| Decking the halls . . . |
[18 Dec 2009|08:39am] |
We haven’t really gone for the christmas-in-the-country look for years. So there’s been no need for me to be out there in the woods gathering cedar boughs or bunches of bittersweet, those wonderful orange-red berries that cost the earth in town but can be had here for nothing of you know where to look. Or looking for stores that sell just the right kind of raffia to tie them all together.
We do, though, have a big fake tree and of course a ton of ornaments and it takes a full day to join the two in holy matrimony, and to tart up the rest of the house. For this task, I turn to the TV music channels for christmas cheer. This year I started, bravely, with a good two hours of Kenny G-style noodlings, labelled as "Light Jazz", pleasant enough in small doses and if you have a high tolerance for pain, but which grow tiresome after too many chestnuts roasting on an open fire, with saxophone. So I switch the channel to "Christmas Classics", more of the same but substituting Elvis for Kenny G, same songs. I tire of Perry Como, Little Drumer Boys et al too after a couple of hours, and turn the stuff off. It feels good. (I wonder what people do who work in stores or a mall, and have to listen to these roasting chestnuts every day for hours on end. Does it drive them bonkers by December 24 or what?)
Anyway, I took a video of the living room.
The home decor bibles say silver and gold, mixed together, are THE colours to go for this year. I ignored them, of course, although you’ll see touches of both colours around the room. This year, though, we abandoned our all-silver tree for one with lots of red. Martha Stewart might not like it, but at least the dogs are impressed. The swathes of red tulle–like material you see here, in our one act of eco-responsibility in 2009, were recycled from Maskara II, the Halloween party we organized at the town hall two months ago. Of course, we also used the disembodied heads What would christmas be without dragging these out, if only to annoy ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fivecats?
Anyway, more pics behind the cut. Clicky?
( Read more... )
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| Tango |
[18 Dec 2009|02:49pm] |
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Asi se Baila el Tango by Veronica Verdier |
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N and I have been chatting about dancing classes we were forced to take growing up, and he is keen on picking it up again.
When I said "The Tango as well???" I gotta say his comment cracked me up.
"What's not to like....it allows me to grope women!"
Posting two of my favourite tango movie scenes....gotta say i prefer the Antonio one....SOOOOOO HOT!!
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| Dudley in the snow |
[17 Dec 2009|08:24am] |
Right now, the snow isn't all that deep, and it has a bit of a crust on it. So shorty-legs Dudley is able to navigate through it quite well, albeit with a series of rabbit hops that I find quite endearing. But it’s cold outside, -15C as I speak. Did I tell you I hate winter? Several times? Ok, then. Let's move on.
I haven’t mentioned the camera club lately. It's still very much taking baby steps, and I haven’t been able to go to all the meetings, but Tuesday night's one went OK. I’m still having trouble with the low experience level of most members. I was hoping for a good mentor or two, and a good learning experience, but that seems unlikely. In fact this week, they had an "expert" panel answering questions, of which I was a member, which tells you just how in need of experienced photographers they are.
In other news, I took my desktop in to Business Depot for a look-see this week, as it kept crapping out on me; the thing would just shut down by itself in the middle of doing something. Turns out it was a dust build-up on the graphics card. The joys of living in a three-pet family, I say.
In other, other news, I haven’t written much about SYTYCD this season, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been obsessed, as usual. The finale last night saw the wrong guy picked as winner (shit happens.) That’s not to say that Russell wasn’t a stellar contender, but Jakob was in a class by himself and clearly should have taken the prize. Hopefully Jakob will become a force to be reckoned with in the dance world now; even though fame in that field is quite rare (how many currently famous male dancers can you name?) he has that potential. Anyway, here he is on this week’s performance show. He’s astonishingly good here, I think, so is she. Lovely choreography by Desmond Richardson too.
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| The torch |
[16 Dec 2009|08:58am] |
To Brighton yesterday, to see the Olympic Torch on the local leg of its long journey to Vancouver and the Winter Olympics.
It sounded like a good photo op. I thought about seeing it in Brighton proper, but decided a view of the event in a more rural setting might be more interesting. As it happened, quite a few people had the same idea, so a deserted highway setting this was not. Still, all looked promising as the entourage approached.
Outside the main population centres the torch passes with less hoopla than you might expect. Still, there is a gaggle of folks in bright red trucks handing out Canadian flags and, just a hint of sponsorship here, free Cokes. Then police cars with flashing lights and finally the torch bearer. Who for this leg, turned out to be an older gentleman, who, for his moment in the spotlight, looked surprisingly unemotional. His uniform was quite fetching, but I just know jawnbc will do this with so much more pizzazz.
To say I’m not well versed in sports stuff is an understatement. (Meirion’s gay genes are defective, so he is.) Anyway, I somehow had the impression that the flame, kept alight at all costs, was born by runners across Canada, all the way from Greece in fact, except for the wet parts, like the Atlantic Ocean. Not so. The lit torch – or torches, each runner has his/her own - is in fact carried only through communities of note. Once the runners get outside of town, the torch is put out after the flame is transferred to some itsy-bits wick or something – you see the process in the last photo – and the wick essentially put on the bus to the next community. Meanwhile the runners get a ride back home.
So, after the Brighton torch had been put out and the flaming wick left for the next stop, I thought I could beat it to the next little community, Colborne, which I did. I stationed myself on the other side of Colborne for an even more rural/deserted-highway type shot, with hopefully a more enthusuiastic torch bearer. But it was not to be. The entourage stopped a good quarter of a mile away, and I could just make out, way off in the distance, the torch being extinguished, the wick lit – and everyone getting back on the bus for the next leg. Oh well.
So it was kind of both a momentous occasion, and an exercise in frustration. Still, I’m glad I went. I’m sure the torch’s progress through larger communities will be more impressive than though the backwaters of rural Ontario, and by the time it gets to Vancouver, it will be wild. All it needs is a diva or two to really liven things up with a touch of fabulousness.
Which is exactly where jawnbc comes in. . . .
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| Lost Cause?? |
[16 Dec 2009|11:46am] |
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Bad Romance - Lady Gaga |
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I had pre christmas drinks with my dragonboat team mates yesterday....which is always fun.
I did make a comment that almost made our captain fall off his chair. Instead, he just slapped his forehead and mumbled...."Ness...you have rendered me speechless again!"
All I said was "You know? My new year resolution was to actually turn up for Saturday paddles more often...then what do you do??! You schedule the first paddle on my birthday. Now I got to find a new resolution! tsk!"
Come to think of it...it is kinda funny...hehehehehe.
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| LOTD |
[15 Dec 2009|11:27am] |
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Bad Romance - Lady Gaga |
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i have been re-watching Margaret Cho's standup comedy, and even though some of the political jokes are dated....it's still great.
I was watching her standup on the train to work today, and I just couldn't keep my laffs in....i caught myself laffing out loud a couple of times. I am sure people on the train must have thought I was a mental patient...but who cares!
Margaret Cho is fab and I have attached one of my favourites here.
( video under cut )
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| Zane and Leahs Dark Sound Day! |
[15 Dec 2009|08:04am] |
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Zane and Leahs Dark Sound Day, 16th Jan 2010 10am – 10pm. Like the darker psyed of music ranging from psy, hardcore, breaks, break core, goth, noise etc then b sure 2 b there. There will b DJs, a blow up swimming pool and a whole lot of fun ;) Message me for further details if required. Also If u r coming feel free to bring who ever u want and if they can DJ then that’s even better :D
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| Up against a wall |
[14 Dec 2009|09:08am] |
I’m not sure why I like taking photos of people with posters as background, but here are three more. The first is in the distillery district (Toronto) taken last Saturday, with The Cloyce. The other two were taken in a mall in Peterborough. Without The Cloyce.
We were in Toronto Saturday to meet up with The Cloyce and Lorenzo for dinner and theatre. But first, enthusiastic shoppers all, we christmas shopped, initially at Bayview Village, which I discovered is great for eyeing over-priced baubles, although I bought little, except for a lady’s scarf (for me). Then down to the more funky, but still tres expensif, Distillery District, downtown. Chocolates and a cheapo watch were the haul here. Dinner was at Seven Numbers on The Danforth (trendy, mid-priced, mid-quality Italian fare) and then we trotted down the street to see The Toxic Avenger, The Musical, a cross between Rocky Horror and Little Shop of Horrors. It turned out to be a gem of a show, mad funny and clever as all get out. There’s one indescribable moment in it that’s as brilliant as anything I’ve seen on stage, ever. We’ll be going back again before it closes January 2. It’s that good.
On later, to the casino at Ajax (did I mention this was a jam-packed day?) which I don’t particularly like – it’s just too small nad noisy - where I thankfully lost only a minimal amount of money. We got back home about 1.30 a.m. Altogether, a great day out.
Yesterday, we picked up the dogs from the boarding kennels where they had spent the previous 24 hours – boy, do they love that place – then it was mostly a day at home, for a change. Meirion dragged the tree up from the basement; I always forget what a big chore this is, and by the time I had it decorated – we have a fabu different look this year, although the disembodied heads remain, but in a sea of red – it was close to dinner time.
Kim came over to help us finish home-made Indian leftovers (yum) and then we watched Love Actually, which is becoming a bit of a christmas ritual for us. It’s a lovely little film that has a finding-love-at-christmas theme, that I bet lots haven’t discovered.
Today, I have to go down to Cobourg to take my PC in for a look-see, as it keeps crapping out on me. It's only a few months old. I enlisted Meirion’s help, in between christmas chores yesterday, to have an online chat with the support guys as I don’t speak their language, but as the PC kept crapping out on him while doing so, that proved unproductive. So in to the shop it goes.
The result? I may be off-line for a day or two. Amuse yourselves somehow, won’t you?
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| Up in smoke |
[11 Dec 2009|07:36am] |
Perhaps my fascination with the world of Mad Men started it. That series, which I’ve praised here before, deals in some detail with the world of advertizing in the early 60's. That era, and the years before it, saw inventive ways being found to promote the benefits of smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol that seem truly bizarre now. In any event, I recently picked up a little book What’s your Poison by Kirven Blount. It’s full of illustrations of this kind of advertizing, bordering on camp, whose messages seems just mind-blowing perverse. I’ve included a couple of examples below.
I particularly like the one “More Doctors Smoke Camels Than Any Other Cigarettes". (Weren’t Camels, if I recall, a bit of a rough smoke, to say the least?) Anyway, look on YouTube and you’ll find the related TV ad – it predated the Mad Men era by a good ten years. And it is absolutely, utterly insane.
My own history? In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a reformed smoker. I smoked heavily until six years ago. But then I joined a group of women who decided a joint effort would be the best way to quit. None of them made it; I somehow did. Although not my first attempt, I'd learned from my mistakes, and found it surprisingly easy this time around. But, like many reformed smokers, I guess my attitudes have hardened since towards those who still smoke. I try not to be judgmental, and I’m used to dealing with people with addictions of all kinds, but it’s difficult. I just don’t like smoking.
Not that I’m a stranger to foolish behaviour. I smoked long after I knew I was HIV positive which makes no sense at all, except perhaps that the stressors experienced by people with chronic conditions, not to mention issues like depression which often go hand-in-hand, sometimes manifest themselves in oddly destructive behaviours. Add to that the need for a crutch in hard times. With HIV, there was the belief that we were going to die anyway. Things have changed on that front, but for me, it took a little while for the penny to drop. For many it still hasn’t A recent Toronto-based research study showed that smoking rates are between 40%-70% in people living with HIV, versus 19% in the general population. Clearly, that’s something in our community that needs to change.
On a somewhat related note – at least it alludes to my health - I had my quarterly check-up at St. Mike's on Wednesday. Three points of note there. First, my nurse had read my blog entry on www.PositiveLite.com about my letter of complaint – and congratulated me. Secondly, the peripheral neuropathy in my feet, supposedly a side effect of Truvada, is getting much worse, but there’s nothing they can do about it. And third – here’s the yay part – my CD4 is up to 733. This is a measure, for those who don’t know it, of a person’s immune response; 733 is by far the best it’s been since I was diagnozed in 1993. Its approaching the normal range in fact. Pretty good, eh?
Almost good enough to celebrate with a cigarette. (Kidding!) How about another bizarre smoking ad instead?
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| LOTD |
[11 Dec 2009|10:57am] |
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Starlight - Muse |
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I was coming back from Canada, driving through Customs, and the guy asked, "Do you have any firearms with you?" I said: "What do you need
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| Thanks (2009) |
[10 Dec 2009|02:14pm] |
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Well 2009 is coming to an end…and I did my usual sit down and reflect on the year that is ending and be thankful for the little blessings I have received:
( click to read )
Thinking back…what are you most thankful about in 2009…do share J
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| Good Riddle |
[10 Dec 2009|10:23am] |
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Caught up with a friend a couple of evenings back and I got a great little riddle. He knows how much I like these sort of things… J
Try it out…see if you can figure it out.
( click for the riddle )
Comments with the right answers have been unscreened
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| Red cabbage |
[09 Dec 2009|05:45am] |
Today features red cabbage, one of the few vegetable I actually like. Cabbage, peas and beans. The list stops right about there.
Taking these photos reminded me that, when it comes to photographic equipment, you get what you pay for. I bought a too cheap tripod at the camera show in Toronto last fall. It seemed sturdy enough, but with the weight of the Nikon and a fairly heavy zoom lens, it's sensitive to even minimal vibrations. So you have to compensate with a faster shutter speed, or ISO, not necessarily desirable. Oh well.
In other news I go to Toronto today for my quarterly doctor's appointment at St Mike’s. Wonder whether they'll say anything about that letter of complaint I wrote? I’m meeting Meirion later, and we're having dinner with his sister. I was due to be in Toronto Thursday and Friday too, for meetings, but these have turned in to teleconferences that I can do from home. Teleconferences – they often go on for hours – are the pits, and frankly I'd rather attend in person, despite the travel time involved, but the weather is turning nasty by the minute, so perhaps it’s just as well.
I’ve been working on Christmas Cards. Making your own photo cards from scratch is a royal pain, of course, but I love the results. Hopefully the recipients do too.
I had my snow tires put on yesterday. I always leave it to the last minute. It’s getting very wintery outside; I'm not looking forrward to the drive to the train station.
Time to make cabbage soup, perhaps?
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| Busted |
[08 Dec 2009|07:37am] |
Taking this seemingly innocuous photo earned me a stern reprimand from a security guard in Toronto last week. Why she thinks I’m a threat to the office in whose lobby this was taken, where I was attending meetings last week, I don’t know. But clearly people like me who sometimes see beauty in the mundane, and like to pass it on, need to be taught a lesson.
It seems more than a little pathetic where concerns about national security have taken us. nalsa mentioned this phenomenon yesterday, referencing the situation in the UK, and a move to improve things in that country here. Let’s hope we smarten up here in Canada.
Anyway, here’s another one that could be interpreted as me being busted. Of course, in taking photos of kilt-wearing band members from ground level, some will think I had evil on my mind. Let them think! (Of course, they might just be right . . .)
The occasion, as if you hadn’t guessed, was Last Friday’s Santa Claus Parade. Nanookville has a splendid night-time one, way exceeding what a little village like ours could reasonably expect to put on.
A couple of photos behind the cut of two of the more important parade participants . .
( Read more... )
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| 15 Minutes...Dinner is Ready! |
[08 Dec 2009|11:22am] |
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Yup, I kid you not…this was done in 15 minutes. Dad looked at me like I was trying to pull a fast one when I told him dinner was ready. He just looked at me bewildered and said “But you just walked into the kitchen a second ago!”
All true. Dinner was pork steak wrapped in bacon, potatoes, baked apples and beans tossed in a Japanese sesame dressing. 5 minutes prep, and while the potatoes, apples and the pork steaks were in the oven, I prepped and boiled the beans…tossed it in the dressing and everything was ready at the same time! I even had some time to spare after prepping the beans, so I fried up some fresh sage leaves….love crispy sage leaves with pork. YUMMS.
Didn’t salt the pork steaks before popping them in the oven cos the bacon is salty enough, I just peppered it. Didn’t even bother salting the potato balls cos the bacon juice will salt them.
Overall, it was such a healthy meal. We enjoyed dinner.
( recipe and one more picture )
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| LOTD |
[08 Dec 2009|11:02am] |
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During the Great Depression, there was a man who walked into a bar one day. He went up to the bartender and said, "Bartender, I'd like to buy the house a round of drinks."
The bartender said, "That's fine, but we're in the middle of the Depression, so I'll need to see some money first."
The guy pulled out a huge wad of bills and set them on the bar. The bartender can't believe what he's seeing. "Where did you get all that money?" asked the bartender.
"I'm a professional gambler," replied the man.
The bartender said, "There's no such thing! I mean, your odds are fifty-fifty at best, right?"
"Well, I only bet on sure things," said the guy.
"Like what?" asked the bartender.
"Well, for example, I'll bet you fifty dollars that I can bite my right eye," he said.
The bartender thought about it. "Okay," he said.
So, the guy pulled out his false right eye and bit it. "Aw, you screwed me," said the bartender, and paid the guy his $50.
"I'll give you another chance. I'll bet you another fifty dollars that I can bite my left eye," said the stranger.
The bartender thought again and said, "Well, I know you're not blind, I mean, I watched you walk in here. I'll take that bet." So, the guy pulled out his false teeth and bit his left eye.
"Aw, you screwed me again!" protested the bartender.
"That's how I win so much money, bartender. I'll just take a bottle of your best scotch in lieu of the fifty dollars," said the man.
With that, the guy went to the back room and spent the better part of the night playing cards with some of the locals. After many hours of drinking and card playing, he stumbled up to the bar. Drunk as a skunk, he said, "Bartender, I'll give you one last chance. I'll bet you five hundred dollars that I can stand on this bar on one foot and piss into that whiskey bottle on that shelf behind you without spilling a drop."
The bartender once again pondered the bet. The guy couldn't even stand up straight on two feet, much less one. "Okay, you're on," he said.
The guy climbed up on the bar, stood on one leg, and began pissing all over the place. He hit the bar, the bartender, himself, but not a drop made it into the whiskey bottle.
The bartender was ecstatic. Laughing, the bartender said, "Hey pal, you owe me five hundred dollars!"
The guy climbed down off the bar and said, "That's okay. I just bet each of the guys in the card room a thousand bucks each that I could piss all over you and the bar and still make you laugh!"
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| Just one of those days.... |
[08 Dec 2009|01:47am] |
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Where I am so thankful for the things I have in my life....the people...the love....the support...in general thankful that things are wonderful...and i have had the opportunity to stop...smell the roses..and just grin.
Sounds so very silly...but honestly...stop...take stock of what is going on around before the crazy festive season....there is heaps to be thankful about....stop and smell...before the crazy season begins :).
I don't care if i am early...happy holidays....businesses are winding down for the festive season....take the opportunity to stop and just look around....heaps to rejoice about :)!
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| It’s that time of year . . . |
[07 Dec 2009|08:58am] |
Here you see Dudley getting in to the Christmas spirit. He’s so happy (can't you tell?) to be part of all this. Anyway, while we were busy tormenting him and off-camera Dougall, it only made sense to get out the camera and do the prep work for our Christmas cards. That way we can celebrate the holiday season and Animal Cruelty Month in one fell swoop. Neat, eh?
I must say, though, that this session not only taxed my camera batteries – you have to take hundreds of shots to get anything suitable – but also my patience. But after a few hours of fidgeting, wandering off or otherwise being uncooperative, the dogs go in to the zone, a catatonic state, where they resign themselves to their fate. They won’t exactly crack a smile, mind you, but at least they will stay put. The promise of treats over-rides the quest for dignity, as it always does in these circumstances.
Anyway, who wants a ccard this year, something like this, featuring either one or both of the pups? I’d love to send you one in recognition of all the joy reading your posts has bought to our household. So – drop me a line at baxter@accel.net indicating your name and postal address, along with your user name, and I’ll get one out to you real fast.
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