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!

"the weight of lies"

i've been singing the chorus to this song by the avett brothers all week:


the weight of lies will bring you down
and follow you to every town
cause nothing happens here that doesn't happen there


so when you run make sure you run
to something and not away from
cause lies don't need an aeroplane to chase you anywhere


chimney swifts

my beauties have been spotted in the skies, and field work with my assistant (i have an assistant! hah!) dan starts wednesday.


open windows
enough said. sleeping with the window open on cool rainy spring nights cannot be beat.


sleeping kids
speaking of sleep, i adore how heavily kids sleep. i creep (not that i need to) into phoebe's room at night to turn off her light, and her angelic mug doesn't even twitch.


green tea

i assume you're aware of green tea's greatness.
it seems well supported that green tea improves the immune system, infection, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol levels, arthritis, cancer, club feet, and ignorance. ok, not the last two.


i've been exploring non-imbibe uses for green tea.
i was skeptical of wild claims i read about using it as a conditioner, but they're true. i swish a little apple cider vinegar in a cup of green tea and rinse my hair with it, followed by a quick water rinse. it's magic! i've also been making my new favorite face wash by grinding up oats, raspberry green tea, and baking soda. i follow it with a splash of lime juice and rosewater.
god, doesn't my face sound tasty?


i've also decided i should probably buy a jumbo bag of green tea powder and start cooking with it.

cpr tricks
i read about a study this week that found the bee gee's song "stayin alive" has a beat that's almost exactly 100 beats/minute- the same rate the AHA recommends for CPR chest compressions. after 5 weeks (i don't really know why it took that long; i don't think of it as a particularly complex number) doctors at a med school in Illinois could hum along without the music and keep time while doing chest compressions. unfortunately this study didn't involve a less obnoxious song. i think my cpr skills would be sub-par if a highly annoying disco song was stuck in my head...

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.