31 August 2006

Farrago ...


I'm so very tired today. I had a running nightmare all night. I kept waking up, calming down, and falling right back into it when I went back to sleep.

So I made whole wheat, oatmeal, coconut, raisin, nut, sesame seed, poppy seed cookies for breakfast.

I've been meaning to show this post to a couple of people long enough that Robert has gone and written another one I want to point to. So I decided to post about them instead. Robert writes about permaculture and life and love and community and hope and faith and doing and being, warts and all. I like Caitlan's posts, too. She's charming and forthright and creative.

On my mind today ...
• I am so very tired of addict behaviours, cancer, and the antics of the men in the lives of some of the women of whom I am particularly fond.
... not just today, but I'm tired, so it's closer to the surface today.
• There's too much stuff in my house
• There has got to be a use for dust and cat hair. I could knit a new cat out of the stuff that falls off just Cleo.
• The lilies in the flowers Dad gave me are so very beautifully stinky. I have a whole new understanding of the term heady.

Stuff and Nonsense ...


Daylight:
Length of day: 13:44
Hours of dark: 9:00ish
Sunrise: 6:42 am
Sunset: 8:26 pm
Start of twilight: 6:05 am
End of twilight: 9:03 pm


Current weather: Mostly Cloudy. 17°C (62°F), wind WNW 22.4 km/h (14 mph), gusting to 33.6 km/h (21 mph), relative humidity 51%, pressure 30.05 in Hg.

Forecast:
Today.. Sunny with cloudy periods, 30% chance of showers late this afternoon with the risk of a thunderstorm. Wind NW 20 km/h. High 18°C.
Tonight.. A few clouds. Low 2°C.
Friday.. Sunny. High 23°C.
Saturday.. Sunny. Low 6°C. High 26°C.
Sunday.. Sunny. Low 7°C. High 27°C.
Monday.. Sunny. Low 7°C. High 25°C.
Normals for the period.. Low 5°C. High 20°C.

27 August 2006

Fringed out ...


I met Mary and the kids at the grocery store on Tuesday. We shopped, came back here, played Liar's Dice, grazed, and watched some Firefly. It rained too hard to drive, so we had a great big sleep-over.

Mary went home in the morning. After a good healthy breakfast ('cuz I knew what was coming for lunch ... they had lemonade, candy floss, and green onion cakes), Cory, Ernie, Linda and I headed to the Fringe, wandered a bit, stumbled into Dr. Draw's show and were immediately enthralled. We wandered some more ... saw a guy build a tree, juggle crystall balls, and twirl fire ... stopped to smooch Elsa at her booth ... then watched a grown man pass himself through a tennis raquet (unstrung (the raquet, not the man)) and juggle three rusty machetes while handcuffed and wearing twenty clothes pins on his face (which he put on while reciting the opening lines to Richard III). When we were tired of wandering, we walked down the road to have dinner, then took a bus to the University so we could take the train across the river and then took another bus home.

Thursday morning was popovers and devilled eggs for breakfast (lunch wasn't quite as bad as Wednesday, but involved more than one fried thing), then back to the Fringe for more street performer stuff. We saw a great soprano sax player, then, within spitting distance, a group called the United Saxophone Liberation Front (a baritone, a tenor, and two altos). There was a two-man act from Boston that gathered an audience by getting a few people to cheer at a table with a caulking gun on it. We picked up some naan bread and took the trolley across the river, then made our way home for dinner ... naan and carrot ginger soup.

I built breakfast burritos on Friday while weaving among the three of them in my bitty kitchey on Friday, thinking, "Aw, isn't that sweet? They just wanna spend time with me!" Once they all had their breakfast, though, they bolted for the livingroom to watch some more Firefly while I had my breakfast alone. Woe! Hahaha! I teased 'em mercilessly about that. Mary came early in the afternoon and we hung out for a while, then the whole crew left to run their errands before heading home.

Yesterday, I went back to the Fringe to meet Brandon and his boy. We wandered Whyte and the Fringe and Strathcona and Whyte some more, 'til the l'il guy was just all hot and worn out!

I met Mona and Pete and Rose and Cassandra at the APs today. There was hugging and smooching and computering and food and chirping and laughing and stories and new neighbour meeting and more hugging and smooching. Dad and I went to Southgate so he could get me some flowers 'cuz he'd gotten me a pair of loppers (I keep borrowing his) ... he said giving a nice lady a pair of loppers is like giving your wife a snow shovel ... it's just not right ... so there were flowers, too. Sweet, eh?

22 August 2006

Picture Catch-Up ...


I have a bazillion things swirling around in my head today (much like every other day) and haven't sorted them out for posting, yet, so here are catch-up photos instead!

Unfortunately, I haven't a single picture of Sasquatch. I'm getting better at remembering to take pictures, but a little better than abysmal isn't that great.

This is the May Day tree outside my bedroom window. Pretty, eh? It bloomed within a couple of days of May Day, this year. That's unusual. We had an early spring. Everything's been early this summer. I had rosehips on the rose bush by mid-July (though it did come up with a couple of extra roses in August).



There were berries on the May Day early. I did a double-take this morning, though.



Yup, yellow leaves. Red ones, too. The prediction is for an early fall that lasts a long, long time.



Some l'il Charlotte's been busy in the front railing. It's hard to photograph spider webs.



Lousy phone-camera picture of a billboard near Whyte Ave. that illustrates nicely the Canuckian approach to Rah-Rah-ing the troops here and abroad. A cheeky appreciation.



And this is the envelope, helpfully labelled, that Barbara received with the books when she took over managing the building she's living in.



But where are the pictures? On my desktop, cropped and sized and saved for web, waiting, because I can't get 'em to load at the moment and I have Things To Do before meeting Mary, Cory, Ernie and Linda.

Edit: Pictures! Taa-daa!

17 August 2006

Starting Fresh ...


I have a bad case of I Have Too Much To Catch Up On, I'll Post Later When I Have More Time Itis, so I'm starting over, as of now.

Fyn was in town yesterday, entirely too briefly. I didn't leave the house early enough to account for both rush hour and construction, so I was a little late, and then I didn't even offer to take him to the airport. Ditz.

It was wonderful to see him and I wish we could hang out regularly. He's smart and funny and thoughtful and cute as hell and fun and way high up on the list of reasons I wish I had a transporter. I'm not planning on going anywhere but the Fair this year, but next year, I do believe I'll go visit his end of the country ... unless the travel bug bites me again sooner.

We had grilled peanutbutter and tofu and banana sandwiches at Café Mosaics on Whyte - the special, in honour of Elvis. They were delicious!