A Few Favourites from 2009

A lovely little guy was born.

Time with Mom and Bro.

A day of fun with the roomies.

Another lovely little guy turned two.

A summer's adventure with friends.

A trip to Niagara Falls with Seg and his family.

Precious Penelope grew up.

Two trips to the Dorset fire tower, one with Mom, one with pals.

A walk to work on a chilly Autumn morning.

A few photos at work.

Some Lovely Things from the Last Few Days

First of all, LOOK!!! Poor Seg and John had to leave for work at ten to seven this morning to get this all cleared out of the way for people's feet and cars. I'll have to leave for work 15 minutes early so as not to be late (snow slows me down) but otherwise I think it's beautiful.

I love when cats and humans pose the same. It's one of the best things. Just like this old favourite.

Penelope is great. I find she is just like a baby in that I cannot stop taking pictures of her; the only thing is she moves so fast all the time that I can hardly get a picture of her in focus. It's a bummer because I miss all sorts of great moments, but it's neat as well because I catch so many great shots I never intended.




My favourite little family came over last night for Rockband and Scattergories. It was good fun, and really nice as one of the things I like doing most in the apartment is having friends over. Takes it from a house to a home.




Speaking of families, Loki is the sweetest adopted dad I've ever seen.

A friend of mine has me creating a set of wrist pieces as a gift for someone. It's beading, beading, beading. It's been a while since I've done any proper beading, but I'm getting the feel for it again. After I go back and fill in the gaps, I think it will look pretty nice. I'll post the finished pieces as soon as I'm able.

Christmas is coming. This year it's gotten into my head and won't get out. I'm not even bothered by the way all the stores are decorated up already and how you can already hear Xmas carols playing. (Normally that drives me nuts--oversaturation!) But I'm pretty stoked.

That's all. Off to make rotini and bracelets!

This is Happy.

November Morning Thoughts

Winter is pretty much on its way. It's barely, barely snowing; in fact, it's supposed to get up to 11 degrees this weekend or something like that. (When you work in lottery, everyone tells you the weather.) But it's on its way as far as I am concerned. Here are the signs.

1. There is snow on the ground right now. And on people's cars and falling from the sky ever so lightly. It's not much and it won't stay, but the transition has begun.

2. It's dark by 5:30. Completely dark. In grade 6, my brother Eli and I would always watch the Simpsons after school. By the time it was over at 5:30, it was always pitch black out. And that's winter.

3. On Sunday, I made chicken soup and biscuits from scratch. It was delicious, but more importantly, I'm getting the urge for hot, savoury things like soup and hot chocolate and chili more often. Even Fiona's mention of roasting a chicken made me think, 'Mmm. Cozy."

4. I'm not biking to work any more. =(

5. I bought a winter coat. First new one I've had in a while. It's cranberry red and double breasted and falls to mid thigh. I'm excited to have some colour in my winter gear for once.

6. I'm extremely stoked for Xmas. I've been buying people's gifts early this year and everywhere I go I'm thinking of what to do/make/get for people. It's fun, and it's making me very excited for Xmas.

7. I want to be out walking pretty much all the time. In scarves and hats and mittens all rosy cheeked. In the woods especially.

8. Barb is calling on me to make some stuff for the sale up North. Fun!

9. Clementines are showing up in the stores in wooden boxes. Yummy!

10. The light is different. No more bright yellow sun, now it's pale and quiet and almost pure white. Very clean and Wintery.

As Winter's been approaching, I've been thinking of a post I wrote a while ago about the smells of the seasons and how winter doesn't really have any. My friend Devon responded to my note, suggesting that perhaps all of Winter's smells are indoor smells, like hot apple cider and soup simmering on the stove. The more I think it over, the more I've decided she's correct. With the exception of cool, icy pine and that crisp, clean, cold nothing smell of outdoors in Winter, all the Winter smells are indoor smells.

Like she said, soup and cider definitely. The cider smell also makes me think of how my father used to put cinammon sticks and cloves in a pot of water and set it to boil on the woodstove. Mmmmm.

Clementines are distinctly Winter to me. That first potent burst of scent when you break open the rind is very Christmasy. So distinct as well....the other day Eli had a clementine (unbeknownst to me) and then handled the kitten. When I took her back from him, I knew he'd eaten one as I could smell it on her fur.

Wood smoke is a good one. Also that earthy smell firewood gets after you bring it inside and all the snow and ice start to melt off.

Scotch tape is Christmasy (and therefore Wintery) to me as well. When I was younger, the only time I really remember encountering scotch tape was opening gifts on Xmas morning. So the combined smell of scotch tape and wrapping paper does it for sure. Now when I wrap the gifts as well as when I open them.

These are all the smells I can think of for now. Perhaps more will come back to me as Winter progresses. Or maybe you have some of your own you'd like to share?? Please, comment!

Meet the Cats

This post is for you, Meghan, to catch up on the kitties in my life. ;)

First of all, we have Loki. You know who he is, Meghan, but for those who don't and might be interested, here ya go.

Inherited from our former roomies in Oakville, he's been a part of the family for about two years. He started out as a pretty crazy guy, high energy, high strung, loud and heavy on personality. He's quieted down a fair amount now, and even seems rather grown up now that we have the kitten, but he's still a pretty unique guy. He's also rather large. I never truly appreciated what a big cat he is until we got Penelope, but after cuddling her, he seems big and muscular and heavy by comparison. He really isn't the skinny ninja he used to be.

On the other hand, he's still pretty dynamic. He can wrestle and chase with the best of them and is teaching Penelope all the moves. He'll carry on a conversation, he loves to lick faces with his sandpaper tongue, and he likes to sleep on the computer chair at night. If Seguin stays up late playing games when Loki wants to go to sleep, he's not shy about stealing the chair the second Seguin gets up for a drink. He also loves hugs.

Magic is Skye's kitty. She's teeny tiny and black in colour and is about 10 years old. She has the funniest scratchy little meow and will often hop from surface to surface following you about in a quest for pets, but gets peeved if you pick her up.

She gets along okay with Loki and tolerates the kitten. Her favourite person is definitely Skye, but she will show up looking for company if Skye is not around. She eats lots of strange things, or example, she prefers tuna with mayonaisse to tuna juice from the can, but her favourite treats are moochies. Toss one down the hall and she tears after it like it's the last morsel in existence, pouncing on it with a mad efficiency. It's pretty cool to watch.

I think she feels pretty comfortable living here even though she pretends to hate the other cats. A few months ago, she licked all the fur off her back end. It's was strange looking, bald and skinny; Skye and roomie at the time called her Sir Patchy Bottom. Since she's been here, however, she's allowed it all to grow back, and she has a normal cat bottom again. I think that must be a good thing.

Penelope is the newest member of the family. Her full name is Doctor Penelope, sometimes known as Penny or Squeaker or The Kitten. She was a member of the last litter of the Grandview straw Delta, who was mercifully taken to live in the observatory just recently. We'll have had her two weeks this Sunday, but she's made herself very much at home.

Her favourite playmate is Loki; they chase and they love to wrestle. Sometimes if he's not interested in play, she'll just lay there and look at him. He takes care of her, attempting to bathe her and burying her messes in the litter box (as she's not yet figured out how to do it herself).

When Loki is not around, she's happy to play with the mouse or the bee or the ball. She'll play with feet, she'll climb legs, she'll attack your arm, she'll relentlessly chase her own tail. She spends all her waking moments in full-on play mode, attacking, pouncing, jumping. When she finally tires, she'll lounge a bit, fall asleep, wake up, and after a bite to eat (sitting completely inside the cat dish like a child's ball bin) she'll start playing all over again. She is in hardcore training for ninja catdom.

Though they're incredibly independent and need less companionship from us than other kinds of pets, cats still appreciate friends more than one would think. I know our cats love us the way we love them, so it always makes me feel better to know they've got company when we leave the house to do our human stuff. One cat is always fantastic, but another one or two seems to make things more complete. =)

Loki meets Dr. Penelope

Loki has been having a difficult time with the new kitten, Penelope. (That's Doctor Penelope to you. She has a phd in cute.) At first he was wary and a little bit jealous of the fluffy new presence, hissing, growling and generally keeping his distance. But watching them now, on day four, I can see the tide is turning, and know it won't be long now before I feel comfortable leaving them in the same room alone together.

She's become relaxed enough around him to jump and play and dart about without worry. He's been watching her do this all morning. And now it seems he's trying to get in on the act. It's a little awkward. Loki plays with Magic (Skye's kitty) by suddenly jumping out in front of her and then tearing off in the opposite direction in a bid to have her chase him. Problem is, Penelope's so tiny and unused to play with larger cats that Loki's attempts at play are probably a bit terrifying. All the same, he is trying and I think that is a good sign.

I think Loki will agree with me soon that kittens are pretty great.

October 2nd

Today's the day I had my first proper guests since I got this apartment.
They brought cookies. =)