MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (MMFA) - Canadian Pavillion

This captured our daughter's attention. Like the Norwegian Kristoff in Frozen, these men were cutting ice, but along Montreal shores 

Emily Carr landscape and shimmering skies

Lauren Harris' somewhere in the Ontario Lakes , which I hiked once upon a time. The first time I ever saw a Laurent Harris painting was in a small gallery in Saskatoon. It seemed like it took up the whole wall, and it was magnificent. I fell in love, and his paintings still thrill me. 

LIBRARY PICKINGS: URBAN PICNIC COOKBOOK

Sweet lentil soup

Waldorf salad

Carrot raisin sesame salad

Peanut cabbage slaw and pineapple tofu stirfy on rice

Delicious sesame new potatoes - amazing cold app!

SMOKED MEAT PETE'S

A perfect place for a west island blues bar with smoked meat and poutine and a Cott's black cherry pop!

INSPIRATION FROM MY MOM

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich…to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

William Henry Channing

MY BLOG IS AN OUTLET

My blog is an outlet; a conversation with strangers, friends and family. Do not worry too much about my melancholy. Like dad, I embrace it. It often does not make me sad in the way it may you. Thank you though for your concern! Alas, despite changing the setting, I do not seem to have a way for you to comment unless maybe you have a google sign-in.

My blogs, believe it or not, do not reflect where I am at accurately. The important events, like my sunshiny daughter or late night with friends, or any meal with ordinary venues, that are the most meaningful,only get recorded in my memories. I record my movies and meals as remarkable, as opposed to your life, where they are much more regular occurrences! I also travel more and wish to travel more! The world is so beautiful and complex and interesting and growing up surrounded by the interest in other cultures and languages fed that wanderlust! True, I am living a far from ideal life, but I am more comfortable living as an in betweener than pretending I am the standard. 

CALLING ALL ANTEVASTINS

I am homesick. But, if I am honest, I am homeless. I neither belong in the culture of my new home or the culture of my old one. Each place I have travelled to, I bring with me, but at a cost of leaving a little of myself there, to miss it, and feel its loss.

My life is not as edgy or extreme as Elizabeth Gilbert's with her husband, but I liked the idea of two travellers seeing in each other that lost soul she labels from the sanskrit "antevastin"- an in-betweener.
I feel like I am looking for something in others that remind me of the people I left behind. But I sadly have not yet been successful in this.

 I get frustrated that the people around me only seem to chasing the next great restaurant, or movie, or event. There is barely a hello, how are you, let alone a feeling like anyone wants to hear or tell a story. I went there. We did this. Did you?

Don't get me wrong. I live for the next trip, the next meal, the next great event too. But when I have found something, I want to share it with someone that wants to see something that means something to me. I want to blog about the food. I want to go for coffee and talk about the movie.

But if I invite someone to something Ithink is interesting, it doesn't seem enough to do it to share an experience. It has to be something they want, when they want, and even then sometimes Iwonder why they even bothered to do it with me, when they rush off or never mention it again. It's a rare person who says yes to an invitation, and a rarer one who does something in return. I miss that. I was lucky to have a friend close enough here to visit 3 times in the last year. They drove hours and I so appreciated it! There are so many others I know that can't make it a few kms planned in advance.

I am an observer. I like my alone time. I feel eating alone allows me to taste my food better. Travelling alone allows me to interact with strangers and follow my curiosity. I have to pay more attention so I remember and appreciate things more. But I would love a friend. Someone who would sometimes do things so that I chose. Of course I would do the same for them. But I want more than just a companion. I want conversation. Interest in me. Something I never had to look so hard for where I grew up. It is someone's recognition of my humanity and value that I want more than anything!

So to all those antevastins out there! You are not alone! Look for us on the edges, fringes, borders. Maybe one day you will be my friend!

ETIQUETTE

I am finding it hard to portray to my daughter how important it is to be polite. When I was growing up, it was generally expected of kids not to interrupt their parents, to say hello and yes and no to adults and other kids, but now it seems that what I want for her is in constant conflict with her peer norms. They spend their time on our phones, they talk to the back of our heads from the back seat so we can't make eye contact, people start talking without saying hello, chew with their mouth full and take what they want, not considering others or saying please or thank you!

Admittedly, over time, my job has eroded my politeness skills also. I sometimes talk while a do a task without looking up. Sometimes I interrupt. Sometimes I forget to say please. But at the end of the day, its the people that are kind and polite that make my day. That take the time to ask how I am before asking me a favour. That consider the human being in front of them, and not the cog in the wheel. So I try to impress these things on my daughter, but I wonder if I just sound critical.

So, say hello to your neighbour. Give your colleague 4 minutes of your time before you launch into what task you want to ask them to do. Say please and thank you to your kid. Say sorry to your spouse when you wreck their brand new purchase.  Choose to see another person's point of view before choosing what you want. Stop for a pedestrian at a cross walk.  Make someone's day!

STEWART HALL TATTOO

STEWART HALL

I forgot to book off the weekend of our local cultural days, so I missed the celebration, but my daughter came home with a celebratory tattoo. I love it!

NETFLIX

I haven't had tv for years, but I am addicted to netflix. I watch it while I check my email. I watch it when I do my taxes. If I can get my ancient first run iPad to cooperate, I watch while I make supper. I almost never just watch. So I have seen a listened to a lot more shows than I have actually seen. I now know what binge-watching means!

These are some of my most memorable recommendations, in no particular order:

FILMS
Copenhagen
The Tourist
The Way
Midnight in Paris
About Alex
Chalet Girl
Hoot
Sabrina
Julie and Julia
The Lunchbox
Madagascar 3
Yes Man
The Invisible Woman
Standby
The Heat
Pitch Perfect
P.S. I Love you
Life as We Know It
The Princess Bride
How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days
Drinking Buddies
L'Italien
Failure to Launch
The Watch
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Moneyball
The Book Thief
Thanks for Sharing
Austenland
The Other Guys
Easy A


TV SERIES
Drop Dead Diva
The Good Wife
The Paradise
The Mindy Project
White Collar
Damages
Last Tango in Halifax
Suits
Gilmore Girls
Mr. Selfridge
Call the Midwife
The Riches
Lie To Me
Once Upon a Time
Longmire
The Hour
About a Boy
The Killing
Doc Martin
Psych
Pretty Little Liars
Veronica Mars
Gossip Girls
Sherlock (Cumberbatch)
Being Erica
Republic of Doyle
The Bletchley Circle
Chuck
Human Target
Rita
Kingdom


DOCS
Living on One Dollar
TED Talks Head Games and Life Hacks
Inside: Chipotle
Women Who Kill (standup)
Sleepwalk with Me (standup)
Spinning Plates
Katy  Perry: Part of Me
Craigslist joe
Inside Lego

WITHOUT YOU, THERE IS NO US

Yesterday I finished a book that was recommended to me by my brother-in-law. It is a memoir by a South Korean American who lived there as a teacher to an all male class learning English. It was enlightening, and a great depiction of how life must feel like under such a suppressive regime.

Even though the author was not under the same pressure as the North Korean students she taught, it was clear that just to be in the country required a certain amount of self-censorship.This memoir captured the sense of that regime, and was an enlightenment of many realities of North Korean life, even if mostly based on the lucky elite. I can only begin to imagine what it was like for those of lesser fortune.

MONTREAL BOTANICAL GARDENS

Tulips in bloom

Magnolia

Our budding photographer

The window into the Japanese zen garden. The roji, or tea garden, prepares guest for the tea ceremony. The four seasons are included in its design, and moss represents the passage of time. Guests must stay on the stepping stones, and the tsukubai, the basin that visitors use to wash before the tea ritual, with stooping reminding guest to show humility.

The stone wrapped in string means do not enter in a Japanese garden. The host may not yet be ready for you, or in this case, the door is not open to the public. 

It's quite a science to designing a bonsai. There are so many great and some ancient bonsais on display at the Chinese Gardens. I forgot (irony intended) that Gingko is also known as the Maidenhair tree.  I like the image of the floppy gingko leaves, like a girl flipping her long hair back out of her face. 

Love this black and white combo pine.

TONIGHT WAS A BIRTHDAY PARTY

FROZEN MOCHA TOFFEE CRUNCH TERRINE 

PATIO LANTERNS

OLD PORT HISTORY: THE OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY

When I was a youth, our church group went to Denver for a week, and I remember eating at a Spaghetti Factory. I don't know if this is part of a chain of restaurants, but this was the first time I had been in it. My daughter loves pasta and it was a short walk for my parents. I was surprised to see on the menu some history that I had never heard. In the back room of this building in the Old Port of Montreal, Charles Dickens was inspired to write a Tale of Two Cities (based on Paris and London) in 1842. 

This is the trio plate, since I couldn't decide between the tortellini, pesto spaghetti or cannelloni. It was the right choice, but a lot of food, considering the salad bar was quite delicious!

BBQ BURGERS

It's been a weird spring, with a few warm amazing days, interspersed with cold days and rainy days. On a nice warm evening, we, along with my parents were invited to my in-laws for burgers. The evening was perfect. Wine, backyard patio, and burgers with all the fixings. I lapsed for the evening into a pescovegetarian, and had an excellent salmon burger. The side plate was gorgeous. My mother-in-law does have an eye for the beautiful. My friend would have added a side of sautéd mushrooms and caramelized onions, which would have put on a whole other level of delicious, but this was certainly the prettiest platter, and delicious!

STARBUCKS WEEK THREE WITH MOM

Iced Chai Latte

SALT OF THE EARTH

I just got home from watching a late showing of a documentary that my friend had given as a choice of 3 films to see tonight. I wouldn't normally pay $14 for a movie of any kind, and certainly less likely for a documentary (what is netflix for, if not for documentaries!), but Le Sel de La Terre was an incredible film, and its subject, photographer Sebastiao Salgado, as fascinating as his photos and vision.

This man's collection ranged from nature to portraits to humanitarian disasters and back again. He lived for months with people in remote places, from Siberia to the Amazon Jungle, and has covered disasters over the decades, in Ethiopia, Kuwait, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Congo, and living in refugee camps and in forests and cold damp floors to pursue the vision of social documentary.


Finally, this husband and wife team, who may have spend many parts of their married life apart, and before the era of internet or long distance phone technology, have worked alongside each other in many exhibitions and books, and culminate in an extra-ordinary act of creating the Instituto Terra, where they have literally reforested a swathe of deforested land, and are gaining back the rain forest in Brazil, now a park that can be marvelled at, most easily by watching this worthwhile film.

Beyond his work, the documentary flows easily in three languages, with the bulk of the film's narration being provided in french with a direct camera shot of the photographer himself, as he describes the photos and his memories of the people or place that they are from. He seamlessly weaves together a story that flows easily and you find yourself drawn to the stories he saw and told when he took these pictures. Completely unconscious of the camera his son uses to capture him on film, he lives entirely in the moment, knowing when he has the chance for a great photo and when it will have to wait.

This film is an Oscar nominee and a labor of love of a son for a father who shows his charisma and presence in the now at every moment. Find his books, google his images, and go see this film. You cannot miss it!

STARBUCKS TRADITION WEEK TWO

Revelation number one - ordering in house, iced drinks come in a glass, which is so much better  than plastic! 

Apparently the s'more frappucino I ordered is new to Canada. It came with a cookie straw lined with chocolate and topped with whipped cream. It was gorgeous!

Sandals at Walmart: $15 dollars. First day in flip-flops this spring in a sunny cafe. Priceless.

MY FRIEND MOU CHANNELLING RICARDO

Tonight, we had a great meal of Indian food that was amazing! First, the 5 women that could make the supper are all interesting lovely people. The evening was gorgeous, the rose perfectly chilled Tempranillo from Spain, and the backyard even included a grove of Bamboo, a dog who pruned them, a kid that climbed trees!

Tandori Salmon served with the best cilantro chutney with some serious lovely heat

Butter chicken - yum! Complex and perfect with rice.
POULET AU BEURRE

Chick pea curry

Cucumber Raita

Very nice served in a backyard with sunshine and laughter. It led to discussion from first menstruations, the diva cup, divorce and other lesser known arrangements, and food, drink, kids and dogs!

SPONTANEOUS GARAGE SALE

My daughter went to bed last night with the idea of making signs for a garage sale. I had been cleaning out some things from the basement, and shed, and she really wanted to paint!. I outlined the words on the second sign, above, but she, given the primary paint colours in our paintbox - yellow, red and blue - proceeded this morning to make this beautiful sign, taking the trouble to mix colours and adding stamps and polka dots before declaring it done! 

We walked down the street when we had our signs and stickers ready, about ten am. It took two failed attempts with different staples, and a hammer and nails to get the sign up, but we did sell $30 worth of stuff, all Rebecca's. I was happily surprised that she was willing to sell her Little Tike car, Kitchenette and Dora house with furniture. She graciously gave Amber part of the proceeds, as it was her Dora house originally.  It was a great day outside and with my daughter.

This sign is all Rebecca! Cats, butterflies, and complex colours! It was beautiful!

THE PERFECT BIRTHDAY GIFT

Grumpy cat dressed for a party

ST HUBERT CELEBRATION POST FROZEN BALLET

Chicken quarter leg with fries

L'animalerie

Date square table d'hôte

Le Clown desert! Hard to share!

OTTAWA EATS

Who knew that a vegetarian adult could have a happy meal with grilled cheese ? Junk food in a pinch, when your significant other wants a bacon burger and your daughter wants chicken nuggets happy meals with a toy!

Sweet potato, mushrooms, and goat cheese pastry

Yum!

Ground turkey

A perfect plate

CACAO 70 ON PARK

A healthy overdose of chocolate turtle fondue to share with a friend! The fondue is only half as deep as it looks (the candle is supposed to go below, but didn't come with it!)

BUTTERFLIES FLY FREE AND INSECTARIUM

Every year since my daughter was an infant, we have gone to the Botanical Gardens to watch Butterflies Fly Free. I love it. I love the Morpho Bleu. I love the flowering gardens. I love the metamorphosis of tiny eggs into beautiful fragile butterflies that can fly for miles and line the crysalis with a necklace of gold. Often we hit the Chinese Garden too, but this time we hit the insectarium. The wall of colourful beetles was beautiful! I just dug up by accident one of those beauties in the garden buried under the blueberry tree. Funny how shiny and beautiful they are when they are just hiding in the dirt!

Girls admiring beetles. Funny to think a lot of them are so colourful, but they are hidden by darkness or dirt almost their whole lives.

Newly hatched Morpho

Beetles

HEALTHY LUNCH THAT WOULD MAKE A GREAT PICNIC

Pinapple celery pine nut salad, tofu celery almond salad, and ichiban with peas and corn.