From there to here, from here to there, Funny things are everywhere
Playing with Flickr’s (relatively) new video sharing option. Aren’t baby laughs the best?
(Lucas and I had just picked up Tristan from a birthday party when we discovered that balloons are the funniest. thing. ever! The boys were laughing so hard I had to get out of the van and catch it on video.)
So you know what I’d like to do? Not today, not this year, but maybe once the boys get a little older and I have a bit of free time on my hands again?
Raise a couple of chickens in the back yard.
(waits patiently for gales of laughter to subside)
No, really! Back at the end of December, I read an article in the Citizen about the urban chicken movement, and I was intrigued. According to what I’ve read, the chickens are reasonably low maintenance, actually good for your back yard, and two hens will produce eight to ten fresh eggs a week. How cool is that? Educationally amazing for the boys, healthy for us, good for the environment, minimal effort on my part — I love the idea.
I know my mother is rolling around on the floor laughing as she’s reading about this, and Beloved – who to his credit has gone along with just about all of my schemes and capers with nary a whimper of complaint – has flat out refused to even talk about this. He hates chickens, except when they’re on the barbecue with a good coating of tandoori marinade. I admit, I’m a little creeped out by them myself. But if they were our chickens, that would be different, right?
This blog about urban chickens gives an idea of the amount of work involved:
- Everyday: fill the food bowl, change the water, check for eggs, add wood chips to the nesting box if needed. (takes 5 minutes)
- Twice weekly: empty the droppings out of the Eglu, very easy to do by design, thanks Omlet! (takes two minutes)
- Weekly: clean the Eglu by rinsing and scrubbing the interior parts (20 minutes)
- Semi-monthly: purchase 50-lb bag of layena crumbles at the feed store (cost is $12 and is worked in with other errands)
That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? (An Eglu is a chicken coop specifically designed for urban chickens. A lot more aesthetically pleasing than your standard chicken-wire and wood coop, no?)
My only concern would be the Ottawa winters. Not chicken-friendly. Not only is it bloody cold for a bloody long time, the last time I checked there was about a foot of snow in the back yard (not to mention, erm, about three months worth of dog poop.) And even if by some stretch of the imagination I was able to convince Beloved to let me keep a couple of chickens in the back yard, there is no way on gods’ green earth that he’d let me overwinter them in the house or even the garage.
(Not to mention the tiny but insistent voice in my head that keeps yammering on about the poor, hapless house plants I bring home from the grocery store in a fit of enthusiasm every five or six months, only to neglect into withered brown stumps within a couple of weeks.)
What do you think? Excellent idea or pure folly? Would you do it?
Hey, can you believe I’ve already made it ten per cent of the way through my Project 365 year? Look, 36 pictures for 36 days, and I haven’t missed one yet!
1. 1:365 Snowglobe, 2. 2:365 Peek!, 3. 3:365 The morning commute, 4. 4:365 Club soda, 5. 5:365 Lucas and me in the colander, 6. 6:365 Lego StarWars Family Portrait, 7. 7:365 Comfort food, 8. 8:365 Lucas in the morning light, 9. 9:365 Snowy night, 10. 10:365 Sunlight, snow and shadow, 11. 11:365 Coloured pencils, 12. 12:365 Snow removal crew, 13. 13:365 Happy Birthday Simon!, 14. 14:365 Icicles up high, 15. 15:365 Picture window, 16. 16:365 Icicles in the sun (3 of 4), 17. 17:365 Toes, 18. 18:365 Cornstalks in the snow, 19. 19:365 Happy Birthday, Lucas!, 20. 20:365 Friends and family at Lucas’s birthday breakfast, 21. 21:365 Winterlude on the Rideau Canal, 22. 22:365 Bored room, 23. 23:365 Melty, 24. 24:365 Vote for me!! Vote for me!!, 25. 25:365 Mooning the Peace Tower, 26. 26:365 Snack time!, 27. 27:365 Winter day at the park, 28. 28:365 Pest, 29. 29:365 Parliament in pink, 30. 30:365 Vote for our Mom!, 31. 31:365 President Obama’s afternoon motorcade, 32. 32:365 Me in the fancy elevator, 33. 33:365 Long exposure skating lessons, 34. 34:365 Poladroid Lucas, 35. 35:365 The artist at work, 36. 36:365 Mardi bokeh and the thief
There are two pictures of which I’m particularly fond this week. First, there’s this one of Tristan drawing, which he does with at least half of his free time each day. Lookit that free-hand star he just drew — I couldn’t do that with a template to follow! (He’s drawing Cosmo and Wanda from “Fairly Odd Parents.)
And I love this one, too. For a change, rather than simply finding inspiration in whatever was around me, I had taken the time to set up a light source and a background, and was playing with depth-of-field and focus to get some “bokeh” from these Mardi Gras beads… when suddenly the beads started disappearing! Sheesh, a girl can’t even take a picture without some random baby coming by to pilfer her subject. I couldn’t resist the two-fer composite shot:
36 down, 329 to go… are y’all sick of Project 365 yet?
The internet really is full of a lot of crap, yanno? For all the great things you can say about the internet — the wonderful information and connections and ideas and whatnot — mostly it’s just a giant time sink, massively full of drivel through which you have to wade hip-deep for days before you can find that one bright, sparkly bauble.
I want to show you my latest bauble. Pretty, shiny thing — almost entirely pointless, but undeniably clever and it made me smile. What more can you ask for? It’s called Poladroid, and it’s my favourite photo toy since Flickr.
You take an ordinary photo like this:
**pauses for oohs and ahhs of adoration to subside**
… and you drag-and-drop it into the little Poladroid widget that looks just like an old polaroid camera and sits pleasantly on top of whatever you’re working on, waiting to be of service. (You have to download the applet to your computer, but trust me, it’s totally worth it!!) When you drop your photo in, the Poladroid makes this satisfying old-skool click and whir, and then it spits out your digital polaroid. At first, it looks like a big sepia blur but as the image slowly resolves — just like a real polaroid — you can grab and shake your polaroid with your mouse. Too cute by half! And in the end, you get this:
Just the faintest tint of sepia, and how great are the textures? I love this, and now I’m actively looking for cool shots that need the Poladroid treatment. Fun!!!
Congratulations to Katrina of Fickle Feline, winner of Mabel’s Labels “send a blogger to BlogHer” contest! Her award-winning entry is terrific, she seems like a lovely person, and I’m genuinely thrilled that she won.
Although I no doubt made a pest of myself with my multi-media campaign to garner your votes, I have to admit that I’m both disappointed and a little bit relieved to not be the big winner. The idea of heading off all by my lonesome to a girlie-fest of famous bloggers frankly scared the socially-awkward pants off of me, much as I really wanted to go. And I’d’ve fretted the whole time about leaving Beloved and the boys behind, sad though that may sound.
I owe every single one of you that voted for me a heart-felt thank you, though, and sloppy wet smooches to those of you who really stepped up by tweeting or even blogging to scam a few more votes for me. And I’ll gleefully thumb my nose at those of you who simply rolled your eyes and hoped I’d stop with all the embarrassing grovelling already. I had fun campaigning for your votes, and I hope you did, too.
Congratulations, Katrina, and thanks again to the folks at Mabel’s Labels! You should buy their stuff – I do!
Wow, it’s hard to believe that it’s been just over six months since I started my “Plan B” weight-loss plan. (And, for goodness sake, did none of you think to mention at the time that “Plan B” is a morning after pill as well? It took me months to figure out the google traffic!) Anyway, at the time of my last update back at the beginning of December, I’d just reached my goal weight of 170 lbs and hoped to be down to 160 lbs by the time I went back to work. Well, it took a little bit longer than that, but can you believe that for the first time since Beloved and I met back in 1995, I’m below 160 lbs?
In six months, I’ve lost almost 35 lbs (!!) and 6 inches off each of my waist, my hips and my bust, plus another inch or two off my thighs and even my arms. Woot! And to be totally honest with you, I’m not really even trying anymore but the weight keeps trickling off. Remember all those clothes I bought for back-to-work on Boxing Day? The pants and skirts are all too loose on me now! (Which begs the question: is it worthwhile to bring them in to be altered? Or do I have to re-buy in the next size down? And can you please just tolerate me bragging for one more second while I tell you that for the first time in my adult life I’m now wearing a size TEN in jeans?!? That’s down from a very snug 16 just six months ago!)
So because a few of you have asked me, here’s the six-month overview of how I lost 35 lbs without losing my mind!
I really hope this doesn’t come across with the evangelical zeal of the recently converted reduced, but I am still rather shocked by my own success and am more than happy to share it. So far, even three weeks of sedentary cubicle life hasn’t had the detrimental effect I’d feared, and I’m the same weight today that I was back in 1995 when Beloved and I first met. Not bad, being on the cusp of 40 with the body I last saw at 25 — and three giant babies later, to boot! I guess I’ve earned the right to brag just a little bit. *grin*
Y’all know I pretty much worship the pages Stephen King writes upon. And I’ll admit that I got pretty well sucked in by the first book of the Twilight series, while gradually losing my enthusiasm through the next three. But I found the idea of a Stephen King smackdown of Stephenie Meyer particularly delicious. Apparently he loves JK Rowling and thinks “Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.” To date, Meyer has not responded. I hope she does, though. It’d make for some great literary spectating!
In the end, there is no way I could have resisted the gleeful excitement that was POTUS’s first official visit to Ottawa yesterday. Through the morning, I watched the conversation on twitter, including updates from media types on the buses headed toward the airport to greet Air Force One when it touched down. And how cool is it that the White House was liveblogging the event? Am very impressed with the effort if not the final product!
Obama’s plane touched down just after 10:30, and it wasn’t too long after that that I could no longer contain myself. I read that people were rolling giant snowballs on Parliament Hill out of the fresh, sticky snow to stand on to give themselves a better view, and I couldn’t think of a more perfectly Canadian thing to do.
Unfortunately, by the time I stepped out of the building, pedestrian access to the Hill was already blocked. Eventually, I wormed my way up to the patio of the Elephant and Castle, which conveniently is two or three steps up from Colonel By Drive, giving me a nice view over the heads of the gathering crowds.
It wasn’t much of a wait before the first of maybe a dozen or more Ottawa police cars whizzed by in groups of two with lights flashing, and then two police helicopters got the crowd good and excited. Shortly thereafter, the crowd’s excitement swelled palpably as the motorcade came into view.
People cheered and waved, and I couldn’t help but smile at this outpouring of affection. I went back to my office, content that I’d won my bragging rights. I was there.
Later in the day, I was about to head out of the office when I checked the official itinerary one more time and realized the motorcade would be leaving Parliament Hill for the airport just about the same time I would be going home. Chance for second glance, perhaps? Once again, I tried to wander over toward Parliament Hill, and once again the oh-so-firmly-polite OPP declined my passage. Oh well.
I crossed the intersection of Rideau and Sussex as I do at least four, sometimes six or more times every workday, and was surprised at how few people were still milling about. I wandered right up to the barricade and thought I’d hang out for just a couple of minutes, knowing that Beloved was working late and it was up to me to relieve the nanny of the kids. I was just about to move along when I heard one of the OPP say, “Okay, the Mackenzie King bridge is closed now to bus and pedestrian traffic.” Uh huh. Self, I said, you’re not getting home any time soon, so you might as well hang out here and wait for another peek at the motorcade!
I thought about moving down the way toward Colonel By a bit more, closer to where I had been standing earlier in the day, but decided I liked my wide-open clear view as I leaned my elbows on the barricades. I befriended a film student from Concordia, and we shivered and chatted and tried to convince the OPP to give us hints as to when POTUS might drive past. The return of the helicopters clued us in to the fact that his departure was imminent.
Look closely, you can see the helicopter door is open. I’m guessing that’s NOT a photographer inside, trying to get a clear shot! And we could clearly see the snipers on the roof of the Langevin Building, too.
Suddenly, there was a palpable ripple not through the hopeful crowd of gathering bystanders but through the police. Small knots of police gathered and conversed urgently, then suddenly fanned out and started moving the barricades around. I looked at my film student friend with raised eyebrows and he said, “I’ll bet they’re turning down Sussex!”
“No way,” I argued. “If they follow the route from this morning, they’ll be turning way over there to get onto Colonel By and head out to the airport.”
He was convinced, though. And just a few minutes later, we found out he was right. We had a lovely clear view up Wellington as the motorcade approached…
… and then turned directly in front of us. I’d been debating whether to try for my best still shots or using the video capture, and in the end switched to video at the last minute. The motorcade cruised past us maybe 10 or 20 feet away, and both Barack Obama and his lookalike in the decoy limo smiled and waved at us. I was completely and utterly gobsmacked to actually be able to see his genuine, happy smile and waving hand, and later crushed when my shivering, crowd-jarred video didn’t catch it. Oh well, I know what I saw, and I earned my bragging rights!
It took me two hours to get home after that. Streets were closed, buses were detoured, and downtown was gridlock. And it was worth every minute! I found out only when I got into my van at the park-and-ride that two minutes after passing by in front of me, Obama actually got out of the motorcade and did some souvenir shopping in the Byward Market, shaking hands with admirers as he went!! (!!!) He bought a moose keychain and some maple cookies for his daughters, and was given an “Obama-tail”, a Beaver Tail made in his honour. (It’s a Canadian thing, my US friends. Just smile and nod politely at the peccadilloes of your starstruck neighbours to the north.)
When I got home, still full of the excitement of the day, Tristan had his own Obama-encounter story to tell. Living due west of the airport, we’re in the flight path for flights arriving from the east. Just before Obama’s arrival at Ottawa International Airport, they brought all the kids in his school out into the yard and formed them into a giant “O” to sing O Canada while Air Force One flew overhead. Is that not the best part of the whole story?
What a day!
I was there! I stood about 10 feet from Barack Obama’s motorcade and I actually SAW HIM!!!! He was waving and smiling to the crowds through the window! It was so unexpected and delightful and CLOSE!!!!
I debated the whole time I was standing there whether to go with still photos or video, and in the end video won out. Quality is not terrific, so you’ll have to take my word for it, but he’s in the second limo (fourth vehicle) that passes.
I found out later that he got OUT OF THE CAR and walked around the Market SHAKING HANDS WITH PEOPLE just steps away from where I stood after I turned and walked the other way. Oh well, I’m more than pleased with my brush with celebrity.
More pix and more story later, gotta get the kids to bed!
I just can’t help myself!
Hey, if you won’t vote for me, do it for them. Don’t make my brazen exploitation of my kids be in vain! (Truth be told, they were great sports. Tristan’s developing a fine sense of humour, and as soon as I told him it was a grownup joke, he was in without question. I told Simon his sign said people should give him Smarties, and he was in, too.)
And hey, lookit that, because this is my lastest picture for Project 365, I can just segue into my weekly review of that project, too. See, multipurpose exploitation!!
When I could draw myself away from using my children for my own nefarious purposes (and really, why else would one have children in the first place?) I had a bit of an addiction to photos of the Parliament Buildings this week. They’re lovely in any light!
And (speaking of segues) I’ll likely have at least one more photo to add to the Parliament Building set today. Sounds like President Obama will be arriving on Parliament Hill just about the time I can take my lunch break. Got my camera and my scarf and mitts (it’s snowing, of course) and I think I’ll go check it out. This morning I was walking up Sussex just in time to see a motorcade pulling out of the US Embassy and heading toward the airport – no doubt the Ambassador heading out to greet his boss.
[Edited to add: I was there! Tried to get to Parliament Hill to get pix of people rolling snowballs to stand on to get a better view – does it get any more Canadian than that? – but by the time I left at 11 am pedestrian access was blocked. Instead, stood on the E&C patio at the corner of Colonel By and Rideau and shared an elevated planter with a little boy of 10 or so years old to get a better view over the crowd. Felt the lovely surge of excitement as the crowd cheered and waved when the motorcade past — but was too busy taking pictures to actually figure out which Cadillac One might actually have Barack Obama in it! Will post pix tonight!]
All that, and it’s my parents’ wedding 43rd anniversary today too, something that needs no segue. Happy Anniversary, Granny and Papa Lou!