The Motorcycle that Floated

Lots of motorcycle-related news today because they are changing the laws to try to prevent deaths on the road. A mother spoke eloquently about the loss of her son who died on a bike.

In another story, a man found a rusty Harley Davidson in a floating container and traced it back to Japan.

Did Blim

I had fun at Blim today and thanks again to the friends who came out and supported my commercial venture. I sat next to a lovely potter and sipped Michael's awesome sangria all afternoon. It was fun watching everybody set up and seeing how the pros carry and display their stuff in efficient and creative ways. Now I'm back to an intensive bit of writing for my next gig, which is a talk about my prairie culinary roots at Stone Soup on May 12.

My mother just told me that the neighbor's spaniel was lost for 5 days and they just found him trapped in a granary. He had survived by eating mice, but was severely dehydrated. Poor mite.

Lemon Meringue Pick-Me Up

I've just read another Icelandic novel by Arnaldur Indridason: Arctic Chill. This novel contains fascinating insights into the island's culture and attitudes towards racial difference and suicide.
Top notch.

Today I felt like my body was in a different atmosphere from my mind, which happens quite a lot lately. I was brought out of my spring torpor by a lovely slice of lemon meringue pie, much appreciated. The strong black tea and a matcha latte were also part of the chemical lift.

I made kale pesto with sunflower seeds instead of nuts: kale wilted with garlic, sprinkled with lime juice and salt whizzed in the food processor with toasted sunflower seeds. Simples! Served on whole wheat spaghetti.

Two sleeps until Blim Market!

Taming the Wild Alberta Rose

It infuriates me that an ultra-right wing party affiliates itself with such a beautiful fragrant flower. I guess that's supposed to cover the stink of b-shit. Thank goodness they didn't get voted into power. As Christie Clark runs around in a panic trying to paint the NDP party as rampant communists she seems to be trying to form a fake alliance with the PC's saying the free enterprise parties must stick together or the sky will fall in? Whose sky? And whose sky is it anyway when American Space Cowboys proclaim they're gonna go out an lasso and few mineral-rich asteroids. Those idiots will start a global war--or an interplanetary battle.

These are the thoughts that nag at me as by back muscles convulse and send pain messages to all parts of my body. I've been burning through books: The Vault, by Ruth Rendel (I enjoy her deft sketches of characters), She Felt No Pain by Lou Allin (set in Sooke),  and the epic A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson (fascinating history).

Tonight I made lentils and spaeztle like my mom used to make, only substituted a smoked turkey leg for a ham bone and the little red lentils which cook more quickly than the brown ones. Needs Riesling!

Getting Attention

I've decided that "getting attention" is considered very important to an artist's personal success these days. Presently, I feel attracted to solitude and privacy as an artist. There's always a push-pull going on there with revealing and concealing.

My recent baking projects have included chocolate chip cookies and homemade crumpets. I think the crumpet recipe I used needs buttermilk and baking soda.

I witnessed a lovely interaction between a mother and her toddler at the bus stop. The toddler was screaming and her face was bloody. The mother was completely silent, but calm. She sat on the bus stop and fished in her pocket for a paper napkin and wiped the wee girl's face which made her cry even harder. Then she held her close and rocked her. The rocking motion gradually calmed the girl down. I was fascinated that the mother was completely mute. So unusual. A woman came by in a uniform. I thought she might be an EMT. She winced in sympathy at the girl's bloody face. The mother explained her child had fallen on her face on the cement. I thought the EMT would offer some help, but she just said, "Oh, that's a right of passage," and walked brusquely away.  The mother rocked the child until the girl suddenly just snapped out of her distress and then starting pointing and chatting at the buses and cars. I just smiled sympathetically and let the mother take control of the situation. Her body language was very closed in and self-contained, so I intuited that she wanted privacy.

The Dailies

I've been thinking a lot about habits recently, the negative and positive things we do daily. I think now that spring has come, gardening will shape my daily habits and rituals in a dramatic way. I've got to do a bit of weeding and edging the lawn every day, along with at least one garden project per day. I've got to stake the raspberries this week, attack the lamium and gout weed and finish planting my indoor seeds. Today I planted carrots, beets, and radishes and put in the pea starts I bought at the market. I also watched and listened to the bees in the azelea blossoms for fifteen minutes. I think I'll try to put in fifteen minutes of bee time every day.

I've also done a lot of sketching this week, finding it immensely satisfying, so I'm going to do one sketching project per day. Baking has just about become a daily ritual for me and the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies I made this week went down a treat. As my friends have just returned from Vienna I think this week I'll tackle the Sacher Torte. I'm also getting interested in making truffles again.

What are your spring dailies?

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning I went to put my photos of Easter weekend on my hard drive and the cable jammed out on me. I lost the photos. I walked Ullie to school, weeping. It was a bad morning. A really bad morning. I was so looking forward to sharing the images with friends and family and there was a lot of love in those photos. Of course the way my mind works I immediately associated this with other losses in my life and I crashed.

Well, I am such a lucky woman. Dr. Peter to the rescue! He ran a program that revealed all 3000 photos on that disc. As a reader of mysteries I know that IT forensics can uncover files that have been erased, so I did have a faint hope that those photos would be there. They are not on my hard drive yet, but pray to Jesus that which was lost will be found again.

I went and had dim sum with Peter in the DTES. Watching people stick their fingers in the sidewalk gaps for lost traces of spilled crack makes you realize how insignificant your problems really are. We have memories. We have love. We are blessed.

The Sugar Challenge

My beloved has challenged me to give up sugar for three weeks. Ha! This will not happen, but it is a wake-up call to cut back, way back. It's going to be hard because lately I've been baking almost every day because I find it so grounding and it does save us money in the long run.

Soooo, I just baked a batch of Thomas Haas's Chocolate Sparkle cookies. I even had a jar of blackberry honey which is precisely what the recipe calls for. The deeply satisfying smell of baked chocolate is permeating the house right now. And I only ate one. These cookies are also gluten free, so my I can make them for my friends who don't eat wheat.

I finally sowed some salad green seeds into my garden bed and yesterday I spent two full hours gardening--in our garden and Catherine's. My back was hella stiff this morning, but I do feel good now that I'm back working in the soil. I moved my rhubarb to a sunnier spot and replanted some tulip bulbs I dug up last year and overwintered in the porch. I also spent an hour cleaning out the back porch in preparation for planting seedlings. It's a beautiful sunny day today too! Yeehaw!

We've been watch a cop show set in Manchester called Life on Mars. I find it repetitive, contrived and flat, but I'm still watching it. I guess I'm indulging in the nostalgia of it, as it's set in the 70's.

The Ghost Ship

There is an abandoned Japanese squid fishing vessel wandering the coast of BC after becoming unmoored by the tsunami.

A man who walks his two schnauzers in our hood looks a lot like Freud. He even dresses like him in a tweedy sort of way. However, today he was wearing a raincoat and mountie hat, which was quite shocking after seeing him dress in camel's hair jackets and suits for years.

Okay, so now maybe I'll get a smart phone. Folks in Liverpool are scanning their Fair Trade food to see where it comes from.

Don't Be a Fool!

Don't forget today at 3pm Anakana Schofield launches her new novel Malarky at the People's Co-op Book Store on the Drive. There's gonna be honey blondies made by yours truly!