Tag Archives: journal

Making a travel diary

crafts, , , , , , , , , , ,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve purchased an online class to learn how to make funky diaries/journals/commonplace books. In particular, I’m excited about our upcoming trip to Istanbul in mid-August and want to have this done by then.

20130714-125817.jpg
Pattern (eventually inserted between front and back covers) will produce journal approx 6″x9″ with a front flap.

Mary Ann Moss blogs and teaches at Dispatches from LA, her online schoolhouse/kitchen table/photo studio and her images are simply inspiring. I made myself finish up a framing project that I’d started some time ago so that I could proceed with this with a clear conscience. Unfortunately, in a major purge, I got rid of much of my fabric stash, so took a trip to Value Village and picked up a red and gold sari, some red an gold moiré fabric, and a piece of upholstery fabric with a paisley pattern. I have a bag full of leather scraps from another project.

20130714-125850.jpg
It’s very much a scrappy, plan-as-you-go project. Here I’m laying out some scraps on my inside and outside covers to see how it’ll look.

The next few steps will involve rough appliqué, sewing the inside and outside covers together, and ironing. Then more appliqué!
I’ll post again when I have my cover done.

Seven Quick Takes

seven quick takes, , , , , , , , ,

Seven Quick Takes Friday

    1. Spent a lovely weekend at the cottage with my extended family. While my boys didn’t come up with us, there being no internet and all, I had fun hanging with my sibs and their kids, and my mom. Zouheir got out in the Laser and polished up his sailing skills, and he, my brother-in-law and the kids headed out in the motor boat to watch the fireworks in Portland from the water.
    2. The VB6 eating plan is going pretty well. I have my new routine for breakfast and am eating more veggies in general. And have I lost any weight, you ask? Not a pound.
    3. The son of one of Zouheir’s cousins is coming to stay with us for a few weeks to improve his English. He’s 19 and hIs family moved to LA from Syria but he is having trouble getting out of his Arabic environs so that he can master the language and start university. He’ll be attending ILAC here in Toronto and we’ll show him the sights.
    4. Got my TIFF ticket packages a couple of nights ago.  I got 20 daytime tickets and 10 any-time. I’ll probably get a few daytime pairs so that I can bring a friend, or Alex and/or his girlfriend. As usual, am very pumped about the festival, even if one of our friends had the audacity to plan his wedding for the second Saturday!
    5. Am rereading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain for book club this weekend. It’s so well-researched that it’s a pleasure to revisit. If you haven’t heard of it, here’s a Ted Talk (that introvert Bill Gates has called his favourite) in which Cain discusses her thesis.
    6. My father Franklin went to Queen’s for medical school. I found this cutting from the Queen’s Journal amongst some photographs. His father’s name was David and his parents separated when he was quite young. This is a side of my father that I had never seen before.
      Void - Poem
    7. If you’re looking for a quiet, interesting little film in Toronto (unlike most of those in the theatres these days), consider seeing Museum Hours which is now screening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. It stars Mary Margaret O’Hara and amateur actor Bobby Sommer. Here’s the trailer.

Thanks for reading. I love comments so please feel free to leave one below.

Public and private. What we leave behind.

journal,

A couple of weeks ago, I committed to writing daily in my blog. What I have realised is that some of my writing is better served in a personal journal. I have been using the writing prompts suggested by Sarah Selecky to do some daily writing in a fictional format that wouldn’t really work for the blog.

So that’s the story on my silence.

That being said, it’s been a busy week. I spent much of last week in my hometown, helping my mother decide what to bring with her from her apartment as she moves into a retirement residence. It also meant dividing up the remaining belongings between my two siblings and myself. At least, we started the process.

I arrived home with one of her sets of china and a good deal of crystal. Some books. Linens. Some kitchen things for my sons who will soon be living on their own. The furniture that she is keeping with her will be moved tomorrow morning. The remainder will likely stay for staging her apartment when it goes on the market in late summer/early fall. My spouse and I are well established after 30 years of marriage but it means a lot to me to have a special mohair throw, or the dishes that I enjoyed when she lived in her home of 40+ years. 

There were things that us three siblings agreed had to stay in the family. The cutlery that we had used all our life, that my father purchased in the 60s and that won design awards. The down-filled sofa that is perfect for napping. The wee brass lady with a bell under her skirt that we were given when we were sick to ring when we needed help. The stand-up apothecary’s desk. 

It all sounds very melancholy, but it’s not. My mother realises that we children will get enjoyment from these objects. She holds such material objects with sufficient detachment that she appears to be content that they are going to family, or even blessing others (as we’d say in the South.) Her books are mainly going to the library at her church of 50+ years. The documents and photographs will be scanned and preserved. 

I am planning to return to visit her next week. To help her settle in to her new residence with her own furniture and art. To go through photographs and documents from the past that will mean so much to future generations. 

Here’s a snippet from a Maclean-Hunter employee newsletter from one of the summers when my mother worked there while paying her way through medical school. These are the kinds of memorabilia that I feel need to be preserved

Image

 

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Uncategorized, , , , ,

7_quick_takes

  1. It’s been a tough week. I surrendered our dog, Wilson, to Toronto Animal Services yesterday after a biting incident earlier this summer. He’s a terrier mix, with a lot of Jack Russell in him, and he charged and bit a letter carrier after he got off-leash. It was a horrible accident (although the bite was a minor injury), but I realized that his behaviour was too unpredictable for us to manage. Every visitor to our house was a stress. We have no yard at our current home, unlike when we adopted him in Georgia, and even with 3-4 walks a day, we were unable to provide him with sufficient opportunities to burn off energy. I’ve been weepy all week, and broke down at the shelter when I took him in. My greatest hope is that they can find a home for him where he will be able to be the dog that he is. I can’t really say any more.
  2. I got my hair cut after my trip to Animal Services yesterday. It felt kind of like mourning, but at the same time a fresh start. It’s shoulder length and layered a bit. And I feel so silly writing about it now.
  3. Last night, we attended the Season Opener for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a wonderful program including Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and a commission from Toronto Composer Larysa Kezmenko called Behold the Night, based on a Midsummer’s Night Dream. The second half was William Walton’s Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario featuring actor Christopher Plummer (who also arranged this work) reciting parts of the play from memory. Walton scored Larurence Olivier’s film Henry V, from which this work is derived. It was spectacular, and great finish to what had been a very sad day. The evening was capped by the TSO’s after party featuring the Heavyweights Brass Band in the lobby of Roy Thomson Hall.
  4. Z and I head to Orlando on Sunday where he is attending a conference and I will take five days to relax in the sun. I was able to score a very cheap flight and there’s no upcharge for me to stay at the (very nice) hotel hosting the conference.
  5. Michael auditioned for and was accepted into the Hannaford Youth Band and Jazz.fm Youth Big Band, both of which he played in last year. These ensembles are wonderful ways for him to get experience performing repertoire on both the tube (Hannaford) and bass trombone (Jazz.fm) and I’m pleased that he’ll be playing with them again this year.
  6. While we were downtown yesterday, we picked up tickets for Noel Coward’s Private Lives, now in previews at the Royal Alexandra. Starring Paul Gross and Kim Cattrall, it’s been getting a lot of positive buzz. Mirvish is also bringing War Horse to Toronto in the new year and I’m looking forward to that as well. 
  7. Friends from our parish were featured on the front page of the Star this week. John and Kathleen Rudolph are both professional musicians.  John is Principal Percussionist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Kathleen teaches flute at the Glenn Gould School and University of Western Ontario. Kathleen and I are altos in the parish choir, and Kathleen often fills in on the organ. Their daughter, Theresa, was just hired by the TSO, their first parent-child pair. The piece in The Star is lovely and worth a read.

More Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary.

TIFF is coming: my first weekend lineup.

Uncategorized, ,

The Toronto International Film Festival, that is.

This year, I’m jumping in with both feet, seeing 5 films with my spouse when he’s not at work, and ….ahem… 20 on my own during the day. Because we’re “castmembers” at TIFF, we got our order processed early and got 23 out of 25 of our first picks, 1 second pick, and one voucher.  I’m hoping to get another ticket (with my voucher) to Habibi so that Z can come with me to that screening (it’s a Saturday morning at 9 am.) It’s a recasting of a classical 9th century Arabic tragic love epic, Mad for Layla (Majnoun Layla), set in modern day Gaza.

On the first weekend (Sep 9-11), this is my lineup:

Friday afternoon:  Urbanized – Documentary on Urban Design

Saturday morning: Ides of March – George Clooney and Ryan Gosling star in this polical drama about a presidential primary.

Saturday afternoon: House of Tolerance – A look at a fin-de-siecle brothel in Paris. 

Sunday noon: Take This Waltz – Sarah Polley directs (and wrote) this romantic drama.

My fears about having to run from venue to venue have been allayed as I have at least 45 minutes between any two films, so with my TTC pass and comfy shoes, I’m good to go!

 

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Uncategorized, , , ,

7_quick_takes

  1. I was interviewed by a writer from the Wall Street Journal yesterday for a piece on white noise apps. I had blogged about it at some pointWhite Noise iPhone Icon (although I can’t seem to find the piece now) and she contacted me by telephone. While white noise machines have been around for a long time for use in helping people sleep, the emergence of apps for smartphones is relatively recent and she’s exploring what people do with them. My main uses are to block out noise when I am trying to read (in a waiting room, on the subway, etc.) or to help me sleep when I’m in a noisy environment like a plane or train. The app I use is White Noise and it’s available from the App Store on iTunes.
  2. I dropped by the Oakwood branch of the Toronto Public Library for the first time this week.Michael was at a trombone lesson nearby and it offered comfy chairs in a lovely light-filled space. Check out the door handles!
    Img_12161Img_12131Img_12141Img_12151
  3. We’ve been loving our new grill! I can’t believe how much more I am willing to cook in the summer when it does’t involve heating up the house. We’ve made some great steaks, chicken, lots of grilled veggies with onion and mushrooms, and tonight we’ve got some wild salmon that I think I’ll do in foil. Corn is in season, so I’ve also been enjoying that, although I haven’t grilled any yet. I’m going to try that tonight using the advice from the National Post, which is to just shuck it, brush the cobs lightly with oil and pop it directly on the grill. Easy peasy. 
  4. A couple of pieces from Zen Habits have really struck me this week. The first is a guest post by Chris of Zen to Fitness called Four Simple Fitness Fundamentals in which he encourages people to focus on the basics of living a fit life before getting all fancy. These include (1) using your bodyweight (squats, pushups); (2) not hyperfocussing on cardio; (3) walk and stretch every day; and (4) live an invigorating life.

    The second piece, written by Leo Babauta (the host of Zen Habits) is The Amazing Power of Being Present. So many people have monkey-brain these days, and spend a lot of time worrying about what they SHOULD be doing instead of focussing on what they ARE doing. There is definitely a lesson for me here, and practicing this, along with using the brain dump(pdf) recommended in Getting Things Done, are probably crucial to moving forward the million projects I have spinning around in my head.
    I’m looking orward to living an invigorating life when the temperature drops a bit!
     

  5. I just discovered Val McDermid, a writer of rather gory police procedurals set in England. I’ve read the first two Tony Hill and Carol Jordan mysteries namely The Mermaids Singing and Wire In The Blood. Very gory. But hard to put down. I put them down when I needed a break from the gore and then picked them back up again. 
  6. Another discovery this week:  we have free on-demand stuff with our cable* service. Maybe it’s a new thing, but there are quite a few decent movies and a bunch of series that we can get. I watched the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce earlier this week and it was fantastic! Starring Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce, it is apparently a more accurate portrayal of the James M. Cain novel than the 1945 film starring Joan Crawford. I’m now catching up on Season 3 of Nurse Jackie that I somehow completely missed. Makes ironing pass quickly!
    *[Edited to correct: we don’t have cable per se. We have IPTV or internet television. Glorious HD over a telephone wire.]  
  7. My current reads are:
    Book:  Bech: A Book by John Updike. I haven’t read any of the Bech novels, so am looking forward to this one.
    Audio: Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke. Slightly better than I was expecting, plus bonus recipes for baked goods.
    Kindle: Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington. Haven’t actually started this yet, but it’s on my Goodreads list to finish by the end of August. 

Pop on over to Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes! 

The Simple Woman’s Daybook – Black Dog Edition

Uncategorized,

 

FOR TODAY, July 26th, 2011…

Outside my window… .

..it’s grey, but cool. The oppressive heat and humidity of the past weeks seems to be subsiding and I hope to spend more time outside.

I am thinking…

Churchill’s black dog has returned.  I’ve had a couple of periods of depression over the past ten years and I seem to be in the middle of another. For this reason, I have backed out of the trip to Stockholm that Z and I were planning and he will go alone, to be with his family, on the anniversary of his mother’s death. This was not easy for me to do, and I know that it was a significant disappointment to him, but the thought of being away from home for 10 days was simply overwhelming. I need to make some calls and get some advice and counsel. Adjust my meds. More exercise. Keep off alcohol (as I’ve been doing for a few weeks now) and improve my diet.

 

I am thankful…

for my supportive family, for a husband who understands as best he can, for a sense that my life is valuable.

 

In the kitchen…

…I made Pioneer Woman’s delicious meat loaf last night, with potatoes and carrots in the roasting pan. Michael made a meatloaf sandwich for his lunch today, and we had a discussion about why I’d never made meat loaf when he was younger, and how he probably would’t have liked it back then!

 

I am wearing…

…my pyjamas. ‘Nuff said.

I am creating…

…not a lot these days. Creative projects have fallen by the wayside.

 

I am going…

…to take a long walk with Wilson at Sherwood Park today, in the off-leash area.

 

I am wondering…

…if I will ever lose the habit of putting two spaces after a period when I’m typing. Apparetly, it REALLY annoys some people.

 

I am reading…

…The Untold Story by Monica Ali.  It’s a kind of thought-experiment, wherein the author imagines an alternate world where Princess Diana did not die but rather escapes anonymously to the American Midwest and assumes another identity. Riveting! I’ve loved Ali’s previous novels and this one is no exeption. I’m also listening to an audiobook by Elizabeth Peters called Devil-May-Care.  A young woman housesits a haunted mansion belonging to her elderly aunt.  I”ve read a couple of Peter’s Egyptian mysteries, and this one seems enjoyable so far.

 

I am hoping…

I am hopeful.

 

I am looking forward to…

…checking things off my to-do list.

 

I am hearing…

…the hum of the air conditioner and the tapping of a mason working on a driveway down the street.

 

Around the house…

 …I have  few projects on the go. I need to choose a paint colour for the exterior of our stucco and wood trim house and I have some Behr samples to try out.  I need to get a roof repair person in to work on our leaky skylight. And the decluttering continues.

 

I am pondering…

…how to move forward.

 

One of my favorite things…

…eating a popsicle while reading a book.

 

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Getting Michael through his summer school exam (Physics)
Getting Z off on his trip to Stockholm
Getting appointments with my doctor and other helpers.

 

Here is picture for thought I am sharing…

The world lost the great painter Lucian Freud this week.
Requiescat in pacem.

 

Seven Quick Takes Friday: Iris Murdoch Edition.

Uncategorized, , , ,

7_quick_takes

  1. It’s the late Iris Murdoch’s 92nd birthday, and I happen to be reading her novel The Nice and The Good.  First published in 1968, it’s a tale of a complex household in Dorset that includes a married couple (Octavian and Kate), their two children, an elderly uncle, a divorced friend of the wife whose ex-husband works for Octavian and her twins, a widow (friend of Kate) and her son, a housekeeper, a refugee scholar who lives in a cottage on the property, a cat and a dog.  Also in the cast of characters is a friend of Octavians who is in love with Kate, said friend’s girlfriend who he is trying to break up with, his manservant, and an ex-lover of the divorced friend. There is also a suicide (murder?) victim who works for Octavian. I had to make a little cheat sheet about 50 pages in to the novel to keep track of who everyone is.  But it’s a good read and I’m about halfway through.
  2. Our 18-year-old nephew, Marc, from France has been here for three weeks.  He did two weeks of English language lessons at a terrific school here in Toronto, had done the requisite trip to Niagara Falls, spent a weekend at our cottage, and has hung out with our boys in the evenings when they’re at home.  He’s really easy-going and has been a pleasure to host.This weekend will include the new Harry Potter movie and a day at Canada’s Wonderland with Alex.  He heads home on Tuesday with (I hope) great memories.  We’ve been encouraging him to consider University of Waterloo for graduate studies (he’s in Computer Engineering) and I know he’d love to return to Canada at some point. (Photo is Marc and Z at….guess where?)
    Marc_and_zouheir
  3. We’ve finally hired a cleaner to deal with our house as I have simply not been up to the task. The “deep” clean was thie past Monday and apparently we had a remarkable amount of dust throughout our house (she feigns surprise). Gleaming Glenn will be back each Monday to keep us sparkling and it will let me focus on decluttering.  
  4. Z was a witness before the CRTC earlier this week at the Usage Based Billing (UBB) consultation.  He’ll be back next week for more. It brings back my old days at Bell when I was involved in a number of regulatory proceedings, responding to interrogatories and preparing witness testimony and backup. I loved that work and have enjoyed discussing the current hearings. I’ve been following the twitter feed with much interest (#ubb for any geeks out there.) We’re such romantics!
  5. I’ve started a family history wiki, private to family members at the moment, where I am trying to compile data, photos, stories, etc about my ancestors.  If you’re in my family and would like an invite, drop me a line. It’s still in a fairly preliminary stage and it’s my first time creating a wiki (I’m using the free version of PBworks) but I think it has great potential to become a repository of multiple types of information and a way to pass on the family history after I’m gone.
  6. Michael is taking Grade 11 Physics at summer school to free up a period in his schedule next year to permit more practice time.  He’s half-way through the course and it’s going very well. A tiring exercise (five days a week, 8:45-3:30), he gets a full year credit in less than a month and, frankly, keeps him occupied through the summer.  The teacher is excellent and he seems very focussed on doing a great job. He’ll have three weeks break, and then two weeks of music camp to top off his summer, a week of jazz with his trombone and a week of band/classical with his tuba.
  7. One of the big results of our visit from Gleaming Glenn was his tidying of the boys rooms. Michael was so happy, that he did a whole bunch of additional decluttering and has decided to move all his instruments upstairs, along with the digital piano. He asked for a smaller desk so that this could be accomodated, and we found one at Value Village for $14.99 (less 20% student discount):
    Img_11851

    It is basically particleboard with an ugly faux wood-grain base.  Two cans of RustOleum Universal spray paint (black) yielded this:

    Img_11841

    Another few hours to cure and it’ll grace his room.

Read more Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary.

 

The neutrality of facts?

Uncategorized,

From Chapter 2 of my current audiobook The Last Summer (Of You and Me) by Ann Brashares. Alice and Paul are lifelong friends.

[Alice] knew things she shouldn’t have known.  She knew things Paul had not told her, things he probably didn’t know. Alice hated that, and faulted her mother for having ever told her. Her mother was too keen on information, too quick to belive in the neutrality of facts, just because they were true.

“It’s the journalist in me” her mother claimed, managing to praise herself even in apology.

This jumped out at me as I was listening, so much that I rewound and transcribed the text.

I suspect that I have this tendency myself, to use facts in ways that might be gossipy or hurtful or in other ways that have the potential to break trust. The passage reminds mne that sometimes there is a burden placed on the receiver of such facts, that are so very often far from neutral.

I’ll be back.

Uncategorized, ,

I have photos and stories to post from our travels, but I seem to have been struck by some stomach thing.  It started yesterday midday and has really wiped me out. Don’t know if it was plane germs, or something I ate.  Should say “we” ate because my dear one also started feeling under the weather this morning.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Folkestone where we stayed from Wednesday thru Saturday, a lovely seaside town.

Folkestonemaplowres

<Map source: The Property Purveyor>

The clock tower used to be a church but was destroyed in WW2, as per the plaque.  A memorial on the waterfront says that during WW1, 7 million men marched through the city on their way to war. (Don’t forget to click on the small pics to enlarge.)

Img_1689Img_1688Img_1690Img_1691