At Work Upstairs

There was slightly less laziness today as Ottawa weather turned temporarily to spring.  It was Douglas’ day off so after a lazy start, we slushed our way around the neighbourhood.

Douglas got to have his biannual feed of liver and onions at the Newport. I got treated to a Heath bar from one of the three candy stores in the neighbourhood.

We hunted for a set of kitchen tongs while we boggled at the tone of a conversation between a young woman buying kitchen stuff and a young man telling her she couldn’t buy this item or that item. You’d have thought she was feeding fifty dollar bills to a small bonfire in one of the store’s chafing pans rather than thinking about spending fifteen bucks on a garlic chopper.  We couldn’t decide if the BMW parked in front of the store was theirs or not.

We ended up in the toy store buying this fellow for our nephew with a January birthday. We were sorely tempted by a Lego Troll Assault Wagon but set it aside after visions of what his soon to-be-walking baby brother would do with the trolls.

Then home for more lazing around, more tea, and more novel reading.

Heather

Yesterday I pitched the housework and went to the Gallery to see Snap Judgements: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography. It’s in the city until Jan 6th and I’ll probably find a way to go back for a second look since so many of the photographs have stuck in my mind. 

I’m usually  very careless when I look at a still life but this time I’ve come away from the exhibit with strong memories of the careful composition of Moshewka Langa’s images.  I haven’t found an online version of my favourite (three stacked chairs with bottles) but you can see some of the show’s images here, a review of the New York mounting of the show here, and an interview with its curator here. 

Heather

• Reaction as I open the door to greet addled four-year old who lives down the street: "Eeek.  Eeeek. Eeeek." Parent: "Um, sorry she’s, ah, shy?"
• Parent to kid: "What do you say?" Kid, looking into bag: <happy sigh>. Parent: "Non, on dit merci". Kid trundling away : <happy sigh>.
• Door opening guy to kid: "Are you too old for stickers?" Sugar-hyped tweenie: "Stickers!!! Gnarly!!!!!"
• Smaller than usual Napoleon: "Hey did you give out hockey cards last year too?"  "Yup"  "They’re great."
• Tweenie at the door holding out loot bag as she talks on her cell phone: "Oh. I guess this is rude."

Popular costumes: bugs. unicorns, princesses, pirates, and grim reapers. Worst costume: hoody and jeans set off with a pillowcase.

An SUV may keep the driver nice and high above the plebs but they’re pedestrian-killing machines.

The woman in this article has just died in hospital. It’s not a particularly wide intersection and traffic is controlled by streetlights. There’s lots of foot traffic at that intersection since it leads to the Farmer’s Market. From what I can tell from the various reports, the SUV driver was on one side of the intersection, got the green light, and accelerated without attending to the pedestrian three-quarters of the way across in the opposite crosswalk. How impatient or inattentive do you have to be to not see a pedestrian straight ahead of you in the crosswalk?

Heather

The teenagers were out in force this afternoon as I was on a library run. The mood was set by the two boys who got tangled up in each other bikes as they tried to keep up with (in oh so many ways) the gaggle of six girls on the other side of the street.

Best teenager statement today was collected at the grocery store: “Dude, there aren’t any trees in Lebanon.”

Heather

The leaves in a handful of trees in the neighbourhood have started to turn orange.

Halloween decorations are in the store. Already.

Early this morning, before the cloud disappeared and the shops opened, I walked up to the market to pick up this year’s tomatoes and basil plants. The place was packed–everyone’s pent-up gardening urges popped out this morning with the prediction of hot sunny weekend. More than the usual number of crazy drivers mixed in with people trying to decide about geranium colours and tomato varities. For 10$ I snagged a dozen tomato and a dozen basil bedding plants.

They’re now stuck in soil that’s been getting richer and richer each year with all the the kitchen vegetable waste being composted and turned in along with the occasional bag of manure. I’ve planted them in a different spot in the garden this year; it gets a bit less sun but also doesn’t dry out as quickly. After the first week or so, the plants will be on their own water-wise so the added shade shouldn’t be a huge deal.

In one of the dozens of garage sales popping up I should hunt out an extra bucket since the old pail that has disappeared and we need to make a batch of the foul smelling but very useful comfrey juice to feed the tomatoes. Free, effective fertilizer from a plant that will take over if you you let it.

In a couple of months we’ll be eating tomatoes warm from the vine with shredded basil and goat cheese. All we have to do now is wait.

It happens every March. Despite the four-foot snow banks (most of them filthy grey), temperature rises, the sun shines, and things start to stir. And Canadians begin to perform various “making spring come quicker” rituals. Here’s some of the signs I’ve noticed over the last two days when its gotten to be about 10C (50F)

• some people wearing spring coats and other people wearing full winter gear
• people walking around in shorts
• homeless guy walking around wearing an over-sized beige sweater, a touque, and one rubber boot
• people gossiping on sunny stoops
• people banging ice in their driveways and throwing snow on the road to melt
• a four-year old sneaking out the house in a sun dress
• people wandering about the market area after 5:30
• beginning runners who run/gasp/walk/run up the street
• fast running brooks in the gutters
• morning doves, swallows, and hawks returning
• japanese lady bugs trying things out too early
• bicycles and scooters zipping up and down the road
• smell of rotting, unpicked up dog turds
• windows thrown open despite the mixed aroma

Soon the edges of gardens will be exposed and new green will appear.