Comments (0) It seems so long ago – a whole week in BC where it was nearly as hot as here, minus the humidity and it never rained. We had an amazing week. Here are the last few pictures from Vancouver Island.
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I have been organizing my bookmarks on my laptop, which means I have been procrastinating: avoiding school work I need to get ready and blog writers I need to search out for the fall issue of Rapport.
I checked out a bunch of vegan blogs thinking they’d give me lots of ideas. They have, of course. I’m not culinarily creative so I rely on other people to catalyze my thought process. However, I find very few vegan recipes I can use “as is”. That’s because I have a list of things I can’t or won’t eat (in addition to the basic things vegans don’t eat). My poor mother!
Practically a staple in our house.
I hope you can see my problem. Yes, it is self-imposed due to stomach problems and personal dislikes (or super likes, as in the case of chocolate). But it’s my reality. Again, my poor mother!
I wondered what my title would be if I were to start a vegan blog. That’s how I came up with “The Vegan Who Can’t”. Sounds bad. Sounds bathroom-related.
Maybe this fixation on a vegan blog is just summer boredom. Or maybe it’s just to keep my mind occupied so I don’t think about all the bad things that have happened lately (the barn burning down, Danforth shootings, Bailey’s death).
Sometimes my fixations turn into real things; I did learn to play guitar in this obsessive way. And anyone who does macro photography knows it only works (not to say mine does) if you’re obsessive. Yesterday, I went out around the golden hour and took macro photos down by the shore of the lake. Only a few worked out despite the time it took to set up the tripod and get down on the ground to be at eye-level with the “greens”.
Tangled garden twirly is minuscule in real life.
Other times, fixations don’t work out for me. After going to one of those group painting sessions, I bought a small set of acrylic paints and some starter canvases. I tooled around for a few weeks and even created a little kit that would make it easy for me to set up and clean up. But nothing came of it, mostly owing to my very uncreative mind. I love colours but I don’t know what to do with them.
I have even been practicing taking food photos. Val definitely sees this as a fixation. I told him it won’t last once school starts; who wants to see photos of a frozen meal fresh out of the microwave?
Panzanella
Maybe I’m just temporarily challenged by the “if they can do it, I can do it” of looking at so many blogs. I already have a blog – why not do it? Maybe the fear is that it would just become one more project started and not finished. Probably the fear is that my life is just not that interesting. I’m not complaining: I have a great life for me.
At any rate, if I do decide to blog about my version of veganism, I’ll wait until I’m finished with Rapport. My history blog – as I call it – is taking up too much of my time during the school year so I am sadly but smartly (I think) quitting as editor as of mid-November.
For now, I will just go along with whatever happens. It is summer, after all.
At the lookout near our house after my 43 km ride day.
On our way from Victoria to Nanaimo we had a planned stop at Pacific Northwest Raptors.
We had an interactive flying demonstration from a kestrel, a hawk, a falcon, an eagle, a turkey vulture, and an owl. The human, Selena, was very informative. After, we went on a hawk-walk with Anakin the Harris’ hawk.
We really needed a telephoto lens but we did the best we could. It was an excellent learning opportunity and a fun close-up with an amazing animal.
Our third cat, little Bailey, has come to the end of the line. He was struggling to eat and was losing weight fast so we thought the best thing we could do for him was put him out of his misery.
So little.
It’s really hard to describe Bailey, a rather reclusive cat. He came to us about five years ago, hanging out on our deck until we let him in. We had seen him before in the front and back of our house, calling him “Brown Tabby.” He was a big guy back then. He was shy then, too, disappearing out of sight quickly. That’s why it was such a surprise when he parked himself on the deck in plain view.
Bailey fit in with our two other cats fine by ignoring them for the most part. He kept to himself, spending the first two years here under the buffet in the dining room. Gradually he branched out to the dining room table itself and even the loft. But his favourite place was our bed where he would come for snuggles almost every night. This was entirely out of character for him because he would actually back away from us if we approached him. But the bed was safe, for some reason. He loved his chin rubs and he loved to rub his sore mouth up against my hand. This held true for the cottage as well, where he would leave his abode – the corner of the cupboard – only to hop on the bed.
Bailey was quiet and did no harm. Once Richard arrived a year and a half ago, he had to defend himself against the youngster’s relentless chasing. I’m sure that heightened his stress levels. Yet they would sleep close to each other in the loft, sometimes even on opposite sides of the bench, separated by a pillow.
I will miss Bailey and will keep him in my memories forever as my special cat.
About half an hour outside of Victoria can be found Victoria Butterfly Gardens and The Butchart Gardens. Both are incredible places.
First we went to see the butterflies in their indoor tropical playground. Then we were equally wowed by the beauty of Butchart Gardens.
We just returned from an amazing holiday in BC. It started with our first ever trip to Victoria. What took us so long? It’s a beautiful, friendly city.
Val has made good on his threat to cut his hair. Of course I documented the process.
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Here he is looking longingly outside at the cottage. He knows how good he has it – he doesn’t really want to leave. Just look.
East York Canada Day parade took place on a very hot July 1.
Ward 29 Bikes had a small “float” of riders, with the star of the show being Felicity in her fabulously decorated balloon bike.
Yes, she is actually in there somewhere.
Captain Canada emerges!
A lot of people took pictures of Felicity!
The streets of East York (at least those on the parade route) were lined with red and white (mostly white, to be honest) viewers.
That was my first ride, albeit at a snail’s pace. I am now practicing for my August ride around Lake Simcoe with Val.
My mom treated a group of us to this fabulous musical on Saturday!
It is very emotional. I was told I would cry but I wasn’t prepared for it JUST HAPPENING from very early on in the play.
Very Canadian. Lovely music, great story. Great band – one guy wore a Def Leppard shirt. Does he wear it to every performance, I wonder?
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