cottage pics

Jeff and his telescope at 6:30 a.m. I checked
out Jupiter & Saturn.




View above the outdoor shower.
Not too shabby, as you can see.

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

cottage moon

The moon tonight, through Jeff's telescope, with my camera.
(click photo to see larger image)


At the cottage! My ViaVoice headset is in the other cabin, so this will be an ultra-short Blathering. Gorgeous weather and fall colours. More later this weekend, hopefully. Please don't send me any big files; we only have one dial-up line here.

Links:

I'm tickled that Chris Conway is using one of my Blatherpics for the cover of his new album! :-)


A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is becoming a movie. Hugh Grant may play the lead character, Arthur Dent.



JBR (Jeff's dad) and Case (Jeff's brother) cooking
steaks at the barbecue around 7:30 pm.

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

airfare woes

Erin McKeown performing at Chapters.


I've been doing some online and offline research about flights recently, mainly in preparation for our trip to Vienna in early December. It amazes me that while some things get less expensive over time (like computers), airfares seem to remain the same, or even go up. Who can afford to fly anymore?

I found a travel service through our bank that was able to book our flights for wholesale prices, saving us almost four hundred dollars. The trick is that our tickets are nonrefundable, and the question is: should we get cancellation insurance for CAN$65/person? We have to decide by tomorrow.

And my other flight price pet peeve: taxes. While I was searching for Vienna flight prices, I was curious about whether I could find any seat sales to Columbus, OH (for OVFF, which is in two weeks). I did find a pretty good sale (CAN$199), but the various taxes added up to almost as much as the flight itself (!). :-( Looks like OVFF is definitely out for me this year, I'm afraid. My next convention will be GAfilk in early January.

Gorgeous weather in Toronto today. I went for a run in the late morning, ending my run near Chapters/Paramount to check out a rumor that someone had organized a promo for The Italian Job involving dozens of minis. No sign of the minis, but I did catch the last half of a free concert by Erin McKeown in the coffee shop in Chapters. Nice way to end my lunch hour.

Several people asked about my "talk nerdy to me" T-shirt in yesterday's Blathering photo. Jeff bought me the t-shirt from T-shirt Hell, for those interested. (Warning: not all the t-shirt slogans on this site are as G-rated as my t-shirt)

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

slack dough chaos

Jeff and me, at Izmi. Photo by Ray Van Kleef.


Thinking about food more lately. Partly because I was talking to Amanda Snyder on the phone recently and was starving by the end of it because we talked about cooking. And partly because I've started to cook more with fresh ingredients instead of always relying on "stick it in the oven" type of meals. If any of you have VERY simple but healthy/yummy recipes, I'd appreciate you sending or posting one or two of your favourites.

Spent part of Saturday at The Red Tea Box, a wonderful tea shop near Jeff's office where I can sit in a comfy chair and read and sip interesting tea from china cups. I had the soup special, which was celeriac and kohlrabi and white bean soup...YUM.

Wandered over to a used bookstore a few doors down the street afterward, one of those wonderful and somewhat musty bookstores with narrow aisles, books stacked to the ceiling, and a store owner with attitude. My purchases:

The Practice of Poetry
ed. Robin Bihn and Chase Twichell

The Fact of a Doorframe
Poems selected and new
1950-1984
by Adrienne Rich



Store display at the Red Tea Box.


Sent out two queries yesterday, two today. Article due Friday.

I have resigned myself to using the ViaVoice for at least another month. I've also started collecting the most amusing of ViaVoice's mistakes, just to keep a sense of humor about it all (Rand gave me this idea). Here is a sample:

-- I said, "I hope you slept ok last night", which ViaVoice interpreted as: "Ice-Cold you of slack dough chaos made"

-- I said, "quit this" (wanting to quit a program), which ViaVoice interpreted as: "Religious summit deposit"

As Rand pointed out, I could turn this into another article. :-)



Ray and Jeff at Izmi.

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

cibc run for the cure

Me, just before the run began. A kind stranger
took the photo. :-)


This morning I participated in the 5k CIBC Run for the Cure, which raises funds for research that benefits those affected by breast cancer and other types of cancer. Today I ran for Katherine Parkinson (Parki's and Kate's mom), who died of pancreatic cancer.

It was a good run. Very chilly in the beginning, but we were all stripping off layers by the end. :-) Like last year, I found myself moved by different "I'm running for..." signs people were wearing, thinking of all the heartbreak and inspiration represented by each name, by each runner.

It felt good to be part of something like this. I have raged about how much I hate cancer in earlier Blatherings, and how helpless I feel sometimes when it comes to seeing people I care about being affected by it, directly or indirectly. Participating in the Run for the Cure is a very small drop in the bucket when it comes to the big picture, I know, but at least it's a drop, and it gives me hope.

Here are a few photos from this morning...



Apparently 30,000 people attended the Toronto run today.
Some walked, some ran, some were pushed in wheelchairs,
others pushed strollers (double strollers, even!).



Lots of free samples! You could get free tofu, toothpaste,
sunscreen, Powerbars, other stuff.




One of the bands along the route. I think this is
the engineering band from the U of T.




Even Elvis impersonators! :-)

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ