i'm DONE! and now safe and sound in the company of my ambrosial relatives.
the snow (15-22" that has people acting like it's The End of Days) followed me from canada, which will make the hiking even better.

stumbleupon.com
ok, so maybe my studying last week wasn't totally focused. i spent about an hour distracted by this site, where you enter your interests and then "stumble" from one random site to another. the only thing that saved me from getting sucked into an endless vortex was accidentally closing the window. here are some of the great nuggets that entertained me:

parody interpretations of homeland security icons:
http://www.safenow.org/

jackson pollack painting with your cursor:
http://www.jacksonpollack.org/

an artist who makes "inflatable monsters" from trash bags:
http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/08/24/inflatable-bag-monsters-born-from-new-york-subways/

finding music in nature/interpreting bird behaviour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeUD263ou5w

a scientific assessment of why dating's hard if you have standards:
http://en.nothingisreal.com/wiki/Why_I_Will_Never_Have_a_Girlfriend

pranking telemarketers? genius!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI

liu bolins, the "invisible man" artist:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/5886805/The-invisible-man-Liu-Bolins-camouflage-artwork.html

it also sent me to this site, where i found an application clearly written by dad... :)
http://justuff.net/uslessology/application.html

anti-racism rally
some students at trent have been attacked over the course of the past couple weeks. all attacks were random acts of violence (one guy even got slashed on the face and arms with some kind of razors), and all involved racial slurs. at our OPIRG board meeting there was talk of doing something in the new year (speakers, seminars, etc), but i was all in favour of "doing it old school" and just throwing a rally together. i definitely appreciate organized events, but i think there's a time and place to just do things. and we did! there was a sudden mini blizzard on the day of our rally, but that didn't dissuade the vigor of the committed group that showed up. you can check for the details at http://www.trentarthur.ca/ on monday, or let google find the local news briefs on it. it was a great success.

seasonal shtick
yeah yeah i know, christmas hype drives me crazy too. but i do really love snow and bundling up and spiced drinks and evergreen boughs and hugs and cheery people. i also get a kick out of the fact that the clocktower downtown plays carols. it could easily be obnoxious, but it's tremendously cute instead. the carols are purely instrumental and loud enough to get the job done without overpowering anyone trying to have a conversation on the street.

icing
the storm this week (finally!) was followed by a night of sleet and everything's now a sheet of ice. i'm sure old ladies are breaking hips all over town -and i really am sorry for that- but i love it. while everyone does the familiar shuffle-step to avoid slipping, i prefer the run-skate. it's quick and fun and the chance of falling is lower because of my momentum!


this time next week
my stats exam will be behind me, i'll have graded the 60? 70? 80? labs waiting for me, and i'll be reveling in the company of my adored VA folks. if only i didn't have to make it through this week to get there...

plus a most adoring Happy Birthday (and congrats for a sparkly new M.Sc.) to sweet, sweet Julia!

..and although the lyrics have nothing to do with julia, that got this song by our lady peace (another canadian pride band that most americans have never heard of) hopelessly stuck in my head:
http://www.dizzler.com/music/Our_Lady_Peace (double click on julia)

snow
i've been thinking "this'll likely be my last rollerblading for the year" for the last two months. well, this week we had our first taste of powder. it was a nice yawny-stretching-oh-OOH-yip! experience. and then it melted by 10am.

i'm still rollerblading.

things to do!
it may be getting colder, but events are not dwindling. as a matter of fact, on any given day of the week there are two or even three overlapping invitations. i've found that in canada, more than any other place i've lived, treacherous weather equates increasing activity. i mean, why sit in your lonely, cold house (except in my case- salome seems to think a 70 degree winter house is perfectly acceptable. i personally don't think i should be wearing tank tops in december.) when you could be out at a cozy social event?

i just signed up for the grad intramural innertube ultimate frisbee team for the spring semester (actually, here the terms are 'fall' and 'winter', probably because spring doesn't arrive until after school's out...). i'm not exactly sure what it entails, but it sounds tremendous.

dead birds
i remembered last night that i have birds waiting for me in virginia! i do have two shoved in my tiny freezer here, but for some reason having some stowed in nana's freezer makes me happier.

hey kevin, wanna learn how to stuff birds over break? :)

spanish
i met two new spanish-speaking friends this week, and it made me terribly melancholy. i really think i need to live in central or south america for a bit. at least long enough to nail down my spanish;
i just wildly adore it.

committee meeting
i had to send off a proposal of my project and work to-date to my committee board early this week, and give a powerpoint presentation yesterday. it was a fair amount of work, but i wasn't particularly worried about it. following the meeting joe asked how i thought it went. i'd given a good presentation, i'd answered all their questions, and i'd only received intrigue, not criticism- so i said i thought it went pretty well. he shook his head. "leah, i don't think you understand. a committee meeting cannot go any better than that."
:)
this is great for him, as he's in the process of making a name for himself- if his students succeed, he succeeds. i've also been impressing him with my stats knowledge, which is important as he’s big on stats. it makes me happy to make that man happy.
also, although i'd been told when i was accepted that i'd have to take additional courses to make up for gaps in my background, the committee said i don't need any more than the standard three. guess i've done all right, eh?

endings
i had my last stats lab this past week, i'll have my last weekly stats quiz this monday, and i ran my last upcycling workshop for the year yesterday. new priorities have already slid under the door, but i don't mind. i really enjoy challenges, as long as they change from time to time.
and after a stats final on the 16th it's off to good 'ol virginny to celebrate the end of this lovely year.

cardboard furniture
i think i'll do this as one of my 2010 upcycling workshops:
http://www.foldschool.com/
kevin, how do you feel about some xmas cardboard construction?!

favela rising
i borrowed this documentary from OPIRG. if you can find it somewhere, do watch it. it's the story of anderson sa, a former child drug-trafficer who became a social revolutionary in rio de janiero's slums through music, rallying community to counteract violence. there's an insane twist that i won't give away with the hopes that you get to see it. i really need to snag myself an anderson. phenomenal.

saturday newspapers
i’m in a coffee shop this morning trying to get work done. across from me is an older couple drinking their coffees and reading the paper. loss of this is what would make me the saddest about newspapers closing down. i haven’t had the pleasure of a languorous sat paper for awhile, but i have the fondest memories of, for example, cape cod sat mornings spent reading the paper and doing crosswords at a coffee shop with josh.

owl necklace: resolution
after a couple weeks of waiting around for the girl who lost her dear grandmother's necklace to pick up a school paper and read about us finding it or know someone who read about it and let her know, i finally took the bus to her stop and taped a big message to the bench saying "if you're the girl who lost her grandmother's owl necklace, please call ____". another week and a half went by so that when i picked up the phone to answer a random peterborough number this week, i was not expecting the resolution of this whole ordeal. and yet there was sweet kirsten (kristin? christine? i didn't really get it) whose boyfriend -and apparently the only observant person she knows- spotted the giant message.
anyway, thank god i can stop dealing with it...and of course YAHOO for finding her!

VISITORS!
dad and barbara are zipping up for the weekend, and i get to bask in their divinity. thankfully i've had a fairly light work load this week, so i was able to kick it up a notch in order to open up my weekend. terrificsuperfunhappy times!

sock gloves

for last week's do-it-yourself workshop i made up some easy hand-stitching designs for wrist warmers, leg warmers, and mittens using holey and lonely socks. here's a pic of my new favourite mitts! :)

(they're lined with a second pair of socks, and i might actually even add in a third. super warm!)

UPDATE:

max's cabaret video:

for those of you non-facebookers, here's the direct link to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q60_6ChVJw0

conservation work
i'm heading off to one of the last remaining tallgrass prairies in ontario today. southern ontario used to full of tallgrass prairies, but after people had spent a couple hours basking in the beauty of native grasses, flowers, and wildlife, they got to feeling peckish and decided to plant food crops there instead. i'll be collecting seeds for species preservation (in the event that something happens to this patch, or for future conservation projects, etc) and then get a special edition guided tour through the grasslands and facilities that haven't been opened to the public yet.

plane tickets
i'm very much looking forward to a three week virginia hiatus. if you haven't received the frequent, abundantly clear memos, i love the pants off my family. well, maybe i should avoid using that expression with reference to relatives...
anyhow, my happy heart is just swelling like a well-fed parasitic worm.
also, can you believe my first semester is almost over?

lemon balm
i went to an herbal medicine workshop a couple weeks ago. this week it was as if fate heard me begging to apply some of herbal medicine knowledge, because i was blessed with a viral something-or-other (doesn't look to have been swine flu, as nice as it would've been to get that guy done). traditionally there's not much of a viral attack plan other than sleeping, drinking fluids, and wishing imminent death. however, one of the herbs featured in my workshop was lemon balm which, among other great things, is reportedly effective at not only improving viral conditions but actually erradicating viruses. so i made multiple cups of tasty lemon balm tea and coincidence or not, my fevered illness only lasted for 3 1/2 days.

max's cabaret
alex and i had our tango performance last night at max's cabaret (an annual fundraiser for the market hall theatre in downtown peterborough). for those of you desperate to see it, don't worry- i expect videos will be showing up on facebook or youtube shortly. the whole show was tremendous- lots of uber-talented, attractive women wearing lingerie.

interAction
i've found that the people in peterborough, more than any other place i've lived, are like characters in an interactive advent calendar- each day there's at least one unexpected exchange with someone. maybe it's me, and my gravitational force has shifted in a way that makes others more prone to stop (or run me down, in some instances) and chat me up. on the bus, in the store, on the street, at an event- it doesn't matter, but i find myself frequently caught up in 20+ min conversations with strangers. even brief exchanges involve more meaningful banter than i'm used to, leaving my grinning and re-running the dialogue in my mind.

earthlings
i ran 'earthlings' as the OPIRG documentary this week, and ended up with tear-stained faces rearing for change. all but one of the people present expressed interest in getting involved with a vegan group, and although i really don't have the time to start one- who else is going to do it?
contrary to the cynics, i believe people want to be compassionate and thoughtful. no one wants to be contributing to unnecessary suffering and planetary destruction, and few recognize our modern traditions are founded on cruelty and self-indulgence. the hard part is encouraging people to step out of their comfort zones and acknowledge the repercussions of their/our behaviour.

doodle
as my email traffic seems stuck in a perpetual rush hour jam, i find myself inadvertantly perpetuating it by not even responding to emails that would require at most 20 seconds of my time.
this week i had to organize my graduate committee meeting, and the mere thought of coordinating a group of people via email turned me into a 9th grader (lots of big sighs and time-consumptive hemming and hawing). then i remembered doodle. this site allows you to create online polls and email off the link, so everyone who's participating goes and checks their availability. you get a comprehensive idea of time constraints, rather than sorting through the social etiquette upchuck of "what time works for you? oh, well actually that isn't the best for me, but maybe could we push it back 2 hours? you have a thing that kindof conflicts then? well, how does thursday sound? do you want to do a morning thing? a lunchy thing? a pre/post lunch thing? oops, turns out thursday's no good for ___, so how does friday look for everyone?"...etc. my advisors swooned and thanked me for acting as a preventative traffic cop.

gaits
i remember doing a theatre workshop in high school where we explored leading with different parts of our bodies and expressing character through gaits. sometimes when i'm out walking i watch people and try to identify what they're leading with, and why. the bus station is an especially good spot to do it (and for getting a quick reality check about peterborough's economic demographic); i saw a guy there yesterday with a very extreme shuffling knee-lead that was combined with the sense that he was stuck inside an ever-shrinking box.

i've been walking around in high heels to and from tango rehearsal, and it's interesting to find people unaware that they're sizing me up because of my gait. even though i'm not wearing anything more revealing than a pair of jeans, the frequency of cat calls and unspoken invitations to "cat fights" increase. it seems like everyone has a predetermined opinion about why i'm wearing heels and what i must be trying to proclaim.

science or nature?
for those of you concerned about the worth of my poop-sorting skills, feast on this:

we got results back from the stable isotope work (looking for a relationship between chimney swift population decline and diet as a contributing factor), and in joe's words, the results were "absoloutely stunning". i can't elaborate, as i've been sworn to secrecy, but i'll explain what this means.

to start, for most biologists the idiom is "publish or perish". everyone's trying to publish so that they can gain further esteem and funding. you choose which journals to send your article for possible acceptance. each journal has an "impact factor", with the "more impressive" journals having higher impact factors. so if you publish in, say, "journal of chimney swift ecology in ontario" (don't look it up, it doesn't exist), the audience is very limited and the impact factor of that journal would be low. there's a lot of dischord about impact factors, and much validity in the arguments of those opposed to them. however, for now it's largely the method employed for ranking success.

another thing to consider is authorship. the more papers a person authors, the more they'll get referenced, and the more esteem and funding they'll get. to be an author on a paper you just need to have been involved with the work in some way. so if a project takes off, and is headed for a journal with a high impact factor, everyone wants on the bus. delegating who gets what position in the authorship (first, second, third, etc., which defines the significance of your role in the project) and whether someone should even be included or not (because more authors can dilute the effect of authorship) gets quite, quite sticky.

that said, these "absoloutely stunning" results, which happen to be very applicable to a number of other species and population declines in general, have made my world a little helter-skelter. fortunately joe is acting as captain in these reckless waters, dealing with the host of people vying for authorship. according to joe, we're heading for science or nature with this, which are the leading impact factor journals in biology. and he wants me to be first author. what would this mean for me? if the paper happened to get picked up by either science or nature, i'd be sitting really pretty (a master's student with a paper published in science or nature is kindof a big deal), and probably have a number of enemies. after all, people work their whole lives to get published there. actually, i'd be sitting pretty even if i published in a lower impact journal. and even if it doesn't get published in any journal, as joe says "there's your thesis, right there".

not bad.

the burning hell
...not actually a blurb about my blossoming satanism. this is a band i'm heading to see tonight (aptly named for a halloween event). although their name might evoke heavy metal or suicidal emo imagery, they're nothing of the kind.
http://www.myspace.com/mathiaskom

swimming
it may be pure coincidence that i'm a pisces and i love swimming, but yesterday i went swimming at the trent pool for the first time, and with my flippers and goggles, i could've swum forever. if i have an untimely death, look for my reincarnation as an otter. or a salsa dress.

chia seeds
it turns out these guys are good for more than terra cotta pets!
chia seeds are not only a nutritional powerhouse (why does flax get the fatty acid rep when chia seeds knock them out of the park on omega 3s and hemp is higher in the 6s?), but it has the awesome quality of creating a tapioca-like consistency when soaked in fluid.
my newest favorite raw delight is soaking chia seeds overnight for pudding in the morning! you can use any non-dairy milk (i didn't have any so i just whipped up some banana and oats with water), and extras like dates, raisins, coconut...
Hooray! :)

transition towns
i didn't even know it, but apparently Peterborough is Canada's first transition town. i chatted up a guy at wednesday's documentary night and, uh, i want to clone myself so i can spend an obscene amount of time volunteering with the transition group. really, really great stuff. a couple days later i picked up a copy of the free "Greenzine" magazine, which is printed by Transition Town Peterborough. man oh MAN it's chock full of people i want to cram into my pockets, and loads of events i must attend in november. highlights include:

Medicinal Herbs (using local flora)
E-Bikes: How to make them your main form of transportation (... a workshop on electrifying your bike? !!)
Sustainable Building Practices (in addition to building a house, i can use this for my new swift towers)
Handcraft Your Own Hair and Skin Products (hopefully i'll learn new tricks!)

i love peterborough more and more with each passing day. there seems to be no shortage of phenomenal organizations (is it weird that there are so many it kindof stresses me out?), stellar live music, tons of art and dance opportunities, and a community full of sweeties. i wish i didn't have to sleep!

UPDATES:
* the retreat was outstanding. we stayed on kushog lake in a couple cabins reminiscent of maine, and i cooked all our vegan meals to rave reviews. not only did no one miss their meat and dairy, i was peppered with questions and asked to send a follow-up email to all with recipes and links to more information. i also got to go swimming (briefly) under a billion stars and i fit in a long lakeside run in the woods. ahh.

oh and i brought "catch phrase", and it was such a raging, hilarious success (which will come as no surprise to some of you) that we played for 3 hours. we only stopped because someone needed a pit break in the wee hours of the morning and we discovered our exhaustion. that game is powerful.
...and i think i have yet to play it competitively. :)

*my DIY workshops are a hit! i've already gotten loads of positive feedback. if you want to see project pictures you can visit our facebook group: OPIRG's Rubbish to Relish DIY Workshops

Helen Caldicott
this wednesday i'm heading over to see helen caldicott speak. she was named one of the most influencial women of the 21st century, and is one of world's leading voices against nuclear energy. she's also co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and she hosts a radio program called "If You Love This Planet". check her out: http://www.helencaldicott.com/about.htm

no poo
sometime last year i heard about "no poo", which is a cute/crude term for going without shampoo and conditioner. i browsed a website or two, and learned that people were spouting about the fact that you can use baking soda and apple cider vinegar in place of shampoo and conditioner, resulting in locks as nice and healthy as one has ever seen. well, being a dutiful environmentalist and an economical human being, i gave it a try. i rubbed baking soda into my scalp, and then doused my head with vinegar. my hair was left with a rather sticky residue, but it did the trick- as long as i was planning on braiding my hair. and wearing a hat. so i went back to shampoo and conditioner, trying everything to avoid plastic (bars, bulk shampoo and conditioner, making my own, etc). a couple weeks ago i ran out of the shampoo i'd made, and not having the time to make more (or being very impressed with the recipe i'd used), i decided to look up no poo again. in doing so, i realized what was apparently a rather large faux pas. the baking soda is supposed to be dissolved in water (~1T to 1c) and poured over the head and scalp, followed by rubbing/agitation similar to shampooing and a good rinse. then the apple cider vinegar is supposed to be diluted (again, ~1T to 1c) and poured over your hair, also followed by rinsing. that made an incredibly large difference. also, this time i was more patient. it takes a week or two for your head to adjust its pH and oil secretions. once it balances out, your head and hair take care of themselves and can go longer periods of time without washing. in the long run it saves you money, requires no plastic, saves both you and the environment from exposure to unneccessary chemicals, and happens to be incredibly easy. i know you're all probably skeptical, but my hair is lovely and soft and shiny and clean. i also only wash it once or twice a week. and yes, it looks delightful the whole time.

board retreat
i won't be posting next week, because i'm shooting off on a retreat to the wilderness with my OPIRG tribe. for some reason i thought i'd volunteer to help organize all the food, even though it was going to be vegan anyway. "helping" quickly turned into planning the menu, buying and transporting all the food, and being responsible for delegating duties related to cooking and such. it's a good thing i have an absolute surplus of time...
between the good company, planned events, canoeing, swimming (it may be mid-Oct but i'm going swimming- and i've convinced at least one other guy to go with me), the great food, and the fact that it's all paid for, it should be a marvelous time.

is that a book you're holding, or a super sweet clutch?
my brain-baby workshops are taking off- there's a lot of hype about the kickoff next week. a few of us got together to make examples of next friday's projects, which will focus on things to make out of unwanted books (journals, photo albums, photo frames, and clutches). the projects turned out better than i expected.  i only have a pic of the clutch i made, although i wish i could show you how well everything turned out. i was so impressed with us.

here's the clutch (do you know what a clutch is? i didn't, although now i'll have to try to find a reason to use one...), which i made out of a tom swift book entitled "Tom Swift and His Atomic Earth Blaster". it's hilarious. and Awesome. you can't tell from these photos, but i found some gold sparkle fingernail polish and painted the atomic earth blast featured on the cover. also, the fabric i used along the sides and on the inside of the bind is a very atomic stretchy silver.

this quote

from the http://www.justfortheloveofit.org/ website, which expresses a viewpoint i've long held:

"One of the critical reasons that we have so many major issues in the world today - such as climate change, sweatshops, wars over oil reserves, factory farms, polluted oceans and rivers - is because we never have to see the direct repercussions that our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect. The degrees of separation between the consumer and the consumed have increased so much that it now, conveniently, means that people are completely unaware of the levels of destruction and suffering involved in the making of the 'stuff' they purchase. We have no longer any idea how much embodied energy has gone into the things we consume. The main reason we have no appreciation for this energy is because we are so disconnected from what we buy."

in this crowded world, many people feel they have no power to make a social or environmental impact. what they don't realize is that there's power in every single purchase made. any time money changes hands, it goes to a person, a corporation, an organization, an ethical or unethical approach to people and or the planet.

who or what do your purchases support?

enough of the heavy stuff, how about this guy? :)

hah! it's a newly banded 7 day old ovenbird.

organizations
enough of you have asked me for a rundown of my "free-time" activities that i'll make a little review list of my regular loves:

OPIRG (ontario public interest research group): this is the super environmental and social justice org with whom i've spent copious hours volunteering since feb. we host a seemingly endless number of events throughout the year that cover a broad range of topics. a couple of constants are the free market and the food cupboard, and free wed night popcorn & documentaries. right now i'm doing a lot of work on my Do It Yourself pet project, which has received overwhelming support and will start on Oct 16th. i'm also regularly designing/writing/posting publicity, running movie nights, painting things, calling people, or monitoring events on a regular basis.
it's a phenomenal group.

Seeds for Justice: a working group through the Kawartha World Issues Center (KWIC), i've just started collaborating with them. they focus on educating and empowering youth on environmental and social justice issues, usually through art and workshops. i'm brainstorming on a political theatre project involving paper mache masks, along the vein of Bread and Puppet theatre.

Latin & Swing Dance: this website is on its way to being updated. i dance with this group mon & wed, and usually at least one other day of the week. i'll be dancing in an united way fundraiser competition later this month and i'll also be starting rehearsal this afternoon for an early november cabaret performance. and they just asked me to join their committee, so i went to my first meeting last night.

Scottish Country Dance (yes, i get to dance with those kilted studs every week): my beloved scottish country dance group, which occupies my tues evenings. they also host monthly social dances.

Food Not Bombs: this group cooks FREE vegan meals from food donated by local farmers. on mon nights i walk less than 1 block from my house and divulge in a feast (we're talking over a dozen dishes). people are also encouraged to bring take-home containers and fill them to overflowing. it's just too bad so many plates and plasticware get thrown out... oh wait, that's right- they provide plates and silverware, so there's no waste! volunteers cook all the food and wash all the dishes.
they also frequently provide free vegan food for OPIRG events.

i <3 peterborough.
i obviously recommed tracking down and getting involved in community groups. and if you can't find the group you want, you could follow julia's beacon and just start one (big shout out to inspirational julia who got a whole newspaper feature this week on her flourishing vegan group -in ireland, where they're still burning garbage in their fireplaces-!).


lost and found
i wrote this letter to the school newspaper and they printed it. the great thing is that i totally found it! now i just need to find the girl...

you know, the world doesn't have to be a mean, angry place.

rehearsal
unfortunately there's absolutely no time for theatre, but my latin posse approached me about doing a 3 couple tango-salsa presentation the first weekend in november, so i'll be starting dance rehearsal for that in the next week. the latin & swing guys are loads of fun and quickly becoming my favorite new hang-out buddies. karaoke? yes! spanish chatting sessions? yes! dance parties? yes yes yes!

DIY
the start of my do-it-yourself workshops is almost here. i have a couple enthusiastic gals on the scene to help with the tutorials, and we're set to start in mid-october. i'm very excited.

dub trinity
going to see these guys tonight. apparently their live show is incredible.

manual labor
i really enjoy hauling stuff and whacking stuff and dragging stuff and getting dirty and sweaty and achy, so i'm looking forward to volunteering all day today at the kawartha outdoor education centre, building a bird observation tower.

...more dancing
scottish country dancing and latin & swing dancing started up this week. i'm positively smitten with my latin & swing group, and the bonus is that they meet 2x a week. there's nothing like getting flung around the dance floor. i was impressed with the number of guys there- normally dynamics are off, but it was nearly even. still, i'm going to harp on all the guys i know. i mean, don't you guys get it? ladies LOVE men that can dance. so you'd think if someone was offering TOTALLY FREE classes, men would flock to it like hungry hyenas to an unattended baby. unfortunately i'm missing the salsa social tonight because i already committed to the scottish country barn dance & corn roast...
drive to the country? dance to live music in a barn? eat some roasted corn? don't mind if i do!

reading
i've been spending copious amounts of time reading. i do have a neil gaiman book to offset my school books, but otherwise it's a lot of stable isotopes and statistics. i know it'll make you totally sick, but i really like statistics. i feel like i was bullied into believing i didn't like numbers in public school. as it turns out, i think numbers (and especially when numbers come to life!) very interesting. i have to find creative ways to drag the artsy half of my brain along though, which involves a lot of freelance learning.

disorientation
this week OPIRG hosted a series of workshops that followed orientation week, aptly dubbed "disorientation". i went to the silk screening workshop (and ended up leading it...). i hadn't brought any clothes to print, but i ran down and grabbed a shirt from the free market to print this:

ahahahahah!

a huge free vegan barbecue followed that, and then a presentation by this awesome group called Otesha (here's a test for jonny- what does that mean in swahili?). they bike around the province camping out and doing environmental theatre performances. does anyone else think this is what i should be doing?...?!

Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man?
click here to read this compelling article that was in the New Yorker. i started reading it somewhat absently, but was quickly enthralled. it's written exceptionally well, in a format that made me question and then cross-question, and then cross-cross-question my conclusion.

Ageless Ageing
i checked this book out from the library, and it's been keeping me on my toes with the author's assertations on how to ward off aging. it's comprehensively intriguing. fortunately jesse's simultaneously tripped into an interest in Big Bad Health, so i have a cohort.
there are a few of you who i'm certain would love this book. check it out.

Plants and Animals
i saw these guys at the "moho" last week, and they were terrific. we made a very sweaty night out of it. here's a second video.

latin and swing dance
this next week i get to start latin and swing dancing 2x/week. oh don't worry, i'm still scottish country dancing. my teacher (who i've lovingly nicknamed "mama joan" due to her excessive doting) would tear sweet cherubic babes limb from limb before she'd let me leave. do i have time for this on top of all my other obligations? probably not. but good god I WILL MAKE THE TIME. :)

stress!
stress has negative connotations for most people, but as many of you are probably aware i function best when under at least mild stress. therefore, although i'm daunted by my responsibilities (classes and TAships and lab debates and building swift towers and contacting every single birder in south america and grants and OPIRG and my various althetic pursuits and juggling crazy bills while living on a very small income...), i also really appreciate being challenged. i'm in a little over my head, but my swimming skills are pretty solid.

apples
we wrapped up field work this past week, and like a celebratory high five from a higher power, apple trees along the road began dropping their bounty. fortunately dan was tolerant of pulling over and waiting while i scrambled out to throw CRISP, JUICY, SUCCULENT apples in my bag. what's with people's wariness at eating Free! Fresh! Wild! things? sounds great to me, but i can't count the number of times people have rejected what i've picked or collected, although they would pay (sometimes out the ear) for the same or similar products in the grocery store or at a farmer's market.

why didn't dan bound out of the car and raid the tree with me? why did he resist trying one of the apples? why did he only reluctantly accept the apple that i forcefully implored him to take and try later?

he's not even a purebred urbanite! people are so weird.

GMO guide
if any of you are as overwhelmed by monsanto and avoiding GMOs as i am, this is a very comprehensive website. actually, it may be too much stimuli for you if you're already overwhelmed. in that case, do ask and i'll send you a concise no gmo shopping guide .pdf i have.

vacation
here are some of my favorite treats from this week. frosty homemade oat milk, chewy gorp balls, creamy strawberry-banana "ice cream", and steamy hot pockets.


what does this have to do with vacation?
why don't you take one and visit me? :)

plastic
...protest, that is.
i've been working my way through emailing all the businesses/corporations that claim to be founded on environmental or organic ethics, as i feel these organizations are the ones that should be leading the way in alternative packaging. for some reason my email ended up on this site.

i'd love your support, sweeties; it would be tremendous if you could copy my email (feel free to tinker with it... or write you own...) and send it off. consumer mail can be very powerful.

how to spot a canadian
http://www.howtospotacanadian.ca/
ahh. this is great, and surprisingly accurate (in a stereotypical way, of course).

"not exactly illegal" graffiti
in reading about guerilla gardening, i stumbled upon alternative graffiti sites. from chalk (are you familiar with 3D sidewalk art?) to moss (moss is blended and used as a living paint) to reverse graffiti (a novel idea- who can get mad at you for selective cleaning?), they're all very, very neat.

goodiebag

i stumbled on this guy's videos, and i'm crushing on his little canadian commentaries.
http://www.goodiebag.tv/episodes/11_progress_bars.htm
http://www.goodiebag.tv/episodes/10_the_fag_bomb.htm
http://www.goodiebag.tv/episodes/03.htm

dance dance dance

i've been realizing that my beloved dancing is the link in my athletic life between general enjoyment and Supreme Enjoyment. i enjoy jumping on the trampoline in the backyard and rollerblading (activities of choice at the moment), but i've found myself subconsciously incorporating dance into those experiences, which has resulted in Supreme Enjoyment. interestingly, my coordination when dance-blading and dance-tramping supercedes my abilities when doing them "traditionally".

kukicha tea
also known as "twig tea", it's made from brewing the twigs, stems, and coarse leaves of the tea tree. it's more potent than green tea (brewed from the leaves) because of its alkalizing ability- it effectively balances acid levels throughout the body, preventing disease. overly acidic bodies (which is most people) have to borrow minerals from the bones and organs in order to neutralize the acid. the loss of these essential minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium) leads to cardiovascular problems, difficulty losing weight (the body conserves fat in order to trap and protect itself from the acid), bladder and kidney problems, a weak immune system, premature aging, joint and bone problems, and fatigue.
also, kukicha has loads of nutrients (calcium, zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, vitamins B, C, A, flavenols, and polyphenols), which makes it an all-around champ in my book.
plus, it's fun to drink twig water.

eco furniture
i enjoy browsing through eco furniture sites and gathering ideas for when i have my own house, as i'm pretty sure i'll be making all my own furniture. speaking of which, i just scored a really neat (and fairly large) slab of wood that i'll unfortunately now have to haul around until i settle. here are some things currently piquing my interest (i'm not aesthetically impressed with the cardboard DIY chair, but the idea is pretty cute):

1- chair made of folded fabric

2- table made of old bike parts

3- do-it-yourself cardboard chair

4- table and chairs made from tires

5- tree-chair

6- chair made from shopping cart (there's actually a tutorial for this one online)

and then there's this great garden hammock/plaything

sarcastic socialist segments
it seems everyone in the US is a little testy about health care these days. my prescription (and probably fuel to the fire) is a little socialism humor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF-W9zcwg2M&feature=player_embedded

trash towers!
i've been so impassioned about this over the past week that i'm sick of talking about it. a more detailed summary may follow, but for now let's just say that i'm working on a plan of retaliation against ineffective chimney swift towers based on designs from texas (where temperatures are as similar to ontario as egypt...) which cost ~ $750 apiece, by creating experimental towers from garbage (straw bales, tires, cans and bottles, etc). it's great on a number of different levels, none of which i have the wherewithal to discuss.

in my search for supplies and building designs, i ran into Garbage Warrior, a tremendous documentary about a sustainable architect building completely self-sufficient (water, sewage, power, heat, food...), absolutely beautiful houses using predominantly garbage. it's really inspiring. on that note, i think i should stop watching/reading influential things by myself; inevitably other people haven't been exposed to the same things and usually refrain from following my suggestions, so i end up without anyone with which to discuss pivotal things.

i know, i know, if only i would stick to reality tv...

*UPDATE:

• for those of you asking about non-plastic goodies:

http://lifewithoutplastic.com/

• still not wearing pants!

"keep high aspirations, moderate expectations and small needs."
William Howard Stein

the perry factor
our patriarch, g'poppa perry, has evaded death once again. after smashing his car so completely (via flipping and dragging boulders and whatnot) that the insurance agent was quoted as saying he had "never seen anything so bad", sr. perry walked away without a scratch.

last year he developed lung cancer after 50+ years of smoking (inevitable), but the cancer was miniscule, and non-malignant, so they just went in and unceremoniously plucked the yuck out.

the perry factor extends beyond our fearless leader, as mom also walked away from a horrific crash last fall without a scratch, and i can't help but mention my superhero appendix ordeal. there are innumerable other accounts of genetic heroism found in recovery times, high pain threshholds, superior "luck"...
you may chalk it all up to coincidence, and that's fine too- whatever it is, i'm glad it's on my side.

stereotypes
dan and i have copious time to chat while driving from site to site (like, at least 14 hours every week...). this week we shot an hour doing a one or two word stereotype breakdown of provinces and states. i won't go through the states since there are 50. besides, i discovered that my associations with a number of them are "boring" or "worthless". i acknowledge my bias.
however, you may be interested in the very brief province/territory associations we conjured up, since many of you know jack squat about canada and stereotypes are -arguably- better than nothing. this may also serve as an opportunity for some of you to learn the names of the provinces and territories!(jeez.)

there's a map below to help.

PROVINCES (from west to east)
british columbia: rockies, rain, totem poles, the haida
alberta: cattle, badlands
sasketchewan: oil, agriculture
manitoba: mosquitos, drunk natives (i didn't know anything about manitoba. this was dan's very adament assertion. who wants to plan a vacation with me?)
ontario: musicians, manufacturing, niagara falls
quebec: the frenchies, poutine (a canadian "novelty" that i personally find revolting.)
new brunswick: lobster, tall ships
nova scotia: fishermen
prince edward island: small farms, beaches, vacations
newfoundland and labrador: icebergs, puffins, dialects

TERRITORIES (from east to west)
dan did the territories, as i said: can't we just clump them all into flat, white, natives... and i stand by that.
nunavut: the first nations
northwest: dog sleds (i asked why just the northwest got dog sleds, and didn't get an acceptable answer)
yukon: the gold rush (i think you'll agree that this is a little archaic. then again, there's not much up-and-coming news from the yukon.)



















* UPDATE:
my happy trail scar is healing nicely- i've been back to the doc for my 40 second check-up. a brief man, after pushing around he said (almost verbatim):
"stomach feels good and firm, you look great, don't come back."

fruit...

so i think everyone's aware that i'm a slave for fruit of all kinds. i really want to try this tutorial on making CARBONATED FRUIT (!)

reducing waste

i'm just saying, it's great.

this week my heart went out to the torontonians who got a wake-up call (prompted by the olfactory system, no doubt) after trash collectors went on strike for over a month.

zinc and myrmecology

there's a scientist who's studied ant colony tunnels by evacuating mounds, filling them with liquid zinc, and then digging it up once cooled. it's really, really neat. i think i want one.

"The hilly mounds of dirt where fire ants make their home are actually solariums that collect heat to warm its residents. Below ground, a mature ant colony can encompass about 300 feet of underground tunnels, or about 20,000 fire ant body lengths.
Pictured above is a zinc cast of the underground chambers of one. It is composed of many vertical shafts connecting horizontal chambers.

Tschinkel is a myrmecologist--a scientist who studies ants--at Florida State University and his 723 page book helps scientists and the general public alike better understand, if not appreciate, the social biology and ecology of a creature widely regarded as a pest.

Tschinkel points out that the fire ants bad rep is often undeserved. He sets the record straight on the 50-year-old misconception that fire ants are responsible for shrinking native ant populations. Turns out it's not the competition with fire ants, as commonly believed, but rather the ecological havoc created by disturbed habitats--fire ants thrive in them, natives don't.
Tschinkel also points out that the opportunistic fire ants devour termites, ticks, weevils, mosquitos and other major threats to Southern plants, property and people."

(Source: Live Science)

residency?... citizenship??...
i applied for permanent resident status this week. i've been poking around, and i only need 3 years under my belt (barring some unforeseen obstacle) to citizenship, and after grad school's up i'll be nearly there. this is good news, as i can skip paying a canadian to marry me.

banana "ice cream"
i made a little discovery after i was given an armload of old bananas. if you freeze them and then whip them up in the cuisinart, the similarity to soft-serve ice cream is almost spot-on. i found better results peeling and cutting them up before freezing. i've also begun toying with additions (cocoa, peanut butter, coconut...), all of which have been hugely successful. i feel almost fiendish having an ice cream experience with a whipped banana.

the boss
did you know springsteen wrote a song about me? sometimes if i'm feeling particularly amorous, i'll sing it to myself.

I wanna build me a house, on higher ground
I wanna find me a world, where love's the only sound
High above this road, filled with shadow and doubt
I want to shoulder my load, and figure it all out
With Leah

I walk this road, with a hammer and a fiery lantern
With this hand I've built, and with this I've burned
I wanna live in the same house, beneath the same roof
Sleep in the same bed, search for the same proof
As Leah

I got somethin' in my heart, I been waitin' to give
I got a life I wanna start, one I been waitin' to live
No more waitin', tonight I feel the light I say the prayer
I open the door, I climb the stairs...

self-reliance
here are some of the happy things i've been making this week:

peanut butter cups
this basically involves melting chocolate chips, coating paper muffin cups with the melted chocolate, putting them in the freezer for an hour, and filling them with peanut butter (and a sweetener, if you wish) and a top layer of melted chocolate. don't be deceived by the simplicity. they're tremendous.


body scrub
i love homemade body scrubs made from granulated sugar (the one thing it is good for...) and oil, then essential oil if you're feeling spoiled. it's as good if not better than those expensive store-bought ones.
also, you can use old coffee grounds by themselves or added into soap/body wash/scrub. it's great for your skin. seriously.


iced tea
i don't think any of you really needs directions on how to boil and then cool water, but having a cold jug of iced tea in the fridge during the summer is crucial.


tempeh
i ordered a tempeh culture from "gem cultures" and it arrived this week. tempeh's yummy, but fairly expensive in the store and packaged in... yup, plastic... so i decided to make my own. turns out it's easy and fun! go figure.

toothpaste
no fluoride, no packaging...

there are a number of recipes online depending on your dental needs. all of them are cheap and easy. (ahh, my favorite.)


my scar
all things considered, it's healing quite nicely- and it's a pleasant reminder that a wild, destructive thing is no longer wreaking havoc in my body.

we (my scar and i) have actually become great pals. we think it's a hoot when children and grown men cringe or cry or cover their eyes at the sight of my belly. we laugh and laugh.

no pants
my top priority when i come home is taking off the clothes that got sweaty on my bike ride home. i usually don't get around to putting pants back on. i really enjoy not wearing any around my house. fortunately phoebe and misha walk around in their underwear too, so no one feels uncomfortable.

pregnant kiwis

i've been reading a lot of books this week, most given to me by joe and matt to keep me busy during my seemingly endless "rest" period. one was "the reluctant mr. darwin", an interesting biography of darwin's life and discoveries. there was mention of the crazy size of kiwi eggs (kiwis are flightless new zealand birds) and musings on why their eggs would be so large in comparison to body size. i googled it, and sure enough it's insane- check out the body:egg ratio!

banned bottled water

!!! oh god, this is so terrific.

"A rural town in Australia has voted overwhelmingly to ban the sale of bottled water over concerns about its environmental impact."

you can read it here.

lactation

i can't remember what instigated it, but i was looking at this information about male lactation. although most men lactaters induce lactation through hormones, apparently it's possible to stimulate it with some quality baby-suckling time. or imitating that with another person or a breast pump.

who knew?

and... who's game?

i know this is short and delinquent...and i don't have an adequate excuse, as i've been sitting around with plenty of time to mash together a post. for some reason though, even the thought of typing makes my brain feel like it's going into anaphylactic shock.

smooth criminal
like probably everyone on the planet, i ended up watching michael jackson videos this week. somehow i'd made it through my meager existence without watching any of them. horrifying, i know. i was exceptionally impressed by smooth criminal. the dancing is so great. apparently michael jackson patented the extreme-lean dance move that first appeared in this video. they're able to do it by wearing shoes that grip the floor.

CANADIAN HEALTH CARE!
to those of you who have been in touch with me over the last week, this one was a given.
to keep us all on the same page, here's a little summary:
on monday i went to the doctor after spending saturday throwing up and sunday with a belly so painful i could barely stand up. from there i pranced (not quite) over to the ER, where i spent 9 hours getting tested and having innumerable hands on my body. it was pronounced that i had an infected abscess on my fallopian tube that would need to be removed immediately. so i made a few calls and prepped for surgery. i woke up a couple hours later, disoriented and writhing in pain, to see joe's face; mom had called him and he'd driven over to be there. what a sweetie.
i woke up feeling swell, and found out i'd actually gotten a 2-for-1 surgery (or scar, at least). after cutting my stomach to remove the abscess/fallopian tube, they found that wasn't actually where the problem lay. there was infection and swelling throughout my stomach, so they hadn't been able to tell that it was actually my appendix causing the problem. it was "the size of an apple" (apparently this had been brewing for at least 9 months, which accounts for random and strange and usually painful ailments that afflicted me. insane.). more cuts were made and they removed not only my supersized appendix but parts of my intestines on either side that were badly swollen/infected.
mom and becky drove up and arrived the next morning- something i would never have asked for, but definitely definitely appreciated.
i spent tues-fri recovering and got to leave today, a couple days early because i passed all my criteria to leave by thursday. thankfully i really didn't need pain relievers (let's hear it for those pain-tolerant genes!), and most of my pain came from jarring my stapled stomach with laughing. this surgery made me realize that i laugh almost constantly.
i must say that i know the most thoughtful, caring, delightful people on the planet. i was absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of support and love i received. flowers and books and movies and magazines and visits and calls and messages sent to the hospital...i come rather emotionally unhinged when i think about it. i'm so blessed, and so thankful.
i seem to have lost weight from not eating for a number of days. i considered wheeling straight from recovery to modeling, but now i have this blasted scar that mars me. oh the irony. i'm happy to send along photos of my guesome stapled stomach to any interested parties.

i want to offer up a huge shout-out to my body for being so mind-blowingly awesome and not only carrying me through 9 months with a pernicious tenent and getting all hacked up, but doing it with zest and vigor- i feel, and have felt for the duration of my hospital stay, considerably great. and today i'm heading to VA for two weeks of R&R (read: vacation. sweet! :))...and so mom can keep me from overworking.

david
my personal highlight of david's visit was taking him to the first outdoor scottish country dancing night. he jumped right in, getting flung left and right by the lady instructors, who were so sweet to show him the ropes (i doubt it hurt that he's a strapping young buck...). i don't think the dancing itself is hard, it's all the mental calisthenics of remembering the sequences and who's going where. but he was terrific, and it made me oh so happy that he was up for it.


raw "cheese"
i love this recipe. it makes a raw, soft and yummy "cheese". it's worth the effort (which is mostly just waiting). i like it on homemade toast with bruschetta. it may seem daunting, but give it a try- it's easy and great!

Raw Cashew Cheeze

3 cups cashews, soaked 12-14 hours
3 capsules probiotics (optional)
2/3 cup fresh rejuvelac (directions below)

In high speed blender, blend the soaked cashews with probiotics and rejuvelac until smooth.
Line a sieve with a double thickness of cheesecloth and place over a bowl.
Transfer the mixture to the sieve, drape the cheesecloth over the top, cover with a towel and leave in a warm place to ripen for 14-16 hours.
Season according to preference (dill, garlic, lemon, sun dried tomato...)
Alternatively, shape the mixture into a round, place in a covered container, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, or until it firms up.


Rejuvelac (read through this before you decide not to try it. the directions are long, but it isn't complicated. at all.)

here's what wikipedia says about rejuvelac:

Rejuvelac can be consumed as a digestive aid and used as a ‘starter’ for other fermented foods such as raw nut and seed sauces, cheeses, and Essene Breads. Rejuvelac contains eight of the B vitamins, vitamins E and K, and a variety of proteins, dextrines, carbohydrates, phosphates, saccharines and amylases. It is rich in enzymes that assist both digestion and the growth of friendly bacteria such as lactobacillus bifidus. Lactobacillus produces a lactic acid that helps your colon maintain its natural vitamin-producing facility.


2 Cups Rye
10 Cups Water
2 Qt. Jar

Preparation
1. Soak 2 cups of Rye in your 2 quart jar. Cover with 1 quart or more of cool (60-70 °) water. Stir seeds up to assure even water contact. Soak for 8 - 12 hours.
2. Pour off water.
3. Rinse (fill Jar 3/4 full with water), twirl vigorously, pour water out, and repeat - if necessary - until water runs clear). Use cool water.
4. Drain thoroughly by shaking your jar - you want as little water as possible to remain in your jar between rinses. Set your jar in a low-light, room temperature (70° is best) location.
5. Rinse and Drain (repeat steps 3 + 4) again 8 - 12 hours later
6. 8 - 12 hours later your seeds will have the beginnings of little tails (sprouts). Add 6 cups of water (spring, purified or tap - your choice) to the sprouts and place the jar in the usual low-light, room temperature (70° is best) location for 2 days.
7. Pour liquid - this is your Rejuvelac - into a glass and drink some! Refrigerate the remainder until ready to drink or use in a recipe.
8. You may make more Rejuvelac by repeating step 3 and then adding 1 quart of water. Place your jar in the usual location and culture your Rejuvelac for 1 day - then follow step 6 again.

circle dancing
i joined a new dance group last night. one of my OPIRG associates mentioned they couldn't meet because they had to go to their dance class and i pounced on them for details. i had never heard of sacred circle dancing, and was a little wary, but it was terrific! it turns out they meet 2 minutes from my house, and it was the most delightful, joyous, restorative dancing i've done in awhile, and i made some lovely new friends. i also found out about free djembe drum lessons on wednesday afternoons, also 2 minutes from my house- and they provide drums! what? score!

busy days
this week has also been jam-packed, but i have time to mention my top love: rollerblades!

dad bought me a "used" (they were basically brand new) pair of rollerblades for 20 bucks while he was here, and now i want to skate everywhere. i remembered, while descending my first little hill with increasing speed, that i never really learned how to stop the last time i had rollerblades (...1993?). my roller skating can't be compared, as it's significantly slower. fortunately dad was biking ahead of me, and when i squealed a panic cry, his biologic reflexes kicked in and he swung a 180 with 3 seconds to brace before i slammed into him. :) if he hadn't been there i would've gone soaring into an intersection.

it only took two bouts on the 'blades for me to feel comfortable braking, and i love how fast i can go. tonight i zoomed the bike path up to trent and back in 40 minutes- just in time to take my bread out of the slow cooker. yup, tonight i made my first batch of slow cooker bread! i was forced into it because my toaster oven has an ~4" clearance, and the tops and bottoms of my loaves were scorching while the center remained gooey (i guess toaster ovens weren't intended for bread-baking...). hoo-rah for slow cooker bread! it's totally easy! and delicious! and exciting! (hence all the !) the most exciting part: it's round! you have to cook it inside something that can sit in 1/2c of water on the bottom of the crock pot, so i used a tin canister. i think i'm going to enjoy round bread more than square. i can't wait for a round-bread sandwich!
ok, enough ! and enough posting for me; david comes tomorrow and i have little preparations to make.

ahh!!! volunteer work! visitors! vocation!
the Vs in my life are keeping me too busy for a post this week

neckroll
for those of you who have never watched birds for hours on end, you may not appreciate the shooting, stiff pain i started accumulating in my neck from 4 daily hours of having my neck tilted upwards.
well, this week i snagged an old, stained sweater from the free market that was going to get trashed and cut off one of the sleeves, stuffing it with fabric and sewing long strips on either side. i rest the pillow-sleeve along my neck and run the strips under my arms to tie on my back (see picture below), and then i also have a strip i tie in the front to take the strain off my shoulders. it is AMAZING, and now rather than painful birdwatching, it's restful and leisurely. unfortunately this picture dan took doesn't capture the sweet artwork i drew on the back.


















orgasmic birth
this is my most recently enjoyed documentary. i don't think many people realize my strong feelings about childbirth. i've known for a long time that i don't want to give birth in a hospital. orgasmic birth is about encouraging people to have home births, and illuminating how for normal, healthy people giving birth at home is less risky than giving birth at a hospital- and infinitely more enjoyable.
i was about to jump into no less than 3 paragraphs about my feelings concerning c-sections, epidurals, pain, etc... but instead you can ask me if you're interested.
in short, this movie reminded me that all my fear and anxiety about childbirth is related to hospitals, and after watching it i got totally stoked about childbirth. seriously; i can't wait (i mean, i can, and i will. but i look forward to it- i'll have candles and open windows and tea and snacks, and i'll roll around with people i love and splash in warm water, and just totally revel in having my little baby.)

pets
i couldn't help myself, and i have a jug of ~25 caterpillars that have been happily living in my kitchen for the past week. i don't think i've watched the caterpillar -->butterfly transformation in day-by-day display since maybe 2nd grade, and it's time i witness it again!

getting dirty
i enjoy giving myself permission to get dirty. i think adults are far too preoccupied with staying clean, especially when they have the option to take a shower soon afterwards anyway. it rained for days and days here, and on the first sunny day i hit the trails running. they were totally swamped, as i knew they would be, and i really enjoyed running straight through every giant puddle and getting totally soaked and muddy.

the great plant!
today was planting day at garden 579. i got my hands all dirty (they still are, in fact) planting tons of stuff. it was neat to be with a group of really knowledgeable people, working out a scheme. i ended up learning a fair amount. the garden's only a 5 minute walk from my house, and i like that i can go and garden any time i like.
i've also been working on organizing kids' art projects that'll be taking place for 3 weekends in june. we're going to transform the space into an "art garden", and i'm delighted with the ideas we have so far, which include a "living" teepee with vines and flowers climbing up the frame, and strips of fabric with kids' hopes and dreams written on them tied to the vines and along the teepee. pretty lovely, eh?
here's a shot of today's planting party, although it doesn't capture the garden at all. i'll include more pics of the garden once i have time to download them and send off the link (realistically, probably not until late june)

crash and smash
dan and i lovingly assigned these names to our meticulously realistic chimney swift decoys. during the problem-solving phase of fixing their faulty pole, they made a good number of nose dives to the ground that sent wings flying. there were many rehabilitation sessions requiring gorilla glue.

and they're working!! this week we had a breakthrough, as the swifts are starting to pair off and they began more intense interaction with the playbacks and decoys. i was beside myself with delight when they started repeatedly calling and circling and "diving-in". here's a photo from on top of the mariposa market in orillia, where we have a tower on the roof. i'm holding crash and smash, although they're a little difficult to see. maybe next week i'll post a link to some more photos.



oil pulling
i've started oil pulling after some discussion with jesse and reading up about it online. you basically just swish oil in your mouth for 20 minutes and then spit it out. i was pretty skeptical, but i had trouble finding anything written about it that didn't involve claims of wide-ranging health benefits and wild accolade. i'm tempted to write a lengthy synopsis of my findings, but if you're interested you can check out these links and then go off probing on your own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pulling
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/oil_pulling.html

i figure: if it does work, awesome! if it doesn't, what's the harm in sucking on a little oil?

wood thrush
this week i found the hiking trails at trent, and once again i was off and running through the trees. i stopped in mid-bound when i heard a wood thrush calling back in the woods. their call is definitely one of my favorites and i closed my eyes, allowing the eerie vibrating notes to envelop me with a contented sigh.
i found a clip of their call for you if you're unfamiliar with them, although the experience of hearing it echo through the forest on a quiet spring or summer afternoon cannot be captured in an online sound bite.

mr. something something
this tortonto-nian band is so terrific. their music is dance-happy and complex and superb, but what pushes them over the top for me is that they have bikes up on stage hooked up to their amps. members from the audience come up and ride the bikes to literally power the show.
:) :) :)
here's a link to some of their songs on their webpage.
http://www.mrsomethingsomething.com/music/

efficiency
most of you are probably aware that i'm very keen on multi-tasking and productivity.

well, last week i went to the doctor for a raging kidney infection (i won't go into all the symptoms, but they were horrific).
i showed up at 11am and
did a urine sample,
met with the nurse,
met with the doctor,
went downstairs to the lab to drop off my urine,
went over to the ultrasound department to schedule a pelvic ultrasound,
and was out in the sun again by 11:30. !!
that, and it was all free with a flash of my health card.

wild-ness
this week i found jackson park in peterborough. i hadn't realized how anxious living in a city was making me until i went for a walk there. it's a good sized park, and when i saw beautiful natural chaos it was as if my heart did a snowbank-to-sauna splash. all of a sudden instead of walking i was running down trails that skirted through cedars alongside a racing brook and up into rocky forests. ahhhh. so much better. there's no stress for me like the stress of being without wild places. i feel like a trapped animal. that taste would've been good enough for one day, but then dan and i drove up to a new swift tower in bobcaygeon, and the whole ride was full of forests and rocks and rivers and lakes. dan was amused by my delight. it looked a lot like maine, and it was like a bear hug for my soul.

frisbee golf
i also found the sweet peterborough frisbee golf course this week. it's a lovely course, right down by the river. i don't have time to play it now, but i look forward to getting totally creamed when david visits in june.

cumbia
there was salsa in the kitchen, and now there's cumbia in the woods. david sent me a whole bunch of new latin music, and more than once in the past couple weeks i've been on trails in the woods when one of the tracks pops up on my ipod. without making a conscious decision my feet and hips start moving to it and BAM all of a sudden i'm wildly dancing down the trail, or throwing it down in a clearing. i can't explain what latin music does to me; i'm a marionette and it is my puppeteer. trail-dancing is quickly becoming my new favorite thing.

this painting


"nature girl" by heather gorham.

graduation!
today my beloved brother's graduating from the university of hawaii and i'm positively brimming with pride. i think i could only be more excited if i were there swooning from some abundantly floral lei. no high five or thumbs up;(and a killer hug) to you, kevin!

mending
i was stitching up holes in my socks and replacing a button on my pants when i decided that i'd like to start a mending workshop. i'm going to proposition yolanda (OPIRG's coordinator) about it. convenient, as i've been brainstorming ways to utilize the bags of fabric we have from clothes that were donated but aren't in good enough shape for the free market. i'd be happy to host it one morning a week, and OPIRG'll provide refreshments, material, needles, thread, etc. i think i'll choose articles/topics for discussion each week, and we can sit around mending and getting all hot and mentally bothered. doesn't that sound divine? i think so.

mammala
my mother, my progenitor, my viviparous host. thanks to this marvelous lady, my embryo and the resulting organism developed without a single observable flaw...

all jokes aside, i've written this acrostic poem to magnify a few of her traits that deserve ovation:

Mentor: she teaches innumerable quantifiable things, but also educates in more nuanced ways- helping equip people to teach themselves.
Analytical: constantly seeking answers, and never satisfied with stagnancy, she's always learning and exploring.
Resolute:not afraid of defeat (but not likely to surrender easily), she embraces a challenge.
Generous: she is benevolently self-sacrificing.
Affectionate: showers of kisses and hugs and love abound from her, and she judiciously gives praise without carelessness.
Resourceful: she approaches situations with creativity and innovation, skeptical of prescribed solutions.
Equable: her responses are calm and logical, considering the perspectives of all involved- and never volatile or hostile.
Tenacious: she plows through the tough stuff with spunk and grace, not self-pity or belly-aching.

and she's humble, to boot! jealous yet?
i LOVE my momma!

worm castings
i sifted the worm poop from my worms and compost for the first time, and the joy of topping off my tomato plants and spring greens with my garbage-cum-black gold was otherworldly.

field equipment
i began field work yesterday (well, hypothetically. it's been dumping rain so last night we just went and had tea at joe's, and today i called dan at 5am to let him know we were a no-go.), and i got my hands on my brand-new, sparkling equipment. it includes insanely life-like swift decoys (hand-hacked, black painted cardboard probably would have sufficed, but joe wanted them to be hand-carved and realistically painted. ah well, his money.) and a pole for displaying them next to the towers, a generator, dictophones, stopwatches, chimney swift song cds, hobo loggers (measure temp, humidity, etc. inside the towers), a bazillion cd players and speakers (joe was a little neurotic about back-ups), and a rental car.

as for the car, for some reason the company gave us a brand new one -presumably because they're not familiar with field work- that is not only unnervingly clean, but doesn't have a key! all i got was a little remote to open the doors. once inside, you step on the brake and press a "start" button. i anticipate that it'll create many more problems than it aims to solve.

contamination cups
i think these are great, but i guess bac-tea-ria's not for everyone. :) tamsin van essen makes cups that appear to be contaminated by different bacteria. for example, here's the cholera cup:




the university purge
as classes ended the kids all moved out abruptly, which was bittersweet. on one hand, there was a copious amount of free stuff for the taking. on the other hand, rowdy guys seem to enjoy catapulting perfectly good things off their balconies, sofas and chairs get left in the rain to ruin, and lots of the stuff goes unclaimed. so last week i took to the main student streets near my house with a notebook and camera, scribbling detailed notes of what things were in good shape and their addresses, and taking pictures of each item. then, i made a nice post on freecycle so people could go grab them. i got a number of sweet emails about that post, and for those of you in the states who are nearing the grand exodus, you can still get out there and do the same if you like.

clementine boxes
i keep finding these, and they're so handy!