MARIAN DALE SCOTT

This Montreal Beaver Hall impressionist has been floating in and out of my psyche recently, and I found her again while obsessing over geometric images for art deco ideas for closet doors.

That led me to this incredible painting.

Lauren Harris Meets Emily Carr Meets Art Nouveau

It feels like she reflects everything I love about Quebec.

Seems like the road to Kamouraska

Bank Street Bridge by her friend Pegi Nicol MacLeod

Snow clearing at Night/Lorne Crescent 1936

Her floral prints are exquisite. My favourite is the milkweed.

Milkweed

Bud 1939 (Art Gallery of Hamilton)

Skunk Cabbage (McGill Visual Arts Collection)

Tulip

Some connections to this artist have surprised me. A small exhibit at the Glen hospital of Norman Bethune includes a painting of his, and there is photograph of what looks like a nurse and orderly teaching children in hospital beds to paint. That woman in hospital garb is Marian Dale Scott, and she was a friend of Normal Bethune!

Untitled Landscape 1932 (Canadian Art Group)

This is a mural I need to check out soon.

Endocrinology 1942 (Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building)

AU PETIT COIN BRETON, QUEBEC, QUEBEC

We walked down the street Sunday morning to a Breton Crepe place. Greeted by a woman in traditional dress and a lace headdress, we made our way upstairs. The interior was full of timber, and we even sat on timber chairs. It was incredible fast service, and we were very happy. This is what we ate, and we almost finished it all. The plates were eclectic and the placemats outlined Brittany. It was fun to dream of the province in Roman Gaul that Asterix and Obelix came from, and who's accent has been likened to Quebec's. Rennes and St. Malo were familiar. I have no idea if the food is authentic, but the experience as a visitor to Quebec City was wonderful.

Menu

Nutella Banana Crèpes

Comes with a little side of whipped cream that looks like Bonhomme!

Early Bird : Le Traditionnel

A LITTLE FRIDGE LOVE

I thought my fridge was dying. I am taught to expect it, what with planned obsolescence and all. As early as last summer, I remember the laboured vibrations that started to echo through the house. When the fan turned on, it was becoming so loud that I started to shop for another one. It has been almost 15 years, after all. I found the paperwork from the place that did appliance repairs when it was under warranty, and was going to call them for a Hail Mary today.

Instead, I googled fridge maintenance and mostly found videos of coils at the backs of fridges that needed to be vacuumed. I got out the vacuum, that had its own maintenance issue ( I did find that quarter round moulding I was looking for!), and discovering the back of my fridge was almost totally inaccessible, which was unlike the video. I pushed it back in place, resolved to call for one last maintenance look after the house was vacuumed, and took the faceplate off at the foot of the freezer bottom to finish the kitchen. I guess it had been a while because this is what I found:

It sounds much better now! Purring, actually! Poor thing!

CANADIAN ABORIGINAL SYLLABICS

Thanks to flights north and growing up on the prairies, I have seen the symbols that represent Inuktitut and Cree languages, but I didn't realize this was mostly a Canadian thing.

Here is a simple table with the alphabet from Cree Literacy.

 

Wycliffe has a nice summary too.

KURT VONNEGUT RINGS TRUE

From A Man Without A Country

"If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something. "

ODE TO A FORMER SOLDIER

House of God
My home away from home
Three long days
Proud of a job well done
Leaving late to my real home
Museum pieces litter the hallways

At the foot of Queen Victoria
WWII display case
History trumps smart phone
Walking by I reach out
Resource Librarian in my heart
Don't miss the bigger find around the corner

I slow, puzzled, as he turns
We connect
You don't know Norman Bethune?
Communist Hero ?
Mcgill Thoracic Surgeon?
Statue at Guy-Concordia?

I offer to show him
Regain my pace
Baseline fast
Strides too long
He peels away towards me
Catches and keeps up

Tall, handsome
Listening and talking
Former soldier
Waiting for an MRI
Not so young but not old enough
Stride for stride

We are here.
He slows, then turns to investigate
Photos, painting, instruments
Enjoy! Hesitates?
I march past
I am almost out, almost home

Outside, I see it in reverse
Grateful for a stranger
Gifts of time, effort, interest
Reminds me I have something
Hope for someday

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Pasta machine makes perfect pierogi dough. Heart shape cookie cutters make them even better!

A perfect lunch for Princess Pirate

Grandma's classic cookies, smaller, with way less finesse, but just as much love. 

COVID RESTRICTIONS AND ABSTINENCE DREAMS

 I was working beside a colleague this week. I came in from a train ride trying to calculate the golden ratio without the help of google because I had forgotten my phone at home and didn't have enough time to goback. He starts throwing out numbers that include both the right answer and the wrong, but I already have it worked out that it has be between 1 and 2. Without google, neither of us come up with the magic number (it's 1.6), but we both babble on about different aspects of it. I am struck with how dumb it is that I try and remember Fibernacci's sequence when a two digit number is all I need to take home. He's trying to find an image that shows that each adjacent segment has one shared length, but the other has to be smaller in order to form the spiral that we both know as the classic example. We both admire not only the beauty of the concept, but how the geometric certainty plays out in natural life. I find this remarkable, and for one moment feel akin. This is not something that has happened before.

We could not be more opposite. He tells me about WW trench smells in forests and using the decay to attract deer while he hunts. I am philosophically vegetarian. He was recently against including a statement about equity in our department rules unless it was "actionable" but doesn't see that his stance only makes the gender divide larger. He wears button down dress shirts and pants and is usually clean shaven. I wear yoga pants and runners, am lumpy, and usually wear my hair up in a ponytail. He lives in a two story modern apartment downtown. I live in the suburbs in a cluttered rundown bungalow on a street I love filled with art I love surrounded by neighbours I love. He loves Archer and mixing drinks and talks a lot about death. I love Martha Stewart and drinking red wine and being disorganized and think a lot about suffering and am exhausted by death. 

I believe he has a kickass surgery girlfriend who works elsewhere (is her fellowship over? I haven't seen her for years. Are they still together?), and I am understood as asexual, especially during Covid restrictions, in our department of mostly male physicians, surrounded by younger women and being of that  middle age group of women who are largely invisible. I hate his father, a former bad mentor, and he would make my daughter cry in a heartbeat.  But in that moment, I look back and see the broad strokes of attraction.

He's in his late 40s too, grey haired and a little more thick than trim, but he's tall enough, has a nice enough voice, great hands, and is smart. Standing there, he looked strong and manly. He had good eye contact. He works hard enough. But he is probably not nice enough. He could eviscerate me with his words faster than he could clean a deer. I don't know if he could listen. I know I tried to make a joke about the golden ratio, but he didn't laugh.

But what if he didn't laugh because I scared him? What if he left without saying goodbye because he was single and abstinent and feeling the same thing?

"I never noticed before, but she's smart enough. Attractive enough. She looks confident and soft and alluring enough. Like I could put my arm around her waist and feel solid curves. Like she could laugh at my jokes if I was funny enough. She's intense. She's feisty. I could like her."

Within the knowledge of being who we are, diametrically opposed, and certainly if he is attached, it's fantasy; still, whether he is single or not, I'd have another conversation about the golden ratio and geometry's beauty, and nature's tessellations again.

If he was single and listen and hiding a big heart behind a gruff exterior, I wouldn't throw him out of bed either.

DAIRY QUEEN MOTTO ON AN ICE CREAM CONE

I AM 365 DAYS OF SUMMER VACATION.
JE SUIS 365 JOURS DE VACANCES D'ÉTÉ.

SENDING MY DRAGONS TO MYTHICAL CREATURE SCHOOL

Yesterday I was asked to send some mythical creatures to Princess Pirate's outdoor snow school. I foolishly offered the name a unicorn named Glitter I have conjured up in the past. This was not good enough. Now that PP is on book number 8 of Wings of Fire, I am now searching for names for dragons that come from these tribal families: Seawings, Sandwings, Mudwings, Icewings, Skywings, Rainwings and Nightwings. This is who I am sending to mythical creature school tomorrow: Ariel, Rose, Piggy, Squall, Cloudy, May, and Moonbeam.

I have taken to writing down some of my pets over the years.
3 years ago, the animals were simpler.

My bird was named Harriet.
My fish was named Kipper.
My goat was Abigail.
My horse was named Clover.

Princess Pirates pets:
Peregrine falcon named Sky.
Sea otter named Sea Queen.
Turkish Van cat named Ruby.
Mom horse named Lily.
Baby horse named Daisy.
Bunny named Bun-Bun.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEU PREUßENDORF

A long time ago, my relatives lived in Prussia. Being that the family was German speaking, I failed to determine the location, as in this particular case, the town they came from in Prussia is now in Poland, translating to Prusinówko, in Walcz.

OSCARS

Thanks to CTV, I was able to miss the Oscars and catch up today. I have found time to watch them the last few years, and although I have watched none of the films up for awards, I did watch Elton John's biopic Rocketman on a plane sometime last year.

The jokes are pointed and necessary. There are so many cringeworthy moments, and other hilarious ones. There are so many incredibly beautiful people, doing incredibly gifted passionate work.

My favourite moment this year was Joaquin Phoenix's speech. It was overtime, and modestly delivered, and incredibly honest, and in my mind, spot on!

I am quite sure that a lot of these films are no better than others, and I am saddened by the irony that the 3 meant to speak on behalf of makeup in Bombshell, only the man spoke.

I am drawn to the stories of women. I may not have time to watch any more examples of men playing roles, and men directing films, and men writing music, and men writing more stories about men. So I will look to watch Harriet, Judy, Little Women, Bombshell, and Frozen II in the coming months.

LONG LAKE

Saskatoon to Meadow Lake to Camrose via my great uncle's namesake lake (my grandma's aviator brother). Next trip to the West!

Editor's note:
I was wrong about the location that honoured my great uncle Morgan's life and death. He has been honoured at Wildnest Lake, a 5 hour drive north west of Saskatoon, near Flin Flon, with Long Bay carrying his name.

That makes it less likely I will visit the lake than I had hope, but I still want to do a Saskatoon - Meadow Lake - Lloydminster - Camrose tour on our way to Jasper - O'hare - Banff parks.

 Here is the plaque obtained by his siblings:



His burial was near Brest (Bretogne), France at Le Conquet Communal Cemetery, in Finistere.

GORILLA GLUE IS MY NEW GO-TO GLUE

Plastic to plastic, boot sole to upper, broken stocking hangers.
Allow for expansion. Compress if you can. Don't expect a clear finish.
Shave the excess that you can't plan to hide. So far a highly durable glue that isn't always dried up and activated each new application.

PAILLARD BAKERY, RUE SAINT JEAN, VIEUX-QUEBEC

Un Jésuite (packed with marzipam, in flaky pastry)
Un croissant nature
Une choquette (a sweet version of Yorkshire Pudding)

AN OLD STAND RADIO, RECONSTRUCTED

LE CARNAVAL DE QUEBEC

Hotel Palace Royal, Quebec bracelets by Princess Pirate,  2020 Effigy pass

      In front of town Hall, we met the Carnaval mascot. PP was sliding down a snowbank, and to my everlasting shame, I was taking a picture of this statue. He walked up the steps, and asked, in French, why I was taking a picture of a statue when the real deal was in front of me! He seemed enormous, and when he hugged us to his side, he was strong! One of his two entourage companions was kind enough to take a picture. I was laughing so hard, half embarrassed, half thrilled, to have met the Bonhomme so early in the weekend, and we had two days to go!

Le Bonhomme

7 feet tall

400 lbs of packed snow!

66 years old

Château Frontenac is the heart of Quebec city. Here we were Coureurs de Bois.

A gingerbread masterpiece from the pastry chef at the CP Hotel

Snow moon, Art Deco, the Chateau, snow, with my dear PP. These are a few of my favourite things. 

OH, SLAPPY, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NOW?

Masking tape to "secure" the telephone wires in the basement office

I think there is something wrong with this wiring!

A LEAKING TAP or THE MANY STEPS IT TAKES TO RECAULK A TUB

It all started with the need to recaulk the tub. It has a surround with some broken parts, and I had hoped to clean out the poor job done before, and simply redo it, but when you buy a house from Slappy, nothing is that simple. The doors were poorly installed, and the bottom rail lifted up enough to collect all manner of grossness, visible for unfortunate viewing each time I had a bath. By the time I got the caulking out, I realized that the doors would have to come off, the hot water tap would need to replaced,  and the tub would need repair to the enamel before I could even begin.





















I don't know exactly what era these taps are from, but I did learn a few things about them.

The design is classic, and the only clue I had was a B that I found on the tub overflow drain, to represent the company Belanger.

The hot started to stick, and then leak. This preceded the cold tap, which has yet to have problems, although now that I have exchanged the cartridge, it is a little stickier than I realized!

If they  weren't 40 years old, I probably would have just tried to find the 0 ring replacement, but the entire unit is so rusted, I thought it best to exchange the entire cartridge for now.

Ironically, I have both a set of sink and shower replacements, but neither are simple exchanges (things I didn't know when I bought it because they looked pretty!). The sink should be the easiest, but the wall behind needs redoing (the tiles have holes) and the sink replacement (not only hideous, but broken) needs buying. Still, the two handles becoming one, and the cheap use of non-stainless steel plastic tubes are not ideal, in retrospect. The shower is even tougher, as it turns out, despite the back panel being accessed by the plumber, there are no valves to turn off the water, and the background fork will need changing, which will require breaking through cement and metal, and redoing a surround that apparently can't be bought in pieces, which is a shame.





The fun of it is finding the little designs to take it all apart. The silver disc pops off with my letter opener tip when you find the tiny square on the red or blue plastic circle. The shower has an extra cylinder that screws off.  The cartridge in the sink tap is easy to take off with a small monkey wrench or a combination wrench, if you have the right size ( I only seem to get to 17 mm, which was not useful). Luckily I have neighbours who hoard tools like many hoard books!

It is an easy thing to screw out, and easier still to screw back in.

I am not sure which is the ideal tool for the shower tap, as socket wrenches were too wide to fit, and the monkey wrench also doesn't fit.

CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE

My Grandma used to make her own fruitcake, but eventually she was the first to admit that the effort was no longer worth it, as the price was low enough and availability easy enough to just buy it.

Years later, I was training at a local hospital and one of the nurses's brought in a fruitcake that I liked enough to get the recipe. It's tricky sometimes to find mincemeat out of season, but it lasts all year if you find it around Christmas time, and I was lucky enough to find a jar in January this year.  It's a rare millenial that recognizes it as the spicy mixture of my youth. Maybe it's compounded by the bilingual comprehension and confusion, as mincemeat doesn't exist in French (note: "fruits hachés fins").  This recipe is simple enough, and makes a bundt tin round, so it's easy to share. It is easy to find the recipe, listed as Eagle Brand "Fabulous Fruitcake".



Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 jar (750 ml) mincemeat
1 can (300 ml) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups chopped mixed glacé fruit
1 cup chopped walnuts
optional (to decorate): Whole glacé cherries

Directions

  1 :  Stir together flour and baking soda; set aside.
  2 :  Combine eggs, mincemeat, sweetened condensed milk, chopped fruit and nuts. Add dry ingredients; mix well.
  3 :  Divide batter between two greased 9 x 5" (1.5 L) loaf pans or one round bundt pan.
  4 :  Bake in preheated 300ºF (150ºC) oven for 1 hour and 20-25 minutes or 1 hour and 50 minutes. Cool 15 minutes.
  5 :  Turn out pans; cool completely. Garnish with glacé cherries.

A winter treat with a fresh cappucino.

TANDOORI BELLEVILLE

I recently had supper at Tandoori Bellevue, in Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue, and was well served and well fed.

It was a cold night. I was supposed to meet two friends, but when they cancelled, I still wanted to go out, and I thought that I may as well try the place that we were recommended to meet at. I was not sorry.

I was seated promptly at a table along a false brick wall covered with flickering candles and a few homey cobwebs. It was a perfect way to watch the winter night. The zen music was accompanied by a complimentary cone of papadum chips, tamarind and cilantro sauce. It was already a good start, and I had yet to order something!

I decided to  start with Aloo Tikka, which was a first for me. I love potatoes in anything, but this was a new favourite. The deep fried patties were smooth and served under a chick pea curry that was a perfect mix of spice and savoury. It was served with a sprinkling of red onion, cilantro, and orange marinated cabbage on a plate I could imagine was fir for an empress. The combination of the flavours was amazing! It was a bigger appetizer than I expected, so I was happy that I brought a reusable container to carry away half of it for lunch the next day.



My main dish was Dal Matte, also a new choice. I have never seen the shape of this lentil, and I think rice would have been good with it too, but I had a hankering for naan, and it was a great pairing. Again, I had enough for lunch the next day, and it was delicious all on its own.



The only part of the meal that I ordered on experience was the Gulab jamun. It was as excellent as the rest of the meal. The honey was sweating out of the perfect golden, melt-in-your-mouth, spheres, served in a brass and silver stemmed dish and sprinkled with coconut.

RENOVATIONS KEEP YOU ACTIVE!