oops hi

I've not been here for awhile.

Vacation+summer+internet disinterest and laziness+recent obsession with instagram...

It isn't what you have, or who you are,
or where you are, or what you are doing
that makes you happy or unhappy.
It is what you think about.

Dale Carnegie


YES!

and there ya go

I'm going away soon - to the UK! London, York, Edinburgh, Oban...and then a 6 day hike from Fort William to Inverness!

---

At every moment in every person's life there is work to be done, always work to be done, some of it small, some of it Great. The Great Work, in a sense, always has to do with healing the world, changing the world, and, as a necessary predicate to that, understanding the world. You rise every morning aware that you are called to this work. You won't live to see it finished. But if you can't hear it calling, you aren't listening hard enough. It's always calling, sometimes in a big voice, sometimes in a quiet voice.

Tony KushnerAmerican Playwright

just two things

numero uno - apollo ghosts (2008-2012) last show in vancouver. i remember seeing them in like 2008 or 2009 in the our town cafe. they are playing friday, may 10th.
you can listen to all their albums on their bandcamp page: http://apolloghosts.bandcamp.com/

#2: The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human. Pablo Casals, 1876-1973 Catalan Cellist and Conductor

purity ring and blue hawaii

happened this week. vancouver. can i just say that blue hawaii is f _ _ _ _ ing amazing to see LIVE! most impressive were her screams that she took liberty to loop. they're both like a couple of hipster ravers - dancing and being adorable. And CANADIAN!

I want you

Arts&Crafts 2003-2013

for a limited time you can stream the album for free (scroll down until you see the play button):

http://music.cbc.ca/#/Radio3/blogs/2013/4/Arts-Crafts-20032013-full-album-stream

One of my favorite songs of all-time is included: a cover of 'Islands in the Stream' by Feist and the Constantines.

je ne sais quoi

"I-don't-know-what": an indescribable or indefinable 'something' that distinguishes the object in question from others that are superficially similar.

-wikipedia 

 

after years of wear and years of grrr

ok, this is even better. it hurts my eyes to look it but I like it.

i also imagine that this is what the tattoo could look like after years of wear!

a possible tattoo?

never been tempted to get a tattoo based on an image, but this one is pretty darn awesome.

I found it on a receipt I came across while doing FOI research for work. 

I think I'd put this word under the image: "Grrr"
for this reason:
Grrr /ˈɡɜrːː/^[1] is an onomatopoeic word which imitates the growling sound of predatory animals, and is often used with other related meanings. It is one of the rare pronounceable words of the English language that consists solely of consonants.

[wikipedia]

we are all so weird

recommended listening:

blue hawaii (Raphaelle Standell-Preston from Braids and Alexander Cowan) - will be in Vancouver playing the same night as Purity Ring --- on the same night. why oh why. anyways, reminds me of GRIMES but more subdued.

pick a piper (drummer from caribou and from Vancouver's MINT RECORDS)

jdoiron

I've bee listening to Julie Doiron probably since high school (eric's trip) and I still buy her new albums and see her play live when I can. I completely adore her talent and she has the most honest and humorous personality I've seen in a performer.

I got to see her play in Zulu Records, here in Vancouver on Saturday March 30.
It was a great show - very intimate. She's such a talent!!

And this song was crazy good:

views

my instagram:

http://www.iphoneogram.com/u/209614668

when a book review is so good you don't really need to read the book...

http://reviewcanada.ca/reviews/2013/01/01/book-is-here/

I really enjoyed reading this detailed review above because I am a reader that prefers to hold a real book, as opposed to a digital one.
I'm in front of a computer all day long. The last thing I want is to read off a smaller version of a computer screen at home. And not really be able to curl up in bed with the book or even glance at its often interesting cover while it sits on my bedside table.

Here are some excerpts from the review that I enjoyed thinking about:

• tactility of books versus digital text

• reading a book ... rhythm of catch and release—is the process of turning a page not at once a holding-on and a letting-go?

• Book reading, because it encourages us to slow down and to cut ourselves off ...a tonic for life in a hurried age

• Lending a book involves both taking a risk on the dependability of a friend and also revealing—through our marginal jottings and dog-ears—something intimate about ourselves. “Having a file in common that we can both access at the same time,” however, “overlooks any sense of personal investment in the process.” Since you do not need to give anything up in order to share a digital file, “file sharing” is a sort of paradox.

yes, it is

refresh for spring

a Vancouver based spa & skin care company (and products made here too!): SKOAH

I went last week. Impressed. 

Locations are here

blogging about a blog

Bitter Barista is funny:

http://bitterbarista.com/

van living in vancity

http://blog.vanyear.com/
Facing a busy alleyway set in the damp, green world of Canada’s Westcoast, Mathew embarks on a year of adventure and explores an ever-changing definition of “home”. Daily routines like brushing teeth and getting dressed take on a new and more intensified meaning as Mathew discovers just how many things we take for granted in our day-to-day lives.

Mobile living - Huffington Post article

bigdatabigdeal

I went to a symposium at UBC last week (http://acastudentchapter.sites.olt.ubc.ca/) and the most interesting presentation, in my opinion, was by Richard Marciano: “Analyzing and Visualizing Big Cultural Data.” I didn't know (and probably should have, given I'm considered to be an Information Professional) that the White House released a statement on BIG DATA. See here.

Coincidentally, just before attending the symposium, I was on the bus reading a Guardian article about Google Search and the future of searching on the internet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/19/google-search-knowledge-graph-singhal-interview


 A great quote from that article, that I think fits nicely with Big Data:
"All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected. But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships. A timeless interval was spent doing that." (John Battelle, 'The Search').

Having worked in many archives, I know that to be true. Boxes and boxes of papers, maps...
Marciano's presentation was all about that...his work is a statement on correlating and collecting and pulling together relationships between records and data.
He's been looking at old Seattle City maps that were used to "red line" particular neighbourhoods and he is looking at how this has affected fair housing policies, and cultural and racial segregation in the city in the 1920s and 30s. I was on the edge of my seat! I love when someone uses archival records and technology to make "old dusty" records relevant to us today. His argument was also that big data has always existed (e.g census data collected on paper) but our challenge now is to make that data accessible and mean something.

when winter is waning...

I go and buy a sweater. I love being cozy. And the second best thing to having a sweater made for you by a friend (or making it yourself) is buying something locally made...and it is 100% merino wool. erdaine made in BC And besides the sweater, my day was complete after I helped a 95 year old lady go and get the Saturday paper (she almost out-walking me with her walker!). She told me I made her day...then self-corrected and said "week!". Then she told me to take one of the bananas she bought as a thank-you. I appreciate people who appreciate simple things in life. This is why I volunteer - heart-warming.

walking on broken glass

a great rendition of annie lennox's 'walking on broken glass' by Vancouver's SAID THE WHALE.
The kids do a great job too!

modern day heroism, bacon jam and the ageless

HEROISM 
I'm reading 'Wild: From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail' by Cheryl Strayed.
It's an inspiring story of lone bravery and hardship. 
Physical hardship.
It is not often, in our daily or weekly or monthly lives that we experience physical hardship.
Okay, okay...attending the gym for a hard workout, or cycling up a tough hill, or climbing a mountain. But all of these physical hardships usually have a specified amount of time that our brain and body agree to. 
Though just a few months ago, I thought I was fit enough to do the hike up to the Brunswick Mountain (1788m). The 2 friends I went with had accurately assessed their physical fitness and willpower. I had inaccurately done so and after 2 hrs. of steep switchbacks I was a human oven and agitated. I remember letting my face hit tree branches on the trail because they were soaked with dew. I also remember feeling like I didn't get a full breath for about 2 hours! When the trail ended and became, what I called "pizza pocket footholds in the side of the mountain" I declared I was "out". Fortunately, I didn't hike down alone. My friends decided to abandon it too because it was a very foggy day anyways - the view wouldn't have been there. Or so they said. Maybe they were being kind to me. 

To hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) it generally takes close to 5 or 6 months and runs from Mexico up to the border of Washington State and British Columbia Canada.

I can't imagine committing to a physically and mentally grueling trek like that for such a length of time.

Though I suppose my trek in Scotland will test my abilities but it will be no where near what the PCT is like.

BACON JAM
Round 2: due to high demand and one particularly enthusiastic friend, I'm making it again. 
If you've not tried it or made it, let me know. I'll give you the best recipe for it. 
Delicious on grilled cheese sandwiches or with scalloped potatoes.
Or, as my enthusiastic friend tell me: "on a spoon!"

THE AGELESS
I've come to know, momentarily, some very inspiring strangers. Strangers, because I only know them for a brief period time and don't really get to know them very well. They are the people I meet in my volunteer role at the Hospice. One such person, who I will call Pippa, is 95. She is so full of spirit, with bright eyes and such a positive outlook on life. I am bowled over at the appreciation she has for the everyday and it such an amazing lesson to be a part of. I've had someone say to me when I pressed the elevator button for the Hospice: "do you know what floor that is? do you know what happens there?"
Yes, I do. While there is sadness, fear and pain, there is always inspiration and the undeniable reality of what we all face: saying goodbye to this place.

locally feasting

http://feastvan.com/

feast and support a local cause

Eh! Oh :(

I'm starting to plan a walkabout in Scotland for early summer with my Aunt.

I'm getting excited already. First things first: hiking shoes. made in canada. fingers crossed.

Errrr nope!

Apparently, 85% of shoes in Canada are not made here.
I found this Globe and Mail article about a fellow who consumed only Canadian made products for one year. He devised a "classification system" for what made in Canada really means.

Here is the article.

Now what to do about those hiking boots....everything at MEC is pretty much Made in China. Groan.

I think the best I can opt for is something made in the USA - maybe Danner? About a third of their shoes are made in Portland.

Ontario

Windows at Toronto Union Station

Snow misted across a frozen swamp, Hanover, Ontario.

The lone tree

This piece of grass was bent in an interesting way.

More grasses bent

Milkweed

Kinghurst trail

old barn walls, Kinghurst

Kinghurst nature reserve. My dad and I climbed that hill in about 15mins. 

We were kind of disappointed it took so little time, but along the way we saw a lot of deer tracks and enjoyed a longer walk around the reserve. 

The sugar shack. I really hope the group that takes care of this land will restore this. I sent them an email urging them to do so (along with photos of the cracked foundation completely leaning in). I think that with restoration and historical placards, this could be a great draw to the area and I could see families enjoying a day out in nature!

kinghurst hike

http://www.ontarionature.org/protect/habitat/kinghurst_forest.php
Been hiking a lot since being home in Ontario. First three photos are from Kinghurst hunting and snowmobile trails and include an old farmhouse (walls are made with stones). Then went snowshoeing in the nature preserve, that includes a sugar shack (for making maple syrup).