the sky over suburbia

my phone tries, it really does, but in the end it is just too weak-hearted to show you how glorious this sky really was. it was a marvel. I stopped the car just to stare in wonder for a while.

la chanson du jour:  are you? by alex cuba. heard on cbc radio2 ce matin on my commute. it's a toe tapper.

one of the common people

rent a flat above a shop
cut your hair and get a job...

(by pulp, heard it on the way to work
a very retro sound)

tired of being the nag. tired of kids living like squatters in my house (does this give you an idea of what their rooms must look like?) tired of getting angry everytime I am forced to cross the threshold of their small and squalid domains. not to mention regular chores that are continually neglected until I am forced to breath fire. it's no way to live. gah.

irritated with the barnacles tonight, so I won't cook for them. they can have weiners or dry lentils or whatever. I am going to have some soup, then head to the gym where I can plug some earphones in and forget about how messy my house is for a while. float in the hot tub. swim some laps. come home and have some wine. then some more...

it's a life.

I have always appreciated emerson

the view on my drive home:

• this bodes well.  february has typically not been so kind to me.  we are making amends this year...
• I'm still eating leftover minestrone and not complaining one bit.  it is even better the next day.  this is the best minestrone recipe I've come across.
• I want to bake tonight maybe..hm. maybe monkey bread. if you click on the link, please ignore the photos (all of them, please!).  they're awful. looks more like monkey poop.
•  the kids I'm working with this week have been excellent. the staff too. it's been a great week so far, and the promise of a sunshiney weekend makes me think that maybe february has finally dropped it's grudge against me...

this morning:

The lights mean second coffee is very close, and the other photo?  Oh yes I did!

fuzzy me, the dog, the laundry

these are getting more haphazard. sorry. it's an experiment. not sure what kind. time will tell.
I meant to get up early to work on my spanish.  early morning may be the only time left in the day for some peace and solitude.  when I was doing my undergraduate, late late nights were my quiet time.  but I am much too responsible too old, for that kind of nonsense anymore :)
as it is, I got up just in time to get ready, take this picture, post this post, and run.  
Happy February all!!  May it treat you kindly.

my new favourite machine at the gym. 
we all five of us went to the gym tonight. the boys to swim, the rest of us to spin-spin-spin (then hottub-hottub-hottub)!  I am grateful that, for the most part, my body will still cooperate.  someday I know it will not.  until then, I will enjoy, and be grateful, for my body's cooperation.

we know too many people (young and old) who are physically incapacitated because of abuse and neglect of their bodies; enough to seriously compromise their lifestyle.  I don't want to be physically helpless in my 60s.  this is what I aim for.

The early blogger

It's early.  6:30am.  Boys are watching cartoons.  I know, so cute right?  And making breakfast and lunch.  Leftover minestrone for me. K made my coffee.  Dog is agitating for food.  I'm off.  Ciao!

1. home from the pool. the boys came. the girl stayed home. they have now all scattered to their own little quiet corners.
2. endless ocean sloshing around in my ear. one ear. this happens only sometimes when I go swimming. thank garry. it drives me fricking insane. I get completely irrational and have to do deep breathing to calm myself.  it's always gone by morning.
3. I got a call for a whole week with the same gr.4 class. hallelujah!  I truly do love gr.4s.
4. minestrone for dinner tonight with spicy italian sausage. om-nom-nom...
5. K did an evening shift. he'll be home just in time for some popcorn, Justified, pinot noir, couch.

La vache qui rit

new favorite. The best part? only 45 calories for both pieces. so yum. I usually have it on celery, but this is what was around.

The view from where I'm sitting:

Will write an update when I get home (more blogging on the run!)

gr.4's all week. yay!  I ♥ gr.4's.


sorry Deb! still no face shot :) had to snap it and run, lest I look like a dorkwad standing in front of a mirrored window taking shot after shot of myself :D

Happy 19th Birthday Girl!!

this song is breaking my heart:

there is a good reason I have always loved ryan adams. he just keeps making good good music.

city days:

• it's my pops 60th birthday today (happy birthday pops!), so we made a trip into the city to his favourite dim-sum restaurant for lunch with the whole fam.  It was good to see some old faces. 
• friction with kidlets and their alternative lives.  it's still a little strange to me that I can't just drag them around with me like little pieces of baggage like I used to.  they won't tolerate it so much anymore.  today was an exception because it's their grandfather's birthday, but otherwise they've got their own weekend lives, their own weekend plans and to make them bend to weekend family plans can make it pretty tense...  Right now we still have some leverage being the only ones with viable transportation and money.  this won't last forever :P
• *not my photo, forgot my camera again (arg!). the dim-sum was good.  the service though.. but that's a story for another day :)

Blogging on the run

Power was out all day today. Fire at the transformer station. It only went back on late this afternoon.  I work out of town so out did not affect my day. 
I had a gr.4/5 montessori class today and yesterday.  It was a ' jump rope for heart' day, which meant I got to spend the day in yoga wear and runners.  So comfy. It was also art day for them so much of the day was spent up to my elbows in tissue paper, glue, and glitter. I love my job.

art by Lizzy Stewart

somewhere between darkness and light

• there is a mixture of moods in our house.  glum on one end, buoyant on the other.  middle son has just finished his last exam for this term.  he has friends over and they are celebratory.. playing pool, music too loud, jumping all over the place, up and down the stairs like overweight monkeys, mr.noodles explosion in the kitchen. sigh. but I'm glad for them.  youth is for that, right?
• oldest girl is glum. seems to be glum a lot lately, though she won't thank me for noticing it (or blogging about it, come to that).  I am without sympathy, and perhaps this is unjust, but it's an infectious mood and I don't need it.  and this is only because I compare her situation to mine at her age and tell myself that she has no reason for self-pity.. if indeed it is self-pity. which I suspect.  ah well.  I do make an honest effort to bolster her spirits, but it always seems to be of the sort that she really does not appreciate, so I stop.  I am being sucked dry of resources and sometimes you have to keep some back just so you can get through your week mostly intact. loving people can be so draining.
• K is tired tired and tired.  and being tired makes him glum.  me too, come to think of it.  but I get grumpy and snappy and less able to resist my more harmful impusles.  he just gets morose.
• youngest boy and I are hovering in between.  he has a cheerful disposition, but is sometimes too sensitive to the moods of others.  I am on an upswing (moodwise) especially compared to this time last year, and also sensitive to the moods of those around me.  I am desperately clinging to some lightness: "Back off! get your own good mood!"
• ... must secure own face-mask before assisting passenger beside you... and so it goes. 

*p.s. this photo is not mine though I am despairingly jealous of  whoever took it.

The view from here:

I'm following rw's excellent advice and snapping pictures with my phone when I don't have my camera with me. I'm even blogging directly from my phone right now! Oh brave new world.

When there's nothing to say:

Except, I must say... I bought this toothbrush today. Because I needed a new toothbrush, and because I hadn't seen such an oldschool toothbrush forever. The new ones are so curvy and multi-coloured and space-age and walk the dog and make you breakfast. It was nice to find something so boxy and practical and old-fashioned. 
Did I really just say that? Oh man I'm old.

tuesday trifles:

• apple coleslaw and cheesy spaghetti (old family recipe) tonight. om-nom-nom...
• bit of a hum-drum existence lately.  this is good, though.  I have become really appreciative of 'uneventful'. I'm treading water.  not looking for excitement, but maintaining a holding pattern. this is ok.
• middle son did not get to do his test last week.  he was seriously bummed. they've rescheduled him for early Feb.
• the snow is basically gone, almost as quick as it came. what's left is big piles of slushy grossness all over the place, but at doesn't interfere with getting places.  that's the way it goes 'round these here parts.
• pasta party coming up this weekend at a friend's house.  there will be a ravioli pasta maker, and I'll bring my regular one that I've actually never tried.  this is gonna be fun.
• funny but true story: we went for Indian food on sunday and while perusing the menu I saw 'Mulligatawny'.  Seriously! It was kind of hilarious.  It sounds like something you'd serve with grits and collard greens. (the link tells the real and interesting history)
• I'm on pinterest now.  actually I've had it for a while, but have let it get out of hand lately.  it's addictive. so I'm posting this and leaving.  I promise! no really, I swear!
• and finally, if I were a wealthy heiress (and there was no poverty in the world) I would fill my house with Georgia O'Keeffe.

*one last sweet song I leave you with..