the carrot, not the stick...

 it is currently -8°C (14°F), feeling like -18°C (1­°F), as i begin. i just got through nearly dislocating my (already injured) shoulder by wrenching open a door that was frozen shut. oh… and i am battling my first head cold of the season. 

happy Winter Solstice, everyone!

what was so important that it was worth the risk of (re)injury, you ask? an agreement that cannot be broken, i respond. i was concerned that the birds and the squirrels would not realize that there was food in their special bowl, so i ventured out just long enough to brush away some of the snow and top it up with a handful of (unfrozen) food. 

selfless as it may seem, this is actually a carefully calculated investment. i developed a significant case of SAD-ness last Winter, and i ended up befriending a squirrel. my new friend started showing up every day for lunch, and i obliged by sharing my food. the problem with feeding Nature is that you end up also feeding Nature’s friends. fast-forward to the present, and we are buying raw peanuts and bird feed by the kilo. lucky for me, Nature has the coolest friends! 

i was initially afraid that feeding Nature would result in the total destruction of this Summer’s balcony garden project. turns out, Nature responds much better to the carrot, not the stick. 

i was so convinced that the squirrels would take my Wintertime offerings as an invitation to consume everything, that i planted a test-run garden in one of the window boxes. i went with plants that could withstand the cold, as it was still early in the season. enter… lettuce and nasturtiums! 

i had already accepted the likelihood of finding it uprooted the next day, and having to reconsider our plans for the transplants we had already ordered from the nursery. what happened, you ask? absolutely nothing, i respond. we harvested the larger lettuce leaves every couple-few days, and the plants kept going for several weeks, before bolting. 

and, just like that, an understanding was formed. we made a daily offering to Nature, and our plants remained undisturbed. it sounds too simple to be true, but the carrot really worked, and i rewarded their self-control by occasionally adding something special to the mix. the birds and the squirrels all seem to enjoy the petals and seeds from the zinnias. they gobbled up any flowers that fell to the ground, but they never messed with the plants. so, i might include that in the mix.

or, an occasional sweet treat, just for the squirrels. yes, i eat Honeycomb cereal. have i lost your respect for that? 

i placed sections of chicken wire on top of the soil, to discourage the squirrels from digging there, but they left everything else alone. everything, that is, except for the mini sunflower. it was downright comical having to move that one pot around, and every new location seemed to further enrage the squirrel. that poor sunflower must have done something extra-wrong in a past life.

there was also that time we took too long getting out of bed, so the squirrel let itself in to get some peanuts. i kid you not… the squirrel figured out how to open the safety latches on the cat door, and it came in for breakfast. nothing else was disturbed. the squirrel had one target, and when it had satisfied that hunger, it went right back out the kitty door. i should point out that the cat absolutely refuses to use the flap, as she enjoys the frustration of making me open and close doors at her command. so, i just shook my head in defeat and taped it shut. 

the season quickly drew to a close. the large planters were covered and neatly stacked for the Winter, and the last harvest of beans was consumed with ramen. i have gotten much better at resisting the allure of wheaty things (allergies, if you are new here), but i still indulge every now and then.  

 still, Nature kept showing up.

sometimes, it brought a date. it took weeks to finally get a shot of these two together, as the female (i assume, as she is the smaller of the two) takes off at the slightest movement. their coloring becomes slightly washed out in the Winter, and they start looking less blue, and more like silvery-violet jays.

you enjoy that meal, friend. 

i took tons of photos of this year’s garden, and i plan hope to share more of them. maybe i will do so during the SADdest part of Winter, when i need to be reminded of the existence of sunshine and warmth. 

until then, i am taking all of the precautions to avoid a relapse of last Winter. most of all, i am making plans. 

next year's balcony garden project will be the best one yet. that is, if we manage to survive the Winter… and the (literal) gangs of turkeys that have been attacking people all over the city. Montreal is wild, for real. 

mutually assured suffering...

 if i had to describe our lives together, it would be in three phrases. 

encouraging foolishness... because it was with him that i discovered that there is so much joy to be had when you allow yourself to indulge in the ridiculous things in life. 

there is always a story to tell... even in the littlest things.

but, above all else, there is the unending game of mutually assured suffering... because that is how you show you care. 

i was minding my own business, when he made the mistake of asking what i was doing, so i responded with an unsolicited lecture on the botany of nasturtium seeds.

i explained that they usually grow in clusters of three seeds...

but they may not all get pollinated or mature consistently, so you end up with some interesting groupings, which is what i was documenting when he strolled in.

have i mentioned that we are both forever-children? 

he stood there, bored out of his skull, while i went on about Mendelian Genetics... then i saw the look in his eyes. i knew that there was some form of payback to come. he picked up one of the unevenly-matured seed clusters.

him: this reminds me of the movie Basket Case. we should watch Basket Case.

me: or... we should not. that works too.

him: i just listened to your thing, so now it's my turn. we're gonna watch Basket Case.

me: you're gonna make me watch some crappy b-movie... just to get even with me for boring you with tmi about nasturtiums.

him: yep.

me: you're gonna make both of us sit through some uber-cringe movie... because of a handful of seeds. 

him: yep.

so we did. then we followed it up by watching Basket Case 2... and 3... in the same evening. i may have also added a few more British shows with lots of old people to the list of things he will be watching in the Future, when i get subjected to an unsolicited review of the life of Macho Man Randy Savage (or some equally ridiculous thing). then it is my turn to select the method of mutually assured suffering.

Jultember still officially sucks...

Jultember has come to an end, and boy am i happy to see it go. 

with a couple days left to go in the month, i was bitten on the ankle (at like two in the morning) by a "false widow" spider. it looked like someone stuffed a golf ball under my skin, and i spent the better part of an hour contemplating if the electric hand saw was strong enough to remove my foot from the rest of my body. boy, was i in serious pain! stupid imposter spider!

then, with mere hours left to go, my (former) favorite cat...

sent my second favorite coffee mug crashing to the floor...

that photo of her has been the background of my laptop for ages. she is seriously adorable... but i am still not happy with her right now. so, while i know that there is actually important negative stuff happening in the world, in my absurd, pointless little corner... Jultember still officially sucks!

other than the occasional burst of animal-induced absurdity, life continues to be pretty calm in these parts. i had all of these grand plans of things i intended to do once Summer started. now, we are the end of Jultember—and with it, the end of the Summer—and i still cannot figure out where any of that time went. 

i had a birthday at some point during the Summer, which we celebrated in our usual super-low-key fashion. mostly, it was an excuse to eat something special. this time around, it featured an almost one-and-a-half kilogram (roughly three 'murican pounds) tomahawk steak. you can keep your soft-as-butter fillet. i am all about the rib eye, and this beast is rib eye squared. 

we cooked it sous vide at 49°C/120°F (very rare), then crusted it up on a super-hot grill, by which time it was perfectly medium rare. it may not look like it, but trust me when i say this was a lot of meat for two people to eat. that is a huge serving platter in the first photo, not a plate. the animator was adding bits of the leftovers to bowls of ramen for days. 

and, speaking of the grill... i had to downsize this year's balcony garden project as he decided that we were in desperate need of a bigger barbecue. luckily, i could not muster the enthusiasm to buy many plants this year, so we ended up with a few herbs and some flowers to appease the bees. [we are hanging on to the propane tank from the old grill to appease his man genes' refusal to get rid of things.]  

oh... and we added some new flooring to the balcony... which is barely visible under the tangle of leaves. i seriously love having my own mini jungle out here.  

my culinary mojo is still feeling very meh, but i do occasionally get the urge for something interesting... like the Thai curry mussels that took all of about seven minutes to make. this dish featured the "Thai holy trinity" (galangal, kaffir lime, and lemongrass) combined with curry and coconut milk. there are no words to describe the joy i got from eating this meal.

it has also been a bit of a struggle to keep the crafting mojo going, but i did manage to finish a few things (some of which i will discuss in more detail at a later date, as they require their own posts). and, yes... i will be keeping this mug many miles away from a certain ridiculous cat. 

i (finally) finished up that green sweater from the last post... and the post before that. the pattern is Langeline by Ditte Lerche. it is a free pattern (in English, German, and Danish) on Ravelry and on the Filcolana website. i liked the look of the eyelet section at the top, so i kept it going for the whole thing. this was knit from the top-down, making it perfect for when you have a limited amount of yarn (or if you want to knit until it is all used up to avoid leftovers). 

i usually avoid knitting things the same color as the pattern sample, but i am (still) trying to add some life to my greyscale wardrobe, so i dyed some yarn in the brightest green i could produce. i also spun that yarn... sorta... but we can talk about that some other time. 

as per usual, a few changes were made along the way. most notably, i made the neckline slightly larger (it is wider than it looks in the photo, trust me)...

shortened the sleeves... 

and i used the eyelets allover because it was more interesting to knit than a plain stockinette fabric. did i mention that it is a superfine merino and cashmere blend that is soft and snuggly enough for an allergic-to-all-the-things cupcake like me to wear? yum!

all that green must have gotten to me, because i pulled some more fiber out of my stash, and dyed that green too. i will probably talk more about this yarn when i get i around to using it... eventually.

and for a change, i dyed up some yarns in three very similar shades of turquoise-blue. if you look closely, you will note the different construction of the three yarns, two of which were sorta-spun by me. i have a garment's worth of each one, so that is three more future projects to get around to... eventually. 

the absolute best part of the summer, however, had to be the addition of a new toy to my crafting library. i officially own a knitting machine.

but, wait... it gets worse. 

i actually now own THREE knitting machines. no joking. the animator really knows how to deliver on a birthday gift. they will likely be the subject of my next post... eventually.  

so, now i have even more ways to keep myself occupied in the middle of the night. seriously... would you rather be laying in bed at two in the morning, waiting to be stung by a stupid spider seeking vengeance for his comrade that you slaughtered the night before, or sat on an uncomfortable chair staring at something like this? 

exactly!

Jultember in a single word...

to be perfectly honest... i briefly considered doing a post-a-day during Jultember. however, as i have been genuinely struggling to find the will to get out of bed some days, said effort was doomed to failure before it even started. so, i took the occasional photo of the random nonsense i got up to over the course of a month that began in one season and ended in another.

this year's balcony garden project has been a literal oasis. beyond being lovely to look at, living like we do in an apartment in the middle of the city, it is especially nice to occasionally harvest something just moments before it ends up on the dinner table.

the inclusion of more flowers in this year's garden meant that there were even more colorful creatures stopping by for a visit. i was (pleasantly) shocked to see a ruby-throated hummingbird zipping around one afternoon (the visit was too brief to get a photo). one almost forgets that there is (non-squirrel) wildlife in the city, and we will definitely be planting even more welcoming flowers in next Summer's garden.

i did have to rescue a visiting cicada from potential death-by-adorable-cat. i formed a human shield between the two, until the cicada eventually climbed back through the netting and  flew away... then i spent the rest of the day threatening to climb a tree to strangle a cicada (perhaps it was the same one) whose noisy antics was driving me up a wall.

the animator was most amused.

him: if you hate that noise so much, why didn't you just let the cat kill it?
me: that would be cruel. they're annoying, but they're cute.

i found myself in need of a quick pick-me-up one random afternoon, so i made some candles. this was my first time using wooden wicks. i am hooked!

the light is stronger than with the cotton wicks, but the candle burns so slowly that it feels like it will last forever. i burned this one for close to twelve hours, and the jar was still near-full. i approve.

i have been neglecting my knitting projects, partly because it was too hot to be bothered, but mostly because i just stopped caring. this top was intended to be part of my Summer wardrobe. maybe next year.

that is some of my own hand-dyed yarn. i will talk more about the genius/lunacy involved in getting this effect on a cotton-based yarn if/when i finish the top.

 

i did manage to (finally) complete another pair of socks (more about that some other day) for the animator, which i started back in April. i also finished spinning the charcoal-grey yarn that i talked about in that same post. there is enough of this to make a whole garment, so now i just have to find a pattern that is worthy of this special yarn.

it is hard to maintain consistency across such a large spin, but i am satisfied with the end result. this is begging to be turned into a comfy cardigan.

i added some new yarns to my stash. i got a sweater's quantity of each color. they knit up into such a beautiful fabric. the fiber is a cotton-acrylic blend that will make for some comfy allergy-free sweaters for me.

i usually avoid wearing browns, but this warm gold was created to be worn next to my skin. this just screams AUTUMN!!!

we consumed a ridiculous amount of iced tea earlier in the month. there was a stretch of a couple-few weeks were the temperature in the middle of the city was hovering around 40°C (104°F), with the "feels like" temperature a few degrees above that. it was... brutal.

this was a particularly hot, dry Summer, so it was a great relief when the rain finally came about halfway through the month. which brings me to the point of this pointless thing...

if i had to summarize this past Jultember in a single word, it would be "tomato".

we got a large box of veggies from his parents' garden, including about twenty-five pounds of tomatoes... because his father is that lunatic. i roasted half of them (like i did last Summer), and the rest were turned into many tomato salads. [random aside: that plate with the chip is older than both of us.]

that particular salad was served along with a heaping plate of Greek-style lemon chicken and potatoes (made by the animator). said dish was flavored with fresh oregano and thyme from our little garden. the leftovers were equally amazing the next day.

we sent a photo of the salad to his dad, who was impressed by my neat arrangement of the slices... then he immediately began amassing another box of tomatoes. you know, in case we were in danger of running out of the stuff.

meanwhile, every now and then, one of us would step out onto the balcony, and return with a handful of freshly-harvested tomatoes. there is presently a large container of fresh tomatoes occupying half a shelf in the fridge, along with three containers of garlic-roasted tomatoes, all waiting to be used up. it is at the point where we are putting tomatoes into just about everything we consume.

the veggie haul from his parents' backyard also included several heads of celery. i chopped a few stalks at a time, and stored them in the freezer for the coming soup season.

we transplanted a couple of the smaller celery plants to the balcony garden project...

and i placed the bottom of one of the chopped up heads of celery into a pot of soil, where it promptly started to grow new leaves.

then, without warning, Jultember was through... and with it went Summer.

now we are racing toward the part of the year that i love most of all. i ventured halfway across town this past weekend to get my first taste of this year's harvest of concord grapes. i actually bought three containers of the stuff, but the first one disappeared within minutes of getting them home.

but the best bit came when the animator was checking the weather forecast earlier today.

him: apparently there is a typhoon forming somewhere in Asia that is going to bring an early Fall to Canada.
me: that must be one powerful typhoon.
him: it's the butterfly effect.
me: yeh, but with like every butterfly on the planet flapping extra hard. 
him: the last three words of this article should make you smile. you ready for this?
me: go ahead.
him: "definitely sweater weather."

yep. still smiling.