one more call for alcohol...

2am and the lights are blazing out front...we are blocks from the downtown clubs, so this is really not an uncommon sight. The lights woke me and I stumbled out to the front of the house to watch, lurid lookey-loo that I am...it's not very exciting anymore but sometimes it's so damn funny, in a sick, sad way...cuz they haven't killed anyone yet. This guy thought he was on his way to an after-hours party, I think. He yelled at a couple of cars going by to pull over and wait for him. He thought he wasn't drunk. He is yelling at cars in the middle of a sobriety test, two cops, lights flashing, convinced he is not drunk... hmmm. You fail. While they were handcuffing him, two drunk as skunk guys stumbled up the road, loud and rowdy...but smart enough to walk home so home they went. You don't have to be brilliant when you're drunk...you just have to know you're drunk! I couldn't stay awake for the tow truck, the final humiliation. He had a blazer on wheels as tall as my entire car, so they had to call in a flat-bed tow...it took too long. I was tired.
Here she is...we decided on Emma...I don't know where that name came from at the final moment. We just had to have a name and Michael called her Emma...and it stuck, immediately. She must like it, as she is already responding to it...eerie, isn't it? Don't those ears just make you want to cry?
For the Adult in Question and for Life...don't you just love him?

asleep at last

We were thinking of calling her "Newfie." She knows no commands...she doesn't know what "no" means...she has no clue we are calling her...lord, for all the crap this little one has been through, and there is much more to her story, she is a sweet tempered thing(except with other dogs) and I have high hopes that she is going to blossom with all the attention that was previously lacking in her life...I need to go collapse now. G'nite.

I can breathe again

Up early, cup of joe and out the door to the ferry...shuttle on over, turn right around and come home again...but not empty handed! She looks, for all the world, in this first photo like Maggie...but of course, she is her own dog and I have figured that out already!!! She has had a rough start to her life...or first third of her life, I guess. Used for backyard breeding in St. John's, she escaped, dragging her chain behind her. She went to the SPCA. They turned her over to BeaglePaws, a Newfoundland Beagle Rescue. Her poor beagle ears were tattered from untreated infection... nobody knows how many litters she might have had but since she is so small, her puppies were pretty popular, I imagine.
She is a little camera shy...she will have to get over that living with me. She is 13 inches high, 13 pounds heavy. She is darling...a little, little girl. So far as I can tell, she doesn't know many(any?) commands but she is still pretty good, though completely unsocialized to other dogs...she is finally asleep and maybe I can take some better photos now that she has quit moving...and I can take a snooze, as well...maybe. We've had a bit of playtime already, she tried to eat a matchbox car(vw bus), she peed on the floor, and nearly had a fight with Yuko...after the ferry trip, the car trips, the flight from Newfoundland, changing hands numerous times, I'd say she has had a full week.
She won't hold still for a photo...you can just see the tatters of her ear at the top of the photo...it's healed now so it doesn't look too bad, but it is more than noticeable...anyhow, I should take advantage of her sleep to get some things done around here....open a beer, maybe.
Her name was Sylvan originally...Rescue called her Charlotte. I don't like either of those, but should come up with something quick...so send you suggestions....more later...

socks?

Sleep has been evasive lately...maybe it's the moon. Maybe it's the change in barometric pressure...we have gone from warm summer to definite fall overnight. The wind came up out of nowhere last night...we didn't sleep much...this morning I had to wear socks...Socks? I could just cry. Honest. Well, actually, I did cry but I did mention the lack of sleep, didn't I? And, in all honesty, I am utterly distracted the past few days...plus the lack of sleep, the wind, the high pressure-low pressure end of summer...there's more to the story, but I am holding my breath until tomorrow...evening....so I will let you know then, ok?

HEY YA CHARLIE BROWN OUTCAST HEY YA SONG

Who do you dance like?!?

Martha don't live here, revisited

Here is what a five gallon batch of Extra Special Bitter(Dark) Ale with extra hops looks like in the beginning....the smell, people, of warm hops cooking in my house makes me feel all warm and fuzzy...I am home again.... downwind of the brewery, smelling that warm, green smell of my childhood.
Here is what six pounds of organic basil, three kinds of parmesan(two are sheep cheese, mmmm), pine nuts, walnuts, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes and 1971 blender(poor thing nearly died) look like at the beginning.....a small fortune of moolah invested here to make....

the loveliest of pestos....in several flavours....already some of the bottles are disappearing around the neighbourhood...we celebrated the final result with a dinner of sauteed veggies over an herbed linguine with a most excellent creamy pesto sauce over it all....lordy, I am hungry again!
Will post with some stories later. Until then....

here and now

It is 9/11 and I feel I cannot post without acknowledging that fact. I cannot really put into words what I feel about it. I never will be able to do that. Sitting on the floor in Canada in front of the television five years ago, I felt cut of from my country, bereft. It is the only time I have felt that way, before or since.
The last best thing I can remember my country doing as one nation, one people, was grieve the loss of these thousands of lives, futures, hopes and dreams.
This post feels unfinished... but it is as much as I can say here and now.

fluevog

That's my whole post tonight cuz Willie Nelson's Stars and Guitars is on the country channel and I can't concentrate on anything else....g'nite.

Brought to you today by the letter Ass-Hat

It is the start of the revolution, everyone....grab your Ass-Hats and head out the door, get a can of spray paint, make a bumber sticker, shout it on the street....heh heh.
hickchic tells us the story of Ass-Hats today on her blog. I nearly shot my breakfast out of my nose while reading!!! Check it out...
I am busy today...so I may not have another chance to post later. We are feasting tonight for Duke's Mom's birthday...DB is making one of her drop-dead-too-gorgeous-to-eat cakes and I am making a huge platter of chicken and black bean enchiladas...labour intensive, honestly. And I still have to shop! And chop...and chop...and chop....yummy results, though.
And early tomorrow morning we catch the first ferry over to Vancouver to go to the big farmer's market to buy all the fresh organic basil we can and some delicious goat parmesan so that I can come home and make vast amounts of mouth-watering pesto!!!!! Enough to last all winter and then some... and(cue the angel choir here), a stop at Fluevog's for shoes!!!!!!!! Perhaps even two pair!!!! (is that choir still singing?) because the sale is THAT good and I have a gift certificate!!!!! Yay for me...we may even get to stop at the best hot dog cart on the west coast for turkey smokies with corn relish, beets and grilled onions...oh, it's gonna be a great day...did I mention that we may be looking at some puppies tomorrow(SQUEALING WITH DELIGHT RIGHT NOW!)! Nothing for sure!!! But we're officially LOOKING!!!!!

here there be monsters....

Sea monsters do exist and apparently they are beheading each other....
Here is Duke and Viggo, blatantly disregarding the NO DOGS ON BEACH(or in the picnic area) policy now established throughout Rathtrevor Provincial Park...Ass-hats. My taxes pay for Provincial Parks, too, Ass-hats...Hey Ass-hats, why didn't you tell me the dogs weren't allowed BEFORE I paid for parking, huh, Ass-hats?
Look at us go, Ass-hats! No leashes, even. I realize that there are pricey spas and resorts all over this beach and the money dictates the laws round here, Ass-hats...but, since that is the case, Ass-hats, make Rathtrevor an eff'ing private park and make the resorts pay for it! If I can't come here with my dog(s), Ass-hats, I don't want my taxes paying for it!!!! I will take my spending money to Vancouver, a big and giant city that makes room for it's dogs in the parks! If they can find the room, how come you, Ass-hats, cannot? Ass-hats!
Thanks, Heidi, for the new rant word, cuz the one I usually use is a bit too much for blogtown...those of you who know me best, know exactly what word I am thinking of, don't you?
So I have not been around too much the past few days...my "stiff neck" from a few posts ago turned into a highly painful bad back...sitting was something not to be endured...if I was laying down, sometimes I couldn't get up...so mostly I wandered from room to room in a kind of shuffle. I cried lots. It helps to cry, for some reason. I have chronic pain, it's usually a low-grade bearable type of thing that flairs into something less manageable sometimes, so when something ELSE comes into the mix, something unrelated and not so "familiar," I do become a real mess. I have a hard time coping then.
I did get out for some dog walks, did manage grocery shopping and finally yesterday felt fine enough to go out to Coombs Country Market with Duke and Viggo and Duke's mom...Viggo had a long day home since school started so I sprung him to go to the beach with us...only to find our beach is now completely cut off to us...ass-hats. Yesterday, I felt fine enough to climb a ladder, even, and help Michael repair the seams in the roof of the garage...woo-hoo. Exciting. It is exciting, honestly...pain-free(relatively) is exciting...
One quick neighbourhood hap(it has been so quiet around here, but I wouldn't live on Haliburton Street now for any amount of money!)... early yesterday morning, still dark, my good neighbour DB was snuggled into her pillow...her motion detector sprinkler went off in the yard and she heard a low-billy-goats-gruff voice yell out "FO-UCK." You know how sometimes there is a definite O sound to it when you really want to emphasize it, rightt?!? She smiled, snuggled back into in her pillow, pulled her blankets up and went back to sleep. I love that visual, her little smirk as she slips off back to sleep...and I know that the sprinkler has a dead aim about chest/face high...it is set to keep critters out of the yard, just not little critters! Teehee.

Crikey, goodbye!

Is it strange how hard I've taken this news? I guess it hurts to see someone who really, truly, fantastically loved life in an all-out- live-absolutely-every-moment kind of way taken away in such a shocking sort of way.
Anyone who can make me love a crocodile must be a truly special, kind of magic person...bye, Steve. Crikey, you were fun to watch.

Goodbye, Andre...

I'll miss you.

Tennis won't be the same...not that I will be watching anymore, anyway.

Good luck!

river rats

Three carloads of us were off to the river yesterday, with dogs in tow... the water is decidely colder now, and though the rocks were certainly enough to warm us when we came out of the water it took a little longer than it did last week, the sun was not as strong as it was only a week ago. Summer is coming to a close. I will miss all the impromptu gathering with friends such as these...where, in a whirlwind of glee, we gather towels and bathing suits, snacks, dogs, beer, snorkels and rush madly out to the river, as if every single moment counted...and, as summer days cool and the light leaves earlier each night, I guess that every moment does count.
Duke is contemplating yet another swim...or maybe contemplating what this is...and what it may taste like with some butter and garlic!
Can you see that little bugger?!? Here, everyone calls them Crayfish...I know them as Crawdads...one more thing that reminds everyone that I am not from Canada...ah well.

the Highest Tide

Hey there all(but especially Hick Chick with all your great recommendations and reviews) ...here is a book I recommend. Not only is it a fine book about growing up on the water, which really is a different life than one growing up on the plains, or on a mountain, or in a desert, it a fine book written lovingly about growing up in my hometown. It's a bonus that it is a great read because initially I bought it for the fact that I knew every place the author talks about in here...When he names a street, I know exactly where he is...when he names a bar, I have had at least one beer there(if not more)...and it was nice to remember some of the better parts of home because I don't always remember it so fondly. Well, that's it for now...the phone just rang and I am off for an adventure. Later.

one more, for good measure

Had to fool with this photo for a while so it wasn't ready to go up with the post...but I like it so here it isssssssssss.

Dog and Pony Show

Here we see our friends have come to the other field to meet the dogs at the gate...how cute, right? See how we are at the Off Leash part of our walk? See the gaping hole in the gate? The little chubby pony ran right up to us and jumped around like a little chubby fool and took off at a rambling kind of gait...Duke couldn't say no to that kind of invitation...Viggo follows where Duke leads...Duke's mom and I crawled through the gate and we completed the comic routine...I don't think the pony or the horse were frightened, they just pranced around in circles, flicking their tails...I don't think the dogs were frightened, the just followed around in circles....Duke's mom and I? Definitely frightened...definitely. We got the dogs and the horse and pony just moved along...like it was nothing but a game...who knows? Maybe it was, but we didn't know the rules! I think we are off to other hiking spots for a few days...besides, this morning I woke up with the stiffest neck I can recall and though I don't remember what I did to cause it, I am fairly sure it started somewhere during the Dog and Pony Show.
The little dog in the above photo is Yuko...the best damn dog ever..."Sit and Stay" are never just suggestions with her, even with so much temptation. She is a good damn dog!

Duke after a swim...

Viggo after a swim.
Snake eating a slug...he was unhappy with our disturbance...he was just trying to enjoy his lunch when our little troupe of hooligans passed through on our way to the swimming hole.

manamana

Mr. Mortensen is leaving the building...

Sweet Viggo(Vigen) is going home today...I know I will cry. ..cuz Dick Clark and Rent made me cry and they weren't even so sad. This will be sad. I don't see me handling "childlessness" too well. I know he will so excited to see his moms, but I secretly and selfishly hope that he misses me LOTS.
At least as much as I will be missing him...though he does just live around the corner! And I am sure I can borrow my hiking buddy lots....and maybe even provide doggie daycare on their long days of school and work....and, well, maybe we won't really be "missing" each other too much, eh?

Enough said?

Talk to you all tomorrow......

Martha don't live here!

So my busy weekend is over and done with...I made Spanakopita, which is easy though time consuming...it was gone in a heartbeat in an impromptu Happy and Appy Hour in our neighbour's yard Sunday evening. Michael came home with fresh caught Coho salmon and we feasted with friends on fish and a scrumptious salad with greens from their own garden.
This is Ramona, the belly dancer...she is pretty freakin' amazing...the amount of strength she has in her body!!! Holy crap. I could pilates every day for the rest of my life and never come near that...is it too weird to admit a desire to take belly dancing lessons?!? I would never dress like this... don't worry, too much...I just like the dancing part.
I recovered this chair with lots of help this weekend...I wish I had taken a before picture because it was so horrible. I kinda thought it wouldn't turn out so I didn't take a picture. But, holy cow, this is the nicest piece of furniture I have now!!!! Thanks to my pal, DB.
And then last night I watched Rent...finally. I have a mad crush on Jesse Martin so I am suprised that I waited so long...though, I have yet to see the second Pirates movie, either. But, the point is, aren't musicals supposed to make you feel good? Christ, I was bawling all over again. First Dick Clark and now a musical? C'mon, what gives? I don't even particularly like musicals, but the characters were pretty damn good. Honestly, if they would just have quit singing, it would have been a damn fine movie... and that's about it for me tonight....

what a f'ing goonie

Is anyone else watching the emmys? I just saw Dick Clark and started bawling...I love him...remember all the jokes about how old he is, about how he just keeps going and going...and then seeing him tonight...is it his first public appearance since his stroke? What a strong and funny and absolutely endearing man. I know he may not mean as much to the kids after my generation, and I know he probably means MORE to adults a bit older than my generation....but there has NEVER been a time in my life that he wasn't on television....and up until last year, I never rang in a New Year in my life without him. God bless Dick Clark...many years of joy.

Nanaimo's new tourist destination....

This is our new traffic circle...woo hoo, folks. We don't get new sewers, we don't get curbs or gutters or street trees or street lights, litter patrol or police patrol, for that matter...we get a circle. Don't get me wrong, folks fly through this neighbourhood so traffic calming is definitely a good thing...I did almost get t-boned in here the other day though(guess it will take some folks a little time to figure out just how it works). But the city just left it there with a big pile of dirt...if this was in on the north end of town, they would have $10,000 worth of flowers and a palm tree smack down in the middle of it.
And since the city is trying to find ways to suck the money out of tourists arriving in things like these.....

giant cruise ships lumbering into port, I thought I might be able to help the city with at least one or two tourist-trappish things...since the tourists will be arriving BY BOAT to downtown and the SOUTH END OF TOWN(CAN YOU HEAR ME CITY HALL?)and probably WON'T be walking to the north end, which really isn't within walking distance...can you see where I am going with this?!? Invest some frickin' money in the south end. Here's an idea for your traffic circle....
Isn't that nice?!? You could charge a dollar a ride in the daytime, and in the night, you could let the south end hooker brigade ride for free and all the johns could just come here instead of cruising my street all night, and when the New Nanaimo Centre is finished(ha ha, good joke!), you could bus all the vast amounts of conventioners sure to arrive to Nanaimo(ha ha, good joke) up here, too, cuz you all know what happens at conventions, don't you? They're all out for a really good time and what's a better time than a MerryGoRound? A MerryGoRound filled with hookers, that's what. Two, two, two tourist traps in one.

Whew...glad I got that out of my system...I can play nicer now.

Michael's footprint with a heart

Isn't that the sweetest thing? I love it. I love it. I love it. My guy is off fishing overnight...salmon are running. Cross you fingers, everyone. Good luck, Michael. Miss you. Tonight is girls' night out...Katz Martini Lounge and belly dancing, if you can believe that one. So, no photos will be allowed tonight by myself or any one of my girlfriends. At least I hope not. I guess it all depends on the amount of martinis we consume. It's a good thing we are all within walking distance...course, in this neighbourhood, coming home in our finery, who knows who will be stopping to chat us up, eh? Lordamighty...be ready for some stories tomorrow, all! Oh, kidding, really.
Honestly, if anything happened, I would have to keep quiet, anyway, lest the RCMP find out!!! Kidding, again, folks...kidding. Honestly.
G'nite, then.

You can tell it's been a good day

when this is what my feet look like at the end of it. It means good weather in sandals, no socks. It means a long walk down a dusty trail with good friends and good dogs before a rousing game of "sticks in the river" where we all get wet and all our feet get good and dirty. I still have the hot dust smell in my nose and the dog is snoring on the living room floor. I have a cold beer open already and we have pizza for dinner(with feta cheese and pesto). It has been a good, good day and I hope you all had the same. Enjoy your weekend, all.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your....

.........um, crack? Yippur, folks. I know the photo is awful, but peer around my planter box and there are two folks on the ground making a crack deal with Rapunzel in the window...you are not invisible and I CAN hear you.... sweet jesus....and the door to the store is wide open, I guess so they can come inside for their pipe... aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh.

Shake down, take down, you're busted...

Something exciting is happening in the alley here...though the cops won't tell us what...nor the newspapers. Guns drawn on this one, folks. But I guess we won't know, maybe it's in our own "best interest. " I can create a better story without their input anyway!
I think perhaps it was one of the last seven outstanding warrants from the major drug bust last week...lord knows, you could probably find them all in this hood. Front page story on the paper today was about the problems with the drop in center up the block, like the open dealing, the open drug use, the accosting people trying to do legitimate business on the street, the break-ins....and EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO TOLD IT WAS TEMPORARY LIED. Now the Salvation Army doesn't want it and it is rumoured to be staying right here in the middle of our residential neighbourhood. People are making shitloads of money somewhere but nobody is really getting helped. Makes me want to drink so it's a good thing that....
Michael's stout is ready for drinking soon...a little about me...I grew up downwind from a large brewery and the smell of Michael making beer makes me feel like I am a kid back home...It is one of the most comforting sensations, the smell of warm hops. A drunkard in the making. I think that if someone did some kind of study about kids who grow up downwind of a brewery, you would find that we are almost all beer drinkers and not wine drinkers.
I know I promised neighbourhood updates, but that requires so much more effort than I am willing to put into it. Honestly, I really have to think about it today...it isn't flowing naturally...and I hate days like that. Don't you?

zucchini bread, anyone?

Lordy, they just keep coming...enough is enough, already! Pretty pretty, enough is never enough....
and homemade marinara soon...