Early Morning Light

I woke up early one morning last week and decided to get up. Nick was still asleep, so I grabbed my camera and notebook, made a cup of coffee and slipped outdoors in my nightgown to experience the outdoors in the early morning light. This might sound like a no-biggie to many of you, but it is quite rare for me to be up early like that nowadays.

As much as I have tried in my life to reschedule my natural body clock so that I could get to sleep at a decent time at night and wake up refreshed and ready to go at 7am, it has always been a challenge for me. Back in the days of the stressful day-job where breakfast meetings were the norm, I remember stumbling around, almost feeling sick to my stomach, as I got ready, pulling on my suit and heading out the door.

I always used to take my shower at night because there was no way I could do it in the morning, even though this meant dealing with wonky 'slept on while still damp' hair in the morning. Come to think of it, my hair was a heck of a lot shorter then too, so I could just damp it down, comb it and go. Everything about my routine was planned to help make those mornings more bearable.

I used to travel quite a bit for work, which meant extremely early pick-ups to go to the airport, and I remember sitting in the back seat or the car, in the dark because the sun had not yet risen, and just feeling not quite ready to face such a big day.

But I was good at that job, and by the time I arrived at that early breakfast or destination, nobody I met with would ever have realized what a struggle it had been for me to get there that early.

I spent years surrounded by morning-people and really always wished I could join their ranks. Though now that I'm thinking about it, I realize that my way of being offered a different perk, in that I was often the last one to leave the office, many evenings having to run to the electicity-box to turn the lights back on in my office, after they had automatically shut off for the night. This suited me just fine, as I was able to get my best work done on those quiet evenings. I got to know the office cleaning staff well, knowing when their daughters were getting married and how old their grandchildren were. In fact, I still regularly quote a woman who used to empty my trashcan into the big bin she would roll through the office.

The truth is, I loved the job but really disliked the early morning start to the day that was necessary to do it.

So now, in writing this post, I am a bit stuck. How do I segue from a discussion about hating early morning risings, to writing about the joy felt upon getting up so early on this particular morning?

I think I will let the pictures take over from here ...

People in the Park and a Special Treat – A White Squirrel

I had today's post planned out in my head when I did my last entry on Saturday here, which told about the dogs that enjoy our local park, Trinity Bellwoods. While I had taken the pictures of those dogs I also got some of people there and those are what I had planned to post today.

But those plans changed after I spotted a very rare and special resident of this particular park, a white squirrel, on Sunday morning.

A small dray (I didn't know before but I know now, that this is what a family of squirrels is called) of these white ones has lived here for a long time, but in all the years I have regularly been coming here, always on the lookout for a sighting, I have only ever spotted one twice before. And those times were quite fleeting, though I did manage to get some pictures last time which was actually on Christmas day (discussed here).

Dogs and their People in the Park

With boycat Edward being in trouble right now, for today's Caturday post we are going to let the dogs have a go! Wondering what Ed did to deserve discipline? Check out the last picture to see!

This story is about the excellent dog viewing that goes on every time we visit our favourite park in the neighbourhood, Trinity Bellwoods. I've mentioned before (here) that the land this park is now on once had a major river running right through it, which was rerouted into massive pipes and buried, back in the late 1800s. What remains from the river is a huge divot in the middle of the park, with banks on either side. And in the bottom of this divot is a nice large spot where dogs are allowed to run around off their leashes. I often stand on one of the banks and watch them from above. It's the best dog-show going!Here are some pictures that I got during a recent visit to the park. Imagine this going on during any daylight hour, every day of the week, and you get a feel for what a dog-admirer's dream this place is!

Food Friday : Blueberry and Raspberry Vinegars and a Salad Dressing

Ok, this just might be the easiest recipe ever! Did you know that you can make Blueberry and Raspberry Vinegars just by adding the berries to regular white vinegar, and then waiting for the flavour to develop?

Here's the How-to: Wash your berries. I used a half-pint of each, as pictured in the colanders. I boiled the bottles and lids before filling them because I thought I should since I was reusing used bottles. So I will recommend doing it, though I'm not totally sure if that step is necessary. Put the berries in the bottle and using a chopstick (which I also put in the boiling water for about 20 seconds), mush up the berries as best you can. Don't worry if they're not all mushed, just try to break them up. Fill the bottles with regular 5% acid white vinegar. Screw your caps on tightly and store in the refrigerator.

In about a week the flavour of the berries will have permeated the vinegar. The longer the mixture steeps, and the ratio of berries to vinegar, determines the strength of the flavour. To give you an idea of the strength ... I left mine for a week, shaking it every couple of days, and the salad dressing I made today with it had a really nice and distinct raspberry taste.

Use the vinegar for salad dressings or sauces. If you like, you can also use the pickled fruit. And though I haven't tried it yet, there is an Iranian beverage made with vinegar, mint and sugar syrup. It sounds interesting and is apparently very refreshing. I bet it would be good made with berry flavoured vinegar! I'll try it and get back to you on that.

To the the Market we will Go : What I Wore

Hello my friends. Hope you're having a great Thursday. So far so good here!

I have mentioned before that we go to Kensington Market for our vegetables and other fresh foods, but I don't believe I've ever shown you what type of outfit I wear when out and about just doing everyday stuff. Actually, I had not intended to turn this particular trip, taken yesterday, into an outfit post, but uncharacteristically Nick was in a picture taking mood on the way! He is usually much more of a get in, get what you need, and get out type of guy when we go to the market!

... and yes, I did get the hairy eyeball (what a saying!) for dawdling and taking some 'must-have' shots. If I miss what I think would make a great photo, it feels like a loss that I'll think about a long time afterwards. So I have to stop. Full disclosure ... I was left behind and ended up walking halfway home by myself! And I was carrying two heaping bags, that just kept feeling heavier and heavier as I walked along. I had been over-zealous in my volunteering to carry more than I usually do, after-all it was I who wanted all those plums. Plums!

Anyway, as I trundled along on my own, I regretted letting Nick get away, because I would have gladly offloaded a couple of the huge red peppers I was carrying! We usually follow roughly the same route every time we go, so I could actually see him wayyy ahead of me all the way home, but there was no way I could catch up.