Nature / Writing

When I was a kid, one of my favourite chores was polishing silverware. I can't say how many times I was asked to do it, though it couldn't have been very many. Most of the time the good silverware lived in a heavy wooden chest on the top shelf of the hall closet, waiting patiently for a few holiday dinners a year. But every once in awhile it would be brought down and placed on the big table on an otherwise unremarkable Saturday, and I would be set up with a little blue tin of silver polish and a soft white cloth. I would methodically work my way through the curious array of oversized spoons and undersized forks and oddly shaped knives, genuinely enjoying myself. I wish I could say my pleasure came from being able to contribute to family celebrations, but the truth is that I just really liked watching the tarnish disappear beneath my fingers. It didn't feel like cleaning; it felt like I was conducting a ceremony to remove a curse.  It felt like magic. Decades later, I don...

These two floofs right here. They are the reason the chairs in our house wear socks.  Several layers of thick socks, in fact. Below is what I recently did to the wooden legs of an ottoman: This white wooden stool, on the other hand, got the pool noodle treatment: This is all part of the steps we've taken to wobbly-cat-proof our home. Littermates Charlotte and Rubin both have the neurological condition cerebellar hypoplasia, sometimes also called wobbly cat syndrome. The part of their brain which controls movement and balance didn't fully develop in the womb, so they are two happy, healthy cats who happen to fall into things a lot. Over the years we've had them, I feel we've really upped our baby-proofing game, and have found all sorts of ways to pad all sorts of awkward corners. When I was taking the below photo of the two newly-padded pieces of furniture together, I didn't even notice that I was getting the worn-out-pajama-pants-wrapped desk leg and the pipe-insula...

We've been staying home and social distancing for two-and-a-half months now, as the spring of COVID-19 stretches into summer. All things considered, I'm surprised it took me this long to decide to spend some of this formless time giving my website a little refresh. When I was looking for a new banner photo, this image felt like the perfect choice. It's a lovely photo if-I-do-say-so-myself , but it's also a lovely memory. A year ago next weekend, Steve and I rode the Maple Leaf together, a train that connects Toronto and New York City. We'd travelled to New York before, once by plane and once by bus, but since then I'd discovered the joy of train travel during a three day solo rail trip across America (which is a story for another time). Although that trip was filled with once-in-a-lifetime sights, it was even better to rattle along a little closer to home if it meant I could watch the sunset with someone I love. This year, there's no travel lined up i...

I just finished eating a bowl of cherries. I can't remember the last time I bought cherries. Today's anomaly was 100% because of this: I've written before about being influenced by children's programming into eating more fruit . Apparently it isn't just kids shows that work on me. Musician and vegan Macka B's "Medical Monday" and "Wha Me Eat Wednesday" videos are currently working as a regular reminder for me that there's a whole world of healthy food out there. Like so many people, we discovered Macka B when his video about cucumbers ( cucumba! ) went viral. If you somehow missed it, treat yourself to it and several others below, then treat yourself to some fruit and/or veggies. Also, you can  follow Macka B on Faceboook .

Sunday March 20th, 2016 Yesterday I read a fun article on The Varsity Newspaper website that reviews the contents of several Little Free Library boxes in Toronto . Writer Lisa Power wonders what the box contents tell us about Torontonians, but of course as Power herself admits, the contents could really just indicate which books the locals most wanted to get rid of. So when we took a nice Sunday walk in the park (this was the International Day of Happiness, after all), we checked in at a local Little Free Library  to see what the contents had to say. Which was mostly that it's time for me to round up a few contributions! Maybe this says we love our books too much to give away? I don't know if most people really do use Little Free Libraries to read-and-return, or if they tend to keep what they like and leave other books to replace them (or maybe never return OR replace, based on these shelves). We do a little mix of both - I've definitely read and returned, and r...

Tuesday March 01, 2016 In November we adopted two kittens from the North Toronto Cat Rescue , bringing our household cat total to three. This is Charlotte: And this is her brother Rubin: They both have cerebellar hypoplasia (CH), aka Wobbly Cat Syndrome, as described in Charlotte's video. Expect them to make occasional appearances here on the blog, especially as we learn more about CH or I get more video of them being adorable and/or ridiculous. (For the record, 16-year old tuxedo cat Gadget retains his seniority around this place, and is so far tolerating his new companions with only mild annoyance and even fleeting affection.) Connect Online: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Tumblr | Wattpad | Goodreads | Google+

Sunday May 25, 2014 For the most part, I was glad there were children between us and the snakes. They weren't there in a human-shield kind of way - the snakes weren't dangerous and the kids weren't that coordinated anyway. When Steve and I first approached the Sciensational Sssnakes!!  display at Saturday's Spring Bird Festival in Sam Smith Park, we were both pleased and disappointed by the size of the crowd. Pleased, because it was wonderful to see so many children interested in learning about the frog, turtles, and snakes that nature educator Jenny Pearce had on hand, but disappointed because it didn't seem like we were going to get a chance to personally reconnect with Ross, the Everglades rat snake Steve had so enjoyed hanging out with  last year . Children take turns gently handling a hog-nosed snake. We watched the kids for a few minutes and I was impressed by how careful they were not to hurt the snakes, as per Pearce's instructions. Then Steve...

Monday April 21, 2014 I really enjoyed going to the TIFF Kids International Film Festival, but after more than a week straight spent inside dark theaters watching movies or inside bright theaters watching panel discussions, it was time to spend some time outside. One of the first things I saw on today's nature jaunt was a red squirrel. I've seen them before in the park, but not very often and not for a long time, so this made for a great start. Then there were many of the usual suspects for this time of year. A grackle took time to pose on a rock for me, I pestered a robin while he/she was in the bath, and the red-winged black birds were out in force: I also saw Northern flickers, a night heron, plenty of tree swallows, a brown creeper, lots of ducks and geese and sparrows, and heard a woodpecker. It had been a very nice walk and I was ready to go home when a passing young couple noticed my camera and I heard the woman say "Tell her about the owl...

Wednesday March 12, 2014 Warning: This post contains images of dead birds, which may be disturbing to some readers. On the other hand, that's kind of the point. On Sunday night, I told Steve I was planning to go to the Royal Ontario Museum in the morning while he was at work. He asked if there was something special going on I wanted to see. "I don't really want to see it," I said, "but it seems like a thing that should be seen." Every year, volunteers from Toronto's Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) patrol the streets near tall buildings during the spring and fall migration seasons, looking for the hundreds of birds who will accidentally crash into the confusing walls of glass that reflect sky and trees in the daylight and shine with attractive electric lights in the night. I say accidentally, but that's not really true. Accidents are unpreventable. Bird collisions can be greatly reduced with  bird-safe building design , both at the...