CHEZ SAM

Once upon a time we stayed at a little hotel with bed and breakfast along the north shore of the Saint Laurence River at the village of Baie Sainte-Catherine. We were served bagels brought in from Montreal from where we had just come, which Princess Pirate happily preferred over the excellent food they served in the Cafe. 

Sonia was the chef and Pierre was the server and entertainment. He loved Samuel de Champlain and he gave me this reference for other important historical Quebec figures: Radio Canada Historical Figures

AVOCADO SUSHI DU VILLAGE

It was February 23rd, 2017, and I was eating alone at a local restaurant. I remember well a time when I could do this freely, and I enjoyed it. Sometimes I preferred to eat alone, when the food was good, and there was something to watch. In this case, I was sitting at the bar in front of the sushi chef's prep area. It was a perfect arrangement. Entertainment, ambiance and great eating.

A beautiful bite

Sitting at the sushi bar

Magic Garden (mushroom) Maki and Avocado Hosomaki 

Wakame salad

SUPERHERO NAMES

Amber - Tigereye

Aura - Ouralienne

Phoenix - Firebird

(Mother-Daughter)

PRINCESS PIRATE 2021

This is a year of red letter days. It's the first anniversary of the announcement of COVID19 pandemic. It was the first COVID birthday for PP. 

I thought it might be a disappointing day. It was a school day, and at the Ministry's insistence, the kids were learning online that day. That turned out to be a great thing, because it was the last week that her whole class was together for over 10 weeks, and she loves the chaos and kids in the whole group. Two of her classes sang to her, and she was equally embarrassed and thrilled with the attention. 

January 27th, she notices catfood crumbs on the stairs, and vacuums them clean!

February 7th, we watch the Superbowl and ate lunch at the latest time ever; 16:30!

February 22nd, she cross-country skis faster than me!

February 23rd, she buys and makes 24 sandwiches for a local charity.

March 8th, she finally agrees to skate at the nearby rink before the ice melts. It takes her another two weeks to admit that she liked it!

March 11th, she goes to bed without asking me to tuck her in and sing her to sleep.

March 23rd, she goes to the library to pick up a fantasy book surprise package that I organized, and can hardly put one of the books down. I think this is the first book I have seen her read since the summer!

March 19th, she's onboard with a week long sugar free experiment, and rocks it. Breakfasts are not the same, but fudge energy balls and fruits filled the dessert gap. 

March 26th, the sugar fast is broke with maple fudge shared with a friend.

April 4th, she is up with the bunnies for an Easter egg hunt. (It's April 19th and she still hasn't found the one on the exercise bike!)

April 9th, she is asking every day she has school whether I work, hoping that I will be absent when she and her friend are together after school.

April 16th, she sniffs at the egg salad and can only eat a couple bites because I slightly overcooked it! She goes from not hungry to so hungry, and likes a food item one day, and won't eat it the next!

April 17th, we walk with J and she is interested and respectful and patient (it took 2 hours to walk 10,000 steps at half speed!)

April 18th, I convince her that she does love the Botanical gardens, but when the plan to go downtown meets traffic and detours, she doesn't complain and we make a day of it at Parc Ile Bizard with poutine for lunch (La Roulotte) in Sainte-Geneviève, a wander on the CEGEP campus, and a blizzard before we head home. It's been a beautiful dry spring.

It's a constant battle to get her to do the things she can do. Knots in her hair, unmade bed, glasses so smudgy I wonder how she can see, same socks from yesterday, a little smelly, pjs and pants a little short but she doesn't want to go shopping, or do anything in general, except begrudgingly! (Her favourite way to finally agree is "Fine!") She is full-blown disorganized teening!

The school year starts with a new campus and she is taking the bus once again. This time, though, I am not welcome to come with her, and everyday she gets herself there early on her own.

She puts herself to bed, saying goodnight with a hug, and going downstairs to “tuck” herself in, 

LOCAL QUEBEC VILLAGE LEGENDS

4 Legends:

Grosses-Roches (Gaspésie) et les Chaudrons du Diable (on private property). A local sawmill owner complained to his priest that some of the loggers were skipping their job and going fishing. The priest went to investigate and found 3 large basins that look like cauldrons. 2 were filled with crystal clear water, that only distilled by God, but the third held dark water that the loggers had been fishing in with the eels visible swimming on top. He pronounced the place diabolic and forbid his parishioners from visiting there on the threat of being struck down by God.

Lac Pohénégamook (Bas-Saint-Laurent)- since 1901 there have been reports of a monster  swimming in the lake, and can be searched for with a 25 km walk around the lake. It has been affectionately called Ponik by the inhabitants, and described as a giant fish, a serpent, with a hump on its back, and two large golden horns.

Grand-mère (Mauricie) - named by the Algonquins "Kokomis" because of a rock that looked like a grandma on the shores of Saint-Maurice's River. The chief's son was engaged to marry a young woman of the area in exchange for a canoe full of furs, but he drowned and never returned. The rock was moved to a municipal park during the construction of a hydro power plant.

Rigaud - Le champ des guérets (labour) - José-le-diable worked to plant his potato field on a sunday. Whether the legend was a transformation from potatoes to rocks, or the rocks fell from the sky, the truth is that the field of stones was brought to the place by ancient glaciers, and left a river of smooth round stones.

Charlevoix:

Oral tradition is how these legends originated. Recurrent themes are religion, with associations with the devil if people are breaking rules. Strongmen are common rural heros. The landscape can feature in the legent, like the three hills near Notre-Dame-des-Monts, that resembles the silhouette of a half-submerged woman, or like a rock on L'Isle-aux-Coudres that has tears that fall as though human.

Characters include le Bonhomme Sept Heures, the Crow, and the Flying Canoe (Chasse-galerie). 

LOCAL CELEBRITY: BARRED OWL

February is a nesting month for the barred owl, and we don't have a lot to do these days, so most of us checked out the local woods to see our local celebrity. 

There were paths leading from the usual paths to the tree we found it in. It was there for only a few weeks and then we couldn't see it again.

It was like a catholic pilgrimage to icons of old. Instead of a stigmata, we were looking for a nest. Instead of a statue, we were seeking an owl.

 

A CRAFT A DAY

Pom-pom monster

 

BEAN SALAD

I am always running out of chick peas and a mixed salad in a can that I can't always find in stock. I have in the past bought a mixed bean can and realized that it didn't come with the dressing. That dressing is gold! Although it has pieces of onion and is acidic enough to sting the eyes on opening, Princess Pirate loves it! It's my go-to protein with pasta (PASTA IS NOT A MEAL!) when on hand because it only takes the time a can-opener takes to open it. 

I have tried a few italian dressings and PP prefers plain red kidney beans to anything I have come up with. Last night I finally found a combination dressing that made a kidney bean salad that I enjoyed eating!

From The Amazing Legume page 87, I modified the black bean salad recipe.

540 mL can of red kidney beans

2 T canola oil

2 T white vinegar

1 minced garlic clove

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

dash of dried oregano

LOCAL ARTISANS I LOVE

Chocolates by Susan

Home-woven hand towels by Susan

Hand picked the handle. Made by PA Atelier. A joy to use!

 

PRINCESS PIRATE ART

 

Self-portrait combining pointillism and symbolism. From the top: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Music, Sun, Moon, Spirit, Ice. Much of it was done on the floor bent over her canvas.

Such incredible details and careful application of time. Her teacher thought the scales were too small, but she was confident that what she was doing was the right thing to do. She was so right! 

WHAT I FOUND IN A POCKET IN THE LAUNDRY

Two missing masks, an eraser and 3 used kleenex

 

CAT VOMIT CLEAN UP

My cat is shedding like crazy, and for the first time in her 6 years, she is giving the gift of hairballs. Recently it was in my bed, which should have been no big deal except that I only discovered it in the sheets after I had been to bed! My least favourite spot is on a carpet that is a true minority in the house and needed expensive dry cleaning last time it occurred. The worst was on the stairs carpet because I foolishly tried to chase her to a place that is easy to clean (the basement cement would be great, but is never the location chosen), but she wasn't scared into swallowing it back temporarily. She just ran leaving a trail of vomit and half eaten kibble from the top to the bottom stair! 

This carpet looks a little more worn, but the technique seems to work.

First, soak up and wipe off the bulk of the debris as soon as possible.

Second, sprinkle with baking soda. When dry, vacuum.

Third, use hydrogen peroxide and gently brush between the fibers (I use an old clean toothbrush disinfected in the dishwasher). 

Lastly, blot dry and leave to airdry. 

 

CLEANING UP AND GIVING AWAY

I had to do some deep cleaning to make some beloved toys presentable enough to give away. I love a good design, and with the removal of 4 simple screws, I gave this baby piano a good clean, inside and out. Turns out that the black foam had disintegrated to a degree that I opted to remove it entirely, which played with the sound. I added a layer of insulation tape to good effect but found the keys moved around too much, which still left a distracting sound in addition to the keystroke. I cut smaller pieces to eliminate lateral movement, and screwed the panel back on. On to another family! I hope it gives them as much joy!

 

SUNSETS TO RIVAL SANTORINI

 This winter was amazing for snow and sunsets. Having short days for a seasons makes it easy to be out and about when the sun is setting, around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. While the sunsets were largely yellows and oranges out our back windows, the sky opposite was often even more impressive with pinks and blues reflecting at the opposite horizon. 

This reminds me of the dilemma my friend had for accomodations on Santorini. If you read the reviews, people staying on the west side of the island said they had the best views, and people staying on the east side of the island said they had the best views. It seemed to me strange not to plan to watch the sunset on the east side of the island, but we ended up staying on the west side of the island and saw them there too. Both, as reported, were spectacular. We couldn't, however, see both sides of the sky at the same time, like we did all winter, walking east and west for exceptional views, except for the very tip of the island where we ate supper one night with crowds at our feet and wishing us to hurry up and finish our meal.

Western sky with a rising moon over Terra Cotta Park

Western view with setting sun over a bay on the Northshore near L'anse à l'orme
(Elm pebble beach)

Eastern sky with dramatic blues

Westward from the shore of Stewart Hall

SIMPLE NO-SEW COUCH FIX

I have an old couch with a pullout bed that I got covered years ago. One of the cushions always ends up gravitating back, making one cushion crooked and an area in front that always collects crumbs and debris. I had a pair of socks that wasn't pretty enough to use on my sock quilt project, but one of the pair was perfectly intact. So I filled it with other ugly socks with holes, and tied off the end, and stuffed it behind the cushion. The couch cushions now match up perfectly and both are comfortable to sit on. Sometimes the little things in the background make the biggest difference!

 

CROWN SHYNESS

Fente de timidité entre les arbres

Growing up on the plains, I didn't spend much time in the forests of Saskatchewan, so what I know is from being a tourist to BC, the Rockies, European forests, and mostly the Canadian shield of Quebec and Ontario. Turns out that what not all that I see has just grown out of the ancient past. Mostly I walk in wooded parks that have been planted in the last 50 years, with a few scattered ancient trees amongst younger ones. It's been a rare walk that I took in an old growth forest, and many years ago. I wonder what they look like now.

A dear friend recommended a book called The Hidden Life of Trees. It's quite an astonishing book written by a man who spent his whole life in forests, first as part of an industry, and then as a conservationist. It's not an easy read, as most of us have never had the luxury of being in an ancient forest like he describes. 

The society of trees that Peter Wohlleben describes is the stuff of my childhood fantasy fiction novels that easily moved me to believe that trees were sentient and could wake up and talk and lumber along side the children of Man in Narnia. Although more attentive readers to go to great lengths to make differences between the Ents of Middle Earth and the tree dryads that Lewis took from Greek mythology, there are some trees that still speak to me. 

This one on the walk down to the train station feels like it is doing a slow dervish spin (did it start counterclockwise too?). 

Mr Wohlleben takes this to a whole new level, describing a rich shared environment below the surface that I only occasional imagine when I seen the symbiotic relationship (or shyness/competition/abrasion) between the crowns of trees to form a suburban canopy. 

Timidité des cimes à Bois de Liesse

With a great number of trees in our local forests being ash trees, which are being cut down faster in some mysterious arborist agenda than the Emerald Borer Beetle that infects them, I sometimes walk in sadness through woods that used to give me joy. It is overwhelming to see the destruction of man on so many levels on earth, but imagining that the healthy trees are possibly communicating with and feeding older members of the family gives me comfort. 

Being able to see the canopy spaces between trees gives me a sense of relief that the natural world has good ways to accomodate each other and continue to survive and evolve and thrive in beauty and function.

Of note, the only nearby old growth forest I could find nearby in Quebec is the Beckett woods near Sherbrooke, not far from the camping site we have booked for July. I look forward to checking it out!

IDEAS WITH NAHLAH AYED: DORIS LESSING

I have only read one Doris Lessing book, and I found it on the shelf of the local library. Like Frankenstein or Dracula, The Fifth Child was twisted in a way that drew you in. There was a certain growing fear that was mitigated by the fact that whatever horror was described, it was faced unflinchingly in its own raw truth. Whether it was meant as an exploration of one child too many, or the realization that your are raising a psychopath, I remember the "beast" of a boy to this day.

Possibly on the other end of the spectrum of her work, I have Love, Again on my shelf to read chosen solely by the title, premise of a 65 year old woman in love, and the author's familiarity to write a good story. I didn't know anything about this author's life, but was drawn to her fierce character. What I did not know was that she grew up in Iran, and then in the country now known as Zimbabwe, and went on to win a Nobel Prize for her body of literature. She was recently the subject of a CBC podcast. Take a listen.

On reviewing her work, I found a Massey Lecture of 5 essays that she wrote called Prisons We Choose to Live Inside. It's funny how a title can resonate, and ignite the immediate desire to know more.

IDEAS WITH NAHLAH AYED: SO MANY WAYS TO LISTEN TO SO MANY INSPIRATIONS

To be honest, it's too hard to just include the four episodes that recently moved me. It began with a chance listen on the one of two radios I own. It was a short commute home from the grocery store, and I wasn't finished by the time I got home and had to unpack. Fortunately, I was able to transition immediately to the CBC listen app. When it finished, I realized that I had an episode to catch up on, and another in the future, so I turned to my podcast app and was able to catch up. I sent the links to my email to check when I had some free time. Later, sitting at my computer, and thinking I would present the links in this blog, I took the links to the webpage, and so many of the topics in the list drew my interest. From geometry to race relations, historical figures, authors and popular podcasters all feature with nearly an hour long (or more) of well researched, well edited focus on topics that are current and often hit a deep chord. 

I remember when the show was weekly, and tended to the religious. I think the current format has changed with the times, and may be avoiding Christianity as a reaction to its former exclusive take on things, but it fills in the gaps that my narrow (not so) modern upbringing craves. Classics, important historical figures, and challenges to our modern thoughts feature often. I was challenged in my thinking by Irrationality. Now I am listening to the Geometric Order and travelling in my mind to DC and Venice. I am planning to learn from The Death of Leisure. I will never forget the courage of Ahmet Altan, and wish to change the world to free him, and the tragedy of Semmelweiss. I so admire and so recommend regular intake of this important show.

IDEAS WITH NAHLAH AYED: BLACK MYTHS ON SCREEN

 I was driving home Thursday night, revelling in the recent extension in the curfew, able to be out getting groceries in the dark for the first time in 2 months. This was doubly exciting, both for the relief of the restriction but also, given to last minute achievements, a return to a familiar routine of being out when reasonable and organized people had already left the store and were already at home. 

I came in on the second of a series of three about the falsehoods purpotrated on screen about race and sexual orientation. I am constantly aware of the myths told in tv and books and in the media about females and medical realities, but this was a reminder of the myths I was aware of, and others that I had no idea about. There was vocabulary to describe what I had understood but couldn't label. It was an important education. 

I loved black and white films, and I feel like I watched every Katherine Hepburn movie that was ever made, back when libraries still rented reels, and my teacher dad still had a film projector to borrow from work, and my parents still had a projector screen in the closet to pull out when needed. I loved the footwork of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, the cheeky tomboy characters "Kate" would sometimes play, and later the controversial films that educated me in the debates the world was having when my homogenous world still wasn't discussing them, like teaching evolution in Inherit the Wind (with Spencer Tracy), interracial marriage in Look Who's Coming To Dinner (with Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier),  and antisemitism in A Gentleman's Agreement, although Ideas goes on to explain that there was more to that movie than meets even the careful eye, as it was meant to be about homosexuality, but that couldn't even be brought yet to screen.

The Ideas program explores the stories beneath the stories, is worth a careful listen.

FUDGE BALLS

I met a woman once who had painted flowers on the fronts of all of her kitchen cupboards. It showed a freedom and creativity in ownership that I had yet to express in my house.

Now, inside my kitchen cupboards, I have written lists and recipes of my go-tos. One of the recipes is for a chocolate energy ball that I call fudge balls, and they rival chocolate macaroons in test and calories, but there is no added sugar.

The recipe often has to be altered for what I have on hand, but the ideal recipe is as follows:

1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts

Pulse these together first to get them into small bits. (I forget this sometimes, and the chunks never break down quite right after you add the dates, but they still taste great).

2 cups dates (Dalton's work great, but they tend to be very hard, so I warmed them up with water in a saucepan, like you would to make date squares (without the margarine), until they rehydrate and soften a little, and add water in the food processor as well, to the consistency of a firm dough)

1/3 cup cocoa powder (officially scant 1/2 but without coconut to roll in, less is more)

Ideally flaked coconut to roll in, but don't need. Refrigerate to reduce stickiness if without.

CEDAR PARK

I am grateful for this little park,

Trees swaying in the wind,

Footsteps crunch on icy snow,

Squirrels running to and fro.

I walked circles on the path

Until the setting sun

Threw off lemon and tangerine.

The night sky shouted, "Done!"

And then came down in crashing dark

While street lights lit the gloom.