some days
Yesterday afternoon I went to a memorial service for a family friend and, as usual, I’m re-examining my life. His name was Dragan and he was a doctor, like my parents, and we have known him and his family since we came to Canada some 40+yrs ago. It’s just amazing to me how we all coast along collecting our days and experiences, and years and years pass.Then comes a celebration of life, 89 years of Dragan’s life, and slowly it becomes clear that my day by days, my life experiences aren't good enough.I’m thinking that I need to make life goals. Then thinking about all the people I know who make life goals and why they are better than me.I’m wondering how it’s possible that some people get to do exactly what they want.I’m marveling at, while simultaneously hating, people who do exactly what they want.I’m thinking, "I'm going to visit all the countries I haven’t see in all the world in the next ten years!" and then realizing that there are a ton of countries on that list, so probably not.I like to think that my angst gives me the air of a sullen Bohemian with a true world view and a penchant for taking important photographs, but as usual I’m floundering in a thin watery gruel of self-doubt. But what else is new?Anyway, there’s work to be done. Bulbs need planting, roses need pruning, weeds need pulling, and leaves need raking. Oh, and there's a note pinned to my car keys which says "buy beans and lentils."PS: Here is the only photo of Dragan I could find yesterday. Here he is somewhere in his 40s, impeccably dressed, as he always was.PSS: That’s my momPSSS: She’s going to kill me for this photo.
Happy Friday
Hello from Friday evening round here in Vancouver, where the sun continues to shine. I'm almost afraid to say it because I might jinx it, but we're having a wonderfully beautiful autumn.I was looking at Morgan luxuriating in the sunshine and thinking how my little rug...which is temporary for the winter because I love my floors bare...
...looks like this beautiful vista in a neighbourhood park.
Everywhere I look there are those magical leaves, and, I'm sure everyone in the whole western hemisphere is posting photos of magical autumnal leaves, but can one really get enough of this?
I've put a small collection of vintage brass candlesticks out in the weather to give them a nice patina, and I plan to bring them inside for the winter very soon, but this little view onto my patio table is just so lovely, I really don't want to disturb it.
My clean and organised bedroom is such a wonderful place to be. The day I spent in here cleaning has made such a difference in my happiness level that I highly recommend everyone begin by cleaning up their personal space. Clean out the old and make room for new and beautiful things, and hopefully those things are good and happy feelings and not more stuff to clutter the place up again. :D
And knowing how happy I am with the progress I'm making round here, I decided to clean up the hall closet.
Now, these are the before and after photos of the hall coat closet. Not much to see...lol...unless you notice the garbage bags on the front porch.But let me show you this:
All this stuff, including 32 coats came out of this little 3' x 5' space!
Now here's a proper before and after. All the clutter is gone, coat count is down to 15, and hat count went from 25 to 10, wellies went from 5 to 3 pair, and I'm thrilled to say that if you come over for tea, which you're always welcome to do, now I can actually hang your coat up in the coat closet!
Oh, and also went thru the shoe polishing box, (which one can now find), and threw out the old, dried polish and other detritus.
Living room and fireplace mantle is next I think. I feel like switching up the paintings and making it lovely and autumnal.
But for now the sun is still shining and the neighbourhood ginkgo promises some gold.
I wanted to come see it because it only turns this golden for a week or so once a year.Isn't it amazing?Well, while I'm out I may as well go for a walk.See you all tomorrow. :D
Cleaning the house, room by room
Well guys, it's that time!The house is a little out of control and it's time to get tough. You know what the problem is? I love stuff! I love beautiful, antique, unique, vintage, sentimental stuff, and I love looking at and living with this stuff. But after a while it gets to be a little too much of a good thing.My fellow blogger and FB friend Donna, started a new FB group for anyone who wanted some peer moral support to help clean up their personal space, and it's been a great push. If you don't have time to clean you can hire a professional cleaning company such as to do it for you..you know...to share tips and praise and commiserate. Hanover home cleaning pros do it at an expert level. Groups are great, aren't they? :DAnyway, a couple days ago I hit my bedroom and took absolutely everything out of every drawer, off of every shelf, everything off every hanger, and evaluated how much I still loved each item, how well I looked in everything, good energy, bad energy...stay or let go. I do love clothes, but my style is very classically neutral. Robert likes to joke about my NY Undertaker/Vampire/deep depression style and is always trying to get me to wear brighter colours, so there you go Robbie, I see some red, a little bit of green and even some blue in there...lol. But there does come a point where I have to ask myself just how many black V-neck Ts do I really need? (And especially since my house is a 1920s Craftsman, and in those days people didn't go in for monster walk-in closets.)![]](http://static1.squarespace.com/static/65df7c3fc72f9e2e137b8410/65dfc0a303eda6392a92737a/65dfce5903eda6392a969688/1709166169469/jpg?format=original)
So now everything, clothes, shoes, lovely things, everything in this room is what I absolutely love.
Oh, and another thing, I decided that one of my on-board cases would be the perfect place for my tank tops, and shorts, and beach skimpies. It just sits on the very top shelf, (because what my house lacks in walk-in closet space it more than makes up for in 9 ft tall ceilings), keeping my summer slinky lovelies out of the winter wardrobe space.
Today C and I hit her room!We took a little trip to Ikea for some drawer organisers like the ones in my room. They really make such a difference. Now this next photo is a little out of context, because I didn't think to take a photo of a true "before clean up" room, and only thought of it after we pulled everything out of the closet and piled it on the bed and pew.
I was thinking, this kind of in depth organising and start cleaning makes certain deficiencies stand right out. One was that C didn't have a decent dresser to store all her clothes in. A second thing is that I need a much better linen storage system than the antique dresser I've been using, but that dresser was ideal for C! So out came the linens and we carried the vintage dresser into C's room where it fit like a glove into the closet with plenty of room to fully open the drawers. For the rest of the house area and especially C's room which required deep cleaning I used services from Commercial cleaning Perth and got a great deal on the overall cleaning service they provided. I have used them often as they are fast and their services are extremely effective. Now lets go to to C's room. 
She did lose her hanging bar, but, on the other hand, C isn't a suit or fancy dresses kind of girl and only really has two or three things which need to be hung on hangers, and so we decided that in time we'll visit her favourite store, Anthro, and buy her a couple funky hooks and mount them on the side walls inside her closet. And, she did gain an extra shelf!
So now her room is clean and fresh and lovely, and filled with only the things she loves which have positive energy.
It's so important to have one's personal spaces organised and positive, don't you think so? So, I broke it down. I have 15 rooms in this house, including two bathrooms and my studio, which I'm counting as two rooms, plus the entry hall, which isn't a large space but does have one heck of a messy coat closet, so might actually count as a 16th room. I've completely cleaned two of the 16 rooms, so that's 1/8 of my house cleaned and organised!
Now for the other 7/8. I am not sure I can go on with this 'cleaning challenge', so I decided to go to MaidEasy.com.au also, read more about where to hire a bond cleaning company in Adelaide? for my vacation rentals and found a perfect solution for me, which means clean house and minimum effort on my part.Click on the following to find the best bond cleaning services in Adelaide to ensure regular quality clean up of your premises.
The one where she goes on and on about the newly renovated love of her life
Sometimes we just fall in love for no reason at all, and sometimes there are a million reasons, but in the end, it's true what they say: the heart wants what the heart wants.I'm not sure what it is about my little red 1999 Toyota Solara here in Vancouver, but my whole heart belongs to it.I bought it second hand, already a few years old. This is the day I brought it home (old house).My boys saw it and decided that I can't be seen in a car which has a "bra" on the hood and that had to go, and removed it right away. Over the years the bra got lost. I'm fine with that. It was never a girl car anyway.
I suppose I love it so much because this is the first car I researched, found and bought for myself. It's a post divorce car, it's a need for a reliable to drive my little girl around as a single mother car, it's a red sports V6 to satisfy the aggressive racer in me car, and it's a car which I spent MY money on...you know, not OUR money, as in marriage property, just MY money. My car. My baby. No one can take it away from me mine.
Maybe it's not so little. It's one of those rare four seat, two door, five speed, manual coupe ideas at a reasonable price, which just doesn't seem to happen any more. And, to make it even more amazing, the rear seats fold down giving access to the boot, leaving tons of room for skis, golf clubs...etc. (Not that that's even necessary, because it actually has a dead body trunk.)
As you can tell from this photo of a just turned 12 yr old Chloe about to cut the wrapping on her birthday prezzie; a WWII wooden, steamer trunk I bought for her and drove 50 km home, over highway at 110 km/hr, strapped to the boot lid with cellophane, it has served us admirably over the years.I can tell you, there was more than one nervous driver following behind me on that day. I sort of have her permission to show this picture to you...lol...but she's 23 now and still loves that trunk. It sits right beside her bed and serves as her bedside table.Over the years, Robert helped me adjust my car to my taste. He helped me fix tons of stuff, replacing bits here and there, getting me beautiful low profile wheels and tires, advising me on better, louder and more throaty sounding silencers...well, over the years he's helped me keep and maintain my little red sports car. As you can see, the license plate has my lucky number 13 in it and FDL, which R said stands for "Fully Developed Lady". I love that.
Anyway, why I'm telling you this.There came a time in my life where my father passed away and my mom gave me his four wheel drive Toyota 4Runner. Now, in my world before my little red sports car, I only ever drove SUVs here in Vancouver, and mainly to get thru the access road to my cabin and bomb around off roading, and drive somewhere fun and remote, take all my clothes off and jump in a lake (story for another time). Driving the sports car down that road was a bit of hell, (which is one reason that the car never got lowered to make it even sexier on those low profile wheels.)And then I bought this house, and my work became at home, and C turned 16 and started driving and doesn't know how to drive manual, and suddenly, with a mortgage and bills and house and life, it didn't seem practical to run two cars and I parked up the solara in the garage. And for about three years, I was in a bit of tug-of-war with myself. That devil on my left shoulder said, "Trade it in on a new sexy mustang. You know you want to! You like those new mustangs! The solara's old, it's unreliable...it's not exactly a hot sports car, is it? I mean, what is it? Just a common, old Toyota, not a Porsche or something rare and important. You don't want it. Look, it's only going to get old and rust and cost you money you can't afford, and no one is going to give you any money for it anyway. Mmm, sexy V8..." And that angel on my right shoulder stays perfectly quiet and just goes and shots a cupid's arrow straight thru my heart and into my stomach each time I look at my red sports car. You know what I'm talking about?I actually made myself sit in the driver seat and said to myself, "You know what V? You have to make a decision! Decide! And decide right now!" And you know what happened? I sat there in that driver's seat and cried.
That's it then. My red sports car is here to stay.Which brings me to the next chapter in the red sports car saga. Fifteen year old cars need work.Thank goodness for Robbie. This autumn he replaced and fixed so much. I bought a new battery, I insured it for the next three months and we took it out for a drive with R listening for glitches and faults, helping me deal with any mechanical issue.
There was one non-mechanical issue which was bugging both of us. Cars sold in BC should be certified as not having come from the East Coast of Canada, where the weather is more severe, roads are salted, and cars rust. My car had this certification. Also, all serious car accidents that involve law firms like tjryanlaw.com must be reported in the sales contract, but the dealer must have lied. My car was from the East Coast and developed some rust in the driver's door sill, but more importantly, it was in some sort of car accident and had been oversprayed with some cheep paint plus gloss coat, which started to blister and peel just a year after I bought it.
So with me fully committed to my car, R and I decided that we can fix the peeling paint. We drove it out to a car paint specialist who gave us samples, which I toured round the car comparing, we chose a paint colour, had it made into a spray can and got to work.Days of sanding using progressively finer grades of paper, followed by a sealer and bottom coat...
Followed by a glossy new and beautiful red flecked with gold top coat.
Look how lovely! Look at the brilliant reflection.
So I know and acknowledge that between our two countries I now own four cars, and that might just be a bit ridiculous. The saving grace I suppose is that I can really only drive one at a time.But just now I've been driving this one around as much as possible in this nice weather and stopping it for photo ops at beautiful parks. (And, as my friend Charlie Chester suggests, I will slam it (lowered on further down to look better on the low profile tires). :D )You know what? This might seem shallow and superficial to some, but I'm genuinely and fully happy each time I get behind the wheel of my car and bomb around town. And happiness is what life is all about.
Thank you so much my darling Robbie. I wouldn't have this beautiful car without you. :D
Ariane's Drawing Challenge: Cover
Finally some peace and some time for a full day up in my studio.Oh man, I didn't think I'd get to some art for the rest of the year. So, completely ignoring anything nagging, (read: dishes, laundry, vacuuming, gardening since it's supposedly the last sunny day for the next week, C's freakouts that a thing had to be done and done right now!), I locked myself into the studio and concentrated on our dear Ariane's drawing challenge theme of "cover".
I thought about it and ran thru all the different meaning in my mind, and then it came to me: To cover a card with a higher ranking card in a card game. Playing cards! Brilliant. I talked out a little story with Robbie and then made myself this irresistible, and undefeatable hand:
Here we have the king! He's high on his golden throne. He's a bit of a tyrant only concerning himself with wars and political gain. He's indomitable and all powerful and, with his mighty power, he completely covers his subjects and...
...his queen. Now, truth be told, she's a bit of a petulant and sulky girl. Married off to the king for political gain and only expected to look beautiful and to do her duty, she's terribly bored and mostly spends her time locked in her own world, (by order of the king), and dreaming up nasty little schemes to play with her subjects. And now she's found some excitement because guess who just came to admire himself in the reflection of her pond.
Yes, it's the handsome knave. This one's a bit of a cad and a bounder. He's pretty like he knows it, and would like nothing better than to have a "card game" with the queen. But does he know she can cover him? Cover him with her watery world that is.But she's locked in her world. What ever should she do to get to the handsome knave?
Oh, wait, she has an ace up her sleeve. A pearl and ruby chandelier ace. Unfortunately, while the pearls answer to the watery queen, the rubies answer to the fiery king. It's a bit of a tug-of-war zone. What can she do to get to play with the knave? Can she make the chandelier drop on the king? Can the queen cover the king? Who knows the answer to this perplexing question?
I'll tell you who knows! The Joker knows. He has all the possibilities and all the strategies covered because he holds the cards in his hand. He decides which way the game will go, but he's not talking at the moment.
I tried to find out what the ending of this story was, I really did! I even spread out my grandmother's tarot cards to see if I could tell you, but the cards aren't talking either. :(
So I left the players up in the studio under my grandfather's gentle gaze. Maybe he'll tell us in the morning.In the meantime, won't you pop round to our Rose Ariane's and check out all of this week's artists? That way you'll cover all your possibilities. :D
Oh these glorious local tomatoes
There's a lot of red in my life in the best way possible. I actually love red and, in my world where I don't go for too much colour, I do live with a lot of red.
So looking at these boxes of tomatoes on my kitchen table for these past few days has been so wonderful. It makes me feel so lucky and so rich to have this glut of sweet produce right here in my home.
But I think my resident flock of fruit flies, (who seem to live year round in my compost bins), also love my tomatoes, so I've been processing them for the past few days.
My absolutely most favourite way to preserve tomatoes is to cut them in half, place them on a baking tray with a little olive oil on the bottom, (because, lycopene), in a single layer, cut a few more into pieces and stuff them into the gaps, slice a ton of garlic from my garden and sprinkle on top, get some garden herbs, in this case rosemary, the last of the basil and some thyme, sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, and roast them in a fairly hot oven for about an hour.
And then wait.
After the hour I take them out and scoop them into a big bowl...the ones that aren't devoured with some fresh baguette for lunch that is...and repeat the process.
After about six trays full, I have enough roasted tomatoes to process them in glass jars.
I chose glass because I'm not so sure the plastic freezer bags don't leach out toxic BPA, and anyway, having beautiful, glass jars of jewel-like fruit and veg in my pantry makes me happy.One more day of roasting and preserving and I'll be finished with my tomatoes. The squashes and pumpkins are the next on my list. :D
The country market from heaven
On this beautiful sunny day, I had it in mind to drive to a little village near by called Keremeos, where there are several country markets specialising in local produce and crafts. Last month, Robert and I brought a box of fresh field tomatoes home from our lovely weekend out this way, and I roasted them with my home grown garlic. Absolute heaven. And I planned to buy at least two more huge boxes and take them home.
So I left the cabin bright and early, Chloe and Zoe decided to come with, and we drove thru those beautiful grass lands, down to the Similkameen River...
And followed it further into the interior of BC.
We soon found what we were looking for.
We drove thru the village, peeked in at a few markets, but found a brilliant country market: Parsons, a family run farm since 1908, where organic practices are observed. I love seeing where our food comes from and knowing that no pesticides or herbicides were ever used. I love knowing that the seeds are old heritage varieties and not genetically modified. Not to mention that I think it's a really good idea to eat local and super important to support small farms and give back to the community. And, while I'm probably the guiltiest one here travelling from England to Canada and back again several times per year, I do try my best to eat local wherever I am and save the planet a few "fossil fuel food miles".
As soon as I smelled the tomatoes I knew this was the right market. Do you know what I mean? Some people look for blemish free, perfectly round and symmetrical tomatoes, but in my experience, these supermarket types don't have very much flavour. I'll take the blemished, strange shaped, field tomatoes over the shiny, perfect supermarket ones any day.
So we pack up the car with my two boxes of ripe tomatoes, two gorgeous pumpkins, some squashes (including the beautiful strippeti and small wonder spaghetti squashes), some fresh pressed apple and pear juice, and back to the cabin we drove. :D
Hiking the Kettle Valley Railway
Now this is something.If you want to hike somewhere, aren't you just so lucky to have a turn of the 20th century disused railway bed track right in your back yard? The Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) spans about 455 km through BC over various terrains, and runs right thru Princeton. And, while not strictly right in the back yard, the part of the KVR above the cabin where we hiked is about a three kilometres hike straight up. (For all my West Coasters, just think Grouse Grind!) But past that vertical trek, there is the most glorious dirt road complete with trestle bridges and tunnels.
So a small band of hikers got together consisting of Chloe, Bryson and me, three more parental units, two more twenty somethings, four dogs and two horses.
This is General. He's is a bit too elderly now to be ridden up the steep climb, but he was happy to be brought along.
Zoe was the lucky one to ride Levi uphill. She got a boost onto his back and off we went.
I'll tell you something! I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but boy did the steep incline ever leave me breathless! More Grouse Grind training for me I think! :(
After about an hour we came to the top of the mountain and the KVR.
Zoe dismounted and Chloe got to walk Levi. He kept nuzzling her ear and her backpack.
The view from up here is breathtaking. We hiked up from way down there in the valley!
The dogs were amazing companions. This is Henry, (whose real name is Eddie, but always looks like a Henry to me.)
The aspen gold is so beautiful this time of year. I stuffed my pockets full of leaves. I don't even know why. Just that overwhelming desire to own some golden leaves and, as I write this, they're beside me positively glowing.
We finally came to what we were looking for: this amazing tunnel!Chloe, Bryson and I stayed, but the rest of our merry band turned back for the cabin.But we stayed for this:
C and B did a little bouldering, (with no crash pad, no ropes, no safety in place and C's broken/healing ankle, they were very careful.)
While I explored this majestic place.
After about an hour, (and with me trying my best not to stand under C to break her fall just in case -mothers...eh?- we hiked a bit further and I found a railway spike.Now, I have about a million railway spikes (marginal exaggeration) from the CP railway just outside my own cabin, but I just had to have this one from the majestic, old KVR.
By the time we hiked down off the rail bed track, (via an alternate route which wasn't straight up! Why wasn't I told of this route earlier?), it was somewhere close to 5pm and the sun was setting. I think I'm going to read single pin bow sight reviews and buy one for next time so we can do little archery, but overall we were very happy having had the most glorious day.
Hello from Monday night and a lovely Canadian Thanksgiving weekend
There's something so very special about Thanksgiving, isn't there? Whether you celebrate the Canadian holiday now in the middle of this beautiful autumn, or the American holiday, which heralds in the Christmas season, there's nothing more special than friends, turkey and a lovely long weekend to get away from everything.Again this year, as in years past, Chloe and I spent Thanksgiving 200 miles away from the city, in Margot and Leo's cabin in Princeton, with six 20-somethings, six dogs, five parental types, two horses and two cats.Chloe Bryson and I arrived quite late Friday night, but just in time for a campfire.
Everyone else arrived on Saturday, but the day turned out to be completely grey and rainy.
Just perfect to hang around in sweats and jammies cuddling with the animals, watching movies and reading a book.
A little ledge outside the kitchen window holds a little bowl of water and some seeds and nuts for the birds.
And provided endless photo ops...
...and entertainment, as, just around supper time, Levi decided that the birds had had enough seeds and nuts, and now it was his turn. :D
And at the end of this rainy Saturday I got this far on the first pages in a new found poetry journal. This old book is a children's story called King Oberon's Forest. The pages are creamy and thick and the blue cover has the prettiest little golden bird. I'm going to love working in it.
