Objects in camouflage

How often have you been looking for things that end up having been under your nose the whole time?
I am talking about disappearing utensils and clothes.
We once misplaced a lawn mower for several weeks in the summer time. It had hidden amongst the bikes, its chrome handle blending anonymously amongst the chrome handles of the bikes.
I saw a short movie (I think it was in the Twilight Zone series) about a crew of blue people who constantly recreate our environment while time stands still - sometimes they miss an object, forget to put it back in place - and when time starts "rolling" again, you look for your keys, hat, purse, or whatever was misplaced. Then time freezes again and the object is put back in its place and when it "rolls" again, well, you find it. That's when the "Twilight Zone" music starts playing... well in my head anyways... ; )

Lucky number 3

I just read another article on weddings on July 7 of this year (7-7-07). I have a numbers story of my own on crossword puzzles.

We bought a little crossword puzzles booklet a while back which one of us would pick up and play with. Somebody else would finish it. Then we started working in collaboration with one person saying the definition out loud and the other chiming in to help. But it wasn't until there were three of us participating that it got interesting.
It seems 3 is a magic number. We are funnier, faster and more efficient going through the crossword puzzle.

Here is the theory:
When three people are engaged in an activity, one is likely to be a more passive participant as the other two are debating. Being on the fringe, with no pressure, the third person comes up with a creative solution. Time and time again, we verified this theory. The quiet person (which varied) who seemed passive, actually contributed the tough words.

Think about that next time you want to exclude a third person in a decision-making process...

Dream

I want to tell you about a funny dream I had last night...
I was in a school cafeteria with current friends and this guy I don't know is coming on to me. I give him the brush off. He looks really upset and goes to eat by himself at another table, turning his back to me and my friends. My friend M. comes along, looks at the guy, looks at me, and says: "Why aren't we eating with him?" I look at him, puzzled. He says: "We chatted with him for a good while yesterday. He's lots of fun. You said he should eat with us today."
I explain to M. that I don't recognize people's faces. Another friend gets up to explain the situation to the guy I rejected. M. tells me I should go and apologize so I do and explain the whole thing to him. The guy is skeptical, smoking in my face the whole time I'm there.

Geez... I don't even get a break in my dreams! I can't claim that it doesn't bloody matter 'cause it's a dream!!! That's a new twist...

Ice Birds

Frost on the window as I let Minuit out the door.

I wonder if this could become an ephemeral art form? Artists get together and throw/drip/draw shapes on a glass surface in extreme cold and try and rival with each other... As the temperatures drop, the art evolves. There could be "cold" museums, where the art is stored at set temperatures. You need to take into account the heat generated by the patrons and keep the temperature steady so the art won't melt. Or hang the pictures in an ice castle... Or, I guess, show pictures of the art before it melts.
I like the ephemeral quality of art - it mirrors Nature. You need to always be on the lookout for it. Lovely.

The Art of Finding Lost Things

On the subject of legacy, my grandmother showed me how to find lost things:
Stop looking. Sit. Think back to when you last saw the object and play back the reel until the answer comes to you. Be patient! Resist the urge to get up and look for it as soon as you have an idea (I had trouble with that last one). If all else fails, pray to St. Anthony (I had to look it up on this site because I couldn't remember the name. I never liked asking for his help. It felt like cheating.)

The gift developed slowly. The first time I became aware of it was when I spoke to a friend who was visibly upset. She had been doing her homework on the kitchen table (due for the next week). She was interrupted at dinnertime and could not find her papers afterwards to finish the task. She looked everywhere but could not find it and was considering rewriting the homework, in frustration. I listened and applied the principles I had learned. I had her describe the whole scene in detail. We were at school so it was easy to resist the urge to go look for it. It happens that she had younger siblings and I mused that her papers could have mistakenly been set aside as scrap paper for them to draw on. Based on my deductions, she retrieved most of the homework, having lost only a few pages. I was very impressed with the efficiency of the method, but frustrated that she had lost some pages (I urged her to look on the back of drawings and so forth...).

A series of small successes followed, less spectacular but nonetheless useful. One that stands out is fairly recent. Yseult asked me if I knew where a piece of clothing was. I started by given her likely places to look for it. When that avenue was exhausted and I sensed she was beginning to doubt my abilities, I said tentatively that although this was rather unusual, I had dreamt that it might be (someplace). It turned out that was where it was. I must be St. Anthony's "instrument".

Yseult - and to a lesser extent, Paul - routinely ask me where they left things, which is great practice. We often joke that I know so well, because I hide them myself. The thing is, I have trained myself to notice when things seem out of place or what people do with objects. It turns out our right hand often doesn't pay attention to what our left hand is doing... It is quite fascinating to observe someone nonchalantly put down their glasses at an odd place while undressing or talking and then looking frantically for them later as they don't recall consciously putting them out of harm's way.

I jokingly tell Yseult to "invoke" me when she misplaces things. It sometimes work. The power of suggestion is a great ally.

I have been stymied recently by a request to find a gift that was misplaced. It was intended as a surprise for me and so I never got to see it. I can't get a clear picture of it in my mind and have resorted to unsystematic searches in unlikely places. With little success. I am not used to having objects resist my will and am a little frustrated by this sad state of affairs (not to mention saddened by the temporary loss of the present) and have developed theories for the resistance:
A) I never touched the object and cannot "call" it to me.
B) My emotional attachment is getting in the way of The Method.
C) It's a cover-up. The present never existed in the first place.

Which is your answer:
If you answered A: That, of course, is strictly BS since that is the case most of the time but once I expressed the thought, I sort of enjoyed the idea of possessing a magnetic supernatural power - Magnetic Woman: Finder of Lost Socks!
If you answered B - I think you might be onto something.
If you answered C - I just made that one up. It thought it would be funny.


Oh, and BTW, this long post is testimony that I am again having trouble sleeping...

Of grandmas and other smells...

This blog was inspired by Ms. Hedda's blog.

As a kid, I would linger at my grandmother's side as she got ready for the day. She would put a moisturizer on her face and I came to associate the smell of Noczema with her. She only smelled briefly of it as she applied it and the smell faded as the day wore on, but those intimate moments, where she joked around with me where the best.
Touch: Sometimes, my grandmother would ride in the back of the car with us as we went - I assume - to church. I remember, in winter, she would wear this gorgeous fur coat with very long hair. I would bury my face in it because I loved the caress of it on my skin. I would just smile and hum, content as a cat.

The smell of independance: My first apartment was gas-heated.
The smell of freedom: the smell as I rode for hours on my bike with the feel of the wind on my face.

March 8

March 8 for me is a very special day - it's my brother's birthday. We got to tease him with the appropriate "Happy Women's Day" uh, I mean "birthday".

When we were kids, my mom bought me and my brother presents to give my other brother (and like that for each kid). We would wake up with a wrapped gift to give our sibling. So we ended up being as excited on our birthday as on our siblings' because there was a surprise involved. Smart Mom!

So I dedicate this post to him and this picture too:
Bonne fête Paul!

Scrapbooking

I have been too busy lately to enjoy my new hobby: scrapbooking! Who would have thought I would enjoy it so much? I was never too keen on arts classes. I never really had inspiring ideas that made me enthusiastic about projects. Nor was I particularly praised for my efforts. I was pretty much average, though I did not dislike the activity. What was my surprise then to discover this new passion. I guess I love telling stories, and this is a graphic way to do so.
I always enjoyed comic books (or graphics novels, as they are called now) and toyed with the idea of creating my own. Recently, a friend who shares my love of scrapbooking lent me some graphic novels. One is very badly drawn and so I thought: Hey, I could do this! (I can only do it if I lower my standards significantly... ; -) )

I have big plans for the next little while: a whole thematic album, several cards, revamping an old album where pictures are currently badly preserved. I am planning two sessions this week: one with friend, the other by myself. Much joy to be had all around!

Face Blindness

Also known as prosopagnosia (from the Greek prosopon meaning "word", "a" not, and "gnosia" knowledge) = I have trouble recognizing faces.
Here is an explanation I found on one of the sites that might give you an understanding f what that means: "People who are "tone deaf" are not deaf to tones. They can hear tones, they just can't tell them apart. People who are "color blind" can see things that are in color. They just can't tell colors apart. Similarly, I can see faces. I just can't tell them apart."
Now anybody who has hung around me long enough has a story to tell about the time when I didn't recognize somebody I had just spent the afternoon with or about me confusing co-workers that absolutely don't look alike. It seems this disorder actually is a neurological problem that is not too widespread - as far as I am concerned, it would be problematic for the survival of the species if it were.
Foe or friend? Let me think. Are we related?
There are some heart-wrenching stories of people who are severely affected.
Tests are available on the Web to see if you suffer from the condition. I think normal people will find them entertaining as you are asked to recognize celebrities in one case, pair strangers in another. They actually provoked mild anxiety in me... I took them and my results were poor.

Nonetheless, I was relieved and excited about all the info I found. Here is a link for more studies.

French sources use the word "prosopagnosie".

Happy New Year

Today is the beginning of the Pig Year. We were invited for a New Year's Eve party yesterday and it really felt like we were getting off to a good start. Our best friends were reunited and we "pigged out" on glorious dishes. The mood was serene and we had good music. It was a lovely way to usher in the New Year.

I wish you all the best in this New Year: Health and Good Fortune!

By Popular Demand (reviewed AND translated)

Rum and Orange Cake

Note: For best results, let the cake soak in the juice for a day or two

Batter
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 large oranges (juice and zest)
1 lemon (juice and zest)
2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk (I put regular milk)
1 cup walnuts (dates are good too)


Preheat stove to 350 F. Butter a tube pan.

Prepare the zest and fruit juices.
Cream butter and gradually add sugar, zest (orange and lemon) and eggs.

Sift together remaining dry ingredients. Alternate small quantities of flour mix and buttermilk to liquid batter (butter-sugar-zest-egg mix). Beat until smooth, then add walnuts (and dates, if you wish).

Pour into tube pan. Bake in oven for 60 to 70 minutes until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean. DO NOT remove from mold as you will be pouring the juice below onto it while the cake is still warm...

Juice to pour over cake
Juice from oranges and lemon
1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of rum

Bring the juices and sugar to a boil. Add rum. Pour over warm cake.
The cake is at its best after a day or two. Enjoy!

Technical Writing

I was trying out a new cake recipe today.
It was given to me by someone who, perhaps, took notes from someone on their deathbed. It definitely didn't come from a book because it was very muddled and I doubt it had been tested. I ended up putting too much sugar, in the confusion. I read the recipe a number of times but it was not written in any order I could figure.
To make matters worse, there were numbered steps to make you think there was some kind of logic behind the whole thing. as though everything was carefully laid out.

There were several traps, all carefully crafted to make you waste perfectly good batter. I did not realize my mistake until the cake was in the oven and I was cleaning up.
When the cake is baked and still warm, you pour a mix of fruit juice, sugar and a bit of rhum. I had measured my ingredients but could not find the sugar... That is when I realized I had mistakenly added the sugar to the dry ingredients (mix all dry ingredients, it said). The trick was to notice the contradictions and make sense of them.

Ingredients
2 cups sugar (1 for cake, 1 for juice)
Whip butter, add sugar, eggs, zest

Later: beat together dry ingredients into batter. Later still: mix together sugar (what sugar!?), fruit juice and rhum (at that point, I was ready to drink the rhum and forget the whole thing - but I digress).

Oh, btw, for those who were wondering, the cake turned out fine.
After I was done, I rewrote the instructions following MY logic.

Who knew you were supposed to test the instructions... Maybe I should look for that job? Recipe tester sounds like just my line of work... : )

Stars and Strollers

While lurking on a friend's blog, I read that she went to the movies with her baby. It seems the cinemas have awoken to the novel ideas that parents are people too, and made accomodations for their new status. They have put aside screenings of brand new movies especially for parents. The sound is lower, the lights are dimmed and there is a stroller park (I am not sure if it is inside the movie theater or outside?-jk). You get to enjoy the latest movies while your child sleeps, nurses or whatever, with noone taking offense at your children quietly talking to themselves. No need for a babysitter! I think it is a great idea. To see if there is such a program at a theatre near you, go to: Stars and Strollers

I wonder how you deal with PG 13 with young kids... ; ) S-l-e-e-p

Current desktop backdrop

It's been awhile since I posted any pix. I figured this one was as good as any. This is what I see when I boot up every morning. This is precious because we hardly see ever catch him unawares. He was busy sniffing out the summer breeze. We usually never see a hint of teeth... I swear I can see his nostrils flaring.
You can see a hint of gray on his beard and a few petals on his blue-black coat.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Suite française

The novel Suite Francaise is available in English. It talks of the period of WWII when the German troops defeated France and invaded the country. It was written by an incredible writer, as the events were unfolding. The French novel is so well written! I just hope the translation is up to the task.

Je lis ces jours-ci "Suite française" d'Irène Némirovski. Ça se passe aux premiers jours de la capitulation de la France aux mains des Allemands et aux sentiments qu'éveillent de part et d'autre l'avènement de ce nouveau ménage. On voit la fuite de Paris, la coexistence pacifique des Français avec les conquérants et les sentiments confus et contradictoires qui les habitent. L'écriture est délicate et nuancée. On s'y croirait. D'ailleurs, les deux romans (parus ensemble sous une même couverture) ont été écrits à l'époque et publiés tout récemment par les filles âgées de cette écrivaine qui a péri à Auschwitz en août 1942. Le manuscrit était écrit très serré, à la mine, pour ^pargner le papier qui était si rare et ses filles avaient crû y trouver des notes personnelles, un journal peut-être. L'une d'elle s'est enfin résolue à les lire, car elle remettait les manuscrits à un musée et voulait vérifier le contenu de ces pages.

J'aurais voulu citer des extraits. Malheureusement, je n'ai pas pris de notes pendant ma lecture, de ce qui était particulièrement émouvant ou enlevant. Je ne voulais pas me priver du plaisir de la lecture et briser le rythme. Et je croyais qu'en feuilletant au hasard, je retrouverais bien assez vite ces passages. Alors je feuillette, et me sens de nouveau transporté dans cet univers. Mais jene peux me décider à choisir un passage plutôt qu'un autre. Je trouve qu'ils forment un tout...

Bonne lecture!

Strees Relief Update

We bought a new box of Melba toast - in Ottawa, this time. They were all intact. Yay to Dare Foods Customer Service for their help! I emailed the girl to tell her the good news and she was politely happy for me.

All is well that ends well. : )

It's a Dog-Bite-Dog World

We rescued a dog that had wandered onto our property. He was desperately trying to get inside the fenced yard. We checked his collar and called the owner who was beside herself with joy. We fed him a bit while we he waited, but he was not very hungry. She had lost her chocolate lab in the morning (it was noonish). She was afraid he would be cold (it was a -20 kinda day). We took him in - she had promised to come shortly - and Minuit and him were running around the house.

The owner came and we chatted. She got her dog into the back of her car and Paul noticed there was blood on his hand. Minuit was missing a sliver of his ear. There had been a skirmish in the stairs after the guest tried to hump Minuit (not a good idea) but nothing unusual.

Anyway, we headed off to the vet who shaved the affected area, put a blood clotting agent on the ear, gave him a shot of painkiller and sent us off home with antibiotics and reassurances. Oh, and a bill the owner of the guest promptly agreed to pay.

Minuit's was groggy from the painkiller but otherwise fine. We are somewhat sad at his crooked ear but ok too.

Stress relief

Today was a bloody busy day as I was scheduled to deliver a small contract.
I ended up nibbling on some crumbly Melba toast and that was just too much for me. It's not the first time that these wonderful crackers come broken to my table. Other times, I have suffered in silence. Not this time. My cup overfloweth! I seized the box and punched in the offending URL, found the offending product and wrote an offending email (no no, I wouldn't do that. I was very polite, very... Canadian?). Anyway, I stated my problem and waited. Very soon, a nice lady answered back with concern for my welfare, expressing regret and asking for more details, which I gladly provided.
More exchanges followed in which she explained that though they create a superior product, the delivery guys that take it from the warehouse might just be brutes. Actually, that was a good answer. I will try a different grocery store if the supplier is the issue.
That was a nice stress reliever.
The people handling complaints are bound to be compassionate, nice, polite people. I think I will keep a list of grudges handy so that when I am in a foul mood, I will get somebody nice to talk to me and put me back in a good mood. Yeah - instant friend! Forget yoga or deep breathing for quick stress relief...

More thoughts on global warming

The preceeding blog on global warming has generated the most comments ever. Thank you for your reading suggestions (which I will take on).
I am watching the weather with dread these days as it only confirms what was said in the DVD. I can't rejoice on the warm weather - I see flooding everywhere... I guess it's good for people biking to work - the season is longer.
I didn't realize that I should be unplugging the appliances I am not using - I guess I need to turn off my computer when I stop using it. I usually leave it on all day as a way of keeping in touch with friends through IM or emails (a bad habit from the days at the office). I am sure I would be a little more efficient if I were able to severe that link. For example, I got up at 7:00 am to work today and haven't started yet...
I liked the minimal packaging on Gore's DVD, as well as his very plain, no-nonsense approach.
I wonder what habits could be changed in the workplace, where it affects tons of people? Any suggestions?