I SIGNED UP FOR MY FIRST TRIATHLON

Counting the days!

2 hours running 30 m x 4
2 hours biking 30 m x 4
2 hours swimming per week 60 m x 2

All recommended training for a race of 750 m swimming (goal 30 minutes), 20 km biking and 5 km (goal 30 minutes) running.

Practice transitions: swim, bike. Bike, run.

FUNGIBLE

I read this word in an interview noted in a McGill newsletter, called In Conversation with Dr. Paul Farmer. He was speaking about global health and was talking about students.

He said, "But, the real fungible gift is really their enthusiasm."

I thought it was a mistake, a typo. They meant tangible, maybe.

It is, however, a real word! I am not sure it was used properly. Google search makes it seem like it is fungible to equivalent.

For example:

I went to the bank today. I asked for a $100 bill, but she gave me the fungible amount in twenties. I really wanted it to be special, so I asked for the fungible amount in one bill, and got what I was looking for.

MESOPOTAMIA

It took me way to long to learn about Crimea's location on the planet, and its importance in history, but Mesopotamia continues to mystify my geographically challenged brain.

It comes up from time to time. An Agatha Christie exhibit at an archeology museum. An incredible adventure book by an incredible traveller. Middle East conflicts. Museum artifacts. Old Testament stories. The stuff of the Grand Tour and the Orient Express and those who still chase these routes.



Is it strange that the news is not the first item I list? No, I live in art, and history orients me from time to time.

The trouble with remembering where Mesopotamia lies is that it baffles the geopolitical definitions of today's world. It actually is simply the land between two rivers; the Tigris and the Euphrates. It  includes Iraq, Kuwait, northern Saudi Arabia, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and Iran-Iraq border. It runs from the Armenian Highlands to the Persian Gulf.

Familiar names of cities are Ninevah (remember Jonah and the Whale?), Baghdad, Babylon, Ur and Basra.

The people dominating may not sound familiar; the Sumerians and the Akkadians. But the Akkadians include more familiar Assyrians and Babylonians, and domination was over 2 millennia until the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. They were followed by the First Persian Empire, then the Macedonians under Alexander the Great, then Greece, then Parthian (ancient Iran/Iraq), then Roman, until the Byzantines.

HALLMARK CHANNEL TRUISM

Brimming with Love

The ideal romantic relationship is a balance between passion and comfort.

POKE BOWL AND DESSERT

I have never had a poke bowl before. I didn't even know it existed. It seems like it is Hawaiian, but the closest place to me that serves it is Japanese, and the components served were certainly familiar. But wow! What a pleasure to be served this bowl and all its freshness! I've never seen such beautiful tofu, the spicy salmon sashimi melted in the mouth, the daikon pickle was a perfect accent, and the whole thing was served on a bed of black and white rice (the black rice is supposed to be amazing health wise, but it stained the kitchen purple during the bubbling of the rice cooker). Avocado, cucumber and a dash of seaweed sprinkles (furikake rice seasoning) brought it all together. Some cooked salmon for princess pirate, and she was as happy as we were!

Poke (Donburi) bowl à la Cindy

Apricots, black sesame seed Mochi, strawberries and nectarines

I didn't need the pastry, but it made it to the plate for its beauty too!

PEAK SPRING ON A BIZARRE ISLAND

Trillium grandiflorum (Trillia grandiflora?)

Morel mushroom look-a-like off the trail

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Local Trenton 470 million year old limestone on the beach with brachiopods 

Peace

Tigers and whale sharks and brachiopods and mussels (a microcosm in a grain of sand, echos of nature)

Purple Trillium

Hybrid pink

Mutations of 4 petals (that must be lucky) and more

Perfect for a pair of mallard ducks

Princess Pirate and I went for a long walk in one of our favourite parks. The main highlight of a boardwalk over a marsh filled with creatures has been closed the last two years, but we took a chance to walk the loop that was left and wandered a short route by the beach, where our geology lessons expanded. Turns out, spring flowers flourish for such a short season because they whither once the leaves of a forest grow, and last Saturday was one of the last days. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

BALLET BARS DIY

COCONUT OATMEAL COFFEE CAKE

Delicious! Don't eat alone! Maybe half recipe next time?

Oatmeal Cake

Prep time Total time 15 mins 1 hour 5 mins

Author: Deborah Serves: 16 servings


Ingredients:

Cake

1 1⁄2 cups hot water
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1⁄2 cup butter, at room temperature 2 eggs
1 1⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt

Topping

1⁄2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup coconut


Instructions


Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine the water and the oatmeal and allow to soak while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Cream together the butter and both sugars. Beat in the eggs. In another bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Add half of the flour to the creamed butter mixture, followed by the soaked oatmeal, then the remaining flour, mixing between additions.

Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake until set, 35-40 minutes.

For the topping, turn the oven to broil. Combine the butter, brown sugar and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, while stirring. Boil for one minute. Stir in the coconut. Pour over the cake, spread, then broil for one minute.


Recipe by Taste and Tell at https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/oatmeal-cake/

THE MOST DELICIOUS OMELETTES ARE ONES SERVED BY FRIENDS!

Mushrooms, spinach, red peppers, cheddar

GALAXIES INCLUDING AND MILKY WAY

Spiral galaxies, Milky Way, Andromeda, Whirlpool, Tadpole

Inspired, but poorly executed, galaxy cupcakes à la Nerdy Nummies

KID FRIENDLY SALAD

Chop pecans. Peel sweet mandarins and cover with some juice. Delicious!

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL MALAYSIAN MEAL

Brahim's Kuah Rendang beef and pumpkin lentil curry

Next to try?

SCAROLIE'S PASTA EMPORIUM

Chef special: POLLO ALLA MUSTAEDA

Chicken breast sautéed in a creamy honey Dijon mustard sauce with fresh ginger, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh rapini and jalapeño peppers, topped with caramelised almonds, served with chef's pasta (spaghetti!)

I have heard it said, that it is a waste to go out to an italian restaurant, because you can make pasta at home.

I also live with a pasta monster, and it is hard for me to understand how long it took me to see this nearby institution (how many pasta emporiums are there? But this is one is near me!).

The thing is, Italian food is one of my favourites, and this dish was definitely worth the trip to a family friendly Italian restaurant.

The first beautiful course is a warm baguette with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For me, although this is not Italian classic, this is the marker of a great North American Italian restaurant. I used to love this about a Saskatoon place where I carb loaded before my first and only marathon. I know it's gone now, but Chianti's on Idylwyld fits the bill too! There is enough to eat warm, and then more to share later. The meal prices are fair, since the allow half portions for a kid menu, and even doubled the dessert (which we definitely should have declined, because we were way too full!). I even ferried the leftover fettucine Alfredo home for another meal!

So next time you are considering an Italian restaurant, go for it! Try the chef's menu. You won't be disappointed!

CINDERELLA WITH MY TWO GIRLS IN LOGE SEATS

CABBAGE SQUARES A LA MEL

Very addicting, so be careful! They are not low fat!

3 cups chopped cabbage
1 1/2 cup besan
1 cup water
2 green chilies (optional)
1 tsp coriander powder
1/8 turmeric
1 T salt (or less)
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
1 cup chopped onion (medium)
2/3 cup oil
1 egg
 1/2 t red chilies ( I like Lee Kum Kee chili garlic sauce as a replacement)
1 T ginger (best fresh, but 1 tsp powdered works)

Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well with hands.
Bake in 9" x 13" pan at 350 F for about 40 minutes.
Cut into squares when cool.

Serve with coriander dipping sauce (plain yogurt and coriander chutney, or fresh chopped coriander).

BUILDING AND REBUILDING TRUST

1. Authenticity
2. Logic (rigorous)
3. Empathy

Another worthwhile TED talk, with Francis Frei, Harvard professor.

FIBONACCI FAIL

My lone tulip that survived being eaten by squirrels - 3-6-6!

One of my favourite sequences that turned up in my daughter's elementary school math has a name, Fibonacci, as it approximates the golden ratio ( two quantities whose ratio is the same as the sum to the larger of the two), , and the more I learned about its application, the more I love it. It starts with 0, then 1, and then it adds the two previous numbers to get the next. It looks like this:

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610 987 1587 2584 4181 6765 10946 17711 28657 46368

 I was thinking about this coming back from a fossil tour downtown, where we saw gastropod (snail) and sunflower coral fossils. I wanted to find more patterns. I immediately turned to my solitary precious blooming tulip (squirrels love to take a bite, knocking them to the ground on biting off their head), and was disappointed to find no such sequence! Here are a few inspiration patterns from a worthwhile kid-friendly Mother's Day talk from the very special McGill Redpath Natural History Museum.

There are many examples to find, though, even if tulips seem to buck the rule. Spiral galaxies and hurricane winds viewed by satellite, pine cones, artichokes, and pineapples, tree branches and leaves on branches, sunflowers and uncurling ferns, nautilus and snail shells, and even red cabbage in cross section are all beautiful exams in nature. If you want a simple cypher, or are stopping to smell the flowers, or searching a building stone wall for samples, look for a Fibonacci sequence near you!

Sunflower coral in Tyndall limestone at Le Chateau Apartments

on Sherbrooke street

Maclurite snail shells in Trenton limestone edging the Mount Royal Club from 285 million years ago

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

My neighbour isn't from Holland. Can you guess where he is from?

SUFFRAGETTE CALL TO ARMS

"Better a rebel than a slave."

Mrs. Bancroft

MADAME SECRETARY SEASON 4 EPISODE 20

"You can't make a drawing without shadows; at least not a good one."

Mr. Shin, press

NANCY DREW

She was almost named Ewok, Caramel Swirl, Sphinx, but her name only fit when I happened on Nancy Drew. Some people called her Nancy and even Nanc, but to me, it was always two words, three syllables.

She was the offspring of a stray rescued by an ER nurse named Christine that I worked with. She was a sweet tiny kitty, and it was tough to choose between her and her brother, but she was my long-suffering companion for over 17 years.

She outlasted my marriage. She spanned the lifetime of my daughter to date. She was a comfort to me, and, especially in her younger days, a menace to strangers, especially toddlers who reach, drawing blood on at least one occasion.

In the last years she developed diabetes. It was horrible to get blood from her ear, but the insulin shots were not so bad. She had a gastroenteritis, possibly food poisoning from her 100% canned diet being out too long. One day her hind legs stopped working well, possibly as a result of being pounced on yet again by our other fiesty young Calico, or maybe climbing up where she didn't belong (usually in search of food) and then jumping down from heights she had no business trying anymore. But she learned to walk again, held no grudges, and we thought she would beat a world record and live to 26.

Her final days ended in a hunger strike. It was a relief when her sugars were normal, but there was no coming back. She drank and peed but even though I put out her favourite tuna and fresh food twice a day, at most she would sniff, but for the first time in a long time, would not eat.  She withered away, but purred and kept us company until the last two days, when she was so weak I carried her from the couch or bed to prevent her from trying to jump down the steps I had created. I slept beside her in the kitchen to wake to the sound of her falling downstairs. The last night she was too weak to even try and find a dark corner. She slept on my bed, and when I woke, it was to hear her laboured breathing, I petted her and sang until her breaths slowed and finally stopped. 4:49 am March 9, 2018 was her last breath. I closed her eyes and curved her body to look like she was sleeping.

I stayed awake until it was time to wake my daughter. We both wept with her, but managed to wipe our tears to catch the bus for school. She only ate one bite of breakfast.

I stamped her hand and sketched her in pastel before I took her to the vet. I was relieved when the food I returned was more than the cost of cremation. I kissed her head and passed her to the tech like a baby swaddled in a bathmat she used to love sitting on.

Now, one day later, her water dish is empty and Calico is taking up more space. We hear her and see Nancy Drew, but we are starting to rejoice that, although we are missing her, she is at peace.

IMAGINING PETS TO TRAIN WHILE WALKING ANYWHERE AND DOING ANYTHING

2 horses Mo and Ro
1 pig Rosie
2 cats Butterscotch and Caramel
1 wolf Luna
1 goat Fiesty
1 dolphin Marina

DEANISMS

How I wish I had written more of these down, and see you more often!

I found a paper that I had kept, from before my memory fell apart, but these three sayings I can keep alive (and finally recycle this paper!)

1. Any business based on human regret is bound to do well...

2. All you can do now is plant seeds of bitterness and water them...

3. Victory is so much sweeter when I crush you!

Please tell me more! Those of you closer must have so many! Send them in and I will happily add them to the list!