trick, it seems.

argh!

a new project

2011-06-22T22:31:00.003-04:00

we're great at starting projects in this household...we love the potential brimming in a set of plans. When it comes to executing them, well, ehhh...it's often a lot of work and there are naps to be had, and relaxing to do, and...well, you know.

we're embarking on a new project that has to get done, though, it has us living in more chaos than usual, and we've got a deadline. Byron happened to hear some really nice speakers a few weeks ago, and at the same time I told him of my idea to change our master bedroom into our entertainment/listening room/guest room and move our sleeping quarters to the guest bedroom. (We use probably less than half the space in our bedroom, the rest of the space just accumulates stuff) We then had brunch with Byron's enthusiastic German audiophile friend, and mulled things over. The universe seemed to be telling us to go for it.

Well golly, isn't there a lot of work involved in switching bedrooms! our clothes are in various closets throughout our second floor, (which is an improvement over being strewn all over the floor and furniture) and there's a big decluttering project underway. Goodwill will be the recipient of a carload of stuff from us, lucky them. We're going to paint both rooms eventually, but at this point the plan is to get the listening room freed up to receive the new audio gear on Saturday, and then get ourselves organized enough that dressing for work in the morning isn't a scavenger hunt every morning.

Hopefully by the time our next rotation of houseguests arrive we'll have a cozy fully-kitted super-room for them to stay in. As usual, pictures will be available if I happen to remember to take pictures :)

a nice, nice day

2011-04-30T20:50:00.002-04:00

It's been a challenging week. Byron's been working in Calgary, I was disgustingly sick earlier in the week and we've been getting some insane rain storms. I love 'em, but it's hard to get anything done outside when you're in the midst of an ark-worthy deluge.

I'm on weekend duty, and that always ensures my weekends are less spontaneous and lazy than usual. I love weekend duty in its own way, though, it's a chance to do my regular job at a totally different pace, under different circumstances, and in a familiar environment but with all of the external distractions removed. I think I'm very good at it. My 9-5 job definitely does not provide the optimal setting for me to excel.

As I was leaving on Friday I was told to expect a call from a very aggressive and unreasonable client on Saturday morning. I'd worried that this might be a hellish weekend, and wondered if I could make it a good one by wishing it so. This is probably wishful thinking (and rightfully so), but I believe it worked. Here are some of the things that made it a nice, nice day:

*I woke up not feeling tired, and early enough to get some yard work done before having to go on duty. The sun was coming up, and it was perfectly clear with a tiny chill in the air. Some birds were at the feeder, enjoying the fresh food. There's one hot mama purple finch that all the boy finches are fighting over, a pair of cardinals that feed each other, and a dizzy mourning dove that likes to just walk around the yard. I love watching them.

*I also did some laundry and was able to hang that up on the line before heading out to work. I love hanging clothes in the sunshine.

*I inflated my tires and rode my bike to Broadview station--my triumphant first bike trip of the season!) I didn't feel nervous riding in traffic (minimal traffic, but still, a successful venture)

* I got to King and Yonge just in time to go on duty and turn on the phone, then went to Starbuck's and had some tea and people-watched, ready to spring into action as soon as the phone rang. Downtown is delightfully empty and quiet on early weekend mornings. I had a good 20 minutes to myself.

*apparently was extremely helpful to all of my clients, and actually had fun being helpful to most of them. I've made a few changes in the way I work, and felt very organized. Only said "WTF?" twice, I think.

*accidentally found myself in the midst of a huge gang of walking photographers, and talked to a few of them. There were SLR'ers, digicam folk and even iPhone-cam wielding enthusiasts. am invited to check the website and come out on a walk with them.

*streetcar-ed it home, thankful to be leaving downtown just as the walking-along-and-being-macho MMA fans were swarming in.

*biked home to enjoyed a panzarotto on the back porch, with the birds and some enlightening IM'ing.

*heard from a guy on craigslist who is selling his metal forge and gear; we'd inquired, but it all appeared to be spoken for. Now it seems that's iffy, and he'll let us know if it doesn't get sold tomorrow.

The aggressive unreasonable man? He did call. He was indeed very aggressive and unreasonable. He also came across as ill-informed. I finally had to tell him I had to up because I couldn't help him.

So, over all, I think a fair rating of this is a nice, nice day :) of course, there's always Sunday....

nothing and everything

2011-04-14T22:46:00.005-04:00

well well well, it's been a couple of weeks since our whirlwind trip Quebec city. It was a great and refreshing getaway, full of good food, wonderful sights and bonhomie.

In the weeks since then, I've had renewed energy and have thrown myself into reading (The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge and The Reformation: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Marshall), becoming active on a couple of Asperger's forums, getting out in the garden and being as happy as a little clam at work. My cubicle mate got moved, so now I have the whole cube to myself, and am no longer self-conscious about interacting with my clients the way that works best for me. All in all, these are some pretty good days.

Perhaps due to the assessment I had earlier this year (and the subsequent Asperger's diagnosis), I've come to feel that this year already has been pretty eventful. I've discovered new ways of thinking, slightly different ways of interacting with people and expressing myself, and seemingly more successful ways of managing problems. In the past I'd call each of these mini-triumphs an epiphany, but this all has been much more than just an epiphany...it feels more like a convergence of epiphanies.

To celebrate all of this, I went out and got a tattoo today. I had originally wanted an enso tattoo in white ink on my palm, but most tattoo artists flat out won't do palms, and many won't do white tattoos. I found a lady who suggested we do it in black, and then successfully talked me out of doing it on my palm (this is apparently a terribly painful place to get a tattoo, and is the optimal site for infection and other problems). We ended up doing a white enso on my right wrist, and you know, it didn't really hurt much. I think I could have handled the painon my palm, but she's probably right, being unable to fully use my right hand for a month might have become a bit of a hassle.

The enso can be said to represent any number of things, depending on who you ask or what you read. It can represent enlightenment, rebirth, the cosmos, the void, the cyclical nature of life. To me, it looks like a representation of change over time, as the brush loses ink and the brush stroke tapers off. The act of painting enso is sometimes used as mindfulness practice, where each enso is a one-off, representing the energy of the moment of its creation. No other enso drawn will ever be the same. During my reading I came across the idea of wabi-sabi, the belief that nothing is permanent, complete or perfect. The white ink is likely not going to be permanent; for me, this is part of the appeal. It made sense to me to get a tattoo (itself a symbol of permanence) that will eventually fade and become a scar over the years.

At the moment the tattoo looks like I was bitten on the arm by a rabid child (it is only 7 hours old), but I will post a picture at some point. :)

Quebec City, day 2

2011-04-02T22:40:00.004-04:00

Day two in Quebec City started early, with a nice little basket of breakfast delivered to our room. A fresh croissant, jam and a little muffin and some coffee provided enough fuel in our tanks to get us out wandering up the hill into the old part of the city. The snow that was forecast for today held off, and we spent 7 hours or so wandering the cobblestone streets, browsing some galleries, looking at statues, climbing up and down many many stairs. This, of course, is a lot of work! So we had to make frequent stops for pastries, coffee, and lunch.

After a return to the hotel for a well deserved nap, we were up in time to make our reservation at a local restaurant specializing in rabbit. Good old traditional french homestyle cooking! I like to imagine that our dinners were originally very practical dishes whipped up by French farmwives with a surplus of varmint. We had rabbit rilettes to start, a lovely spread that reminded a little of flaked tuna in texture. Byron had a cassoulet with rabbit leg, and I chowed down on rabbit pie.

Now we're pooped...it seems like we're doing a lot of indulgent eating, but we did pretty much walk our feet off today, so hopefully it'll all even out. We'll see what tomorrow brings, perhaps a trip outside the city to explore the Ile D'orleans...

A load of photos to be posted once I have the energy to ;)

Quebec city, yay!

2011-04-01T20:37:00.002-04:00

hahah! it's been ages since I've posted. so typical. It's not that I don't do anything, or that I don't do anything exciting, I just have such a short attention span that by the time I've got the laptop in hand (or on lap, as it were) so much other stuff has happened that I feel overwhelmed and I usually can't even bring myself to attempt to record any of it here. I blame Hans Asperger for identifying a number of traits that would later be collectively described as a syndrome that I dislike to name, because in my head it always is spelled Ass-burgers, which makes me giggle, and then brings great shame, because I know I'm being juvenile. If it weren't for him, I'd be able to be simply quirky.

But I digress.. the past 24 hours have been exciting. Here's what I (and Byron) have been up to:

Thurs, 6:00 pm: my first metalworking class, yay! got to handle an oxy/acetelyne torch, burned holes in my glove, a piece of sheet metal the work table and my finger. It was not a magic torch, it took much effort and several attempts to do all of this damage. I also almost poked my kind workmate (a huge south american gentleman whose smock proclaimed him to be Ella) in the face with a piece of wire, which he assured me was ok. My self imposed homework is to attempt to practice mindfulness.

Thurs, 10:00 pm: home to finish laundry, pack, try to ge to sleep early (manage to get to sleep around 1:30) Byron indicates a desire to 'sleep in' til 7 if possible.

Fri, 5:30 am: Byron wakes up to find my scantily clad and crawling around on the kitchen floor and being noisy. A seizure of some sort? sleepwalking, perhaps? no, just trying to catch a mouse. Sorry, Byron!

Fri, 6:30 am: on the road, Quebec City or bust!

Fri, 10:30-ish am: stop at Trenton for coffee, nibbles and a stretch. making good time, lovely, sunny weather.

Fri, 12:30 pm: stop at Benny Poulet on Autoroute Felix Leclerc (near Antoine de Lavalrie) for some poulet et frites delicieux! light snow.

Fri, 3:30 pm: beinvenue a Quebec! our hotel, the Hotel des Coutellier, is a lovely little place facing the harbour in the old part of town. snowing steadily, time for a quick peek around the 'hood.

Fri, 5:00 pm: looks like the area is full of galleries, antique stores and other neat little boutiques, time for eats! Time to mosey back to the hotel for dinner at the restaurant downstairs, Moss--specializing in Belgian food. What's Belgian food? Apparently, it includes good bread, beer, lots of mussels, and steak tartare! Yummy. Found a bonus layer of capers in my dinner, I love capers. Tricked the host into thinking we spoke French, right up until about 40 seconds in, when he asked if he could take our coats. I was pleased with myself. Snowing heavily!

Fri, 6:30 pm: up to the room, for some quiet time spent loafing around in hotel bathrobe and surfing the 'net, possibly bedtime soon :)

Looking forward to what Samedi brings...more snow, apparently, but also perhaps a visit to a cabane a sucre and more attempts to speak the local lingo.

preparing for the arrival

2010-11-14T15:38:00.002-05:00

in a little more than 24 hours we will be welcoming our brand new baby car--a healthy, sturdy little 5 door 2010 Honda Fit. For someone who's not really a car person, I'm pretty excited about this. The Fit is highly rated for safety and fuel efficiency, and it seems pretty versatile as well.

It's coming to us all kitted out with various extras and warranties that'll keep us safe and sound (hopefully) for the next 7 years. This is comforting to me. The car that currently lives with us was born in 1998, and I haven't really trusted it since the day years ago when Byron (and the car) were cursed by a fellow motorist. Byron isn't the superstitious type, but the car might be; shortly after the curse was uttered the car refused to go and required some costly towing and repairs.

Looking forward to many happy years with our new baby! we're already starting to put together road trip ideas for next summer.

crabby letters that I'll never send

2010-10-28T22:45:00.007-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Fall is here, with its blustery days and lovely colours, the nights are getting longer and chillier, and hitting the snooze button in the mornings and snuggling back down into that wonderful early morning sleep is all the more appealing.

Lately I've been reassessing my social interactions with people, and realizing that sometimes I'm not always the most delicate or diplomatic person-- especially when dealing with people who have a tendency to be emotional. I've been trying to watch what I say in an attempt to avoid being shrieked at, but really, it's hard to keep some of this stuff in.

So...here in the comfort of my own blog, I'm letting my deep inner opinions out on a couple of topics that have really rankled lately. Please feel free to not shriek at me or try to make me feel guilty or like a bad person, this is me thinking out loud.

#1) Dear someone I'm related to:

I'm sorry you are having a tummultuous time with your teenager. Teenagers do indeed lead very dramatic lives, and as I recall from my own youth, this drama often leaks out into the lives of those close to them.

I was looking forward to spending time with this youngster this weekend, as I have on a few weekends in the past. I like to think that she benefits from having an adult in her life who tries to treat her like an adult, and I have to admit that I enjoy the time we spend together, as she provides me with a unique perspective and appreciation of the world around us.

I understand that she has had a disappointing time at school this year, I'm as horrified as you are at the marks she's brought home. What I don't understand is this: she's not old enough to drink, or vote, or take driving lessons, she's not even permitted to select her own clothes or, in your own opinion, take the bus by herself. I don't think she's ever had to do any chores at home, or earn an allowance; everything she has has been provided for her by the well-meaning adults in her life. What in the world makes you think that she can be solely responsible for her own academic success?

You say that she should have asked her dad or someone at school for help if she's floundering. Do these resources make it easy for her to do so? Do you know how hard it can be to ask for help from someone who uses words like 'dummy' or 'idiot'? Do you ask her about school? If so, how could it be 8 weeks into the school year before you discover she's failing? Do you allow her to make mistakes without judging her? Do you help her to find solutions? And just FYI, I failed math a few times during my high school years; I acknowledge that I'm particularly dense sometimes, but I don't think that there are many teens who worry about what failing a class means for their future.

I know that you were surprised to hear that she helps out when she's here, and what I wish I could tell you (without you freaking out at one or both of us) is that I think she's cooperative because we do things *together*. I appreciate what she does and I'm not afraid to tell her when she does something well; she's almost grown up, but like pretty much every child, she responds to positive feedback. I'm also not afraid to disagree with her, which happened last time she was here, and our disagreements don't have to end in screaming or crying or someone being 'right'.

I can't even imagine what it's like to raise a kid in this crazy world that we live in. It must be scary. What I can tell you from my own experience as a kid is that shouting, guilting, threatening or belittling only serve to close doors. Please don't feel threatened by me, or punish your kid by denying her time spent with someone who cares and listens and speaks honestly to her, I can't see this doing any of us any good.

I'd love it if you could take the advice you've given her, and ask for help if you need it. I can't tell you this, though, because if you freak out I might be banished from your lives. If you could overcome your shame or pride or whatever it is that inhibits you from talking about this stuff, you'd find that other parents are in the same boat and things might seem a little more manageable.

#2) Dear clients and colleagues:

I do not "speak Chinese". Chinese isn't even a proper term for a spoken language, its' a nationality. People in China speak a number of languages, Mandarin and Cantonese are the most common. I am not even of Chinese descent. It doesn't matter if you thought I look Chinese, or if you've known me for a number of years and always thought I was Chinese. It doesn't matter how long you stand around my desk and ask, or what reason you give for asking, or how deeply you suspect I might secretly "speak Chinese", I regrettably do not, I'm Japanese, and cannot help you translate anything into or from Chinese (or Japanese, for that matter, so don't even ask). I do recommend you visit one of my colleagues for assistance in translating though, as I believe that some of them might speak African.

road trip day 2!

2010-09-17T23:12:00.001-04:00

Day 2 of our road trip started out with a nice (and free) continental breakfast in the hotel, where we met one of our fellow guests, a lady from Ohio who was visiting Auburn with her husband. I tend to disagree with Americans collectively, but always seem to find individual American citizens amicable and polite; I think this is how my dad feels about Korean people. In fact, now that I think about it, this is how I feel about people in general. :)

From Auburn we continued along the small-town tour of upstate New York, making our way through Skeneatles (another quaint little town, reminiscent of the town of old Markham) and Lafayette, which was in the middle of some beautiful hilly farm country. Cazenovia had some beautiful and huge old colonial homes, I can picture Martha Stewart living in such a place.

The approach to Albany became little hairy, when we became aware of the deficiencies of the state's road signage around the same time we learned how imprecies our map is. Somewhere along the way, while still hurtling along at 55 mph, the navigator on our little expedition realized that she had never really looked at a US map from a driver's point of view and didn't really understand which little dots on the map corresponded with which town names, and which little numbers represented which exits on the highway. After a few detours and missing a couple of exits, we finally rolled into our hotel. A surprisingly good lunch at Panera Bakery got our day back on track, and after a nap and a dip in the pool we were feeling human once more.

Dinner at Chili's was interesting. Apparently all the big chain restaurants in NY state are now required to list the calorie content on their menus. It's an eye-opener, but I can see this being a good thing once people get used to it. With the help of the new menu, I chose a nice, relatively healthy (and tasty) margarita chicken (600 calories) instead of a burger (1400 calories). We decided to forgo the 500-700 calorie appetizers, figuring none of them were worth it. Knowledge is power! Unfortunately, having saved ourselves these unnecessary calories at dinner, we decided we were entitled to a few later, and have since discovered Nutter butter cookies. um...

road trip, day 1

2010-09-16T20:00:00.002-04:00

we're finally on the road, en route to Windham NY where we will crawl through the mud and hopefully leap over a fire pit alongside several thousand of our American brould n';eetheren. It's going to be an exciting time for sure, but there are some adventures to be had before then...

we left home yesterday during an almost biblical downpour. the driving was...well, actually, I don't know, since I did absolutely none of it. Byron says our little rental Hyundai Accent is 'gutless' but I think if that's the worst he can say about it then it's not so bad. It's far better than being 'unsteerable' or 'difficult to bring to a stop', for example.

We tried to make good time, but the trip from Toronto to Auburn, NY somehow took almost 8 hours. We did spend quite a frustrating time trying to get out of Niagara Falls ("ooh, look, we can cross right at the falls! Won't that be nice!") and we wouldn't want to regret not getting wings for lunch in Buffalo, so we had to stop there for a while. We also passed through all sorts of tiny places that I'd never heard of: East Aurora with its surprising wind farms, Varysburg, a quaint little town, Attica (which has a gigantic walled-in jail in the middle of a suburb...unless the suburb grew up around the jail). Lima NY didn't seem to have a public washroom, and so found its soil amended ever so slightly...we also were stopped in Lima by a fellow in a car who offered to sell us meat out of the back of his truck. We eventually made our way to Auburn, where we slept like logs at the Inn at Finger Lakes. On to Albany in the morning!

summer happenings and visitations by nieces

2010-09-05T19:20:00.004-04:00

whoooo, where's the summer gone at? here it is, the long weekend, and it's fall. I blame Annalise, Byron's niece from Regina who's visiting for a few days before starting first year university. They have had some damp and chilly weather out west, and I suspect she's brought it with her. Perfect sleeping weather (and I do love sleeping) but it's sad to see another summer come to an end...

The summer has been one of bike rides, camping, gym-going, and working weekends. Our garden has fallen apart a bit, due partly to my weekend overtime and partly to its being overrun with spiders and slugs. Bleah! We did manage to make some raised planter boxes and a trellis, on which we've grown 2 cucumbers and a load of raspberries, so I can't complain too much.

The volunteering has taken a different path, the bees and Foodshare are last year's news. I'll likely pick up with them again, but wanted to try something different this summer. I've joined forces with Not Far From The Tree, a super bunch of folks who go out and pick fruit, right here in the city. First time visitors to Toronto have been surprised at how much greenery the city has, and among all that foliage we have lots and lots of fruit trees. Until a couple of years ago much of that fruit was going to waste, but Laura Reinsborough decided that was a shame, and started organizing volunteers to harvest the bounty. Volunteers keep a portion, tree-owners get a portion, and the rest goes to foodbanks and community organizations. Win-win-win! After a few picks (about 5 hours work) I came home with 15 lbs of pears, 5 lbs of plums and 5 lbs of rather scary apples. The end result is that this winter we will all get fat on jam, delicious jam!

Another highlight of the summer has been quality time with nieces. My own dear niece Katie is now 15 big years old, and to me that's always seemed a good age to be confused and get into trouble. I am thrilled that I'm cool enough to be a facebook friend to her, and was really excited when she suggested we 'hang out' sometime over the summer. We spent a great day in Kensington Market, talking and listening and learning from and about each other... I'm hopeful that we can make this a regular event.

As mentioned earlier, Byron's niece is here visiting, she's 18 and a completely different species of teenager. It's great to spend some quality time with her. She's a young lady approaching a really exciting time of life. Freshly graduated from high school, with a huge range of interests and experiences in spite of her youth the world is her bivalve, and it's invigorating to share some time with someone so raring to explore the world.

Fall will bring the Warrior dash and the start of night school--Byron is taking an art metal class and I'm taking photography, and oh yes, maybe I'll file my taxes as well :0 and I'm sure that we'll find other adventures along the way, which will be chronicled here in my customary irregular intervals.

staring down a cigarette

2010-07-22T20:56:00.004-04:00

The tinybook is in the shop, and I've got a quiet evening in. I'm officially Quitting Smoking. I finished my last pack on Monday, have since bummed one full cigarette, a half of a cigarette, a third of a different cigarette and a, most recently, a huff on a cigarette. At this moment, my one cigarette that I'm 'allowed' for the day is beckoning...

We went camping on the weekend to celebrate my birthday, at Earl Rowe Provincial Park just west of Alliston, it was a wonderful time. 3 meals a day cooked over a fire! and then there's lake swimming, bike riding, sky watching, cribbage playing, lots of peeing in the bushes and, as a grand finale, experiencing an epic lightning/thunderstorm from a not-quite waterproof tent. It was all such an adventure! My deepest appreciation to my beloved for a wonderful birthday weekend :)

On our drive up Byron suggested trying to quit smoking again. Our most serious attempt at this was a few years ago on a trip to Regina. I found it to be incredibly stressful, and recall being inappropriately crabby and unpleasant. Of course that's no reason not to try again, in fact it's a really good reason to try again. We should be horrified that we're so enslaved to nicotine that it has this kind of effect on us. So, we're trying again :)

I think I'm in better shape this time, mentally and physically. I've been doing lots of reading about learning to live smoke-free,and it all seems very practical. It's clear that quitting smoking isn't impossible, it just has to be done right, with 'right' being whatever works for an individual. I think it could take many years and many tries to discover the right way to quit, so I might as well get this go-round started, eh? There's tons of info on the internet about quitting smoking, but I've found a very thought provoking and informative website at http://whyquit.com/ and have been reading my way through it almost exclusively lately.

I'm finding the cravings interesting and am hoping to outsmart them this time, instead of just giving in. For example, I was being tempted by a cigarette when I sat down to start this post. Why? Because originally I was going to go out and sit on the porch, and I've always smoked on the porch. Silly, eh? Why not just go out and sit on the porch? 'cause then I'd be just sitting on the porch, not smoking but probably thinking of smoking.

I need to learn how to occupy myself during my regular smoke breaks, so that I'll be doing something else, and that's an interesting challenge. So far tonight I've weeded the back garden, collected seeds from my kale plant, talked to the contractor next door, made an awesome pendant that I'm going give as a gift, and begun crocheting a ninja doll for my niece. The days are more challenging, I find it boring to hang around in the lunchroom eating yogurt instead of standing outside in the sun....oh well. If the blogs I've been reading are any indication, it's a small price to pay for eventually being able to taste food and smell things and save a bunch of money and stop poisoning myself I suppose. :)

By the way, I'd posted weeks ago about starting to run, and I was pretty self satisfied. I ran every other day for a week, and since then haven't gone more than 5 minutes at a time. Last night I saw our friend Wanda's walking log, and she 'walks' as fast as I run. Hilarious! I will claim that this is partially due to her longer stride and greater inseam. Whatever, it's a good excuse to quit screwing around and get back on track!

the cigarette that was calling my name earlier has been dealt with; it's back in the box with its brethren, waiting for the next opportunity. In the meantime, I shall take the next 15 minute non-smoke break to play some violent video games!

a little vacation

2010-07-12T21:05:00.002-04:00

the little netbook has been feeling under the weather lately, behaving badly and inexplicably. for months Byron has patiently watched me try to cajole the tinybook into cooperating, but with the warranty expiry date looming, I finally placed the much-dreaded call to Acer.

After repeating the tinybook's serial number and SNID over and over to a Stephen Hawking sound-alike named Roger, I was then passed on to a nice lady in India who had me repeat the same information over and over to her. She has kindly invited me to send the netbook on a vacation to the Acer repair centre, where they will apparently do their best to rehabilitate it and return it to me in a timely fashion.

This is a year of fresh starts, so I'm open to the idea of actually doing something productive with the hours per day that I would normally spend in front of my tinybook. I have fantasies of cleaning the house thoroughly and clearing out clutter, catching up on correspondence, or perhaps even just getting to bed at a reasonable hour more often. This means that my Huje Tower at Candystand won't get any Huje-r, and my Facebook Mafia Wars account may stagnate, but maybe it's time for that...it'll be interesting to see what the next couple of tinybookless weeks will bring; may we enjoy a much more satisfying relationship once we're reunited!

werewolf transformations

2010-06-19T22:35:00.004-04:00

A few years ago, during a werewolf/vampire movie watching phase, I wondered what a transformed werewolf felt during the process. Most people I asked thought it would hurt, but for some reason I always figured it would feel good, the way I think a butterfly emerging from its cocoon would feel good.

I've been happily noticing changes in myself since we've started going to the gym regularly. I feel stronger, long difficult days don't feel as long and difficult, and surprise myself by being willing to take on more and more challenges (I can now run 1.5 miles in 21 minutes, woo!)

Now, as we sit here watching From Hell I'm stretching and being vain and checking out my muscles. I'm realizing just how much my body is reshaping itself under my skin and remaining pudge, and I'm feeling a little werewolfish. I now think I have a better idea of how the transformation feels, just over a much longer time frame. It's been painful, a fair bit of reluctant, difficult work, but it feels glorious. :)

running--not just for crazy people anymore!

2010-06-08T22:07:00.003-04:00

or maybe I've gone crazy :) Byron and I have signed up to do the Warrior Dash in September, and it occurred to me that in our gym-going efforts it would be good for me to try running. The event is 3.23 miles long, with some rather challenging obstacles along the way. I think the obstacles look like fun, but the 3.23 miles -- eehh. I've never really run much, it just never really seemed very appealing.

I move slowly, and in fact I like moving slowly. I see way more interesting stuff if I'm moseying down the street...little cats hiding behind cars that will come to me if I make noises at them, bugs trundling along the sidewalk, birds singing in the trees. Unfortunately, if I mosey during the race I'll likely end up with a finish time of several hours; generally, during the course of several hours I need to use the toilet at least once, and spending several hours in soggy, muddy clothes and having to pee probably is *not* one of the keys to an optimally enjoyable Warrior Dash. So then..

After our workout we usually do 30 minutes of cardio. Lately Byron's been trying to teach me to play squash (lesson two this past Sunday: still trying to hit the ball) in lieu of the cross trainer. Tonight I decided to run til I couldn't anymore. With Patrick Swayze singing "she's like the wind" in my mind, I triumphantly managed 13 minutes on the treadmill. To be fair, it wasn't really running. I did intervals, one minute at 3 miles/hr, one minute at 4 miles/hr, so it was more like 'hurrying' interspersed with episodes of 'scooting'. I also managed about 30 seconds at 6 miles/hr at the end, which is really what made that the end. Hey, when you've got a 24 inch inseam, 6 miles is a lot of ground to cover in an hour :P

I'm hoping that with each attempt I can improve something; maybe speed up the hurrying intervals, or make the scooting intervals longer, or the overall time longer...the potential for improvement is vast!

Warrior dash

2010-05-29T23:56:00.004-04:00

warrior dash--an obstacle course run (and crawled through and slid down and climbed) in costume!

I think this sounds like a fun and challenging time, and there is discussion in the monkeyhouse of taking a long weekend in September to participate in the northeast dash. anyone else out there interested?

gymwardbound (the work out til you grunt program)

2010-02-04T20:03:00.003-05:00

I've had a membership at the YMCA for almost fourteen years. I love it, they make active living accessible to a huge number of people and kids. Unfortunately, I hardly ever go.

This winter, probably while we were in for an evening of quiet tube-watching, Byron suggested that since we've both been a little (or more) slack about going to our prospective gyms we should go to a gym together. We got him a month's trial membership at the Y, and have been making it a priority to actually get there on a semi regular basis.

I used to dread doing weights, mostly preferring to slack off and do cardio (and then saying to myself "at least I did some cardio...'') but in a few short weeks of doing set after set of weights, I'm already coming to admire the results. Y'see, Byron's introduced a whole work-til-you-grunt attitude to my gym experience, something I've seen but never really understood. I was more of a work-til-you-break-a-sweat type of girl.

Byron's method is more challenging, but has proven to be more rewarding as well. It's January, but my arms are looking as beefy as they do during the peak of kayaking season, and while preparing for a bath tonight I made the first conscious sighting of my latissimus dorsi!

I usually spend a day or two a week being sore, but I've also discovered the utter relaxation and rejuvination that epsom salt baths can offer.

Last night we made our first trip back to the Y as full members. We lifted weights and then tried out the bosu ball and Gravitron 2000 (I will master both, eventually. Right now I'd settle for mastering one). We worked hard, then ate sensibly and slept like babies. So simple! I like it.

Looking forward to the new gym challenges, and to being pleased to know that they won't kill me, they'll just hurt me a bit til I can master them :) I think I see the 1-minute plank looming on the horizon!

my trip to non-church

2009-12-18T13:09:00.003-05:00

I have an unexpected day off today, and was excited at the chance to get some errands done. This time of year is when my tendency to procrastinate really catches up to me.

I enjoy the idea of Christmas, but find it difficult to really get into the Christmas spirit. Mostly I dread going to the malls.

I've gotten a fair bit of stuff done, especially considering it's still a week til Christmas. Some surprisingly pleasant exchanges with shop staff have made the potentially arduous task of Christmas shopping a lot more enjoyable, but I'm still finding myself a bit weary of the ambient hustle-and-bustle.

After a triumphant morning of getting stuff done, I found myself outside the Eaton Centre, in the laneway near Holy Trinity Church. On a whim, I wandered in, and found the atmosphere so peaceful and inviting that after wandering around the main hall for a bit I ventured in, found an armchair, and sat quietly for an hour, finishing my latest knitting project.

I enjoyed the sun through the stained-glass windows, and the hardwood floor that creaked as the little church secretary scurried around on god's business. I contemplated the scattering of homeless folks seated in the pews, each with his free cup of coffee. I enjoyed the relative silence; I could hear the lunch-hour pedestrians outside the open church door, and one of the old gents in the church was a shaggy looking mutterer, but even he had the reverence to mutter quietly.

I wonder what people think when they're in church? I like churches. I like the potential that churches have in uniting communities, and the voice that a strong, united community can have in our culture. I like the quietness and the atmosphere, and the way you feel like you should speak in a hushed voice; I also like the knowledge that thousands and thousands of other people throughout the years have enjoyed the same space and architecture that I'm currently enjoying. I just don't agree with the things churches like to tell people. We build beautiful spaces like churches that are really for the community at whole, but because of what they preach on Sundays I've always found myself steering clear of them.

On my way out, the little old secretary told me to come for the services, but I'd rather not. I do, however, like going to non-church, where you come as you are, believe whatever you want without being wrong, and can be a good person just because it feels nice. I think I'll do it again soon.

night of the ladybugs

2009-10-20T21:39:00.003-04:00

It's been a lovely couple of days here. After some pretty chilly nights and a secret fear that winter was upon us, I've been glad to enjoa some sunny, mild autumn evenings. Yesterday I spent the dwindling daylight hours weeding and tonight I spent the evening composting. The warm weather has brought out the ladybugs, who always make me smile, even if they are invasive orange asian biting ladybugs.

Another thing to make me smile was being asked to talk to some funding reps while I was shovelling compost at Foodshare. I got a chance to enthuse at them about the work I was doing, and I think I made a good impression.

Also at Foodshare tonight, my compost mentor Mike mentioned tonight that a local school had asked him to recommend a reliable compost volunteer for their onsite composting program, and he gave them my name. The school is in my neighborhood, and apparently has a pretty good rooftop garden. I'm looking forward to more details.

stability ball funtime

2009-09-18T22:51:00.003-04:00

It feels like the end of summer, and it's been a busy one. As with every summer, there were plenty of good excuses to slack off from going to the gym, or indulge in some rich, tasty vittles. While I appreciate the good company I enjoyed during those fine indulgences, it's now time to start paying for them.

I went to a stability ball class this week at the Y, and to my utter delight we had our class in the beautiful open air studio on the newly-built YMCA green rooftop. The class is mellowly exhilirating; it's diffuclt work and I'm definitely achy from it, but in a good way.

I've dusted off and inflated my stability ball here at home, and have been challenging myself with it. A small tumble involving a 4-point balance and talking on the phone has not deterred me...let's see if I can keep this up long enough to be good at it ;0

Elliot Lake heebie-jeebies

2009-08-13T23:42:00.002-04:00

It's 11:45, the night after the last day of clinics. Tomorrow we drive back to Sudbury, a scenic 2 hour trip through some beautiful countryside; we're hoping to get an early start and get to Sudbury in time to visit Dynamic Earth, an attraction that allows visitors to tour the nickel mine and visit the world-famous Big Nickel (and the Big Nickel jail, mentioned earlier in these pages). I'm looking forward to it, it'll be a fun way to end an overall fun trip.

That, however, is tomorrow; between now and then, I have many hours ahead of me here in Elliot Lake, which, in spite of the wonderfully relaxed and amicable inhabitants, gives me a shuddering case of the willies. It's a quiet place, populated by approximately 12,ooo souls. During its heyday, it was home to about 30 thousand, largely supported by uranium mines in the area. After the mining operations shut down, the town dwindled, and has more recently become known as a retirement community.

It's the time of year when I walk around with my eyes cast upward, watching for the Scott's birthday meteor shower (also known as the Perseids meteor shower). The peak was last night, but apparently our home-away-from home in Sudbury is not in the best part of town, and I was advised not to go out wandering after dark. No worries, I thought, Elliot Lake will be nice and quiet and dark, and an even better place to watch the night sky.

Tonight after our clinic ended and the bunch of us (declared the alpha-and-omega clinic team by the other Sandra and I) had feasted at the Fireside Grill, I wandered out of doors to see what I could see. What I saw, as I ambled away from the ancient hotel (which itself reminds me a lot of the movie The Shining, to my great discomfort) was a perfectly intact little town, with not a single indication of life. Store signs and lights were on, although the stores themselves have been locked up since 6:00. The streets were completely empty of people and cars. A piece of plastic caution tape rustled at the end of the block. The monstrous hotel's decrepit air conditioning system belched startlingly and ominously behind me as I made my way through the parking lot. It felt like a scene from a Twillight Zone episode, the one about the guy who found himself to be the only living creature in town. I began to worry about zombies and bears, and whether I would be able to sleep with the AC in my room making those creepy organic burbling sounds. By the time I'd made it about 500 feet from the mall door (for the hotel entrance is within a little tiny mall which has been shuffled through by innumerable people whose lives are almost completely lived) I was completely unnerved. I acknowledged that there are indeed far more stars visible than either from home or from the Sudbury hotel parking lot, and then hustled back up to my room, locking the door behind me.

It may have been the pasta dinner (isn't cheese said to cause bad dreams and unease?), but I'll be glad to see the sights of Elliot Lake by daylight in the rearview mirror as we're burning out of town in the morning.

the refrigerator curse and playing dairy roulette

2009-08-11T20:15:00.004-04:00

I'm in Sudbury working at a 2 day clinic put on by my department. This means that a team of us has been sent up here to provide in-person passport services to the good folk of the north, who would otherwise have to either send in their applications by mail or make the lengthy trek into one of our offices. We've just wrapped up day 1, and busy as it was, it was also pretty fun. The folks here are pretty relaxed and happy to see us, and us, we're happy to be here.

A few of us went out yesterday to Science North, and had a surprisingly good time. I'd thought it would be like a watered down version of the Ontario Science Centre, but it was it's own thing altogether, lots of hands-on stuff, live animals, even a butterfly garden. While messing around with a display of telephones, my boss called me (from a couple of phones away) and asked if my refrigerator was running. We all hee-hee'd about it, and then continued on our way.

After Science North we hit the grocery store and stocked up, I got cottage cheese, yogurt, fruit and a chicken salad, came back here and tossed them in the fridge. It wasn't until today, about 10 minutes before I was to start work, that I realized the fridge was not cold...it wasn't even working! The food was still cool, so I got some ice and put everything back in and ran off to work. During my dinner break, while noshing on my tepid salad covered with cottage cheese, I began to question the sanity of my meal choice, and abandoned the feeding halfway through. I'm now waiting to see if last week's recovery from food poisoning has left me with any special immunity to the refrigerator's revenge. (o please o please)

exorcising demons and journeying north

2009-08-05T21:05:00.002-04:00

I am recently (as in today) recovered from a troublesome spot of food poisoning, and am feeling pretty good. I'm attempting to catch up on stuff--bills, dishes, general tidying, maintenance on my worm composter, etc, and figured I'd add 'posting on the blog' to the list.

The episode of the malevolent food took me quite by surprise. We had gone to a bbq at a friend's place, and enjoyed some very fun company and some very delicious food. All kinds of food. And too much of all kinds of food. I also got to introduce a little kid to some ladybugs, much to his mom's dismay. At some point several hours later, I woke to some highly distressing stomach cramps, followed by vomiting and associated problems. This lasted for hours, followed by a day or two of more cramping and general unsettled-ness. Not sure what the culprit was, but it was it was something that I found pretty appealing at the time.

Tonight, after a bout of therapeutic composting (my cure-all for just about everything) I feel way better. I'm introducing about 50 new compost worms to my indoor composter, courtesy of my kind compost-and-worm mentor Mike. I'd kinda forgotten about my indoor composter for a bit. Not a huge deal, they can survive for a good while, but they weren't really thriving. Time to start 'er up again and have a go at worm-bin 2.0!

I've only just thought of it, but this is one of countless indulgences I'm allowed. As far as I recollect, one day Byron came home and was told 'hey honey, I built a worm bin!' and all of a sudden there were 200 worms living under our kitchen sink. His audio buddies should take pointers and learn that if they would allow their spouses to be a little nuts in their own ways, they'd have a far less difficult time justifying their audiophile craziness. :)

I'm still loving my tinybook; it goes with me almost every day to work and on my varied adventures. It's good for emailing and surfing and working, but I'm a little dismayed to find that it and facebook don't get along very well. I'm finding the touch-screen (instead of a mouse) pretty easy to use, and I'm coming to appreciate the subtler keyboard. And, of course, I really love the portability of it :)

I'm looking forward to using tinybook on my trip north next week. I'm getting to go away to work! I'm so psyched! What's hilarious is that it's a trip to Sudbury and Elliot Lake with my boss. Doesn't matter really. I'm getting compensated pretty well to get on a plane and leave my regular job for a week to perform the aspect of my job that I think I'm really good at (ie. dealing with old people and non-big city people), and..and...Sudbury! I was there as a child, I have photos of me in the Big Nickel Jail! (as a tourist, not an inmate). Science North is there (I'm picturing a sort of less-glamourous Ontario Science Centre, but I could be way off), and I hear it's Canadian Shield -wild blueberries-and-fishing type of country--if I can find a quiet place to breathe deeply and see what's around, I'lll be happy.

We are plagued by fruitflies, absolutely overrun with them. It is a bit exasperating. We, we who live-trap mice and release them in parks, who catch spiders and put them outside, who chase errant bumblebees in the house with pieces of paper to escort them out of doors, we are bent on destroying these fruitflies with yellow sticky paper. I know we will emerge victorious.

new addition to our household

2009-07-24T18:28:00.005-04:00

It's been an eventful couple of days around here. For the past little while I've been mulling over the idea of having my own computer, something I can dink around on without monopolizing our main computer, a pc that's hooked up to our gigantic screen television. It's really nice to have a 42-inch monitor, but not always necessary or convenient.

I recently started talking to Byron about my this yearning of mine, and last night we went out and bought me the cutest little netbook--a wee tiny 10.1" Acer something-or-other. I think I got a fair deal on it, and I'm sure it's capable of doing far more than I would even think of asking of it. I've been using it for oh, 40 minutes now, and love it!

Byron has pointed out, it's unusual for me to splurge on toys or gadgets--this is being billed as a birthday gift to myself. :)

My birthday was last weekend, and Byron knocked my socks off by having a load of my friends and coworkers come over for a surprise party. Byron took me out shopping for my birthday gifts (a new pillow and some plants and related garden gear) and when I came home all jazzed about staking my tomatoes, I was stunned to find some of my favorite people hanging out in the backyard. I think I was stunned for a long time, I just couldn't grasp why all these folks would be hanging out on my deck without even having called first.

It was a lovely, lovely time. I lay awake for hours after smiling at the thought of all of these folks taking time to help me celebrate my birthday. Byron and his pals handled the food, my dad brought a cake, and everyone made me feel special. There aren't any photos from the birthday party, you'll just have to take my word for it that it was probably the best birthday I've ever had.

10,000 snowmen, falling down, and the spring garden

2009-05-13T20:08:00.015-04:00

"I have found your army of snowmen," wrote Scott, "and it is here." It may or may not be 10,000 snowmen, but I think the 24 or so that I made over the past couple of years brings it pretty close. Thus ends the quest for the snowman army, which, according to ancient legends, would signify an era of peace and joy and personal responsibility. Huzzah! Long live the snowmen!

In other news, I fell down yesterday while walking in a parking lot. Trippd over a wood plank on the ground and down I went. Skinned both knees, got a nasty bruise and have been gingerly tottering like a penguin all day.

Tonight I doddered down to the garden to have a look and within minutes found myself first leaning, then stretching, then crouching among the plants, weeding and inspecting. These days, the garden has blooming violets, trilliums and poppies, and lots of so-far-unknowns.

I'm indoors again, feeling a little sore and scabby, and am marvelling at the curative effects of outdoor therapy (also known as mucking about in the garden).

rainy day garden research

2009-04-03T22:52:00.004-04:00

It's been a dreary, blustery day here on my day off. Considering the daylong torrential rain, I spent a surprising amount of time outdoors, wandering out at various times to poke at the composter, examine my newly emerged crocuses and prepare my lasagna garden bed. I also got a bit of cleaning done, and managed to do some reading about companion planting.

It seems that some plants have useful properties that can be put to work in the garden. Some repel pests, provide shade or support to neighbours or help enhance flavour of veggies. Basil and chives help flavour tomatoes and peppers, strawberries benefit from being planted with thyme and spinach, garlic and marigolds help to keep bad bugs at bay, and tarragon apparently encourages growth and flavour of most veggies. Who knew? The internet knew!

I'm planning on making the garden a lot more productive this year, not necessarily in terms of actual food harvest, but in terms of managing our green space wisely. We live close enough to the Don Valley that it's possible the TBC bees may forage in my own backyard, and that's inspired me to try to make our yard more natural and self-sustaining.

Armed with about 50 packets of seeds and about 100L of compost, I'm all atwitter to start season 3 of the garden, and it starts tomorrow, once the rain is done. Pictures to follow eventually...

BEES!

2009-02-02T18:13:00.002-05:00

Just when the mid-winter bleariness seemed to have set in, I got a delightful email telling me to go here: www.torontobees.ca. It's just a shell, at the moment, but it's the future home of the toronto beekeeper's co-operative website. If you're a bee nerd, this is terribly exciting. Over the past year or two bees have really come into the spotlight and last summer our co-op had a huge membership and was involved in getting hives on the top of the Royal York hotel in Toronto (the Royal York's honey won second place in their class at the Royal Winter Fair!)

This year, with increased funding and the support and permits and approval for some huge new projects, we're looking at a lot of work and a lot of fun. Keep an eye on the website if you're interested in seeing what we're up to, what the bees are up to, or what you can get up to to help our little stripey friends.

the bundle buggy lady

2009-01-17T16:00:00.004-05:00

We had ventured out this morning, on a brunch-Sayal Electronics-Lee Valley tools expedition. It was bright out, but too full of that mid-January-no-fun snow, and we saw more snow starting as we got home.

While enjoying the wintry neighborhood view from the porch, I glimpsed the bundle buggy lady trudging into the wind in the corner of the landscape. Dressed in a beet red coat, she was slowly pushing a buggy of groceries and carrying a cane up the snowy sidewalk. She made slow but sure and steady progress, sometimes taking a moment or two to navigate a challenging patch of sludge or ice. I was happy for her when she discovered that pulling is easier than pushing, and I felt guilty about our own sidewalk. When we got home from our vacation we found it had snowed in our absence, and then apparently rained. We'd cleared as much as we could but...

By the time I had gotten dressed to go out she was nowhere in sight. Too bad. I love winter, and I'm certain the experience would have been worth the effort.

home from vacation

2009-01-11T16:15:00.004-05:00

We returned from Puerto Vallarta recently, where we spent a relaxed week in the sun. We were in the old part of the city which had lovely cobblestone roads. It also has very hilly streets, which makes navigating the very tall sidewalks a an exciting challenge in some parts of town.

We spent some good time with Declan and Yujung, who came from Korea for a month to visit Declan's family. Yujung and her capable helper Declan cooked dinner for a bunch of us, and it was a nice start to our trip. We also ate at an all-you-can-eat Brazilian Steakhouse, which everyone should do at least once in their life. I asked Byron to go on a banana boat ride with me, to which he good naturedly agreed. It was an exhilirating ride but left us sore and battered, and required a day's worth of therapeutic naps and Mexican television to recover from.

We ate some local junk food and tried to find a lucha libre match to watch. We declined invitations to see bull fighting, a fiesta and time share meetings. Some whales surfaced just off the beach one afternoon while we were enjoying drinks along the Malecon one day, and a few nights we stopped by the stage in the square to watch local entertainment. A mime, a clown, some jugglers. This place drew lots of people, and I enjoyed the atmosphere.

I've recently been ok'd to resume my regular composting and gym activities, which is exciting news. I've missed the tranquility of the compost yard, and think I'm ready for another run at becoming healthier. I'm crafting myself some composting gear and we seem to have found a solution to our tiny fly problems, all in all, 2009 has been pretty good!

Christmas at our house

2008-12-19T21:10:00.009-05:00

It's finally feeling Christmassy for me these days. We had a terrific snowstorm today, the Christmas shopping and crafting is finally all but done, Mario Lanza is singing his own special brand of fire'n brimstone style Christmas songs, and Byron and I recently put up our Christmas 'tree'.

As a kid, I'd always gone out with my family to pick a live tree and cut it down and then hang out drinking hot chocolate and not being able to feel our toes. The tradition continued into adulthood. My sister and her family and I and my dad would go out tree hunting, and after I met Byron he too joined the brotherhood of tree hunters. It officially stopped being fun when we realized a few years ago that not a single member of my sister's family could take a snowball well. The highlight of this discovery was my brother in law Ray being a wet blanket about getting one in the back. Anyway, we opted out of this arbicide last year, and decorated our cd rack instead. This year we did the same, and it makes me giggle with glee every time I look at it.

I've gotten an early Christmas present, I must've been good this year :) Byron installed a light in our bathroom so that we can try to be better houseplant parents. The plants are definitely responding well, although we seem to have also established a thriving fruitfly community :(

I've been thinking about how people are approaching Christmas this year, and I'm pleased that so many people believe Christmas doesn't need to equal spending lots of cash or giving stuff for the sake of having given stuff. This Christmas cheer stuff, however is great--random acts of kindness, time spent, company enjoyed, experiencing the wonders of the season. I'd rather have this all the time and have that be enough than get a bunch of stuff just because it's Christmas.

My plant light is 'stuff', I suppose, but more than that, it's going to allow me to keep gardening thoroughout the winter, and start my garden earlier in the spring, two things that I'm really looking forward to. Thanks, Santa!

ahh, snow!

2008-12-19T20:08:00.002-05:00

Snow is good for the soul.

I've just come in from shovelling, which I really enjoy. It's a good opportunity to be outside and feel productive and breathe deeply. I admire the was one teensy weensy little fragile snowflake can, in cooperation of millions of its brethren, can bring a bustling city to a standstill. The persistence of mother nature reminds us that for all our big heavy brains and clever technology, we're still at her mercy. I also spend this time pondering weighty issues :) The snow quality tonight has deteriorated a bit, it's mostly fluffy and too dry for snowmen, but easy to shovel.

We've gotten a load of Weather today--dry flakes of snow, big clumpy 3D snow, wet snow, powdery snow and wind. The snow started when I got to work at 8, and I was all atwitter with glee as I watched the blizzardy winds swirl snow from the rooftops. Finally around 9:30 I couldn't hold back any longer, and took off to do a snow assesment in the back alley, where I made two small snowpeople. It was snowman snow! Perfectly crunchy, sticky, dense, packable snowman snow! I left my two snowy sentinels to guard the door to the stairwell and went about my day. By the time I departed for home, they were up to their little necks in about 5 inches of snow. (these are snowmen 6 and 7 of 10000)

Looking forward to # 8 and beyond, we're expected to get 50 cm by Sunday night!

adventures in home ownership

2008-12-04T17:58:00.002-05:00

it's that time of year again, the time when it always seems like the middle of the night. you get up and go to work in the dark, you come home in the dark, you go to bed and wake up in the dark to use the washroom and go back to bed and wake up later on when it's still dark to go to work again. the 'flu is making the rounds, and so is glumness and tiredness. this is nothing at all what Richard III had in mind when he got all long winded about "the winter of our discontent", but it sounds about right...

don't get me wrong, i love winter. love it. i love coming in from the cold and i appreciate the exertion of shovelling while wet snow turns my hair into a frozen nest. i love the excuse to have hot chocolate or warm honeyed milk, and i love the way a snowfall, consisting of millions and millions of teensy weensy fluffy beautiful flakes can slowly bring a whole bustling city to a muffled standstill. every season has its drawbacks though, and for me, winter is a time of feeling old and tired. i've been suffering a recurrence of the elbow/arm/wrist problems i had earlier in the year, caused by and accompanied by all sorts of barely tolerable work nonsense. what a body needs, in this sort of situation, is something fun and new, a good, satisfying learning experience or two!

byron and i embarked on some home maintenance work over the weekend; i think it was pretty routine, as far as work goes, but it felt like a real adventure. i was all atwitter with excitement as we took measurements and drove to home despot, where i happily spent less money than i feared we would have to. we have finally conquered the crawlspace under the house! the crawlspace which, in my mind, was inhabited by rabid hobo squirrels and colonies of malignant centipedes, actually turned out to be a just little space with a dirt floor, inexplicably strewn with clay pots and bricks. i discovered to my delight that i'm just the right size to sit on the entrance step and get in and out easily. we soon replaced insulation in the floor of our kitchen with a lot less effort than i would have expected. dunno how byron feels about it, but i thought it was great fun. we'll see if the eavestrough cleaning holds as much potential for amusement!

$#@%^&@!

2008-11-26T21:47:00.002-05:00

our fair city has brought in a new waste management system, which sees homeowners paying variable taxes based on the amount of trash that they put out--i think i may have reported on this a while back. i wholeheartedly support this, and wish the new program every success. it makes lots of sense to me...if you can recycle, compost and otherwise reduce your household waste, then you shouldn't have to pay the same taxes as someone who can't bring themselves to sort their recyclables.

we have been quite smugly putting out a couple of small plastic grocery bags of trash in our tiny garbage bin every couple of weeks...we once went a month without having our garbage bin emptied because we didn't consider it full enough to justify having the garbage truck idling in front of our house during collection.

i suppose instead of being self-satisfied and complacent we should have been chaining our garbage bin to our porch and writing our address on it in big sharpie pen, and realized that we are surrounded by people who create so much garbage that they have to GO AND STEAL SOMEONE ELSE'S GARBAGE BIN in order to have properly presented garbage for the city to collect. jesus. we are now going to have to pay our fair city $50 for a new garbage bin. garbage put out in anything but an approved, registered bin does not get collected.

this is a test of my endorsement of the whole program, and of my beloved mayor miller. i don't actually know much about the man, and i do know many people who say things like 'feh, that miller, he's a bum'. i can't even recall if i voted for him, but i do like him and the things he is trying to do to make our city better. the garbage plan is an excellent one, but suffers from the growing pains associated with any kind of transition. i bet when this idea was being passed around nobody thought of a way to deal with mass bin thefts. i don't even really mind the $50 fee for the bin--apparently tons of these are being stolen all over the city, and well, someone has to pay for the production and delivery of them, right? i do sincerely hope someone at city hall figures out how to not punish people for losing their bins to theft. it was my hope that if they knew we were simply replacing a stolen tiny bin instead of upsizing to a bigger one that they would offer us a free replacement, but not dice. i can't say i blame them, really.

nonetheless, i am still pretty ticked off at this, and wish the person who stole our bin (but so thoughtfully removed the bag of garbage that was in it and left it under our porch, along with a few empty beer boxes) a bad case of bedbugs and a guilty conscience. (i also wish this on my neighbour john, and my boss at the dog food factory, for reasons that i may go into some other time). may all of them sleep badly tonight! grr.

the year of ten thousand snowmen

2008-11-23T19:51:00.007-05:00

recently, while listening to christmas music at home one night (yes, this has already started in at the monkey house) i came to the conclusion that frosty the snowman really had the right idea; even though in the animated tv show he comes across as a bit of a witless buffoon, he has a good attitude. he knows his days are numbered (as are ours, every one of us) but he's determined to live out his days as happily as he can, rather than waste time being miserable about his inevitable melting. it seems very self-actualized and enlightened.

i remember in my youth flipping through national geographic and seeing photographs of Qin's terra cotta army and being blown away by the sheer number of them. in my more recent years, as a budding peacenik and treehugger, i've decided that i should embark on the zen-like practice of building my own army, but instead of an army of soldiers to carry out soldierly duties (ie killing, looting, and otherwise oppressing), it should be an army of ten thousand snowmen to bring peace and the sheer therapeutic joy of snowplay to the world.

i admit, ten thousand is a bit ambitious, but hey, if you're going to dream, you should dream big! last year i managed nineteen snowmen ranging from actual snow snowmen to this beautiful sculpted foam ninja snowman who is currently at large somewhere in my office.

i invite any and all snowman makers to help me in my quest. if anyone is interested in sharing pictures of their snowmen , I will be more than happy to set up a picassa web album of our growing population.

so far, this year's tally is four snowmen (not bad, considering we've only had one real snowfall). here's a couple of them, snowmeo and juliet, the famous starcrossed lovers. (juliet is leaning down from her balcony and gazing at the imploring figure of her man--the thing that looks like a ghost with a happy face in the background is the work of mother nature and had nothing to do with me.)

best wishes of the season, and happy snowplaying!

ah, procrastination!

2008-11-13T16:19:00.010-05:00

in a rather lame and transparent attempt to put off cleaning the bathroom, i've decided to try to get some more pictures posted here. these are from my summer/fall adventures.

this is a bee stinger, with the guts attached. we've all heard that when a bee stings someone it disembowels itself, yes? this is true. they sometimes trail their innards around as they continue to fly around after they've stung. i got stung twice, once in the ear (it was un-fun). poor little bees.

we planted some wilted, sprouting ginger in our garden, then forgot about it. look at what eventually got dug up! it was tasty. this also works if you throw your sprouting ginger ends in a flower pot.

fall was painting season. we painted and painted and painted. we got sick enough of that vile puce non-colour that was on the walls, and put lots of color in our home. it actually feels like people live here now! the pumpkin orange bathroom and the green pepper living room do so much more to soothe the soul than dusty rose and beige-ish.

ok, i've successfully evaded the bathroom cleaning for 8 hours now...time to go!

miscellanea

2008-11-11T11:55:00.002-05:00

it's a day off today, remembrance day is a federal holiday. i observed a moment of silence at 11:00, but only because it was a continuation of the 5 hours of silence that i'm still observing now. i've spent some time happily (and quietly!) futzing around the house--moving stuff from the porch, feeding the birds, reading honey recipes--it's a nice day off, as days off are so often wont to be.

i've gotten out of the blogging thing, same goes for facebok. dunno why. i've been keeping busy, probably alot busier than in previous years. baking, composting, jam and jelly making, honey bottling, painting and fiddling in the garden have kept me pretty occupied (although i admit to spending many many hours playing video games ;) )

anyway, time to run...more to come (eventually...)

lament for two wasps (or enlightenment through profound intoxication)

2008-08-31T14:40:00.006-04:00

5:00 a.m: two hours after returning from the wedding reception, and i'm wide awake, heart pounding, mind racing, still smelling of campfire and trembling from the cold while the lump in the futon gently erodes my spine with every toss and turn.

my poor addled brain, floundering in its own murky depths in search of sleep, instead inexplicably presents me with a weeks-old memory of wasps, and the tears begin to trickle.

*****

it's a hot sunny mid-august day in the beeyard, perfect for doing our customary maintenance and hive inspections. our bee hives are relatively healthy and robust, but we're always on the watch for signs of intruders who try to rob the hives. at the third hive we see them. wasps. again.
in a strong hive, the workers can defend their home quite capably against the odd wasp or wax moth, or even mice, by stinging or by cooking the intruder with the combined body temperature of many bees clustered around it, but take a bit of work and our bees have already encountered so many challenges this year...

"fuck off," i whisper to the wasps, quite conversationally. "crunch!" they say, and "craaackle" as they meet the business end of my hive tool. i frown at the blobby brown mess of legs and exoskeleton, and wander off to sit in the long grass, with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction that mounts slowly for weeks before being resolved.

*****

it was a lovely wedding, if you ask me. sort of a cirque de soleil of weddings, with something for everyone. vows exchanged under the shade tree in the backyard, a bouncy castle for the kiddies, hold'em poker for the grandparents and assorted elderlies, a popcorn vending cart, many cows worth of bbq'd steaks, a fire pit, lots of good company and some good old Regina style hospitality.

while poker players were whooping it up in the garage and the old friends gathered 'round the fire to reminisce, i found myself talking to a number of fascinating and brilliant people. the man who i'd found shouting at byron about different types of peppers calmly shared with me his philosophy for living a good life, the photographer let me look at his photos and ask questions about what he sees and learns about people when he photographs them, Don with the "I got dumped on Jerry Springer" shirt waxed sentimental about family and friends, and Jeff lent an air of sanity to my latest bout of save-the-world-before-the-apocalypse musings.

all the excitement and new people and mind-expansion and fresh prairie air must've jogged some gears into motion; by the time i finally fell asleep in an embarassing position with the bedroom door wide open to the high-traffic hallway, i'd realized why the killing of the wasps had upset me so much.

*****

i try to be a friend to nature. weeding is done by hand, rainwater is collected and used in the garden. vegetable waste is composted with great enthusiasm and helps our soil grow healthy plants. we have mice in the house? we live trap 'em and drive them to the park for relocation. spiders, centipedes, moths, pillbugs and other crawlies get removed to the back yard, and even slugs find a new home in the generation ship known as the neighbour's backyard. as i like to point out, we're all just trying to live, right? the slugs and i have different ideas about what the garden needs--they think it needs slugs to lick great gaping holes in the foliage, i disagree. on a small scale like this it's nothing to kill anybody over.

the thing that's bothered me about the wasps is that i killed them out of malice. if they were a big problem in our hives we'd be taking serious steps to handle them, but the fact is they're only a nuisance at this point. i've let my sympathy for the bees sway me from my "everybody's just trying to live" belief, leading me to feel justified in tampering with an environment that's already got a built-in control mechanism, and it doesn't feel good or right. may i never again need the visceral squelch as a critter's life is extinguished to remind me of how bad malice feels.

the gals get ready to kick some wasp ass

It's been a busy summer...

2008-08-23T22:57:00.002-04:00

and i haven't felt much like blogging. sorry. i've spent many many hours in the garden and with the bees and other critters, have a look: http://picasaweb.google.com/MyLittlePatchOfThePlanet/BugsRBeautiful

gigo

2008-07-23T22:03:00.004-04:00

i've just returned from an evening at foodshare, where i'm a volunteer. i normally put in some quiet,pensive and labour-intensive time in the compost yard, but tonight the garden crew were harvesting and cleaning up the vegetable garden and holding a potluck, so i brought some rhubarb sqauares and lent a hand. i got to eat some pretty good food and meet some pretty interesting people.

afterwards, i had to hurry on over to my pickup point for my good food box, which i get from foodshare for my volunteer efforts. i love this in theory. it's a symbiotic relationship between the organization, the volunteer and the local produce growers. in practice, though, this usually ends up being more beneficial to my compost bin (and, ultimately, my garden) than it is for me, as i end up not eating much of my bounty. why? i don't have any particular answer.

there's a lot of good stuff in the box, and i should be eating it instead of buying lunch at work. my self-imposed challenge, then, is to feed myself at every meal from my good food box. we've got cantaloupe, carrots, tomatoes, bananas, cukes, zukes, cherries, onions, apples, lettuce, broccoli and celery. let's see what i end up having to compost out of all of this (my money's on the celery).

a good argument is hard to find

2008-07-15T22:00:00.004-04:00

no, seriously, it is. i've had some experience in recent weeks in disagreeing with various people, sometimes over misunderstandings or misinterpretations or just plain differences of opinion, and i've come to a new understanding of what makes a good argument.

we've all had experience with people for whom an argument isn't really an argument, it's just a plain all-out fight. it seems, in retrospect, that fights are often not about the comment or action or idea that kicks off the whole thing, they're more about venting or finally saying mean things that we dare not say in our saner moments.

a couple of weeks ago i had a disagreement with a coworker over some nebulous office policy, and it was just that, a disagreement. a difference of opinion. we each have our own idea and understanding of the issue, and we've come to our own conclusions about what is 'right'. we aired our views, and others came to offer their opinions, and we all did a bit of talking and listening and understanding the other point(s) of view.

also a couple of weeks ago, i had a disagreement with a coworker that left me in tears after a barrage of unexpected angry words were directed my way. i realized at that point that a good argument isn't one that features zingers that will make the recipient wince, displays of anger that will wipe that smirk off someone's face or harsh words that will forever haunt; i guess those are 'fights' (or, sometimes, just vaguely sickening, tummultuous glimpses into the deepest, blackest, most tormented recesses of a soul)

i'm pretty dazzled by this new concept of a good argument, but it seems to methat a good argument doesn't even need to result in someone giving in or a compromise being reached. a good, successful argument could very well just be one which leaves the parties involved feeling that they've reached some sort of better understanding and offers the knowledge that future opportunities exist for calm, rational discussion, should other issues arise.

i'm still fairly certain that the person i shared this enlightening conversation with is not my cup of tea in many ways, but i have a newfound respect for his style of communicating, and this leaves me feeling quite hopeful, and makes his coworker-ship that much more enjoyable.

activity update

2008-07-14T11:56:00.004-04:00

this is further to my post about the get-in-shape challenge i'm participating in, and is more for my own reference than anything else. feel free to skip this.

we went on a 10 mile bike ride this weekend, which felt great! the toronto outdoor art show was on so down we headed to have a look, stopping for lunch and checking out the 'hood on the way.
it turned into a full afternoon of fresh air and seeing some pretty amazing art. laura vegys' vibrant, beautiful, delightfully twisted water colours were especially memorable. we went on another shorter ride, which offered a nice ride through a part of the city we don't normally see, and we've been biking a lot to our suprisingly beautiful neighborhood library, which is another fun little spin-round through the 'hood.

many thanks to byron for his continued support of my efforts to get out and be active, and for being my inspiration when i'm not making any efforts at all! whether it's spending an evening at the compost yard or an afternoon with the bees, a night out with a girlfriend, getting out on the lake, suggesting a bike ride or tolerating my constant futzing around in the garden, byron encourages me to take whatever time it takes to do the healthy things that i love, and i count my lucky stars for this influence in my life!

pudgy is as pudgy does

2008-07-09T23:54:00.004-04:00

i've recently issued a challenge to my good friend scott during his latest round with our common foe, the getting-in-shape bogeyman. We've known each other for fifteen years or so, and during that time we've both found it difficult to achieve healthy lifestyles.

scott is a smart guy who knows lots of words, and he has devoted many (I mean, really, a LOT) of them to describing and dissecting his pudge on his blog. i've had a history of trying a number of different and potentially fun and exciting activities which usually don't continue very long, due to poor time management, accessibility issues or outright lack of interest. (ie. aquafit, bellydancing, biking, kayaking, pilates, yoga, boxfit and the bars and plates class, which i'm a little afraid of.)

i'll be seeing scott and amanda soon, in just over five weeks. i've told him that i want each of us to have something to brag about when we see each other. he's offered 5 lbs and 10 commutes to work by then, and i've said that intend to be 'active' 3 times or more per week until then ('active' being biking to work, kayaking, a couple hours composting etc., or even...a dreaded trip to the gym)

so anyhow, here's what i've been up to over the past little while:

went kayaking with ingrid to the toronto islands on fridayfor 3 1/2 hours. good for upper body and core muscles, and we also saw baby night herons, baby ducks, a beaver, orioles and some cardinals.
went to aquafit on monday. had a lady in the class who kept rolling her eyes and saying things like 'boooring!'. had a good workout anyway, good physiotherapy for my elbow.
composted on sunday for 3 1/2 hours and today for 1 1/2 hours. good for arms and back, plus it makes me super happy and i get to look at bugs.

this isn't as obvious a workout as, say, going to the gym and lifting weights 3 times a week, but it gets me out and feels good.

we'll see what the coming weeks bring!

planning for the apocalyse

2008-06-27T21:06:00.004-04:00

we got out to a baseball game recently with our friend alex. i enjoy baseball games for the experience rather than the game itself.

sitting in the sun with the dome open,cito gaston back in charge and birds squawking above us, we got to talking about what interesting times we live in, and what we should do if the world gets suddenly, drastically, alarmingly terrible (due to, say, exreme weather, crop shortages, fuel shortages, soil erosion, world war, genetically engineered superviruses, or 'the vortex of extinction' that laurence the bee expert believes honeybees are teetering on the edge of) ad we find our world in some way going *boom*.

alex likes the idea of a safe place to escape to, where we could grow our own food and sustain ourelves until the pillaging and riots and general tummult subside. i like this idea. Of course, if the disaster is something like sulfur gas exploding out of the earth and poisoning everything that breathes, then there's not really any safe place.

alex also figures we should have dirt bikes to get to the farm--cars are too cumbersome and would likely get tied up in the panic-saturated gridlock so often featured in end-of-the-world movies. i pointed out that the vespa company would pay our carbon offsets for three years if we bought vespas. it wouldn't matter , but it's a nice though.

livestock would be good, provided there's not rampant foot and mouth epidemics. i think goats are ideal for post apocalyptic farming. very versatile, goats. they eat all kinds of things, they give milk, theyre not large enough to turn on someone and kill them, and they would probably manage stairs a lot better than cows (some living-beyond-the-big-boom scenarios feature a subterrean shelter).

i suppose this might all seem a little creepy and morbid, but it's a game we play based on what 3 of us know is going on in the world. predictions for ice cap melting and declining fish populations and areas of land lost to soil erosion are all coming true, but way faster than we believed they would.

what will you do?

(if you have skills that would be useful in a survival situation (or goats) to offer, please talk to one of us)

why couldn't we have a sloth invasion instead?

2008-06-12T12:35:00.006-04:00

which of the following is true? Squirrels are:

a) very cute

b) clever in their own way, in spite of
having a brain the size of a large peanut

c) a highly evolved and wily species,
secretly in league with forces of evil to
bring about the downfall of mankind

d) less adorable and more bothersome than
sloths.

right, it's a trick question, they're all true! this spring we've been plagued with squirrels. they are very cute from far away, like when you're walking in the woods and you watch their tree-top frolicking from the forest floor and feel a deep sense of inner peace and gentle amusement.

it is somewhat ominous, though, when you look out the bathroom window each morning and see squirrels congregating in the beds of new plants and seedlings, and it's downright aggravating to find that each almost-blossom of a new plant has been carefully removed from the stem and torn into teeny tiny shreds by teeny tiny paws and then scattered about the garden.

now, i like to think that i'm sympathetic to most creatures. squirrels, sloths, gigantic ants, telemarketers, komodo dragons, hey, we're all just trying to live, right? but, just like the less wily-clever-and-cute telemarketer, squirrels have to be taught what our boundaries are, so that we can all live together in peace and so that the pellet-gun discussion never has to be resumed.

so, i've decided to chronicle our efforts in getting the squirrels to see our side of things and just behave reasonably. here's what's happened so far:

wire mesh, also known as hardware cloth: this has been wrapped around a couple of potted plants and kept them safe, but the wire is more functional than pretty.

cayenne pepper: apparently squirrels don't like it. fun to apply (a tiny bit on a spoon and a huff of breath to distribute it) but i think you have to keep applying it, and you'll probably end up sneezing a lot during the application process.

blood meal: tiny granules that apparently stink of death. this is the last thing we've tried. i haven't seen many squirrels today, and those i have seen were just passing through. i can't tell if the stuff is working or if we just don't have that many yummy-smelling tender shoots left.

bee action!

2008-06-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

did i mention i've gone and become a beekeeper? i joined the bee co-op and have enthusiastically been learning by doing. i spent a great saturday at the brickworks manning a booth and talking to people and pestering the more senior co-op members with questions. this is the observation hive that was on display.

larvae-beasts

2008-06-05T21:48:00.000-04:00

the glistening white beasties in the holes are bee larvae; the other bees are hustling and bustling, feeding the larvae and building a little bridge out of themselves, so that comb-repair work could be done in those hard-to-reach places.

ant fight! ant fight!

2008-06-02T16:05:00.000-04:00

welcome to my world! no, sadly, i'm not a gigantic cannibalistic ant; rather, i'm a diminutive omnivorous human, with a lingering fascination for nature.

i like bugs--i always think they seem very organized.

these are two of a small population of highlander-style superants that i've discovered in my back garden. i'm not sure if they were fighting or if one died and is getting disposed of or just what exactly. i see them around, but i haven't yet figured out what they're doing or where they're going. they're ants of mystery. i hope they're not up to anything more sinister than pollinating the trilliums.