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)