new rocking chair with a history

I went to Goodwill today on my way home from my walk, because I needed a couple of dishes to replace ones I'd broken. I checked out the furniture section, hoping there might be a rocking chair... and there was. This weathered beauty was on sale for $15.



When I got it home and was wiping off years of accumulated dust and grime, I noticed some writing on the underside of the seat.



The metal tags below the writing identify the chair as the former property of St. Joseph's Hospital, which has a renowned obstetrical department. Now I can't stop wondering how many mothers and nurses have sat in this chair rocking babies over the years.

(And BTW, Laure - this is a Laurie-sized rocking chair, with a seat very low to the ground...)

river rocks

My London has a Thames River, and there's a place I like to go where I can walk on the dried-up parts of the riverbed. Above is a picture of the rocks just as it was starting to rain.



Some dark grey rocks that had most recently been underwater.



Green rocks, covered with algae.



I loved how the leaves echoed the colour of the pink rock on the right.

tomatoes and a painted rock

I've been getting fresh, home-grown tomatoes from my Mom and Dad's garden the last couple of weeks. Here are some of them, lined up on my kitchen windowsill to ripen.











The painted rock I bought on my way home from work one night, from some kids who had set up a little storefront on the sidewalk in the neighbourhood where I park my car. This one made me happy. I think I spent $2 on it. Sometimes it felt like I was single-handedly keeping these kids in business, since this was not the only rock I bought over the course of the week that they were there.

yoga with ktnz

This morning I did yoga for the first time in several weeks. Felt good. Michelle needs yoga. Thing is, now that I have kittens, my practice is not quite so serene and straightforward as it used to be. Because now I am joined on the mat by two creatures whose sole job seems to be to totally distract me from doing any yoga at all.



Plus they're adding an unwelcome, aggressive (even violent) element to my practice, by fighting with each other on my mat.



Momentary pause to regroup.



Another attack.



Later: Even when they stop fighting, they still distract me by clawing my mat, which is apparently the world's best cat-scratch surface, based on recent experience.



What?



Doing tadasana (mountain pose), one kitten takes the opportunity to use the mat as a cloaking device.









Yoga all done for the day, the boys stretch out gracefully. As if to say, Disruptive? Us?

ktnz in bxs

Cats love boxes. I know this from long experience. They love to sleep in boxes - usually the smaller the box, the better. So after I washed my brand new canning jars, I put the empty boxes on the floor for the kittens to play with. 15 minutes later, they were happily ensconced.



Baby Guy. He chose the biggest box.



Tear (the largest cat) in the smallest box.



A little while later I turned around to see that they were BOTH in the smallest box. Here Tear is grooming Baby Guy.



Whazzup?

canning jars

I love jars. I avoid plastic food containers like the plague (the phyto-estrogens they off-gas upset my hormone balance), and years ago I started using glass canning jars to store food instead. They can even be frozen, although once in a blue moon a jar will crack in the freezer if the contents expand too much while freezing. (To avoid this if you're going to try freezing food in glass yourself, don't fill the jars right to the top - leave about an inch of space for the food to expand.)

Lately I've been running out of jars everytime I cook something (usually soup) to put in the freezer; on Friday night I went to WalMart (I know, I know, but they have the best selection of canning jars) and bought three sizes: 250mL, 500mL and 1L, all wide-mouth.

Above is a picture of them put away in my pantry cupboard. Yay. Jars. I feel looked-after now.

yummy cupcakes

@YummyCupcakes is the username of someone I follow on Twitter. This post is not about her. But I liked the title. (And I like her. Worth following.)

This post is actually about cupcakes. Which I bought at a community bake sale on Friday. I didn't really need any cupcakes, but they were so pretty...

I ate them all for supper that night. (The one with the jelly beans, Smarties, sprinkles and rocket candies was the best. Really.)

for laurie

My BFF has been complaining that I haven't posted anything on this blog lately. Here you go, Laure.

This photo is a detail from a stained glass window in Elmwood Presbyterian Church. I was there earlier in the summer when my dad was guest preacher. All of their stained glass windows are amazing - very medieval-looking, full of rich, vibrant colours. This is a section of a window (below) that features an angel trying to shove flames into some guy's mouth. I should probably know the iconography, but don't. Whatever. The angel is pretty.

instrument of peace

A few months ago, when I had a difference of opinion with someone and I wanted to be reminded that the most important thing was not for me to be right, but for me to express love and contribute to life, not death (because death is bad... no, wait - maybe it's killing that's bad... and maybe I kind of felt like killing somebody at the time), I posted the words to the Prayer of St. Francis in my cubicle at work to remind me of the values I wanted to live by. Because I need a lot of reminding, sometimes.

A friend recently lent me a recording by Olivia Newton John, and what should I find on the album but a version of the Prayer of St. Francis that I'd never heard before. It's beautiful. I hope you like it.