bringing them back to Life

As you know I'm restoring old photographs. Most are just re-cropping and color correction but some are take a little more intense work but the results are well worth it.

I thought I'd show you a few just to show off a bit :-)

This:



now is



and this:



is now this:



and this:



is now this:




So, what do you think? Pretty cool, huh? :-)

and the fog rolls in...

Wow.. has it already been almost a month since I've blogged? I just get busy doing other things and then I think there really isn't much to say.

But a few things. After my dad died, I decided I would take all his photographs and make copies so that all the kids and grandkids could have them. There are so many photographs that are quite old and I'm not even sure who the people in them are since they are from the old country... but I'm going to restore them as well as I can. I have also taken to color correcting and recropping all the snapshots. It's incredible to see how a bit of cropping to help composition, fixing of crooked horizons etc., has really turned some really boring snapshots into pretty cool photos. I have about 1500 photographs to work on... not a small task. I will probably put a few pics up here once in a while to show you what I'm doing.

The cat... Chiana... well, I'll say she's a handfull and doted with multiple personalities. I've never had a cat before and she always surprises me. She's can go from loving and wanted to be petted to, in the flicker of an instant, Xena... warrior princess or something or other hunter. She can run so fast, from one sofa to the next in the blink of an eye. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes... she can be annoying, yet we love her all the same. We made a little shelf under the window so she can sit, and now she gets all excited watching the birds in the trees... she tries to climb up also and sometimes gets caught in the side windows because of the screens; that's when I have to go and get her down.. she just hangs there!

Although she loves to run around, most of the time, she's sleeping. And she will sleep anywhere. The other day, I saw her sleeping on the dining room chair, her back legs simply dangling off. I took her picture, but as you can see, she caught me...

it's like she's saying "Whatcha looking at, Willis?" .. Look how much she has grown! Yes... right now she's growing quickly and a bit skinny, but she eats a lot so I'm sure she'll fatten up soon enough. ;-)

The day before yesterday there was fog outside. I thought it would not last, as usually it comes and 5 minutes later it is gone... but went out to take pics anyways.
All I can say is that the fog creates some really great mood... here are a few pics I took:












I think I got really lucky that not only was there fog, but the leaves are turning, so I also got color. I hope you enjoy them. If you've come by don't hesitate to say, hi! :-)

dealing with kitty

Chiana is adorable but a handful. I asked for some suggestions and did get a small water bottle to spray her when she started biting things.. especially computer cables and cords. I think cats have no concept of what punishment is, well, this cat anyways.

Here is how she reacts. She gets sprayed, so then she goes under the couch.. and goes into hunting mode... looks to see if you are watching then pounces on the cables, then runs away again. I've also tried doing this in bed when she pounces on my hand as if to attack it. She just tries to attack the water bottle instead. lol.

Now, it may seem that she is a devil-cat, but actually she's very soft and cute and cuddly. What I've found works well when she is trying to bite is to pick her up... turn her on her back.. let her nibble her own tail a bit... just to distract her for a moment..and then start gently rubbing her hind paws. Well... she just falls into kitty heaven... she stops everything and leans back and gets really quiet.. sometimes she purrs.. and often just falls asleep... It's like I've found her kitty g-spot... she finds it quite pleasurable. At first I thought this was just a fluke..but I've done it at least 5-6 times now.. and each time I've gotten her to completely calm down and softens up.

She also likes to suckle my arm.. or the top of my chest.. or sometimes the crack at my underarm. She'll come and climb me and then nuzzle.. and I start to hear the purrr... purrr.. and the slurp! slurp! .. her eyes close and she gets very into it. She looks so young like that. I pet her softly and she usually ends up going to sleep.


Now, next step is trying to figure out how exactly to take pictures of her and have her stay still.

New Family Member

Here is our newest family member. We've had her since the last 2 weeks.



We have called Chiana. She is named for the lovely, very feline, very grey, very feisty girl in Farscape . As you can see the only other color than grey that you can see is the interior of her mouth which is pink. This is just like our cat.

I've never owned a cat before and it's quite an experience. To start off with, she is very loving.. and sleeps with us all the time... she purrs and often even suckles on my skin as I believe she had to leave her mom a little too early. There was nothing to be done though, the mom was a stray that friends picked up and tended to while she had her babies, but she was also sick.

This cat seems to have multiple personalities... one moment she is loving, the next she wants to chow down on my toes... My biggest problem has been keeping her away from my computer cables. She is fascinated by them. Dolly told me she thinks they are snakes and it's instinctive. I am going to try and find something that she'll not like but that will not be harmful to her to deter her from doing it. She already chomped through my microphone cord and I had to splice the wires back together. I've heard that there is a product called bitter apple spray. I'll try and find some in a pet store here, if not, I'll try and get it online. I'm not happy about the cable chewing because, of course, not only could she ruin my computer and accessories, but also because I'm very afraid that she may also electrocute herself. Everything with a cord or wire seems to interest her.

She is the sweetest thing though, don't you agree?

Dolly also told me to put aluminum foil where you didn't want her going or chewing. Since she is so attracted to the coils of cables behind my computer, I got down on all fours (now, who's the animal! ;-) ) and put up sheets of tin foil taped at the back and underneath my desk. She doesn't seem too afraid and goes there all the time. The foil reaches to the ground but I've taped it there... so she can't get behind without making a bunch of noise... The deterent seems to be that I can hear when she's there and get her out before she does too much damage.

I know some of you have cats... I would really appreciate any tips and hints you could give me because this seems like a hopeless cause. HELP!

Bike Tour

This week, in my town, there is a bike tour called "La Tour d'Abitibi" 2006. It is a tour for juniors, but it is important in the fact that it is the only tour in North America where the points count towards ranking you for the Tour de France.

Luckily for me, the race against the clock brings the bikers right in front of my house. The best place for pictures, though, is at the top of the street. The bikers start the race at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft and must climb close to 400 meters on a 17% incline. It takes powerful muscles to make the climb, and often the riders with heavier leg muscles seem do do better in this race. The wire-thin guys tend to do better in the long distance races.

Look at how cool this bike is:



Imagine how this guy must feel. Every biker leaves at 1 minute intervals... you have one kilometer to go before getting back and the person that left behind you is already on your tail!



A biker from Sweden... you can tell by his socks! ;-)



And what kind of race would it be if there weren't some Canadian rider sponsored by Tim Hortons Donuts! :-D

a movie, the weather etc.,

Last post here was "Eternal Sunshine" and yesterday, I finally saw the movie that everyone was talking about 2 years ago. Now, I understand the well-deserved hype.

Now, don't ask me why I haven't seen the movie that probably just about everyone that has access to a movie theatre, to a DVD store or even a VHS machine has seen. I just didn't and now I have and I loved it.

So many times you see a movie that tries to do something in a different way ... but just for the sake of being different and often leaving the audience confused and not sure what's going on. Here, they took an interesting approach and kept us interested during the whole movie, without for a moment having to scratch our heads and go...whaaaatttt???? I felt that they guided us and glided us through the movie in a way, where we were surprised, delighted but always intrigued and interested.

Clementine, Joel's girlfriend is very different from the quiet and overly polite Joel and after a fight, impulsively decided to get all memory of him deleted by a company called Lacuna. Joel, after finding out what she did, has a knee-jerk reaction and does the same... but while unconscious... realizes that he actually loves her and does not want to erase her from his mind. He wants to keep small bits that were emotionally fulfilling to him, and then goes on a journey mostly in his own mind of how to hide her from the data deleting machine..which we really are not sure how it works, but we don't really care, we don't need the explanation ... just know what the outcome is.

We then see the couple when they refind themselves later and realize that both have erased the other and why. Joel for being boring and Clementine for being too outrageous and crazy. They made me think about 2 magnets, how at a certain point (when they are very close, but not quite touching) you can feel the tension almost pushing away but ultimately they cannot help but end up attached to each other. It makes us wonder what attracts us to certain other human beings... especially when we find out that the Lacuna receptionist, (Kirsten Dunst) after also having her memory of an affair with her boss erased, still finds herself extremely attracted to him. Without knowing what will happen in a relationship, we can be eternally optimistic, and even knowing, we may not care. It's part of the dance.

---

Remember last week when I came home and felt horrible because of being out in the sun too long? Yesterday morning, I left home on my bike to go to the bank. On my way, I met up with Soni... a girl that used to live at the corner of my street. I had not seen her for perhaps 2 years, and we just stopped a few moments to chat. All of a sudden she started feeling badly..and sat down on the curb. She said she was feeling very hot and light-headed.

I told her about my sun-stroke and she brushed it off, saying she would be fine... but she wasn't and was getting worse. I saw a man across the street and asked if he could bring some water. His wife, very bronzed (ok, too bronzed and wrapped in a teeny tiny towel) came over and brought her a glass. She drank very little and kept splashing it over her face.

I tried to get her to give me the number of her boyfriend, so he could come and pick her up... but she was not being very cohesive and wasn't answering. I then got her to move off the hot sidewalk and unto the cooler grass. We ultimately called an ambulance and they came by and checked her out.

The weather here had been very hot for a week without any let up in the humidity at all. Seems that people were falling like flies all over the place. They got called twice while attending to her. They took her b.p. which was 89/50 .. pretty low, but after a general check up said it was heat stroke, to get her home and to get her to drink...and rest and she'd be fine. I supported her across the street, and the tanned lady brought her cookies and milk and we called her sister who came with a shiny red truck to pick her and her bike up.

It was now later and much hotter than when I left, but I really needed to go to the bank, but I assure you my experience from the week before was on my mind and what happened her too.. so I stopped at a store and got myself a bottle of fruit-flavored water and made sure I drank it. I wasn't going to take any chances.

When I came home it had started to rain, but not hard and I could hear some distant thunder. Later that afternoon, we had a couple pretty strong thunder storms. Really helped cool off and lighten the air which is a very good thing because this week we have the "Tour D'Abitibi" where bicyclists from all over the world come to race here.
On Thursday, there is a race against the clock where they each leave from under the mine at 1 minute intervals. These racers pass in front of my house and I will (weather permitting, of course) take pictures and post a few here.

Idiots!

I'm not one to easily call people idiots, especially a whole group of people...but today is the exception.

Many of you may not realize this, but when American Idol ends in the U.S., Canadian Idol starts here and carries us through summer. I must admit I had not followed it before, and this, the fourth season of the show was my introduction to the Canadian version of it.

To my surprise, there were some very interesting contenders and I and my guy would download and watch it a day or two after it aired. They started the whole the shebang pretty much the same way the American version does, showing us the cream of the crop and, of course, the deluded bottom of the barrel.

They quickly whittled the list of contenders down to 22. These were now separated into 2 groups (male/female) from which they would ultimately choose the final 10. It was really fun watching the process and we got to really root for certain singers that not only sang well but had a quirky fun side that made them capture our hearts.

This morning we watched the last elimination that let to the final 10 players.

Of these 14 hopefulls, 3 in my mind really were awesome talents and deserved to not only be in the 10 finalists but I could easily see them as the last three standing.

Chad Doucette is one of the three I really liked. He's this small guy with jet black hair and always clowing around, making funny remarks etc., When he auditionned he said: I like to sing in the bathroom, I want Canada to be my toilet. It sounds cheesy, but from this guy it was cute. He did surprise us though, by singing with such sincerity and a truly gorgeous voice. He has a really unique timber and tone which makes him sound very different.

He made the final round and is the only reason that I would continue to watch the show, hopefully to see him blow all the others away and get the final prize... a recording contract.

Keith MacPherson is a red-headed, a bit geekish looking young man that just seemed to always get it right. He seemed very down to earth and smart. I'm no music expert, but my boyfriend says it's called unpretentious singer/songwriter pop and I think that's a great label without trying to actually put a label on this guy. He just has the skills, is laid back and so pleasant to listen to. He also projects a sincerity when singing, as did Chad, that I really appreciate when listening and watching someone sing. Well, here is where my feelings about the Canadian Idol voters start to get shakey. He was voted off! Yes, these people are idiots. The only thing that I can say is that at least people got to hear him and will look him up on the net.

Several years ago he created a duo with Renée Lamoureux called Easily Amused. I strongly suggest you follow this link and discover this talented pair for yourself.

Last but certainly not least, Nancy Silverman. Here's is where I want to call all Canadian Idol voters IDIOTS (yes, in capital letters, no less). Quirky, smart, unique but most of all, the most kick-ass talented female singer I've heard in a long time.
She was certainly my favorite and my boyfriend's also. She was perhaps the judges pet also, but with good reason. She was simply fabulous! She had her own groove, exuded confidence without being arrogant and I just loved how she moved her body... no fakey moving around the stage and pandering for the camera.... it is more like the vibration is moving throughout her body looking for an outlet!

Here's a link to a Nancy Silverman My Space.com webpage. There are 4 of her songs there that you can both listen to and download. Please, please go and get these. You will not regret.


The judges on the show, who I would say always gave very fair and although sometimes not easy to hear advice to the singers, would often tell them to try and choose songs that they could actually see themselves singing. With all this advice, we've seen everything from 40's musical songs to country-western remakes... but these 3 always had their act together. They have a good sense of self and projected this when they sang. No hokey-pokey songs from them... only the real deal. Unfortunately, for Keith and Nancy they will not go on to the finals.

So..yes, I'm sorry but to all the Canadian Idol voters who by-passed these unique gems, you are all IDIOTS!

If I had a note to give the producers of the show it would be change the way that you allow people to vote. Do not make them vote for their favorites. They may think one person is safe and vote another that they wish to see go onto the finals. The smart way to do it would be to get people to vote for the singers they want to leave... this would always leave the cream of the crop until the end.

/rant

eternal sunshine or sunny side up

The day before yesterday, I decided to go to the duck pond and take pictures. The day was looking good, it was about 16C out... not hot, not cold, but nice for biking.

I usually take a certain route that passes partially through town and the rest beside a railroad track. I decided to hit the railroad tracks at an earlier point. Bad decision. I entered the route and everything seemed fine but then the craggy rocks started appearing. I thought it was surely just a short distance, but they just continued coming. There were also places where tree branches were down, that I had to get off my bike and lift it over them. There were bits of old railway tracks here and there, left over from a sloppy repair job. This new route had put me on an obstacle course. I finally got to a point where the path was hard packed sand and it was again as before.

There were 4 Amerindians just along side of the tracks having a morning beer and cigarettes.. They called out.. hi, miss! Good Morning. I'm not sure if they ride the trains and just drop off here and there... this was not anybody's backyard and there was no patio.. we were out in the woods. I felt a little apprehensive, but I guess the early morning hour sort of gave me confidence and I smiled, said hello and said the path was really bad. They laughed and said there was a different road I could have taken... went all the way to Chibougamou... yeah, like 200 miles away. They had really interesting faces, burnt by the sun, and my photographer's eye wished I could have sat with them and taken their pics... but even at this early hour, just me and 4 strange guys drinking in the wild... not the best idea.

When I finally got to the duck pond, I decided to go a bit further and visit the Maison Gabrielle. It's a home our town built a little over a year ago for people who were about to die. Yes, the only criteria for getting in, is that you must be diagnosed as terminally ill and going to die within the next 3 months. It's on the pond.. with the ducks etc., and trees. I thought I'd go and look at the small waterfall they have there. It is not really a waterfall, it's a tiny water drop... it's man-made and the water is deviated there and then passes into the woods. I took some pics and then went back to the duck pond.

Usually when you start throwing bread into the pond.. they come rushing over, but today was very quiet... very few ducks, even the gulls were rare. There were a couple of kids there with someone who appeared to be their grandmom, but then an even older lady arrived and they called her granny too, so who knows. They didn't have lots of bread, and I had tons of it. I freeze all left over ends from sandwich bread that everyone leaves in the bags and brought them all. They are still fresh when defrosted and it was cute to see the younger of the little boys ( a 15 month old) eating it instead of throwing it in the water.

There were a couple owners with dogs running around and I took my time and watched the kids, ducks, dogs and just relaxed. At one point I just took my sandals off and sat with my feet up on a bench and took in the sun and the pretty day.





After a while though, it started getting extremely hot. There were no clouds in the sky and I was starting to feel a little light-headed. I decided it was probably a good time to leave. After riding up the hill, I started feeling worse and met Martin, a guy I know. He was on his way to the Maison Gabrielle because his mom had died a couple of weeks earlier and he wanted to thank them properly. I was really not feeling good and hopefully not too rudely, told him I really had to go... I was now feeling even worse and by the time I got to town I was starting to feel nauseous and jittery. I just couldn't wait to get home. I was breaking out in a cold sweat and by the time I got home I had to lay down as I now was shivering from the top of my head all the way down my body. I lay covered in a blanket and still was shivering and felt absolutely horrible.

Lots of water and 2 hours later and I was feeling fine. I guess I had a touch of sun-stroke but I'm fine now. I had brought a bottle of water with me, but had already drank it earlier and it went by quickly.


Yesterday was very hot and warm... and today is even worse... it's crazy, stifling hot.

Cutesy Barcodes.

I love it when you take something that is normally boring, necessary and practical and give it a whimsical spin. It doesn't stop it from being practical, but can be a sweet surprise.

What's this all about? Barcodes! Yes, pain ol' boring barcodes. Well, boring no more if this design firm has it's druthers.



I was just reading this article on Springwise.com and thought the idea was very cool and wanted to share it with you.

There is a design firm in Japan called Design Barcodes that just won the Titanium Lions award in Cannes this past week for innovative thinking in Advertising.

Imagine, buying ramen noodles..and the barcode is chopsticks with noodles folded over... or an umbrella with the barcode raining on it.



I just think it's very clever and I think it's the kind of thing I would actually collect.

Toy Story

There is a fun photo technique that is all the rage on the net right now. It's taking photographs and making them look like fake models by making them look like close-up macro shots. Furthering the look is playing with the curves to make them bright and plastic looking. Now, does this have any really important applications? No... Is it art? Probably not... but it's really easy to do and lots of fun.

There are several websites that explain how to do this. Receding Hairline is such a site.

I haven't gone out and specifically shot for this type of image so you could probably do a better job than I did, simply by making sure your shots were taken from a higher vantage point, which would, of course, help with the illusion, as we would tend to look at fake models on some sort of table and standing up.

Still these were definitely fun

A picture of a train ... geez, how I wish I had the whole caboose.. too bad, maybe another time.



This one is of a small house in the mining village. It's cool to know what it looks like and to see it looking almost plastic.



The last one is of these funny contraptions in front of the old mine. I'm sure someone who has worked in a mine could tell me what they actually are as I have no idea. What I think works about them, even though they are pretty much eye-level is the fact that they are freshly painted.. which helps with illusion of them not being real.




One thing is for sure, I'm most certainly going to run a "Bonus Contest" on Worth 1000 very soon, just because I think it's a fun thing for everyone to try.

P & P (Pasta and Peonies)

I love pasta, especially fresh pasta. I don't know about where you live but fresh pasta is very expensive where I live. To wrap your head around the numbers a bit, a package of dried pasta of good quality is very inexpensive, 900gr (about 2lbs) for about 1.30 and fresh pasta runs for about 4.50 for 300-350gr... not even a pound!! I don't get it... they don't even have to dry it...and they sell it for about 10 times as much.

Anyways, my boyfriend and I have talked about trying to make some ourselves, not because of the cost, but just to see if it was hard to make and if it would taste good, (the price would be icing on the cake).

Well, yesterday we did... and it's so easy to make.

1 egg, 1 cup of flour, 1/2 tsp salt... and a couple tbsps of water if you need it.. you probably won't. that's it..

take a bowl, mix flour with salt, make a well, throw in the egg..and scramble with your fingers until all together. Knead a few minutes, roll out, cut and presto... almost instant homemade pasta:

See...here it is before cooking...(I made fettuccini) looks great doesn't it?:



This morning I took a few pictures of my peonies. They have just started blooming, and they are just so luscious I had to show you.







I can't help thinking of a remark Meowza made on some of my previous flowers... on how they looked good enough to eat. Well, these really do look so good, I think I could just put them on an icecream cone and take the biggest bite... they even smell good!

St-Jean

Not much happened that is bloggable..

this is the little I have:

I love being barefoot. Unless it's really cold and I'm freezing, I am always barefoot. The other day, I was leaving to go to some stores, and I was just out the back door and had locked it, when I looked down and realized I didn't have any shoes on.. lol!

---

My finger is slowly healing. I'm trying to go plasterless more and more, but tend to jab it on everything, which feels like a spike going through the top of my thumb. It also looks quite horrible. The top part has gone completely black and dry around the edges, and is shrinking. It's very hard. It looks a bit like I have a baby turtle on the top of my thumb.. just sitting there. Also, the part of the thumb that wasn't cut and is still alive, is peeling away, because of the detachment of the skin... so now I have a pink and very tender thumb. When I slide my finger across it, it is very sensitive..and just below where there is a layer of protective skin, you can still feel but the difference in sensitivity is striking. Kind of makes me feel bad for guys having to wear condoms.

---


Today is St-Jean, Quebec's provincial holiday. Last night there were celebrations, nothing very elaborate, but you could hear fireworks being set off here and there and then about 11:30 at night, the town also sets off some fireworks too. It was quite cold out and I sat on my porch with a warm sweater, a jean jacket and a warm blanket around my shoulders. I could partially see the fireworks on the front porch of my home. A few years ago, we could see them pretty well, but the neighbour's trees have grown since then and from my viewpoint always end up smack dab in the middle of the fireworks.

An awful fireworks shot: :-P


and another :


As you can see, nothing very exciting.

Early this morning, when the sun was just creeping up over the horizon, I got up and took a pic of my neighbour's porch, where they hung up a couple flags to commemorate the day.

when the heat is on...

oh... boy, yesterday was quite a doozie of a day. It was again over 30C. What do you do when the weather is that hot? Heh, well, you bake of course! :-D. I know, I know... but when it's that hot, your brain doesn't function properly and well, you understand, it is a dry heat. ;-)

Anways. I made something called wienerbrod which probably started off as a recipe to wrap around little wieners, but now it was posted on the net as a puff pastry dessert type of deal. You start by making a dough, and then smashing as much butter as you can get your hands on between layers of it. It's crazy the amount of butter that goes into this! It's not only crazy, it's almost scary!... I swear you are literally putting slabs of hard, cold fat and then folding it over and over into what turns out to be a very flaky dough, which in french we call "mille feuilles" (a thousand leaves or pages).

The recipe calls for 1 egg, that you separate and add the yolk to the dough part and reserve the white for a glaze. My recipe however changes that to 3 eggs, as after putting the yolk in the dough, you must absolutely knock over your container with the egg white and let it drip all over you counter. Then you must crack open another egg... separate that and then step back and think...hmmm.... what would it take for me to actually wipe down these cabinets... well, heck, I think if I dripped something on them, that would give me enough incentive... so then you put your second egg white in a small saucer and set it on the rounded edge of your counter so it will dutifully slide off and all along the the surface of your cabinet door beneath... of course, you just need a bit of glaze so you'd think there would be enough left in the saucer... but no!... the gooey whites band together and slip and slide as one. So that's why my recipe takes 3.

When you finally are ready to put them in the oven, you do brush on your white egg-wash and then because what looks like 14kgs of butter is just not calorie intensive enough, you sprinkle on a bunch of pearl sugar. Pearl sugar tastes like regular sugar but is in balls that look like little styrofoam beads, exactly like those found in bean bags. Sprinkled on pastries, it makes them sweet but also gives them a very nice crunchy texture.

Here is what they turn out to look like:

more flower pics

Well, it's the weekend and I 'm just taking it easy, spending time with someone I care for deeply and relaxing. The weather yesterday was crazy hot again... 30C .. let's just say, that's hot! We are expecting much of the same today. Who says it's cold up north?

Well, I thought I'd show you some of my flowers as they come and go quickly.


Here is a very pretty iris that only blooms for a week to disappear for another year. It's called "Steppin' Out" and cleary, is dressed to the 9's!



As I was leaving to do groceries on Friday, I was just locking the door when out of the corner of my eye, I saw this butterfly fluttering amid my lilacs. I immediately went to get my camera... and took a few shots. It was a bit difficult, the darn flutterby just wouldn't stand still for a pose.



I also have roses. Now, I know I told you I'm not a roses type of girl... but that's not entirely true. I'm not crazy about the formal type of roses, you know the ones that come in a box of 12...sure they are pretty..butI prefer the more lush ones that actually smell spicy and are much more feminine. Here is one that's just a biddy, buddy baby!:



but will turn out to be as glorious as this one:



and finally a pink lobelia, which I think has such a cool shape!

I'm so over it.. I'm happy

Well, yesterday ... after over a year, I finally decided to clean out the garage. When my ex left, he took whatever he wanted.. well, I didn't exactly stop him, I was a sobbing wet rag that couldn't see farther than the blur of tears in my eyes.

He took all his tools, and he had plenty of them, duplicates, triplicates... and left me with nothing but a bunch of junk, some shovels, gardening tools, the lawn mower and our freezer. The garage is full of junk though.. left over bits of wood, of wool isolation (let's just say, it's yellow and it's very itchy). There is stuff in the rafters, but I 'm going to have to search through all that... I hate going up in a ladder but I don't have much choice.

The night before I went out to the garage and found the light was burned out, so I brought in 2 different bulbs, mostly because one looked a little grey and I figured it might already be blown, and I guess I was too lazy to do 2 trips. So I set up the ladder to the side.. and barefoot (yes, you heard me right... you'd think someone who recently had chopped off the top of her thumb would be more careful, but hey... I'm reckless... a real James Dean ;-) ) Anyways, I climbed up a few rungs... it hurt quite a bit as the rungs are round...and holding on with one hand (which incidentally was holding on to the second bulb) and outstretched in the opposite direction, I tried out the grey bulb first. Yay!... it worked.. then I dropped the other bulb which exploded with a soft shatter on the cement floor. Heh.. of course ,you remember that I'm barefoot right.. well.. I did get down and manage to get out without cutting myself.

Last summer, I was not ready to clean out the garage. To start with, I had no energy... and emotionally, I just couldn't deal with it. Everything that was his, that was ours... it was just too much to deal with. I wasn't sure what my reaction would be now, but I was pretty secure in the fact that I would be alright. Since several months now, I feel very happy, very strong.. (ok, not confident about everything... but strong in a different way, in a quiet way, which is hard for me to explain). I truly knew that I was alright though when 2 incidents happened that really showed me I was on to my own life now and I had really turned the corner.

Last thursday, I went downtown and stopped into an office supply store and one of the women that works there, was all.."Maggie... it's so good to see you, I haven't seen you in ages, you look well... bla, bla"..and I explained to her that I was no longer with my husband... and a short synopsis of what happened..and she said, you know what? I just saw him the other day and he looked embarassed to see me, and odd... and I was wondering what was wrong with him that he looked unhappy. And it just didn't bother me.. didn't make me happy, didn't make me sad... I just felt very indifferent about it. Then on Monday night, as I was bringing the garbage to the curb, my neighbor from across the street started to talk to me. I went over to see their new porch they built and we were talking. Edith starts with.. you know, we saw Sylvain the other day... and Alain and I were remarking that he didn't exchange for better.. bla, bla.. that his new partner works as a cashier and that she doesn't smile and she's "bête comme ses pieds".. an expression to say that someone is unhuman, and not friendly etc., and so different from you that is always friendly, and smiling etc., and I just thought.. I just don't care! ... you'd think I'd get some satisfaction out of that, but it just didn't affect me at all.. I had no sense of revenge or YAY!! .. I know that seems implausible.. but I swear that's just how it felt.

If you are out there in a similar situation.. feeling that your life is over because someone left you like you were a piece of trash... I promise you... you'll be happier and much better for it. Anyone who could leave you that way, without trying to work it out, without any remorse, without any caring for being together for years... never really loved or appreciated you... you are better off without them. I couldn't see that last year. I do now.

So, anyways, I haven't cleaned much of the garage..there is a ton of stuff that's got to go.. if I find anything that is good, I'll try and sell it in a garage sale later this summer. It was actually quite liberating.. taking back "MY" space.

When I came in I was pretty pooped, and a bit tired, but started watching a show called "So you think you can dance?" I thought .. ok, cheezy..but actually , these people could really dance.. they could move to the groove, push their tush... swing those hips. They were paired in couples and each had a different style to do...there was everything from ballroom dancing, 80's disco and hiphop. Heck, even the ones the judges said were not so good, were pretty amazing to me. I was very tired, my eyes.. just wanted to close... but I couldn't stop watching. Anyways, I don't care what anyone says.. I was very entertained. I was literally cheering them on.

Well, that's it for today... if you stopped by.. please leave a word.

Oh, I updated my list of blogs, but there may be a few I haven't added yet, if I missed you and you'd like to be added..please let me know.

signing off for now, see you all soon :-)

little bit of this, a little bit of that

First of all, I have to thank all of you that visited and left comments. What a great way to have people stop by. You tell them about your day, it's short and sweet (well, most of the time) and heck, you don't even have to clean the house before they get here.

Either later tonight or tomorrow, I'm going to update my list of blogs. If I miss yours and want it to be included, just leave me a note about it and I will add you.

Oh, and if you dropped by today, don't be shy!! Say hello! :-)

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The weather here has been really very erratic. Huge extremes of temperatures means one day you have the neighbor kids screaming and having fun in their pool, and the next morning it's so darn cold, there are tiny snowflakes falling from the sky. We've had over 32 (that's 90F) and then -1 (31F)! What's up with that?

It was cold and rainy and I just didn't want to go out at all during the weekend. On Sunday I started having a craving for black licorice and the weather was just so awful, I didn't go out and get any. I thought that would be the end of it, but then on Monday, I still had the craving... but the weather was again cold and wet. Well, today, I just couldn't stand it any more. The weather has started to warm up a bit and I decided I couldn't live without them anymore and went to the store to get some. I bought a huge bag and well, I'm munching on some right now. I just love them.

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I took a few pics in my garden today... and I know everyone has their fill of flowers and are tired of seeing them, but I just had to show you at least one of my irises. They only last a few days and then are gone for the rest of the summer. I do love their sweeping, swaying leaves though... as they bend and dance in the wind, flowers or no.. they are still pretty.

Siberian Iris:


Tonight for supper I had a something my boyfriend showed me how to make and I just love it so much, I have it at least once a week since. I thought I'd share it with you.

He calls it kebab, but it's nothing like shish-kebab... and I had never eaten it before. It's tender curried meat, with either crème-fraîche, or sour cream if you can't find that. You add curry spices, mayonnaise and lemon juice to your sauce and then mix that with a bunch of thinly sliced veggies.. I normally use thinly sliced lettuce (ice-berg for the crunchiness)red peppers, cucumber, green onion, tomatoes and then some marinated banana peppers that are cut up in tiny slices. Different kinds of hot peppers can be used but these are available where I live so I use them. They also come with red, orange and yellow ones in the same jar, which makes them very pretty in the dish. You mix these veggies with your sauce.

You take either porc or chicken, I guess you could also make them meatless, but I like the meat. You heat up some curry spices and add garlic and your meat. Takes only a minute or two to fry as you have cut your meat into really very small tender pieces.

Now, he and I make these differently, he makes his own tortilla bread. I guess I'm lazy, cause I just use the ones from the grocery store. He also makes them on his stove, and I make them in a George Forman grill. It just happens to be the perfect size.

I put a tiny bit of butter on the outside of the tortilla so that it doesn't burn and it gets those really nice golden grill marks. I then flip it.. put a bit of meat, the veggies and sauce mixture and then fold the sides in and roll it.. put it in the grill for only about 2 minutes and TADA!! instant amazingly tasty and spicy food. Yum.

You have to try these ... they are just SO good! :-)

dishes and stuff

Well, ELBradenabra posted a thread in the Worth1000.com forum archiving members blogs. I think it's an awesome idea, and decided I wanted to participate. Heck, like the "Field of Dreams" people may actually come by.

Unlike everyone else, I did not post on June 10th, ... gah.. even Galoot said that everyone posted so they wouldn't look like total slackers!! Well, guess that makes me one!

Most of you know that my dad died this year. Well, my mom died oh..geez.. 23 years ago and she had some pretty dishes and stuff but nobody took anything ... simply because my dad was still alive and even though he might not use them ever, it just didn't feel right to have leave him with emptiness anywhere, when there was already this huge void in his life, losing his wife at such a young age.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, my brothers and I and their wives and kids all gathered and each took a few momentos. I wanted a few things that were my mom's. She had some nice cups and saucers that I just adored. I will probably never have occasion to drink out of such fancy cups and saucers, but she bought them on a trip to Germany and I always thought they were gorgeous.

Here is one of the sets... It's simply a small coffee cup (or tea) with a saucer and a cake plate. It's full of gold but somehow doesn't look in the least bit garrish... it's very art deco.. with it's black and gold design.



Another of the sets is a deep raspberry pink with gold stripes. It is also very much of the same style but not as sleek I guess, softer looking but still very gorgeous.



The third set is a round cup with flowers both on the inside and outside of the cup. This one is more feminine and soft looking with a very pretty handle.



Besides these cups and saucers, I didn't take very much. A nice tablecloth, simple yet summery and fresh looking and a crystal vase. I'm not sure exactly how old I was when my parents bought it while on vacation in Europe, but I remember distinctly always caressing the cut ridges with my fingertips... it fascinated me somehow... the feeling of it, the texture. I always loved that vase. Now, I am not the type of person that would go into a store looking for a crystal vase, it's just not my style, but this is different. It's nostalgic. Funny how the first thing I did when I saw the vase, that was up in one of the bedrooms, was to drag the tip of my finger down it, just like I used to do as a kid.

I filled her with lilacs, irises, bleeding hearts and a small of forget-me-nots. She's so beautiful.





And a closeup where you can see a bit of the cut ridges:



While I was at it I took some pics of my bleeding hearts.. they are spring flowers that are very typical here in the north. Further down south they would just wilt and disappear underground. These flowers are so pretty. They are a brilliant pink heart.. which opens up just like a small locket and appears to let drop a tear. If you look at them very closely, you can often see a drop of water in that white section.. which only goes to prove they really are crying. I've always loved these kinds of flowers.. swooping, swaying.. lilacs, daffodils, daisies, very friendly flowers. I know, that most people love tea roses and orchids, but I just prefer the more informal ones. I guess they ressemble me more, more my style.



I did however take a pic of roses. These are roses from my dad's funeral. I put them upside down and let them dry.



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Besides that, well, I've been the shoulder for Carmen lately. Her husband left her several weeks ago and this week she just found out that he left her for a girl that was someone they had gone out with as 2 couples, someone who she entertained in her house, and a person who she told about what had happened when she met her at the grocery store...who held her and told it "I'm so sorry for you"... can you imagine?

She is so distraught. I wish I could do more for her, but all I can do is listen and try to keep her calm. I make her look at me.. and say... LOOK! I'm fine.. I'm better than ever! I was so broken up a year ago, I never thought I would be able to say those words, but I am much better, happier and stronger. She will be too, it 's just so hard for her to see right now.

I went to see her the other night, yes.. the night I should have blogged... (see, I have a great excuse ;-) ). She called and was really very upset. Her son was supposed to come to her after school and he never showed up. She then found out that not only did he not come over, but that the new-girlfriend had picked him up from school and brought him to her house. See, the thing is she has a boy that is the same age. They play soccer together, and this is actually how her husband and this woman met. Oh... she was a wreck. I stayed with her until she was calm and then got her to bed.

She's started smoking again, after having quit, gosh over 10 years ago... maybe even more. I didn't say anything though.. she's got enough on her mind.

Talking about smoking... my boyfriend sort of half-quit smoking on the weekend. He had no cigs and didn't smoke all weekend. It was a tough weekend, let me tell you. He actually physically was ill. I remember many years ago, when I used to smoke and I quit. Oh, it's over 10 years now and I don't even count how long ago it was anymore, but I never had a reaction like he did. I was tempted to smoke but I would just simply distract myself and I would be fine. I didn't get muscle pain, or stomach-ache etc., I don't know if he will tough out the no-smoking or not. It's just so hard... I know we all say 'cold-turkey' is the way to go... just don't take another and never turn back, but wow.. this was really not easy for him. He probably really needs some sort of help like a nicotine patch to help him get through as it just seems too difficult this way. Saturday he was very ansy without any and although Sunday was better, he was not feeling well all day long. Tomorrow is another day, a new day... whatever happens, I just want him to feel good again.

If you're from Worth and stopped by because of the thread, would be awesome if you left me a note! :-)

Off the top of my head... errr... I mean thumb!

It's been several weeks since the last time I blogged.

It's been a weird month for me. I've been really having a pity party and feeling down
about not being really a good artist. I've always drawn and done things manually and always felt I was good at it. It's just so darn hard for me though to know that I'm not great at it. This has been bothering me quite a bit lately. I've been drawing in photoshop and although I spend lots of time and effort, it just feels like I'll never be really good. I participated in an illustration contest at Worth and although I came away with a silver trophy, I felt very discouraged. Just once, it would be nice to hear a ... wow..that's awesome! I wanted to get a feeling across ... but didn't succeed. Instead got, nice curtains, nice color scheme... gah! I want to cry and chuck it all.
Same thing goes for photography... I can pull off a well-composed image, but that's it. I want to blame it on not having a fancy camera and lenses, but I know as well as everyone that the artist is behind the camera; the camera is only our tool.

I'm such a big baby... I then turn on myself and feel guilty about being this self-centered and wanting all this attention.

My boyfriend has helped me enormously here.. he's got a good head on his shoulders and his feet firmly planted on the ground..and well, he helps ground me, brings me back... let's me see how foolish I am.

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My new bike.. I love her. Even though I almost killed myself on her, I still love her. It's not her fault though... I had a bit of an accident, but it was entirely my own fault. I went downtown and bought several items to put in my basket and thought to myself how easy it would be to attach my camera case to the packet holder at the back of my bike... it would mean that I would be freer to ride without the camera case strapped across my shoulder. I attached the case to the back and took the strap and stuffed it inside the flap of the case.. secured it and started on my return journey home. As I approached the last hill before getting to my house, I moved into the highest gear, hoping to gain lots of momentum to get up the hill with not too much effort on my part (yeah, hills have been the tough part of starting to bike again). I cranked the pedals as fast as I could and a car whizzed past me and I pedalled and pedalled as hard as I could and started to go up the hill when all of a sudden my bike was breaking on it's own..hard...and I was skidding literally across the whole road. I didn't understand what was going on... I wasn't breaking..what was happening? Well, it seems that the strap from my camera bag, came slipping out of the place I attached it and ended up running through the spokes of my back wheel..and this caused me to break like that. I'm really lucky it was not 20 minutes later, when everyone would be coming home for lunch..and I would have probably skidded right into an oncoming car. Physically, I'm fine.. I'm still walking around with some bruises on my legs.. not the most attractive sight, believe me.

Night before last, I did a painting. Yes, I know I said I should chuck it all, but then I have never been able to not create something.. and I decided to finally put some paint on that plain white canvas that has been staring at me for months. I did a painting in a style that I enjoy.. juxtaposing clear bright colors with dirtier, muddy ones. It is almost abstract in style. I have done many realistic paintings in years past, but this type is more enjoyable for me.. simply because it's so freeing. I just paint and paint until I get it out of my system.



I painted the sides by continuing the painting there.. which allows the painting to be mounted on a wall without a frame, it looks finished and it's nice to keep it's more modern style. I had only painted the sides, and not the top and bottom, as this was done with oil paints and takes time to dry.

Last night I was going to turn the painting on it's side to do the top and bottom, but was feeling a little peckish and decided to make coffee and a slice of freshy baked bread with some cheese. I took out the gouda, and started to slice it with a cheese slicer. The cheese was a bit hard being in the fridge and all, and I tugged hard with the knife and it finally went through the cheese and .... all the way through the top of my thumb and nail. It was scary a bit.. cause I've cut myself before, but never this deep and now I was standing there and the top of my thumb had come off and was hanging by a thread. Oh.. this didn't feel very good. I put tissue paper on it and held it tight and went to the emergency room. The nurse put some alcohol on it.. and took the tissue off and kept saying, don't look at it.. don't look at it.

Although it had just happened, the top was already missing oxygen and it was decided that it would do no good to give me stitches as I would lose it anyways. So they taped me up, ordered me not to get it wet for at least a week, told me to take extra strength tylenol, stuck me with a needle in my upper right arm for a tetanos shot and sent me on my merry way with some cheery words about how in a year I wouldn't be able to tell that I lost the top of my thumb.

My new baby

Not much here.. just bragging..

She's cute, she's sweet and she's all mine!

for the birds!

Well, I've been out a few times to see the ducks... it's such a long walk. I'm looking to buy myself a bike. I would be able to get fresh air, a bit of exercise and not have to walk 3 miles to get there. I'm just not sure what bike I want. There is a Schwinn at Canadian tires that looks pretty nice, but I have no info on it.. and as far as I can see, it may be just a cheap version that Schwinn makes in huge quantities just for Canadian Tire. I also saw one I like at Walmart's... yes, yes, I know.. the big conglomerate that will eat up all of the stores here... but for me, I just cannot afford a 500$ bike.. so if I can get a really nice one for 200$ I'll be quite happy. They have a cruiser style bike that I like with schimano brakes and speeds. I want to have a basket on it.. so I can bring stuff.. like bread for the birds, my camera, of course.. some water. Both of these bikes are really very cute, the one at Canadian tires is more mountain-type bike and the one at Walmart's is gorgeous.. it is black and white, very retro looking and has white wall tires and fenders!!! I love those... it's really very pretty.

Oh.. and a couple of pics of birds, cause Jago passed by yesterday and said how much he liked birds, so I thought I'd upload a few I took the other day.

This gull is of course doing it's morning gargling!



and including this one, cause I like how from quite a distance, I got quite a sharp detail in his eye!: