mourning a little in advance

thank you for caring for my precious

as angry as you are over her leaf-like nature

as if these are to be her last days

please try to be as gentle with her spirit

nutty goodness in kelowna

HPIM2909, originally uploaded by Dalziela.

There are worse things than going nutty at the nut farm on a thanksgiving aft.

Mine freundline Anne's photo.

I (vegetarian) kill mice with hammers

bloody hell. roomie picked death-traps for the house-guests. enticed them with peanut butter. but she's never home to count the bodies. this second victim met his fate while i was down-stairs, having spent much of the afternoon packing away dry goods, and vacuuming mouse-poo from the kitchen shelves. i came upstairs for other purposes to find him trapped, but alive, bleeding and screaming beneath the wire. so in the end another met his end, but this time at my hand - my tiny hammer, like maxwell's did him in.

it was the dog in the guyanese jungle that i was thinking of (half-skulled, brains exposed and writhing with new life), who begged me with his eyes to put him out of his misery (i didn't then have it in me, i regret it to this day).

thanksgiving is for turkeys.

westward i have traveled

let's see. since may i have: had my nose adjusted by a well-meaning 'drop-it-like-it's-hot' collision; flown kites with my male relations; graduated (again); moved no-one-died-but-i've-inherited-them-anyways pieces of massive, heavy furniture; performed another tremendous purge; eaten just one last time, and then again one last time at cambodiana; strolled through kensignton market; taken courses on 'saving lives' and 'catching babies'; purchased a practical and staid little blue car and fitted it with a roof-rack; driven over 4,000 km (through northern ontario, southern manitoba, sounthern saskatchewan, southern AND middle alberta) with an old friend to reach my current (re)location -- kelowna, bc; splashed and swum in my new lake; bounced on a trampoline; visited wineries; picked cherries; eaten goats cheese in spades; canned: cherries, peaches, peach chutney, apricot jam, pickles, tomato lemon conserve, salsa, hot peppers, and now apple butter; played (hooray) soccer again; suffered from sternal rub injuries; bought my cross-country skiis in quiet protest against the down-hill culture i'm imbibing; been sleepless; slept lots.

cattails are yum

Cattails are yummy! I still have marsh-goo under my fingernails from scratching around in search of cattail shoots. The inner white core is yummy raw, and can be boiled to make a nice cooked veggie.

There's more to look forward to, too: the taller shoots can be peeled and eaten in much the same way. Later, the young flowers (before they send forth their pollen) can be boiled up and gnawed at just like corn on the cob (super extra-delicious), and later the pollen can be collected and used as/with flour.

And the gathering is half the fun! Happy cattail hunting.