Choral Evensong
This has been a very up and down week, thus far. Looking forward to my week off from my paying job for Christmas, I also got confused as to what the day of the week was, thinking on Sunday that it was Friday... Since I have not worked regular mon-fri, 9-5, for many years, that was a weird mind-warp thing to think.
Over the weekend, I did go to check out a possible new place to live, a place that would be cheaper by half, but it would mean sharing a house with another woman. Not at all sure I can do that. I was very charmed by the setting, the layout of the house, the sauna and the attached greenhouse. The house is not very well insulated and the floors were very, very cold. But I loved the quiet of the place overlooking Sturgeon Lake. Still, there is the fact that I'm not sure I can share a house with another woman, who is basically a stranger.
I'm nearly ready for Christmas now, having just to do some wrapping up. I'm listening to a choral evensong over the BBC as I putter around. Kind of soothing.
At my paying job on Sunday evening, a small chorus from the Salvation Army came by to sing Christmas Carols. I happened to be in the elevator with them, making my way to work, when one of the singers handed me a CD of Christmas music. I have only listened to part of if yet, but what I've heard, I really enjoyed.
My landlord's two youngest boys came over this week to say "Hi." The dogs were so excited! I let them out to visit with the boys in the snow -- on their leashes. Molly weighs about the same as the youngest of the boys. But she was really not the problem. All she wanted to do was lick the boys' faces and wrestle in the snow with them. The boys laughed and giggled, and at times it was difficult to distinguish dog from boys as they rolled about in the snow. Misty, on the other hand, was single-minded on getting into the barn. Memories, I suppose, of so many interesting scents in there to explore, check up on, and hunt.
It was one of those horribly cold days when the hairs in one's nostrils crackle painfully in shock as the exhaled moisture from your lungs clings to the nose hairs, protesting being exhaled into the frigid atmosphere to vanish in frosty vapors. Even chimney smoke and car exhaust vaporized into monstrous cold-created ghosts, ghosts alarmed to be made visible at last by the extreme cold.
I was sorry to read that one of my favorites, the Yarn Harlot, was one of many people in the greater Toronto area who had pipes freeze etc in the piercing cold on Monday.
Within minutes outside, my hands were tingling painfully. I had to go in and take the dogs in with me. The boys in their skidoo suits were much better dressed for the weather than I. Misty was shivering non-stop, but would have happily stayed out all day, following her nose. The excitement of the wrestling left Molly very sleepy for an hour or two :) . It took me nearly that long to thaw out!
I spent a very satisfying day all day Monday cutting back unruly house plants, cleaning up a nasty infestation of spider mites on the lemon verbena, and giving all the plants a really, really good drink in the tub. I find that usually I underwater the plants because the water runs right through the dried out soil and onto the floor! I have another new resolution: to take better care of my house plants from now on....
The two bits of ginger I planted, have sprouted. I wonder what the plant will look like? I simply snapped apart some ginger root I got from the grocery store, following a suggestion I read in Patrick Lima's Herbs .
My celebration of Winter Solstice entailed listening to Ideas on CBC radio. I was finally vindicated. Many years ago, I heard the Aurora Borealis before I saw them for the first time...when I turned around to figure out what the noise was, there they were in the Northern sky. Since then, I had not heard or read any reference to the northern lights making any sound, and most people to whom I described the experience, looked at me in a rather doubtful manner. But here on the Ideas program, recorded in Yellowknife, the naturalist, Jamie Bastedo, described the noise! Further research elicited many more descriptions of the noise.
When my brother visited here from Alaska a year ago, he brought with him several photos by Dennis Anderson, an aurora addict. Check out his photos!
The poet Robert Service, who wrote The Ballad of the Northern Lights, in some ways reminds me of another Canadian iconic figure, the recently late Pierre Berton. I remember a high school history teacher had us read a lot of PB and we even watched some movies that I think were from the CFB. Does anybody else remember anything like that, "The Last Spike" or something??
One of the little herbal sleep pillows I made as Christmas presents. Scanning it does not work too well, does it? A digital camera is on my wish list...
Over the weekend, I did go to check out a possible new place to live, a place that would be cheaper by half, but it would mean sharing a house with another woman. Not at all sure I can do that. I was very charmed by the setting, the layout of the house, the sauna and the attached greenhouse. The house is not very well insulated and the floors were very, very cold. But I loved the quiet of the place overlooking Sturgeon Lake. Still, there is the fact that I'm not sure I can share a house with another woman, who is basically a stranger.
I'm nearly ready for Christmas now, having just to do some wrapping up. I'm listening to a choral evensong over the BBC as I putter around. Kind of soothing.
At my paying job on Sunday evening, a small chorus from the Salvation Army came by to sing Christmas Carols. I happened to be in the elevator with them, making my way to work, when one of the singers handed me a CD of Christmas music. I have only listened to part of if yet, but what I've heard, I really enjoyed.
My landlord's two youngest boys came over this week to say "Hi." The dogs were so excited! I let them out to visit with the boys in the snow -- on their leashes. Molly weighs about the same as the youngest of the boys. But she was really not the problem. All she wanted to do was lick the boys' faces and wrestle in the snow with them. The boys laughed and giggled, and at times it was difficult to distinguish dog from boys as they rolled about in the snow. Misty, on the other hand, was single-minded on getting into the barn. Memories, I suppose, of so many interesting scents in there to explore, check up on, and hunt.
It was one of those horribly cold days when the hairs in one's nostrils crackle painfully in shock as the exhaled moisture from your lungs clings to the nose hairs, protesting being exhaled into the frigid atmosphere to vanish in frosty vapors. Even chimney smoke and car exhaust vaporized into monstrous cold-created ghosts, ghosts alarmed to be made visible at last by the extreme cold.
I was sorry to read that one of my favorites, the Yarn Harlot, was one of many people in the greater Toronto area who had pipes freeze etc in the piercing cold on Monday.
Within minutes outside, my hands were tingling painfully. I had to go in and take the dogs in with me. The boys in their skidoo suits were much better dressed for the weather than I. Misty was shivering non-stop, but would have happily stayed out all day, following her nose. The excitement of the wrestling left Molly very sleepy for an hour or two :) . It took me nearly that long to thaw out!
I spent a very satisfying day all day Monday cutting back unruly house plants, cleaning up a nasty infestation of spider mites on the lemon verbena, and giving all the plants a really, really good drink in the tub. I find that usually I underwater the plants because the water runs right through the dried out soil and onto the floor! I have another new resolution: to take better care of my house plants from now on....
The two bits of ginger I planted, have sprouted. I wonder what the plant will look like? I simply snapped apart some ginger root I got from the grocery store, following a suggestion I read in Patrick Lima's Herbs .
My celebration of Winter Solstice entailed listening to Ideas on CBC radio. I was finally vindicated. Many years ago, I heard the Aurora Borealis before I saw them for the first time...when I turned around to figure out what the noise was, there they were in the Northern sky. Since then, I had not heard or read any reference to the northern lights making any sound, and most people to whom I described the experience, looked at me in a rather doubtful manner. But here on the Ideas program, recorded in Yellowknife, the naturalist, Jamie Bastedo, described the noise! Further research elicited many more descriptions of the noise.
When my brother visited here from Alaska a year ago, he brought with him several photos by Dennis Anderson, an aurora addict. Check out his photos!
The poet Robert Service, who wrote The Ballad of the Northern Lights, in some ways reminds me of another Canadian iconic figure, the recently late Pierre Berton. I remember a high school history teacher had us read a lot of PB and we even watched some movies that I think were from the CFB. Does anybody else remember anything like that, "The Last Spike" or something??
One of the little herbal sleep pillows I made as Christmas presents. Scanning it does not work too well, does it? A digital camera is on my wish list...
posted by Kati at 6:17 p.m.
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