I have a sucky camera, sometimes it doesn't work. When it does work the batteries often decide to die. But I try and bring it places anyway to capture wee snippets of my life and the people in it.
Renee-the-roommate and I getting groceries at Superstore
Katie and I went to the dog park by the University of Manitoba. Here is Katie and IV playing fetch.
And last, but not least...my sister and soon-to-be niece or nephew. I got to feel them kicking, like 5 whole times! It was incredible. I've already read "Snuffy the Dog" to the stomach and I think we are ready to try some Jane Austen next.
I just started working as a recreation facilitator at a nursing home. I am only a casual which means my hours are generally unknown, although I've been spending a lot of time the last couple of weeks getting to know the residents (there are over 150) and learning what each one likes in their coffee or tea. And for some, their preference changes quickly, like the gentleman who always asks for sugar in his tea, and then proclaims moments later that it is too sweet and he would like a fresh cup.
I've quickly been gaining a collection of hilarious one-liners from certain residents at my new job...here is a small sampling:
Male resident whistles at me.
Me: "Did you just whistle at me?"
Resident: "No"...(Long Pause)..."I whistled at your rear-end."
Male resident states that his pants are falling down Another female resident nearby responds: "Oh Goody, a bum!"
I just realized that both of these one-liners refer to the butt....next time I will try and have more variety.
I am thankful for this job.
Being busy with work has been a refreshing if somewhat exhausting change from my lovely hiatus. It has also been a wee bit stressful, and my body has succumbed to a germ and as a result I am sick and cankersore ridden. I am also grumpy, which is an even less endearing quality, but in the spirit of honesty and vulnerability, I feel like sharing.
Grumpy, sick Jennie crawls under her fuzzy green blanket and thinks about how nice it would be to live closer to her mother, so that she could have tea made for her, someone to tuck in the blankets and remind her to gargle with salt water.
Grumpy, sick Jennie watches Grey's Anatomy.
Grumpy, sick Jennie wishes she had a vanilla milkshake, even though she knows the sugar would likely just prolong the illness.
Grumpy, sick Jennie wishes she had caught the right bus this morning so that she could sit beside the cute boy, instead of catching the wrong bus and having to run 10 blocks to work.
Grumpy, sick Jennie likes this music, even though it reminds her about the reality of Manitoba winters, as depicted below by The Wilderness of Manitoba.
Don't worry. It's still Autumn. For now.
Friday, September 10, 2010
It's a sleepy Friday evening, with gray skies and swaying trees.
I am about to commence a baking spree tonight. On the agenda is a recipe called, "Pretty Little Brownie Bites" compliments of The Pioneer Woman.
"It's close to hopeless, for what I want to say the red-bird has said already, and better, in a thousand trees."
-Mary Oliver
Anyone want to go on a nature walk?
Saturday, September 04, 2010
The Acorn is one of my favourite bands to listen to during the Autumn season.
I like corn.
I start work in a week.
I watched Whip It the other day and liked it muchly.
I miss Nelson in the fall.
"I am struck by how sharing our weakness and difficulties is more nourishing to others than sharing our qualities and successes." -Jean Vanier (Community and Growth)
It was raining yesterday as I made my way out of the airport with bags in tow. I paused to get my jacket out of my suitcase, and then I dashed across the street to catch the bus. The bus came, and I ran, and my shoe went flying, and my knee went bang. I "oooof'ed" as my luggage flew about, and the bus driver smiled sweetly and handed me a transfer.
I recommend Green Tea and Kathryn Calder in a patch of sun...cheap therapy for public humiliation.
It is September 2010. I thought I would dread this day. I thought I would wish back past days. I thought I would want to go to school forever. But in reality, I am thrilled that this year will include paper work that will reap financial stability as opposed to letter grades. My well-wishes for those of you about to embark upon another year of academic ventures. May you fare better than I.
Can it be the changing of seasons has already begun? I sit under a warm blanket with my cup of tea, looking into the parking lot of my parent's new townhouse complex. It is +15 here in Kamloops and I have cold hands. Can you hear the crackle of change in the air? It is frightening and exciting and inevitable. I welcome this next season of life. I look forward to whatever the heck it is that I will encounter. Although I hope that it includes some of my favourite things, such as music and tea, laughter and friends, last trips to the farmers market, harvesting my wee garden, and planting bulbs for next spring's enjoyment.
"I’ve never been the one to shout because I listen I don’t like to raise my voice Maybe I should learn to lose my inhibitions and let my feelings make some noise You don’t know what I’m going through When silence is all I give to you" Jack Savoretti - from "Between the Minds"
I am flying back to BC in two days. Not to my hometown, but to a different city, with different people and far less beautiful scenery. My parents are moving tomorrow, and I am going to meet them in Kamloops to provide some muscle. Don't worry, I will do push-ups on the plane.
This is how I plan to amuse myself while visiting this fair city.
Oh yeah.
"You said this is a used up world You follow the river and your home is in the mountains You've forgotten your questions lost your purpose The beauty is gone and this house still smells and sounds like you all your pillows and records" -Aidan Hawken
Do you ever feel anxious, or uneasy, or uncertain, or just plain out of sorts?
I'm having one of those days.
But I don't want to talk about my blah stomach feeling anymore...I avoid.
Wanna see what I got for my birthday?
Yes you do...
A tea set from Sasha
A herb planter from Sasha
A flower pot from Sasha
A Chinese mug from Larisa...
A felted purse that my mom made (please pardon the terrible self-portrait...my camera is on permanent zoom).
*Unpictured: Flowers, a pottery dish, and Donna's soaps that I got from my sister (all of which can be found at the local farmer's market), as well as a Starbucks gift card from Renee.
What lovely people I know.
In other news, I have had the pleasure of visiting with old friends the last couple of days...in particular, Allie and Evan and their one month old baby girl!
I love babies! I love the natural process of birth and parenting, and togetherness. It's so beautiful.
I, like my garden, am also growing as I celebrated my 24th year yesterday. I'm hoping this is the year that I no longer get mistaken as a teenie bopper.
Listen to this lovely artist who hails from the granola belt of Winnipeg, aka: the Wolseley neighborhood.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
I'm planning a picnic today. It is going to be a solitary excursion, as the people in my life all have important things to do today. I tend to avoid important things. Possibly a result of my Phlegmatic-Melancholic personality.
I'm thinking Guacamole, kettle chips, natural root beer, cold chicken, carrot sticks, and perhaps some peas from the garden...Anyone want to come along? Please say yes! I will read Farley Mowat aloud, and force you to listen! It's a steal of a deal.
NOTE: To watch this video in its full capacity, you may want to watch it in Youtube by double clicking on the screen.
Monday, July 26, 2010
A little ditty by a fella named Will.
Wasn't Will Sturgeon the name of "The Fish" in the Gordan Korman McDonald Hall books? If you haven't read them (I recommend them), they are about two teenage boys, Bruno and Boots who live at a boarding school in Toronto and pretty much get into trouble every day by the principle, Mr. Sturgeon. Did you know Gordan Korman wrote his first novel when he was 16 for a creative writing assignment?
I digress...
According to the The Uniter: Winnipeg's Weekly Urban Journal (aka: the University of Winnipeg's student newspaper) "the class of 2010 might be in for the worst employment climate young people have seen since the Second World War." As silly and as heartless as it sounds, I find it comforting that I am not alone in this predicament.
At least I don't have to wear a dress. Some things have improved since the 1940's.
I feel like a Boylan's Creamy Red Birch Beer would be a satisfying conclusion to this day. There is a certain allure to drinking tree roots in the middle of a thunderstorm.
"Many times around I am lost and then I'm found But i don't know who I am in this world." -Nicole Reynolds
Poetic lyrics anyone? I like this guy. Oh Jeff, come to Winnipeg and melt my cold heart like the sun melts snow in spring.
I was the grateful recipient of a free Cinnamon Dolce Latte at Starbucks tonight, and consequently have nervous energy radiating from my knee caps and oozing out of the strands of my hair.
Too. Much. Caffeine...
One day I plan to build up a sufficient tolerance.
I have participated slightly in Fringe-ing activities, but I do not think I can sufficiently give any kind of review, as I have only attended one show thus far, and hence have nothing to compare it to (save the few shows that I took in last summer). But I can say that I greatly enjoyed the one show I have seen: "The Plank", and recommend it to anyone who enjoys pirates, woman power, and aerial dancing. *****FIVE STARS *****
*I went to camp. *I touched the bosom of a Famous Five at the Legislative building.
*I searched for jobs.
*I contemplated working at Subway.
*I read the news.
*I bought groceries and made a yummy salad.
*I got a book out of the library yesterday and read it this morning.
*I realized that indulging my reading habits is good for my soul, but bad for my to-do list.
My mom will chuckle at the eclectic nature of this young Irish chap. His hair sticks out and his eyes scrunch shut, but his music is genuine.
"All the words I mean to say they never come out the right way...there are sides that I could show you, but they'll never come out the right way, cause I've been in pieces."
Last Days Things are changing; things are starting to spin, snap, fly off into the blue sleeve of the long afternoon. Oh and ooh come whistling out of the perished mouth of the grass, as things turn soft, boil back into substance and hue. As everything. forgetting its own enchantment, whispers: I too, love oblivion why not it is full of second chances. Now, hiss the bright curls of leaves. Now! booms the muscle of the wind. Mary Oliver
I just have to say, I love this picture of my brother, despite the blurriness that is an iphone picture.
*I'm sniffing mucous and coughing up a persistent throat tickle. *I had an emotional day yesterday. Damn you, feelings. *I am a bad ass because I said "damn" and "ass". *I went to St. Benedict's Table last night, and was uplifted. *I got locked out of the house this morning at 7:30 in my pajamas and bedhead. I sat on the front steps for an hour and then I crawled in the kitchen window. *I am going to be an aunty. And this pleases me very much.
"love! not just some passing moment a glance however open but some deeper compassion radiating permanency not some morbid curiosity some gushing pity incompetent naivete
the cry of burnt out eyes wounded bodies addicted minds cravings can only be answered by some deeper love in which is felt a strange presence of the eternal a hope a new security not some passing glance but deeper bonds unbreakable." -Jean Vanier
These days I have been floundering a little. Searching for a job has been causing me to search for my existential purpose in life, and I am unsure of the direction I am supposed to go. There has been no sign post, no audible voice, no words drawn in the sand directing me. What did I want to do with my life again? I forget.
Despite the lack of an occupation...and the subsequent worries that co-exist with this type of lifestyle, I have been keeping busy with little adventures that I have been longing to do the past two years and couldn't due to the daily horrors of studenthood.
Adventures: 1. Trips to the library...I like to sit at the tables in the back on the fourth floor. The sun streams in, and the smell of musty non-fiction is more enjoyable than I remember it being. Perhaps because the context is different.
2. Gardening. Aside from my daily garden adventures, which include pulling up dead Boxwood that has roots the size of a refrigerator, I have been to two gardening workshops at Sage Garden Herbs, a local greenhouse that is the delight of my heart. The last workshop I went to was called the Summer Solstice Workshop, and we learned about magical herbs, and danced around a bonfire of burning embers. I made a pot with a strawberry plant, marigolds, a sunflower, a pepper plant, a flower called Midnight Candy that blooms only at night and smells spicy sweet, and some other plants that I can't remember. Here is a picture of my pot. Please note that it is in cauldron. How else are magical plants to be grown?
3. Reading. I just finished The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. Here is a sampling of the poetic passages that are in this little gem of a book: "The woods will have their own way even with those obvious dandelions. In a little while all that obtrusive yellowness and complacency will be gone and we'll find here misty, phantom-like globes hovering over these long grasses in full harmony with the traditions of the forest."
