Dear sweet Ruggles passed away this week. Being a rescue we were never sure of his age.
He had a strong presence in my sister's life since he followed her everywhere and was happiest when he was near her. Even though he only joined the cast of characters 3 1/2 years ago in my sister's home, he won over her heart and had a special place there.

When we lived in Toronto, Ruggles appeared on our front porch, like many of the unwanted or feral cats did. He lived under the porch for a few weeks while we fed him and until my sister felt she could get close enough to encourage him inside. This was easier than we thought. We had planned the scene. We'd move the food bowl into the front hall and once he was inside one of us was going to shut the front door. Hopefully he wouldn't tear back outside.


We never got to execute the plan because my sister discovered she could just go over and pick him up. She just carried him into the house and that was that. He was so gentle and loving that he never resisted or feared her.

At first we didn't know what colour he really was because he was so filthy and his hair was flattened and greasy. red jane who knows a thing or two about Persian cats because her mom has Persians suggested that he was a chocolate point. That's how filthy he was. Then as time went on, Ruggles as he came to be known, cleaned himself up and enjoyed his regular meals which caused him to fluff out and get whiter and whiter until he was the beauty you see in the photos.

Sis didn't know if she would keep him or not. However, the longer she spent debating it the dearer to her heart he grew.

When my sister was out, Ruggles would often come to my door at the foot of the stairs from my sister's place and do his quiet little scratchy meow. I'd let him in and he'd just come and hang out with us. He'd find a nice spot to lie down and just be content to be there with us. One time he got in the little cat tent and curled up or another time he fell asleep on my foot while I was sitting at my desk. He just like to be near someone. The other cats never minded him because he was not territorial at all and was so passive that I think other cats found that he just didn't register on their radar (except for Rupert, but that really was a unique case).


We'll miss you sweet Honey-bunches-of-Snuggelos. We loved you dearly and will miss you greatly.

Earth Hour and the Raw dinner

For Earth Hour we lit our only two candles (I had packed the rest in preparation for the move) and chatted while the kitties slept.

One of our plans was in honor of Earth Hour to prepare a raw meal so that we wouldn't use the stove either. Of course I still needed the food processor so we couldn't actually make the sauce during Earth Hour.

Is that raw pasta in the photo? Yes it is. We made pasta with marinara sauce. The fettucine is made from zucchini, slice by using a vegetable peeler. The marinara is fresh tomatoes, red pepper, jalapeno, sundried tomatoes, basil and garlic all run through the food processor. It was delicious. I'll definitely make this dish again, but I'm thinking about making a cashew alfredo sauce. Yum.

As for Prima...
She's enjoying the packing for the move. If there's a box of paper it soon becomes a bed.

The daffodils have been open for about a week now so I had to post some photos. I do have a lot of bulbs coming up, but I fear I'm going to miss their beauty since I'll be in my new home by the 1st of May. We'll see.

For the long run (Long Slow Distance it's called or LSD - I know, I know it's too funny) this week I was better prepared in a way. While I didn't get to bed early enough and I did have some wine Saturday evening for the first time in over a month, I did feel fairly rested when the alarm went off at 7 and I did leave myself enough time to have some oatmeal before I headed out.

Being a drop in runner at the RR and not a clinic member, I don't get the email notices that provide route descriptions and maps so it's a surprise when I arrive. I don't mind. When I did arrive I checked the board right away and saw that the half marathon group was doing 12 k. Phew! I didn't want another 16 or 18k week. I had seen my physiotherapist mid-week who reminded me that I shouldn't increase my mileage more than 10% a week. Hmm. So I guess going from 10k to 18k was the wrong thing to do. I know these things. Do I always do these things? No. Why? Because I'm foolish. This time I think I'll really do it. Afterall, I could have run Friday after work, but I held back because I knew I'd already done enough mileage for the week. So you see I can stick to it.

Anywho...with 12k and lots of sunshine in the plans I was pretty happy about the run. The group leader read the directions out which made everyone laugh at the end because it was so convoluted with so many turns and over and under bridges, no one could follow it. Once again I thought if I could stick with a small pack, hopefully the same pack as last week, I'd be okay. If I did lose sight of everyone I knew that I'd have to run for about and hour and 10 minutes to do 12k so there's really no worries.

It was cold starting out. It's been such a slow spring. It's as if the temperature refuses to climb above 12 degrees. It's bizarre. It must have been around 3 degrees when we started out. I followed the runners I'd seen leading the pack last week, but I could tell that I'd lose them at some point. As we came to the first bridge and started to go over it, I heard two people behind me say, "I don't think we're supposed to cross the bridge." I remembered the group leader saying that and I did a quick turn and started following those two. As it turned out there were also in the pack I ran with last week (L & S) and L had directions in her hands. If I stuck with them I'd be okay.

They were a little fast for me, but I tried to keep up. I know Sunday is supposed to be the Long Slow Distance, but I always tend to run a little faster and it seems to work well for me. With only 12k to cover, a little faster wouldn't hurt. That reminds me, nothing was hurting either. My calf was good as was my achilles.

Much of the route was trail again and I really welcomed this since I tend to not run trails on my own. After several turns and loop arounds we ended up on the Coquitlam river trail and ran it to David before looping around and running down the other side of the river. It was really beautiful with the sun beaming between the tree tops, filtering down onto the path in front of us.

We did take a wrong turn at the end and ended up going the wrong way before heading back. So in the end we did 11.5 k. I think that's enough for one Sunday.

It was nice to get home earlier as well. So I'm happy to report that my calf feels fine and my achilles was fine during the run and I iced it after. This evening it's a little sore, but nothing like it was. I'm feeling good about running season again. I just have to remember that 10% rule and I should be fine.

run vegan run

Sunday I managed to get up for the early morning run at the Running Room. Even though I didn't get to bed until at least after 12 I knew I had to get up early. If I didn't, I'd lose the chance of enjoying a run in the sunny weather.

I only had time for a Quinoa sesame snap bar and some water. I chose this because the bar had the most carbs out of all the quick snacks I had on hand. I was still on the detox so I wanted to save the protein shake until after the run since you're supposed to fuel up with protein post-run.

My hope was to run with the half marathon group and start training with them from now on. Last week I ran with the 10 k group which was good, but I wanted to add a little more distance.

When I arrived just after 8:30 the groups were already heading out the door. I asked a woman which group she was in. She said "half marathon 18 k." Damn. 18 k. I was hoping for 14 or maybe 16 k. I'm not really ready for 18 k. Or am I? I checked the schedule on the board and the 10 k group were doing 10k (not enough). The marathoners were doing 29 k (have a nice time). I'd have to go with the 18 k half marathoners and just run as far as possible. I'd turn back when I'd had enough.

Outside one of the group leaders was going over the route and handing out lists with directions. They were taking one of the Pitt River trails so that was a plus. The trail would be definitely nice and soft to run on and it would be peaceful. I sort of knew the route and I knew I'd stick with the pack as much as possible so I didn't take the paper with directions.

Off we went. There must have been about 35 or 40 half marathoners in total. I ran my own pace. I didn't know anyone in the smaller group I broke off with, but I followed this small pack not sure if I could keep pace since I was about five or six strides behind them. I didn't know if this was the 2 hour group or the 2:15 or what. I was just running my pace.

We ran along the Coquitlam river trail into Poco where we had our first walk break. I was glad to see that we were taking the 10:1 walk breaks. I was losing some distance from the pack, because I had to stretch. I promised my physio I'd stretch once I was warmed up and I'm going to do it. I'm not going to risk further injury.

By the time we hit the next trail, Hyde Creek park, I was closer to the pack again. Two women breezed past me. They looked like marathon runners to me. By the time we exited the park one of the women had dropped back and I was just behind her. We ran into the Minnekhada park and I met the woman I had been running behind. We introduced ourselves as we ran along DeBoville Slough. I was keeping pace and feeling fine. Along the slough we saw three great blue herons. I also saw an eagle. I love running out there. It's so flat and the mountains are right there. The woman I was running with, D., had just done a mini trial triathalon the day before so she was feeling a little done-in and felt the pace was a bit fast for her. She was trying to keep the pack in sight just like me.

When we left the trail and hit the country road near the entrance to Minnekhada park, the pack had split into the front runners of about 8 or 9 people, the middle group of three or four, and the back two me and D. D was dropping back a little, but was still in view. Now I was tired, but I knew we had already started to head back. My calf was a bit tight but not painful. My achilles was doing okay. Again, no pain so I was okay. I was just tired. One Quinoa bar cannot sustain 18 k. I know that and I knew that going in.

I decided that once we got to the next turn I'd take the trail back instead of going up the hill with the group. The distance wouldn't be that different in the end, but there'd be no hill to tire me out more. I thought maybe I'd jog back and ask D. if she wanted to take the trail back with me since she was dropping further and further back and she didn't even know where we were going.

Of course when we came to the hill to run away from the park I went up the hill with the group. I just didn't want to give up. This was the same hill I had run up last week with the 10k group. However, this week I couldn't do it. I stopped half way to walk. I kept taking water, but I really needed fuel. I can't drink electrolyte drinks, or take gels because they often upset my stomach. I didn't even think to buy some Sharkies. I ran again before we reached the top. Now I had really dropped back, but I could still see runners up ahead so I could follow them because now I was also unsure of the route back.

Along the gentle downslope I looked back for D. and didn't see her. When we got to the next turn I looked back and finally caught sight of her. I waved and she waved back so I knew she'd seen me and would see the turn. I had to take an extra walk break and decided that I'd wait for D. and just keep pace with her for the rest of the run. We had about 4 1/2 k left. I jogged back to meet up with D. and she was so grateful for me having waited for her because she said she had no idea where we were or which way to go.

We ran together. We could still see 3 people ahead of us, one of whom was the woman D. had started her run with. We were able to follow the pack and keep going.

With three blocks left D. recognized where we were and started jumping for joy. She got a burst of energy and ran ahead to the stop light. We caught up with the other 3 there and everyone congratulated each other. It was really rewarding after a long run. Clearly we were all struggling together. One of the guys I had run with previously so we caught up since I hadn't seen him since before the Fort Langley half.

Even though I was very tired I was really relieved that I could go the distance and happy that I'd stuck it out instead of turning back early. My time is still a bit slow, but that will come with more training.

I iced my achilles when I got home and felt a little stiff by the end of the day, but not bad overall. I'm going to run with the group as much as possible, even though it means I don't get to sleep in on Sundays. The motivation is just what I need.

6th anniversary

Happy Anniversary Prima Primavera. Six years ago we rented a car a drove to Richmond Hill where Prima was staying in her foster home. She was six months old and very eager to see us.
She came out right away and we knew we'd take her home (as if I could ever refuse a cat!).

When we got her home, she hid inside the couch (it's got a hollow backing so a cat can climb up in there if they're small enough. She stayed in there for hours. Eventually she came out and got on my lap and rubbed and purred. She was very needy and still is.

Now she's the Queen of Whoville and we wouldn't have it any other way (sorry Gigi).

I'm trying to not be angry, but I am. Anger is not such a bad thing really. It's just how you deal with it that can make it a bad thing. How do I deal with my anger? Well in this case since there's been no confrontation I tend to hold grudges. Maybe this isn't the best way to deal with my anger, but in some cases it seems like the only way.

Of course this is all related to us having to move. We were screwed over. I understand that her business has taken off and she wants to keep working at home and needs to hire staff. I also understand that they feel they need to hire a nanny which also requires more space. I get it. Having worked in some of the wealthier homes for the wealthier families in Toronto I've seen the lifestyle and I sensed that we were living in a home on borrowed time. I didn't know they knew this day would come as much as I suspected it would as well.

After they had their second child I thought they would need the space for sure. They said "no, we want you guys to stay as long as you want." That sounded great because we weren't ready to buy and we're still not ready to buy even with the low interest rates and dropping house prices (too bad). Well, of course they wanted us to stay as long as possible, because if you're planning renovations it's a big cost so it's better to have that extra income as long as possible.

When we met in the fall to discuss the lease that had always been a year lease, they said, "if you guys are okay with it then we won't bother doing up the papers." They made it seem like we were all in agreement and that we could stay as long as we needed. So we agreed to just live on a month-to-month agreement so we could move out whenever. That should have been the first warning sign. I'm usually pretty good at detecting when something is amiss and know how to negotiate around such problems. However, everything had always gone so well with them. We had free run of the garden and could do what we like with our space. We seemed to be happily co-existing.

I really want to believe that they were being honest with us in the fall. I really want to believe that they couldn't have foreseen her business taking off...but...I can't let myself believe that.

They said they were so sorry that we had to move and they wished there was another solution. Blah, blah, blah. The night they told us we had to move was all done so very nicely. There was wine (well not for me I'm doing a detox) and chit-chat. We wouldn't be charged for our last months rent and our damage deposit would be returned with interest (as laid out in the initial rental agreement, but really we don't have any agreement now so they don't have to do that. Is it a guilt payment?). It was all so civil as it should be. But over the next few days as the shock wore off I became angry. Since then I can't shake it so I thought blogging might help me gain perspective.

I mean I don't care in a way because we found a new place easily and I'm really looking forward to those big fat windows in our living room, something we lack here. I'm looking forward to living next to such a large park where we can hike and see more wildlife, hear more birds etc etc. I'm looking forward to the quiet street and homeowners that don't have kids running around (not that the kids really bothered us), crying at all hours. However, I do care because I'm angry that they didn't tell us upfront that there's a chance they'd be asking us to move in the spring. Then I'd be prepared a little more and I wouldn't feel screwed over. Surely they knew in the fall that her business was already picking up and that they were already feeling overwhelmed looking after their kids and working full time and sometimes on weekends.

Within a week of them telling us, we'd found a place and now they're ready to go with renovations. Seems like they might have been planning for a while, no?

So I'm pissed off for having been foolish enough to let my guard down. And I'm angry with them because I'm wondering about all the points I've raised and now I can't see them without having those thoughts in the back of my mind. We're not friends with them and once we're gone we'll probably never see them again (well at least until June when I come back and take my bulbs out of the garden) so there's no point in putting up a fuss because we've got no grounds to do so. We got treated shabbily and I'm just angry that's all.

Anywho...as I've said I'm looking forward. We've got a new place to make our own and are working to buy our own place in the future. We've also got new homeowners whose attitude is "if there's anything at all that comes up we can talk about it." Their attitude is very open and communicative. They seem like good people and I had my guard up when I met them so I think that's a good sign.

I'm not really going to hold a grudge in this case, but I am going to remember to always keep our best interests in mind when negotiating anything.

Musical Meme

I found this via Wandering Coyote's Musical Meme and thought I'd give it a try.

Pick Your Artist: Sarah Harmer
Are you male or female: I Am Aglow
Describe yourself: I'm a Mountain
How do you feel about yourself: Dandelions in Bullet Holes
Describe where you currently live: Basement Apt.
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Just a Close Walk with Thee
Your best friend is: Around this Corner
Your favorite colour is: Escarpment Blues
You know that: Luther's Got the Blues
What's the weather like?: Uniform Grey
If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?: Lodestar
What is life to you?: Open Window
What is the best advice you have to give?: Don't Get Your Back Up
If you could change your name, what would it be? Oleander
Your favorite food is: Peanut Butter Toast

Thanks Wandering Coyote that was fun to do.

more of the detox diet

Root vegetable soup. The colour is from the carrots and butternut squash. It also had sunchokes and celeriac as ingredients.
Saturday I was back on other starches other than rice so db made pizza. My crust is rice, tapioca and sorghum flour based. It was a nice treat.

Yesterday I could introduce legumes back into my diet and I was craving chickpeas. I requested spicy chickpeas with basmati rice. I chopped up some fresh chard for the top.
Wait a minute, this isn't part of the diet. Gigi stretched out on the floor for a nap. What you can't see in the picture is the heater she's flaked out next to.

Day 9-13. This is the last day of the fruit, veg and rice only days.
Monday we had risotto with asparagus and lemon.
Tuesday it was steamed veg (broccoli, carrots, asparagus and kale) with brown rice. I topped the veg with a mix of olive oil, apple cider vinegar.
Wednesday I made a veggie & rice nori wrap and had a side of avocado, sprouts and carrots.
Thursday we enjoyed root vegetable pureed soup (it kind of looked like baby food, but it was delicious).
Tonight? Maybe a pilaf? More steamed veg? We did get some beautiful looking red chard in our fresh organic delivery box this week so I may do something with that.

A surprising thing is that I haven't had the ticklish pain when I run. Mind you I haven't run much lately because I've been looking after my injuries. However, I did just come back from a run and I felt fine. I'm not sure what the difference is this time. I'll have to ask my ND.

So I just made my ultraclear protein drink with some mango juice. I was just about finished it when dear sweet Prima took a sniff in the glass and sneezed in my glass. Aw. she's so cute. Just in case you forgot how cute she is. Here she is in her basket.

20 more days

Day 8 of my detox. It's going pretty well. I can definitely tell that my sugar cravings are gone. Now when I see db eating cookies I have no interest at all.

Day 6-13 requires that I eat only fruit, veg and rice from the starch group while I up the dose of my protein powder. I was a little unprepared since I hadn't really read ahead on my chart, so db and I did a little grocery shopping to pick up more variety of veg.

I had leftover rice from last night and tossed this salad together using avocado to bind it all together with some olive oil and apple cider vinegar. It was delicious. Rather than feeling limited by my diet, which is how I felt at first, I am feeling more creative. I rarely use rice in a salad, but I think I'll do it more often.

***

A new wool shop opened in our neck of the woods, which makes it the only wool shop in our neck of the woods. I feel a bit like I missed my opportunity to do it first, but then I would actually have to have a plan and work towards that business wouldn't I.

The shop is small and carries some fine wools. It's mostly wool as I expected (too bad) but there were some nice cottons and cotton blends with soy and bamboo that looked inviting. There's not a huge selection, but hopefully they'll start to carry more. It also looks like it's set up for courses to be held there so I may look into that. It'd be fun to fine tune the skills I have and learn something new.

New home

I saw the place up the hill from us. It was nice and bright with a backyard, but it was a little cold. It was very modern looking, but that also made it a little sterile and I felt like it was just a box with no character. There was a suite next to it that they rented with a young mom and her six year old boy and that coupled with the homeowners upstairs with 2 kids and 2 dogs seemed like a very busy place where it would always be noisy. I expect the backyard wouldn't be very peaceful at all.

The woman renting the place was quite nice, but she seemed a little high maintenance. She also told me that her business was importing lamb from New Zealand and I know that shouldn't make a difference on my living space, but it did and I thought having a positive relationship with her would be a struggle. She seemed to be encouraging me to call back and was very eager for me to come back and see the place with db. I get the feeling that db and I could have posted ourselves on craigslist we could just wait for people to make us an offer.

Anywho...we went to the suite on the park and signed a lease! The nice older couple will be our new landlords. They were open to us starting a compost and are going to pay for the paint for our place and in general seemed very pleased that we agreed to live there.

Of course I dread packing and the boxes stacked everywhere, but I am excited about making the place our own, putting our own mark on it. We take possession on the 15th of April and will move boxes over the week, paint on the weekend (our anniversary weekend -- how romantic), move more boxes and then have movers come in to move the rest of our furniture the last weekend of April.

So April should be a little hectic to say the least.

What a week!

Monday
In the evening we met with our homeowners. They dropped the bomb. We would have to move. She works at home and her business is doing so well she needs to hire a staff also they want to get a nanny for their two small children. The nanny will probably be a live-in nanny so they need our space.
Yes we were in shock. They have always said we could stay as long as we like. I guess they forgot to say "or as long as we like." We thought we'd be here until we bought our own place, but I guess not. They said we could move out any time in the next few months and our last month here will be free. Here's to never agreeing to a month-to-month scenario again.
I'm mostly upset on having to leave the garden sooner than I anticipated. I did tell them that I would have to take some of the garden with me. They don't care since they don't garden so that's okay, but who knows what I can and can't take.

Tuesday.
The immediate shock has subsided and I'm just kind of numb at work. I actually work very little that day. I may have looked like a somnambulist.
That night we start browsing craigslist and make notes.

Wednesday.
I went for a run to help clear my head. My calf is bothering me again so I can't run too far or downhill (a bit of a problem here). My day off and I email and phone people to make appointments for Thursday and Friday. I book two places for Thursday evening after work.

Thursday.
db borrows the car from work and picks me up. We visit our first place that is offering a reduction in rent if you look after the garden. It seems like a good deal and it's just on the other side of the park from where we live now. The place is okay. It's ground floor with lots of windows. The woman is very nice and has three cats and two kids so we know it'll be a friendly and lively place. My gut says, "nope" and I sense is that it's going to be a long hunt for a place to live in if this is what's out there in our price range.

We see our second place, closer to where we're living now and right next to a large park with lots of hiking trails. The older couple renting the suite are very nice. db and I both really like them and the suite is quite nice as well. It's got lots of storage. They described it as a "1 bedroom + den", but it's really a one bedroom with an alcove. I'm not sure what the den was in reference to. However, the main living area is similar to where we are now with a big living room kitchen open space. It has big windows and patio doors that open onto their shady backyard where all you can see are trees. It's like looking into a west coast forest (oh wait it actually does look into a west coast forest). There's a covered patio where we could sit out. The view is what sells me on the place. It's very cozy feeling. It's a quiet street and I can imagine us sitting in the living room and looking at the trees. It's a little funky in the layout otherwise, but I know we can make it work.
db and I are pretty sure and we can tell that they are really keen to rent it to us. However, I don't want to make a decision until db and I can talk about it.

We drive past another place where I booked an appointment for Friday night, but it's so far up the mountain there is still a ton of snow up there. I can imagine hellish commutes so we axe that idea. It would be beautiful up there, but we don't own a car and I don't want to spend half my life waiting for a bus that may or may not show up when the snow falls.

Back at home we talk and I can tell db is just waiting for me to agree. It doesn't take long to make up our minds. I'm already deciding where to put things in there and thinking about painting it. db calls them to confirm that we'll be by Friday to make a deposit on the place.

It all seems too easy. I've never found a place so easily.

Friday (today)

I wake around 4:30 am and cannot sleep. What if we jumped into an agreement too quickly? What about all the little things that I keep thinking about that I didn't ask when we were in the suite? Doubt tosses around in my head and keeps me awake. Am I settling for something that's not ideal because I'm in a panic about having to move?
Prima seems quite content sleeping on my head. She doesn't seem to mind me tossing and turning. She sleeps peacefully until db gets up for work. I tell him all my doubts and fears and then somehow feel better. Until...

I see new pictures posted on one of the places we were interested in and instead of it being listed as Westwood Summit (which suggested to us that it would be too far of a commute and up in that snowy area again), it's listed as being just up the street from us. And it has another photo that is selling me on it. There'd be a lot more light and I think the cats would really like that as well as us. We could grow tomatoes in the back (I think). I guess I should see it first. Uh-oh. So now I'm waiting to hear back to see if I can view the place this afternoon and I'm feeling horribly guilty for having arranged to meet with the other renters, the nice older couple, and sign a lease. Oh what have I done?

Rick Mercer Report : Special Report

and this one is for my sister and red jane who lived through the snow with me in Toronto.

RMR: Full Contact Curling

This one's for my brother who has taken up curling and is loving it.

Detox day 1

So far so good. I'm glad I started on the first of March. It's the first it's the beginning of a new month and the signs of spring are back.

It's not a big shift for me since I'm vegan and have been decaffeinated since the last detox (last May?).

I thought I'd try to keep track of my menus I come up through the week. I'll try to take some photos to make it a little more interesting.

So on today's exciting menu:

• protein shake
• chai tea
• rice cakes with almond butter
• veggie & avocado rice wrap
• another protein shake
  
• rice pasta with tomato basil sauce
• green salad with apples and radishes
• lots of water

Don't get too excited by the menu. Tomorrow? I'll wait and see.

recent vegan creations

Two weeks ago I took a pen turning workshop and made these two pens. The woods are red and green dyed maple burl.
I've never really used a lathe before (okay once, but I had no idea what I was doing). The instructor was very good. He also teaches bowl turning as well. This was a nice introduction to the lathe.
The reddish pen is still a little fat for the pen kit, but it was my first try and I was a just learning how to apply the tools I was learning about. By the time I made the second pen, the green one, I had the hang of the tools and completed a better fit with the hardware so there's a smooth transition from hardware to wood.

I hope I get a chance to make some more.
Ah my socks. I finally finished them and can now wear them. It's nice to have woolly feeling socks without the wool. It's tough to find a good substitute, but I've been finding more and more lately.
I haven't worn socks that I've knit in a while. Now I know what they feel like and I think I could make some adjustments with this wool for a little snugger fit. I suppose it also depends on the pattern. I made db's socks in a ribbing pattern so they fit much snugger. This lace pattern is a little more loosely fitting.

I've had no complaints about the socks I made for my sister and she's been wearing them lots so they're holding up well.


Here's a side view for another angle on the pattern and with cat toys in the background of course since they are scattered everywhere. That's Prima's "hippy mouse."








Of course there's always food to be posted.

This is one of my favorite quick dishes to make. Chickpea and tofu curry with basmati rice. I put a little fresh chard on the top because I adore crunchy fresh greens with a warm curry or beans & rice dish. The chard was really delicious.

I'm about to do a detox again so there'll be no tofu for a month. Too bad, but I can still have all the legumes I want (except for soybeans of course) so I actually looking forward to coming up with some new veggie and bean creations.

Spring?

It snowed yesterday! It snowed all over the crocuses and daffodil shoots. Big thick fluffy flakes filled the sky and it collected quickly on the houses, yards and cars.

The upside? This morning it is sunny and clear and the trees look beautiful draped in white again.

Sunday db and I went to Burke Mountain for a hike. db borrowed the car from work so we could go out for a hike on the weekend and it seemed that Golden Ears was inaccessible so we did a little research and found this gem of a park in our backyard.
We entered the park next to the Rifle Range. Hmm. Guess what? It's very noisy at the Rifle Range on a Sunday morning. I can't imagine wanting to head to the rifle range on a Sunday or ever really, but it seemed to be fairly busy. So anywho we headed onto a trail with the deafening sounds of popping gunfire following us for the first leg of our journey.

We headed up the Coquitlam view trail that was a bit of a climb, but the trail is fairly wide which is nice. Of course there were some pretty spectacular trees. I love how open the forest looks on the west coast because you see mostly tree trunks because the trees are so tall. Even though the forest floor was relatively dry looking there was quite a bit of snow on the trail. The snow was packed down so it wasn't too much of an issue (in my trail sneakers! I really need to get some hiking shoes). I could see tracks in the snow that I had followed from the park entrance: one set of human footprints and one set of dog prints. They weren't from that day, but it was kind of neat to keep encountering these footsteps every time we hit snow. Of course I started wondering about the person and dog and the trails they must hike together. It also occurred to me that the prints only went in one direction so that means the trail must hook up with one that leads out of the park. We didn't make it that far, but we went a good distance in.

The first clearing we came to was along the power line that is marked on the map by the black slashes cutting across the map. The view was pretty nice from there. We kept going until we eventually reached a creek that looked a little tricky to cross. The sound was wonderful though. We turned back from there.

It's nice to explore the parks in our area. I'm glad I didn't hear the report on the radio until this morning about the grizzly bears coming out of hibernation early this year. Okay that was hundreds of miles away from here, but still...you know me I'm bear obsessed. Grizzlies aren't really spotted this far south, however, the park does list the Grizzly bear as one of the species that does pass through the park. Hard to imagine really, but I guess it's possible.

Anywho...I look forward to visiting other trails in the park. When my brother comes out this summer hopefully that's one of the parks we can check out, but away from the rifle range. We'll find a trail on the other side of the park.

My Winnipeg Trailer

This is the first film we saw last night at the Port Moody film festival. Another wonderful film from Guy Maddin.

Examined Life - official US trailer

The Port Moody film festival screened this last night and I highly recommend it.

post race meal

After the race there was a food table as always and I fueled up there. I was really happy to see that Save-on-Foods was giving out full bananas (instead of the usual half) and Pete's tofu with fruit on the bottom. That was perfect. It was the first time I've seen tofu offered after a race. Usually there's yogurt, milk or something gross like that. I had peach tofu and it was delicious. We did go to a bistro in Fort Langley and have at a light lunch where we planned our dinner for that night.

db was in the mood for some Indian food and I'm always game for some curry so that's what we did after we got home.

On the plate:
Vegetable korma (made with coconut milk & soygurt instead of cream & yogurt)
db's unbelievably delicious red lentil dhal
basmati rice
chapati (db made the chapati gluten free and they were perfect.)

I also have some chutney and mango pickle on the plate, but we didn't make those. Oh no wait a minute, db did make the green tomato chutney last year. It was the last of the chutney since we didn't have any green tomatoes left over this year.

What a great way to end the day.

half marathon results

My time: 1:58
I placed 253 overall out of 695
Out of the women I placed 99th out of 413
In my age division 30-39, I placed 41 out of 132.

Not bad. Actually I'm really pleased that I ran the distance at all since I haven't run that far since my last race in October. Now I can start building on that for the next one in Vancouver in May.

After the race yesterday I ran into someone from my running room group who said they are training for the Marathon distance in Vancouver. I'll think it over this week. I know I could do it, but the question is: should I focus on my times for the half marathon and work on improving those?

I've got a week to think about that question since next Sunday the group is running 25k.

Run Vegan Run

Here are some photos from race day.

It was sunny and clear. Langley was a bit cooler than whoville, but I was dressed warmly enough and I knew once I got running I'd soon forget the cold.



The historic area of Langley (Fort Langley) is quite beautiful with big old homes and narrow tree lined streets. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly.


Here I am at the start line. I'm in the blue with the black touque (in front of the woman in the purple jacket). Woo hoo! It was chilly. My feet were frozen for about 15 minutes and then hurt as they thawed out.

The course is quite hilly. It rolls a lot and there are very few flat areas, but it is very picturesque and I loved the course in such beautiful weather. I put it up there after Tofino in terms of beauty. I had to keep stopping myself from looking at the scenery so I could focus on the run and not losing track of my pace. Other runners were stopping en route and taking photos of the views. Can't say I blame them.

Part of the course ran through a wildlife conservation area so I also got to see donkeys, a zebra and some llamas. The llamas were running which was pretty cool since I've never seen them do anything but stand there and chew. The enclosures for the animals were quite large so it didn't upset me to run through there (I hate seeing animals in pens). Of course being out in the country I also saw horses and even saw and eagle which was pretty cool.

Okay back to the photos...
db took this picture of the finish line before anyone arrived. The finish line was in the historic Fort which was pretty cool.
Runners take over the Fort! Each of the buildings were open to the public so you could read about the history of the area and the trading post.

I had to take some pictures of the chisels etc.


This is a view from the Fort's wall looking across at a church and those beautiful mountains.

Um...the drive home was fine, but oh the traffic! I don't see how building a 10 lane bridge is going to fix this problem, but what do I know.
Home sweet home in the distance here.

knit socks

I found this pattern via knitty.com and tried it out with this wool (it's an acrylic/cotton blend). I made a pair of socks for my sister for Christmas and then made another pair for a friend of hers. I took a break and knit socks for db and now I'm back to this wool. I love it. It knits up so well. However, I didn't really want to do the same pattern (with variations) for a third time so I found another openwork pattern and have started more socks.


It's not as nice as the ribbon looking pattern (and the photo is a little fuzzy), but it's still a nice pattern.

I hope I get them done before summer.

Here's a post from Heathen Vegan that I follow that I thought I should share.

Vegetable Love

Fat Free Vegan had a contest to create a Vegetable Love dish for Valentine's Day. The dish had to include at least one veg and be low fat vegan to go along with the blog hosting the contest. Readers get to vote for their favorite. I've been reading the blogs and recipes and am so inspired and in awe of the fabulous vegan cooks out there that are never afraid to try something new and unique or put a tasty spin on something traditional.

You really should check out the entries because they are so inspired. I really want to make the Spiked Sweet Potato Truffles and the Parsnip Dumplings. Oh yes, also the Eggplant Marsala and Vegetable Tian looks delicious etc etc. They all look good!

I wish I'd known about the contest earlier. Maybe next year if she holds the contest again I'll prepared something.

As for my cooking...

yesterday I did make
Double Chocolate Cookies from Veganomicon
They are delicious! Camino dark cocoa and camino chocolate chips make this recipe fair trade and organic as well.
I modified the recipe so it could be gluten-free. I'm starting to get the hang of mixing different flours (in this case I used: rice, sorghum and tapioca) for baking to acquire the right flavour. The All Purpose Gluten Free flour you can buy contains mostly Garbanzo flour which imparts a strong flavour so it's not the best for cookies.

Living Without magazine has guided me in the right direction for the best flour combos.

I've been snapping photos but not posting what I've been cooking.

These nut burgers were something I made a couple of weeks ago from the Nut Gourmet. Red Jane gave us this cookbook one year and it has some delicious recipes.

db and I were craving nut burgers and anything we've found on the supermarket shelves is not vegan. I said, "that's it. I'm making my own. How hard can it be?"
It's not hard. I did modify the recipe a little make it bind better, but that may have also made it too soft. I'm not sure. The burgers were a little soft even after cooking, but I think I can remedy that next time.

While I made the burgers, db made sweet potato fries. They were perfect.


I usually have my burger on a corn tortilla. I couldn't photograph that version of the burger though because you couldn't see the burger since the tortilla covered the whole thing so I snapped a photo of db's burger between some naan bread.

This recipe would probably make a nice non-meatball for some pasta as well.

support for a principal in small town N.B.

I just want to give my support to Erik Millet, the school principal, who chose to have his school sing the national anthem in assemblies as opposed to playing it over the intercom every morning.

If you don't know the story, you can watch the interview via the cbc website. The story is found here.

I think it's appalling that some people of Belleisle, New Brunswick have turned against him and even threatened him with physical violence. That to me is sickening and a very disturbing display of nationalism.

What is wrong with the picture? A school principal makes a change to school policy to try and accommodate more of its students and a few nasty people turn it into a near-lynching. Narrow-minded thinking is what it boils down to.

I feel sorry for the kids who are watching and learning from this ugly display. They too will be forced to take sides. Instead of learning about tolerance and inclusion they learn that the bullies win.

***

I have to admit that this story touches me personally and not just because I'm from N.B., but also because I know Erik Millet. I haven't spoken to him in several years, but I know if I called him up he would have the time for me. He's a generous and giving person and now this has happened to him. He chose a profession to work with children and now he's questioning if he can even go back to a job he loved. It's very upsetting.

What's most troubling is the threat of violence towards one person for something that is really quite a small incident. This is the problem with nationalism. It's nice to be patriotic towards your country and to be proud of where you are from, but it is disturbing when you turn that patriotism into something to be used to exclude people and judge them determining whether they are part of your nation.

On a related note: I'm tired of this bullshit that if we don't wave the flag at the right moment it's a sign that we "don't support the troops." That has nothing to do with anything! Of course I support men and women whose lives are on the line in a war (yes, it's a war -- not a mission -- it's a war), but I don't have to support the war.

BTW choosing to sing the national anthem or not does not ally you on one side or the other it just means you have the freedom to choose.

I was walking up the hill towards home thinking about how spring-like it feels today. As I approached the green belt area I wondered about the bears and when we'd be seeing them again. I also wondered why I even think about them since I never see any and all that I ever see around here are coyotes. Just as I thought that I hear a crack in the woods. I turned around and saw some greyish coloured legs moving. A coyote? More legs moving behind the first set. A whole row of coyotes? Then they came into view: four deer. They were walking down toward the road. Of course I stepped out into the road so the traffic would see me. I was afraid that the deer would dart out into the road and I wanted to slow the traffic. Fortunately, the area is also a school zone so the two cars coming up the hill were still going quite slow. The deer stopped on the sidewalk and waited for the car to pass. The second car turned into a driveway and then they went one after another. The last deer was the smallest and the most hesitant, but it followed the others into the wooded area next to the school. They were black tailed deer, but the small one made me think that maybe they were mule deer. I'm not sure. 

I don't know where they're going to go there's not much wooded area after that. I guess they might find something to eat closer to the creek. It was probably a tough winter for them because of all the snow we had. 

I did walk towards the school to see where they went. Of course I didn't have my camera on me, because I was just out for short stint and didn't think I'd need it. I could just glimpse them through the trees. One of them was watching me and I felt intrusive so I headed back up the hill. 

I do love living here. 

I went to the Running Room group run tonight. There was a huge crowd of people when I arrived. The warmer drier weather sure brings people out. That's why I was there. I admit I'm a fair weather runner. I still know no one except H who I gave a nod to when I arrived. We were broken into our groups and I learned that we'd be running tempo run. There were two groups and I was shuffled into one of them, given directions and off we went.

I didn't know the streets that well and it was a pretty darkly lit area. A couple of people had headlights on. I stuck with the group, but wanted to keep near the front pacers. I followed not far behind one guy wearing a flashing bike-type light on his arm. There were two women further up ahead. I had to keep pace with them all just so I could make sure I was going the right way. The group had thinned out quite a bit by then. I couldn't hear anyone behind me anymore. Then suddenly we were stopped and one of the women was checking the directions. We started up again and then realized we were running the same loop we had just done. We stopped again to consult the directions and then we were relatively okay.

I kept pace with one woman who was at the front now. It felt good. I knew if I kept up with her I'd be okay. I also knew that if I was on my own I would have given up this pace by now.

In total I did just over 7 k with the partial run home as well.

The best part of a hard workout is the fabulous meal after, of course. db made a beautiful mix of roasted veggies, grilled tempeh, and steamed kale. It was a perfect meal after a great run.

In an earlier post I wrote about a paper doll book that my mom gave me when I was little. Well, thirty years later my mom read that post. Two days ago I received a package in the mail that contained three books, a sheet and a cardboard doll.

The books were: a reprint of the original I mentioned in my earlier post, this one on the left with stars from the forties, and a Bette Davis book of paper doll clothes.




The cardboard doll is also the same figure of Bette Davis with several outfits.
The Bette Davis book is a reprint from 1942 and the colours are true to the era. There's a page of her own clothing that comes complete with an Oscar you can attach to her. It's quite funny.








This final page is of cocktail dresses from different eras and different designers. There are more cocktail glass choices than dresses and I like that about this page. I can't imagine giving this to a little girl, but I suppose at a different time...

Of course I should have known that there was a world of paper doll collectors out there with everything under the sun reprinted and published.
The publisher included a paper doll catalogue that really has every celebrity covered (or I guess uncovered until you choose the outfit) from Betty Grable to Roy Rogers to Princess Diana to the Dionne Quintuplets. One book in particular stands out. It's called "Holy Habits" and is a set of paper dolls that includes "ten habits with descriptions of the religious habit and charism of each order." Ah yes, there is a paper doll for everyone out there somewhere.

Lullabies for Little Criminals

I wrote a brief review at the Bookworm Collective if you're interested.

Saturday was a fairly nice clear day. A good day for a run if I hadn't been working all day. I knew Sunday's weather forecast was rain, but I thought if it's not too bad and just drizzling a little then I'll go out in it. I had 15 k to run and I'd really rather run outside.

Sunday morning not only was it raining, but it had snowed a bit so there was a slushy mess out there and the rain was pelting down working on washing the snow away. So I called my mom, then had brunch and watched some tennis (we had taped the men's final) while I was knitting. The rain did not let up even a little. So...to the gym.

Another 15 bucks, but I have to get my run in. The treadmills weren't very busy so I just kept going and got in 12 k before I ran out of time because the gym was closing at 5 pm. I didn't get the full distance in but I certainly felt like I could have run the full distance. I wanted to but the time factor prevented me.

I felt pretty good overall. My pace was good. I'm still quite a bit slower than last season, but I think I can still do the half in under 2 hours. I know once I get there on race day I'll be motivated and I'll pick out someone to keep pace with.

Wednesday (weather depending again) I'm hoping to go out with the running group even though it's in the evening. It's good motivation and I can try and keep pace with the front runners which is fun. I think a group run would be a good idea at this point.