Almonds and string cheese

It’s Monday night.  Post-work in a rare spurt of energy, I’ve gone to yoga, done my laundry, hit the grocery store and made a beer-cheese bread (with manchego and jalapenos).  As the title of the post suggests, dinner was almonds and string cheese (with some Zinfandel).  I did have some hummus and pita earlier, so the dinner was my dynamic than you think!

Sometime between laundry runs and bread-making, I caught the cat (Yota) staring longingly at her catnip worm (see below).  I was overwhelmed because the sight of her summed up how I feel lately: longing.  A longing for…many things (not catnip or worms).  Longing creates a void that is not easily filled.

 

I’ve recently come across these two quotes about longing that stuck:

• If some longing goes unmet, don't be astonished. We call that Life. (Anna Freud)
• People of this world are deluded. They're always longing for something - always, in a word, seeking. (Bodhidharma)

I can buy this, that I am seeking, deluded, and just experiencing life.  Don’t we all long for something?  For some it’s birthday cake or a new computer or a car stereo, for others it’s a child.  Big and small, the sense of longing pervades life.  Doesn’t it?

I long to know the wisdom of the Druid hamster…

Canadian street stuff

I’m sitting in the Austin airport as I type this.  In my travels around Austin I got a total of three photos of stickers or street art.  Toronto on the other hand was rife with these street art things!

Not sure what this means but it was everywhere.  I didn’t love it but thought I must include it because it was so pervasive.

This little heart was also pretty common (not quite as common as the black and white bird though). Here it’s in cardboard but it was also a sticker in some spots and just painted on in others.

I love the robot below but I was equally intrigued by the OperationMaple.com sticker (Take Canada Back!)…

College St was where the real action was though.  I found this:

and my favorite – the two rabbits:

There were other little ones here and there:

I was pleased with the quantity and quality of finds in Toronto.

Toronto – various

As opposed to taking photos of buildings or neighborhoods or historical things, I end up taking photos of random signs, public art and so on.

For example, these two larger than life monsters below were in the Distillery Historic District:

I found this “no trespassing” sign amusing because it looks like you aren’t supposed to lightly dance.  I don’t think it’s very intuitive…

These turtle signs requesting motorists to drive slowly were all over.  At first I thought it was just the work of one specific neighborhood, but they were everywhere.

This sign was slightly perplexing – was the kid looking for water or playing with a sling shot before he was zapped for touching something?

So, I did take a photo of one building.  I walked through a neighborhood to get to an Indian area of Toronto.  This neighborhood had lots of row houses and duplexes.  The duplex below stood out because the two owners clearly did not agree on the design!

When walking on Spadina Ave, I passed a store that had this human model in the window (see below).  Either the owner is really prudish or there is something really surprising beneath that square of paper towel!

I do have some evidence that I was there – even though there are no Toronto-specific things in the background…here’s me!

The public library had some interesting elements on the building – this owl was my favorite:

On my way to breakfast one morning I passed Wendy’s, which had this little mural on its external wall. I liked it not only because I know a Wendy (and she’s amazing), but also because it’s cool – it has such a laid back feeling. 

Finally, this is what I saw on my way home somewhere over the midwest:

Stay tuned for the final installment – Toronto street art!

Toronto Tourist

In Toronto I walked around fairly aimlessly.  I picked a restaurant or a neighborhood and just set out.  I didn’t do any of the touristy stuff like go up in the CN Tower or take the ferry to the islands.  I just walked and ate basically.

On the way to the Distillery historic district I popped into the St. Lawrence Market – it was Sunday and it was the  “Sunday antique market.”  In perusing the items (see the three photos below), I didn’t find much that appealed to me but it was fun to look at everything. 

This is the first time I saw a carving made out of deer antlers – I didn’t buy it.

One of my favorite parts of Toronto was the transit!  They have streetcar and subway!

The streetcar was fun, extensive, and fascinating.  As you can see from the photo below, there are shelters/stops but because the streetcar runs in the center of the street customers have to mosey out into the travel lane to get on it.  I don’t know that such a “hazardous” boarding method would be allowed in the US. 

Here’s what it looked like inside the streetcar:

Extensive! Below is a mix of subway and streetcar but, of the 15 lines shown below 11 are streetcar! It went almost everywhere I wanted to go. 

Here’s a photo of the streetcar in traffic.  You can also see that they have lots of the Vancouver-like glass house development in the background along the lake.

I did take the subway too and enjoyed their version of the “mind the gap” sign:

Toronto also has bike share!  They have the Bixi system but it’s very similar to the Bcycle in Denver.  I didn’t get a chance to ride it but was happy to see it there and saw quite a few people riding it.

Speaking of bikes, there were these bikes all over town that were locked to signs and completely painted (various colors).  It turns out there is a story. Two artists did this to some abandoned bikes but were initially ticketed! The Mayor pardoned them and commissioned art in this form around the city.

Another thing I saw were these plants with imploring messages stationed on top of bike racks near Union Station.

To continue the non-motorized transit nerdiness, the pedestrian signal was a more laid back figure than we have in the states:

Oh, the Canadians…stay tuned for more on Toronto!

Brie and Beer

It’s Friday night and I’m slicing wedges of brie, eating bits of them with strawberries and washing it down with a Great Divide Rumble.  The night also includes laundry and who knows what other domestic endeavors.

I haven’t posted in a while.  I’ve been wondering if I’ve fallen into a narcissistic pattern with this blogging and woe-is-me life.  I find that narcissism is a little difficult to avoid as an only child. So, I’ve been thinking of discontinuing the blog. It is time consuming anyway…

What’s the point of blogging?

I’ve described it as yelling into the void since I know that even most of the people I know don’t read it.  I’ve also described it as an opportunity to write and coalesce my thoughts into something other than a disjointed conversation I might have.  Maybe it’s just satisfying for me and that satisfaction is on the wane. 

I realize that blogs have purpose and if the blog is focused on a specific topic then there is a point.  For example, Cake Wrecks exists to inform all who care to know about the various cake fuck ups in the world (to be fair they also showcase good work).  The Overhead Wire exists to discuss transit-related news (a hot topic for so many!). The Malia and Sasha Fan Club blog exists to keep us all up to date on the going on of the President’s children.  There is the Cliff Mass Weather Blog, which, of course, focuses on weather in a specific area.  And there are plenty  of other self-focused blogs.

Clearly I have not come to any conclusion as I’m actively blogging now. 

BTW here’s something I photographed during my recent Toronto trip:

Bye.

Cherries and white wine

In contrast to my last post, this post will feature items I’ve mined from the internet while enjoying cherries and white wine (post cheese, of course).

I’ve unwittingly devoted my evening to viewing random blogs and websites. 

PetaPixel

This website is really for photographers and covers topics of particular concern to them.  However, as you might imagine, there are some interesting photos on the site.  Like the dogs shaking their heads:

The site also had humans shaking their heads but this was less interesting:

Speaking of dogs, I found a website for Martin Usborne that has a section entitled “MUTE: the silence of dogs in cars” and is worth checking out – if you are a dog lover that is.  I have to warn you though, the photos are more melancholy than they are cute.  Here are a couple to get you going:

This website had a page on tree planter graffiti, which was highly appealing to me (the project website is here):

I also came across “extreme sheep LED art”:

Not sure if you are familiar with decorator crabs but the video below gives you an idea of how they work.  They will take whatever is around, tear it up and use their saliva to adhere it to their bodies. Fascinating creatures.

Ok, that’s enough for now. Over and out.

letting go

I’ve recently begun to start letting things go.  My fear of ground meat, my assumptions about life, my motivation to seriously get things done, my marriage.  The photo above came from a blog that I recently ran across.  It seems to be titled “a place to mend the hearts of everyone who feels alone.”  It’s full of both profoundly sad and significantly inspirational photos and art (with a few ridiculous and irrelevant photos).  The quote in the photo above is the most succinct thing that I have found that describes this phase in my life. 

Mostly the change has been good.  Discovered a lot about myself and those around me.  My friends and co-workers are even better people than I thought.  Anyway, all of this change and letting go leads to contemplative times – like this.  Just sharing.

July Wrap-up

July was packed with activity - July 4th weekend activities, happy hours, bike events, hiking, etc. However, I did not cover everything in previous posts and now that it’s August, it’s about time.

Notably missing is the Moonlight Classic and my participation with team Hell on Wheelz .  The Moonlight Classic is a benefit bike ride that starts at 10:30 pm, has you ride 10 miles around Denver, and ends with a big party at the state capitol afterwards.  The Hell on Wheelz team was well-organized and pubcrawling-centric.  Good fun but it was late for me with the pre-party at El Diablo, the late start for the ride and leaving our second pub at 11:30 with 8 miles and two more pubs to go.  I left early but had a fun time riding with the team of devils with blinking red horns.

This is a photo Jessica took while we were waiting to start riding:

This is Jessica at El Diablo, that devilish girl:

I hiked to Lake Isabelle near Nederland – this is the lake:

I hiked in Chacos (sandals) and was surprised to encounter so much snow!

I also did some hiking in Boulder with my friend and colleague Pat.  Where we parked was spied on by a little white dog that stuck its head through a hole in the fence.

We hiked to Royal Arch, which is this:

It was a steep climb to the point that the trail had stairs (made of natural stone not concrete stairs).  This is Patrick at the top.

This is one of many chipmunks that was not afraid of people:

In my walking life I tend to take alleys for some reason and I was treated to the sight of a raccoon mom and two of her babies this month.  This is the mom:

These are the babies:

Other July activities are covered in previous posts but I wanted to share these too.  This is G from the Blah Life reporting – over and out.