Oh!

How do we feel about unmoderated comments? I haven't turned comment moderation back on now that I'm back in action and I kind of like it.

Don't fear the reaper

Don't fear him but he sure seems to be putting in a lot of hours lately. Rest in Peace Mrs. Slocombe.

Mollie Sugden 1922-2009

King of somewhere hot

I'm back after my all-too-brief sojourn in the Out Islands of The Bahamas. It was hard to say goodbye, but I know it's not forever. I'm going back to same spot next month, only for a week next time.

This was my sixth visit to Fernandez Bay, Cat Island, my sixth visit in two years. The lone immigration agent who works at the New Bight International Airport knows me by name and that's really cool.

Life there happens at a much slower and irregular pace, and yesterday morning I was up pretty early as I'm wont to do. Call me crazy, but I think it's fun to wake up early when I'm not even required to. Anyhow, the sun rises in that part of the world just a little before six, and I was the only one up. I love having the world to myself for a couple of hours. Having the world to myself in a place like the Out Islands take on a whole new meaning though. Although it's only 350 nautical miles southeast of Miami, it's another world in every sense of the word. All the birds are different, the trees are different, the sights, the sounds, the ocean itself --it's all completely foreign to what I see normally.

So I boiled some water and took my coffee supplies out onto the rocks to watch the sun rise and the tide roll out. I had a three-mile beach to myself, just me with a French Press and the birds and the fish and the millions of hermit crabs who call that rock formation home.

After a couple of hours, the sun was up and so was everybody else. I couldn't have been any more content.

So now it's back to life.

Many, many thanks to Melody, Franki and Kelly for taking over around here in my absence. They did great and it was a real thrill to come home and see what had been posted to this blog. So starting on August ninth, I'm throwing this back open to anybody who want to give it a whirl. I'll make another announcement in early August, but in the meantime, give it a thought.

Party time!!

You know what happens — you leave your house in the trustworthy hands of a few friends and they use it for party central!! But don’t worry, Paul, this isn’t that kind of party…

July 1st is Canada Day up here in the Great White North. So in honour of Canada’s 142nd birthday, and because I’m a proud Canadian, I’d like to take this opportunity to help you get to know us Crazy Canucks a bit better.

Silly Canadian facts…

1. The province named Newfoundland is named Newfoundland because Canada lost it in the 1960s then found it again only a few months ago. Before that, it was called Land.

2. When in Montreal, make friends by asking every passerby "Hey, Frenchy, where's the Eiffel Tower?"

3. Canadians do NOT pronounce "about" as if it were "aboot". In fact, the Canadian language does not have the word "about". If a Canadian says "aboot," he or she probably means "a large shoe."

4. It is illegal in Canada to use the letter "O" without putting a "U" after it. As in "Colour" or "Poutine" or "Filthy Whoure".

5. Every fact Americans know about Canada was learned on the back of cereal boxes. All American cereal boxes are required to include facts about Canada. So if a Canadian asks you "What do you know about Canada?", an acceptable response is "You contain 190mg of sodium."

No, no, not true!! But I bet you laughed at least once!!

Here are some REAL facts about Canada…

6. We’re the second largest country in the world (after Russia) and make up almost 7% of the total surface of the Earth.

7. The total length of the Canada-US border is 8,890 kms (5,334 miles).

8. Some of the names considered for Canada before we officially became a country in 1867 are Cabotia, Urslalia, Laurentia, Columbia, and Efisga. Huh?! It’s derived from the first letters of England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Aboriginal lands.

9. O Canada was composed in 1880 with music by Calixa Lavallée and words by Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier. In 1908, Robert Stanley Weir wrote the translation on which the present English lyrics are based. O Canada was officially named our National Anthem in 1980.

10. The red & white on Canada’s national flag were designated Canada’s official colours in 1921 by King George V.

11. Canada’s largest island is Baffin Island. At 507,451 square kilometers (184,000 square miles), it’s big enough to hold Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, and Austria combined, with some room to spare.

12. The world’s longest designated street is in Toronto, Ontario. Yonge Street is 1,900 kms (1,140 miles) long.

13. Newfoundland was officially set to become a Canadian province on April 1^st, 1949. Premier Joey Smallwood got the date pushed back a day to March 31^st, to avoid any possible jokes about joining Canada on April Fool’s Day.

14. Newfoundland has its own time zone.

15. Our football field is longer and wider than a US football field. No idea why.

16. Our money comes in lots of pretty colours :-)

16a. Not to be confused with colourful Canadian Tire money…

16b. And we have denominations called a Loonie and a Toonie. Seriously.

17. If you have a torn half of a $20 bill, it’s still worth $10. According to the Bank of Canada, bills that have 3/5s or more of their original size remaining are worth their full value. Bills that are split in half are worth half their amount. So the half of a $5 bill that our Lab Squirt ate and then pooped out is worth $2.50!!

18. The beaver attained official status as an emblem of Canada when an “act to provide for the recognition of the beaver as a symbol of the sovereignty of Canada” received royal assent on March 24, 1975.

18a. Some other animals that are representative of Canada…

Bison — The largest native land animal in Canada. A mature male can be 3.8 metres long, 1.8 metres tall at the shoulder, and weigh up to 720 kilograms. That’s bigger than my smart car!!

Moose

Loon (Paul, you know I had to include a loon!!)

Mosquito (it’s either snow season or bug season here!!)

19. The first people to drive across Canada were Thomas Wilby and F.V. Haney on 1912. Some parts of the country didn’t even have roads yet, and it took them 52 days to make the trip. My smart car goes faster than that!!

20. Montreal’s Olympic Stadium built for the 1976 Olympics was supposed to cost $120 million. By the time it was paid off, the price tag had ballooned to $3 BILLION. Large chunks of concrete have been known to fall off of it.

21. There have been more dinosaur bones found in Canada than in any other country.

Invented by Canadians…

22. Horse race starting gate in the early 1900s by Philip McGinnis of Huntingdon, Quebec.

23. Air conditioning on trains in 1858 by Henry Ruttan of Cobourg, Ontario.

24. Java (universal computer programming language) by Dr. James Gosling.

25. The first human cannonball act, folding theater seats, and the modern parachute by The Great Farini of Port Hope, Ontario.

26. Sir Sandford Fleming proposed the present system of standard time, by which the world is divided into 24 equal time zones.

27. The original McIntosh apple tree was discovered in 1812 at Dundela, Ontario by farmer John McIntosh. It bore fruit till 1908 and died in 1910 shortly after being burnt in a fire.

28. The term Beatlemania was coined by Ottawa journalist Sandy Gardiner.

29. Superman was co-created by Toronto-born artist Joe Shuster and his America friend, writer Jerry Siegal in the 1930s.

30. The first game show on May 15, 1935 was hosted by Roy Ward Dickson. His radio program was Professor Dick and his Question Box.

31. Winnie the Pooh was created by author A.A. Milne and named for Winnipeg, Manitoba.

32. The first light bulb was invented by Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans of Toronto. They had been unsuccessful in exploiting their invention because potential investors believed the idea would be too costly, so they sold their patent so a dude named Thomas Edison.

33. The snowmobile by Armand Bombardier in 1959. He meant to call it a Ski-Dog, but a typo in the printed literature changed the name to Ski-Doo.

34. Although technically basketball was invented in the US — in 1898 in Springfield, Massachusetts — it was invented by Canadian James A. Naismith. 9 of the 18 players in the first basketball game were Canadian too.

35. Students from McGill University in Montreal introduced the game of rugby—played with an oblong ball—to their Harvard counterparts in 1874. They were so taken by the game, they adopted it and it eventually evolved into football.

Canadian foods you have to try…

36. If you like greasy French fries, melted curds, and gooey gravy, you’ll LOVE poutine!! It’s a heart attack in a bowl, and a trademark food in Quebec. If you order it, make sure you pronounce it right (pooh-teen). If you ask for a poo-ten, you’ll get something completely different…

Poutine:

Poutin (as played by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman):

37. Quebec also does the BEST French fries and all dressed hot dogs steamé. The buns are so soft and tender, and the dogs are slathered with mustard, relish, onions, and coleslaw. Mmmmm…

38. And the ultimate Canadian food found right here in Ottawa… BEAVERTAILS!!! SOOOOOOO yummy!!! A beavertail is a long, thin, oval-shaped piece of pastry that’s deep fried and then covered with a variety of toppings. My favourite is the Killaloe Sunrise — lemon juice, cinnamon, and sugar.

If you come to Ottawa, you HAVE to try a beavertail. Preferably from a shack on the canal in the middle of winter to get the full beavertail-eating experience. But really, they’re good in the summertime too :-)

When Barack Obama was in Ottawa a little while back, he ate an ObamaTail — chocolate sauce and whipped cream in the shape of an O in honour of the US President.

So there you go — now you know more about Canada!! If that’s not enough Canada for you, I have a tribute to our nice little country on my blog DesignTies today. Head on over and check it out… especially if you like ice cream!! :-)

Thanks for the opportunity to write a guest post for you, Paul :-) Hope you had a great time in the Bahamas!!

Kelly

The Joy of Cooking

It's amazing to me how many people have idyllic kitchens and can barely serve up a cold bowl of cereal without reading the instructions on the box. This is a sad byproduct of my generation's "equality" effort. "Equality" seems to mean that we order in each night and think cooking is something our mother and their mothers should be doing. Not us. Certainly not us. 

And yet, the status kitchen - outfitted with the best that money can buy - is expected these days. And when paired with owners that can't or won't cook I find it terribly amusing. The culinary equivalent of owning a Maserati without possessing a driver's license. Or worse...no intention of driving. Ever. 

I can't speak for others, but I want those gleaming stainless appliances and sparkling counters so that I can celebrate the joy of cooking. (And, hey, if I can fix my lipgloss in the reflection on the quartz counter, so be it!).  

Which ties in to the looming photo of Giada de Laurentiis above. Some pundits suggest that her popularity is largely due to the fact that she helps perpetuate the fantasy of the gorgeous wife who just happens to be a regular Julie Child in the kitchen. 

Giada has movie star good looks, killer cooking skills and (and this is the kicker here) she's having a great time cooking. She truly enjoys preparing meals for her family and friends, and I can only hope that some of that enthusiasm spills over onto other girls my age. It's a way of giving, connecting, bonding and living. Cooking - and certainly eating - is in fact one of life's most enjoyable daily activities. Doesn't it make sense to master the skill so you can add yet another skill to your mental résumé?

Giada, please....keep doing what you're doing. Keep smiling, keep teaching us the proper way to pronounce "mozzarella" and most of all, keep showing us how you're bringing sexy back to the kitchen. My "sisters" need a little reminder now and then that an apron can indeed look pretty good if you know what you're doing.

{Editorial note: much thanks to Paul for entrusting us with his blog for a few days. It takes courage to let someone hold the reigns on your "baby" while you're away. I am genuinely flattered to be one of the crew he invited to hold court while he's gone.}