The End of A Season

School is starting this week and I'm looking forward to getting back on a schedule. This summer was unlike any other summer I've ever had before.

These are some of the places I've been, some things I've seen, some things that have happened and some things I have learnt:

I moved out of my old place, threw all my belongings into storage and headed off on a 10 day, 5000 km road trip with my son without knowing where I'd stay when I returned to Saskatoon. I learnt that I really don't need a lot of my possessions and have since been ruthlessly getting rid of a lot of my stuff. It's very liberating and less messy around the house.

I also learnt how to wait. I learnt to trust that everything will work out when the time is right even when good friends and parents are constantly asking you if you have found a place to live yet and trying to throw you into a panic.

• I found that I really enjoyed spending 10 days with my son. He has grown so much since our last big trip together. He is witty, intelligent, kind, thoughtful and loves to make me laugh.

• It's been a summer of girls. My son is interested in girls and they are interested in him. Alot, if you ask me. I enjoyed the breakup message on the answering machine: You are a big fat jerk. Your a big fat jerk and I don't want to date you anymore. Why did you hang up on me and why did you tell me you had lots of other girl friends? So your a big fat jerk, So WHATEVER. Bye. I was not so happy with the $380 cell phone bill that he racked up calling to girls at the lake and the farm.

• I attended a family gathering to celebrate a yearful of special birthdays. Almost everyone made it out and it was the first time since my father passed away 8 years ago that his absence didn't make my heart ache.

• I found out that I have Carpal Tunnel in both my wrists and have been nudged into taking care of my old ailing 30 year old body.

• I say my friend get her Ph.D in Chemistry, so exciting! And then I dropped her off at the airport in the wee hours of the morning as she headed off on the next phase of her life. I'm missing her a lot.

• I introduced some co-workers to the wonders of La Bamba, its Saskatoon's only authentic Mexican restaurant.
  
  
• I finally figured that none of my plans ever work out the way I planned. So I'm going to try to live day-to-day for the next little while and see how it turns out.

~b~

Edmonton

Earlier this week I made an unexpected trip to Edmonton. I received a phone call at 7:22 am and after finishing up things at work, getting an oil change, packing, and banking, I was on the road at 5 pm.

When we got to Edmonton I found out that ACDC was in town and I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find room in the inn.

We did find a room late that night and we made it to our appointment on time the next day. Pretty boring stuff. Here are the highlights of our trip:

Ricky's Grill is located downtown. The first time I went here was about 4 years ago and absolutely loved the servers. Now every time I am in Edmonton I try and stop at least once for breakfast. I always get seated on the same side, across from the kitchen. The servers and friendly, flamboyant, and have a wonderful sense of humor. No trip to Edmonton should be made without stopping here for breakfast.

And the mall. The long, long, long mall. What can I say. I'd like to think that I can make a trip to Edmonton without stopping here, but it always seems to pull me in. We originally stopped to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in IMAX 3-D, but then I couldn't stop myself from going to the Apple Store, or the MAC store.

And that pretty much sums up my whirlwind trip to Edmonton.

~b~

Life Changing

A while ago I submitted my first recipe onto Tasty Kitchen. I spent one weekend making pizza so I could take a photo for its debut, but it was so tasty that it was quickly devoured before said photos could be taken. The next time I made the recipe I topped with Blackened Chicken, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, sweet onion, and Feta Cheese. Yum! This time photos were taken and I quickly submitted my recipe online.

Over the next little while I would get so excited when my recipe was rated, 5 oven mitts out of 5! I would squeak to my coworkers, who would only roll their eyes at me. I loved reading the reviews: mostly stuff like: I made this on the weekend and it was great. And then I read my Tasty Kitchen friend Andrea's blog. This particular post was looking back on summer and the many things that were accomplished. And No. 10 on her list was: Learned to make pizza dough (life changing). Eeee! Can you believe that? Life changing. Yep. That's what she wrote. If you want to try out this recipe, you can find it on the Tasty Kitchen website, I hear its life changing!

~b~

You Capture - Food

I found a blog that gives photo challenges every week and I tend to take a lot of photos of food, so this weeks Food Challenge is a perfect way to start.

I love to cook with my son and try out new recipes. Last night we attempted to make Mixed Vegetable Raita and Butter Chicken for the very first time.

By the time we were finished I was famished. I learnt that taking pictures while hungry is never a good idea. The hunger makes me do silly things like divide my food into quadrants on the plate.

And I think it's about time I brag:

After supper my son washed the dishes.

Have I mention he also does the laundry?

I'm soo spoiled!

You can find other food photos from this weeks challenge at: I Should Be Folding Laundry.

~b~

Boys!

This summer I've being going to a church that holds its services outside by the river. Last Sunday was a particularly beautiful morning. The bright sun warmed my skin and the wind impatiently blew the leaves in the trees so they danced and shimmered and whispered in my ears. The outside service is pretty casual; worship is led by one guy with an acoustic guitar. We sit under the trees, on the green grass either sharing blankets or spread out on lawn chairs.


My son and I sat near the back between two others and just behind my friend who was sitting on a blanket. As the service commenced, my son casually draped his leg over the arm of his chair and onto my leg and I sat there, absentmindedly playing with his newly grown leg hair. There we sat, side by side on that beautiful peaceful morning singing songs, discussing social justice, and listening to the message.


Soon, the service drew to a close and as the announcements were being made I heard a faint sound, like that of a lawnmower starting up in the distance. Glancing over my shoulder in my sons direction I realized it wasn't a lawnmower at all, but was in fact my son, casually farting in his chair, with his leg still draped over the side and onto my leg.


With a puzzled look on my face I quietly inquired:


Is that you?


Are you f-f-f-arting?


His mouth spread into a wide grin and a look of glee crossed his face. He responded by quickening the pace of his staccato burst of farts. I sat in shock and then hissed:


Stop. Stop. Stop RIGHT NOW.


But instead he doubled his efforts and the farts began to reverberate so loudly off his nylon chair that the people around us started to turn their heads towards us.


I wanted to yell at him, I wanted to march him off to the car and wipe that little smirk right off his face, but being that we were in church I was clearly at a disadvantage and we both knew it. To my relief he finally ran out, and finished by proceeding to throw me his look. His big brown eyes sparkled with mischief and his ever growing grin brought out his dimples. Oh the cheekiness! My heart melted. Being the mature mother that I am, I held up the sheet of song lyrics in front of my face and tried in vain to laugh without him seeing me.


~b~

Kiva and Cookies

Last night I headed over to a friends house to hang out with two of my friends. They were baking Chick Pea Chocolate Chip Cookies and I decided that there were too many cooks in the kitchen, so I sat at the table and blogged.

Last year I started reading books like The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini), A Long Way Gone (Ishmael Beah) and Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin).

Reading these stories took me across the globe to places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sierra Leone. They showed me the injustices that occur against woman in Afghanistan or the children in Sierra Leone who are forced to become child soldiers. Three Cups of Tea was an inspirational story of one man who has made it his life mission to build schools in Pakistan to educate their children and has now build 76 schools since 1996.

After reading these stories I began to feel a little frustrated in reading about so many horrific things that are happening in this world which are so far away and occur in a world that seems so completely different to the one that I am so fortunate to live in. It bothered me that I couldn't find anything of value to do to help besides throwing my money at humanitarian aid organizations. I started to find it pointless to be reading stories which highlight both the injustices and inspirations in this world and yet not be able to respond in any tangible way. Even talking about issues seems pretty pointless if there is no action taken.

So I stopped reading those types of books and then I found a book called We to Me (Craig and Marc Kielburger). This book not just advocates but encourages you to figure out how you can be socially conscious and responsible through small, daily actions. We to Me also advocated the importance of community and the meaningful relationships that should be made, but is often lacking in Western society.

I found it refreshing to read a book that has a message that is different than the messages we are are constantly inundated with, messages that further promote our materialistic and individualistic society. I have always found that I am happiest when I am helping others and I find it easy to be aware of the ways you can impact those closest to you. And yet, I was still looking for a way to make a difference to someone across the world and still have some kind of connection. I decided that I would still continue to donate to some of my favorite organizations such as Canada Food for the Hungary, Samaritans Purse, and Muscular Dystrophy, but I wanted to do something that didn't just involve a donation and a tax receipt.

And then I found an organization called Kiva. Kiva is an organization that connects lenders with Entrepreneurs through microfinance loans. This allows people who wouldn't normally qualify for a loan to obtain a small loan that is financed through lenders such as you or me. And so through person to person microlending, poverty can be alleviated by helping people achieve economic independence.

So for about the amount I would spend on a night out with friends I instead used that money to help finance two loans.

What I love about Kiva is that you can look at the Entrepreneur profiles and choose who you want to loan your money to. I also love that one loan is comprised of many lenders. Some of the other lenders in my loans live across Canada, the United States and even countries like Norway, Spain and the Netherlands. Also, each lender has their own profile and you can see their loan activities, or even why they choose to loan through Kiva.

I really think these microfinance loans make sense because they are filling specific needs which you can help with, even though the other person lives across the world. Plus, lending money through Kiva makes me feel nice and warm and happy inside . . . and I think eating the cookies did too.

~b~

Canasta

Last week I headed over to a friends for a much needed Girls Night Out.

It was Games Night.

The Hand and The Foot

When we were younger, and the days seemed simpler us girls would spend many evenings together playing a crazy card game called Canasta. While the online rules of Canasta seem pretty straight forward, we girls had our own version. Instead of the standard 2 decks of cards, we used 6 decks and we stacked those 6 decks of cards with extra wild cards. All night long we sat around the kitchen table, puffing on our cigarettes and trying our hardest to pick up that pile.

As we sat around the kitchen table discarding cards into the ever growing discard pile the anxiety would grow as you tried to figure out which cards to discard and which to keep. And so another cigarette would be lit and the haze above the kitchen table would grow larger as the game continued and that pile of cards grew.

Things use to get pretty intense back then, no phone calls or bathroom breaks allowed, until a round was finished. I still get reminded of the time when I threw my cards down on the table and let out a slew of swear words when someone picked up the pile. Yes I KNOW it's just a card game, but I'm just a TAD competitive.

The start of a long game.

Huge refreshments, with bonus gum: buy 3 big gulps, get one used gum: FREE!

So when we had Game Night last week, it was nice to sit at the table with my same 3 friends. It was just like old times, hanging out and chatting and enjoying each others company. Except there was no haze of smoke, or swearing, just 1 crazy card game called Canasta which happens to last 5 hours.

~b~

All Alone

Last fall I got to delve into the exciting world of Organometallic Chemistry. While I really enjoyed "making things" I also enjoyed working with the group of grad students. All of them were nice, and so smart, and made me feel like I was a part of the group. So todays story is all about them:

. . .

One upon a time there were three grad students.

A loud grad student, a quiet grad student, and Jackson.

The first grad student loved to dance and kept a mountain of information on her desk. But then she moved and took her mountain with her.

The second grad student was really quiet and only said stuff like: Sweet. And when he left it was still quiet.

And when I dropped in today, I found the last grad student, busily typing and all alone. And here turned to me and said: BECKY: where is everybody?

The End

~b~

Always bring your camera.

The other day I went out for lunch with my co-workers. As we were leaving I took my debit card out of my wallet and slipped it in my pocket and commented: This is all I need to bring.

And with that, I left my Nikon, and my point and shoot, AND my Iphone at work.

As were were walking over to the cafeteria we noticed a small movement on the ground, it was coming from vegetation which must have contained seeds because there was a little tiny bird busily pecking, pecking, pecking at the seeds. Only is wasn't a small brown bird and it wasn't a tiny blackbird. It was a very small bright blue bird. I let out a shout of surprise and amazement when I realized that our small blue friend was a budgie. It was a budgie, just like the one my grandmother had, she had named him Little Blue.

And as I bent down to try and pick up this little bird, he suddenly flew away, leaving me to yell: Little Blue! Where are You?

The the moral of the story is: Always keep you camera with you, because you never know what you will see.

~b~

Wi-Fi - Who Knew?!

My friend and I have had repeated arguments on the correct terminology of Wi-Fi vs. Wireless Internet. She calls it wireless, I call it Wi-Fi. "But what does it mean?" She would implore, before I would smack her around with a wet noodle.

So to settle things once and for all, I decided to do a little research.

And this is what I found out thanks to the goodness of Wikipedia. Did I tell you I once did a whole school presentation using Wikipedia as my main source. I was happy to educate my fellow students on the amazing wonders of Nickel, Palladium, and Platinum. Interesting fact! But I digress.

Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity and was inspired by the term Hi-Fi, which stands for, you guessed it- High Fidelity. Because apparently back in the day it was necessary to tout the high quality sound that remained faithful to the original performance.

While Wi-Fi is wireless internet, it is also so much more. It allows all the wireless devices like my Iphone, or my MacBook Pro or my son's Wii or my Ipod to connect to the internet through a wireless network. A wireless network can allow any product (like cellphones, computers and video game consoles) regardless of type of device or brand to connect to the network.

The difference between wireless internet and Wi-Fi is IEEE 802.11 standards. Products who want Wi-Fi certification must meet these IEEE 802.11 standards before they can use the Wi-Fi logo. I have no idea what IEEE 802.11 means, but I suspect it is something along the lines of the ISO 17025 accreditation which my workplace adheres to. Basically a few letters with a smattering of numbers to make things sound fancy and official. This fancy nonsensical title allows Wi-Fi to be set as a global standard. So when I am touring the safari's of Africa, or checking out the buildings in Dubai, or chatting to the Penguins in Antarctica I can use my wireless device to connect to the internet, if a wireless connection is available.

And here I will end with my interesting fact:

Wi-Fi operates on a spread spectrum to send and receive information on a bandwith. Bluetooth is another way of sending data over this spread spectrum. And I have no idea what this "spread spectrum" really is, but I imagine it is the space around us. The world we live in, the air we breath, it is all around us.

And that is why I called Wi-Fi Wi-Fi.

~b~

The Big Three-Oh My!

On Tuesday I went out to Winstons to celebrate the birthday of a friend whom I've known for many years. I'm not sure why anybody didn't stop me, but I decided to make her a card because a regular Hallmark card just wouldn't suffice to mark this momentous milestone.

So I embarked on a Craft project of epic proportions, that went horribly awry.

*Warning, the following is a display of momentary delusion, as in Why would I ever think anyone would enjoy receiving this?

This is the front of the card:

I had kept a Christmas card my friend had made for me one Christmas. It looks like a "self-portrait" of herself, the inside of the card says: "Merry Christmas Soccer Fan!". (We used to play on the same soccer team). So I scanned her self-portrait and used it for the front of my card.

I also found a picture of her in grade 7. This comprised the inside of the card.

Doesn't she look adorable with those backcombed bangs, the nice blue silk shirt, complement by the thin gold necklace?

To complement my cleaver display of craftiness I added a gift card because my friend just happens to be a Teacher. It was the stereotypical teacher gift: gift card from McNally Robinson and is a safe bet for someone who has her Masters in English Literature.

And speaking of education . . .

About 4 years ago I had a great plan to start working out by going to the local pool to swim laps. It was a fine plan, a great cardiovascular workout that is gentle on your joints. The only problem was, I wasn't the strongest of swimmers. So I enrolled in a Stroke Improvement class, which turned out to be an Adult "Learn to Swim" Class. So for a month, twice a week I donned my suitsuit and practiced the front crawl, and back crawl and any other type of crawl in between. And when I had "passed" my lessons I was given this booklet to take home, for future reference:

And inside was a personalized note from my swim instructor:

Gotta love that positive feedback.

Way to go! Keep up the good work! Good job!

~b~

Fail!

Yesterday's Coconut Bun was such a delicious surprise. It was sweet but not to sweet. When you bit into it the middle was empty, but it was still filling and satisfying.

Bouyed on by my success of the Delicious Pizza Dough recipe I submitted on Tasty Kitchen, I decided to try and make these coconut buns myself. So thanks to Google, I went home last night with recipe in hand ready to make these delicious sweet rolls.

. . . . . . . . .

When my son attempts something without success he yells: FAIL!

And that is exactly what I yelled last night when I attempted to recreated the coconut buns for my very self.

I found the recipe I was following a bit strange that it asked for 2 teaspoons of salt. Seemed like a lot, but hey, I'm no baker, better do what the recipe says. I was desperate to recreate the coconut goodness I had tasted earlier in the day.

After an hour of so called "rising" I checked out my progress and found this:

A blob of dough. I took the dough out and there it lay, heavy and inert, it had not risen at all.

I took a nibble and was instantly transported back to my childhood with memories of my mothers homemade playdough, in which she added exorbitant amounts of salt so I wouldn't eat the dough. . . but I did anyway, I would just nibble teeny tiny bits. heh heh, I showed her, didn't I?

And the moral of the story is: I'm a cook. I'm no baker. Or a candlestick maker.

~b~

Lunchtime Lunacy

Today at lunchtime I wandered over to Innovation Place to check out Folkfest in the Bowl.

This year it the Scottish and Chinese Pavilion was featured. Rather than eat a sensible lunch which involved some sort of chicken on a stick and salad I decided on a less sensible, but themed lunch:

Sausage Roll, Egg Rolls, and a Coconut Bun.

The theme you ask? Each food item is in the shape of a cylinder, or a roll if you prefer. This makes it the perfect finger food and really helped later on when I dropped both my knife, and then my fork, and then another knife which had graciously been lent to me.

Not only did I eat a Scottish/Chinese Cylindrical Themed lunch, I also enjoyed some traditional dance.

I decided to take photos merely to capture the photographer hiding beside the tree. (Click on the photo to make it bigger) Different photographer, different tree. Is there something I should know? Do all great photographers utilize the trunk of a tree to maintain stealth and capture that perfect shot?

I'm hoping to get featured in the Innovation Place bulletin again. I hope that I can get a second photo of me taking another photo of the other photographer. Hence, the inclusion of this second picture. Its a rather boring picture of the backside of the dancers, but see? Do you see the photographer in the crowd? Her cameras pointed right at me!

And on a related note, check this link out: YIPEE!

YIPEE! is a social networking group for members of Innovation Place. I used to go back in the day long before my fun filled evenings when it was just me and my chemistry homework. Anyway, each person in the photo is a link to another webpage. And my friends and coworkers are the lucky ones who get to be the Past Events link, the Another Item link and the Links link.

~b~

I Spy

A while ago I went over to Innovation Place at lunch to watch some traditional dance in celebration of National Aboriginal Day.


I also took some pictures and posted for all to see.


What I didn't know was that my picture was being taken and it ended up on the Summer Newsletter. And it is now posted their electronic bulletin on their website.

Here's the picture:




See me holding the camera? I'm wearing pink.


This is one of the pictures that I took that day:

See the guy with the tripod beside the tree?

~b~

Ready for Round 2

It's Sunday.  I got up at 4:30 to drop a friend off at the airport.  

After our farewells and an Extra Large Double Double I hit the kitchen and made Dutch Macaroni from the Kayotic Kitchen Blog.  It involved a lot of the vegetables I picked up from the Farmer's Market yesterday: tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, onions, and carrots.  

And then I figured it's going to be a long time before I'll have time to nap, so I jumped back into the car and headed to Starbucks for a little caffeine to help with Round 2.

Round 2 entails church, lunch, and meeting with my new landlord to go through my walkthrough (finally!).  And if the caffeine holds out I may even move a box or two.

On the other hand, I may just play with my camera and figure out this white balance thing, and listen to the 12 minute video which I apparently took at the airport.  It's a fascinating video involving the inside of my jacket pocket.

~b~