i am awesome...

we are hours away from the end of a year that i look forward to bidding a bon adieu. this is usually when people work overtime, finding fault in themselves, and making half-hearted promises to do better in the new year.

screw all that nonsense!

i cannot let the year end without mentioning that time i saved someone’s life in The Great Ice Storm of 2023. true story!

picture it. Montreal. mid-April...

that is when the ice and snow ends most years (although, it sometimes lasts well into May).

this time around, we were absolutely deluged with freezing rain days before a whole lot of people were planning to travel over the long Easter weekend. most of those plans got cancelled.

this was not snow, or even stinging pellets of hail. this was a steady, heavy shower of molten ice that crystalized the moment it hit anything. and it just kept on falling, encasing every surface it met in a solid shell of ice that was reported to be four centimeters (~ an inch and a half) thick in some areas. sheer madness!

then the bough broke... literally.  

it was like being at the center of an orchestra composed entirely of giant glass chandeliers being dropped from great heights. you could hear the buildup to every single crash from miles kilometers away. it was completely insane!

first there would be the ripple of ice cracking under the strain, followed by the explosive pop of massive branches snapping, and the frighteningly glorious crescendo of ice and wood shattering on sidewalks... and streets... and cars... and homes.

total madness!

there were official broadcasts of every type warning the public to remain indoors, and drivers were told to find a safe place to park their vehicles, and seek emergency shelter.

naturally, i was seriously tempted to grab my camera and head downstairs, but my Self-Preservation Society membership is paid in full, so i stayed put. [random aside: The Italian Job (1969) is one of my favorite films EVER, and i especially love all of the music! Getta Bloomin' Move On! (the Self-Preservation Society theme) is a thing of sheer genius. well done, Mr. Jones.]

where was i, again? oh, yes... i saved a person's life.

i went out on the balcony to try to get a few shots of the icy scenery. this was the view to the right...

to the left...

and looking up at the top of the massive old maple tree. 

this was when i noticed that a massive chunk of the old maple had mostly broken away from the tree, and it was just waiting for the slightest whisper of air to send it crashing to the ground. which happened at precisely that moment, as i stood there watching the spot where it would fall.

unfortunately, someone had just exited the building next door, and they were standing there, in that very same spot, head bent, staring at their phone.

luckily, the falling branch was being slowed in its descent by the tangle of lower tree limbs, leaving just enough time for me to scream LOOK OUT... which he did!

he jumped out of the way a split-second before the ice-coated branch exploded right where he was standing. part of it pulled his hoodie back from his head, and hooked onto the collar of his coat on the way down. dude was so stunned! he collected himself long enough to get out a shock-filled "merci", before turning to run back indoors.

that sounds pretty life-saving to me!

the situation was so dangerous, the Emergency Services were advising their own personnel to remain indoors. basically, if you needed 911... you were on your own! and, all you heard was the orchestra of chandeliers, accompanied now by a horn section, courtesy of all of the honking and blaring alarms from all the damaged cars. it was next-level atmospheric insanity.

then the power went off! almost half of Montreal was without power... for DAYS!

did i mention that it was meant to be a long holiday weekend? people will be telling how i survived the great ice storm of '23 stories for years to come. good times!

it took weeks for the power to be fully restored, and months for all of the debris to disappear. Montreal zoned out the use of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces several years ago, or we would have stockpiled enough logs to keep our fireplace blazing all Winter. le sigh!

most people's holiday plans were (naturally) cancelled, and many businesses and services that would have normally closed for the whole weekend, remained open to provide shelter for the public. even major fast food chains that would normally be closed on Easter Sunday, were asking any employees to come in to work so that they could provide food and a warm space for anyone who needed it.

imagine being a kid who got to spend Easter weekend eating free McNuggets. one person's chaotic nightmare is another person's Nirvana.

despite all the property damage, the storm proved to be a (relatively) harmless one. there were the usual vehicular pile-ups, thanks to black ice on... well... EVERYTHING! people around here understand the hazards of Winter storms, so they (mostly) heeded the warnings... except for one guy who simply could not wait for the ice to melt from his car... which was parked under a very large, ice-covered tree. sadly, no one warned him to "LOOK OUT".

so, instead of pondering all the shoulda, woulda moments from a (mostly) underwhelming year, i choose to close it on a positive note. seriously, people... i saved someone's life!

yes. i am awesome!

Happy New Year!!! hopefully it will be a better one.

(those are swollen, springtime maple buds encased in ice... because i can hear you asking from all the way over here.)

betrayal of the corny variety...

after eighteen(ish) Summers of watching me lose my mind over the arrival of fresh corn season, my favorite animator recently confided in me that he is not a fan of the stuff. he only ate it because i cooked it. i contemplated walking out on him right then and there. however, i remembered that i still have the rest of the week of being solely responsible for litter-scooping and kitty-feeding on account of that bet i lost Saturday. so, i am still here... for now. but i am struggling to figure out how i will live with this betrayal of the corny variety. 

on the plus side, i no longer have to take him into consideration when deciding how to indulge in the best thing to come from this steamy, sweaty, allergy-assaulting time of the year. a short while later, i was trying to figure out how to make a meal from some leftover barbecued things on skewers... when inspiration struck!

this meal took all of five minutes to come together, and it may just be my new favorite way to enjoy fresh corn. it began with a quick search in the container of random sauce packets. one mini envelope of spicy instant ramen broth later, and i had the start of something amazing. i added that to boiling water and tossed in some sliced bits of previously-cooked kebab and an ear of fresh corn cut into neat rounds. 

while that simmered for a few minutes, i boiled rice noodles briefly in a separate pan, then rinsed them in cold water to stop them from getting soggy once combined with the broth. the noodles went into a bowl, topped by the contents of the broth pot, plus a few strands of cilantro and red onion slices. then i remembered all the nasturtiums in this year's balcony garden project, so i added a handful of freshly-harvested, locally-grown, organically-nurtured, sustainably-farmed, ethically-sourced, free-range nasturtium leaves to the bowl. just doing my part to save the planet.

then i sat down to eat. it was amazing! i especially enjoyed the bites with a bit of noodles, meat, and a nasturtium leaf. nasturtium leaves have a sharp, peppery bite similar to a spicy radish, but they also have the unmistakable earthy, borderline-bitter flavor of fresh dark greens. trust me... this combination was sheer culinary perfection. 

the absolute best bits, however, were those rounds of fresh, sweet corn cooked briefly in that delicious broth infused with the smoky, meaty flavors from the leftover kebabs. 

i sat there, completely enraptured by the slight pop of each plump, sweet kernel being bitten away from the cob, and in that moment, i could only feel pity for the animator whose life will never know such joy. sad. 

insane by association...

i broke a tooth while eating popcorn one day last week. this is not a misguided plea for any kind of sympathy. i just need you to understand the insanity that passes for normal in our home.

so... i woke up the next day to find the animator grinning from ear-to-ear, and i instantly knew that something was wrong.

him: i made an appointment for you to go to the dentist.

me: since when are you making appointments for me? aren't you the one who usually makes me do that sort of thing because you hate talking on the phone? 

him: yeh, but i made it for you anyway...

me: ... because you know i'd probably put off doing it myself for as long as i can.

him: something like that. oh, and i also made an appointment to take Titty to the vet. i did that first.

Titty (Titania, aka "Mama Kitty"), the oldest of our three two cats, has cancer. i will weep about that some other day. for now, we are trying to make her life as comfortable and enjoyable as possible in the time she has left. 

so... he called the vet before the dentist.

him: the receptionist asked if it was an emergency with Titty. is she eating? is she throwing up? or if she is meowing a lot like she might be in pain. i told her, she's eating. not throwing up. and no, she's not meowing or anything.

me: uhm... okay.

him: so then i called the dentist, and the receptionist asked how you chipped your tooth. i said eating popcorn. she asked if it's bleeding. i said no. then she asked if it's an emergency, if you're experiencing any pain...

me: and...?

him: so i said, "no, she's not meowing or anything".

so now i get to look forward to entering the dentist's office with the receptionist already convinced that i might be insane by association. 

speaking of insane associations...

mom called me one day, about a month or so ago. i was deeply concerned from "hello". 

mom: N—, i have to tell you something, and i don't want you to get upset.

me: okay...? [already dreading whatever she will say next]

mom: the plants are coming up in the garden.

then i turned toward the nearest window, and gazed out into the third (or fourth... i lost count at some point) snowstorm over the span of that week. 

i bring this up last bit up because it is currently the last day of April—Spring having officially begun more than a month ago—and we had a snowstorm as recently as a last week. but, apparently, this insanity is what i signed up for. 

it has been a while since my last post. i draw a firm line at keeping this space on the lighter side of life (dying cats get a pass for sheer sadness factor). i kept writing draft after draft, but i always hesitated when it came time to hit "publish". it is really hard to keep a lighthearted focus on the absurd side of life when so much of it feels anything but these days. still, i figured i would send up a smoke signal of sorts to say that i am still here. 

so... hello again!

i lost my crafting mojo for a while, but it seems to be back in (almost) full force. i considered doing a week month of daily short posts to try to document some of the stuff i have made over the past year... or two. however, committing to that will require an even larger dose of 'jo. 

there is one pretty cool thing that happened recently that has definitely added to the urge to get back to my crafty activities. 

i won a thing!

i left a comment on a You Tube video, which entered me into a raffle from Ewethful Fiber Farm and Mill... and i WON!!! 

this is honestly one of the two (or three) knitting-related channels i keep up with these days. the mill owner/operator Kim is a lovely person, and her YT videos offers glimpses into their life on the farm (which includes the family grass seed business and a menagerie of ridiculous animals). she also gives us regular behind the scene tours of the production process. it never stops being fascinating to see piles of dirty wool being turned into clean, beautiful yarn.

she sources fiber from small farms in her area, and she often has wool from breeds of sheep beyond the ones that get used for most things (Merino, Corriedale, Cormo, BFL, and those other "regulars"). i have been making an effort to seek out new (to me) breeds when purchasing fleeces over the past couple-few years, so i was especially drawn to the eclectic blends of fibers Kim utilizes. 

the original prize on offer included mohair, but that was more than my allergies can handle, so i asked Kim to substitute something (mohair-free) in a natural, dark color that i could blend together with some of the (closet-full of) white fleece waiting to be spun. i received a blend of Alpaca and Shetland wool (from one of Kim's own sheep named Drilla). 

i opted for un-spun fiber, so it arrived as a long rope (called roving, for the uninitiated who have made it this far). 

i found the beginning of the roving, and it was sooo tempting to start spinning away. however, i will stick to the original plan. this will become part of a lovely, heathery handspun yarn... someday. thank you so much for the generous gift, Kim (and Drilla). 

being a jerk is a good thing...

[the following is about my cat Philly. i started writing it a week and a half ago when she was very ill, and i am finishing it when she is no longer with us.]

this is Philly (Ophelia), the ball of grey fluff i usually refer to as Baby Bear.

she has been very ill for several weeks, and i have accepted the likelihood that this may be the end for her. 

she was part of a litter that had been abandoned by their mother, and only two of the kittens were alive when the animator's parents found them. one of their cats was nursing kittens at the time, and she welcomed the two orphans as her own. 

Baby Bear was tiny and underdeveloped right from the beginning. the animator's parents tend to let their cats come and go as they wish, and she would have only gotten lost in that shuffle. knowing that she would require extra special care (and the many trips to the vet that would entail), we figured she might have a better chance with us.

 plus... not gonna lie... i took one look at that ball of fluff, and i was in love. 

so, just like that, she became our cat. and, seeing how attached she was to her adopted mom, we decided not to split them up. so, Titty (Titania)—aka Mama Kitty, the curmudgeony calico—came to live with us as Baby Bear's plus-one.

we figured at the time that we would do our best to keep Philly comfortable for however long she might end up living. 

that was nine years ago.

they would eventually be joined by Cordy (Cordelia), the Little One who destroys things...

and just like that, our furry duo became a trio.

but Philly would always retain the title of "Baby Bear", because she always acted like one. she would also earn the title of "the Jerk"... for much the same reason. 

i should point out that this cat was a tiny, little thing when we first got her. the vet made a point of warning us from the start that she was always going to be small, and she was. in adulthood, Philly weighed about four and a half pounds on her heaviest days. do not be fooled by all that fur. she was almost non-existent. 

and, oh... the knots and tangles! 

despite all that tinyness—or, perhaps, because of it—she was the biggest bully you could ever imagine, and her bullying behavior was always about the same thing. food. 

she did not like being kept waiting for her morning meal. if you took too long dividing the contents of a can between the three bowls, you would be hurried along by a few sharp nips to the back of the calves. i am convinced that cat had the sharpest teeth in existence. likewise, if we were taking too long to get out of bed, she would... uhm... motivate us by standing on our heads and nipping at the tip of our noses. her bites never did any real damage. they were just annoying enough to encourage you to hurry along. 

no exaggeration... i will spend the rest of my life sleeping with the covers pulled up over my head thanks to years of being traumatized by that ridiculous little cat. 

so cute. so cruel. 

worst part was, she demanded her morning meal at sunrise, and she would wake us in advance to make sure that it was not late. you know that part of the Summer where the sun comes up at like quarter to five every morning? well, she would usually start waking us at around four-fifteen. 

i really miss that ridiculous cat.

the other two cats were also subjected to her bullying tactics. she would shove them around, and literally pull the food out from under their faces. she was such a jerk, the other two would just walk away some days and let her have her fill before coming back to clear up whatever scraps she left behind.

the animator would give them their bowls and let them sort it out, but i always felt compelled to stand there and play cafeteria lunch lady so that the other two could have a chance to eat their meal in peace.

me: i don't understand why they let themselves get pushed around by this little runt. they each weigh more than twice as much as her. they can just give her a good smack and put her in her place.

him: easier to just ignore her and let her think she's the boss.

me: that only encourages her to keep on being such a jerk.   

and she did. she defended that title right up to her last days, even as we were monitoring her every move to see how she was doing.

me: oh! she seems to be eating.

him: she's eating?

me: yeh. and she just shoved Cordy out of the way to get to that bowl.

him: she did?

me: yeh. oh... and now she's doing that thing where she grabs the edge of the bowl, and pulls it away from under Titty's face, so i guess she plans to eat from that one too. 

him: even on the edge of death, she's still a jerk.

me: pretty much. at least we know she's feeling good enough today to be eating. 

there are some situations in life where being a jerk is a good thing, and this was one of them. 

she had been sick quite a few times over the years, and we usually took this return to jerkish form as a sign of improvement. however, the situation was far worse this time around, and a couple days later, she was gone. 

we got to spend a lot more time with her than anyone (even the vet) thought would be the case. despite being the smaller of the two that survived from her litter, she outlived the other one by several years, and she was in good health for most of that time, although it felt like an uphill battle at times. we were not even sure if her eyes were functioning properly for the first year or so, and it was an ongoing struggle to keep them (and the rest of her) in working condition in the years to follow. i cannot begin to recount all the gels, pills, ointments, and other vet-prescribed concoctions we have had to administer over the years... or the sideshow of getting her to take them. 

to the casual observer, it might seem ridiculous to have two adults tag-team-restraining a four-pound cat, but this one was a jerk who liked to bite. 

there has been a sad note hanging over our home this past week, and her absence is pronouncedly evident. she was always in the way, always inviting herself into the midst of anything i tried to do. 

she spent so much time hanging around me, i came to think of her as my personal shadow kitty. i still find myself walking gingerly around our home, expecting her to be lurking somewhere near my feet, constantly positioning herself right where i am about to step.

despite being the tiniest biggest jerk on the planet, she is sorely missed. 

she was a great companion to Mama Kitty...

and a wonderful playmate and co-conspirator in mischief to the Little One. 

she made an art out of photobombing...

and she embraced that stereotype about cats loving boxes as her personal mission in life. i used to think that this box craze was something that all cats did, but she was the only one of the four i have lived with to date who took that particular task quite so seriously. 

and it was not just boxes. turns out a basket of freshly-washed laundry is the perfect spot for a bit of bird-watching. 

who needs plants in a gro-bag when you can fill that space with adorable furry goodness, right?

most of all, Philly loved being held and snuggled and treated like the Baby Bear she never stopped being. she will be missed very much. 

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!