Saturday Bookmarks

A really good podcast makes my day. Check out Matching Outfits Not Included and the other stories on This American Life.

Watch The Wolfpack, then look at these photos. Discuss.

Let's make earth looms.

As we thought, varroa mites are compromising honeybees.

The Easter Bunny needs a home!

Rodeo Queen Triplets! Can they sing and dance too?

A powerful photo essay on Aboriginal tragedy in Australia.

A high school student in Alberta helps save the bees in Okotoks.

Sunday's Collection of Bookmarks

A fresh feminist voice in slam poetry.

Could Hot Hula be your new happy place? See you in class!

Unmaking a Home: A podcast that I found deeply moving. I've started to listen to the whole series.

Can you spot the bees on the latest Chanel collection? Too bad the models look so glum. Has Posh Spices' mask of tense unhappiness infected the crowd?

I'm intrigued by these Desperation Pie recipes in Bon Appetit magazine.

Volunteers in Japan work with dementia patients.

Goat butter fudge I hear your siren song.

Soul Train videos make me very happy.

Lego has changed its policy and Ai Weiwei is ecstatic.

Fantastic 70's garb from a band called Honey Cone.

Girls react to the new Barbie dolls.

Tools for Finding Equilibrium

Inspired by Spontaneous Happiness: A Path to Emotional Well-Being

By Andrew Weil (which I’m currently reading) and other sources. And many years of  experience. Feel free to add your own tips in the comments.

1)   Eat and drink half an hour after waking. Oily fish and/or other protein if possible.

canned salmon on toast

boiled egg

kedgeree

fish and brown rice

cashew spread and ancient grain no yeast toast

slow cooked oatmeal or birdseed porridge and milk

coconut milk and squash pudding

lean sausage and pancakes

sausage roll
lentil dahl

2)   Morning pages: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (the first book)

This helps a self-directed person shape their goals which shapes their day. It also helps you articulate and become aware of emotional states and barriers. It warms-up the brain and creates momentum.

3) Make sure you get enough Vitamin D, especially in winter

 This is good motivation to get out in the sun every day, but sometimes you need a supplement.

4) Take a brisk walk at least once a day. Aim for half and hour or more. Rain or shine. I find myself saying "brisk walk, brisk walk" as I go. Walking in nature is best. Trees and flowers have healing and restorative powers. Focusing on nature takes you out of yourself, which is a life-saver.

5) Monitor caffeine intake, especially if it affects your sleeping patterns. Learn your cut-off point during the day.

6) Find some “happy places” gardens, cafés, libraries, book shops, where you can refresh your spirit. Make a mental or actual map and form happy trails around the city. If you are feeling paralyzed, get out, get out and refresh yourself.

7) Find your passions, grand and small. Follow the trails down the rabbit holes or up the mountains. But look for and respect the guides and sherpas along the way. Tolkien may have said that not all who wanders is lost, but honey, it’s very easy to lose your way. Don’t be afraid to call for help.

8) Remain a life-long learner. Keep humble by trying new things and refreshing lost skills. This is also good for your brain. Upgrade skills you are good at.

9) Be silly and find people you can be silly with. Take your outrageous side for a walk.

10) Dress like you’re having fun. It will be a mitzvah, and reflect joy back at you.

11) Choose your battles. Relish some. Back the hell away from others.

12) Nip it in the bud. I used to have an algebra teacher that started every class with “Any difficulties?” Address them before they grow into larger difficulties.

13) Live in the economy of abundance. Think about what you can give away and who you can give it too. Make it a habit. Remember that even small things like pencils and erasers mean a lot to other folks.

14) Dare yourself to take yourself out of your comfort zone once in a while just to remember what that feels like.

15) I may not be a huge Woody Allen fan, but he did say something like "97% of success is showing up" and he was right.

16) Learn how to make decisions. Commit. Learn how to admit you’ve made the wrong decision and move on. Every day sees us making hundreds of decisions. Get used to it! Enjoy it when you can. Ask for help when you need it.

17) In North America, there is pressure to be cheerleaders for ourselves and others. Sometimes that’s appropriate and needed. Other times it’s just dumb. Especially if it is counter to authenticity. I like the way Dr. Weil describes the goal not as happiness, but as equilibrium. Take the good. Take the bad. Move on through the crowd. Don’t be over positive. Don’t beat yourself up. Just be. That way if someone tries to pin the blame on you, you can start from a neutral position, which is helpful.

18) Volunteering makes you high, gives you’re a free education, helps you make friends and improves your job potential and sex life. Need I say more?

19) Sing. Hum. Join a choir or band. Listen to music, but don’t get caught in a loop that traps you in one emotional state. Emotions need to move around. People need to be dynamic, even if in small degrees.

20) Define what ails you in a way that encompasses its complexity. Depression may be mixed with a cocktail of 50 shades of anxiety. Emotional instability  and oversensitivity may be mixed with emotional paralysis.

21) Do you read micro-expressions? Just be careful you don’t create a fiction about what other people are thinking. Because you just don’t know. You don’t. Dope smokers take note, especially.

22) Be an adult and put yourself to bed. Create a ritual that winds down the day and helps you sleep. Because sleep is f-king important to health and equilibrium.

23) Use your senses while you still have them. As John Denver would say “fill up your senses.” It’s good for your brain and body.

24) Make aging a group sport. Even if you are young, you are not as young as you used to be, so change your life habits to acknowledge and support your aging body.

25) Be body smart. Don’t wear out your joints with repetitive exercise, but choose a variety of activities that help you celebrate your range of motion, flexibility, endurance, and grace.

26) Keep a journal and make part of it an exercise in gratitude. Make them on books you can recycle because over the years you'll need to dispose of some of them. Keep maybe one a year. Always put the date and place you are writing from.

27) Be human and humanizing. If you are trapped in an uncomfortable situation, imagine you are a hostage and try to befriend your captors.

28) I have a problem with all that “live in the moment” b.s.. Life is complex and we are time traveling beings. We need to look both ways (past and future) before we cross the street. However, “being in the zone” is good for your sense of equilibrium.

29) Be light on your soul feet. Try to unburden yourself so your emotional footprints are not deep in sand or snow. Write it down. Talk to people. Put it in a boat and float it down the river.

30) As Joni Mitchell says “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.” Gardening is good for you. And I need your help to feed people and bees.

31) Write your job description down. Be clear. Ask yourself if this is what you want to do everyday. If not, you’d better rethink it. Do this even if you are self-employed.

32) Make rituals of sharing food and drink with family and friends.

Friday Links

 Hiya Friends,

I am reviving this blog as a space to share an eclectic selection of stuff.

First, an article in the Guardian that caught my eye after attending the book launch of an amazing memoir by Sonja Larsen, called The Red Star Tattoo.

A TEDx SFU talk by Aidan Scott that blew me away: Restoring Emotional Authority.

This New Zealand wedding video made me cry.

Haz U seen my Cuteness Pinterest Board?

Winners of the 2015 Audubon Photography Contest. 

Artist Ai Weiwei's beef with Lego and the public response. 

Fantastic news on Anakana Schofield's blog.

A touching blog post: Environmental rights are human rights by David Suzuki.

These photos of an abandoned cruise ship in Italy are disturbing.

Pixie grapes!

Mushroom sale!

Emergency Ready Food Connection Workshop on JAN 27
http://www.thefoodconnection.ca/#!news/cfng

Radius Fellow deadline on JAN 28
http://www.radiussfu.com/portfolio/fellowships-in-radical-doing/

DinnerPartyYVR Hobby Chef Signup by JAN 31
http://dinnerpartyyvr.com/hobby-chef-signup

Creativity workshop on Sunday, JAN 24. It will be a full day of relaxing body work and playfulness to unleash creativity.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/1947787212113036/
Picatic: www.picatic.com/UnleashCreativity/

And Speaking of Pickles

I seem to be under stress and I have been under stress for a few months now. It's that BIG PROJECT I'm working on. Every week I seem to have a new way of dealing with stress, but mostly I eat too much. I did have a lovely risotto at Trafalgar's with pickled sunchokes on top which inspired me to eat sunchokes again.

I am drinking a lot of kombucha, which I have grown to love so much that I have trouble keeping up for the demand. Peter calls it my fermented lady tea. Well he doesn't really, but that's what he's thinking.

I have just watched the two seasons of Green Wing, an absolutely amazing adventurous British comedy. The second season was gut-churningly disappointing, but season one is AMAZING. I may just have to watch it again while making felted sweater crafts. It is cold and rainy and today I may not have discovered the meaning of life, but I have discovered the meaning of "lek" and I like it.

The skies are pouring forth, which is good timing because I just planted a bunch more seeds, (including salsify) but bad timing for the fruit trees which have just come into bloom.

Contemplating Pickles

  As I am deciding what to grow this year, I'm thinking about fermenting. What can I pickle? I discovered some inspiring links. I love pickles in taco, in sushi rolls and as a side to curries. Wanna start a pickle club?

Pickled thyme by Sommerville kitchen

Sweet Pickled Pickles and YellowStonecrop Flowers

Pickled Cherry Blossoms

Pickled Chive Blossoms by Beth Dunham

Pickled Elderflower buds by Blooms and Food

Pickled Radish Seed Pods by GardenBetty

Pickled Nasturtium Seeds by Hitchikingto Heaving

Bon Appetit's quick pickled onions

Pickled red onions by Eat and Relish

Sweet Links for Teaching Kids About Bees

A Pictorial Guide to Bees of the Humboldt Bay Dunes by Susan E. Nyoka

Bee Basics: An Introduction to OurNative Bees by Beatriz Moissette and Stephen Buchmann,

USDA Forest Serve and the Pollinator Partnership

Common Bee Groups of California by the UC Berkely Urban Bee Lab

The Social Lives of Bees fromBeespotter

Sam Droege's slide show Native Bee Pollinators for Crops

Pollinators in the Garden: Forging Partnerships for Native Insect Conservation--Black, American 

PublicGardens Associate

Cranberry Recipes

 Okay folks, here's some recipes I'm working on. Let me know what you think!

1 12 oz bag of cranberries

1 large navel orange, peeled, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup raw organic or biodynamic honey

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

1 tsp freshly grated turmeric

pinch of salt

Pulse in a food processor to desired texture and eat with your favourite curry. No need to pulse it too long--I like to just make sure there's no whole cranberries left. Oranges and honey vary in sweetness, so be sure to adjust the honey to your taste. You can leave out the ginger and turmeric if you want. It's best if you have some raita and green salsa to serve with your curry as well.

If you have leftover sauce, just puree it until it's very fine and then make popsicles for the cold and flu season. You also can freeze some in ice cube trays and then make Shirley Temple smoothies with orange juice and/or hibiscus tea. You could add vodka to make a "Dirty Shirley."

Shirley Temple Smoothie:

1 cranberry chutney ice cube

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup hibiscus tea

1/4 cup coconut water

1/2 cup sparkling mineral water

Put it in a blender and blitz it, or experiment with layering the ingredients.

Dirty Shirley:

1 cranberry chutney ice cube--make it into crushed ice

1/4 cup orange juice

1 shot vodka

1/4 cup hibiscus tea

1/4 cup coconut water

1/4 cup sparkling water

I'm thinking we should make crushed ice out of the cube and then experiment with layering the ingredients.

Le Tigre Changes its Menu and I Almost Cry

We went to the Winter Farmer's Market today and I knew Le Tigre was going to be there, so being an addict, I let myself start jonesing for popcorn chicken and crack salad. I looked at the menu and almost fell over, because it has changed. "Don't worry, it's the same stuff, just a different menu," the guy tells me. Well, I ordered the Crack Salad, which is now officially called Crack Salad and it's even better than before with more veggies in it and kale chips on top. Happy Happy Joy Joy.  The chicken is now called something like That Frikken Chicken which is good, but it comes with a different sauce. Hello? That chicken is all about the spicy mayo. I accept the new sauce, but ask for the mayo, just in case I need it. The new sauce is a sesame oil and citrus sauce which is very nice, but mama needs her mayo and the mayo tastes even better than before, or maybe that's just because I haven't had it for such a long time.

Love ya, Le Tigre. Missing ya, Vij's. Ou es tu?

I am also loving the dried biodynamic cherries from Walter in Cawston. Those babies put all other dried cherries to SHAME.

Beta Testers Needed

I will be beta testing some lesson plans, projects and recipes in the next few months and I'm looking for friends and family to help out. One of my resolutions for the new year is to start measuring ingredients when I make recipes. Tonight we had spaetzle and lentils with a spinach salad. I made a dressing with the lovely Styrian Gold pumpkin seed oil mom bought us at the Winter Market. I mixed it with a glug of balsamic and a glurg of maple syrup. It was really nice with apples, pumpkin seeds and sweet and spicy pecans. I like using maple syrup in salad dressings because it tastes good and it emulsifies so easily in the dressing. Put the ingredients in a jar. Screw on the lid and shake. I like to keep it simple.

We had a really good discussion at the dinner table about the pathology of internet addiction spurred on by Q on CBC radio this morning. We also talked about  internet trolling, online community-building and sexism in birding.

Having tired of nonfiction I read the book I gave Peter for Christmas Called The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker which I devoured in one afternoon. I really enjoyed the book and especially liked the choices the author made in creating the character of the Golem, who will stick with me in my imagination for a long time. My only complaint is that she skimped a bit on the period costume detail.

What Do You Do in the Awkward Zone Between Christmas and New Year's?

taking photos of wasp nests in bared branches

starting to think about new year's resolutions

watching robins and starlings gather in the oak trees

experiencing a fond feeling for brussel sprouts

eating

granola and milk before bedtime

molasses ginger cake with eggnog and rum ice cream or apple sauce and caramel sauce

apples for breakfast

dried biodynamic cherries

really good salads--smoked trout, fennel, grapefruit and salmon roe

leftovers for lunch

indulging in two pots of good, strong tea at Shaktea, grooving to Ella Fitzgerald singing a-tisket a-tasket

sleeping in

discovering an online episode of Morse I had never watched before--like buried treasure

developing new lessons for next year's classes

revelling in warm, fuzzy feelings for family and friends

reading the obits of the famous people we lost this year

eagerly awaiting an autobiography by Nigella Lawson

going for a walk for no other reason than going for a walk (and finding jumbo croissants)

Keep Calm and Carry On Eating Turkey

 Hope you are having a fantastic Christmas.

Woodland Christmas Tree

I saw this at VanDusen and thought it was a cute idea--a woodland themed Christmas tree by the Garden Club of Vancouver: mushrooms, spiders, hummingbirds, deer, owls, ladybugs, squirrels, snails, elves, and pinecones.  Each one is obviously handmade and has its own character.

A Touch of Quebec in our Pumpkin Pie

Now that we are tracking our food miles it seems crazy to use Quebec butter and maple syrup, but at least the pumpkin is from UBC Farm. I went with a deep dish style this year, drizzled with hazelnuts and Manitoba buckwheat honey. We're lucky to live in a country with such amazing food--locally and all the way to the east coast. Sometimes you just have to celebrate by spending the extra food miles. (The store was out of Avalon butter, in case you were wondering.)

I have been using Erica's salad dressing recipe from her raw kale ceasar to make other versions, including cole slaw with sesame seeds--it's good with apples and dried cherries. I think it will be the dressing that launches a thousand salads--thank you Erica. I make the dressing exactly as you do and it is outstanding.

I was blessed to have a big bowl of moose stew from Northern BC last night with a glorious pumpkin pie. It was interesting how one person decided to guard the whipping cream and make sure people didn't take too much so there would be enough to go around. It's true, whipping cream is a precious commodity at this time of the year.

Grandma is going to sit down with our son and figure out the food miles in our feast tonight. It's a project that the whole family can get in on.

The Manuka

Doing research on "the manuka" --fascinating. Melaleuca, manuka and eucalyptus are all in the myrtle family.

Made a fabulous grilled cheese sandwich today the way I like it with butter and parmesan on the outside and cheddar on the inside with fresh tomatoes on the side. I might have to have another one for breakfast!

All this researching honey has made me crave it on butter and white bread.

Tonight we trudged up and down four flights of stairs in our son's high school to meet all his teachers. Peter and I want to take French because they are using sign language and it looks like so much fun! Interesting the choices of posters the teachers use. There was one I wanted to rip off the wall I hated it so much. I liked the drama teacher. She seemed like a real firecracker. The gym teacher looked like he'd been in one too many boxing or wresting matches. Tiny cauliflower ears almost worn right off. God what are they feeding the grade twelve boys? They are giants.

Blackberry Chutney Crumble Squares

I made a plum pie this weekend (butter crust with streusal topping which was eaten with Ernest's Salt Spring Plum ice cream. At one point I added a spoonful of my blackberry chutney made out of the berries I'd macerated for the shrub. A light bulb went on: "I'm going to use this chutney to make bars." And so this morning I combined 1 c flour with 1 cup oatmeal, with 1/2 tsp baking soda, salt, 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 c coconut oil melted with 2 tbs butter. I pulsed a cup of the mixture in the food processor and pressed it into an 8" square pan. I spread a thin layer (just about 1 cm) of the chutney on top. Then I mixed some shelled pumpkin seeds into the remaining crumb mixture and baked at 350 degrees F for about 25 min.

I warned Peter they would be weird. "Why can't you make normal bars? Why do you always have to experiment?" he wined before tasting them. My family, the intrepid culinary explorers. Anyway he actually liked them. I think I will work on this and a recipe of some goat yogurt ice cream to go with them.

It's raining cats and dogs and veternarians today, be careful where you walk. We went out for sushi and I am soaked. The buddleia are dripping. I'm glad I brought my hops inside. This morning I plucked off the fruit in my pajamas while listening to Mr. Enright on CBC radio learning to bird by ear on his excellent "Sunday School" segment on The Sunday Edition.

I have just learned we are losing our local  Legion. End of an era.

I have been watching a lesbian love drama called Last Tango in Halifax which is excellent, but the person who put it on the internet did their own edit, which was unfortunate. This led me to a musical comedy series about dueling choirs called All the Small Things. Some of the characters hit me as being a little too close to home.

And of course I am reading about bees, bees, and more bees. My overdue fines are astronomical. Must do better.

Oatmeal Flax Walnut Cookies

 I baked these while listening to a fabulous CBC documentary about Mickey who mades bespoke suits for the stars for New york's postwar celebrities--radio gold. Another reccomended listen is Sheilagh Roger's extended interview with Ruth Ozeki about Ruth's new novel called A Tale for the Time Being.

I was snacking on black garlic--my new replacement for chocolate. Yes, I gave the latter up because it gives me migraines.

2 c rolled oats

1/4 cup ground flax

1 cup toasted walnut pieces

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2/3 c AP flour

salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 c brown sugar

3/4 c butter

1/2 tsp Mexican vanilla

1 egg

--modified from a Ricardo Recipe

You know the drill--cream butter and sugar, then eggs and vanilla. Mix flour, baking pwder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, then mix into the wet ingredients. Add the flax, then nuts, then oatmeal. Drop with a medium sixed 3 tbp ice cream scoop bake 14 min.

Eat with a side of black garlic.

Blackberry Shrub and Chutney

As he washes the dishes Peter looks very puzzled when he asks "what did you do with a whole bottle of apple cidre vinegar?"
"I poured it over the blackberries, I say nonchalantly. I'm making a shrub." He chooses to ignore that comment." I can read his thoughts, "Another crazy culinary experiment that will end in tears." Okay, so I am curious about these shrubs the food bloggers are making. It sounds like a drink that Southerners have on hot summers strumming their banjos on muggy porches. "Hand me another glass of that shrub, would ya Bubba? I got a terrible thirst." Truth is, I've drunk shrubs without knowing what they were. Someone at the farmer's market in the Comox Valley makes "Woo Pop", which is a vinegar-based drink that's deliciously thirst quenching.

There's a bunch of different methods to make shrubs, which involves macerating fruit in sugar or honey and adding a bunch of vinegar, You strain it and then use that to mix with soda to make the shrub. You can also add things like herbs, spices and alcohol. So I've done it. I was decadent and used some honey on ripe blackberries and added a whole bottle of apple cider vinegar. Don't ask me what the proportions were, I just eyeballed it and then tasted it. I let it sit for two days on the counter, covered to protect it from fruit flies, or to protect the fruit flies from it. Then I strained it and put it in my Medalta crock in the fridge. Oh how I love my Medalta crock.

Now I am going to make chutney out of the fruit that was left over. There were some peaches getting overripe on the table, so I've added them and tonight I'm going to finish the chutney by simmering it with with ginger, onions, garlic and spices.

It's that time of the year when I see the preserving women with bags under their eyes and dishpan hands working themselves to the bone puttin' up food for the winter. Let us celebrate those women, pamper them with certificates to spas and give them plenty of whiskey to make it through the season, with the secret hope we might be the beneficiary of some of their hard-won goodies.

I've also been instructed by Peter to make a plum pie, so that is on the go. I think a butter crust and streusal topping would be good. I bought some walnuts to make more oatmeal cookies. Tomorrow maybe I'll make a byriani to use accompany he chutney. I've instructed Peter to make some of his granola.

I am very excited about pumpkin pie season and yesterday I took a class with the Mayan gardeners at UBC Farm and learned how to make a delicious simple squash dessert. I can't wait for the UBC Farm squash market--should be coming up soon. I saw them curing in the greenhouse.

We are finding it very hard to buy clothes for Ullie since he is in between the boys and mens sizes which is very frustrating. I am having a hell of a time trying to find new shoes--a search which seems to lead me near the best bakeries in town. We have lots of cake, but no shoes. The sesame religeuse at Beaucoup Bakery is my new favorite thing to eat in the world. I may have to go shoe shopping near there again this week. No shoes to be found near the new Ernest Ice Cream shop, but plenty of inked hipsters in ice cream induced comas and a cashpoint system that really needs changing. Bring real money. Buy the Saltspring Plum Ice cream. It is delicious and we're having it with honey cake from the Honeybee Centre store up the street tonight for dessert, with fresh plums on the side.

I also went to the UBC Botanical Garden bulb sale this weekend and got garlic for eating and growing and  new tips for planting which was well worth the trip. There was a proper tea room with some really good ginger coconut squares that I really want to learn to make.

Ginger-Studded Oatmeal Cookies

The reasons I love fall:

The weather is comfortable enough for gardening, but also baking. The farmer's markets are bursting with produce. I went up to UBC Farm Saturday and could barely drag my rolly home. I bought tomatoes, tomatillos and beans from the Mayan Gardeners. So today I made tomatillo salsa which we ate with Peter's beef stew on quinoa with UBC Farm greens. That's one of my favorite meals

I made oatmeal and coconut cookies from a Sugar Cube recipe and added candied ginger instead of chocolate chips to half the batch. The chocolate chip ones go with Ullie on his camping trip.

Peter is such a great dad, practicing opening the combination lock for school with Ules, gathering all the camping gear, checking to see if Ules can figure out all the snaps and geegaws. I am preoccupied with other stuff so it's good someone's on the ball. I am putting in long days of work, yes, even on Sundays. But that's the way it's gotta be. I'm upping my health regime to boost my stamina. Stay away from the cookies missus!

I am obsessed with Midsommer Murders and Bergerac, alternating between the two series. Sometimes it is comforting background noise, sometimes just an escape.

People's fall rituals are clicking in. I can feel my friends and family hitting their stride. My parents are booking their Christmas trip. Wow. Christmas.

Fall Rituals: Healing Honey

I thought I'd go back to using this space again to write about daily seasonal family rituals.

Last night was our Labor Day weekend  family Dinner with roast beef, green beans with almonds and bacon, and roast potatoes. Dinner was date squares with two kinds of ice cream made with coconut milk. Peter is very excited that his dad is now keyed onto making his ice cream without lactose since a good quarter of the family has problems with milk. The caramel coconut ice cream delicious, especially with a Barsac.

For the wine, we had a fun time guessing what was in the bottle, a gift from Poplar Grove that is an unlabeled mystery wine that we are supposed to enter our best guesses in their contest. The family guessed cab sauv, merlot, and shiraz in French oak. I can't remember the year we guessed, but C's knowledge of the history of the winery helped us out. Grandpa says it could use another 5 years in the bottle. We were able to eat outside and stay their until dark because it was such a warm day.

We also went shopping for back to school clothes for Ules and had sunch at Chutney Villa which was very busy. I picked a footlong zucchini at the community garden bed and now I've got to make a cake with it for sure.

This morning I got up early to write for an hour, then made scones from my recipes substituting creme fraiche diluted half with water for a treat. I ate mine with a very ripe peach, healing honey from Planet Bee we got in Vernon, and ground flax seed which I was inspired to add because we had it on the table at the yoga centre.

Today I get to put my books on new shelves. Yay! I also get to go to J's birthday, which will be a treat. This morning is cloudy and 18 degrees C.

I am wishing all of you a happy and productive fall.