COMFORT FOOD ON A COLD SPRING DAY

RÖSTI and MAPLE SWEET POTATOES

A pan of delicious potato pancake, or rösti

Betty Crocker recipe

Sweet Potatoes in maple syrup

Betty Crocker recipe

SPANISH CHOCOLATE AND FRUIT KEBABS

After school snack time often consists of eating the uneaten portions of a lunch bag, but after that, it's fun to have something special ready. I had a few fruits and a few skewers, and a half a bar of chocolate from Barcelona. It made a wonderful snack, was fun to make a plate of fruit kebabs, and brought back fond memories!

Thick hot chocolate from Barcelona from Faborit café! Amatller chocolate squares in soya milk. I was having fond memories of the Cafe beside Gaudi's exquisite Casa Battlò, and my first hot chocolate so thick that was served by Maurizio at Hotel Flora in Venice. Delicious!

Fruit kebabs for snack!

HOMEMADE SPANAKOPITA

MY FRIEND WAS THE MURDERER!

MORE COOKBOOKS THAN I NEED BUT ALL IN THE RIGHT PLACE

TUNA QUICHE AND CANDIED CARROTS

BAKED MAC AND CHEESE AND BEAN SALAD

HALAL GUYS

It may look messy, but this simple pita filled with falafel, tomatoes, lettuce, garlic mayo and hot sauce is delicious!

Halal Guys

75 CM OF SNOW MEANS A SNOW DAY!

For the first time since my daughter started school, a snow storm came at the right time and with enough force to have school cancelled! What a wonderful way to fall asleep and wake up to! We watched it snow nice and cozy and warm, and then went to dig ourselves out and play for the rest of the day! It has been a busy week, and there was not one day that I wasn't sore, but it was like having Christmas again! Each day I didn't work, I tried to get out and take advantage of the snow! I picked up my daughter from school to give us an hour rental to cross country in the best snow! St. Sauveur had a special on Tuesday for ladies for $20! We had a great day, and both my friend and I had a rare experience of spring skiing. We tried our hand at a couple of blue runs. I only fell twice!

Winter with snow is a great winter!

Green Turtle route at Cap St Jacques

Making our own trails at Cap St Jacques

Ski Bunny at St. Sauveur/Mont Avila

Back yard after 75 cm of snow. That is all from last Wednesday!

APPLE SUPPORT THERAPY (or Robert in Austen, A Love Story)

I have had the most interesting time getting my backup to show up on my computer after losing another one to theft. I'll be honest. I had my doubts that it was going to happen.

First, I have a hard time replacing a computer that is stolen. It makes me feel like a target. So for months after, I tried to use the computer at work and an old laptop not current enough to be stolen. But there is only so much you can do with a computer that can't update an further, and the banner at the top announces constantly that everything you do is a security risk.

So I bought a modest replacement, and then tried getting into the backup. Nothing happened.

In the meantime, I was a little scared . The thieves may have left the backup, but it seemed like it was doomed. My phone did this weird thing before the robbery, where it stored all the photos on it instead of the computer, and the pictures started fading out, like a Matrix visual, which obviously seemed to me like a corrupt copy. I felt like my pictures from the last 13 digital years were lost.

I went on vacation and when I got back, I booked an appointment with the Genius Bar and brought in my computer and hard drive. I stumped two people, and they did what they could, but in the end they sent me home with a few hundred pictures and advice to call support from home.

A few weeks went by, and I had a few days in a row, so I called. I think I talked to 5 different people until I was sent to the voicemail of a senior advisor in Austin, Texas. It took hours and I felt like I was starting to acceptance the loss of this data. In the end, isn't a clean state a freeing idea? And I went to bed.

The next day I got a call. We started doing things I had no idea what was happening. It was like watching paint dry. I was reminded a few things about myself. I don't like to be a burden. If I felt like I could do something on my own, I would say so, and he would leave me to my own devices, to watch the paint dry, and come back periodically to check on me. But I'm not that patient, and sometimes, instead of waiting for help, I would change something, and have to start back at the beginning again.

I enjoyed the service of this senior adviser. From the beginning, he had an unwavering confidence that we could regain the data. He was never frustrated if something didn't work. He would just find another way. Slowly, as the days and appointments went on, I started to trust this voice . The data was finally starting to show up, and I could see that I was going to get most of the precious pictures  that I let go of ever seeing again.

I reflected on my own approach to customer service, and tried to speak less, and imbue confidence more. I stopped fretting, and when one step finished, I didn't feel stressed about whether or not the next would work, because I was confident it would.

So thank you, Apple support, and to that voice in central standard time that led me to recover the memories I thought were lost. Thank you for hope at a time of fear and hurt. It was a tremendous gift.

REDPATH SUNDAY: DINOSAURS

Dinosaurs were on the earth from 250 million to 65 million years ago. They disappeared after a meteorite named Chicxulub (the size of the island of Montreal) hit the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, and altered the world forever. Evidence of this is found in the geological table with a layer called the K/T line.

Most dinosaurs in Canada have been found in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and the ones represented in the Redpath Museum are the Gorgosaurus (AB) and the Triceratops (SK).

The Gorgosaurus and all carnivores had teeth that replaced themselves every five months! There are ribs along the cervical (neck vertebrae), which are residual in birds, but I wonder if they were protective of the throat structures (it would be useful in a fight).

The Edmontonosaurus was named from where it was found.

The Ankilosaurus is 8-9m long, with scales all over its body. Like most vegetarians, it was heavily armoured.

The Triceratops, like all quadrapeds, is a vegetarian.

Gastroliths are stones they eat that helped them digest food by crushing it between the stone and the stomach wall when the stomach contracts.

I learned before this visit, but only after seeing multiple skeletons in other museums (Eastend, Drumheller, NY Natural History Museum), that fossils are very heavy and fragile, and almost everything we see is a replica. You can touch a fossil of poop, scientifically called copralite!

Birds are the only relative living today. They share the claws, with 3 fingers in front and 1 finger backwards. The bird like dinosaurs had much longer tails to balance their tiny arms.

Dinosaur Fossil Craft - Take a dinosaur model.

Press into floral foam, then fill with plaster, and let dry, about an hour.

Fossil!

Dig it out, and brush it off, like a real paleotologist.

Triceratops family

Ostrich skeleton, a reminder that birds, dinosaurs and reptiles are relatives

Edmontonosaurus

Dinorama!

Footprints, skat (coprolite) and enormous phalanges)

A real fossil, not a copy. They weigh a ton!

Dinosaur timeline

Dear Peter Redpath, thank you!

PROPULSIVE GAITS, PERFECTIONISM, AND PROCRASTINATION

As I get older, time seems to pass faster and faster. Some of it is the process of life. I don't know if it's true but the best explanation I have heard for this is that as we age, we lay down fewer memories, and that feels like time is speeding up. Couple that with an only child, divide that time in half with shared custody, and every event seems like it goes too quick. So the holidays tend to be extended over more than the original day. It was always like this. Putting up the Christmas tree weeks in advance, playing carols and baking goodies before, and if that wasn't enough, keeping it going for the 12 days of Christmas, or sometimes even longer, until after the New Year, but before my daughter's birthday party.

This year, I vowed to put the boxes together ready for the new year. I dusted, brushed the cat hair off the tree skirt, filled the advent calendars with events, and put the "winter" decorations separate, in case it snows before the advent calendar starts on December 1. This I did, with great packing and organization. The problem was I missed the birthday, then Valentine's and almost made it to St. Patrick's! Today I have the tree down. The new ornaments are listed and the lightbulbs replaced. But it was a long time coming, and I was starting to look for an extra large garbage bag to cover the tree and leave it in the library corner until next year!

There is a type of gait that is common in those suffering from Parkinson's and happens in older people who have a few factors in developing a tendency for their feet to "get away from them". It is called a propulsive gait and is described as a kind of gait that feels like the cadence of steps has to shorten and increase the frequency until they feel like need to run. This is what my life feels like currently! I am just trying to get my feet under me, but fortunately I have always liked to run!

GOETHE'S WORLD VIEW

I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element.

It is my personal approach that creates the climate (for my daughter, my friends, my patients, my colleagues, my students, myself).

It is my daily mood that makes the weather.

I possess tremendous power to make another life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.

In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.

If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

Or, as posted on my teacher brother's wall, with credit to Haim Ginott's Teacher and Child

A VIEW OF THE WORLD

I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am a decisive element in my life.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a human, I possess tremendous power to make another life's miserable or joyful.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a human humanize for de-humanized.

FRENCH LENTIL SOUP FROM EPICURIOUS

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons extra–virgin olive oil

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery stalks plus chopped celery leaves for garnish

1 cup chopped carrots

2 garlic cloves, chopped

4 cups (or more) vegetable broth

1 1/4 cups lentils, rinsed, drained

1 14 1/2–ounce can diced tomatoes in juice

Balsamic vinegar (optional)

PREPARATION

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium–high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, and garlic; sauté until vegetables begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Add 4 cups broth, lentils, and tomatoes with juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium–low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 35 minutes.

Transfer 2 cups soup (mostly solids) to blender and puree until smooth. Return puree to soup in pan; thin soup with more broth by 1/4 cupfuls, if too thick. Season with salt, pepper, and a splash of vinegar, if desired. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with celery leaves.

Epicurious

I LOVE YOU SPIDERGIRL!

Here is the 5.8 I finally crawled up after failing each time we went climbing this year! I had to try twice, and channel a little anger to do it. I almost stopped at the last flat, but Spidergirl advised a break and I was able to make it to the top. I couldn't have done it without you! 

EMOTICONS LIKE A PAPER MR. POTATO HEAD

THE SEASON OF WINTER RUNNING MAY BE OVER

It was a tough run with no guarantees that my traction devices would work each step I took. I ended up taking the most direct way through and finishing my run on the streets that were clear. My foot lasted 7.5 km, so it was a good day, but I hope to back in the forest again as soon as possible.

SKIING DOWNHILL WITH GRADE FIVES ON MONT HABITANT

bunny hill

It was a series of ski days organized by the school phys. ed teacher, and it was the only one I was able to make. I scrambled last minute but found the time to buy a pair of much needed new parabolic skis and a used pair of poles to outfit my boots, helmet and googles the afternoon before the event. It was a raucous energetic bus ride to Mont Habitant, and only when we got there did I realize that I had left my helmet and its black cover in the back of the car with balaclava and googles! Luckily it was easy to rent a helmet, and with the sun, quite comfortable.

The kids in my daughter's group were taught by a man named Sergio. He had been a casualty of a GM factory closure, and moved near the hill at 50 to spend his weekends skiing and teaching, and he loved it! He was a really enthusiastic teacher, and it was fun to see them go down after him, zigzagging after him in a row. My control was not good enough to follow at anything but a generous distance, but I must have been bad enough, because Sergio even took the time to give me a few pointers!

Whenever I ski downhill, I think of a friend who tried so hard to help me point downhill. He would say, "Imagine your bellybutton is a camera, and keep it pointed downhill". I don't think I ever succeeded to his liking, but I do try and spend less time looking sideways and more downhill. Sergio felt the same way I think, but he did something helpful. He stole my poles! So I just let my skis point downhill and did my best to soften my knees and lean downhill in a way I had never done before. The poles kept me from committing to downhill like I needed to!

What a pleasure to spend the morning with my daughter and her classmates, hustling onto the ski lifts and slaloming down the hills in the sunshine. 

CHANNELING ÖSTERREICH

My kasespätzle was a far cry from the versions we enjoyed in Vienna and Salzburg, but the sausage was close and memories revisited were priceless.

I found this unusual kugel in our local mall at the the confusingly named Swiss Vienna Pastry shop.  Instead of a Mozart face, it is his musician wife Constanze that is on the label. The inside is still a delicious nutty marzipan (almond, pistachio, and hazelnut) coated with an outside layer of milk chocolate. Yummy, and fun to share with my little ladies!