Wednesday
October 10, 2007

Time to Settle Down

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Here are a few of my favorite online haunts:

REALTOR.ca
[This is the site I visit to fantasize about living in Toronto again, which is almost every single day during the winter]

Jonathan Cainer's Zodiac Forecasts
[This is where I visit in the morning, when I need a positive spin on things past, present and future.]

Living Local
[This is where I go to see what Canadians are up to, sometimes I even buy things from the businesses listed there.]

Environment Canada Weather
[This is the site I visit every morning, and before every road trip during the winter]

There are times when I crave words of wisdom, words to assist me as I ponder upon experience.

Seldom do I hear such words in day-to-day interactions. Attila can flash brilliantly at times, like a gold coin beneath a shallow surface of running water, caught suddenly and briefly by reflection. It keeps me listening. These bright flashes are not the result of clever repartee or of finely honed intellect, nor are they born of deep philosophical discussion. Sincerity towards oneself and others is the only light that shines on wisdom, the only brilliance in the shadow. Like Attila, my friends lie just below the surface of day-to-day life; their existence premised on light waves and angles.

As I watch the world around me, my faith is rewarded, occasionally, with a glimpse of a sudden radiant spark. Recognition. It is enough.

The weather turned today. We have had rain for the past few days, but now the temperature has dropped and the high for today is predicted to be 16 degrees. I have begun to close the storms on the windows that we seldom use and will soon follow suit with the remaining windows by the end of October.

Last weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada. Attila and I enjoyed a turkey dinner for two on the Saturday afternoon and spent the rest of the weekend gadding about. One outing we thoroughly enjoyed was popping into the Moonshine Cafe in Oakville, Ontario. The live music was excellent, the atmosphere friendly and relaxed, it was a good time from beginning to end. We hope to get back for another visit soon, but of course, to us, the weather and road conditions will be determining factors.

We also managed a visit to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) to have a look at the new Crystal addition. Very impressive! There was an excellent First Peoples exhibition running while we were there, which included not only artifacts, but also works of art and pieces of history. Another exhibit I found fascinating was the Black Star Sapphire of Queensland. When we first approached the display case someone was standing in front of it, blocking my view. As they stepped aside I caught my breath in surprise, at the size and beauty of the gem. It was so beautiful that I found the border of diamonds an annoying visual distraction.

My favorite exhibition on this visit was, however, Glass Worlds: Paperweights from the ROM's Collection. My favorites were the clear glass paperweights displaying patterns of bubbles. A film, provided with the exhibition, was very informative and answered all my questions about just how one would create a paperweight of such beauty; it is not a skill casually aquired.

So that's us then, all visited out for the season. In the next week or so we will begin to cure the masonry fireplace for the heating season and will be staying close to keep the hearth fires burning here at home.

At home, since I last wrote here, I have been busy with my little projects. We have had a few cold days, cold enough that my hands became stiff at the keyboard. Nothing for it but to get out my fingerless gloves. Couldn't find them though, not anywhere. This purging activity is great, but occasionally it backfires. So, on a visit to a discount store I purchased another few pairs of stretchy gloves. Upon arriving home with them I proceeded to cut the fingers off the gloves. Perfect, they keep my hands warm and supple as I type.

Last week Attila brought home a bag of ripened sumac heads. I followed a jelly recipe, from a little book I purchased in the early seventies, called "From the Fruits of the Earth: Jams & Jellies, Marmalades & Conserves, Wines from plants cultivated and wild" by Blanche Pownall Garrett. The recipe stated that the sumac head has a high acid content (malic acid), so I refrained from adding my usual portion of lemon juice to the recipe. Oh my, that was a mistake. I have a lovely sumac syrup, which I am sure we will enjoy. Next time, if I want jelly, I will add lemon juice to the fruit juice so that it will set properly. The taste is marvelous! I remember it well, as my grandmother made sumac jelly annually. I will think of her every time I open the jar and enjoy the unique taste of the sumac.



Top of Page
RECIPES :: Cast

Worldly Distractions

Cutting the fingers out of gloves.
Snip Snip



Sumac Jelly (syrup really!)
Sumac Jelly



Quote
"Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness."
Confucius, The Confucian Analects



On the Screen
Rain
Temp 11.1°C
Pressure 100.4 kPa / rising
Visibility 4 km
Humidity 97%
Dew Point 10.6°C
Wind Speed WSW 9 km/h
 

Page by Page: A Woman's Journal
Photography
Poetry
by Maggie Turner

Canadian Maggie Turner writes and publishes poetry, photography, and a personal journal online. Her work reflects the current way of life in Canada, embracing Canada's past, present, and future in a unique portrayal of everyday life. Maggie's voice is one of the many that actively depict the rich diversity of Canadian culture.

Photography: "a term which comes from the Greek words photos (light) and graphos (drawing). A photograph is made with a camera by exposing film to light in order to create a negative. The negative is then used in the darkroom to print a photograph (positive) onto light-sensitive paper.
Source: University of Arizona Glossary

Poetry: "a form of speech or writing that harmonizes the music of its language with its subject. To read a great poem is to bring out the perfect marriage of its sound and thought in a silent or voiced performance. At least from the time of Aristotle's Poetics, drama was conceived of as a species of poetry."
Source: Creative Studios

Journal: " "Though a journal may be many things - a treasury, a storehouse, a jewelry box, a laboratory, a drafting board, a collector's cabinet, a snapshot album, a history, a travelogue..., a letter to oneself - it has some definable characteristics. It is a record, an entry-book, kept regularly, though not necessarily daily.... Some (entries) will be nearly illegible, written in the dark in the middle of the night.... Not only is it a record for oneself, but of oneself. Every memorable journal, any successful journal, is honest. Nothing sham, phony, false...." (Dorothy Lambert from Ken Macrorie's book, Writing to be Read )
A journal is a way to keep track of your thoughts about what you read... as well as what you did on any given day."
Source: Journal Writing

A Blog is an online journal created by server side software, often hosted by a commercial interest.

"The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[4] on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999.[5][6][7] Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_blogging


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