nana

my techno-savvy nana sent me an email earlier this week saying she's into my blog and wants to be a love of mine! 

well, i could easily make a separate page titled: leah's nana love list, in which i endlessly post the things i adore about this glorious lady. a few sentences cannot do my nana justice.

instead of extemporizing about my raging affection, i'll post a picture taken in one of my all-time favorite places with one of my all-time favorite people. every time i see it i swoon with joy and contentment.

you've been on the love list every week of my life, nana. :)

sneakers --> sandals

man oh man, the weather has been so dreamy. i decided on a whim to take sandpaper to my soles- likely related to the joyous adieu i've bid to my sneakers. well, that impromptu decision kept me sloughing for an HOUR. it'd, uh, been awhile. i'd be screwed if i eradicated the calluses as i prefer being barefoot, but i whittled off at least a couple years. my feet weren't ghastly, but i do have a newfound appreciation for those kickers. they were beaming after i rubbed them in coconut oil and let them spend the night in a luxury suite (socks). 

epicurean epiphanies

this week i made my first round of pita bread (i don't know why i assumed it was difficult), my now magnificent hummus got a divine tahini intervention, and with a small maple leaf cookie cutter i made canadian pride crackers.  

earth day ban!

ontario banned 250 pesticides on earth day, and pesticides are no longer allowed on lawns, gardens, parks, or schoolyards. 

what? yay!!

first day of my life

this bright eyes song is what i've been toying around with most recently on my uke.

the great gatsby

i picked up a copy from the library buy-back and read it this week. i remember scribbling feverishly while reading it in high school, but i couldn't figure out what i'd found so linguistically compelling (although i do still really like it). next up is a humanitarian book "race against time". i should be done with that shortly though, and i expect to frequently lie in the sun reading, so send suggestions (and or book packages...)!

old sayings

particularly this new england one:

use it up, wear it out, 

make it do, or do without.

nerdy cartoons

snappy conversions

i've been doing a fair bit of driving as i scope out all the towers i'll be monitoring in a couple weeks. i've enjoyed quizzing myself on km-to-mile estimates, but i ended up wanting a more specific conversion. well, i don't know why someone didn't teach me the easy math method, but it doesn't matter as i soon figured it out. since 1 km = .6 miles, multiply the kilometres by 6... so when i see a sign that says 

orillia: 35 km 

and my bladder (which only speaks in miles) needs to know whether or not to press for a highway pit stop, i do a quick x6 and find i've got 21 miles left. 

quinoa (keen-wah)

i first remember eating quinoa while staying in an indigenous hut on lake titicaca in peru. not a bad intro. 

it's gotten pretty popular as of late, and for good reason.

although it cooks like a grain, it's nutrionally superior. it's actually a seed related to spinach and it's "close to one of the most complete foods in nature" because it contains all 9 essential amino acids, enzymes, vitamins and minerals, fiber, antioxidants and phytonutrients. also, it's easily digested so your body absorbs all those nutrients, and it works as a prebiotic to feed all your hardworking gut bugs. 

the incas don't mess around. 

the felice brothers

frankie's gun

my first conference (which also accounts for this shorter post)
joe footing the bill for me to go, and for me to stay in a luxury hilton are appreciated, but my favorite thing is that the coordinator arranged for me to have a vegan meal at the banquet.

humphrey the bear
does anyone else get flashbacks of this cartoon? i get one whenever i hear certain music clips. i just found it again this week- i don't think i'd seen it since i was 12 or so.
then i stumbled onto this banned disney cartoon about 'hitler's children education of death'!

ee cummings
O sweet spontaneous
earth how often have
the doting

fingers of
prurient philosophies pinched
and poked

thee
has the naughty thumb
of science prodded
thy

beauty how
often have religions taken
thee upon their scraggy
knees squeezing and

buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
gods
but
true

to the incomparable
couch of death thy
rhythmic
lover

thou answerest


them only


with spring

__________
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

pursuing interests (.../overworking)
i'm now the assistant coordinator for OPIRG.

thumbs way up, as it means i'll get experience running a nonprofit; and a lovely, inspiring one, to boot. i've done my best to make my schedule flexible, but i'll undoubtedly overwork myself. even so, i'm psyched.

skating
i got to pull out my roller skates this week.

on my first outing i found a nest, which was bittersweet; i'm happy to put it on my shelf, but it reminds me of the natural history collection that had to be left in virginia.

i was also pleasantly bombarded by little winged beasts; a sign that we're on the cusp of bountiful blossoms.

(p.s. don't you enjoy watching flies sponge up their vomit-food? i sure do.)

entomology
speaking of insects...i got to pull microscopic insect bits from ancient chimney swift poo this week. it was cool. really. well, what was really cool is that my technician Zaid could identify those bits to family. i have a crush on entomologists. and scientists in general. although most pick-up lines wouldn't work on me, i heard one that would:

"if i were an enzyme, i'd be DNA helicase so i could unzip your genes"... :) hah.

scat/feces/droppings/excrement/etc.
speaking of bird poo... i found a second chimney with swift droppings! the Orillia Opera House manager Michael tried his best to convince me it would be fruitless, and despite his skepticism every step of the way, he was delighted when he heard my muffled yelp from inside the chimney shaft. getting in there was pretty tricky. and dirty. Michael found me and my enthusiasm very entertaining, and took a picture of my happy swinging legs from the shaft i hoisted into.




bakery smells
there's a bakery in proximity to my neighborhood that churns out decadent smells. sometimes i walk out my door and into a doughy waft of sweet, puffy pastry. it's so intense it's strangely filling, which is why i love rather than hate it; it'd be an imposition to get hunger pangs every time i left the house.

indie-rock goodies
although not specific to this week, i do like these guys
dr. dog
blitzen trapper

maybe one of these days i'll attach a ditty on my uke...

you
when i stop and think about it, i get overwhelmed by the support and encouragement i receive from my nearest and dearest. i'm grateful to have people that bring such delight to my ephemeral existence. thank you for the ways in which each of you bless and enrich my life.