Amber and Santo's Wedding

We attended the wedding of Amber and Santo on Saturday. Amber is the daughter of our good friends, Kathy and John. Kathy, John and Amber are not Italian, but Santo is, so it was a big Italian wedding. We began at the church at 1pm. The ceremony was beautiful. After that, we went home and rested for a while, then changed from church clothes to party clothes (well, at least I did) and headed out to the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver for the banquet.

We sat with our friends Michele and Brent. Kathy, Michele and I have known each other since grade 4. We've all known Amber since she was born. We've known Santo for a few years and we think he's pretty nice too. He gets the "friends of Amber's Mom stamp of approval."

We've been to a few Italian weddings, so we were prepared. We did not eat for a few days leading up the the wedding. True to form, there was a splendid multi-course sit-down meal and ample wine. I employed my "half a plate or less" technique and did not eat all of the yummy food that was served, so I made it. So did Andy and Alex. After the meal, the cappucino bar and gelato bar opened immediately, in case anyone was hungry. Then at 11:30, there was a late night buffet, with pizza and pastry. Alex was the only one able to eat at that time. In between all of the eating there were speeches, dancing, toasts, visiting and of course a radiant bride and her delighted groom. Kathy and John, and Santo's parents Sandra and Carmen did a wonderful job, providing for 300 guests in wonderful style.

I hope you like the pictures!

question: how many people attended your wedding?

mompoet - I'll dig up some wedding photos and scan them before Andy and I have our 25th. We had 50 guests at our wedding.

parking lot

I've see the first two, but never the third. This is at the new Shoppers Drug Mart in Port Moody.

question: who will be the first to park in the new spots?

mompoet - curiouser and curiouser

AED

On Tuesday at work, I took a half-day course to learn how to use an AED (Automated External Defibrillator). We have them at all of our recreation centres, to use in case someone's heart stops working. Already, one has been used to save a life at one of our swimming pools. Here's the story.

We learned that defibrillation is more effective than CPR alone. We also learned that it is relatively easy with the device. It looks like a child's toy cassete tape player. Once activated, it gives voice commands to lead the operator through the steps to assess heart rhythm and administer a shock if necessary. This is alternated with 2 minute rounds of CPR - also voice prompted by the machine. We practiced on dummies with sensors that indicated if we were doing it right - the CPR and the use of the AED so we can be sure we understand and know how to do it correctly.

I first took CPR training when I was about 19 years old. I have been re-certifying every two years since then. The procedure seems to become simpler every few years. If you took it in the past and have let it lapse, you'll be surprised when you take it again. AED recertification will be provided to us at work annually, so I'll be sure to stay up-to-date.

I hope I never need to use my new skills, but if I do, now I know what to do beyond breathing and chest compressions.

question: do you know how to move oxygenated blood to a person's brain until help arrives?

mompoet - shockingly simple

for my friend Michael

who was has been accepted into the Master of Library Sciences Program at UBC - YAY! I hope your library will be just like this one:



question: is there anyone better than a librarian?

mompoet - I don't think so

ball game

Andy, Alex and I saw the season opener for the Vancouver Canadians, our Vancouver baseball team. We got a super deal through my union: barbeque supper at the park, the game and fireworks after. It was my first time going to a baseball game, so too bad the Canadians lost 1:10, but we had fun anyway.

I was intrigued by the oldness of some of it. The stadium is well-loved and well kept. I got a kick out of the scoreboard, with someone standing behind it, taking the numbers out and sliding new ones into the slots. When the fireworks began, we saw someone take a couple of the numbers out, and watch the show through the opening in the scoreboard.

The people-watching was as much fun as the game. There's a lot of tradition about how people dress and act and things they chant and yell and sing. The ball club adds to the fun with contests and hijinks on the field between innings. And then, during the fireworks, a streaker jumped on the field at third base and slid into home plate. There was a bit of something for everyone!

question: have you been to the ball game?

mompoet - I will go again.

water shoes

In a couple of months, Andy and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary with a week in Mexico. We are pretty excited to say the least, having not gone on a grown-up, just-us vacation since oh, about 25 years ago. We'll relax at an all inclusive resort near Playa del Carmen, go look at some ruins, snorkel, drink margaritas and generally relax and enjoy a new place and some welcome time together. If there's not a hurricane, we hope to have our anniversary dinner (on the 12th) on the beach.

For now, the prospect seems surreal and better than Christmas. I am gently stoking my anticipation by buying a new bathing suit, water shoes, a beach bag. We look at pictures of our hotel and the city and the region on the internet. We talk to friends for tourist advice: pesos or American dollars? does he really need long pants for dinner in the fancy restaurant? I am taking lunch hour Spanish conversation lessons, so I can ask for the banyo and say hello, my name is Susanna in Spanish. The preparation is part of the fun.

Soon we will be there. I hope it will be every bit as much fun as we envision it.

question: what do you do when you are looking forward to a treat?

mompoet - sky blue water shoes

dog love haiku

I cry every
morning when I walk her, she's
nudging heaven's gate

news update

A truck ran over my white cardigan in the parking lot at work. Luckily I was not in it at the time. My sweater, I mean (but I wasn't in the truck either).

question: have you ever lost your wrap under a vehicle?

mompoet - wondering if I can Shout it out and fluff it up?

june is busting out all over

Don't you just feel like this sometimes?



question: well, don't you?

mompoet - busting a grin

rhubarb crisp

I don't know if I've blogged this recipe before, but it's so good, I don't care.

If you have rhubarb in your garden, use some of it to make this. Otherwise, buy some - it's in the produce stores now.

Rhubarb Crisp

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup veg oil
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups diced rhubarb
1 cup sugar
2 tbs cornstach
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Lightly oil a 9 inch casserole, pie pan or glass cake pan.

Mix together the brown sugar, flour, oats, oil and cinnamon to make a crumbly mixture. Press half of this into the bottom of the pan.

Put the rhubarb on top of the base, in the pan.

Mix the white sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Once they are well combined, stir in the water. Bring this to a boil and cook until thickened (stir frequently). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the syrup over the rhubarb in the pan.

Top with the other half of the crumbly mixture.

Bake about one hour.

If you like, you can double it. My family likes.

Good warm or cold, but especially good warm with ice cream.

question: what's cooking?

mompoet - cornucopia of yumminess all around us

happy birthday, Dad!

My sister Barb is in town for the weekend, for a teachers' meeting. We celebrated Dad's birthday a week early with a delicious supper out and Mom's famous angel food cake. Here's Dad, blowing out the candles (74 in binary).

question: anyone else have a father whose birthday is impossibly close to father's day? how do you manage?

mompoet - loving my dad

fish vision glasses

Check out this YouTube video from Greenpeace, then go the their website to find out about sustainable seafood.



question: what's on your table when you have a craving for fish?

mompoet - thinking about the oceans

june

is like a closet whose door you open and a dozen things topple out on your head.

When you try to close the closet you have to stuff even more things back in, and lean on the door.

Luckily, they are mostly good things - just so many of them! What with school ending, and summer ramping up fast, and assorted other distractions, we have been on the go pretty much non-stop every day since even before the beginning of the month.

I gauge my "easiness" of a week by how many evenings I get to spend at home. Usually I have one night at home between Monday and Thursday. Sometimes I have 2. A lovely, slow week has 3 evenings during which I do not have to be out for significant time. (This does not count driving kids to their activities.) For the past 3 weeks I have had just 1 weeknight at home. Lots of the other nights have faced competing demands, causing me to turn down invitations and cancel commitments. Everything is good, just too much of it.

Yesterday I began the day early, by stopping by the church to pick up sandwiches that the group had made and refrigerated Wednesday evening. I put them into cooler chests and drove downtown for an 8am drop-off at the mission. I do this just once a month, and really enjoy it. Yesterday it was warm and bright out. The missions' guests seemed mostly happy and relaxed. The staff and volunteers were calm and upbeat. After that I drove back to work where I sat in a board meeting all morning. I finished just in time for a cycle class on my lunch break. That's always a good way to unwind after an intense meeting. By the end of the class I felt centred (and hungry - breakfast was a long time ago!). I showered, changed, wolfed my packed lunch, then worked a long day - until 8pm, because I was signed on as site supervisor (the person who looks after emergencies, complaints, decision-making etc for the rec centre) for the afternoon and evening. It was a quiet shift, and I had the treat of eating supper at the office with Fiona, who stopped by after school, and picked up sushi for us both. While I was working, Alex bused to the centre and took my car from the parking lot to drive to work. At 8pm Andy drove over, picked me up and brought me home. At home: a puddle on the rug from the dog, so I shampooed that part of the carpet, put on some laundry, then poured a glass of red wine and breathed out....ahhhh.

Today, I have the day off work. The payoff for marathon days is some short days or days off in return. I continue to work a flex schedule, which suits my flexible life.

My plans: a walk with the dog, another cycle class (and some weights - woo hoo!), a couple of errands, finish sewing a dress, pick up Fi and all of the contents of her emptied locker from school, drive Alex to work, drive Fi to a performance commitment, then go meet my parents and my sister (in town from Cranbrook) for supper, then pick up Alex and Fi and come home. Maybe another glass of red wine at the end of all that?

I am super excited to see Barb this evening. She's in town for a teacher conference. I haven't seen her in months. Her daughter Maya graduates from high school this month, so I'm thinking her June is something like ours. I hope her getaway weekend is relaxing.

I hope that some time today I can open the closet door, dodge any falling bowling balls, and have a look at this crazy month, marvel at its hodge-podge of crazy goodness and laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. June won't be like this my whole life long. I'm going to love the closet the way it is today.

question: how does your closet look right now?

mompoet - grinning and dodging

the bus driver

I finally talked to the bus driver today.

For a long time, I have been thinking about one of the drivers in whose bus I ride to work. I usually take a bus 15 minutes earlier than his, but from time to time, I ride on his bus. Like other community shuttle drivers, he plays the radio in his bus - so we have music while we ride.

The trouble is, this bus driver chooses a radio station whose morning show host is very rude. The music is great, but in between songs, the radio host goes on an on with very crude comments and jokes that make me feel totally embarrassed, and offended that this kind of talk is being imposed on me and the other riders. The radio plays loud and clear enough to be heard to the back of the bus, and riders include grandparents, parents, small children, teens on their way to school, university students, and ordinary people like me. It has to be bugging more than just me.

Still, I have had trouble working up the nerve to talk to the driver about it. I don't think he's just a jerk. Whenever his young nephew is waiting for the school bus along the route, he slows his bus down, opens the door, and tosses out a granola bar or apple to the boy as we pass by. He told me once how much he likes that kid, and wants him to know that he is loved.

For a little while, he switched stations, and I was relieved. Yesterday morning, the awful station was tuned in again, with even more hideous and borderline obscene banter. I was determined to talk to the driver as we approached my stop. Just as the radio host was going to launch into a contest called "Who's Nailin' Palin?" the driver switched stations.

I found my opening and went up to the driver. I thanked him for switching the radio, and told him that I enjoy the music on that station, but find the host very rude. I told him that I would not want children to listen to that kind of talk while they ride the bus. He just laughed in an uncomfortable way "heh heh heh." I wished him a good day and disembarked.

I have a feeling he has known all along that this is not appropriate. I hope that he knows now that at least one passenger does not want to hear that. I feel good that I said something, and wish I had done so sooner.

question: when have you stayed quiet until you found courage?

mompoet - wondering at the nature of us

Alex Year One Grad

Alex received his Certificate in Motion Picture Studies at Capilano University last night. He has completed the one-year program.

The ceremony was lovely, celebrating the accomplishments of students in the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, and also the one year anniversary of Capilano's designation as a university. Along with students from Alex's program, there were acting, musical theatre and jazz students, costume designers, animators and many others. Still, the ceremony was just 1 hour long, which was a blessing. It's still a small university, and 5 ceremonies were held, one for each faculty or group of faculties.

Now Alex is waitlisted for the 2nd year of Motion Picture Studies, which will result in a diploma.

question: what was your grad ceremony like?

mompoet - I think mine was about 4.5 hours long

Nelson is coming home

Here are some messages I have exchanged with my friend Stacie Boschma, who lives in Decatur, Georgia. Stacie, a poet, visited Vancouver in August, while she was on tour. When she featured at the Vancouver Poetry Slam, I introduced her to Nelson, my pet plastic rat. Nelson asked if he could tour with Stacie and she said yes. Since then, he has traveled around the US with her, and has spent the winter living at her place.

Here are the messages:

Mompoet to Stacie

Hi Stacie,

I'm still looking forward to your visit, and hoping your summer is starting out fruitful and vegetableful.

In the meantime, my husband and I have planned a trip to Mexico for our 25th anniversary on Aug 12. We're flying out of Vancouver on the 8th. We'd love to take Nelson with us. Is there any way he could come home to Vancouver in time to travel with us?

Hope you are well, and Nelson is not redecorating your veranda with dream catchers and fuzzy dice (he has dubious taste in interior decorating).

sue

Stacie to Mompoet

I told Nelson about the Mexico trip and he squealed, rat like, at the adventure of the idea. And then we sat down for a heart to heart about us, our long travels together and all those meandering conversations about the vagaries of love and romance. The truth is that Nelson's wanderlust has been nipping at his heels, and I've seen the way he watches the sunrise through my window. He's a sweet one, never demanding to go, but I feel the way our relationship has changed, and I know there's no holding Nelson back from the wide world he can't stop exploring.

So we sipped coffee from our differently sized mugs and let nostalgia sweep us back to the early morning drive through Arkansas, the bright lights of Portland, the dusty landscape of California's desert. It was good to revisit the places and to remember the hurt and the joy of it all. He's my favorite tour mate yet, and I love him enough to cheer all the journeys ahead of him. Wherever I go, Nelson will be with me, and wherever he goes, he'll go with my fondest wishes.

I'll stow him into some appropriate container and hide him away in a Vancouver-bound train or plane, and trust that he finds his way home safe. There's a great big world out there, and no one knows that better than Nelson, intrepid traveler, and a fine plastic friend.

Mompoet to Stacie

Thank you Stacie! Thank you so much!

Your message made my day. I'm not sure which is better, knowing that Nelson is coming home, or that your time together has meant so much to both of you.

Thank you for giving Nelson the gifts of the road and your love, and for giving me the gift of appreciating our little rat friend the way you do.

sue


So Nelson will be home in time to travel with us again. Stacie will visit Vancouver in the Fall, so it's not good-bye forever.

question: who is your favourite traveling companion?

mompoet - tickled by the image of two differently-sized coffee cups

runpee.com

There's a website that lists current and classic movies, with suggested times that it's safe to run to the bathroom. You even get a synopsis of what's going to happen while you're away, but it's scrambled so as not to be a spoiler. I guess you could take your iPod Touch into the bathroom, hope for wifi, then look up the missed content on your way back to the theatre.

Check it out for sure.

question: do you ever run to the bathroom during a movie?

mompoet - big water drinker, frequent emptier

some things for which I am grateful

Spanish lessons
lettuce in a box
petunias
the Internet
my family
jazz music
flip flops (as in shoes)
Acts (as in the New Testament)
the bread machine
hair gel
indoor cat
Joe the groundskeeper
unscented candles
ripe tomatoes

helpful household hints (if you love your toes)

1. Do not talk on the phone and load the dishwasher at the same time. It is inconsiderate to the person who called you (he or she knows you are loading the dishwasher because of the clanking and your inattentive responses), AND it is hazardous.

2. When the sink has water and dishes in it, and you are trying to take the dishes out of the sink and put them into the dishwasher AND talk on the phone, empty the water from the sink before removing the dishes. Fishing around in slippery water for knives and forks is foolish, reckless and perilous.

3. Flatware and utensils go eating/cutting side UP in the cutlery rack. If your mother taught you "business end down," she was just wrong. I know this. My mother is perfect in every way. That is why I am perfect in most ways, particularly in respect to knowing how to properly load the dishwasher. (Please note: knowing and doing are not always the same.)

4. Do not run with scissors unless you are in a scissors relay race.

5. Wear a helmet and safety gloves when loading the dishwasher.

6. Steak knives are small and lightweight, but every bit as deadly as machetes or chainsaws, when handled without proper care and attention.

7. While you are talking on the phone and loading the dishwasher and swishing your hands around in old sink water and finding cutlery to place sharp end up in the dishwasher rack, allow yourself a maximum of 4 pieces of cutlery per grab. Remember, the word cutlery includes the word "cut" for a reason. It includes the word "lery" for no reason whatsoever.

8. Cutlery that has just been removed from slippery sink water is slippery cutlery.

9. When a steak knife falls, its acceleration is equal to the acceleration of a falling feather or a falling cannonball.

10. If you drop a feather on your foot. It does not hurt.

11. It is ridiculous to imagine dropping a cannonball on your foot. Nobody would be so silly as to lift a cannonball over his or her foot.

12. When you are talking on the phone and loading the dishwasher and lifting slippery cutlery sharp side down from the slippery sink water with your slippery hands, and you drop a steak knife, wear closed-toed shoes.

13. A steak knife, dropped from a slippery hand, onto an unprotected foot, will most certainly find its way, pointy side down, to the spot just between the big toe and second toe. This hurts substantially more than dropping a feather on the same part of the foot. Also, a feather does not cause bleeding.

14. Keep bandaids near your dishwasher at all times.


question: did you every throw a knife at your own foot?

mompoet - just call me "limpy the kitchen dork."

dreambit

I have been waking early each morning - perhaps because of the warmth and brightness of late spring. The extra hour each morning is a treat, and I'm not feeling especially tired at night, so I'll take it!

This morning, before waking, I dreamed about my day today. At work we will host the official opening of an outdoor fitness park for older adults, built on the grounds of the rec centre. We have chairs, cake, a ribbon for cutting, VIPs, parking attendants, directional signs - all in all a big fuss and a very special morning. So it's natural that I dreamed about it.

In the dream, a friend suggests I should arrive at work in "a long white dress, fancy but without too many decorations, and puffy sleeves." Somehow, I walk to work (which happens to be at the local high school) and arrive wearing a muslin mockup of a bride's dress. When I arrive I see the setup for a party and realise it's the day for the park opening, and I have work to do, arranging and hosting. I am dressed inappropriately! I try to find my boss, who is, coincidentally, my grade 8 socials studies teacher, to tell her that I must run home to change and will return as soon as I can. She cannot be found. I run out of the school and find myself in the student parking lot, with my helpful friend, who tells me I'll never make it home and back in time. So I cleverly decide to steal a car from the parking lot. I choose an ancient wood-panelled station wagon. The driver has left the key in the car, so my friend and I get in and drive away. I arrive at home, and decide I have made a mistake. The owner of the car will report it missing and I will be found and arrested for stealing a car. I decide to go to the police station to explain that I took the car, but realise the error of my ways. I am embarassed to go to the police station in a mock-up of a wedding dress, but time is running short and I don't have time to change. I try to park the car beside the police station, but the brakes don't work. I haul on the emergency brake and pull the car to a stop. When I get out, I see that the car is massively damaged on the passenger side. Did I do this? or was it half-crushed when I took it and I just didn't notice? I wake up.

question - does anyone else still set their anxiety dreams at high school?

mompoet - I ironed my clothing last night and will dress appropriately for today's event (and take transit to work)

the big snit

Thank you to Diane for recommending this NFB animated short.

conversation overheard in the community centre lobby

Four men are waiting for their wives to come out of the gentle fitness class on Thursday morning. They are chatting in the lobby outside of my office door, talking about how they wait for their wives and drive their wives to fitness class and other places. They are all in their 70s.

Man #1: Oh well, it's worth it. I don't know where I'd be without my wife.

Man #2: I'd be in jail.

Man #3: I'd be in Palm Springs.

Man #4: I'd be golfing.

Man #1: I think I'd be dead.



question: where would you be without your significant other?

mompoet - Ah, sweet mystery of life

rainy may breakfast haiku

staccato bubbles
from the porridge pot echo
eaves trough overspill

question: what cooks for you this morning?

mompoet - awake

bridal shower

My friend Kathy's daughter is getting married. Amber is 23. I have known her since she was a baby. When Amber was 4, she came to Alex's baby shower. When she was 13 and 14, she spent two summers as Alex and Fiona's all-day caregiver at our house, while Andy and I were at work. She was awesome, taking Alex on an all-day bike adventure one day, and concocting a puppet show, complete with tickets, music and refreshments, that stretched to a multi-week project with the kids, and culminated in a spectacular performance. Amber stayed at our place for two weeks during the summer that we took our California road trip. She took awesome care of our place and our pets that time.

Now she and Santo will be married. Our friend Michele hosted a bridal shower at her home. Amber has already had a traditional Italian shower (Santo's family being Italian) with a full luncheon banquet and many, many guests, speeches, etc. Kathy wanted her to also have the smaller shower with kitchen and household gifts, sandwiches and lots of chatting about the wedding, marriage, men etc...

Amber was totally surprised by the party. Santo told her that he was taking her to Michele's house for a surprise party - but he said it was a surprise birthday party for Kathy, who happens to have her birthday this week. We decorated the veranda with balloons and streamers, but I think it still took Amber a moment to figure it out. She even brought a card and gift for her mom.

We had a lovely time, and we mom-generation friends remembered our showers and weddings. Amber is determined to stay simple, elegant and up-to-date. She thinks a lot of her mom's ideas are "so 70s!" I think she had a great time at the little shower, and enjoyed the love and the gifts. Michele put on a lovely light supper buffet, and everyone enjoyed her gracious 1911 craftsman style home. I always feel like I'm in a special place when I go to Michele's. It was the perfect place for the party.

Andy and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in August. I remember the shower that my bridesmaid sister and the rest of the girls threw for me. It was a little shower, at my Mom's house. I remember the guests of all generations, the generous gifts, and my talk of a simple, homey wedding that Andy and I had been planning. It can't be 25 years ago. Then again, it can't be 23 years since Amber was born. I guess it is though.

question: have you been to a bridal shower this spring?

mompoet - wishing Amber and Santo all the love and happiness in the world - and a happy 25th anniversary - it will arrive before they know it!

grad dress inspiration

Here's a news story from CBC about a young woman in Burnaby who will wear a trash bag dress to grad this year. I think this is wonderful.

question: what did you wear to your grad/prom? what did your kids wear to theirs?

mompoet - I sewed myself a dress, but it was made of silk, not trash bags

arthur erickson

Architect Arthur Erickson died on Wednesday. My experience with his work is the 5 years that I spent at Simon Fraser University - which he designed. I didn't study architecture, but I definitely lived, worked, played, slept in his biggest project.

My least favourite part of the Erickson experience was the leaky places. Tarps and buckets were part of our everyday existence all during the rainy season. They weren't in every corner or every room, but they were always evident, every day, somewhere in the building. I was at the university in the 80s, when the building was 25 years old, but I heard that this had been a factor for many years.

I also wasn't crazy about the naming and numbering of the rooms within the connecting "complexes." Making a site map for new students must have been a daunting task for the university administrators, because the place was multi levels, counting up from the ground, wherever that part of the building was anchored. Because the building is on the curved top of a mountain, you could stand in one hallway and have a door to your left open to a level 4 room, while the one on your right opened to a level one. It took some learning and getting used to. Part of student life included helping visitors and new students find classrooms and offices, because getting around the place just didn't make easy sense.

The other thing that was kind of crazy was traversing the academic quadrangle, where many of the lectures and small group tutorials took place, and where many of the profs had their offices. The quadrangle is a rectangular doughnut shape, partly on stilts, with a vast green space and pond in the middle. To get to your room, you had to run around the doughnut. This required a good knowledge of which way to go - clockwise or counter-clockwise, to make it most efficiently to your destination. Cutting across the centre space was an option, but most of the time, weather conditions discouraged this. In the winter, it was cold and wet and your feet would get bogged in the muddy grass. In summer, you could get distracted and end up lying on said grass, and falling asleep with a book covering your face.

These grumbles aside, I think Simon Fraser University is a masterpiece. It is visually spectacular from the outside and also inside. Everywhere you look, you are conscious of being on a mountaintop. The whole thing is contoured to the slope of the mountain so when you go up or down inside or around the building, you are also following the terrain. There are glorious open spaces like convocation mall, and lots of delightful resting spots and lounges to cozy up the many concrete corridors and corners. I napped frequently between classes on the upholstered benches of a place I called "the kryptonite pond lounge." Everything was in one large building, made of of connecting complexes, so academic disciplines were not segregated into separate buildings or regions of the campus. Navigating was complicated, but also fun - like a treasure hunt or adventure some days to find a new part of the campus. Walking from class to class took me past places and things I wouldn't see if the design had made "better sense." I commuted to campus, so I never had the residence experience, but I was employed by the recreation department, and spent many hours in the gym working as a fitness instructor. The gym, pool and running track were excellent, and conveniently located less than five minutes' (covered) walk from the learning areas. Surrounding the university building there was a network of running/walking trails that ran up and down hills, through the woods and to a nearby park. The overall feeling I got from the building was that it was grand, modern, spectacular and also encouraging of community in its layout and quirkiness - part monolith, part rabbit warren. I was glad to be there.

question: have you lived, worked, played in an Arthur Erickson building?

mompoet - remembering

springtime car haiku

heater vents blow cool
wafts of petal confetti
on my summer skirt

question: how do they make it through?

mompoet - sopping up the silliness of spring

May long weekend haiku

first mosquito bites
itchy bright constellation
in dusky skin sky

question: did they get you yet?

mompoet - stargazing (and trying not to scratch)

what I believe

I listened to a podcast of cbc radio's Definitely Not the Opera yesterday. It was about belief, and the things we believe in that we can't prove. People on the show discussed different kinds of belief: religious, political, economic, social, psychic... It got me to thinking about what I believe that I can't prove. I believe a lot of things, but here's one that I thought about when I was at my bible study group on Wednesday. I'm doing a faith formation course for 6 weeks with a small group at my church. We're looking at the Book of Acts and our changing church. We were discussing inclusion and openness, and what makes for a sense of welcome and belonging in community.

I believe that people are, by nature, generous. I have observed that the happiest people I know are the most generous. At first I thought that if a person could afford to be generous he or she would also be happy, but I've come to realise that the act of generosity itself (rather than the resources for generosity) is the source of happiness. There's not much better feeling than being able to help another person. This is a good and needed feeling regardless of one's situation.

At church, my friend Pete told a story of a homeless man in a nearby city who was murdered recently. At his funeral, people from the community came forward to tell stories of his generosity of spirit - how he shared whatever little he had, went out of his way to help whenever he could, and how he gave a feeling of warmth and friendliness to everyone who knew him.

At work, I met a woman named Tanya who had no home of her own, and was couch-surfing. She would come in every few days for a shower or to get out of the cold. More than once my co-worker or I would make her a cup of tea, or share part of our lunch with her when she was hungry. She was such a friendly, open person, whether she was sad or happy, she would also stop to say hello on her way in or out. One day she arrived at the rec centre in despair because she was without a place to stay. The staff on duty helped her with a phone number for the shelter hot line, and offered her the phone. After a couple of hours of calling, she found a place for the night. We didn't see Tanya for a few days, then she stopped by and came into my office. She told me she wanted to thank me for my kindness, and she gave me a bracelet. I accepted the gift, thanked her, and put it on right away. She left smiling.

When Alex was small, he was cared for by a family daycare mom, Shirley, while I was at work. Shirley's husband Glen operated a small shoe repair shop. Shirley cared for her aging mom, who lived with them, and helped out her young adult son and daughter who were starting their own families. Shirley was a kind and loving caregiver to Alex and the other children who came to her. Her generous spirit showed in the cards and gifts she had for the children (she never missed a birthday, Christmas, Easter or any other special day), and in the way she loved each child and saw his or her special strengths and qualities. As busy as she was, she took care of us in other ways. When Andy's Dad died suddenly, Shirley cared for Alex while we made arrangements and attended his memorial service. She also baked two huge trays of squares and cookies and gave them to me to take to Andy's Mom's place for the reception after the service. When Fiona was born, Shirley offered to take Alex for the time Andy and I were at the hospital. When Andy picked up Alex from Shirley's place, Alex had a gift for his sister. Shirley had taken him shopping and bought a whole outfit - dress, shoes, socks, bib, hairbow for Alex to give to Fiona. When Fiona 6 months old, Shirley encouraged me to quit my job and open my own daycare. Her optimism and generosity had a profound influence on me.

My own parents personify generosity. They have helped us financially as we bought a home and as we have raised the kids. They are also generous in spirit, encouraging us to follow our own inclinations and ideals, even when they differ somewhat from their own. They let us know all the time how much they appreciate and respect us, and they enjoy being with us and sharing in the life of our family. They are role models for us, showing us through their generosity that the world is full and abundant with opportunity and love.

Not everyone is as generous, or as happy, as the people in these examples. And here's the part I can't prove, but still believe: I believe that people who are not generous in their actions are still generous by nature. I believe that they are heart-sick from the lack of opportunity for generosity, and hobbled by whatever it is in their thinking that stops them from being generous. I don't know what it is - maybe they don't believe there's anything they can do that would help others? maybe they don't believe in themseleves or see themselves as good people? maybe they are afraid that if they give away what they have, there will not be enough left for them to survive.

All of this is to say that I do not think ungenerous people are bad, or greedy. I believe that they are sad, afraid, hurt, and stopped by something from being who they are really meant to be. I believe that one of the most generous things a generous person can do is to nurture the generosity of another person. Accept the gift - whether you need it or not. Recognize the intention, even if the act itself doesn't come out the way it might have. Fan any small spark of giving and help your friend - or the stranger who may become your friend - to find a way back to his or her true nature. Model generosity even when you know it will not be reciprocated. You never know what small act of your own kindness may break through to another person who is aching to change.

I have not way to prove this, but I believe it truly and deeply. I think I have always believed it. Happiness springs from generosity. Generosity is who we are.

question: can you think of an example of generosity and happiness in your life?

mompoet - believing

Betty and Edna's Cooking Show at the Van Slam Anarchy Slam

For more fun from the Anarchy Slam, Check out Warren's YouTube Channel.

question: Is there such thing as Bingo Pie?

mompoet - I baked it. I tasted it. It was good.

calendar

I use a pocket pc to keep track of appointments, contacts, to-do list etc. and to carry around photos and documents (it has word and excel). I don't use it for email or the web because email and the web prevails in enough of my life without also carrying it around in my purse.

Yesterday I took my pocket pc into a meeting. When I attempted to enter an appointment, I discovered that my stylus was missing. It turned out to have worked its way loose in the pocket of my backpack. I do believe things happen for a reason. When something a bit strange happens, I am meant to think hmmmm, what could that mean?

I suspect that I need to look at my appointments, and move some of them from "floating around in my head" to "saved in the pocket pc." That way I have a much better chance of actually remembering and showing up.

As I went through my head, and checked my facebook and the school's website, etc. to retrieve appointments, I realised that we are rolling into summer-style activities. There's a baseball game in there now, a barbeque, and 4 year-end concerts. Coming soon: camping trip! A bit after that: weekend on the Sunshine Coast. I like the way the regular grid of plans and commitments unravels a bit at the end of the school year. May/June is transition time. July/August are a hodge podge of stuff we do only in the summer, with a break from many of the usual things we do each week or month.

I like the look of my pocket pc appointments calendar now, and I think I remembered to enter the things that I need to remember. My stylus is safely stuck in its slot, and I will go forward into the great summer season.

question: how do you keep track?

mompoet - brain in my purse

two big days

On Monday, after a very full day of work, I participated in the "Almost Anything Goes Anarchy Slam" at the Vancouver Poetry Slam. I have a camera full of photos, and I'm looking forward to some YouTube posts by a videographer who captured a lot of the show. I think there were 16 performance pieces in all. Lisa's and my denture-friendly cooking school skit went over very well, and resulted in pie everywhere. All over the place. It was a late, long show, and I got home after midnight, then had to throw a bunch of stuff in the laundry. It was worth it. The show was great. We came in 3rd (using a totally random judging process).

I rose early on Tuesday so Alex and I could get out to the election poll to work for the day as scrutineers. We were at the poll from 8am to 8pm, then stayed for a an hour or so to witness the vote-counting after closing. Our candidate, Shannon Watkins, did an awesome job of getting votes, but did not defeat the incumbent. We got to the election night celebration in time to greet her arrival and give her big hugs of congratulations on a job well done. It's disappointing that she did not win. She would have been an awesome MLA. Look out for her. She has a bright future.

That's all I have to say about the last 2 days. More later. I am propping my eyes open and hoping I don't snooze off at my desk today at work.

question: why does everything happen in big intense clumps?

mompoet - full up, but happy for it

my mother's day

My Mother's Day stretched out a bit, this weekend, and was happy and delicious for all that.

On Friday evening, I had a surprise babysitting gig at my neighbours' place. My neighbour had to run an errand for an hour after supper, but her little guy (3 years old) had crashed unexpectedly and she didn't want to move him. She came over to find out if Fi could babysit. Fi was doing a show, so I offered to help. I had so much fun! The five year old boy and I registered on the "Cheese String" website, then he played "Cheese String Ultimate Race." After about half an hour of his exciting crowing and cheering and my laughter, little brother woke up. He cried a little at first, then consented to be carried downstairs to sit on my lap at the computer and cheer his brother on in the game. I laughed even more, enjoying the both of them so excited. Spending an hour with them reminded me of how different mothering is at every age. I enjoy a little time with little ones, and appreciate my big, older children even more.

Saturday I dropped Fiona off at rehearsal, then grabbed a bus and skytrain into Vancouver to meet with my friend Lisa. We talked for a couple of hours over coffee, and cooked up a wonderful performance piece for the Vancouver Poetry Slam's "Almost Anything Goes Anarchy Slam" on Monday. It's the one time of the year when all of the rules are thrown out and we have goofy/weird/over-the-top fun at the slam. Come to think of it, some of that happens every week at the slam, but this is the one in which costumes, props, music and just about anything else are allowed. I can't tell what we have planned, but I'll fill you in after the event. On the way home I stopped at V. V. Boutique to get a new costume and a couple of props for the slam. That made me even more excited about it. I promise photographs later.

After Fi's rehearsal, she and Alex took me out for an early sushi supper for my Mother's Day treat. We had a lot of fun. At one point Alex announced, "If I had a glass eye, this is a time when I'd probably pop it out." Alex just says things like that sometimes. We love it. After they treated me to sushi, I treated them to gelato. A pairing made in heaven (or somewhere between Japan and Italy).

Later, Andy, Alex and I went to the school to see the final performance of this year's school musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie. Fi plays about 4 different parts in it, including a modern man, a stenographer who tap dances at her desk, and a young women who gets kidnapped and shipped off to China. We loved the show, and felt proud of the wonderful performance created by the students and their teachers.

Sunday morning (Mother's Day officially) I slept in. Breakfast was offered, but I've been craving my favourite, cooked my way, so I made my own eggs with onions and tomatoes and feta. Fi slept in too after a late cast party. Alex got up, and I taught him to make pancakes. I didn't know he couldn't make pancakes yet! Now he can. He had to leave for work soon after that.

Andy dropped me off at Rocky Point park where I had a rendezvous with Mom and Dad. I treated them to an outdoor lunch at Pajo's Fish and Chips. We sat by the shore and gazed across the mud flats, because it was low tide. It was still beautiful, and we enjoyed the parade of people enjoying the park along with us.

Mom and Dad drove home, and I walked a few blocks to the campaign office for my inside scrutineer training. I stayed after the training and helped a bit in the office, with preparations for election day. Shannon Watkins, our candidate, was there with her Mom. They had been out to Mother's Day brunch already, and were headed to meet with party leader, Carole James, and Carole's mom, for afternoon tea at the Boathouse restaurant in Rocky Point Park.

After helping at the office, I walked home. It was a lovely warm afternoon, perfect for a walk.

Now I'm home, and thinking about a casual supper on the deck - later though - those fish and chips stick with you! I have a few things to get ready for the poetry slam, and I'd like to spend a bit of time with Andy and Fiona before we all turn in. Alex will be home from work around 10:30, but I don't know if I'll last that long.

All in all, it has been a lovely Mother's Day weekend, spent doing things that are meaningful to me, with people for whom I care very much. I am blessed.

question: how was your Mother's Day?

mompoet - happy happy day

happy odd day!

My friend Cathy posted this link to my facebook wall,

I thought of you today when I first heard this news...NOT because you're odd because (mompoet) is not odd, but because of your love of numbers!

I think this is very cool, and I appreciate how well Cathy knows me - knowing this would make me feel such gleeful delight. Thank you Cathy!

question: do you like odd numbers?

mompoet - and to think, I nearly missed it!

ps I think I am frequently odd.

Alex is 19

Yesterday, we celebrated Alex's 19th birthday. He'll have some friends time on the weekend, and an extended family dinner in a few days, but chose to celebrate the real day with just us. Andy and I took him out to the pub for supper. Now that he is legal age, he can go to the pub and he can drink. He has not tried any alcohol before this, and was not jumping up and down about drinking. He was cautiously curious and a bit apprehensive. We have talked to him about drinking and encouraged him to do what he feels is right. Turning 19 does not mean you have to drink.

The waitress ID'd him as soon as Andy told her it was his 19th birthday. We ordered supper, and Alex taste-tested Andy's beer and my Strongbow. Then he ordered an apple cider. The waitress served it with plenty of ice. Alex liked it, and drank almost all of it. Both he and I are thirsty eaters, so I showed him my trick of drinking water with food so you don't drink your drink too quickly. He seemed to like that.

After supper, Andy and Alex went to see Wolverine at the movie theatre, while I picked up Fiona and drove her to dance class. We all landed up at home around 9:30, where we sang happy birthday and ate cheesecake. I think it was a pretty quiet birthday celebration, but Alex seemed happy with it.

Yesterday, Alex walked around saying, "I'm 19. I can't believe I'm 19." I feel the same way. Birth to adulthood has been an amazingly quick journey for us too.

question: what rites of passage do you recall most clearly?

mompoet - life rife with rites

yes, that was me

standing by the side of the road, almost at the bottom of treacherous Snake Hill, with a dead car in the middle of the single downhill lane (no flashers even), with a police officer directing traffic around my car while I waited for a tow truck to move it out of the road.

Fortunately I am okay and nobody got hurt trying to get around my car in rush hour traffic on the steep hill at the blind curve. It's just an alternator, and my car will work fine tomorrow.

Thank you to a friend, for seeing me and coming to my assistance. Thank you to the kind police officer who took charge. Thank you to my husband for being ready at the mechanic's to drive me home and make supper.

To the people who made faces and gestures and shouted comments as they drove by, I'm very sorry if I delayed you. I did not mean for my car to break down. I hope I did not make you miss something important. I will be polite to you if you are ever in trouble and cause me delay.

question: where's the most awful place you have been stuck?

mompoet - I can still see that' old lady's face in the passenger window - snarling and baring cat claws at me - what was that all about?

mompoet gets grumpy

"Maybe you're pregnant." Yes, my husband whispered that to me - just to further rile me up, I suspect, because today I am grumpy. I am inexplicably grumpy. It began when I woke up at 6:30 and couldn't get back to sleep for that last half hour, thinking about going early to church, to set up for communion. So I got up.

Good thing.

We had heard the dog thumping around frantically sometime around 4:30 or 5am. I found out why. There was poo on the landing down to the basement, and on the stairs, and in the basement hallway at the bottom of the stairs. A lot of poo. Enough for 2 or 3 dogs, all pooing prolifically for 4 or 5 days. I am not exaggerating. For a moment, I thought someone had let a lot of pooing dogs into my house, but it was just our one dog, and a lot of poo. So there I am in my pajamas. I cleaned up the mess, got out the carpet cleaning machine and carpet-shampooed at 6:45am. Yes. Good start.

The dog went outside while I did this, then came back inside for breakfast. I had already fed the cat but she started yelling at me MEOW MEOW MEOW. I was not in the mood for MEOW MEOW MEOW. I was in the mood for quiet, and coffee and porridge and newspaper. I did not like having damp pajama cuffs and slippery wet feet, and the odd feeling that they were not entirely clean damp, having walked around on the wet carpet during cleaning (did I mention that the dog also peed?)

So I had a shower and when I came out, the dog was moving furniture around in the dining room to get to the cat's dish on the dining room window sill, and the cat was sitting on the dining room table. I did my best impression of a grizzly bear. It did not make a dent in their obnoxiousness. The cat just slunk around under the table saying MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW and the dog tried to act all adorable so I would give her a carrot. I let her out again and she wisely lay down in the garden and stayed out of my grumpy way for while.

It occurred to me as I dressed for church, that I might be receiving a message. I have been cursing a bit lately, specifically, saying "CRAP," when I am angry. Well, maybe I got what I was calling for, really and truly and in prodigious quantity. I resolved to say "darn it" from now on, instead of "crap." Maybe I'll get a hole in my sock from saying that, but hopefully that's all.

I slunk through the morning in a grumpy funk. At church I was unreasonably impatient when the communion servers discussed whether to wear sterile gloves to serve the bread and wine. Gosh, we are all concerned about this new H1N1 virus, but can't we just wash our hands and not sneeze on anyone? I wisely stepped aside. I was just the preparer of the elements, after all. The servers could decide what to do about germs. I was glad to see that they decided against the gloves.

After church, I had to stop at the bank machine. The "ding-dong" door chime in the bank machine vestibule annoyed me. Andy made a joke and I told him it was not even remotely funny. What a grumpy grump.

Now I am trying to cheer up. Looking my grumpiness in the eye is a start. I have also taken a few steps, physical, psychological and spiritual to overcome my grumpies.

• I prayed (about grumpies, not curse-word subjects)
• I drank coffee
• I made a salad for lunch
  
• I listened to Ella Fitzgerald (still am)
• I hit a bag of frozen mozzarella cheese with a hammer
• I lay down on my bed and looked at the ceiling
• I talked to a friend on the phone
• I told Andy I was grumpy (which was self evident, and although he did make the pregnancy crack, he did not point out how obvious my mood revelation was)
• I petted the cat and dog and told them they were lovely even if they are sometimes annoying
• I drank water
• I blogged

So there we are. I am still moderately grumpy, but this too shall pass.

question: what do you do when you are grumpy?

mompoet - grumpus prunklefunkuss

miPod

Fiona got an iPod Touch for Christmas. She offered me her iPod Nano. I said yes. The device is very tiny, and has earbuds. I knew that I could use it to download music and podcasts, and listen to them, using either the earbuds or a docking device with speakers.

The iPod sat for a while, unused. This was partly because one of our computers was broken, and took a few visits to the repair to be completely fixed. In the meantime, I tried not to monopolize the other working computer. This sounds funny, I know, because besides the one working computer, we also have Alex's MacBook and Fi's iPod touch, which get them on the wireless internet that we have in our house. Oh my, down to 3 functioning internet devices in a house of 4 people - what shall we do?

In the meantime, Fiona set up an iTunes account for me, asked me every once in a while if I wanted her to show me what to do, and waited patiently. Alex bought himself an iPod and filled it up with songs, using his MacBook.

A couple of weeks ago, I took the plunge and started to download. I discovered that there is an infinite world of music, tv and radio shows, videos, podcasts, etc out there. For the music, you can buy one song, or the whole album. I can't do much with the video stuff because my iPod doesn't have video, so I'm sticking to songs and podcasts.

I bought some iTunes cards (to avoid using my credit card to buy music) and redeemed the value onto my iTunes account. Now I have bought 3 albums and subscribed to a bunch of podcasts. I'm liking the iPod, and discovering how to best use it given my particular preferences.

I really don't like earbuds. They hurt my ears and they fall out. I shopped around and found some sport earbuds that aren't too poke-in-the-earish, and have little arms that go over the top of my ears so I don't worry about them popping out. The sound is quite good, and Fiona and Alex have assured me, at my chosen volume, my music/talk is not audible outside of my head. I am amazed at how some people on the bus listen to their tunes so loudly that I can sing along, even though they are wearing earphones. What must it sound like inside their heads? Do they know they are imposing their music on the people around them? Do they care? So I use my modified sport earbuds on the bus and on long walks. I especially like podcasts for this. I have subscribed to CBC's Definitely Not the Opera show, which I don't have time to listen to on Saturday afternoons. Now I have it on my iPod when I want it.

I shopped around for a dock/speaker system and found one on sale. It has a clock radio incorporated which is unnecessary really, but oh well. It sounds pretty good, and allows me to listen to the tunes from my iPod around the house. I found out I can also plug the iPod in directly to the stereo amplifier in the living room or to either set of computer speakers. But then again, I can listen to it at the computer directly from iTunes. Right now I am listening to an album I just bought - Immaculate Machine "High on Jackson Hill."

When I'm in the car, I like to listen to music. Andy bought a little device that transmits the iPod to the car radio receiver, but it doesn't work as well as I would like - periodic radio static interference and such. But Alex loves it and uses it whenever he drives anywhere. I discovered that I can burn my tunes to cds so I'm doing that and will use the cds to listen in my car. I also know that I can import my commercial cds into my iPod using iTunes. Haven't done that yet, but I will for sure, soon.

My last bit of iPod trivia is the iPod cover that I inherited from Fiona. She bought a pink leather cover on eBay when she first got the Nano. It's very cute, and does protect the iPod from bumps, bangs and light spills. I don't have a lot of pink in my wardrobe, but in keeping with the theme of "trying something new" I'll stick with it for now.

I still have not bought one song all by itself, nor have I listened to my tunes on "shuffle." I'm stubbornly hanging on to my paradigm of music albums being complete artistic statements to be appreciated as a whole experience. If I like a particular song, I'll just play it more frequently than I play the other songs on the album. If a particular song is annoying me, I'll skip over it (that is, once I learn better how to use the iPod controls). Some days I am sure my fingers are too big for all of this technology, and wonder if the dog might accidently swallow the device in one gulp, and eat my entire library, but all in all I'm liking it.

question: what is your favourite podcast?

mompoet - clumping and glumping into the 21st century

dress for success

On Thursday evening, Fiona attended a performance of Seussical the Musical, featuring some of her friends from school. I agreed to be outside the theatre at 10pm to pick her up. She asked if I would call her cell when I arrived, so she could come outside to meet me.

I got to the theatre and saw, through the glass front of the building, a large crowd of people, hugging, talking, giving flowers. I phoned Fiona's cell and got no answer. I texted her and waited. I phone a couple more times, still no answer. I thought, it must be noisy in there!

I waited. A few minutes later, Fiona came out, looked around and saw me in the car. As she walked over, she checked her phone and noticed the missed calls. She got into the car.

Fiona: I'm sorry I missed your calls. It was noisy in there!

Mom: That's okay, was the show good?

Fiona: Yes! How long did you wait for me?

Mom: Just a few minutes. I didn't mind, and I decided not to come in and look for you.

Fiona: Why not?

Mom: Take a look. I have been relaxing at home and doing a bit of housecleaning this evening. I am wearing a texas tuxedo*, gym socks and pink crocs.

Fiona: Thank you for waiting, Mom.

question: do your kids make you feel conscious of what you are wearing?

mompoet - making sure I look smart before I make an appearance

*a texas tuxedo is blue jeans with a blue jean jacket

dog walk haiku

was it a bear or
boys with sticks who shredded the
old bug-eaten stump?

ella

from the ridiculous (yesterday) to the sublime (today)...just Ella

haiku (dvd) movie review - you don't mess with the zohan

I am embarrassed
to say I laughed my head off
at Zohan (sorry)

question: what is your guilty giggle?

mompoet - you can borrow the dvd, if you promise to forgive me

quadruple haiku movie review - disney's earth

since when did the earth
belong to disney? did I
miss the announcement?

cute and truncated
scenes of anthropomorphic
extinction babble

is it paradise?
or the three bears' dying days?
what's the intention?

the best parts ran through
the credits and showed humans
filming animals

question: what did you do for earth day?

mompoet - skip the movie and plant your own tree

triple haiku movie review - adventureland

growing up in the
eighties was embarrassing
for the best of us

some of us survived
and made good movies from it
this film is one such

hey! open your eyes
Kristen Stewart open your
eyes open your eyes!

question: did you survive the eighties?

mompoet - lavish with the syllabication (mmm, I like the sound of that)

unintelligible translink alert

Tonight, before I sleep, I check Translink Trip Planner (the website for how to go where you want to get by bus, skytrain etc). This way, I will know what time I need to leave the house, and thus what time I must rise.

I find that I must be at the bus stop at 7:26am, which is okay, but I also discover a Trip Alert!!! So I ask for details and discover the following:

Stop #51401 Canada Way at Sperling. From Monday April 20 to Friday May 1, this stop will be temporarily relocated to Sperling at Canada way due to construction

I wonder just how far Canada Way at Sperling is from Sperling at Canada Way. I think I must wear my walking shoes and change into my pumps after I reach my destination.

question: do you think this will show up on google satellite maps?

mompoet - plotting the distance between point A and point A

door to door

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon going door to door with Shannon Watkins, our riding's NDP candidate for the May 12 provincial election. Shannon is 27 years old, and has been a Port Moody City Councilor for 3 years. I have seen her at council meetings and city election all-candidates meetings, and I know her father, who is a School Trustee, but I have not met Shannon until yesterday.

I am impressed with her knowledge and compassion. I watched her engage with voters at their doors, listen to their concerns, and discuss their lives and the lives of the people in our riding and province. She is smart and mature, and eager to bring new energy and a younger generation's perspective to the legislature. This is Shannon's website.

It took me more than a week to get down to the campaign office after I received my first call from the volunteer coordinator there. I guess I must be a bit tired of elections, after so many in the past 6 months. We have one more to go, with a by-election looming in our federal riding since Dawn Black resigned as Member of Parliament to run provincially. Also, we were bombarded with phone calls as soon as the election began officially. We received at least one call each day, for a week, at home at supper time. I remembered some of the responses of people who I connected with on the phone during Dawn's campaign - faithful supporters who were weary of the constant interruptions. I thought to myself there has to be something else I can do this time to help. So I chose the door-knocking job with the candidate, which is very nice, and something different from all of the fliers and the phone calls and the emails.

I will also do some flier-dropping, and sign-waving (watch for me Monday morning while you are driving to work), and of course I'll work election day - even the phones are okay for me that day. And I know I'll sign up to help with the federal by-election campaign when it begins. After that, I'm really looking forward to at least a year without election hoopla-buzz-buzz. Let our people get to work in the House and the Legislature and City Hall, and be done with electing and electing.

question: how are you finding this election, this time?

mompoet - Just a little more than two weeks to e-day

vancouver poetry slam

This short film, made by students at Vancouver Film School, shows some of what the poetry slam is all about in Vancouver. These are my friends, my community, my art.

Monday night, we celebrate the slam season with Van Slam Finals. Eight of our finest poets will compete to form the team that will represent us at North American Nationals this summer, and our Canadian Festival in the fall. Monday's show is at 8pm at the Rio Theatre on Broadway just west of Commercial. Doors are at 7. Tickets are $15. Show up early. You don't want to miss it.

question: do you know the slam?

mompoet - mmm-hmmm

spring finally

Local garden guru, Brian Minter, said on CBC radio this week that we are "three weeks behind" in our growing season this year. I wore open-toed shoes on Tuesday before work to walk the dog, and nearly froze my toes off. It's looking brighter, and the days are longer, but it's still pretty chilly. Still, the flowers and insects are doing their best, and the robins are lurching around on the lawn, daring us to walk AWAY FROM THE NEST, YUP, THIS WAY PLEASE! (Robins are valiant protectors.)

Today I was met with this lovely mass of hyacinths as I walked into Kyle Centre to pick up Fi after rehearsal. A bee even drifted in, and posed for just a moment.

question: where is spring?

mompoet - longing for tulips and juleps

new glasses

I picked up my new glasses yesterday morning. I had waited more than a week, so I was very excited and also a bit anxious. This is my first pair of dual-vision glasses (formerly called bifocals), and I had heard that adjusting to using them can be weird. My excitement came from having a new pair of frames and also from the thought of no longer struggling to see things up close and far away without major contortions.

For over a year, I have been taking my glasses off to read or do close-up work. The dimmer the light, the worse my close-up vision is. But even in a well-lit room, it's glasses on/glasses off. The worst situations are meetings (where I take my glasses off to read my notes or write things down, and put them on to see the people with whom I am meeting) and cooking (where I take my glasses off to read the recipe, measure ingredients, chop and mix, and put them on to see where I am going in the kitchen). Sewing is awful, and simultaneously reading the newspaper and watching the news on TV is impossible. I think some days, my glasses have been on top of my head more than they are on my face.

At the glasses store, the lady fitted the new pair to my head, then showed me a magazine. I looked at it, and could read every word clearly, with the glasses on. I have a slight reading correction now, so I see better up close than I did when I was simply taking the glasses off to read. To look at things more than a foot or two from my face, I look through the top part of the glasses. They are "advanced progressives" so they're supposed to be easy to learn to use. Before I left, the lady warned me to "tilt your head down when you go up or down stairs, so you are sure of what you are seeing."

I did pretty well through my first day. The floor seemed to be rippling wildly under my feet, and I did tilt my head down for stairs. I managed to drive while wearing my new glasses, and resisted my habit of pushing the glasses off to look at things up close. I can see things very well up close now. The strangest revelation was eating lunch and supper. I had not realised that I have been eating without seeing my food very well. How lovely - a salad with eggplant, lettuce, tomatoes and feta cheese! I thought I was going to eat a green and red and white blur like yesterday!

By the end of the workday I was pretty tired, and I did experience a few moments of queasy tummy. I told myself that my brain is readjusting to the new visual input, so a bit of disorientation is normal. When I stopped by the produce store on the way home, the edges of the display case warped and swayed like two ends of a bent teeter-totter. That was kind of strange and also funny. I wonder if this is what it's like to hallucinate?

At home, nobody even noticed I had my new glasses until I left the new glasses case (with my old glasses inside) on the computer desk. I guess my new frames don't look much different from the old, and the lenses don't have bifocal lines so they look just the same. Even though I was tired, I had an easy time getting around the house. I think I do a lot of my daily routine without really looking at things, and I know where the stairs are in my house.

I think I am going to like these new glasses. I'll have to get over my old habit of switching on and off, now that it's no longer necessary. In the meantime, I can always wear the new glasses on my eyes and the old ones on top of my head - just for old times sake.

question: do you wear glasses?

mompoet - I asked the lady at the glasses store if the employees who have perfect vision wear fake glasses because they work there. She avoided answering me, even though I asked twice.

the pajamas are in the mountains - with wendy

Check the pajama blog! Wendy just sent me a photo of herself, wearing the pajamas while skiing in the Rockies. Now she will send them on to someone else, who will enjoy their flannely goodness, take a photo for the blog, and send them on again.

question: did you every receive pajamas in the mail?

mompoet - liking unusual and delightful surprises by mail

condiments - like and not like

This is my list of condiments that I like and do not like:

mustard - like (all kinds) especially sweet/hot and horseradish, but even ordinary bright yellow hot dog mustard is fine. I like mustard with egg salad, and on grill cheese sandwiches. Mustard is good.

ketchup - don't like - not on hot dogs, but once in a while on mac and cheese or with french fries, but really, french fries deserve mustard/mayonnaise

wasabi - like like like the nicest shocking surprise. WOOOOOOO!

mayonnaise - like (when it is tinted with mustard) or in sushi, otherwise neutral, not on anything hot

salsa - like - hotter the better - also good with eggs (try mango salsa, mmmm)

chutney - like - don't get this often because I'm the only one in the house who eats it, but it is good

soy sauce - like - was surprised to find out that only European people put soy sauce on plain rice

teriyaki sauce - like, but not my first choice

mint sauce - don't like - poured over beef, it smells like socks

hollandaise sauce - don't like - too gooey and fussy to cook, use salsa instead

pesto - like like like like - on pretty much anything, well, maybe not on ice cream. Come to think of it, I have not tried pesto on ice cream, so I can't really say

salt and pepper - like - highly underrated as seasoning/condiments

sweet chili sauce - like much, on most food, looks like a lava lamp, tastes like a circus

balsamic vinegar - like with veg or bread, tangy and deep

olive oil - like very much, especially with balsamic vinegar, or plain, on pasta with salt and pepper

caesar salad dressing - like, but must be careful, does not like me

ranch dressing - don't like - reminds me of a boring person wearing a flashy hat for attention

cheeze whiz - don't like - tastes like it sounds (something not for eating)

relish - like - it is made with pickles so it is, by definition, good

That's all for now.

question: which condiments do you like and not like?

mompoet - complimenting most condiments because most condiments complement compliments

dreambits

In a fragmented night of dream stories, I am pretty sure that I:

• ate my friend's share of the cold noodles in the fridge at work, then felt guilty and tried to decide if I should 'fess up, or just let her miss the noodles.
• explained to the audience at a poetry show that I was not able to conceive children any more, well maybe one or two, but time was running out.
• looked for a cheap vacation place in Osoyoos, and discovered my favourite campground was transformed into a cross between a bed and breakfast and a skid row single room occupancy hotel.
• ran to a concession stand at an outdoor music festival, to fetch drink refills and food for my friends, and returned with a small metal box full of goo, and realised I had mixed Worcestershire sauce into their drug stash.

Fortunately, after this, I woke up.

question: have you been dreaming?

mompoet - glad for the difference between the dreams and the real

haiku

crows fly carrying
sticks to build hard-knuckle nests
in bare grey branches

drug pipe

I was walking the dog this morning, when I saw this by the side of the fire road up behind our house. It's a closed-off bit of road available only for emergency vehicles, with bush on both sides. I have seen discarded condoms there before, but this is the first bit of drug paraphernalia that I have noticed there.

I looked it up on the web to be sure, and sure enough, there are instructions. This one appears to be made from:

-a light bulb
-the top part of a disposable water bottle
-a piece of clear plastic tubing
-duct tape

It reminded me of the bug catcher that my little neighbour showed me on the weekend, made from a glass jar with a tube and some cheesecloth, but this was definitely not a bug-catcher. I think it must be someone from the neighbourhood. People don't come into our neighbourhood from the mean streets to smoke drugs. And I bet they get it from around here too. The internet article that I read says it is a "vapourizer" that can be used to smoke cannibis or other stronger drugs. I hope it wasn't anyone I know. I hope it wasn't stronger drugs.

I picked it up with a piece of paper and put it in the trash. It made me feel sad all day.

question: did you ever see one?

mompoet - wanting to hug every kid and every parent in the whole neighbourhood and say, "You are worth the effort," and wondering who really needs the hug?

grand march for housing

Yesterday I joined in the Grand March for Housing with my friends Cathy and Myrna. We assembled at Thornton Park - one of three starting points around the city, and marched to the Vancouver Art Gallery for a rally.

Our route took us up Main Street, through part of Chinatown, then along Hastings, through one of the saddest, most neglected neighbourhoods in Vancouver (in Canada, I'd guess), then on to downtown. We saw single room occupancy hotels that a fellow walker declared "should be burned down, they're so bad." She told us that her daughter had lived in one of those for a few days before deciding it was so foul and dangerous that she returned to living outside on the street. We passed vacant lots where other buildings had been torn down. We passed old buildings being re-built in a wave of gentrification and new buildings replacing old ones, squeezing out even the foul places where a person on welfare could afford to stay. We turned and marched up, into downtown Vancouver, with its stores, hotels and bank towers, and ended up at the Art Gallery. There we heard from a number of speakers, all advocating for an end to the problem of affordable housing. With us on the march and at the rally were homeless people, people from various organizations from labour unions to social services non-for-profits, and ordinary interested citizens, like us. We wore t-shirts that said YOIBY. This stands for "Yes, in our backyard," and is meant to counter NIMBY or "not in my backyard."

The experience of the march was humbling - there's so much that needs to be done, and such a shame that progress is so slow. It was also inspiring. There were people in wheelchairs, grandmas and grandpas, moms and dads with babies in slings, old-timers and Gen-Y young people - all united to take a stand for safe, affordable housing for everyone. I hope that we can keep up the energy, push public will and awareness and pressure our governments to make this a priority. The way it is now just isn't right. That's everyone's problem.

question: do you know someone who is homeless? have you ever been?

mompoet - learning from experiences and growing in compassion

more pics from the grand march for housing