Christmas 2013

Christmas was lovely. It was white.

It started, as usual, with sausage rolls and buttered panettone for breakfast as we opened presents. I will never get too old to lose the joy of giving and receiving presents... I mean - come on! The day ended with a different sort of Christmas dinner. I was bored with turkey and the other usuals, so after the soup, I served a festive Italian salad with arugula, goat cheese, pomegranates, and Soma's delicious lightly candied pecans chopped into it. The main course was a wild boar bolognese sauce over pasta. Gooooooood. For dessert, my mother made her traditional killer trifle. Mmmmm. I'd also made a big Christmas fruitcake a couple of weeks previously and my mother and I had a scream making little fondant figures for the top. The donkey looked like a giant rabbit originally. Joseph looked like Genghis Khan, so fierce he looked like he'd rather eat Baby Jesus than, you know, take care of him, and hide him from Herod, etc. Actually, he could have been Herod in disguise.






I bought this little wooden tree for my desk at work a couple of years ago. The yellow wooden star on the top disappeared quickly. I didn't want to use the tree with out it, so this year I looked for - and found - a lovely German-made, unpainted wooden star at Flatirons, the fantastic gift store on Jarvis, just north of the St. Lawrence Market. I painted it white and put it on the top, and it's much prettier and more delicate than the original. Score! And... it's staying at home.





Over Christmas break, I had some cosy nights in my big wing chair. Next you see the table setting for Christmas day. The snowball candles came from that same fabulous gift store in Apsley. And they burn really well. And there's a new shot of me trying out a new lipstick shade, Clinique's Plushest Punch. That sounds Christmassy! It's odd, I used to avoid red in makeup or clothing; now I embrace it in all things.

Giving Thanks

A couple of weekends ago it was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. There was much to be grateful for.

On Saturday the sun was shining. As a volunteer, I was a guest at a volunteer-appreciation brunch... ahhhh, to be served a delicious meal not-too-early on a weekend morning was such a treat. The company was wonderful, and then it was on to...

The first meeting of the One-Off, Six-Meeting, Limited-Edition Jane Austen Book Club of Toronto! Then three of us waddled to dinner, in a late celebration of two of our birthdays. Lobster mac and cheese. Oh boy. Then we saw Captain Phillips... more on that later. What a day of pleasure.

So... Sunday morning I had planned another sort of day. My mother and I got together and, for both our homes, washed the windows, flipped mattresses, changed mattress covers, put away air conditioners and cleaned. And it was rainy... a perfect day to do it!

Monday dawned sunny, beautifully sunny, with amazing celestial light streaming in the just-cleaned windows. I revelled in my being at home, pottering, reading, until heading out for dinner with parents and friends, so no one had to cook or wash up. This year, I needed that. It felt good. I was just bursting with thankfulness... so very lucky.

Calming

One of the things I did on my vacation was a three-day clean, purge and organize of my home. I need to do this every rare once in a while. It makes me feel more at ease, calm, serene, and able to concentrate on the important things. By getting rid of the unnecessaries, it frees up time to ponder the necessaries. Ridding myself of the material space-wasters ironically seems to clear more room in my brain for the worthy ideas and thoughts. It helps me be creative, to solve my problems, to see things more clearly. Serene home = happy BPG.

Some fat sunflowers and Chinese food delivery were my reward on the last night, when it was all over.

I See Green Things

And they are not to be resisted. So they come home with me. Speaking of leeks... do I smell lamb shanks in the air? Fall is on its way. So are cosy fall dinners. Yum.

Purging

My holiday this year really was a time to refresh, replenish and recharge. Pleasure and curiosity were satisfied, friends were hugged, sights were seen, and I breathed deeply. I didn't paint walls or stuff like that. But... I did take two and a half days and purge my ENTIRE HOME. Granted, this isn't saying that much as my home isn't large, but... still... it was needed.

As you might imagine, things got worse before they got better, as I pulled books off shelves and emptied out drawers. I find the experience necessary and cleansing, perhaps every couple of years. I didn't document the process photographically, but I do wish I'd taken one shot of the six huge bags of stuff I donated. It was a good feeling. What I did document, because I was literally laughing out loud, was what I found in my linen cupboard.

I'm one of those who likes to put new soap in the cupboard, unwrapped, so that the pillowcases and towels become sweetly scented with my two favourite soaps: lemon verbena and lavender. But, the linen cupboard is pretty full, and soaps had slipped around and behind, and, taking everything out, I was delighted to discover I won't have to buy soap for quite a while.

Fat Evening

A few days of humidity and then lashings of rain... the air has cleared, the plants are happy, the sun set gloriously, and I lolled on the bed.

Bright Evening full of Promise

I finished a 14-hour work day last Friday, and now the recent super busyness is slowing. Now I can revel in these long, light evenings. Tonight I was at home and it felt so good. Django Reinhardt was my soundtrack. White daisies brought even more light in. Lemon poundcake perfumed my home. The cake is for work tomorrow. My treat was to lick the new red spatula.

(The old one was retired a couple of months back when a bit of it broke off into the batter I was stirring! The new one is shown with the freshly whipped butter and sugar. There are few more promising beginnings than butter and sugar together, except of course my favourite: onions softening in butter. My mouth just watered.)

The Snow has Started

This was my view this morning, clouded by the falling snow and eyes at half mast. We're expecting much more. I'm working late... but I have soup ready.

///UPDATE/// We had a foot of snow! Beautiful and treacherous. The city remains somewhat pristine. Today I remained inside. The soup is warm, and I am grateful.

Chili Against the Chilly

The nights are darker. The colour and light of a falling October are gone. The lights and busyness of Christmas are to come. The leaves are gone, and all is grey. And there is much rain. The cold is damp. I have to keep busy, and I do. I just took a request for 80 cupcakes. Note I say "request," not order. I don't have the regular time to make a business of this, and so it's a favour in honour of a very lovely woman.
We must keep warm and safe this month. There must be friendship and good food, and sometimes effort goes into making that happen. It's all to easy to fall towards retreat and hibernation.

Last week a friend came over and we ate lots of cheese... and then my vegetarian chili with guacamole, sour cream, grated strong cheddar and good nacho chips.

The conversation was so good and much needed. It warmed the cockles.

Stick close together. 

In an Eastern Frame

Along with much of my love of Middle Eastern esthetic, I find myself drawn to lanterns and candle holders with ornate cutouts, the sort that bring to mind the jaali, the fancy wooden shutters and screens of the Mughals. Oh, I'm mixing my cultures here, but between the Mughals, the Persians, and the Armenians, I find much to delight and entrance. One night this week, I read some Hafiz, he of the ghazal form of poem:

"If the scent of her hair were to blow across my dust when I had been dead a hundred years, my mouldering bones would rise and come dancing out of the tomb."

I lit my lanterns, I filmed my lanterns, I listened to the Armenian duduk. Of course, I ate some wonderful new biblical treats: dates rolled in pistachios.

Display Solutions

I seem to collect a lot of lovely cards and postcards, most of which come from friends, some I just pick up in stores. Wanting a display solution for them, I got these cute little blackbirds-on-strings when I was in NY (they must be available online). I also found two round wire holders (years ago, can't remember where), cleverly designed to hold as many cards as I feel like cramming in. Now I can enjoy these lovely little works of art any time I want. Better than having them moulder away in a box.

Recent Photos: Flowers Out... and In

Not Quite 1,000 Cranes... More Like 10

The humidity has lifted. Tonight will be cool... what a relief.

It left me wanting to make something pleasing with my hands (and I'm not baking much these days so that was out)

A few weeks ago I bought a sweet mobile hanger in The Paper Place (one of my new favourite stores), and some more origami paper to add to what I had already. I've wanted to try my hand at origami for a long time. So, I decided to make a flock of cranes, to bob and hover over my work table. The crane symbolizes happiness, good luck and peace, and, if you string 1,000 together, you are supposed to have a wish come true.

I had a good evening of it.






















My first attempt (left) next to the enclosed sample in my kit (right). Not bad for a first go.

The Last few Days of Vacation

Vacation has been wonderful.

I went north (plenty of posts about that coming up!)

I spent time in my study...

















I saw friends and was reminded that Trattoria Nervosa has the best grilled calamari in Toronto: that little taste of char, and then meltingly slippery and redolent of ocean. It's not on the menu, but they'll make it for you...





















I saw a pile of movies (see other posts)...

And for my back to school back to work treat, a new mug for my desk from Anthropologie in my favourite blues and greens...
 

It Looks Like I Picked the Right Month to buy my Dalek

It's been steamy and scorched here. I looked out on the park below my building today, and - where I am used to seeing lush tropical greenness in the summer - I saw scorched yellow grass between the trees. Yet, it's also been incredibly humid.

I HEART my dalek.

A Good Way to Wake up

Fat Evening

It was a fat evening, the first night of my 24-day vacation.

The solstice has passed, but even as the days shorten, I welcome July, with all its heat and sunshine. Deep summer has me veering between cravings for spicy food, and what I term my biblical foods: pistachios, figs, dates, etc.

My bedroom has evolved in its look, less Persian boudoir now, but it still bears the copper pots, the Bedouin rifle, the hookah, etc. I delighted in watching the sun set, making beautiful patterns on my bedroom walls. The new lamp, which holds candles, gave an exotic glow as darkness descended. I ate pistachios and figs for supper... in bed. The next morning I woke just before dawn, but there are no photographs. There's a time for taking pictures, and a time for not taking pictures.