Goosed

Lately, when I'm driving along the river, particularly on my way home from work, I see the gangs gathering.

They threaten and mark their territory. People go out of their way to avoid walking too close.

I wonder when we lost our parks.

To tell the truth, it reminds me of that Monty Python sketch where the roving gangs of grannies took over the neighbourhood, frightening all the youth and wreaking havoc.

The other night, on my way to a meeting, I was stopped behind three cars at at apparently clear underpass. Wondering what the hold-up was, I started looking around and caught sight of a bad-ass goose strutting across the street to get to his buddies on the other side. No playing chicken. He was full of intent.

No one's messing with an intentional goose.

Atmospheric Phenomena

Sundogs.
Pretty incredible to see one. Even more incredible when they go all the way around.

Pretty darn tricky to photograph with an automatic. Never stops me from trying though... :-)

Vegreville, Alberta. April 30th, 2010. Approximately 5pm.

Snippets of a Week

Humbled by an invitation to witness forty-one people become Canadians. You only see the red serge jackets at important events...

Managed to salvage lemon pin-curls into a lemonade 40s up-do.

Pride while Mum and I taught Sister to crochet. Skills passed on. Bonds strengthened.

Saddened, but warmed, by an articulate and beautiful eulogy for a man I barely knew.

Oddly dreamt. Text message to Sister: Regarding my dream last night, the next time you shove a shotgun in my face, you best be prepared to use it. Love you! Text message back: LOL. Noted!

Inspired by sunshine leaking through painted glass.

Frustrated at an apparent pact with the devil playing out on the ice. My words were ineloquent. "That GUY can't tend goal for any OTHER team in the @*&%ing league???"

Lucky = Thank yous

I made a wish.
I've had a little run of luck lately.

Some generous people have pulled me (my name) from the heaps and me reaps the benefits.

Scraps, beautiful scraps, from Kate of One Flew Over - oh, my little spiderweb quilt will be so much richer!!

And one I forgot to post about (how could I have done something so thoughtless...) is this pattern from Emily at Carolina Patchworks (If only all Pink Floyd allusions were as pretty...) via a giveaway through Dana of MADE. Not only are these three women generous but the amount of inspiration I've found in their blogs incredible.

Anyway - I owe them a HUGE THANK YOU. I will also owe my sewing machine a tune-up but it's a little busy right now...

Sometimes, you find a book that makes your day.

Normally, I attempt to be a positive, life-affirming, people-empowering person.

But sometimes, a girl just needs a rant.

This journal is filled with cynical quotes from some of history's great thinkers and plenty of space to get one's bluster off her chest and save some poor unsuspecting paperboy.

Kidding. I have never unleashed a tirade on a paperboy. But I did go off on a plastic blister package once. It's going in the book....

Shovelful of Irony

BOhn Api-TEE

Warning: The following post may not be suitable for strict vegetarians. Reader discretion is advised.

I finally attempted it. As a family supper Sunday sort of thing...

Boeuf Bourgignon.

What I learned:

1)It takes a great deal of work. Not particularly hard work. Not even work that you notice once it's over. But while you're doing it, you find yourself saying, "This seems like a lot of work, doesn't it?"

Many little steps. Parts of a recipe that direct you to other recipes in order to make ingredients... But the smells and colours and flavours...

2)It really helps if your dinner guests/family are only due to arrive minutes before serving. Blanched bacon and rind look disgusting and could turn noses up before it's even tried. No distractions. And no one makes fun of you when it takes you half the batch of boiler onions before you figure out the trick to peeling them.

3)Buy an extra bottle of wine. Because you'll smell it and wish you didn't have to pour the whole thing into the pot. MMMMmmmm, beaujolais.....

4)Julia Child's mushroom recipe is one of the greatest things on earth. The secret is (of course) butter. Butter and high heat. With lots of shaking. But the flavour and texture of the mushrooms is.... absolutely worth it. However, not even Julia Child can make my brother-in-law eat mushrooms. He picked his out but they didn't stay on the side of his plate very long! We all had forks and we were not afraid to use them...

5)It's very rich. A little goes a long way. Second helpings are rare and you should probably start with a green salad before the bouef.

6)My family loves to play with words - and "bouef" is so very fun to say!

7) Use the lower-sodium stock. When cleaning up after supper, I mentioned to Mum that if I were to do it again in the future (which is highly likely because of how well it turned out), I would like to use homemade stock, instead of store-bought.

She said, "That seems like a lot of work, doesn't it?