sushi for beginners

My parents are out visiting this week so it's vacations all 'round (Whoo hoo!). Yesterday I took them to Shinjuku, my favourite Japanse restaurant, for their very first taste of sushi. I have to say they did very well. We kept it vegetarian (because I can't do raw fish) and had a great time. They tried edemame (my new favourite snack), vegetable tempura, gyoza and a couple of maki. I made sure there was nice, safe chicken teryaki just in case some of the other tastes didn't sit so well but they were champs. They even masterted the art of picking up a single grain of rice with chopsticks. Nice. We were already down at the beach so we had to stop by Dolce Gelato to see what Davide had in store. The man is an artist and his gelato. . . divine. Good job there's a lot of boardwalk down there for walking it off.

memento mori

I came across a new phrase the other day -- memento mori. It translates from Latin as "remember you are mortal". The phrase came up in an article I was reading last week and then again in my current book -- Brad Thor's Blowback. I haven't read Thor's work before but I needed something a little more suitable to a long week-end and so far he has not disappointed.

I'm intrigued by the concept of memento mori. Apparently it shows up in art quite a bit. Thor writes that in ancient Rome when a returning General took his victory parade through the city a slave would walk by his side whispering "remember you are mortal, remember your death". Macabre on the surface perhaps, but I think that we would do well, I would do well, to remember that we're not here forever.

Last week I was thinking about how as humans our 'finiteness' defines us. We are fundamentally limited -- not in potential, but in time. I was reminded of a friend of mine who was on Phi Phi Island when the tsunami hit. He spent hours and hours helping to get people to safety and reached a point where he couldn't lift his arms. He had nothing left to give. Walking back to where he was staying people called out to him and he had to walk by them and it tortured him. But he was empty, he had already given everything he had and more. He had reached the edges of his strength, the horizon of his endurance. And yet the guilt was there even though he had nothing in the world to feel guilty about. Finite cannot apologize for failing to reach infinity.

Reminds me of Blake's lines, often quoted:

To see a world in a grain of sand, And Heaven in a wild flower, To hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.

Maybe that's simply the reality of being finite, that yearning to reach out towards the infinite. Perhaps it's what draws us to beauty and ultimately to faith. I think so often we try to outrun our mortality, our limitedness, in trying to look younger, move faster, cram more into the day. I don't think denying finiteness is the way to go. Memento mori could prove a much more effective way to redeem the hours.

nina simone saves the day

This is my desk at work and today the Nina Simone CD so prominently featured saved the day. This was one of those days when there was only one time-critical thing that needed to be done and I was finally able to finish it 20 minutes before the end of the day. Everybody needed me today. And hey, it's great to be needed, but sometimes you need a little back-up and the William Shakespeare action figure just isn't going to cut it.

Enter Nina, stage right.

"Darling, you are always needed. . . "
"I wish I knew how it would feel to be free. . ."
"I need a little sugar in my bowl. . ."

Preach it sister.

I was first introduced to the wonder that is Nina Simone my third year of university. My roommate Roni had Nina Simone Sings the Blues and it became our go-to album for late nights and term papers. When our brains were too tired to think and our fingers too stiff to move we'd skip over to track #8 and let the world melt away. Worked every time.

Turns out it still does.

idiots throwing rocks

This is not going to become a political blog (with or without street-corner ranting if you read the comments on my last post), nor is it going to turn into an Anderson Cooper blog, however when I read David Carr's article in the New York Times it made me mad. And that often makes for good blogging.

David Carr it seems, is jumping on the 'we're real journalists and therefore we hated Anderson Cooper's interview with Angelina Jolie' bandwagon. The basic gist of the piece is that both Cooper and Jolie are wealthy and dress nicely and therefore cannot possibly have anything of substance to say. She's an UNHCR Goodwill ambassador and he's a CNN anchor with extensive experience reporting tragedies on the African continent. What could they possibly have to talk about?

Carr writes, "Anderson Cooper. . .gave more than two hours of his program to Angelina Jolie for a two-hour infomercial fomenting an agenda -- saving Africa" Well to be precise, do the math, AC360 is a two hour show, so how Cooper gave MORE than two hours to Jolie is an act of metaphysics yet to be explained. But more to the point, Jolie wants to save Africa? What a terrible idea. How outrageously selfish of her to suggest it. Now I'll admit that a New York Times columnist like Carr is likely better researched than I am on most subjects, but last I checked Africa was still facing some major issues and could use some help. I've heard worse ideas.

If Angelina Jolie had come on the show talked about refugees for 5 minutes and then started fielding questions about Brad I could see Carr's point. But they talked about refugees. For two hours. There were reports from Uganda, vintage footage from Niger, live feeds from Darfur. It looked a lot like news to me. I was reminded of something I saw a few weeks back. Bono was offered a one day guest editorship of The Independent. His headline read:

NO NEWS TODAY*

and then in tiny print way down at the bottom of the page *Just 6, 500 Africans died today as a result of a preventable, treatable disease (HIV/AIDS)

Looks like news to me.

Like several other writers this week Carr chose to make snide reference to the clothing both were wearing for the interview. Jolie reportedly gave a third of her income away last year. Should she be required to give the rest of it away and dress in rags to better tell her story? He then went on to comment on her body art suggesting it seems that someone who changes her mind about a tattoo cannot be relied on to stay with anything else:

"Ms. Jolie proudly talked about having "Know Your Rights" as an alluring tattoo -- an homage to the United Nations refugee effort -- — but that same medium has also served as a signpost for her ex-husband, old What's-His-Name."

Maybe Carr was watching a different interview. In the one that I saw Cooper commented that he'd heard Jolie had "Know your rights" tattooed on her and she admitted that she did. She went on to say that she had once visited a prison in a tank top that showed the tattoo and it caused quite a stir. Hmm, incarcerated men and a tattoo about rights. . . yeah can't imagine why. I wasn't there, obviously, when she got the tattoo, but I'd be willing to guess that Jolie didn't pick "Know your rights" for its sex appeal.

My Director at work is fond of saying "any idiot can throw a rock". It takes no skill at all to poke holes in someone else's ideas. Get some decent boots and head over to Uganda Mr. Carr. I'm sure what you find there will make for a much more interesting column.

hanging out in the JPod

Okay Douglas Coupland, you're forgiven.

Last summer I read Coupland's Girlfriend in a Coma, and I was mad. In place of his usual witty and introspective fiction was a whacked out tale featuring a deus ex machina ending that can only have come from a bad batch of BC Bud. When I heard that he had come out with a new book, and one that was said to be Microserfs for the Google set I was cautiously happy.

Microserfs for me is Coupland at his best. After being burned on Coma I hesitated, but only a little. JPod was worth the ride. In this novel Douglas Coupland brings together a group of video game programmers doomed to share a cubicle because of a glitch in the system. Their last names all start with J. That's all they have in common. But as they quickly learn, there's no way out of JPod.

This book had a great mix of tech stereo-types and lampooned local custom. One of the main characters has a Mom who's growing weed in the basement of their home in the British Properties while his Dad goes after the ever elusive speaking part. He's constantly filming on location in Cloverdale, mostly as an extra. I found myself laughing a lot while reading this.

The plot here is a little more far-fetched than Microserfs, but you have to give Coupland credit for writing a version of himself into the story. I was reading an article in Wired that said that Coupland had read so many strange things about himself on the internet -- he hates phones and never answers them! -- that he decided to create a character named Douglas Coupland who embodied them all. Very nice.

two days with Anderson Cooper

I just finished reading Anderson Cooper's New York Times bestseller Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters and Survival and I'm impressed. It's not a title I would normally pick-up and it's certainly not something I would expect to finish in two days but that's a testament to the book itself.

For me it started with a photograph. On the cover of the June 2006 issue of Vanity Fair there's a photograph that stopped me in my tracks. It's a close-up of a man, Anderson Cooper as it turns out, and he's not crying but you can see the water beginning to pool in the corners of his eyes. I stood there thinking "how in the world did they get that shot?". I bought the magazine and the article turned out to be an excerpt from Cooper's book. Having now read both I don't imagine that it was so hard for him to find something sad to think about.

If you do a little research on Anderson Cooper you'll quickly learn 4 basic things about him: his mother is a Vanderbilt, his father died when he was 10, his brother committed suicide 12 years later and he has some very strange, albeit committed, fans. Oh and he also has this day job where he's an anchor for CNN. Since when do CNN anchors have fans?

The interviews all seem to focus in on the sadness. In the book Cooper himself admits that he started going to wars and disasters because it was more comfortable to be where other people were hurting but I am surprised that so many of the interviews focus on just this one aspect. Time Magazine's Andrea Sachs sat down for 10 Questions with Anderson Cooper for this week's issue. I would have expected something a little better than "when did you realize your Mom was famous?" and "how did you feel when your father died". Maybe it's easier to stick to the script.

I don't know if I'd say that I enjoyed the book -- famine, war, tsunamis and hurricanes are hardly fun topics. But here at the end of it, I'm glad I read it. Cooper often speaks of trying to get people to remember what happened, to not forget, and reading the book is one way to do that. It's hard to wrap your head around suffering on the scale he has seen time and again but his writing style helps take you there. I got the feeling from time to time that he was holding back, but perhaps that was for my benefit as a reader. Throughout the book he talks about the ways people try to deal with tragedy -- soldiers, aid workers, reporters -- and I wonder if he had to edit himself a bit for those of us who haven't been there.

If I had a criticism of the book it would be this: pick a verb tense. Memoirs, traditionally, are written in past tense and this one keeps flicking back and forth between past and present tense. Maybe for a journalist who lives in telling stories that are happening now asking him to abandon present tense was too much to ask. Maybe it's so ingrained it's just part of how he tells the story.

It's a good book, I'd recommend it. Fair warning: this is not a book you curl up in bed with. I have a feeling it will also prove to be a book that stays with me. There are photos in the hard cover edition but mercifully they're mostly family shots and not field shots. The field shots have definitely been chosen carefully. There's one of Cooper sitting in the remains of a hotel in Sri Lanka mud and refuse and Christmas decorations still hanging from the ceiling. But given the stories, it's relatively clean.

It's been interesting reading some of his other articles. There is a levity and humour in them that isn't in the book. It would have been out of place in the book to be sure, but it's good to know that it's in there. I'm glad he didn't leave it behind in the field somewhere.

There's more to say, but I think it's another post.

slipping into summer

All the season finales are over. I've got 4 or 5 months to wait before I find out if Meredith with choose McDreamy or the vet or if George will ever get what he deserves. In the meantime I've been enjoying the absence. Tonight I sat in the living room working a New York Times crossword puzzle (although it's a Monday so it hardly counts) while Ceone sampled the world music offerings on iTunes. It's quiet and not quiet and I like it that way.

We headed down to the beach for sushi and gelato tonight. There's something undeniably summery about that. (And wonderfully Vancouver-ish about Japanese and Italian cuisine side by side and hand in hand.) I'm still wondering who the wedding couple are in the photo above the register at Dolce Gelato. One of these days I'll have to get around to asking Davide. He seems like an approachable guy I'm sure he won't mind. He's always smiling when we come in. Maybe if you spend your days surrounded by that much gelato there's a lot to smile about.

I can feel myself slipping into summer. Kendra's classes are winding down. I am jealous, again, of the weeks of rest she has ahead even though I know because I've witnessed it that she has already paid for each hour in the sun. There are a few long nights ahead for her. But it's almost summer. Almost. There's a new tank of gas under the barbecue, the flower beds have been weeded and are waiting. My parents will be here in just a few weeks. I have no idea how it can be time already, but I'm slipping into summer. I can feel it.

flickrtoys, Furball and a field trip

Sometimes you just need to play. Years ago a good friend of mine told me that his idea of a perfect day would be a blank canvas the size of the wall, paints and no brushes. I think there's a scene in Benny & Joon that's the same sort of idea, just fingers in paint, a lot of paint. I wonder if he ever got around to trying that? Play comes in many shapes and forms and I think grown-ups would do well to put down their pens and remember that.

Last Saturday three quarters of the House of Mirth headed into Vancouver for girly fun. There was a fund raiser at the Vancouver Museum in support of the Vancouver Food Bank. There was a desert competition, fancy cupcake bake sale and best of all students from the Blanche MacDonald Center were doing hair, make-up and hand massages to raise donations. We decided to play.
Too funny. The BMC students were fantastic. Very personable and a lot of fun (especially when jogger or two happened to pass by the patio doors). I don't know how much money was raised in the end but we certainly enjoyed ourselves. Summer is coming. More time to play!

disneyland 2006 pics

Magical days in the Magic Kingdom. Who says you can't be a little kid again? The full set of vacation pics are now up on Flickr.

i can do this

I've been thinking a lot about age this week - no real surprise there. A friend of mine asked if I was a member of the "30 and Proud" club and I am. No turning 29 again for me. I was thinking back to what I was doing ten years ago and I realized that for me, my 20s were a lot of upheaval, a lot of totally changing my life and wondering if I could do it.

You're going along through high school, and if you live in Ontario you're 19 when you graduate. It's time to go away to university and your whole world changes. I remember sitting in my room at my parents' house and I could almost feel it slipping away. I could always come back, but I could never GO back. Off I went to school wondering "can I do this?"

Four incredible years later it happens again. You graduate and this life that you have built for yourself is pulled apart again. You have to move, find a job, make new friends and I wondered again, "can I do this?"

Many people spend their 20s looking for someone to share their life with and some find them right away and others don't but I think in both situations people are asking themselves "can I do this?" Can I build a life with this person? Can I build a life without them?

What I'm finding now is that there's a reason to be 30 and Proud because sitting here I can say with confidence, "I can do this". I know how to build a life. I know what I need to be happy, to be healthy, to be who I am. Because I also know this, that at some point it will happen again, the world will change and I'll be ready. I can do this.

30

After a rainy start the sun came out yesterday. I'm pleased to say that I passed a very pleasant birthday and I reached 30 smiling. You hear so many people who get negative about turning 30, I highly recommend a trip to Disneyland as the antidote to that. Worked very well for me.

There's a British expression that says "start as you mean to go on" so I took that to heart yesterday and began the day with chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast. Nice. Throw in some of your favorite tea and you can handle anything. (I went for my current fave -- Empire Blend #34 from the Harrod's Heritage Collection. I'm more than halfway through the tin now, I might have to ask my brother to pick me up some more.)

After that I had a quick appointment to keep and then went shopping. My parents let me pick out my own birthday present so off I went. I've worn a silver Celtic knotwork ring on my right hand for years but it broke a few weeks ago so I went to one of my favourite jewelry stores in White Rock to search out a replacement. I picked out a silver and peridot ring. Yes, technically peridot is not my birthstone, but I thought this ring was gorgeous and now it's mine. It only seemed right to get a manicure to go with it. It was my birthday afterall.


(Side note: Any guesses on why this pic is so small when I loaded it exactly the same was as the other two?)

In the evening I went out for dinner with some friends and then we headed off to see X-Men 3. Dinner was great. The waitress even gave me a second sparkler because we couldn't get a photo of the first one before it burnt out. X3 was a little disappointing. And yes, we stayed to watch the final scene but still. I know that they brought in a new Director for #3 and I think he lost his sense of story. The movie finished and all I could think was "I bet Bryan Singer is pissed." It had no compelling narrative -- yes there's a cure for mutancy and is that a good thing or not? But a good story tells itself through the characters experiencing it and this movie felt like little dioramas that we were peering in at but never actively engaged with. (Remember dioramas from grade 4?) But even with all that said, there was a lot of Hugh, so it wasn't a total loss.

After all the celebrations in Anaheim last week I felt like I had already celebrated my birthday and wasn't really expecting anything particular on the day itself. What a nice surprise to have such a great day too. Bonus. Happy birthday to me. That was fun. I think we should do it again next year.

embrace the magic

I am a couple of days from turning 30 and in honour of this momentous occasion I headed down to California with a few good friends. I had never been to Disneyland and it seemed like a good idea to sprinkle a little pixie dust on the big 3-0.

We had an amazing time. The first afternoon we had a little extra time between flights so we took a look at the map from the rental company and decided to head up to Santa Monica pier for a few hours.

After walking the beach and riding the Ferris Wheel we found a guy flooding the pier with bubbles. There were bubbles everywhere -- huge ones and tiny ones -- it was beautiful. We danced.

Here's Amanda and I on the Ferris Wheel. You could see miles up the beach from up there. I kept thinking California looks just like it does in movies -- right down to the lifeguard stations.

Once the rest of the group arrived we headed to Anaheim. We stayed at The Lemon Tree and I'd recommend it. Decent sized rooms, each with a kitchen, a pool and hot tub outside and beautiful gardens. Some time on that first day Coli declared that the whole trip should be my birthday and so I got to hear "Happy Birthday!" at least twice a day the whole time we were there. Who gets to have a 5 day birthday? How cool is that?

The next morning we headed to Disneyland. Here's Monica, Amanda, Kendra, Coli, Shannon and I just inside the gates of Disneyland. It was crazy to be somewhere that I have only ever seen in pictures. Right off the bat, there was the Mouse and the Disney brand of perfectionism that we'd find throughout the park. You can just about see the Mickey made of flowers in this photo. Where do you get black flowers to do that?

The first ride of the morning was "it's a small world" (and yes, it's written all in lower case and yes that bothers me a little). We sang. Loudly. Some of us even attempted some of the other languages. Hilarious. We went on all the rides. We wore the ears. There are more stories to come but for now I think this photo of Coli best sums up the trip:

Good times, good times. Happy Birthday.

bringing the indoors out

It's time to move life back outside. Time to sit close enough to smell the lilac and the cedars. Time to move from my favourite reading chair to my favourite reading hammock. It's time to be still enough to hear the windchimes, time to walk slowly enough to notice if the honeysuckle has bloomed yet. Winter has had its day. The days are growing longer and like a flower I turn toward the sun. There have been enough days indoors. It's time.

going california

It's just two weeks now until I head off to California to celebrate getting old and being young. Good times await. I decided that if I was going south, I might as well have the hair to go with it so RuthAnn and I headed into the city to get me some highlights. This is the second time I've been blonder for the summer (at least this year I've headed off all of the post a picture comments). I am expecting to have more fun. (I'm going to Disneyland, how could I not?)

I was quite proud of myself this year for not freaking out. One of the things I have learned about myself is that the reason I don't tend to deal with change well is that I see change as loss. When things change, even when it's a good change, I feel it first as a loss and I mourn for what was. (Earth that was for the Firefly fans :) There's a line in a song from the early 90s that says "All I want is what I had before" and it runs through my head sometimes when change comes and I just want to make everything stop and go back to the way it was.

Last year when I dyed my hair I struggled a bit with the "different-ness" of the experience, this year I'm pleased that I was able to look in the mirror and say "it's different and I like it". Baby steps, baby steps. Maybe one of these days I'll actually move the furniture around in my room.

Maybe this is the real celebration of getting a little older -- that I'm better able to see the world around me with clarity. Maybe this is my gift to myself, finally believing what my brother said to me years ago -- "Change isn't always bad Claire, it's just different." Getting older might not be so bad after all. Especially if you get to go to California.

chocolate chip cheesecake

Ingredients

1 1/2 C Oreo cookie crumbs
2 to 3 Tbsp butter melted
3 (8-oz each) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (14-oz) can EAGLE BRAND® sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1 tsp flour

Instructions
Preheat oven to 300°F. Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press firmly on bottom of 9-inch springform pan or 13x9-inch baking pan.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in EAGLE BRAND® until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and then vanilla; mix well.

In small bowl, toss 1/2 cup chocolate chips with flour to coat. Add to mixture being careful not to dump the extra flour in with them. Stir into cream cheese mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips evenly over top. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until set. Cool. Chill.

Garnish as desired.

TIP: For best distribution of chocolate chips throughout cheesecake, do not over soften or over beat cream cheese.

I first made this cake as a student at Trinity. I knew nothing about cheesecake making but I saw the recipe on the label of a can of Eagle Brand and had to give it a try. It hasn't let me down yet. The great thing about this cake is that it doesn't require any of the usual fancy baking practices that you run into with cheesecakes. No water bath, no New York method required. Nice. Just put it in the oven and try not to burn it.

I had to put a foil collar on it about 45 minutes in as the edges of the cake were getting dark before the middle was finished. The only other thing to keep in mind with this cake is that it settles quite a bit. It comes out of the oven a good inch or two higher than it will be once it has cooled. Apparently this is perfectly normal.

The photo was taken on Wednesday when I made this cake for a work get-together. I wasnt sure what to granish it with so I put whipped cream around the edges, lined that with sliced straberries and drizzled a little chocolate over the whole thing. Doris, you asked for the recipe, I figured this was the easiest way to get it to you.

Enjoy!

flawless like sunshine

Today has been an almost perfect summer Saturday. I know it's not really summer yet, but today I could feel summer drawing close. I felt bare feet on freshly mown grass today. I lunched al fresco - tomatoes and ham and my favourite cheese and the Vancouver Sun. I ran useful errands with the windows rolled down and started to notice that it was a little hot inside my Civic. I had the first frapuccino of the season and I didn't even have to pay for it. (I had to wait a whopping 2 extra minutes for my latte the other day so I got a magical - anything - you - want coupon. The hardship of two whole minutes....)

And now I'm sitting at the picnic table in the backyard testing the limitations of our wireless signal. How far does it reach? Far enough it seems. Today has been as perfect as the blue sky above me, as refreshing as the shade cast by the 40' cedars behind me. Imagine the stories they could tell of perfect summer days. Days that were flawless, like sunshine.

snapshots

Everyone seems to have really cool photos on their blogs lately, and I know how much I like seeing other people pictures so here a few random scenes from my life. Enjoy the randomness, or just let it pass you by.
Here is Amanda, graciously agreeing to one more picture, provided she can do it on her own terms. This was taken Saturday when everyone was over at her parent's place for the Easter Egg Hunt and there really were a LOT of cameras going off. I heard a runour that Amanda was actually chased by a camera-wielding parent at one pont. No wonder she's camera'ed out. Nice shot though.

This is the ubiquitous pet photo. Every blog has to have one. So here's mine. This is Gandalf, commonly referred to as Furrball or Flieg. I don't think she minds. As you can see she is training hard to perfect her sleep technique. She practices relentlessly. It cracks me up that she covers her nose with her paw sometimes. Cute. Altogether now . . . . aaaaaaaawwwwwwwww. Moving on.

Of all the Egg Hunt pictures that I took this one is my personal fave. This is Kaitlyn caught just at the moment where she's found an egg. It takes some planning to co-ordinate all the eggs, but as you can see it's always worth it.

Kendra has a brilliant system to maintain a little order in the midst of a 6-child multi-family hunt. Each child is assigned a sticker to look for. All of the eggs are stickered and hidden and then the rule is simple: if you find an egg with your sticker on it, say blue smiley faces or red hearts then it's yours. If it has someone else's sticker you have to leave it for them to find. A brilliantly simple strategy that makes sure young and old kids get equal crack at the eggs. It also means you can really have some fun hiding the eggs for older kids in sneaky places. Smart.


And here is Kendra's AMAZING 3-D bunny cake! I have never seen a cake with such a great expression before. If you look carefully you can see that she even made a little pink icing for inside the ear. You can't see all of them here, but there was an easter egg cake for each of the little nieces, and one for Shannon who was celebrating a birthday that day. And yes, each egg cake was decorated with a unique pattern. NICE.



Here's one last shot of the cake so you can truly appreciate all of it. Very impressive. Not only did it manage to survive a half hour trip by car unscathed it also tasted great!

That's about enough randomness for now. Reminds me, I need to burn a CD and empty out my memory stick. It's almost full. I can't imagine how that happened...

the words remembered

Yesterday as I was leaving for church right on schedule I realized that I was never going to get a seat. I'm usually pretty good at remembering that our church gets completely packed out on major holidays and I need to leave early. Not so this year. Off I went. I actually found a parking spot (impressive) and made my way inside. There was one spot left on the benches that line the windows at the back of the sanctuary. Perfect. I could find everyone to say "hi" afterwards.

As soon as I sat down I realized why the seat was available in such a crowed room. It was directly behind one of the support columns. I couldn't see who was playing, let alone the words to whatever we might sing. But a curious thing happened.

The service I go to sings mostly choruses and more modern music, but for Christmas and Easter they bring out a few of hymns. I grew up in a mostly-hymns church and what I discovered yesterday is that the words are still there. After all these years, after so many Easters, so many attempts to find a way to say "Thank you", I found the words were there, remembered, like a rosary.

As the opening bars struck a familiar note I was able to join the others in singing.

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

LoveÂ’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids Him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened Paradise, Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

i've got a theory, it could be bunnies

bunnies
Originally uploaded by flickrloon.

Last week-end while house sitting for Monica I came across a curious sight. Monica had left a couple of Lindt bunnies to sustain Kendra and I during the arduous task of sitting her very nicely appointed condo. (Hint, if your place comes with a hot tub no further inducement is necessary, but thank you!) After a little while I noticed that one of the chocolate bunnies had managed to morph itself into a slightly larger, stuffed version. Surely a fully animated, live Lindt bunny is only steps away. Is this an insidous plot to take over the world? Watch this space. In the meantime, it's probably best to eat your chocolate bunny before he gets a chance to transform....

just four little words

I was surfing around today and came across a post on Craig Newark's (of craigslist fame) personal blog. It was so perfectly crafted, just four little words, title and post together:

Donna and Josh
...finally

And I had to smile. I stopped watching The West Wing two or three years ago when my favourite character (Rob Lowe's 'Sam Seabourn') left followed quickly by the writing talent of Aaron Sorkin. But I have to admit all this time later I'm still happy to know that Josh & Donna FINALLY got together. I may have to go back and watch this season, or last night's episode at least.

The West Wing used to be an incredible show. When Sorkin was on the payroll the show was written like theatre. It had an amazing use of lighting and silence. Whatever Sorkin was smoking it must have been the good stuff. I hated to give it up but when the show started its decline I couldn't forgive it its mediocrity. Perhaps it's time to make amends.

In the mean time I need to do a little research and find out what exactly happened last night. Then again, perhaps I'll wait until the reruns start this summer and see the whole thing in context, spend a little time back on the hill.

fully God, fully man

I've been putting off reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code . I had serious doubts that there was much substance under all the fuss and I really objected to paying for a hard cover copy. But I was asked to read it for work (and they were willing to let me expense it) so last week-end I grabbed a copy. This week paperbacks hit the shelves. Classic.

I thought the book started out pretty slowly but once it got going it was a decent chase. I think this will be one of those rare cases when the movie turns out to be better than the book. There's a ton of controversy surrounding this book and for the most part I wish people would remember that it's a novel. It's not listed as non-fiction for a reason.

For me the most intriguing question is not so much "What if Jesus had a child?" but rather "What difference would it make if He did?" Now hear me out here, I'm not saying "What if Jesus had a child and the Bible forgot to mention it?" But would being a father have made His sacrifice in any way less valid? If I believe that the Scriptures are true when they say that Jesus was both fully God and fully man, would He have been any less of a Saviour if he had had a child?

Jesus came and walked among us and it says that He experienced all the emotions that are common to man. Would that have changed if He had experience parenthood? I've heard it argued that if Jesus had a child He would be less divine (sorry I can't remember where I read that, I'll look for it) and I can't see the logic in that. Afterall, God Himself is a Father. (As a friend of mine likes to point out, God is a single parent family :)

I believe that the biblical account of Jesus is accurate, and that He did not father any children here on earth but even saying that, I don't think that He would be any less the Son of God if He had had a child of His own. I don't know if it would mess with the Trinity but I don't think so. God exists in three persons, one of whom, the Son took on humanity for a time. If in His humanity He had a child that child would certainly be someone special but would it necessarily require a change in theology?

how does your garden grow?

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing. It would have been a sin to stay indoors. I had to go to the greenhouse, the flowers were calling. After spending a good hour walking through Koko's dreaming of fruit trees and lavender patches practicality prevailed and I decided to plant primroses. I know it's Vancouver, but it's also still March, a little early for lavender.


I planted up the little triangle garden at the end of the driveway and it turned out really well. Primroses come in such great colours and they go in in no time. Instant gratification. Now I've got a little patch of colour welcoming us home. It won't be long now before I can get my hands in the other gardens.

Gandalf couldn't resist coming to inspect my work. Looks like everything passed muster. I just hope the flowers are all still there in the morning.

spring break

The past two weeks were Spring Break (well for SOME people) and while I didn't get to go to Maui or climb the Great Wall, I did get to spend a few days with a few great Walls right here in White Rock.

Amanda and Coli came to stay with us for a few days and we had a great time. They went to the beach with their Auntie Kendra while I got to go to work. . . .but when I got home they let me in on the rock painting. Nice.


I haven't played with paint in a long time. In the spirit of the day I decided to do a stickman tribute to the House of Mirth. I have no idea how I ended up giving myself poodle hair. But hey, we can't all be da Vinci. (I can assure you there are no hidden meanings laced among these Madonnas of the Rock . But more of that later.) All in all, I think we should borrow the girls more often. They're a lot of fun.

minois coiffeur

Who needs cable?
Originally uploaded by flickrloon.

Sometimes a picture is so wonderfully ridiculous you have to share it, even when you're the star of the shot. This is Ceone and I working the hightlights at the House of Mirth. Ok, I admit it, Ceone is the one in the background.

One of the many great things about living with fabulous and talented roomies is that sometimes, if you ask them nicely, they'll do your hair at a mere fraction of the cost of retail. The only downside. . . well let's just say that I've had highlights done at the salon and they didn't pile all the foils up on my head quite like this. Ceone claims "it's suppose to look like that". Um hum, riiiiiight. I have a feeling I've heard that one before.

But hey, as they say no pain, no gain, and if you can't handle a little silliness no amount of foil and ammonia is likely to save you. As for me, the highlights turned out great and the exclusive salon of Minois Coiffeur lives to 'light another day.

Sidenote: the highlights didn't work so well for Ceone. Anyone know of a good blond dye that will bleach over red? I know Blondissima would probably do it, but is there anything a little less toxic?

visiting Corrina (and her parents too)

Are we done here?
Originally uploaded by flickrloon.

Earlier this week I braved the cold and head east to meet my niece in person. She is a doll. It was incredible to finally hold her in my arms and get to spend time with Dave and Janie. I am so impressed with them and the job they are doign raising this little girl. New parents never get much sleep and it would be understandable if tempers got a little short, but I never saw that in my time with them.

We had a great few days hanging out. I got to bounce Corrina and dress her and bath her and generally stare at her. I was in love before I arrived, I am fully gone now. Click on the photo to get to the full set of photos. Warning: These photos are extremely cute and may cause you to make very ungrown-up like noises. View at your own risk. Also, this is the director's cut full length version. If you're looking for the highlight reel check out Corrina - short version. Thanks Dave & Janie for letting me crash on your couch. Can't wait to do it again.

paradiso

Last Saturday I had the great pleasure of hearing Vancouver's own Tango Paradiso perform at the Art Center. The concert was in celebration of the release of their latest CD Post Nuevo and it was magical. This is the fourth time I have heard Tango P perform and they never cease to delight. Masterful musicians all, they cast these moments that just take hold of you. When it comes to the end it almost seems disrespectful to clap and break the spell. It's music you can just lean back into and let yourself fall.

The concert took place at Gallery O at the Art Center (2060 Pine Street). It's a very cool venue. If you ever get the chance, I highly reccommend it. The place was packed. If I have one complaint it's that there wasn't a lot of room left to wander around and look at the art. But that's a small complaint. I came for the music and I was not disappointed. Now with CD in hand I'm already anticipating the next time.

happy birthday Amanda!

Amanda turned 14 today and her Auntie Kendra and I had the priviledge of hosting her birthday bash. Her Mom made the sweet balloon cake. Very fancy.

Happy Birthday Amanda!! Thanks for sharing your special day with us. You can come over anytime :)

Send us a postcard from New York okay?

here's to us

Right around Valentine's Day we like to gather the extended House of Mirth for some serious celebrating. Our usual tradition is to hit the Keg for steaks and toast every beautiful/ brilliant/ sexy man we have even known or ogled on a screen large or small. Needless to say, a good time was had by all. We toasted movie stars and a string physicist, past love and current love. As we like to put it we were just "appreciating the beauty and diversity of God's creation". Here's to good friends, here's to us.
(r-l: Monica, Kendra, Claire, RuthAnn, Ceone & Judy)

one month & also two weeks

Here's Corrina at one month. What a doll. I haven't met her yet but I'm pretty sure I'm in love.

In a just under two weeks I'll be heading to Winnipeg to see for myself and visit with her fabulous parents.

I was talking to a friend of mine today who used to live in Winnipeg. He said that early March is pretty well the coldest time of year. Coldest time of year FOR WINNIPEG. Only a face like this could get me to make a trip like that. I can hardly wait.

happy valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day I trust everyone is feeling the love. Today I had something very unexpected for Valentine's -- an interview with a radio station! I received a call yesterday from WJBC AM 1230 in Bloomington, IL asking if I'd be willing to come on the air and talk about an article I wrote on How to Write a Love Letter.

I had a great time chatting with hosts Steve Fast and Beth Whisman and even got to judge a worst pick-up line contest. My choice: What's a girl like you doing in a nice place like this? (And no, you didn't read that wrong, it's a burn AND a bad pick-up line. Kindof appropriate that the winner received a prize pack from Budweiser.)

What a funny, funny world. I don't know which part of the day they're going to podcast but if it ends up being mine I'll post the link. And for anyone who's not feeling it today, here's one Valentine quote we can all get behind "Forget love, I'd rather fall in chocolate."

going down to meet the sea

The wind whipped the sea into a frenzy today and I went down to meet it. There's been a storm brewing for a few days and high wind warnings were issued for today. When I woke up this morning I could hear the wind howling and I knew I had to go and see it for myself.

It was incredible. The wind was so strong I had to pay attention to how I was standing to make sure I kept my balance. There were quite a few people down at the beach and almost everyone had a camera. The wind was playing something down there, I think it might have been the hydro wires but whatever it was you could hear it singing over the sound of the storm itself. It kept changing between three or four notes. I can see why sailors believed in sirens.

I am not a storm chaser, but there is a terrific beauty to the rawness of open water caught in a prevailing wind. The whole beach succumbed to it. The seagulls were grounded, all of the drift wood was mobile again. I'll have to head back after the storm clears to see if my favourite spot still exists.

Down by the pier the spray was going right up over the breakwater. I hope that the boats moored there are riding the storm well. Walking along by the old train station the waves were high enough and close enough to drench the boardwalk with each passing. I met a lady who was down there just trying to walk and she looked like she had jumped into the sea itself.

I had my fill and headed home to a hot shower and a latte and a cinnamon bun. As I got in the car I could taste salt water on my lips.

Update Sunday: This should have been posted Saturday but the power was out. Anyone know how to edit the date stamp on a post?

what's for dinner?

I cooked my very first roast tonight and it turned out so well I thought I'd photograph it and share the recipe. It took a little longer than anticipated but it was worth the wait in the end. And there are leftovers. (Even better, Safeway has roasts on for half price right now.)

Here's the recipe, originally from The Joy of Cooking. I've modified it a little.

Garlic-and-Herb-Studded Sirlion Roast

2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
several stalks of fresh rosemary
3lb sirloin roast

Thinly sliver the garlic, bruise the rosemary and combine together with salt and pepper in a small bowl. Make slits in the roast and insert the seasoned garlic slivers. Rub remaining seasonings over the meat, then marinate, covered, for up to 2 hours at room temperature or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 450 F.

After marinating, place the roast fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast uncovered for 10 minutes. Do not remove roast from oven but reduce temperature to 250 F and roast until a meat thermometer reads 145 - 155 F for medium. Approx. time 20-30 minutes per lb. (My roast took quite a bit longer to reach the right temperature but that might just be the oven.)

When desired temperature is reached, remove from pan and place on a carving board. Cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes. Carve and enjoy! Serve with mashed potatoes and steamed veg.

For gravy I started with a package of Knorr's Demi-glace gravy mix. I replaced the water with the water I boiled the potatoes in, added the pan drippings (including rosemary and garlic from the roast) and finished it off with a heavy splash of red wine (I used Red Truck, a nicer wine than I would usually use for cooking, but it's what was open.)

Yummy yummy.

radar men from the moon

If you're looking for a little classic Sci-Fi to spice up your lunch hour try Radar Men from the Moon. Warning: It's only episode 1 so you won't get the whole story, but trust me it's worth it.
Hilarious.

waiting to be found

Sometimes the truth is just sitting there waiting to be found. About a week ago I was asked a very unexpected question. I was having dinner with some new friends and it came out of nowhere. It wasn't a life changing question (not that question) but I can't seem to get it out of my head. What surprises me the most is how unexpected I'm finding my own answer.

Most people who know me would say that I spend a lot of time inside my own head. How strange then that in something so basic, I don't know myself as well as I thought. Maybe I knew all along and just hadn't said it out loud. Maybe the truth was sitting there, waiting to be found.

I keep thinking that I've fully answered the question and something deeper reveals itself. Walking down the hallway, rounding the corner, there it is, unmistakable. You say you think this, but really what you think is over here. I don't think I've been deceiving myself or intentionally hiding but for whatever reason clarity has come to the surface this week. I have no idea what it means or where it is going. But I'm curious to keep walking this path and to see whatever is waiting.

This post feels like it should come with it's own soundtrack. I suggest Amos Lee to take the edge off. Or for anyone who watched Grey's Anatomy last night, Kendall Payne's "Scratch" would go nicely. (Although the lyrics when read alone come out a little sad.) My copy from Amazon isn't here yet but I'm told you can get it on iTunes. I've been trying to think of what this song reminds me of and it's one of the early productions of A Maze of Grace. That show haunted me from the first rehearsal to the final curtain. How interesting that it haunts me again now.

he dreams of Janie

I had to share the cuteness. Here's my niece at a week old. As you can see she's learning valuable lessons from her Dad already. I love the custom pillows in the background.

feelin' the love

My cat is stalking me. I've been working from home today and Gandalf is facinated by it. Every time I turn around she's there. Maybe it's the classic Miss Piggy logic "I could watch people work all day." Whatever it is, I am feelin' the love.

time to repaint the house

Here's how the seats in the House of Commons were divvied up as of yesterday. (Image source and also great source of information: The Wikipedia article on the House of Commons.)

I wonder what it will look like tomorrow.

Don't forget to vote!

i'm an aunt!

In the wee small hours of the morning I became an Aunt.

Corrina Jamie Joy Colvinson
January 18th, 2006
8lb 14 oz
Winnipeg, MB

The whole world changed today, even if much of the world didn't feel the difference. There is more beauty in it today than yesterday, more gentleness, more laughter, and a brand new reason to smile.

Welcome little one. You kept us waiting, but I have a feeling you were worth the wait.

Update: January 20th

I finally got a photo of little Corrina. I think she looks like Dave around the eyes and like Janie everywhere else. And of course she's beautiful. Here she is:

the liberals and westjet theory

I was really, really hoping that my next post would be announcing my niece or nephew's arrival into the world but that's currently a work in progress. So in the meantime . . . . Liberals and WestJet theory.

The election is getting pretty close. At some point before next Monday I plan to spend some time on CBC's Canada Votes to educate myself a little better on the issues at hand. In the meantime however I have a theory. The Liberal party is like WestJet.

Remember a few years back when WestJet had some mechanical trouble and the whole fleet got grounded? Not long afterward they were back in the sky and I mentioned to a pilot friend of mine that there was no way I'd trust a WestJet plane. He pointed out that it was actually the very best time to fly WestJet. He mentioned that because WestJet had just been slapped they had gone over every inch of every plane in the fleet. He argued that at that moment there wasn't a safer fleet in the sky than WestJet.

Which makes me think of the Liberals. They just got slapped pretty publicly and so my theory is that the Liberals are not such a bad bet. They've had to seriously clean-up their act. They've been scrutinized, audited and publicly flogged (quite rightly). They screwed up enormously but here's the thing -- do any of us really believe that all of the other parties aren't running some scheme of their own? At least I know what the Liberals are up to and for a few weeks at least we've put a stop to it. The others just haven't been caught recently.

Will I vote based on this theory? I haven't decided yet. I've still got a week. But I will vote. Democracy doesn't ask all that much of us. If you can't be bothered to vote, the exists are mostly to the south.

getting away with murder

A movie about a bunch of guys in wheelchairs shouldn'’t be this much fun. In the first few minutes of watching Murderball I felt like I shouldn't be staring at the guy in the chair. But less than an hour in I realized that I wasn'’t seeing his chair at all. Days later I'’m still thinking about it.

Murderball follows the stories of several members of the US National Quad Rugby team. It'’s one of the film's first mind-bends to conceive of quadriplegiclegics playing a contact sport, but as one of the guys in the movie says "What's the worst that can happen? We might break our necks?" It'’s this call-it-what-it-is-and-get-on-with-it style that reaches out and grabs you. Murderball'’s greatest strength is that finally you don't see an injury or even a piece of equipment. All you see is the man.

If you haven'’t seen Murderball I highly recommend it with this one caveat: this is a documentary that follows young male athletes. All of the language and graphic stories of the locker room are in this movie so if that's going to bother you, sit this one out.

As for me, I'’m still chewing on this one and I'’d say odds are good I'’ll be renting it again. Kudos to directors Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro for a job well done. Let team captian Mark Zupan and company take on all your assumptions about people in wheelchairs. Trust me, they can take it.

happy new year!

Happy New Year 2006! I still find the 2000's look strange on paper. I'll probably get used to it just in time for 2010.

Ceone and I both felt crummy on New Year's Eve and had to welch on our plans. We had a bottle of red wine and a few sparklers though so it wasn't a total loss.

So here we are at the beginning of a new year. The year I turn 30. The year I finally make it to Disneyland. The year I become an Aunt for real. So much to look forward to and it's only just begun. Here's to the year stretched out before us. May we have the courage to hope, the strength to love and the vision to dream in all the days ahead.

spending the day with ralph

One of the best things about being on vacation is simply not having to do anything. The luxury of time, truly sweet. Yesterday I took the entire day and did a puzzle with The Thornbirds playing in the background. The Thornbirds is an 8 or 9 hour miniseries so it lends itself well to a full day of puzzling (provided that you start with a decent sized puzzle). I can't remember the last time I simply sat for that long doing something enjoyable and unnecessary. And it's been ages since I watched that show. You can't go far wrong spending a day with Father Ralph. (And yes Mom if you're reading this, I know, I know, but deep down I still choose not to believe.) I probably should have done some laundry, or bought the new wiper blades I need for my car but vacations have nothing to do with should and besides, it's Christmas.

merry christmas

Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light.

We just got back from taking a tour of the lights. Even though there isn't any snow it is looking mighty Christmas-y around here. There is laughter and music, family and food. So many gifts, so much to celebrate. Christmas is here. Thank Heaven. May all the joys of the season find us.

playing with fire

Let me start this post by saying that no one got hurt and house is fine. Ok, now we've got that sorted out, I called 9-1-1 for the very first time this evening because my outdoor Christmas lights caught fire. It's been a couple of hours now and my heart beat has finally returned to normal.

I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and I kept thinking that I could smell something burning. I checked the pan in the oven and it was fine. I looked under the skillet on the stovetop and figured that it must be a little piece of something caught under the burner. I kept on cooking but the smell persisted.

After a few minutes I noticed that the light above the stove was flickering. I thought that maybe the fan in the exhaust hood was shaking it around. I turned around and the lights in the kitchen were flickering. I looked out the kitchen window and the tree in the front yard was engulfed in smoke. I could see a flame down by the ground where the lights were plugged into a buried cable. With great eloquence I walked into the livingroom and said to Kendra "I think the Christmas lights are on fire."

Remembering electric safety from years ago I grabbed some rubber soled flip-flops and a pair of oven mits and headed outside to try and unplug the cable from the end that wasn't on fire. It worked but there was so much smoke. The smoke dissipated pretty quickly but there was smoke coming out of the ground and I know that fire can travel underground so I decided to call 9-1-1.

I've never called 9-1-1 before. For some reason I flashed back to elementary school lectures on how important it was never to call 9-1-1 unless it was really, really important. I figured this counted. I talked to the dispatcher who asked a few questions and said the firemen were on their way. Sirens blazing they came.

By the time they got to the house I was pretty sure that everything was okay but I was still really glad to see them. They took a look at the plug, fried, and showed me where the plug had arched and melted the contacts. They checked around and pronounced it all good. Apparently the heavy rain is a pretty common cause of Christmas light fires. I am just thankful that the tree didn't catch fire (or the house for that matter.) Many thanks to the fine men of the White Rock Fire Dept.

Here's what I learned about Christmas light safety:

1. Heavy rain can cause outdoor lights to spark. The safest option is to unplug the lights if it rains a lot. (One of the firemen said that he'd noticed his own lights smoking yesterday.)
2. Using a longer extension cord than needed for the job can increase the risk of fire. Lots of cable = lots of resistance. Resistancce means heat and heat can cause fire.
   
3. If you are using a long cable make sure you stretch it out. A long cable lying wrapped generates even more heat. Apparently you can wrap an extension cord tightly around the leg of a wooden chair and there's enough heat that the leg will catch on fire.

In the end it was a very minor incident for which I am very thankful. The firemen are all lovely. I hope to never see them again.

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Becky, Matt, Wendy, Howard, Kristal, Kendra, Debbie, Dan, Claire, Marieka & Bob
Originally uploaded by flickrloon.

I feel like Christmas sneaked up on me this year. It was still just November when I left for England and now suddenly Christmas is less than two weeks away. I think ExpressPost and I are going to be very good friends this season.

Our small group from church had a Christmas potluck last night. The food was AMAZING. We should definitely do this more often. What a great way to get into the season. In the photo ready to eat are:
Back row - Wendy, Howard, Kendra, Claire & Bob
Front row - Becky, Matt, Kristal, Debbie, Daniel & Marieke

home again, home again (jiggety-jig)

Countryside, Uffcolm
Originally uploaded by flickrloon.

I would say that I'm back state-side except that I'm in Canada. I think we need a cool term like that of our very own. Anyway you put it I'm home and it's good to be here.

I had an amazing time in England. I think I'm still in history overload, kindof like sugar shock for the brain. I'm still in the process of adjusting to Pacific time (must stop doing the time conversion in my head, must stop waking up at 2am) so this isn't going to be the "all the really good stories from my trip" post but it is the one with the photos.

My parents let me have my Christmas present early and although I used to swear that I would never turn my back on film, I have fully embraced the digital dark side and there is no going back. I took a LOT of photos, but here's the link to a select few (20 of them to be precise):

Claire's trip to England, short version

More stories to come once I catch up with myself.

new world, a little braver

I did something today that I've have never done before, something I did not picture myself doing any time soon. I accepted an invitation to present a workshop at the Oregon Christian Writer’s Conference. This is not the first time I have been invited to present at a conference but it is the first time I have even remotely considered it, let alone accepted.

I am not a public speaker. I tend to avoid presentations like the plague. I am not by nature a brave person. I am more likely to calculate a risk than to take one. But today my world was a little braver.

Several months ago I was having dinner with a friend who challenged me on my “no public speaking ever” policy. They suggested that I was squandering my skills, that I had the ability and simply refused to use it. I guess that’s stayed with me. When I received the invite the other day, those were the first words that ran through my head. I had to stop and think, “Am I really doing that? Just sitting here on something and refusing to do anything with it?” Scary thought.

Earlier today I read a quote that said simply “Don’t let what you can’t do stand in the way of what you can.” So I bit the bullet. I made the call. I put myself on the list of presenters for OCW Conference.

Brave new world indeed.

one for the books

I have discovered a new author to add to my list. I picked-up a Ken Follet novel at the grocery store last week-end because I was desperate. I got home Friday night only to realize that I had left the book I was reading on my desk at work and I can't be without a book. I get jittery. I wasn't expecting a whole lot from Whiteout but I was very pleasantly surprised. This past Saturday I grabbed a copy of Code to Zero and judging by the fact that it's now Tuesday and I'm finished, I'd say it was pretty good too.

I did a little research on Ken and it turns out he's quite a prolific writer. I found almost two shelves of his books at the used bookstore in town. I grabbed three novels hoping to have enough for my upcoming trip. If the other books are this good I may have to go back and restock.

It's a relief to find that there are so many books to choose from. I've read all of Michael Crichton. Maeve Binchy has retired. Tami Hoag's publishers seem determined not to release Kill the Messenger in paperback and I've read all the others. Pat Conroy's work is brilliant but he got married a few years back and the resultant happiness appears to have left him with nothing to write about. Ken Follet has written about twenty novels. Should keep me in pages for a while.

sempre fidelis

Never forget.

Every year on Remembrance Day I read two poems. "In Flanders Fields" is the obvious choice. The other one I read is a less well known poem by Wilfred Owen "Dolce et Decorum Est". Both speak of war in the voices of those who've been there.

I particularly like the ending of "Dolce et Decorum" which wisely points out that if we truly understood how horiffic war is we wouldn't be so quick to encourage young boys that "it is good and sweet to die for one's country." It is not good, or sweet. It is horrific and heroic and I dearly wish that it was never, ever necessary. But we do not live in a world of wishes. And although I cannot really comphrehend it, there have been those men and women who have stood up and said "I'll go." Sempre fidelis, always faithful. Never forget.

sushi haiku

While enjoying some delicious sushi at lunch I was inspired to participate in ancient Japanese poetry form of haiku. You'd think that sushi would lend itself well to haiku but it's really hard to get the 6 syllable "California roll" into haiku's strict 5-7-5 syllable form. Still I did come up with this:

Veggie rolls are good
but teriyaki maki
is more fun to say.

Silly I know, but it's a word game and therefore fun. Wanna try?

the future is friendly

Full points to Future Shop for providing excellent service. I went on a digital camera recon mission last night and was very pleasantly surprised by my experience. I quickly discovered that the feature I really wanted, a variable angle LCD display, was about $100 out of my price range but there was still plenty to choose from. I pointed out the Kodak Z740 that I came into the store to see and expressed a concern that it might be too much camera for a first foray into digital photography. The salesgirl agreed that it probably wasn't the best choice and proceeded to ask some really good questions about what I was looking for. I asked for a recommendation and she pointed out a camera of comparable price with a better range of features. Feeling well informed I asked her to write down the model number and headed off to store #2.

My second stop of the night was another big box store and WOW here was the cocky and remarkably unhelpful "help" I was expecting from a big electronics store. I went straight to the midrange cameras as before and picked up the Kodak hoping to attract some help. Over came the camera guy. He didn't know anything about the Kodak expect that it was "kinda big" and when I asked for a recommendation he choose a camera $100 more expensive than the one I had been looking at. He told me how easy it was to use and then couldn't turn it on. Seriously. For about 5 minutes. I asked a few questions about shutter delay and he had no idea. I asked him to write down the model # and he couldn't find a pen. It just didn't get any better after that.

So no points for guessing where I'll be shopping, and well done Future Shop. Looks like the future is friendly after all.

half a post

I've been thinking about community this week. On Tuesday one of the guys in my small group said "The only way you can have an influence in someone's life is if you care about them and they know it." It's been rattling around in my head ever since being chased by a line from an Amos Lee song that says:

Sometimes we forget who we've got,
Who they are, and who they are not.

Now here it is almost a week later and I still don't have the rest of this thought. The two quotes are still running around in my head and I still find myself thinking about the roles of the people in my life (and my role in theirs.) I haven't finished thinking about it yet. I don't have the rest of this thought or even the rest of this post. So I'm posting this half a post now as a placeholder for myself. When the thought finishes itself I hope to be able to post the other half.