Boardom & other excuses

Hello all!

Sorry for missing a couple of days. I have been in a weird place. Nothing bad just weird.

I have found that I haven't been as hungry as of late. If there isn't food already prepared for me than I don't know what I want & because I am not really that hungry, I don't eat at all.

Friday night was one of those nights. I walked home & because I knew I had to eat something I went into a corner store. It's called the food Depot. It has all sorts of things that if you went to a real supermarket, you wouldn't pay nearly as much.

Anyways, I didn't know what to eat & somehow settled on tortillas, guacamole & a large bag of chocolate m&m's. Now I haven't eaten like that in years! YEARS! That kind of eating normally is triggered by some emotional upheaval in my mind. But this wasn't that.

Needless to say, I felt like I was hungover the next morning! I had no energy at all.

Well I seem to have recovered from that moment well. I am still not that hungry, but at least there is food at the office that I am making myself eat so I don't pass out.

I was all psyched about going to swim this morning. Wouldn't you know my alarm went of but didn't. So I didn't' get to go. I have fixed the problem & will be getting up tomorrow as per my new weekly plan. I will go on Friday this week as per the contingency plan for holiday Mondays like next week.

Fall Ivy

This is ivy on a church on St Clair West. Again, this was taken in the fall. I loved the change in the ivy from the standard green over to the bright vibrant red.

Snow Day!

I forgot to post a picture for today! This is snow bench!

Why is it called snow bench? Snow reason. It is just what it is. A snow bench.

Hulk angry

So one thing I realise is the importance of patience & not going off half cocked.

In general I am not very quick to anger. I don't like to argue or make that kind of a scene. Every once in a while that all goes to pot & I turn into angry Hulk. Almost no one ever sees that side of me, although I think they know it exists.

There was an incident with a friend.What happened doesn't . It did leave me incredibly angry. You know the kind of anger that makes you shake.

In the hulk mode, my normal instinct and usual pattern would be a big huge screamfest & in the end I wouldn't not feel any better than before the rant began.

This time was different. I decided not to face the issue head on. YET. I needed sometime to collect my thoughts. I walked home. Missed the call. But that was all to help me work out my feelings as I go along. After working through it & sleeping on it, I am ready to deal with it, calmly like an adult & no hulk.

I think this is a large step towards my inner calm & peace. Maybe I can actually let go of something & not keep it with me for a dogs age. I have things I haven't gotten over from ten years ago because of these issues.

Problem averted! FOR NOW!

Have a great rest of the day if you dare!

Housekeeping

Firstly I want to let you all know that I am playing around with the format of the blog. I am not sure if it is just that my aesthetic is changing or that I am figuring things out as I go along.

I have added a new set of links over to the right which would be blogs I read. If you are a friend who has a blog you would like me to put up, let me know & it shall be so.

Bitchn' about knittin'

Last night when I got home Mum & I were talking about my knitting.

As I mentioned in yesterdays blog, I knit a headband for myself on Saturday & I had a bunch of yarn leftover. I mentioned the leftover yarn to my Mum & thought that one of my sister's kids would probably like a headband. She suggested that I make one for my brother's daughter Maya (She has my middle name and has her birthday in March just like me!).

I hesitated only because I am worried that my nephew Siddhartha (Maya's brother) might get jealous that he wasn't getting something from me. You know how kids can be. It's all about being fair. I admit that Siddhartha probably doesn't want a knit headband seeing as he doesn't have the hairstyle for one and he might feel funny wearing one.

So after a moment's hesitation, I went upstairs and grabbed all the stuff for the headband. See as Maya has a smaller head than me I decided to modify it for a child's head. I started at 7pm & finished just before 10pm. I did stop for a couple of breaks so it took less than 3 hrs. I must say that it is very satisfying to finish a project in less than a day. I was worried that I wouldn't get it done before she leaves on Friday. So she will get it. The green is great for her colouring. I also still have half of the skein left. So if I want to I can make them for my other nieces and/or my sister.

I have also knitted some dish clothes for the office over the summer. It is another quick satisfying knitting project that doesn't take too long to finish. One of the summer students, whose last day is Friday, mentioned he would love a couple for his wife. So tonight & maybe tomorrow, I will be knitting those as well.

I have been working on a few large projects as of late. My Mum's sweater which just needs to have the last half sewn together & then washed for good measure is one of those projects. I tried working on that one on Friday night, but ended up freaking out & stopping (I have done mattress stitch before. Hello I already sewed half of the sweater already!). I am going to try again this weekend **FINGERS CROSSED!**

My other big long project is my Dad's arrears log cabin blanket, which I have blogged about before. It is coming along nicely & will be done sometime this fall. I love going to sit at Haley's working on it & people telling me they love it.

My final three projects (not for me, but promised!) are crocheted bags for my sister & the girls. Seeing as it was Avery's birthday almost two weeks ago, I am currently working on hers. I have modified it slightly to make a bit smaller for her. I think that can be done by the end of the week. I will add a chapters gift card as part of the present and then her birthday present is complete. I may start my sister's next, because I was originally going to make one for her up at the cottage, but I didn't have the pattern to work from. Her birthday is past by a few months. Tyler's birthday is in November, so I will get it done by then no problem.

I must say I like the biggish projects, but feel somewhat bad that they take forever to complete.

After I have done most of the biggish projects, I will make myself a shrug that is in a book I have. It is going to be in chunky alpaca wool so it will be a petting shrug that can keep me warm. It will end up looking good with work or casual fair!

Maybe someday I'll post some shots of my knitting. However at this time whenever I try to take pictures of it it is coloured very weirdly.

Simply Squirrelly!

I have had something on my mind a lot lately. Actually it is on my mind almost every time I leave the house. There appears to be mutation in our midst.

I'm talking Squirrels!

Yes it seems that squirrels are mutating!

I'm not talking zombie squirrels or anything out of a horror story.

I first began noticing that the squirrels in the park near my office we're two toned. What was strange about them is that halfway through their bodies would change from black or dark brown to strawberry blond. It kind of looks like they had been dipped in a bottle of Sun-in( That happened to me when I was 13yrs old. My friend on a school trip dumped a whole bottle of it in my hair. I was strawberry blond for a while there!).

Anyways, it was always the bottom half including their tails. It wasn't one squirrel ,it was all the squirrels in the park. I tried to take a picture of them, but those suckers move pretty darn fast when you close in on them. Even with my long lens they would move too fast for me.

So it made me wonder was someone cruel to a pack of squirrels? Was this a new mutation? And if it was, why on Earth would this help them in the evolution of life?

Jump forward a couple of months & I have been noticing that all the squirrels tails are not as thick & bush as the once were. The advantage it that they look sleek & full. I find the bushy tails often looked sparse.

So the question is what is the reason for the changes that are taking place in the squirrel population?

How many times can I use the word squirrel in a blog entry & not be a squirrel expert?

Will I ever get the answers I seek?

Monday Randoms

Well I'm back & I have lots of things flowing through this brain of mine. So let's get started!

I decided to knit myself a headband this weekend. My friend Haley's store Knit O Matic (see the link on the things I like list!) has some new yarns in. So I went to the new yarn's web page to look. I discovered a free pattern on the web for a head band. I had wanted to make a headband because of my big noggin it is hard to find ones that I like that I can wear. So it was sort of meant to be. So Saturday I went to Haley's & bought skein of the yarn. It is a nice green with bits of variation in it. I knit most of it whilst sitting in the store with Liane (Haley was off for a weekend of fun!). I finished it that night whilst watching Lost on my old Sony Vaio! It's cute! I look cute with it on (Of course I always look cute!)! I also have enough to make another one or two! Maybe one of my nieces or my sister would like one!

I just changed my Greens+ product. I was taking the smoothie a day stuff, which I thought was pretty sweet. I just started today the Greens+Daily detox the green apple flavour. Dang is it sweet! There is also a tea flavour, but this container was labelled $10 cheaper than any other container (Obviously a mistake on the person tagging!) so I got this one. I think I will try the tea flavour next time.

I started back doing my at home resistancey stuff. You know squats, lunges, abs, arms that sort of stuff. I stretched afterwords, but my butt is still feeling it. But in a good way!

I biked to the office this morning & it put a great big grin on my face. I love it. I am glad that 1. My Mum is back to drive my Dad to work or he can now drive himself & 2. It is not humid outside!

I am happy to announce that despite feeling gross I stayed the same when I weighed in today. I was positive I was going up. But it didn't happen! Now I think with the return of real exercise in the next couple of weeks ( I am going back to swimming 3-4x a week) & with the watching a bit more carefully, some of this weight will come off!

Have you ever noticed the suggestions for possible corrections of your spelling? It can be quite entertaining!

I haven't had a cup of tea or coffee yet this morning! Talk about weird!

More fall colours!

Good Monday morning to you all!

Here is another shot of lovely fall colours to add to you collection.

FYI! I will probably start writing on weekends starting in the next couple of weeks. I will now have easier access to a computer at home so I will be able to write randomly on the weekends as well.

Right now, my brother is staying with us and he is sleeping in the room with the computer. He leaves on Friday, so I'll probably start this weekend!

I will be even more random later!

Crappy day for me!

This is underneath that tree from yesterdays photo.

I am not going to write much, because I feel crappy!

I think it is a mixture of the weather, going in & out of hot & cold & maybe I have been o ding on too much caffeine (which I am about to get a cup of now. But it is my first of the day!). I also think I may have eaten something yesterday (in the wheat & gluten world) that has mad me feel lethargic since. No more Ginger for me!

Picture of the day!

Even though the weather is not as disastrous, I thought I would continue with the colours of fall photos.

This again was taken Thanksgiving weekend 2008. The car was covered in leaves & the colours were stunning!

Trying to keep it cool!

In continuing with a theme of cooler, less humid times, I give a colours of fall photo.

This was taken thanksgiving weekend last year in a walk around the hood!

The colours I saw that day were amazing. I am not sure my photos do them justice (yet!). Hopefully I will be able to get some amazing photos this fall!

Random random random

Well now that I have finally cooled off from my trip to work this morning, I can actually form a thought.

Random 1
I am growing my hair out. It is only just long enough for tiny pigtails. I can't collect the long bangs yet. I need to get all the hair off my neck so I look like the 1 year old who doesn't have enough hair yet. The upper part of my hair is a nest! Thanks Humidity!

Random 2
Tom Delay (a republican politician) is going on Dancing with the Stars. WTF? As Basil has said I guess he's not running for the presidential nomination!

Random 3
I down loaded a bunch of songs on my ipod. The majority of them are upbeat dance tunes. I was obviously in a good mood if I down loaded them. I keep a running list going of the songs I want. Therefore I won't miss one when I actually get down to getting them. I down loaded some Eminem -obviously he is not an upbeat dance tune maker. I also picked "this woman's work" by Maxwell & "Wicked Game" by Chris Issaack - again not upbeat dance songs, but nice songs. Al
Also for all you Lost freaks ( I include myself in that category!), there is a by Joe Purdy called "Washed Away" that Hurley listens to on his discman before it loses power.
Then there is some Madonna, PCD (Forgive me!), Ciara, Lady Gaga & some other tunes that you would hear & go oh yeah that one.
I also did a bit of Jackson music. Dirty Diana & Will you be there? (The long version) I downloaded Torture (Jacksons) & Jermaine's smash hit "Dynamite."

What was fun was while I was listening to them getting supper ready for my Dad, I totally geeked out dancing to the music. My dog even tried to dance with me, even though she couldn't hear the music because I had my ear buds.

Random 4
My sister & her family came back from Emgland on Friday night. They came over Saturday for a swim & to give me a couple of presesnts. The first was a box of British Smarties. They are different than Canadian Smarties because they add a bit of flavouring to them i.e. One has an orange flavour one tastes kind of peachy. Really weird.

They also bought a small tin that is a double decker bus that holds english breakfast tea in it. I had the tea this morning and it was yummy. I don't normally do english breakfast tea.

Random 5
After last weeks abysmal weight gain of 3.8lbs. I have some how managed to lose all of it plus a little extra. I suspect there must have been something in my system, that hadn't made it's way out yet.

That means my goal for my friends wedding is going ahead quite well!

Stay COOL ALL!

Hot mess Monday!

Due to the humidity in our fair city & all I want to do is be cranky. I am putting up the picture of the snow tree. Maybe it will cool myself & everyone else off!

If I'm feeling better later, maybe I'll write some of my witticisms!

Photo Phriday!

Good Friday morning to you all!

This is a second ivy sun shot from the backyard. What this shows is not only my love of how the light is reflecting in the leaves, but there is also a reflection in the window. I am a reflection photo freak. I have taken a lot and at some point will make a collection of reflections. I think it will be called collection of reflection.

So I have three groups of works that I am hoping to put together:

1. The importance of being Urnest

2.Birds on a wire

3.Collection of reflection.

So now I actually have to get my butt in gear & get them ready, printed & framed!

I also have been inspired by the subway. There is a walkway at St Patrick subway station that is mint green tiles. When walking it, it can feel claustrophobic. I want to take pictures of it & go along the subway line & RT route to capture the entrances to the stations.

Another collection would be one of Toronto buildings, included in that would be the claustrophobic building shot that showed up earlier in the pictures.

I've got to go find a book & write these down!

Cats & Dogs

Good morning all!

This is a picture of my dog Silvia.

She is a beautiful yellow lab who is almost 9 years old. This is not the best picture of her, but it is hard to take her picture as she is almost always moving.

I picked this picture today because of the incident we had just as we were starting the morning walk today.

One of my neighbours has a Persian cat. I don't think I've ever seen a cat with so much attitude. EVER!

Anyhoo, Silvia loves to bark at & chase cats, birds & squirrels. So of course when she sees the cat across the street she barks & pulls on her leash. The cat just sat there looking disdainfully at her.

I pulled on the leash to try & keep her calm & away from the cat. But Silvia pulled & pulled. She pulled so hard, that the ring the leash was clipped to broke & all of her tags went flying everywhere.

Needless to say, Silvia did not get the cat. It took off after Silvia headed her way.

So that is the reason for today's picture!

The system is down! The system is down!

So my office computer has been getting gradually worse & worse since Thursday afternoon. It likes to just turn itself off & reboot. Sometimes there is a blue screen at first. Sometimes it just goes black! Let me just say that it is one of the most annoying things ever!

I am in the middle of typing something & before I get a chance to save it, it crashes in front of my eyes. It makes me not want to do the work, so that I don't have to keep going & going with the exact same information time & time again!

When I tried to print some stuff it is saying that I don't have a printer connected to my computer. I have my administrative printer, the main photocopier & the secondary photocopier at my ready. So the computer is lying!

So how am I typing now, you may ask. I am sitting at the older, somewhat slower computer in the Admin office.

I have told Basil, the lawyer who also is the computer guy, that to deal with this problem, we should just switch to Macs. But seeing as he is not the one with the cash to pay for it, I am stuck with my stupid corrupted computer!

I don't know when this is going to get fixed. Hopefully before the weekend, but as Basil is busy & still trying to figure out the problem, I am not going to hold my breath.

Ah technology! Love it, but hate it all the same! I guess this is where the adage there is a fine line between love & hate can be applied!

The title of this post is also in reference to homestarrunner.com. Strong bad has emails, & there is an email that is called Techno, which uses the title as part of it's music. Now for your homework assignment. Go to homestarrunner.com and find the strong bad email Techno.

Class dismissed!

Good Ol' Toronto

Hello all!

This picture has new & old combinations. That is one of my "fascinations." I love pictures of opposites, unusual colours, unusual angles.

This one was taken walking along Queen Street heading towards the Eaton Centre. The concrete is from city hall. The old building is old city hall. And then there is the newer(in relationship to the other buildings) building next to the Eaton Centre.

I find this to be an interesting juxtaposition of architecture!

Toronto? Tokyo? New York?

I can give you some hints as to where this photo is taken.
1. I have never been to Tokyo
2.I did not have this camera the last time I was in New York
3. The name of the city is in the bottom right hand corner.

The answer is....... TORONTO!

What intrigues me is how much Toronto is starting to look like any other major city with large buildings, the hustle & bustle of people.

This is shot on Dundas, just before University looking towards Yonge. Yonge & Dundas isn't the same as I remember it as a child. The major changes started when I moved to Montreal for university in the Mid 90's. They have continued over the 11 years I have since lived here. The Toronto Eaton Centre now seems to be enveloped by Ryerson University. Is this progress? I don't really know.

I guess my sentimentality is really stemming from my walk up Yonge Street the other day to my boss' for dinner. Looking at the old Sam the Record Man building (which has been taken over by Ryerson!), has made me slightly nostalgic for my youth.

It's amazing what a photo can do in evoking emotions.

Random Mondays

Persnickety!

Shenanigans!

Those are words I enjoy. I am going to think of a whole bunch & type them out!

RANDOM CHANGE!
This humidity is awful! My hair is now a fro! I admit that I did wash my hair last night & not add any product to it. But the humidity adds to the overall largeness that is my hair!

QUICK CHANGE!
The thunder storms last night were beautiful! I had a bath with lights flashing and sounds going. It was pretty awesome. I tried to take some pictures, but they weren't so awesome! I need to work on those kinds of pictures!

MORE RANDOMNESS!
I worked on my Dad's blanket some more this weekend. I have finally made it to the 2nd ball of each colour. There are about 200yrds per ball & I am using 5 different colours so you are looking at 1000yrds of woolly warmness!

OH LOOK MORE RANDOMNESS!
I bought an great camera bag. Unless I am an idiot, there is no way any part of the camera is going to fall out of it!

RANDOM WARS
I need to walk over to where Sam the Record Man once was. The side of the building still stands & there is some cool wall advertising on it. My Dad & I both love that stuff!

THE RANDOM STRIKES BACK!
I also need to go over to Riverdale Park on the farm side & the Broadview side(That may be a different park, but I don't know). The view of the city is great. If I can get there later in the evening, then I could take some beautiful pictures.

RETURN OF THE RANDOM!
I am again on a junk detox! I ate far too much crap in the last week. So I am now going to take another break from the junk! I will do a real cleanse in the fall once the humidity is not so bad!

Importance of being Urnest part 3!

Good Monday!

I will write more later on a I have been having a crappy day already at 9:16am. But I thought I would post my daily picture for all to see.

This is another of the Urn. It was taken this spring. I have taken a few more shots this summer, but they are still on the photo card. I will see if they are any good!

The importance of being Urnest #2

Good Friday morning to you!

This is picture the urn once again. Obviously it was taken in the winter. The snow is a dead give away eh?

Sorry I don't feel like pontificating at the moment. It was a late night at my boss' for dinner & I haven't fully woken up yet.

Maybe I'll write again!

Thurday thoughts

So the weekend is almost here!

I will not be at stitch n' bitch tonight as my boss is having all of us on the floor for dinner. No he's not eating us. He is having us to his home. He normally has us in the summer & at Christmas time. It will be a nice evening of getting to know some of the newbies starting at 1:30pm today.

This is a church weekend for me. I am singing at a wedding on Saturday & then its my turn for the summer service. I am singing the Lakme duet for the wedding & Do what you have to do for the service. So it's a pretty good singing weekend.

I was hoping to do some photography, but it looks like the weather is not going to co-operate with me this weekend.

I showed my Dad the beginnings of his blanket. I wold say that it is a large lap blanket at the moment & is going to get bigger. It is a log cabin design. Dad had told me he wanted it to be brick colours, so it's been in reds & browns & looks pretty good. The final step in the blanket will be to go to the fabric store & line the back of the blanket in matching colours. I'm thinking a nice fuzzy flannel

I tried to take a picture of it, but it looked terrible in the light. I have to try & figure out how to take a good indoor shot of my work without it looking bright Orange.

Dad really liked it & even said that he wants to die under that blanket. Which from him is a compliment.

It was nice to see my Dad's reaction to it. I admit that for me making stuff for people & getting their reactions when I give them is what I enjoy. There is nothing like giving a hand-knit pair of socks to your niece who hates socks & she puts them on right away that feels really good.

The importance of being Urnest!

This is the first in my series of 3(I believe there is a fourth hiding on my Dad's computer!) urn shots.

Again this was taken in the backyard. This was taken in the fall of 2008. The first shot of it was taken in the summer 2008. I was intrigued by all the cracks in the urns & new that each season it would change in character. So I have returned at different points in the season to see how the split develops.

Wednesday Photo!

This is the second of the framed reflected light. It goes with the one posted yesterday.

Obviously this is not the same kind of leaf. It was also taken in the backyard last August.

Later on I will show you the Urn series. Those will also end up as a framed series, when I get a chance to do some work on them.

I also have a pigeon series in the works. It's better than it sounds. I won't explain it now.

Will write more later!

New link

Please check out the new link on the left.

For those of you who would like to know what I am involved in you can get a sense of the work we do. Although I am indirectly helping (I am the office administrator & do all the background stuff so the Lawyers can do there work!) the work is important!

This is one of our clients and the word needs to get out!

A smidge of random - but not really

My Dad is great. I broke a small camera lens & he has given me (I am not sure if he GAVE it to me or if it's a loner!) a new short lens. But my god is a great lens. I have been pretty bad at taking pictures inside the house. I am learning on my own & therefore I have experimented a lot!

But this lens is fantastic. Almost every photo was great! I did play with the isos so when playing with isos I caused some funky looking photos.

It was my friend Cassandra's birthday this weekend. She lives in Unionville (just Northeast of Toronto). Her house is the Bed & breakfast and spa (see link to the right!). So while I was there, I went out and took a bunch of photos. Cassandra, if you're reading this, I will hopefully get those pictures out there and posted some time soon!

I am currently using a card that has an 1800 photo capacity. I am in the 1200 range of photos left. So I better get cracking! I wish I had the camera for the dog walk this morning. I would have done garbage shots.

I have made 2 dish cloths for the office. My boss was quite impressed. I am going to make one more for the office and then make face cloths for myself (add that to the list of things to make).

I am going to work on my niece Avery's red crocheted bag. That is the current need to make. Then it's onto my sister's crocheted bag. I need to continue work on Dad's blanket and just sew Mum's sweater together. I will have he sweater done before she returns from England in a few weeks.

Once all that is done, I am making me a shrug! I have been planing it for months now. I am excited to make a piece of clothing for myself!

Tuesday's picture!

Good morning all!

Here is one of my favourite photos!

It is a small piece of Ivy hanging off the wall of my house.

I thought the way the light hits it was quite beautiful.

I actually printed this photo as a batch of photos in December. I finally went found a frame for it & a match for the other leaf photo I printed as well yesterday (Thank-you Winners!).

The photos look really nice together!

Some actual randomness to come soon!

Picture #6

Good Monday morning to you all!

I am at work and I will write more later. But I did want to post my latest picture.

I call this "Claustrophobic in the City."

I took this while walking down near the SkyDome(Rogers Centre). What originally struck me about this picture is the different colours and textures all the buildings created.


But after looking at it for a while I would get a little dizzy. If you notice there are no spaces between the buildings which causes the claustrophobic feeling.


If we want to get all philisophical, it could be representative of how the building up of tall structures cause us to lose hope. All of the people settled in as small a space as possible without the possibility of parole. Parole the freedom of light, air, green spaces,etc.

What a cheerful thought for a Monday!