for now, this is a Prince blog.

if getting michael jackson tickets and not getting to see michael jackson was the biggest concert let down in my wee little life, then getting prince tickets and going to see prince was the best consolation prize.

prince was PHENOMENAL.

from the moment he popped out of the floor of his namesake symbol shaped stage, with gold glittered (well fitted) pants, the crowd was HIS. he looked great, he sounded incredible, he was epic and intimate at once. he played four different guitars, he did three costume changes, he danced his fancy footwork from one end of that swirly stage to the other.

he did an mj cover of don't stop 'til you get enough and he did an explosively epic version of when doves cry during his second encore when the crowd REFUSED to go home. seriously, the house lights were on and people were mopping the stage but we all kept clapping and screaming and he came back out and that telling guitar solo started and i actually. lost. my. mind.

even now, the morning after, with my sore throat and my slow ass version of itunes downloading the best of prince album, when i think about last night i get goosebumps. THAT is what concerts are all about.

i actually transcended to a higher plane. prince was there, singing raspberry beret.

dvp at dawn

from this distance the flow of cars is hypnotic,

from this distance i excuse myself from their small important differences in speed and style.

a steady stream of lights
a unified forward intention

if their end places are different you wouldn't know from looking,
only guessing at the improbability of one final destination,

reachable by faith and morning commute.

claude and richard say goodbye.

upon hearing of claude's impending departure, richard felt it necessary to impart some whale wisdom. he was surprised then, to learn that claude had some wisdom of his own.

"see the world," said richard, "the one out there? it's big, claude. big and full of possibilities"

"i know richard", said claude, "but in all the world there's no other you"

the passing of fall (the visiting of mother)

my mom comes every year at this time and it's always a whirlwind of talking, eating, and walking outdoors. november is the last month you can pretend it's going to be fall forever and we certainly take full advantage of that - bundling her up in her bc warmest and taking her to all our favourite natural spots.


we supplemented our walks with homemade grub and warm drinks and literally watched as the last leaves fell from their reluctant holdings.

thanks for coming, mom! fall in ontario bids you, and the rest of us, adieu.

menu

lentil curry with naan.

(and the part of november when we still sat outside to eat lunch).

out to lunch

the place i work, the actual physical landscape where i go every day of the week to do my job, is unbelievably beautiful.

the truth about occupations, even if you enjoy them, is that they're work. deadlines and accountability and expectations can add up to a healthy sum of stress no matter who you are and how many downward dogs you do.


but when you work in a space as magical, as wild, as engaging to all of your senses,


and when you can walk out of your office and into that space for your lunch,

or for a stroll,


or to sit on the ledge of the north slope and marvel at the fall colours - weaving bracelets out of grass,

you count your lucky stars that somehow the world conspired to bring you there. and you think that any sort of stress can't help but be beaten back by the patient, gracious grandeur of nature.

remembering

that moment of silence gets me every time. every time. it's the collective nature of it for sure like how i tear up listening to choral singing but it's also the idea that we take a minute, just one, to remember.

sometimes i wonder what i'm supposed to be remembering so i think about wars present and wars past and millions upon millions of people losing their lives or taking lives or saving lives and soon i'm overwhelmed.

and grateful.

and humbled.

it's ironic (or maybe not) that the deepest, darkest, scariest place you can attempt to go to connect with humanity, sits completely in silence.

moe moves abroad.

one last look out the window before it's time to leave for switzerland!

travelling by mail it's important to have all your paperwork in order.

moe wonders if he shouldn't have removed his tam for the passport photo. concluding he looks stately, he dismisses the thought.

time to prepare the care package. will a turtle snack keep in the mail?

goodbye, moe! don't forget your manners and your good breeding.

top, middle, bottom.

this is our favourite tree on the lawn of our apartment. it's an american beech with a large door in its trunk where lightening or fire has gouged its tattoo. mushrooms grow in there and sometimes people put their junk but we always fish it out. we do other things to look after it also like sit under its low sweeping branches and have picnics.

ain't she a beaut?! she's getting ready for the cold right now with her yearly performance of brilliant orange art. even in winter, i will stop to remember she's in there.

shiny happy grapefruit

i'm reading a book called 'you are here', subtitled 'discovering the magic in the present moment'. the delicious (and humorous) allure of judging that title aside, i do think there's something to this notion that you aspire to live your life, fully, in the here and now.


there are times it's easier to live in this mindful way. like when you're preparing a grapefruit on a saturday morning and you find yourself completely taken by its smell and its shape and the way the sun is drawn to it like something it remembers creating.

you notice the asymmetrical segments of citrus, hinting at hearts or teardrops, and you understand in that moment, there's nothing more worthy of your full attention.

writing.

"all that i hope to say in books, all that i ever hope to say, is that i love the world."

e.b. white

boo.

jessica and i went as black swan together to pay homage to our love of ballet and theatrics. also our love of each other and halloween. it was a great costume because it was comfortable enough to party in but elaborate enough to feel like you were really going to town.


we put our faces on together in front of my bedroom mirror, all tutus and tights and a circle of makeup. bottles and powders and liners with brushes. silver glitter. hairsprayed buns.


HALLOWEEN! what of it, eh? what of the joy in playing dress up, and the value of pretend in our too often serious adult lives. i can't wait to start planning for next year! or, you know, for wearing this outfit to the library.

caramel candied pears (trick or treat)

yeah yeah okay fine, this will do.

friggen fall, eh? i'm reading 'a moveable feast' by hemingway now and as life and coincidence would have it, he spends a whole passage talking about fall.

"you expected to be sad in the fall. part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. but you knew there would always be spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen."

i know just what you mean, ernest. but aren't the colours fine.

we make teepees out of found objects

we start with some popsicle sticks as the teepee poles, frame it in birch bark and add some stones and acorns as little door stoop decorations.

jeremy draws a mother and child to live inside and a father on the roof to do some repairs but the light by that time isn't conducive to picture taking so we use our memories to mark the moment as one for the record books.

then we say LUCKY US for the fourth time that day.

someone's in the kitchen

i've gone crazy for baking loaves. or to be more accurate and way less dramatic, i've baked three loaves in the past two weeks.

the first was a marmelade tea bread i made for philip and the second was a marmelade tea bread i made for myself and the third was a molasses spice bread i made to use up the molasses from my other recent adventure in cooking - baked beans.


this isn't baking bread, to be sure, but it is a lot like it in the sifting together of the dry ingredients and the whisking together of the wet ingredients and the nice and accurate blending together of the two.

also the pan they bake in and the way they make the house smell both seem to be bread-like qualities, don't you think? mmmmm, baking things. and then mmmmm, eating them.

the trail

there is nothing, nothing, like a walk in the woods.

ode to the outdoors (and a sunset, for steph)