I'm not listening!

La la la, I can't hear you ...

The guilt stops here...

I have been recently accused (mostly in email) of not updating this blog often enough to satisfy the insatiable curiousity of my readers ... a number of whom, I feel obliged to add, do not in fact have or maintain blogs and so are clearly unaware that, in most people's lives, blog-worthy events do not happen everyday (we cannot all be as prolific and interesting as Rebecca, for example).

I obviously need a hobby or something. I'm not going to get married anytime soon, nor have a baby, so those kinds of keeping-your-blog-frequently-updated-events are out of the question. Maybe I need to travel overseas again. Yes, that sounds ideal, but I'm afraid I'm not in a position to divulge further information on that topic at this current point in time ... however, STAY TUNED (hehehe - see? now I've suckered you all in to continuing to read my blog, at least for a little while yet*).

In other news, the weather seems to be finally turning the corner here in the nation's capital. Yesterday, it was about 6°C, giving some of those giant piles of snow a chance to melt a bit. It was a gorgeous mild day and as I donned my sparkly green scarf (a fashion, not for-warmth, scarf) and my jean jacket (yippee!), I actually entertained the thought that Ottawa might not be so bad after all. (A common misconception held by many people who have just suffered through yet another Ottawa winter.) Anyway, Randal and I celebrated by going to the National Gallery of Canada. Neither of us had been in ages (him about two years, and me about seven!). I had to go see the exhibit on Norval Morrisseau, an influential, and pioneering, Canadian First Nations artist, for my Art History class. Anyway, the exhibit was great - it is apparently the first at the National Gallery dedicated solely to a First Nations artist - and while I am not overly familiar with this style of art (though my mother owns a number of items obviously influenced by it), I was really impressed by the exhibit (and now have to figure out what aspect of it I shall write about for my 2500-3000 word essay which is due in a few weeks - yikes).

Today it rained for the first half of the day, reducing those snowbanks even further. I really feel no sadness in saying goodbye to winter - that either makes me a perfect Canadian, or an unusual one, I'm not sure which. We took the dog for a walk toward the end of the day, resulting in our little white fluffball being completely black on his underside, so Randal gave him a nice long bath upon our return, and now he smells GREAT (Rion, not Randal...though Randal does smell nice too). Like vanilla and roses, with a dash of fresh puppy ... mmmmmmm.

Anyway, that is all. In other updates, you will note I have added a number of features to the blog's sidebar over the past week or two. I have also added a few reviews to pixxiefish in the stacks as well as modified somewhat the layout there. And for those who persist in claiming I don't update the blog enough, hopefully you have noted that I have added quite a few photos to my Flickr account over the last month or two (and a good number of Malaysia photos in the past two weeks). So there.

* Because I am terrible at keeping my own secrets, here's a hint: pixxiefish in the sea may be going over the sea to a land of plenty that starts with "J" and ends with "n", but pixxiefish will not know anything for sure until April or May, so please be patient - she will let you know as soon as she knows.

momohiki

Welcome to the first Japanese Word of the Week! Or, as I like to call it "Konshuu no Nihongo"*...

This week's word is particularly appropriate since, despite a number of recent claims that this winter has been a mild one, I have been wearing momohiki ("mo-mo-hee-kee") on an almost daily basis since mid-November. Hopefully, with the impending arrival of spring (any day now!), my momohiki-wearing days are almost over.

I actually couldn't find momohiki in my trusty Japanese-English dictionary. Perhaps it will be in the new edition, due out in September 2006 (pre-order yours today!). No, this week's nihongo was learned thanks to the frequent emails that I receive from the folks at J-List, your one-stop shop for Japanese items - you can find the original email, dated February 24, here.**


Anyway, without further ado, momohiki is the Japanese word for "long underwear", an item that most Canadians likely consider to be an integral part of their winter wardrobe (at least those who live east of coastal British Columbia). I think I'll be able to use that one a lot.


konshuu = this week
nihongo = Japanese language (nihon signifying Japan and go as a suffix which means word or language)

**If you're wondering what might be worth ordering from J-List, allow me to suggest the oh-so-cute-and-of-course-essential Domokun, national broadcaster NHK's fuzzy and loveable mascot (and what I bought Randal for his birthday last year). ...If you're really curious (and you should be), you can find more on Domokun here.

Shake, rattle and roll...

We just had an earthquake. It was about 8:39 p.m. and I was standing in the kitchen and all of a sudden everything started rumbling and shaking, as if a really giant truck was passing by outdoors, except we're on the fourth floor so really wouldn't notice that so much.

I instantly said to Randal that I bet we'd just had an earthquake, since it felt to me exactly like the earthquake I'd been in, in Quebec City in Nov/Dec 1989. I was going shopping with my dad and brother, and we were waiting at a street corner for our bus. I had my back to the street. All of a sudden all the lights went out, and everything started rumbling and shaking. I actually thought, "wow, giant truck going by." But when I turned around to the street, no trucks. It was an earthquake.

Anyway, no real news yet - CTV News at 9:00 had a quick mention of the 'quake but no details.

In grade 5, I was the only kid in the class who opted to do a science project on earthquakes rather than volcanoes. I am fascinated by them.

Better late than never...

It was my Grandmaman Cosette's 90th birthday on Monday, February 20. (Not the grandmother in the picture in the previous post with my dad - she sadly passed away in 2003 - but my mother's mother.) Lame excuse, I guess, but it's been a really busy week. I did send her a card (via my aunt who was going to visit her for her birthday) and a little package (ginger chocolates, of course!). I don't even know if she reads my blog (she does have email, and I gave her the blog address once), but if she does:


BONNE FÊTE, GRANDMAMAN!!!

All I know is, I can only hope that when I am 90, I am like my grandmother. She lives on her own in a condo in downtown Montreal. My uncle, who lives not too far away, goes to visit her at least twice a week, and helps her with any repairs, problems, etc., that she may have around her place. About seven years ago, she broke a hip, but still manages to get around. Once or twice a week, she picks up a bunch of her friends and drives them to wherever that day's bridge game is being held. In her house, she has a whole room just for her books. When she was younger, she travelled to some far-away places, like Australia and France. My grandfather (who died in 1985) was a botanist and in fact, I believe that's how they first met - in a botany class in 1939 at Université de Montréal:


My grandmother is the woman in the front row with the white lace collar, and my grandfather is sitting to her right. They got married in 1946, I believe, after WWII. My brother found this pic one day on the Université de Montréal archives' website.

Anyway, I will update you all on my thus-far much shorter life soon, but not tonight!

The Big Kahuna Turns 6-0

My dad (pictured here with his mother) is 60 years old today.
Happy birthday!!!

And the winner is...

As Rebecca would say, with her usual mix of eloquence and brevity, "Meh."*

When I was a kid, my grandmaman gave my brothers and I two great books. (I'm sure she gave us more than just two, but these two really stick out for me.) The first was It's Raining, Said John Twaining. A series of rhymes about a man trying to get out of the rain (at least, that's the fancy way of describing the book). Mainly, the rhyme sticks in my head for the third line, which introduced the notion to me of there being people in this world called "Wilmot" (though the Wilmot I later met spelled his last name "Willemott", if I remember correctly):

"It's raining," said John Twaining.
"Keep me dry," said John Rye.
"No, I will not," said John Wilmot.
"Stand over there," said John Square.

I don't remember the rest.

Anyway, the point of this post is the second book, "Could Be Worse!" by James Stevenson. A book about Grandpa who is never fazed by anything. When I decided I should post about the federal election, I'm afraid that the only thing that popped into my head was, "Could be worse!" But as bad as it looks, it could be worse: there could be a majority Tory government, for starters.

Not going to say much more on the topic; can't really add anything useful that the pundits haven't already said. I am interested in seeing how this minority government works out, and I hope that the other parties are able to keep a necessarily short leash on the Conservatives. Whatever else, it sure won't be dull.

* Actually, to be fair, she had much more than just that to say.