This was a present from GC. He took advantage of the special offer on Larry’s publisher’s website:
SHIPPING FEE WAVED (sic) FOR THOSE WISHING TO PICK UP AT THE OTTAWA LUNCH (sic).
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I wrote down all my thoughts about my visit to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and it was a big fat mess of contradictions, so I will continue to think on it before posting the second instalment. In other news, our favourite local quilt shop has offered to host our wedding in their shop. We were thinking of getting married in Dundonald Park, across from the beer store on Somerset Street. My Dad asked me what Plan B was, in case of rain, and I said “Umbrellas.” But a quilting shop might be fun too, and dryer if it rains. What (Read more…) you think? Quilting shop or urban park? I have GC’s permission to blog about his penis again. He is going to the hospital this morning for a cystoscopy. That’s where they feed a camera through your penis and take pictures of your bladder. GC’s kind of nervous about . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Wedding, penis, knitting and fine arts
I’m still mulling over my visit to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – I’ll write Part II of that post once I figure out what I think. In the meantime…here’s something fun for you to do on May 1st if you happen to be in Ottawa. Gil’s Hootenanny, an evening of “Songs of Protest, Songs of Hope”: Wednesday May 1st, 7:30 p.m. at the Glebe Community Centre, 175 Third Avenue This is an annual event in honour of Ottawa activist Gil Levine, who loved folk music sing-alongs. This year’s Hootenanny features Kristine St-Pierre, Mighty Popo, Three Little Birds, the Shout Sister (Read more…) Maria Dunn, and Terry Tufts. It’s hosted by the Spirit of Rasputin’s Arts Society and is sponsored by CUPE and PSAC National Capital Region. Tickets are $10 each (kids 16 and under are free) and are available at the Ottawa Folklore Centre or online at http://rasputins.ca/events/gils-hootenanny/. . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Something to sing about
We have a bird perch in the shower – Simon showers with me, Kazoo showers with GC, and Oboe is versatile. Anyway, yesterday, after Simon and I finished our shower, we saw that Duncan was crouched in the doorway looking profoundly disturbed. A few weeks ago, a hinge for one of the mirrored panels on the medicine cabinet broke. GC fixed it a couple of days ago and leaned it against a bathroom wall where it was drying before being re-installed. I guess Duncan had never seen himself in a mirror before, so he didn’t recognize himself. All he knew . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Duncan meets his match
We went to a great little event the other night at Patrick Gordon Framing. It was called Curated Castoffs: Art & Decor Edition. It was kind of like a collaborative garage sale where everything’s free. It works like this: At 7:00 pm everybody shows up with five art + decor items for swapping: prints, paintings, mirrors, frames, wall hangings, fabric, ceramics, pillows, lamps, taxidermy heads, etc. No junk. You pay a cover charge of $8, turn over your items, and spend the next hour or so drinking wine, enjoying the tunes, socializing and checking out what everybody else brought. Then . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Curated Castoffs
Ever have one of those days when all the good stuff is happening at the same time but you can’t be everywhere at once? Last night was like that for me. I had to decide between going to my writing class, going to Irene’s Pub for the Chopper McKinnon tribute, or going to Parliament Hill to watch politicians vote on whether to extend human rights to transgender people. I decided on Parliament Hill, and GC came with me. We’ve been to Parliament Hill many times, but this was our first time in the public galleries, watching democracy unfold. We sat . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Human rights all round
GC and I went to the Nordik Spa up in Chelsea. It’s about a 20-minute drive from downtown Ottawa. Neither of us had ever been there before, or to any spa for that matter. We went for The Baths, which are a set of indoor saunas and outdoor pools of varying temperatures. The recommended technique is you do a hot treatment, like a sauna, for about 15 minutes, followed by a cold treatment, like a plunge in an icy outdoor pool for 10 seconds, followed by 15 minutes in a relaxation area. The relaxation areas include comfy chairs by a . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: First visit to the Nordik Spa
GC got a sliver in his foot from the hardwood floor. He said it felt like a long, skinny sliver. There wasn’t much to see, but he was limping and wincing. Later, when we were getting ready for bed, we saw that his foot was swollen. I insisted we go to the hospital because he’s diabetic and you should never ignore a foot problem if you’re diabetic. (My friend Jeremy was diabetic and he ignored a foot problem and the next thing we knew, they had to cut off his foot. And then, to make matters worse, he died.) . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: We know how to have fun I’ve set up a google alert for ‘transgender’ so I can keep abreast of transgender news and activity on the internet, since my favourite part of my new job is about transgender stuff. So, on my first day with the new Google alert, I was google-alerted that Ivan Coyote and Rae Spoon were playing a FREE [...] . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Gender Failure This was a busy weekend – we went to a friend’s for dinner on Friday, then breakfast club and a vet appointment for Duncan on Saturday, and the vintage clothing sale and the Ottawa Parrot Club birdie garage sale on Sunday. Plus, you know, the not-so-much-fun things like laundry, grocery shopping, meals and housework (ha [...] . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Aliens, Duncan, and the Baby of Science
I had the interview on Friday afternoon, and then on Saturday, when I was at Duncan’s vet’s office, I got the call offering me the job. I announced to a waiting room full of strangers “I got the job!” and they all cheered. It’s not just any job, either – it’s a good job! It’s with a non-profit organization that is aligned with my personal and political values, and I like the people I’ve met who work there. I’m going to be doing community development work with transgender people and women with HIV/AIDS, so the work itself will be . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: I got a job!
GC made an apple pie a couple of weeks ago, and being the clever guy he is, he went gadget-shopping first. Then we prepared our very own infomercial, complete with cameo appearances by some of our animal friends. (My favourite part is the last five seconds.) Incidentally, since making this video we’ve discovered that you can buy this amazing cast iron gadget at Lee Valley Tools for $28. Or, like GC, you can buy it at Benix (a kitchen shop in Carlingwood Mall) for $14.99. We’ve also discovered it works on potatoes, too.
They said it was going to be a drab autumn, on account of the drought, but it was actually quite dramatic. My friend Nancy says every autumn has its own dominant colour, and I think this year it was orange. I don’t know if there actually were more orange trees this year or if I was just more inspired to photograph the orange ones. Autumn is such a bittersweet time of year. It’s so stunning and gorgeous as it ripens to the peak of perfection, but at some level I always dread the peak because I know how brief . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Melancholy Autumn
There’s this three-storey apartment building at the corner of Caldwell and Merivale, on the edge of the Experimental Farm, right by the path where I go for walks. There are nine balconies facing the Farm, and sometimes, if I’m lucky, I catch glimpses of people living their lives. There used to be an old woman who lived on the second floor. She dressed in the same clothes every day: a shapeless black house dress and a worn grey sweater. She wore thick hose and sensible black shoes. She was stooped over and her old grey hair was always pulled back . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Throwing things off balconies
Last night I attended a free session at our local mental health facility. It was called Getting the Low Down on Substance Use, and was presented by Michael Coughlin, a registered nurse with the Royal’s Substance Use and Concurrent Disorders program. I was interested because I have a young friend who uses heroin. He was kicked out of the 28-day program last year for using drugs but he speaks highly of the program and its staff, and says he’ll be back someday. I consider this a very high endorsement. Coughlin started out by saying that this session was about the . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: The lowdown on substance use
Astronaut Love Triangle was brilliant and superb and I love them more each time I see them. They’ve added a couple more pieces to their repertoire (I especially liked the Roller Derby Girls) and they’ve modified at least one piece to reflect changes in the composition of the band (the lovely, irreplaceable Aggie has moved on to other creative pursuits). Despite my outrageously high expectations for this show, I was not disappointed. The only thing I’d change about Astronaut Love Triangle is that they’d play more often and have longer shows. But those are the same complaints everybody has always . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Astronaut Love Triangle thrills audiences!
Yesterday I watched a nasty old lady beat my swap box to death with her cane. Rosie and I were out for an afternoon walk in the Enchanted Forest. As we rounded the curve in the path, I saw the tree upon which the swap box lives. And there was an old lady viciously smashing the swap box with her cane while her little dog waited patiently nearby. Even after the swap box was on the ground in pieces, she continued to smash it, and as I got closer I could hear her cursing “Goddamn idiots!” My first thought . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Nasty old lady kills swap box
I won the grand prize in the MoxyMaüs draw! 62 socks! Every pair of socks in their collection! I’m celebrating my good fortune by having a little contest of my own. MoxyMaüs is a local sock company. The socks are designed here in Ottawa, but made in Turkey, which, apparently, is the Sock-Making Capital of the World. My grandfather’s best friend owned a sock company in Montreal. I think it was called Bonnie Belle. Every year he would give my sister and me several pairs of socks for Christmas, but I didn’t appreciate them. As a little kid, I thought socks . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: I won 62 socks!
I tried to be philosophical when I got home from my walk yesterday morning and discovered the Internet was down. “I’ll work on my sewing project,” I thought. But first I needed to find out the average waist size of a three year old, as that was the next step in my sewing project. How did we figure out stuff like that before the Internet? Did we actually go outside and measure three-year-olds? All in all, I think I did admirably well without the internet, which was down for about eight hours. But I missed a lot of world . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Cockroaches, cemeteries and space punk
I’ve been following the sex assault trial of Steve Desjourdy, the Ottawa police officer who cut off the t-shirt and bra of a young woman while she was pinned to the cell block floor by several other officers. This case made headlines a few years ago, and I blogged about it more than once. The young woman was charged with assaulting a police officer, but the original judge dismissed the charges because of the conduct of the officers, calling their behaviour malicious and the charges a travesty. He made the cell block video publicly available, and we all saw what . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Justice vs. Verdict
GC and Rosie and I installed a swap box in the Enchanted Forest in honour of Elmaks. Turns out none of us are especially handy with a drill. Rosie played the opposable thumb card (again), but GC and I didn’t really have an excuse. On the plus side, you learn a lot about how to do a thing from doing it the first time, and now GC and I are much better at installing swap boxes. The Enchanted Forest runs beside Fisher Avenue, on the edge of the Experimental Farm. I picked a tree that is smack dab in the . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Our first swap box
It was on this day, a year ago, that Ottawa’s favourite street artist hiked into the forest, lay down under a tree, and died. His parents recently sent me a photograph of his headstone, along with an explanation of the symbols, and kindly gave me permission to share it here. in the top left corner is Lady Justice, because fairness & equality were very important to him; in the top right corner is the Moon he used in his paintings. in the bottom left and right corners are cats guarding him; he loved cats. between the cats is the Heart . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Remembering Elmaks
Cara asks “What do you like most about Ottawa?” I’ve lived my whole adult life, as well as portions of my childhood, in Ottawa. The resulting sense of familiarity is intimately tied into everything I like about Ottawa, as well as everything I don’t like. I like that whenever I walk around Centretown, I am entertained by a lifetime of memories. I spent a lot of time on McLeod Street, Lisgar Street, and Bank Street. I stayed up all night playing board games in a little apartment on Bronson, I partied in Dundonald Park, I met my son’s father . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Ask Me Anything #9: What do you like about Ottawa?
I’m taking a brief break from the Ask Me Anything series to tell you that at 7:50 this morning, my favourite son will turn 30 years old. (He’d still be my favourite even if I had more than one, but I probably wouldn’t say it out loud.) It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I was young and he was a newborn, so it’s a little surreal that all of a sudden he’s 30 and I’m the mother of someone whose hairline is receding. It’s like we both catapulted through life and now I’m living in a cliche . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: I did a bunch of things
Here’s the rest of the pottery we made at Chandler Swain’s Pottery Camp. Mostly I see these pieces as funny little wobbly things that we made with our very own hands. Their charm lies in their obvious lack of proficiency. The day we picked them up, I made stuffed green peppers for dinner and I was scanning about for something to cook them in when I noticed my homemade casserole dish. It was the perfect size for two green peppers. I never expected to actually cook food in any of my pottery pieces. I was (and continue to be) impressed . . . → Read More: knitnut.net: Homemade pottery |
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