BOY I LOVE SPRING FLOWERS

Incredible tulip bouquet from an amazing gardener

Artistic arrangement from that same incredible gardener artist!

Canada 150 year birthday tulips!

Trout lillies on the forest floor

Demure trilliums hiding!

Blossoms on 

Blossoms off

Early dandelions?

Crapapple blossoms

Forsythia always reminds me of mountaintops in China

REISLING AND GADO GADO

INSTAGRAM WORTHY (CREDIT CINDY)

One of my favourite people on the planet is a also an amazing cook, and when she finds a crack in her schedule (and sometimes she just makes one!), she is the best hostess! This meal was arranged under the guise of a movie night, which we actually watched this time (Bridget Jones' Baby, not recommended unless free and commentated by irreverent friend!). Indonesian inspired Gado Gado,  accompanied with a specially saved, perfectly chilled German Reisling Moscato. A side of shrimp chips, and even a vegetarian broke her rules to taste the Satay chicken. Delicious, and such great company. Thanks for making this happen, dearest!

Light and fruity Reisling Moscato

Satay chicken, sweet potato, boiled eggs, potatoes and cabbage, chopped coarsely cucumber, bean sprouts, green beans, fried tofu, chopped peanuts and peanut drizzling sauce

Stacking the plate. Yum!

For other inspiration, see this review for the Satay brothers

HOME CARE XOXOXO

HOW TO SURVIVE: MODERN COLES NOTES

I was googling a few books, and amazon gives an incredible summary on even pretty obscure books. I was reminded of the old Cole's notes versions that people used to read if they ran out of time to actually read the assigned book. Perusing the details of a book called Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales, I feel like I read it.

1. Stay calm.
2. Be decisive (training, experience, stoicism, and a capacity for their logical neocortex to override the primitive amygdala portion of your brain are essential)
3. Don't give up.

See, now you read it too!

BOOKCLUB: BORN TO RUN

This book is a work of art, crafted by a talented journalist who found a story and tells it in a spellbinding manner. It starts with an almost mythical tribe of "Natural Born Runners", the Tarahumara of Mexico. It explains how ultraraces began, and gives you a sense of why men and women keep turning up, with these fantastic stories of running distances when the marathon just wasn't long enough.

There are so many aspects that I want to repeat to you, but I want you to read this book in the same enraptured way I have read it. This is nonfiction, as inspiring as you would imagine, and as page turning as a great suspense novel. If you never run, it is still a great story. But if you run, prepare to never run the same again.

This is a sample of the observations made during a crazy mountain race called Leadville, in the mountains of Colorado, in one of the most riveting races I have ever read. The sense of the competition needs your investment, but this epiphany is worth sharing.

"How do you flip the internal switch that changes us all back into Natural Born Runners we once were? Not just in history, but in our own lifetimes. Remember? Back when you were a kid and you had to be yelled at to slow down? Every game you played, you played at top speed, sprinting like crazy as you kicked cans, freed all, and attacked jungle outposts in your neighbors' backyards . Half the fun of doing anything was doing it at record pace, making it probably the last time in your life you'd ever be hassled for going too fast.

That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they'd never forgotten what it was like to love running. They  remembered that running was mankind's first fine art, our original act of inspired creation. Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain.  And when our ancestors finally did make their first cave paintings, what were the first designs? A downward slash, lightening bolts through the bottom and middle -- behold, the Running Man."

ADRIEN ( A Poem, not for the faint of heart)

You had such a gorgeous grin. 

What your parents did was such a sin.
Kissable cheeks. Mischief in your eyes.

You should have been loved. Protected by the skies.

I couldn't hear your screams.

Now I wake up and you are in my dreams.

Swollen ankles, bleeding cuts.

Scrawny body attached to bars.

Out in the country where there were so few cars.

Tortured, hated, all alone.

How I wish you could reach a phone.

Kept inside a plywood door,

I am sure you deserved so much more.

Precious child, you should have laughed,

And played free, like a baby calf.

Why did they send you home with them? Someone should have known.

But no one helped you and now you're gone.

I'm sorry, little one, for your loss.

I can't say why your parents didn't give a toss.

You were worth so much more. 

I hope there is is peace on the other shore.

They would have seen the light gone from your eyes. Your body failing. 

Cold in the dark. They caused your ailing.

Your tiny frame. Your gaunt little arm.

Should have protected you, not done you harm.

I will remember you, good and bad.

Forever wish you had another mom and dad.

And I will look for you, in my neighbourhood,

Look. Listen. Intervene. Make it understood.

You deserve a safe life, as all humans do.

How I wish someone had loved you.

You'd be alive today. Laughing. Running. Bringing so much joy.

You were a beautiful little boy.

THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

From Manfred by Lord Byron

"In my heart there is a vigil, and these eyes but close to look within; and yet I live, and bear the aspect and the form of breathing men. But grief should be the instructor of the wise; Sorrow is knowledge, they who know the most must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth, The Tree of Knowledge is not The Tree of Life. Philosophy and science, and the springs of wonder, and the wisdom of the world, I have essay'd, and in my mind there is a power to make these subject to itself--but they avail not: I have done men good, and I have met with good even among men-- but this avail'd not:--Good, or evil, life, powers, passion, all I see in other beings, have been to me as rain unto the sands, since that all--nameless hour. I have no dread, and feel the curse to have no natural fear, nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes, or lurking love of something on the earth."

THE TRAVELLER'S CURSE

"Travelling... makes men wiser, but less happy." Thomas Jefferson, August 10, 1787, written to his nephew

The more complete excerpt:

"Travelling. This makes men wiser, but less happy. When men of sober age travel, they gather knowledge, which they may apply usefully for their country; but they are subject ever after to recollections mixed with regret; their affections are weakened by being extended over more objects; & they learn new habits which cannot be gratified when they return home. Young men, who travel, are exposed to all these inconveniences in a higher degree, to others still more serious, and do not acquire that wisdom for which a previous foundation is requisite, by repeated and just observations at home. The glare of pomp and pleasure is analogous to the motion of the blood; it absorbs all their affection and attention, they are torn from it as from the only good in this world, and return to their home as to a place of exile & condemnation. Their eyes are forever turned back to the object they have lost, & its recollection poisons the residue of their lives. Their first & most delicate passions are hackneyed on unworthy objects here, & they carry home the dregs, insufficient to make themselves or anybody else happy. Add to this, that a habit of idleness, an inability to apply themselves to business is acquired, & renders them useless to themselves & their country. These observations are founded in experience. There is no place where your pursuit of knowledge will be so little obstructed by foreign objects, as in your own country, nor any, wherein the virtues of the heart will be less exposed to be weakened. Be good, be learned, & be industrious, & you will not want the aid of travelling, to render you precious to your country, dear to your friends, happy within yourself. I repeat my advice, to take a great deal of exercise, & on foot. Health is the first requisite after morality. Write to me often, & be assured of the interest I take in your success, as well as the warmth of those sentiments of attachment with which I am, dear Peter, your affectionate friend."

This curse is beautifully laid out in an article that admits to getting the idea from a Reddit "thread" that lays it out even more succinctly. The Shangri-la Effect, of places and people.

Here is the curse, explained:

"The more places you see, the more things you see that appeal to you, but no one place has them all. In fact, each place has a smaller and smaller percentage of the things you love, the more things you see. It drives you, even subconsciously, to keep looking, for a place not that's perfect (we all know there's no Shangri-La), but just for a place that's "just right for you." But the curse is that the odds of finding "just right" get smaller, not larger, the more you experience. So you keep looking even more, but it always gets worse the more you see. This is Part A of the Curse.

Part B is relationships. The more you travel, the more numerous and profoundly varied the relationships you will have. But the more people you meet, the more diffused your time is with any of them. Since all these people can't travel with you, it becomes more and more difficult to cultivate long term relationships the more you travel. Yet you keep traveling, and keep meeting amazing people, so it feels fulfilling, but eventually, you miss them all, and many have all but forgotten who you are. And then you make up for it by staying put somewhere long enough to develop roots and cultivate stronger relationships, but these people will never know what you know or see what you've seen, and you will always feel a tinge of loneliness, and you will want to tell your stories just a little bit more than they will want to hear them. The reason this is part of the Curse is that it gets worse the more you travel, yet travel seems to be a cure for a while.

None of this is to suggest that one should ever reduce travel. It's just a warning to young Travelers, to expect, as part of the price, a rich life tinged with a bit of sadness and loneliness, and angst that's like the same nostalgia everyone feels for special parts of their past, except multiplied by a thousand."

Part B dovetails back into what are called Antevastins, a group of people I identify with. Although travel may be a type of materialism, I think it is still more than the average purchase. So keep seeking experiences, and travel more! But know when to keep it simple, and how to travel in your own backyard, taking advantage of the people and imports around you that can give you a taste of another culture without needing to leave your hometown.

WABI-SABI

seeing Beauty in imperfection

PROVERBS 3:5 Good News Translation

Never rely on what you think you know.

FUN RUN 5K IN COSGRAVE PARK

I am obsessed with running. I dream of trail running. I listen to a podcast about ultra running (distances greater than 42.2 km, often 100 to 160 km).  I talk about running. I think about running. I blog about running. I even put a hold on a book about running . What I do least of is actually run! But I have run a little, and I guess it's time to confess to how the plan to run a marathon is shaping up.

In short, the chances of me running a marathon this year is exceedingly unlikely. I don't even know if I can run the half marathon, or even a 10K without worrying about paying for it. I should be able to finish a 10K run for sure by September, barring no injuries, but running on pavement results in me getting out of bed the next morning unable to put my heel down without a spike running up through it, resulting in a pretty big limp!

My personal story of injury, this time, is a typical one, I think. Plantar fasciitis has plagued me for months, preventing me from running on road, which was why winter running was so liberating because snow cushioned it all.

I really was discouraged since the snow melted and had only been running the 3-4 k route in Terra Cotta, when my daughter, who is more of a sprinter, asked to sign up for the fun run. There were two distances, 2 and 5 k. I thought we would run the shorter, but she really wanted to run the 5k, and since it was in a local park I knew, I was happy that it was all on gravel or trail, and figured we'd both be walking for big parts of it.

I was happily surprised. The morning 2 k was in pouring rain and cold (we wore 3 layers which was ridiculous but the sunny afternoon), but we started just as the clouds parted and the sun came out. There were a few puddles to run around, and we had some delays registering so we missed most of the warmup, and then we were off.

There were cadets marking the way, and the first lap they were so enthusiastic that they encouraged us to sprint, when really we were only 2 k into the 5 k run that was two loops and then a very long leg, before heading back to the finish line for the third and final time!

There were some itchy legs, peeling of layers, meeting up with friend, walking and running. It was a great way to spend some time, and the longest run Rebecca had ever done. When I think about cross country running in high school, I think I only ran 3 km! Quite an impressive feat for someone who doesn't "like to run". Thanks Baby Girl! Let's do it again soon!

BEING OUTDOORS IS LIFE SUSTAINING

I have been sitting on my behind for 8 days straight, finishing taxes, preparing a clinical pathology presentation, and finally getting my phone back to function. I felt weak and unfit and tired. But I had something to look forward today, so after I gave my presentation, I met a friend and went for a walk on the mountain. It was cold and cloudy, and it went so fast, but it was a boost to my physical body, my mental state and my spirit!

There were giant tree trunks to touch, tiny spring flowers poking through the fall leaves, poplar groves and lookouts. The trail led up and down, and along the way, views of the city were spectacular.

Forget the gym. Find a park and go for a walk today! You won't regret it! Keep your eyes peeled for trillium and trout lillies!

Memories of Buchenwald

Metamorphic rock?