It’s Thursday. Claire is napping. The snow doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. I finished listening to my latest audiobook last night. And, all of this considered, I’m feeling like I should be productive, yet I’m sitting here writing a disjointed blog post. Interesting find this morning: One Two Fiver I’m going to try it when I know I won’t be interrupted by an unexpectedly short nap. But essentially, as I understand it, it is a tool to make use of the [...]

December 20 First day of holidays and I was feeling guilty. I bundled up and went out for a run. And did I mention that it was COLD?! Day 20: Karin becomes a climbing apparatus. Imagine this: four layers, long underwear, a shirt, a jacket, and a shell. My head is wrapped in a toque, a fleece hood. I’m wearing two pairs of gloves. The only part of me with less than two layers is my face, and five minutes into the run I [...]

December 19 For reasons of stupidity, I needed to be at work a little earlier than usual this morning. Given that the roads were a mess from the weather and some of the major routes were significantly delayed or closed due to the same, this meant I as required to leave a lot earlier than usual. In fact, I was out the door earlier than I’m normally out of bed. Day 19: Decorating… at last… I went and got gas. Considering the possibility of [...]

December 8 It’s Monday. And it’s snowing. Four, including myself, showed up for this evening’s run clinic wherein we trotted with declining reluctance through the soft breeze and falling snow in the evening darkness. The sidewalks were covered in a thin blanket of fresh white powder, unswept and new, yet untarnished by weeks of city air. Day 8: Bow and Tell One of the girls confided, as we walked the last couple hundred meters back to the store, that this had been her first [...]

One of the reasons we enjoy living in Edmonton so much is the wealth of culture the city has to offer. We have season tickets to the Citadel. I volunteer for the Fringe Festival. We try our best to make it out to Heritage Days, the occasional theater show at the Jube, and partake in any number of outdoorsie events that tend to crop up in the city. And then there are the numerous one-off or smaller events that are just too numerous to [...]

I was feeling guilty. I skipped my running class last night for the simple (and valid, I think) reason that it was hovering around thirty degrees for most of the day yesterday and I don’t want to die of heatstroke — especially while wearing running gear. The alternative was a humble promise to myself — and a swift kick from Karin out of bed this morning when the alarm went off — to get out before the house was (officially) stirring. That meant 6AM. [...]

When it was the deepest days of cold winter the only excuse I ever really gave for not running was the lack of a sidewalk for fresh snow. Those Saturday nights when we were graced with heavy white drifts measured in multiples of inches on the paths made a leisurely Sunday morning jog close to impossible, if not only for my improvised running attire, then for the sake of not being able to back out of the driveway with the car to get to [...]

Apparently the Gopher Story is making the rounds as folks forward the link or print it out to show people. I didn’t think it was particularly epic. Clever, perhaps. Epic? No. But in reading this blog you occasionally get a gem like that post — followed by a hundred more bits of drivel and worthless crap like this: It’s raining. It’s raining off and on, as it always does. And I didn’t even get my whole garden planted. Really, I’m just missing the carrots [...]

Mother Earth, that is. It’s Earth Day today — in case you hadn’t realized. If I could actually see the ground for the snow, I might have done something quasi-organic. Instead, we’ll be spending the day indoors burning fossil fuels to keep warm. On the bright side, I’m not driving too far today. Mother Earth seems to hate us at the moment. But, y’know, I can’t stay mad at her… How big is your carbon footprint? I don’t know. How big? It’s so big [...]

The sevens are colliding. Seven years blogging, and now Claire celebrates her seven-month birthday — today. And I, work canceled due to the blizzard, get to spend the non-occasion with her. We just finished the breakfast routine, a detail I usually miss save for the weekends. Over this past weekend I spent an hour peeling and slicing apples, blending an improvised sauce blend come baby food. We froze nearly thirty gobs of the stuff for ready-to-eat meals for the girl. She just had a [...]

As the minutes close on chilly, snow-blanketed Sunday PM, I decide to reflect on seven years filling the web with mindless drivel. Sigh. I apologize. But, c’mon no one makes you read this crap. That’s all.

We’re all on the mend here after a few days of moderate (though merely annoying) head-colds, one of the souvenirs we brought back from Portland. (Alice will likely feel guilty ’cause I wrote that, but after her generous hospitality the least we could do is take some germs off her hands.) As far as Claire’s first illness, she got off fairly easy with only a slight cough and a couple interrupted nights of sleep. Despite a bit of a sore throat, I played my [...]

Besides working from home yesterday (because the office shut down due to the snow) being shut in with the family enabled a few extra-curricular activities in and around the house. Yes, I put in my time for the man, but being locked away left plenty of moments here and there for other stuff, such as: – setting up the Mac with a few extra bits of software, including a number of development libraries while trying to compile some free software, and also a plug-in [...]

December 28 With only a few days left in this blogging marathon, I once again found myself back home and spared with a relatively quiet day to catch up on some much needed down-time. It’s funny, though. We’ve been scooting about the province, visiting at and with a variety of people, and celebrating a collection of festivities — yet, I found myself lacking in blog-fodder. Then, we spend a day at home, and I have a selection of things to say. (I suppose THAT [...]

December 11 I have a headache from looking after Claire on my own for three hours while Karin went out to a function. She screamed most of the time. Claire, that is. It was either gas, or it was because I can’t provide fresh milk. Either way, not much I can do to rectify those. Day 11: Enjoying reflections all around. My iPod thinks my brain is 62 years old. I downloaded a new little game for it last weekend that is pretty much [...]

or, two quips on writing… First, I mentioned a few posts back that my writing was not — exactly — going ignored. At least not in a permanent sense. I was going to elaborate on that a little more. I’ve been poking away at a something I’ve loosely defined as A Tapestry of Experimental Fiction, right now a wiki-based project that I hope I can flesh out into some detail. The goal is to strive for episodic elements that build upon the story, explain [...]

This time last year we had snow on the ground. And it stuck around for a good six months. Not yet, this year. Instead, after walking over and back to the polling station, a dog and a bright orange stroller in tow, we came home and barbecued some steaks and grilled up one of the (now ripe) butternut squash that I grew. I could very well be among the last barbecues of the season. Unless, of course, we get a nice stretch of snow-free [...]

I’m not impressed. Today was supposed to be the shed building extravaganza, but we woke up in the wee hours to a thunderstorm, and the rest of the day followed suit. I spent a few hours yesterday and actually got the frame and floor installed, but now there it sits, a skeleton, in the rain. Not fun.

… meanwhile, back in Edmonton: It’s hot. Very hot. I suppose for anyone reading this from a faraway land where mid-30 Celsius temperatures are the norm, I’m just a bit of a whiner. But keep in mind that this is as warm as it gets here. Record highs. Blah. We retreated to the air conditioned theater yesterday and caught a mid-evening showing of Harry Potter (5), arriving early not only to ensure a good seat in the sold-out theater but also to enjoy the [...]

While those here in Edmonton (and nearby hot-zones) stew in their own juices, are up all night unable to sleep for but drowning in puddles of their own sweat, I’ve added a few interesting links in a new category down the side of this blog. It contains a small handful of interesting photography links, etc. That’s all.

Half a decade ago today we were at a wedding wherein my baby brother married my sister-in-law. I remember that. Has it been five years already? I’d call to say congrats, but Derek is likely on the road for work, as is tradition on any significant days — anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine’s day, etc. *wink wink* Maybe just a blog post marking the occasion will do. According to the table of traditional and modern anniversary gifts, some wood or silverware is in order. Maybe he’ll [...]

Boy, am I glad I planted my garden LAST weekend. I received a few chuckles, as if I was jumping the gun, but in retrospect it has been a perfect week for germinating — and is shaping up to be a terrible upcoming weekend for yard work of any kind. Rain, rain, rain… I guess when it come right down to it, don’t put off for tomorrow what can be done in the sunshine today.

For the record, the three feet of snow that we tolerated over a (seemingly) never-ending winter has resulted in one of the greenest springs we’re had for a long time. Now, with generously warm temperatures gracing our mid-May days, the lawn on the verge of recovery from the mouse army, and an abundance of free time in my evenings and weekends, I’ve managed to all but finish planting my garden for the year. The theme for the yard has become thus: edible. I want, [...]