What does it take to achieve zen? What does it take to not allow outside forces and things I have no control over to change the way I feel ( Read more... )

9 weeks into the fall semester, with just 3 weeks to go. The workload's still incredible, but I'm still here and I haven't lost my mind yet. There are deadlines which have ceased to matter, thanks to my inability to write after getting home from a day of teaching. But those words are being whittled down to something presentable, and that's what ( Read more... )

She really entertains us. You'd walk into the room, or just turn around to look at her, and she'd be in some hilarious position, or doing something completely bizarre ( Read more... )

It's getting cold(er) out here, having turned to November (Rain, being the Season of Mists, and all that jazz). With our erratic heating and schizophrenic apartment temperatures (when the radiators start going, they don't let up until you open windows at 3°c to let the stuffy out; when they turn off you wonder worriedly when they'll ever turn on ( Read more... )

I think I've found the culprit. About an hour ago I went to check on Kitty and found her up on the kitchen table looking out the window. As I approached (we don't mind her up on windows, but she's not supposed to be on any tables), she turned around with a chirp-mrr, which usually signifies that she's been watching birds. I peeked out and caught ( Read more... )

Kitty's getting used to the new apartment (I'm not; we have a wee mosquito problem because of the way the eavestrough runs under the door to the deck: everytime we open the door, mosquitoes get sucked into the apartment). She likes being on the windows and finding new spots to sleep. Photos can be clicked on for larger versions. I didn't think the ( Read more... )

I'm making curtains, and we don't have workspaces big enough, so I'm cutting on the floor.

Kitty naturally thinks the curtains are her new bedding. Hmf.


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I know, ok, what's a tropical-blooded person doing complaining about the heat? Well you'd complain too if the thermometer in your kitchen window said 35°c. Last night I took a COLD shower, and about an hour after I'd gotten out of it I was back to square one, sticky all over again. So when J got back from hockey (it was cancelled when they got ( Read more... )

Made a trip out to Belleville today to celebrate Grandma Henry's 90th.

Belleville is a neat little town, about 2 hours away from Toronto. There's a really pretty rose garden near Grandma Henry's house, Corby Park, and some of us wandered out there to look at the summer blooms. The blooms were quite advanced, and many had shed their petals all over ( Read more... )

These days I've been spending most of my time at home thinking about and writing my dissertation. There are all these things I need to do, and errands to run (like go out and buy coffee since we just emptied the coffee can this morning, and some fruit, because suddenly, for whatever reason, we've been craving oranges, and can't seem to get enough ( Read more... )