always wintering

This week

2010-01-08T22:28:00.002-08:00

Sunshine Coast

2009-07-17T23:13:00.005-07:00

Bowen Island

2009-07-06T20:39:00.007-07:00

hollyburn peak - happy canada day!

2009-07-01T21:40:00.007-07:00

gray jay
raven
red-breasted sapsucker
stellar's jay

Lovely Tofino

2009-04-01T19:19:00.007-07:00

snowy day

2008-12-24T23:30:00.003-08:00

mb-sk-ab

2008-08-26T20:42:00.004-07:00

UBC Farm

2008-07-26T22:03:00.004-07:00

2008-01-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Winterpeg! Christmas '07 y'all!

Assiniboine Park

These people are skating...On frozen water!!! And it's really cold and they're still having a good time. I am struck with awe at this amazing sight.

She must be colder than me. And she has a better haircut.

It's 1953! Can you prove it's not?

I've been told that Burton Cummings is the proprietor...

Somewhat depressing but sloppily artistic.

2007-09-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

It's a mess in here. But I like it. Somehow it makes it easier to start something new. But I'm aware of the fact that I can't live like this forever...But who ever comes over? We're not exactly the entertaining type.

Took a break to make some yummy fruit salad. Such a nice day, this first day of fall...

Stanley Park Carnage

2006-12-26T22:30:00.000-08:00

We headed over to Granville Island today only to discover that everthing was closed...I guess we assumed that every shop would be open today, it being the biggest shopping day of the year. I guess we were wrong! We returned back to the hood and decided to take a walk through Stanley Park to see what state the recent wind storm had left the park in.

It was amazing...Every view that we had come to known over the years of strolling had changed. So many trees were down and everywhere we turned we could see effects of the storm. Giant trees lay overturned with big roots showing and other giant trees stood unscathed. It was interesting to ponder why one tree went down while its neighbour stood standing...Much like a trailer park that just saw a tornado pass through.

Even the infamous bird feeding tree close to Third Beach was chopped in half. We didn't venture too far into the park but we didn't have to; The destruction was evident everywhere.

So many people like us were out snapping pictures and touching tree trunks...It felt somewhat expolitative but it was hard to turn back.

But life in the park went on as usual. Ducks were swimming through the trees that had crashed down into the little creek that feeds out into the ocean; raccoons were scavenging for lunch as if nothing strange had occurred and what were baby swans this summer were displaying their plumage and engaging in mating rituals all around the lagoon. It wasn't overly sad to see the downed trees but more fascinating and beautiful to see how natural this whole event essentially was and peek into the future to see how the new landscape of the park will emerge and feed off of the reinvigorated forest floor.

Christmas at R 'n Rs

2006-12-25T22:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went without a hitch or as much as a smashed glass or burned finger, which is probably a first around here. We slept in and then got mad that we slept in and then got up in a hurry to realize that we didn't really have anywhere to go or anything to do so we made a nice big breakfast complete with some tasty champagne and strawberries.

And the champagne ran through our veins all day, perhaps contributing to the easiness with which everything seemed to happen. We went through a bottle of champagne and a very very tasty prosecco (my favorite) and we're now onto a bottle of cava (with a nice bottle of wine for dinner...sounds so lush! Can't let a day end without some friendly booze-swigging!

Turkey was perfect and the dressing was awesome this year, thanks to a very handy dressing bag sent over for Christmas by Aaron's mom. Worked so well. Green beans with almonds and dill were a hit and the garlic mashed potatoes were classic. Ahhhhh, good thing there is enough leftover for the next couple of days! Already hungry again...Until next year!

another manhattan please, barkeep

2006-12-13T18:35:00.000-08:00

the first day of the new gig...so far, who knows. it's always sad to leave an old, comfortable way of life behind and embark on a new, scary...unpredictable one? but all big choices in life are scary. if they weren't, they wouldn't be rewarding, right? can you think of any big decision you have made that didn't scare the shit out of you? and now i am the new kid again; the one who knows nothing and asks everything; the one to be scoffed at and secretly bashed around behing closed doors. it always seems like a new trap door opens for you to fall into just as you get comfy hanging out on the couch.

Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before

2006-11-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

Just when you have given up hope, a perfect song comes along...

Varadero

2006-10-10T22:02:00.000-07:00

Havana

2006-10-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

New Hair

2006-09-09T23:56:00.000-07:00

Boat People

2006-09-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

Broken finger and all...

2006-09-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

Ah, camping

2006-09-09T23:32:00.000-07:00

welcome baby cohen!!

2006-06-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

2006-04-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

an ode to green, my friend, the magician.
things that make me feel green:
albuquerque
chris
about the moon

2006-04-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

home
sweet
home
sweet

rarest

2006-03-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

For some time I had imagined that you could mix senses. By that I mean that I assumed that our sensory experiences collided and merged and ... fused at a level precious enough to override the strict rules hemming them in. Have you ever smelled a taste or visualized a sound? I remember the revelation I had, while sitting on the carpeted floor of our wood-paneled living room in, oh, let's say...1981. The channel of fuzz, the channel of snow. My leg was asleep and I was staring at this fuzzy snow thinking how remarkably similar this sight and sensation seemed to me, somewhere underneath the rock underneath the tree in the primeval pureness of my pre-jaded juvenile mind. My mother, a competitive swimmer back in her day, used to swear by an expensive salon conditioner meant to reduce the chlorine residue scorned by so many of her ilk. To this day I can conjure the smell of this conditioner as it approximated in my childish mind the exact taste and sensation of a refreshing can of Orange Crush consumed directly after a relaxed summer afternoon spent running through the sprinkler positioned devilishly on our newly shorn back lawn.

2006-03-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, listen. Here's what I think. I think that the time has come for everyone to take a good, long, hard look at relativity. Einstein is not involved in this discussion. You. How hard is your life? Do you have any right to complain? If you have energy, and I am presuming that you do, how should you best expend it? Well, that is up to you...But I am asking that you weigh in at the end of the day...Let's dare to assume that you are the master of your domain, that you are the king of your castle. Is that an outrageous assumption? You choose your behaviour, you choose your reaction, you choose your control...But really, we all have 100% control over our behaviour, no? Ah....but with that decision comes responsibility, there's the rub! I say rub it! Fuck it! Take that responsibility like it was the last chance you ever had to prove that you deserve to exist in this world of muddy hopes and dreams! Own it like a million dollars!

What would Neil do?

2006-03-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

Everybody's going out and having fun...I'm a fool for staying home and having none...
Yes, Neil, I think you may have been perfect. Fancy free? Well, I'm not so sure. I guess back then, in the day, trees were greener and air was stronger. Time was slower and hair longer. The moon was blue and wind was cold. Don't let it bring you down.

try, and you may

2006-03-10T22:54:00.000-08:00

For the time being, I can handle it. But I'm not so sure about the way. Which way? The future burns brightly, but it does not exist. Now is all that really ever is. No pressure.

2006-02-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

2005-12-31T15:14:00.000-08:00

Can you believe the audacity of one who would ask this question of a reader of literature?

Question: Is a story satisfactory if it presents a riddle and then withholds the means of solving it?

Is this not the essence of the life experience? Isn't this the feeling that you should have when you read? I implore you.

more time

2005-09-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

i love you kitty cat!

2005-09-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

as small as a world and as large as alone

2005-08-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

- e.e. cummings

a few pennies more

2005-07-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

Would you buy a penny for a penny? Even if it was 'odd'?
Would you pay more? A penny seems so unbelievably small to me...what can a penny do for you? If you need to collect one hundred of them to give yourself a dollar, and you can't buy much at all for a dollar (except maybe half a load of laundry in the washer), what role does the penny even have anymore? Have you ever dropped a penny and not even bothered to pick it up because it is so worthless? Have you ever seen a lucky penny on the ground and decided that it is not worth the energy expended to bend down and pick it up? I feel bad for the pennies. But I am embarrassed to pick them up. Aaron always picks them up. "One penny closer to Cuba!", he will say. Every time. I am so lucky to be so close to such a person.

that time, outside

2005-06-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

I think the nightly ritual of going for a walk, a slow and aimless walk, has sadly lost its significance to the jaded, fast-moving city folk. My mom's family always invested a great deal of energy on the evening walk. It seemed like a waste of time to me at the time, but looking at it now I see that it was anything but. To get various generations of a family to spend time together, outside, without any form of meddling, artifical influence is a feat that I now believe may be somewhat impossible. These walks took place on farms and in mountain communities and involved grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, cats and dogs. Mostly I remember how the air smelled and how the grass felt, either dry or cool on the evening of a hot summer day, depending on the province this took place in. I remember pounding the dirt, ground with my feet - by this I mean to emphasize the lack of concrete - and not worrying about dirt or bugs or dog slobber or school or anything. It's amazing how those elements - air, earth, sun, sky, stars, the smell and colour of the moment when you can't tell if it is still light or almost dark - are the only things I can understand as timeless. This experience only exists in an urban setting in an extremely muted and astoundingly less awe-inspiring way. I heartbreakingly realize every day that even if I wanted to try to re-create those moments, the people and places that hold them together are long gone.

art school retard

2005-06-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

I really hope that pottery class isn't as freaky as this picture makes it seem. This makes me think of the macrame hangings and crochet owls that my grandma used to make. It also evokes the smell of cigarette smoke, orange shag carpet, red meat, shot glasses, the chicken dance and white tube socks. What's with the coloured hands? Are they supposed to encourage you? That yellow hand looks like it has a thumb growing out of its wrist.

I am going to be optimistic. I am going to try really hard to not try too hard at pottery class. I have a habit of thinking that I am not artistic and/or creative and then overcompensating by trying really hard to evoke those qualities and unintentionally creating absolute drivel. I guess it is still creation...? I get the feeling that creativity should just come to you naturally, flow out of your masterful fingertips with careless ease. You shouldn't have to psych yourself up and force yourself to 'think outside of the box'. If it doesn't come, it doesn't come. However, my art school friend likes to inform me that creativity isn't innate, but is a set of carefully laid out rules or steps, if you will, that, if followed correctly, lead you to the garden of creative energy. I actually find that way more depressing than the idea that I might just not have a creative bone in my body. I like to think that creativity is an energy that some people possess or at least are able to easily tap into, rather than a formula from a manual. Alas, what shall I believe? I dost not knoweth.

Cubbedge, my dear

2005-06-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

2005-06-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

I know you can do it.

2005-06-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

I think I would have really liked this when I was about...seven. Or eight. But I can't quite figure out what it could possibly mean. Are the shoes just ready to prance right into the ocean, eager for a wild fling? Maybe they are shy, testing out the waters with the tips of their toes. I think the way the ribbons are limply lying on the rocks indicate that the shoes are definitely shy. The way the right shoe is kind of supporting itself up against the cliff also shows an aloofness very uncharacteristic of a ballet slipper...I think if there was a unicorn on top of the cliff and a rainbow subtly grazing a darker sky I would have this poster in my room.

2005-06-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

i'll bring home the turkey and you'll bring home the bacon

2005-05-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

if i ever start feeling at home here...psychic suicide will follow. i do feel that this cubicle could do with some more flare. say like a troll doll or a picture of a cat/dog/child/smile. or maybe a postcard...a trip to mexico with the girls! a feather from the hat of that cowboy you met at the stampede. a seashell, a flag, a snowglobe. a miniature eiffel tower. actually, now that i think about it, the presence of those items might make me so wholly depressed that i droop mournfully into an eternal coma. or maybe it would just make me sad. how people collect these meaningless, unoriginal, mass produced items that they imbue with some nostalgic significance. in truth, these items are as generic and predictable as the generic and predictable office furniture that surrounds them. so in a sense they are contributing to the staleness of their surroundings with their feeble attempts at reminding themselves of the pathetic, packaged vacations and 'great', void times that await them at their next annual leave. but then i like to think of myself as an eternal optimist...go team!

2005-05-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

Take these mittens and run away with them! Save them from a life of tedium and endless masochistic depravity! Hide them in your desk drawer and sneak them sips of coffee when no one is looking...Take them up the mountain and let them fly down...Clutch them to your sorrowful chest like a wailing child...Do you see what I mean?

2005-05-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

Can I live here? Please?

2005-05-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

The thought of the day...Wouldn't it be nice to have retractable claws? To climb trees, open cans, puncture skin, effortlessly cling to items of your choice...
But - would they be annoying to maintain? Would you have to sharpen or trim them? Or would they always be perfectly ready, just waiting, perched, invisible inside your fingers?

the first of the worst

2005-05-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

I guess I am in for it now...Another project to leave hanging? A test of my potential? A harmless frittering away of my precious time? Will I win?