"Dear Diary, I'm sorry I haven't written to you in a while..."

So..... it's been awhile. Ha, this takes me back to the diary days of my youth, when the most common phrase I would use to open a new entry in my pink, flower fairy diary with matching lock would be, "Dear Diary, I'm sorry I haven't written to you in awhile...". Call it foolhardiness or call it a redeeming quality of the benevolent sort, but here I am for my first attempt at continuance.

You can really thank my friend Maria for my return; she is an avid blogger, and far funnier a writer than she even realizes, and she also so happens to be a very encouraging person, and has encouraged me to get back on the blog track. And the fortunate thing is, I think I actually have a somewhat focused inspiration this time on which to write about! Huzzah!

We're right in the thick of the Christmas season, holidays are a mere 3 sleeps away for me, and, so being, the past few weeks have been a time of review in my work - this is a time of remembering and recognizing what has been accomplished in the past four months, and also a time to identify what could be improved and what isn't working and needs to be changed. It's been especially helpful considering that this has been my first go not only in a new job, but my first time living in an apartment on my own, and a first in terms of life balances. Oh, and the first semester I've had a computer of my own! (Ironic, isn't it, that I finally establish almost unlimited access to an internet abled computer at any time, and drop my blog like it's hot. Ha!)

Well, I did have a point back there that I was getting to. Oh, yes - I am currently setting some goals for myself! Christmas season leads to New Years and New Years leads to New Years Resolutions. What with all this job and life evaluating, I figure I'll get into the spirit of the (New Years) season and try something I've never done before - I've never actually set a New Years goal with any seriousness before in my past, so, here's to trying something new!

I'll follow up with what those goals actually are at a later date, seeing as how if I want to work on one of them, I need to get myself off to bed, stat!

Weekend of Weddings

So, I think this weekend can appropriately be dubbed The Weekend of Weddings (at least for this summer) as there were two weddings for me to go to, one on Friday and one on Sunday, and if that weren't enough of a claim (I've no doubt someone out there can top that with a weekend of three weddings, or maybe even four - who knows!) the first wedding was one that I felt more involved than any other wedding before - one of my roommates for the summer got hitched!

It was on Friday that the roommate wedding happened, where all three of my current roommates were in the bridal party (as bride, maid of honour, and bridesmaid), so on top of getting to share in the build-up to the wedding as the bride and groom carefully poured over planning details on many a summer evening in our apartment over the past three and a half months, I also got to experience some of the excitement and fairly extensive preparations and work that goes on in pre-wedding week in order to pull off a big, formal event with guests from out of town. I did some cake delivery-ing and slicing (and thank goodness I did not a) do anything to damage the car I was lent to run my errand, nor b) do anything to damage the goods I was using the car to transport!), some flower retrieving, some guest-book attending, and some bevaerage making and some cleaning-up-ing. I can't even comprehend all the work and exhaustion that must come with arranging all the other details involved with a wedding ( I'm pretty sure if wedding time ever comes for me I'm just gonna do some sort of drive-thru ceremony with a 7-11 reception to follow;)

And the wedding I just came from was a lovely, in-the-country, outdoor-ceremony, barn-reception affair flavoured with details as unique as the couple themselves. I felt a bit Cinderella-ish at the end of the night - no, not that I had just had a lovely time dancing with a prince, but that I was leaving a bit earlier than I would have liked, but so it goes when depending on the good graces of others for transportation. Pretty sure the dance floor couldn't even handle me anyway, haha.

So, while I am feeling a bit exhausted at the end of this weekend (and I was only the roommate-of-the-bride and minor helper for one wedding, and merely a guest at the other!), I am also feeling very blessed and priviledged to have been a part of the unions of two very special couples, and to have been invited to share in their joy at such a momentous occasion.
And despite my feelings of being "weddinged out" that hit me at points during this weekend, I also had a moment or two where I considered becoming a wedding planner - yep, I'm still crazy...

Timbits are scrapping about in my tummy....

A friend from Holland is here for the ensuing wedding of one of my roommates. She is great, we know each other from my first year in uni, and it has been lovely reconnecting with her. Being from Holland, there are certain foods she is excited about being able to have while here on her visit to Canada. We've already made serious plans to visit a Wendy's, and today she was very generous with her Timbits purchased from good ole Timmy's and I ate just a numerous few too many of those delicious little sugar bombs. We had another of her favourite not-available-in-the-Netherlands foods - perogies - for dinner, courtesy of the kindness and cooking skills of another one of my roommates, and these amazing, doughy pockets of processed potato and cheese mush were delicious and plentiful. Funnily enough, this Dutch friend of mine likes neither cheese nor fish, both well-known Dutch foods. But so it goes, and I'm glad she can be here enjoying our "Canadian delicacies" with me.

Falling into the end of summer

It felt like fall this weekend. Two very wet, cloudy and cool days, combined with the activities of picking crab apples and adding new sweaters to my wardrobe pretty much sealed the deal for me and induced many thoughts of turkey dinners, walks on dry-leaf lined forest paths, and cozy visits with friends over warm drinks in the ever more quickly fading light of evenings in autumn. Mmmmm, warm feelings, warm clothes, and warm spices. I really do love fall :)

Oh yes, but I must remind myself that it is only August 16th! While I had the first feelings of being ready for the coming of fall this week (and those before the weekend of cool weather set in even!) I still very much intend to enjoy the rest of summer, and expect that warm summer weather will return, at least for its allotted time, and know that there are still summer activities yet to be experienced with which I will fill these last days of this season. A season of rest and relaxation, of a different schedule followed and new connections made, of warmth and sunlight, of bike rides and short sleeves, of growing things and city festivals. It has been a good summer.

Summer jury, now in session!

Today was a beautiful, sunny summer Sunday. It is August 8th, and as we all know, we're just around that time where we start to feel a bit desperate about this whole "summer" business; desperate that our summer isn't over yet and yet soon will be, that the days are getting shorter again already but, sadly, the amount of time we've spent in the sun is paltry in consideration of how drastically the sunlight to starlight ratio in summer beats the pulp out of that of winter. And in our frantic-ness to make the most of this summer, we are caught in a still-looping pattern that is a self-fulfilling prophecy time-bomb just waiting to happen: reckless summer-ing compounded by guilt-activated perfection pressuring.

Let me try to explain. We've been waiting for those perfect summer moments to happen to make the most of our summer, but by waiting, not only have we "ruined" the months that have already passed, we are also putting an unrealistic burden on the months we have left and will likely ruin them too: no redemption here! We feel the need to enjoy summer RIGHT NOW and not let it slip away ("I need control of this situation!"), but we still need to happen into just the right combination of circumstances, or be party to a most serendipitous chain of actions that will lead us to the perfect summer experiences, in order for that to happen ("I will leave control of this situation up to the Fates of Summer!"). We're waiting for the right thing to happen in order to enable us to do the right thing. We have not made the most of our summer and so are trying to figure out how to get rid of our guilt for those 40+ hours a week we just had to put in at the office for May, June and July and at the same time fully enjoy August like we didn't with those other months, optimizing what's left not just for what it is, but for what the rest of the summer wasn't- a double whammy, double the pressure, and only a quarter of the time. August is our chance to capture Summer in a tin cookie box and keep it from changing into the cool days and dying plant matter carpet of fall.

So, knowing this to be our current situation, and it being very much reality for me if not for "us," "we," or "our," how then did I spend this absolutely gorgeous, commitment free, high in Vitamin-D, increasingly becoming a rare item, Sunday afternoon of summer? WATCHING A SCREEN. In a basement. With the curtains closed. In my defense against myself, I, the defendant, would like to present the following pieces of evidence for my consideration:
A) it was a family activity with my roommates and co ("co" being the fiance of one of these roommates, who himself is practically a roommate with all the time that he spends here), and we haven't had that many of those; part of making the most of this summer is investing time into my roommates, as the end of the summer will bring the end of our roommateness as well.
B)did I mention that it was a lovely summer day? Well that means is was a HOT day... and at 2 in the afternoon, sitting in the coolest place one can find (ie basement lounge with the curtains closed) really does have an appeal to it, and can be quite valid as a summer activity.
C) I really didn't realize that the movie was going to actually be 4 hours long.

Ok, my guilt for wasting the day now being somewhat relieved, I'm now working ahead on the case I will make for how I spent the rest of this absolutely fantastic summer NIGHT: sleeping.

Dirt Under My Fingernails

So, I had a plot in a community garden last summer and felt it was a good experience - digging up the grass that was constantly encroaching, wacthing my bean plants rot to death from the bottom up, getting eaten alive by mosquitos under the sweltering mid-day sun - you know, character building stuff. Really, as challening as certain parts of it were, there was a lot about the experience that I enjoyed, and so I've decided to undertake the task of a summer garden once again - but not alone! My dear friend and co-worker Ruth is my co-head of our little plot, and we're also sharing another plot, with design to make it a Salsa Garden (aka grow in this special rectangle of land things with which to make salsa from at the end of the summer), avec our dear friend and fellow co-worker Karen.

So, our plot is a rectangular type piece of land, I think about 8' by 10' maybe, and right beside the east fence of the garden. The entire community garden itself is made up of about 7 columns of plots this size and I would say there are maybe 10 rows (of plots). Those numbers may be a little off, but keep in mind that I plot out garden plans people, not algebra equations! Anyways, our three plots make up the northeast corner of the garden, and two of the plots are quite overrun with grass right now (it wasn't until last summer - when I cut a plot straight out of sod for the first time and did battle with grass - that I understood the "grassroots" moniker given to local-, lay- people powered movements; grassroots are one of the most tricky, difficult, stubborn things a gardener can try to get rid of! Those roots grow deep and thick and I can understand how "grassroots" groups can share these qualities), however, Ruth and I have managed (with a little extra elbow grease lent to us from a fellow gardener who is generous with his time and his gardening skills) to rid our shared plot (mostly) of this fearsome fiend, and planted our first seeds tonight! Terribly exciting!

We got almost our whole department in on the experience as our Director happened by and carried some water for us by bucket from the rain barrels to our plot; Ruth's husband also gave a helping hand and planted a "seed" (read: aluminum can) to start us on our very own V8 juice tree. Or maybe it would have been a bush. Anyway, Ruth was a marvelous genius and bought seed tape, so planting was super easy. The tape is a very light material - quite similar to toilet paper (and I hear you can even make your own seed tape with toilet paper itself! We're tucking that idea away for next year... unless of course this year doesn't go well and turns us off gardening forever, but, we won't think about until we have reason to) - and the seeds are laid out in it in long strips, so the result is that the seeds are all pretty much evenly spaced apart from each other and can also be laid out in a nice straight row with much ease. So tonight we planted Swiss Chard, Radishes, Green Leaf Lettuce, Carrots, Romaine Lettuce, Carrots, Carrots, Peas, and Zucchini. All these plants-to-be are my babies, and, therefore deserving to be considered proper nouns, have all been bestowed the honour of capitalization. Really, why don't they let me make all the executive decisions when it comes to eking out the rules of the English language? ;)

So, hopefully it will rain this weekend, the weather will continue to be amazing and unseasonably warm and freak frosts will stay away; hopefully, our garden will grow. I've found there's a special kind of delight that comes from engaging in the process of growing your own food from seed to plant, of turning weed-ridden terrain to nourishment-giving tract, of journeying with a living investment so closely connected to our own well-being and very existence through consequential risks and rewards. It's a unique kind of joy that comes with seeing green life sprout and knowing your hands played a part in that, of following its development and feeling a pride and wonder that such a thing could be accomplished. All this is yet to come as the summer goes on. For now, I look at the dirt under my fingernails and feel some satisfaction in knowing my babies are in the ground and their journey has just begun.

Hello, life, hello!

Hi there. Welcome to my blog. Why do I have a blog? For the same reason I recently acquired a Twitter account. Other People. Peer pressure. Forces beyond my control!!! *Deep intake of breath*

Well, I suppose that's true about my Twitter account ("gentle" pressure from a certain enthusiastic faculty member led me to join so I could follow TeamCMU's account as a show of support for them in their team-against-one, cross-4-province, round-the-clock bicycle race, "Hot Pursuit," scheduled to take place in July), but really, I can't blame anyone but myself for unleashing my "reflections" on the world in blog form. I created my google account so I could follow and comment on friends' blogs, but it's my own narcissism and ego-centrism that fueled the creation of a blog of my very own. My OWN little blog! I will name it Hello, Life, Hello!, and I will hug it, and pet it, and I will give it security! And I will keep it warm like a mother hen, so it will never feel rejected or lack for love.

Oh life.