Geeky Cat Miusings

What a gorgeous day it was on Saturday! It was a perfect day to go to Parry Sound. It is a long trip up there so the first stop after securing boat tickets is at the Bay Street Cafe for a delicious lunch while gazing at the beautiful lakeshore and watching our boat arriving at the port.

Here I am on the Island Queen taking a cruise around Parry Island admiring the beautiful cottages on the rugged islands of Georgian Bay:

There are 30,000 islands but I only saw a small portion of them.

Parry Sound has Starbucks!!! Coffee break after tour.

And then down to Midland we go, listening to Tom Waits sing/talk in his rasping drawl.

The murals of Midland are one of Ontario’s largest and most beautiful outdoor galleries.

There are 34 murals in the downtown area. They are all within walking distance and beautiful to see.

See more photos from the day trip.

After some many years of wanting to take a hike, I have finally experienced a 13km hike in all its glories and a few of its hardships. I convinced a friend to join me in my trek with the Toronto Bruce Trail Club members…someone who is willing to wake up early on a Saturday morning and take a jaunty ride on a school bus from Toronto to Grimsby.

When we got off the bus we had a pit spot (yes, using the woods to relieve ourselves…which is a bit dangerous since I can’t identify poison ivy) and covered ourselves with bug spray. My first hike started off with a steep climb and the trail had a fair amount of hills to be climbed, slippery paths to slide down, boulders to be negotiated, as well as fallen trees and mischievous tree roots to be dealt with.

The scenery was gorgeous. Every once in a while you could see a neat orchard below the escarpment. We came across Ball’s Falls which is 2/3 the height of Niagara Falls.

At one point I came out of the woods and I found myself in a soya field and started to sing “The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Music”. La la la la.

For about ten minutes the skies were very gray and we heard the roar of thunder. I know that it is very adviseable to head for shelter, but if you are in the woods where can you find shelter?

Then we came across this cute white church surrounded by the sound of bagpipes…and the wedding guests were entering the church in their beautiful attire while I stood there in my muddy clothes.

Then we went to a peach and apricot farm for a little insight into the growing, harvesting, and shipping of peaches. I always wondered why the peaches of my childhood were so fuzzy. It seems that peaches are now defuzzed with jets of water. I bought a basketfull of peaches and ate a whole yummy bunch as I chillaxed after that intense workout.

I felt so good about doing it. Proud of myself really, even though I did not find it very hard to do and I was not sore the next day. Just a sense of achievement and the lasting memories of the beautifully lush landscape.

This week was pretty nice for me — I had the chance to catch up with a few friends. I had my first “picnic” outdoors thanks to this beautiful weather and I was finally able to deliver a Christmas gift to a friend whom I haven’t seen for much too long.

I will go to my first Passover dinner tonight. There are a lot of food restrictions for this religious celebration and I am wondering why something like legumes are not allowed. I was asked to make a green vegetable dish and my first thought was a green bean and cauliflower dish but then I realized green beans are legumes and are not allowed. Well, I hope to learn a bit about this Jewish ceremony and I will let you know how it goes. I would also like to know why celebrants are required to drink 4 glasses of wine during the dinner. I can’t drink 4 glasses of wine — I feel very dehydrated with just one glass of wine so my plan is to bring a thimble sized glass.

But the week was not without its frustrations:

I still haven’t received the computer I ordered over one week ago. I checked the order status online and it still says it is in production. It seems that buying a computer from a store that is close to you may be the best option. You get your computer quicker and if you need to contact someone but they don’t pick up the phone, you can always just go over to the store and give them an ear full.

A week after I brought my papers and photograph to the passport office for a new passport I received a call informing me that I need to retake my photo because I was “grinning” in the photo. When I had the photo taken at a passport photo studio the girl said I must not show any teeth — which I didn’t. The frustrating part of this setback is that I waited an hour at the passport office to see the passport officer who looked at my papers and photo, did whatever he needed to do and took my money. He didn’t say there was any problem with the photo. Shouldn’t the person that reviews your files in the passport office be able to tell you that there is some obvious problem with the documents? If they can’t do that, I think they might as well replace the officers with automatic passport machines (APM).

I hope you enjoy this gorgeous day — I’m heading out for a nice long walk after I do my weekend cleanup.

Sorry, I’ve been too busy to write my blog. Life is a bit of a juggling act. Things are going great. Working hard but making time for playing too.

A quick update:

Going to go paint some ceramic tomorrow with a pal — should be fun. Brunch too.

Seemed to have lost my iPod cable. I think it fell out of my purse… Anyone have a spare?

My desk is collapsing on me. Need a remedy or maybe a new desk.

Need new computer too.

I received notice that I will get salary increase which makes me quite happy. Must celebrate!

Will try to attend Oprah’s New Earth workshop. Read most of book. Should try to complete workbook by Monday.

Jumping up and down is still not a painless option when I’m overjoyed.

Thinking about summer a lot. Thinking about what I want to do this summer. Lots of frolicking about.

I was watching the news this morning and they were talking about making New Year’s resolutions and what you need to do to actually stick to your resolutions. I wasn’t really paying attention because I was trying to remember what if any New Year’s resolution I made last year. I have a feeling that I made some sort of resolution but I can’t remember it at all. The show suggesting writing down your resolutions to make them concrete and that makes sense to me. But if you are like me, that scrap piece of paper is going to get lost in a pile somewhere, never to be found until you do a major cleanup. But I don’t make my resolutions in the standard way — waiting until New Year’s and then starting my good intentions until I fall off the band wagon and then wait until the next New Year to make the resolution again. I prefer to just get started with my resolution the minute I decide that I want to do it. The best time to start is the present. If you get off the band wagon, just get right back on… don’t wait until the damage piles up that you have triple the work to get back to where you started.

I am having a hard deciding on a good resolution to make. I know I would like to have more free time to do the things I like and time to spend with friends but I don’t have a concrete plan yet. I will have to think about it.

The end of the year is a good time to reflect on the year. What was good about it and want wasn’t so hot.

Here is a list of my top five moments in 2007:

1. Laughing and gagging while eating Berts Bots Jelly Beans while watching The Miracle on 34th Street Musical. The box of jelly beans looked very cool… it had a combination of very tasty cherry and strawberry flavoured jelly beans interspersed with utterly revolting earthworm, earwax, soap, and vomit flavoured beans. I bought this for a friend thinking it would be a delicious mix of jelly beans…and that they just called certain ones such vile names as a joke. Nope. It is real. But it was deliriously funny and I’m still chuckling about it.
2. My trip to Picton. Good times. Good times.
3. Listening to Royal Wood coming back from Picton. Now, whenever I listen to the CD it evokes a certain mood that I relish.
4. Getting a job without applying for it. I didn’t even use mind power. It was that easy.
5. Joining a social group. It was easier than I thought and a great way to meet people you would not normally get to meet.

2007 was a great year. Actually, I think it was my best year ever. Thanks to everyone who helped make it such a very good year. And a very big thanks to you who made me laugh, and laugh, and laugh. And you who shared your music and your stories.

Happy New Year to all!!!

• I am really excited about starting my new job this week.
• I broke my 3rd toe last Monday. It seems to be healing very quickly but I am stuck wearing flat boots until my toe is feeling better.
• Thanks to Lisa for letting me use her UGG boots (does anyone know if ugg is short for ugly?)
• Ivana makes the best biscotti in the whole world and she brought me a bunch, which I am trying to eat slowly so that they are not gone by tomorrow
• Thanks to Julian I am now officially on Santa’s Nice List…I’m sure that means Santa will be good to me!
• Some of Santa’s elves are apparently writing lewd letters to some people in Ottawa. Happily I am not the recipient of one of these letters.. probably because Santa wrote to me personally.
• I’m somewhat distraught by the discussion to declare Kyrgyzstan as Santa’s homeland. After a Swedish consulting firm made a number of calculations, taking into account where most children on the planet live and the Earth’s rotation, they determined that the Kyrgyz Republic is the ideal spot from which Santa should begin his round-the-world odyssey. I don’t like the idea of making Santa move from his comfortable abode in the North Pole in the name of efficiency because Santa and his crew shouldn’t be treated like a corporation, but if it is more environmentally friendly well then we may have to consider this. And while we Canadians would love to declare Santa Claus as one of us, we must accept the fact that he really is a citizen of the world and as such can live anywhere he wishes.
• It is a very blustery day with lots of snow falling so I had to miss a Christmas concert this afternoon. It was the only Christmas concert I was planning to attend this year but I am in the mood to see if there is something else playing this week that I can attend. In the meantime I’ll play my Holiday CDs.

December is one big long celebration. Lots of parties and, if there is going to be a party, there is going to be the taking of photographs. Geeky doesn’t like to be in photos so she tries to get out of them as best she can without being missed. When the pictures involves family, she is usually the one taking the photos so it is easy for her to avoid being in the photograph. But have a look at this photograph taken with friends…she managed to get half out lol….

Do you love chocolate? I love good quality chocolate and enjoy trying different brands and mixtures, including chocolate mixed with chili. Thanks to a thoughtful friend of mine who discovered a chocolate lover’s cooking class at the Whole Foods Market, I had the opportunity to join cookbook author Lisa Slater for an evening of decadent chocolate delights. For only $10 you learn much about cooking with chocolate, eat all the heavenly dishes listed below, and receive $5 Whole Foods Market gift card.

I have heard that chocolate can be used in cooking but have never experimented with it and so I was really excited to try the chili con chocolate. There was cocoa powder in the bean chili which was then layered into a tortilla along with guacamole and it was all covered with a chocolate sauce. It was the best chili I ever had!

This was the menu… I don’t think there is any restaurant in Toronto that can offer this kind of dinner theme:

• Salad of shave pears, goat cheese, cocoa-ed nut and chocolate balsamic glaze - I thought this was heavenly!!!
• Three bean chili spiced with cocoa and cocoa nibs in tortilla cups
• chocolate caramel tart
• pots de crème au chocolat
• spicy hot chocolate

I had no idea I could eat so much chocolate in one sitting!

Whole Foods Market overs a variety of courses including lectures on well being. So it is well worth trying one out and using the coupon to pick up one of their prepared foods or specialty items.

Hello Everyone!

I have been busy lately with trips out to Prince Edward County including Picton, Belleville and the Sandbanks Provincial Park. It is really beautiful out there and I loved taking photos. I was very lucky because the sky was just gorgeous:

To end a very fine week I went to a concert given by David Francey in the Newmarket Townhall. David is one of the biggest stars of Canadian folk Music and he has truly mastered the art of storytelling through song. He has won Juno awards in the Roots and Traditional Album of the Year. Do check out his cds but, if it is at all possible, try to see him live as he’s truly incredible on stage.

Tonight I am reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk for my book club meeting tomorrow and I have signed up for a chocolate class for chocoholics this week. So it will be a busy week for me but I hope to keep in touch with you real soon.

Here is a quote from the book:

“..if you’re not on videotape, or better yet, live on satellite hookup in front of the whole world watching, you don’t exist. You’re that tree falling in the forest that nobody gives a rat’s ass about”

Yesterday evening I attended a vegetarian cooking demonstration at a Superstore. The chef prepared Mediterranean roasted vegetable and spinach phyllo pie, tangy Asian noodle dinner soup, teriyaki tofu with whole grain rice stir fry, and Indian beans in a flatbread bowl (a tortilla pressed into a round bowl, sprinkled with chili powder and baked until hard). The chef had many tips for easy cooking, how to modify the recipes to accommodate people with different kinds of tastes and preferences, how to add something to make the carnivore at the table happy, and reducing the amount of time spent in the kitchen.

While the class was not hands-on….which I think is the best way to learn how to cook…it was a good value since the students had a four course meal at the end…without ruining nails or getting dishpan hands.

But the nail polish will have to come off at some point since I have promised to make all four of these recipes. I know you are all waiting for sampling