Please excuse my absence. Grant writing season has been extended this year like our endless winter into spring. And my personal life has been wrapped up in paperwork excitement, the good part of which includes a group purchase of a place in warmer climes. More on that when it's a done deal.  I cleaned out…

What is that look? What are those eyes saying? And what are these eyes saying: That's Chompers, my daughter's cat, and that glow on the floor is really from his eyes.  

More colours of spring: Evening cherry trees in my son's neighbourhood. They're a month late! Another Crescent Moon and Zauberball. Vancouver's famous Elms of East 6th Avenue. Save our Elms! Pattern: Citron  I'm #6785 to post this on Ravelry. Yarn: Malabrigo Lace (1 skein) and I'm 13,975th to use this yarn on Ravelry. Nothing like being…

Apologies for the delay, I'm still here, buried under grant writing deadlines. Working in the non-profit world of severe funding cuts, my job has degenerated to filling out forms – funding applications and their subsequent accountability forms. It's not as fun as it used to be. The good part? The people I work with makes…

I did it. After many years of good intentions I am officially Diet Coke and caffeine free. Both cold turkey. My method? Remember that bout of food borne illness? As long as I wasn't consuming anything, good or bad, it was an opportunity to quit some vices and not notice the withdrawal symptoms. This was…

Next time they predict a La Nina year, if I'm still living in the in the rainforest I'm running the other way. There was way too much rain for my brain. When the clouds lifted from the sky and the fog from my head, there was still snow on the Lions. The cherry trees started…

Meet the Zauberball. Translates to Crazy Ball and the colour translation is Tropical Fish. To complicate matters, this particular style is called Crazy Zauberball, meaning Crazy Crazy Ball. It fits: I had always wanted to try the Zauberball, but couldn't justify the going price. Blogless Masha and I lucked into two balls in the sale…

Isn't this a clever invention? Just in time for April showers, a birthday gift from my daughter. It saves lots of time toweling off Ms.Grace in our rainy climate. Look, her belly hair is coming  back! No more post ultrasound nakedness. She looked so embarrassed with that pink piggy tummy. The best part is –…

Thank goodness I'm over that bout of illness. I thought, in the past, that I might have had food poisoning. I know now that I didn't. And I hope I never have to experience it again. Thanks to you all for the get well and birthday wishes.  When sick, and unable to avail yourself of homemade…

Label this one under "poor me," a 100% feeling sorry for myself post. I went to San Francisco and all I came back with was a severe case of food poisoning. Thank goodness I was under the care of my daughter, the nurse, and had an understanding hotel manager who let us stay in the…