Hum for the Holidays

Lesson One: "How to be Tourists in your Own Town"

First --- make sure that your hometown has a big lake, and is gorgeous and relaxing with a lovely climate.


So, last weekend, thanks to t-gold's ol' Famdamnly Bizness, we did a little boating around our local Okanagan Lake.

Lesson Two: Retain Friends in High Places

We happened to sail past a few new homes on the lake.... (did I miss a sweet stock investment or something....?) I'm pretty sure that every single NHL player with a new contract over $5 mil has bought and constructed a home on Okanagan Lake.

It certainly makes for a lotta examples of structures that we'd like to add to our house (next time we sign a longterm NHL contract, that is...)

We extended our holiday-around-home into the last few days & headed up to a quiet provincial park right on Okanagan Lake.

There, we parked Shaggy & then hiked the hills & lakeside trails and just generally hung out, eating cheese & chocolate and enjoying the late autumn sunshine Then it was back to ol' Allison place for some last minute, Sunday gardening in preparation for the week ahead....

Next weekend is the 1 millionth Okanagan Fall Wine Festival! (well... maybe it's only the 23rd festival or something, but it'll feel like the one millionth when WE'RE through!)!

Go Gramma, Go!

So, I think my little mummi is getting right into the groove of being a gramma now. In fact, she's quite obsessed.

However, we took a "day off" from the baby today (because there was a big party yesterday for Sao Mai's one month birthday celebration), but - still - when we drove past Bill's condo this evening (on the way to a concert) my mum waved excitedly toward his building and yelled out: "Hi Sao Mai! Hello Baby!"

I let her have her fun.......

Today was really just a chicks-hangout-day --- which of course meant a trek to my favorite spot ..... OB!!

We walked the sea wall from my dad's house to the OB Pier (see photos above), past white-sand (but surprisingly garbage-free) beaches, down to Newport Avenue.... the main hangout & last haven for hippie-treehuggers in these parts.

Both mum & I scored beautifully at various stores.

We picked up embroidered purses from "Lola Luna Boutique" and crazy jewelry from "Rags Fashion Exchange" and -- my fully favorite haunt --- many items of groove-clothing from "Sunshine Daydreams".... a store that actually occurs in my daydreams frequently ..... (see multiple bags of purchases below)....

Then, tonight, we headed up to Balboa Park for an outdoor Organ Concert under the stars.

At one point the organist got up & said that the evening was dedicated to a gentleman (in the audience) who was celebrating his 95th birthday... AND that he'd been coming to that particular park since he was four years old.

Sorta Cool in So.Cal.

So .... "Auntie Kristin" is finding good ol' southern california a bit more palatable this time around.

Maybe baby makes things easier to handle after forty years on this earthly sphere.

Ocean Beach (where dad lives) is much more than acceptable, too (!!) --- the weekly Wednesday street market being one hella cool event to enjoy (witness the fully awesome band, Old Man Hands, below ---- complete with accordian, violin, standup bass, mandolin AND they were playing wicked tunes, too! WooHoo!!)

On my daily trek into OB today I FINALLY saw the San Diego Parrots --- after many years of trying to locate them! This is a group of about 20 parrots that escaped from a pet store many years ago & have been hanging & cawing (loudly!) and surviving in the area nearby my dad's house. I was walking back from the market today & was pretty sure that I was in their general vicinity when I heard an insanely loud amount of bird noise and noticed these gregarious green fellows at the top of some palm trees.




Went to see the movie "Little Miss Sunshine" with my dad the other night at The Ken Cinema (voted "best movie theatre snacks in SD) up in the Hillcrest area... a section of town that my dad calls the "artsy fartsy" (translation: gay) part of San Diego.

It was hard to argue with his definition when, once in the theatre, I noticed that they sold "vegan cookies" and whole-leaf infused herbal teas. The movie rocked (!)--- even tho' I didn't partake of all the herbal offerings that could have been shaken onto my popcorn......


At right is a stained-glass peace symbol that is mounted on a small rock island just up the road from my dad's beach-house (in case you didn't guess how much of a hippie-haven my dad lives in......)

Not so bad here in So.Cal. this time around.

Not everyone is a Bush-loving, conservative, dreadlock-hating, dog-beating chowhound. S'nice, I guess. But.... it's still not Canada.

California Curiosities

California really just becomes curiosier & curioser everytime I visit here ..... Witness the above "Planned Parenthood EXPRESS" that my dad & I drove past today. I mean... what part of their birth control planning, exactly, is "Express"? Is there a drive-thru window somewhere? Can one just run inside & grab a handful of condoms from their vending machines?

My dad suggested that perhaps this branch is geared toward counselling people who prefer quickies & one-night-stands. Makes sense to me.


And then there was the Organic Manicure & Pedicure shoppe. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a local garage advertising Organic wheel alignments or a San Diego bank offering Organic chequing accounts.

We also passed a place that had a big banner advertising "semi-live entertainment". I guess that's better than "half dead entertainment", but I sure wish I had my camera anyway...



So, we hoofed it past the express birth control & organic salons & headed to visit Sao Mai at her quaint condo in San Diego's Little Italy section of town.


Her home is within spitting distance to San Diego's harbour with its lovely sea walk --- along which we enjoyed a sunny stroll.

Believe it or not, the photo below is of a shark that we encountered on one of the harbour docks.

Baby shark for a baby girl.....

Sao Mai did lots of sleeping today -- which inspired her grampa to join in (see evidence below).

She's officially three weeks old now and is quite cheeky about it, sticking her tongue out at her auntie and just generally being so d*%$ed cute that it's nearly criminal! AND - best of all -- she's Organic!

Inward Bound: How I survived Meditation Boot Camp

Yeah.... okay.... SO, check out THIS ten day schedule:

4:00 a.m.-------Morning wake-up GONG (!)
4:30-6:30 a.m.--Meditate in hall or your room
6:30-8:00 a.m.---Breakfast break (Yahoo!)
8:00-9:00 a.m.---Group meditation in hall (no sleeping!)
9:00-11:00 a.m.---Meditate in the hall
11:00-12:00 noon---Lunch break (major yahoo!!)
12noon-1:00 p.m.--Rest and interviews with the teacher
1:00-2:30 p.m.---Meditate in the hall or in your room
2:30-3:30 p.m.--Group meditation in hall (no groaning)
3:30-5:00 p.m.--Meditate in the hall or in your room
5:00-6:00 p.m.--Tea break (yeah.... just tea~!)
6:00-7:00 p.m.------Group meditation in the hall
7:00-8:15 p.m.----Teacher's Discourse in the hall
8:15-9:00 p.m.----Group meditation in the hall
9:00-9:30 p.m.--Question time in the hall
9:30 p.m.---Retire to your own room--Lights out



Of course I wasn't allowed to bring a camera (or reading material, writing material, essential oils, food, snakes, crayons, or liquids & gels) but this photo at right kinda implies the excitement of the meditation hall at the Vipassana Centre. EXCEPT that my whole group o' tators (that's "meditators" for those of us who travel at different speeds.... now......) had mega-block meditation pillows, all equipped with super-spinal supports and lumbar luxurious pillows and just all the new state-of-the-art meditation paraphenalia.

I brought a blanket. And they had to lend me headphones so I could hear the lessons. It was very uncool. Luckily, I've subsequently read some tales from other newbie meditators & I don't feel quite so stigmatized.



So I gave the whole "meditate for twelve hours a day" schedule a chance.... for the first four days.

Then, on the fifth day, a revelation: I really don't like meditating. I figure that - maybe -- I'm just not miserable enough for meditation (or at least the method that was taught by Mr.Goenka (shown below beside his lovely wife).

Actually, he was a hilarious teacher & I probably wouldn't have stayed thru the whole course if his lessons weren't so flippin' entertaining.... at least until the last three days when they started to sound like propaganda sessions from a hare krishna bagwan-brainwashing sect or something.... (repeat after me: ignore your sankaras and ragas and embrace the dhamma of anicca... now repeat again fifty times in a slow, droning & hypnotic voice to 100 sensory-starved, sleep-deprived, malnourished 'tators.... Vipassana!!)

I know that I'm going to get in trouble from certain friends& relations for being so (notoriously) sarcastic & closed-minded and... well, basically being myself.

BUT--- the good news was that I spent the last five days meditating quite seriously on some new business ideas and very creative re-financing plans that should potentially net me about $200k within the year and possibly millions over the next few years.

Now THAT was a divinely enlightening experience!

Of Festivals and Fortieths

Who is that folksy pixie with the spritely green elf hat? (chapeau on loan from a certain Crazy Colombian.... thanks, Nene!)...

Why, it's "still-thirty-nine"-Tim at the Calgary Folk Fest AND awesome Feist up on the screen in the background!

Such great music at Calgary, as compared to Winnipeg (sorry, peggers...) Feist rocked socks -- she was a humanform energyball as she jumped & spun around the stage AND she plays a right mean guitar + drums! (who knew...?)

The long-haired beauty on this next big screen is from an Iranian/American band called Niyaz --- SO worthy was this spooky band that the other two little pixie-hippies beside us (pictured here, licking each other) almost got up to dance!! (but didn't....) Calgary was a much more subdued crowd than Winnipeg until...

Broken Social Scene hit stage --- that changed Everything!!

Don't know if the picture will reproduce it well enough but.... anybody recognize that bass player at the far right (stage left) of BSS...? Hobson!!!

We didn't even know he was in the band...

Anyway, after howling at the moon with the Calgary folkies, it was time to celebrate Tim's 40th birthday -- AND as it turns out, the birth of the newest member of the extended family.!!!... Welcome to the world, Sao Mai!!!!

There are lotsa pix from Tim's big day but... we're all old & ugly so I'm only including a picture (below) of the real "lovelies" in our family.

Damn, these girls are gorgeous! It's almost criminal! Wait'll they're all 40......

Shaggin' Down in Cow Town

Sundre, Alberta: one hour north of Calgary, and home to Tim's sister, Laurie's, expansive and seriously peaceful acreage.

It's 'critter paradise' out here --- with horses grazing right beside Shaggy, and farm kittens playing in the barns and cows mooing and chewing in the pastures.... I even bridled up one of the horses (too lazy to throw a saddle on, tho) and barebacked around the farm a bit --- not that anyone takes any pictures of me, though......

Tim, on the other hand, has been playing with all the farm equipment! Guess who wishes he had a tractor now!?! It took him about five minutes to figure out how to work the tractor, and then within a few more seconds he was lifting, loading and leveling some soil that he'd been moving around (for no real reason except to play with the tractor).

Laurie's got about 160 acres of rolling hills, with a stream running through it, as well as some flat pasture & farmland and a large area at the top of a noll where she has a trailer, an airstream (!!) -- see the pic at left of Laurie walking beside her 'silver bullet'. There are also several lovely log cabins on the farm --- We have Shaggy parked beside one cabin that Sami's is staying in....

Everyday we take the dogs for a walk along the horse-trails that wind through Laurie's lower pasture & alongside her stream. We've also been bike riding beside the endless cow pastures that make up this wide countryside. Whoever said that "curiosity killed the cat" has obviously never met a cow. I don't condone bovinicide (that's "cow-killing" for you lexiphobes out there), BUT honestly, these animals will walk right up to anyone doing anything. Nevermind "sitting ducks"..... try "standing cows".... they're live target practice, if I've ever seen it. (just kidding....) But they are endless fodder for dumb-animal jokes, we've discovered.....

There are also two big rivers that criss-cross at Sundre and we took a drive down to one of them for a swim. Both Sam & I felt some kinda gross & slimy, little fishlets scampering over our feet & legs, so we hightailed it outta the water while Tim & Laurie kept on swimming.

When I get a better internet connection (not just random roadside stops), I'll try to upload a bunch of the Sundre farm pictures to my photo website because --- it's just been so gorgeous out here that it's impossible to describe. I agree with (lovely) Emerson when he said that "as soon as we walk out of doors, Nature transcends all poets so far...."

It's been a good place, out here, to read & write & play with tractors.....

Here a Moose, There a Moose......

First up --- "Moose Lake", Manitoba --

at the southeasternmost corner of the province, right next to both Ontario and Minnesota. In other words: the best d*&*#ed variety of bugs & flying critters that anyone could ever hope to encounter! From mega-moosequitos to flesh-eating-blackflies, we've got the holes in our legs to prove it!

My cousin's husband's family (otherwise known as "the relatives of Dick Shaney") have a beautiful cabin on ultra-peaceful Moose Lake, nestled among trembling populars & white pine, and we were fortunate enough to squeeze ol' Shaggy right in next to their toolshed for a few days of Manitoba-style "lake life" (until the eager Park Rangers told us that we couldn't actually camp in their driveway but... that's a whole other story....)

The first few days we were battered senseless by the kind of thickly intense and humid heat that can only be produced within the abusive Canadian Shield. The heat, accompanied by venomous insects, forced us all to drink the only known Praire antidote: mas cervezas.

Even the kids were drinking beers -- Moosehead, of course... Luckily, this particular prescription to ward off evil bugs & weather ALSO effectively quietened the kids (see picture of passed-out child below--- what luck!!)

We stalwart adults, however, found some energy to do such things as swim & canoe & such (between beers)...

If this d*&%med bad internet connection lasts, I might post Tim's newest movie documentary called "Moose Canoes" at my movie site (listed at top right of this page)...

SO relaxing was our time at Moose Lake that Tim even began to....

READ!! (not kidding)...

then again, who could resist reading when there were approximately 5000 magazines to choose from (Thanks Joan!!)

Next "Moose" stop was --- Moosomin, Saskatchewan --- where Tim's Aunt & Uncle have a large & lovely farm (which became our own private campground for a few days!... that's Shaggy, hidden behind the red tractor...)

I was in particular dreamland there because...

1) there were Purple Martin birdhouses all over the property & I was able to watch these crazy dive-bombing bugeaters defend their young while I tried to approach their nests and....

2) Tim's cousin has a huge Elk Farm just down the road and we got a great tour of his operation. It's been good for us to see all these working farms to help us sorta decide whether we'd like to go WWOOFing within the next few years.... it does seem like something we'd enjoy doing...

Next "farm stop" is Sundry, Alberta where Tim's sister has 150 acres of horses & praire & big sky &.... more to come!