oh summer

I just found these pictures that I never posted from a trip to the Scarborough Bluffs on a beautiful day in early September. 

puppenhausmuseum

Elizabeth recently posted this link and it BLEW MY MIND. I had to share. I especially adore this section of shops, sales counters and tiny tiny grocery packages. I have always yearned for a dollhouse. This site has reignited that obsession.

purple clover bud

introducing...

Max!

The hat fits him!

I guess as my cousin's son he is officially my second cousin, but I will be an honourary auntie.

tomato rainbow

I received some seeds in the mail the other day. I picked out a few new heirloom tomato varieties to try this year. It was so difficult to narrow down my choices. There are just too many varieties available out there in internet-land, and my garden is small. I ended up ordering these from a woman in Pennsylvania who has a small seed business called Amishland Heirloom Seeds. This picture above shows most of the types I grew last year. I'll be reprising some of them for sure, like green zebra, black plum, and blondkopfchen (little blond head). My new seeds include Blanche White (a white tomato with a slight blush when ripe), Pink Grapefruit (golden outside, pink inside), and World's Miracle (a long pointy red Russian paste tomato - I hope to try a little canning with these if they do well). It really is remarkable how much difference in flavour there is between the different types. And they are so so beautiful. Last summer was my first time growing my own tomatoes, and it spoiled me forever for store-bought tomatoes, especially in the winter when they are just so very sad. Does anyone have any tomato growing tips or varieties to recommend?

biking weather?

The weather has been so mild that I've been contemplating taking my bike out of its resting place in our front sunroom (I'm not one of those hardcore people who rides all through the winter). This is the view through our living room window. Our bikes sit there all winter, taunting us, 'Come on. Ride me. I know you want to.'

green buds on the lilac

macro leaf

astronomy class

from ebay

blue monday

I was talking to my brother on the phone tonight. He said he had heard that today (the third Monday in January) is known as 'Blue Monday' and is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. Me? I'm feeling pretty good today, but I can definitely see how in general this particular time of the year can be especially bleak. One thing I am lamenting is the lack of sunlight. I took these pictures on the weekend when I was home during the day. It's kind of sad that most of the time I'm at home it is dark. I don't really mind winter all that much, but I do miss having a few hours of daylight left after coming home from a day at work. And it certainly is a drag for picture taking. But, those weekend afternoons at home with the wintery gray light filtering through the windows are pretty special.

second hand retail therapy

Thank you to those who commented on my post yesterday. The best cure for that kind of blueness is to be reminded how common it is to feel that way once in a while, and to be reassured that it's okay to be lazy sometimes. Your comments really helped me to just chill and enjoy my day.

I did take a walk. When I'm walking alone I like to have a destination in mind, so I ended up walking over to the nearby Value Village. I find second hand shopping pretty therapeutic - especially when I'm alone and can really take my time. I found a few great little things, but not so much that I felt guilty buying a bunch of junk that I don't need, so it was the perfect little pick-me-up.

I got some groceries on the way home from VV and made myself a big bowl of my favourite comfort food pasta (this recipe on Orangette but with arugula added: yum!). In the end, they day wasn't so bad. I never did do anything very practical, just indulged in some unnecessary shopping and ate some rich food, but if you're going to have a lazy day, you might as well really try to enjoy it right?

This little octopus book was one of the treasures I found. It has fantastic illustrations and a great story - very detailed descriptions and a simple narrative style. I especially love the last paragraph on the last page (the last picture below).

plain old regular blues

I don't tend to write much here. I don't really feel like I have a lot to say in general. But I find that I genuinely enjoy reading the thoughts and feelings so freely and generously shared by other bloggers (Err. I really hate the term 'blogger'). I'm kind of in the mood to be a little more like that myself today, so....

A lot of people have been mentioning having 'winter blues' lately. I'm kind of feeling that today myself, except I don't think it's really a winter thing - more of a 'day off' thing. I tend to really look forward to having free days off, with my options open as to what I choose to do with my time. The problem is, when those days happen, I end up feeling kind of lost and lazy. Today is one of those days. There are too many things I kind of WANT to do, many things I feel that I SHOULD do, nothing I really HAVE to do, and I'm ending up doing nothing at all. This all ends up sending me spiralling downward into feeling bad about myself (I think my biggest self criticism is my lack of discipline). I also, by default, end up on the internet, looking at blogs of people who seem to have perfect productive neat tidy beautiful lives (or 'blog lives' at least - obviously there is more to a life than what ends up on a blog). Sometimes these blog lives are really inspiring and motivating, but sometimes they can contribute to this tendency of mine to just get overwhelmed and avoid trying to make any progress at all.

I wandered in the backyard for a few minutes... took some pictures. It is really bleak out there right now: half melted snow, grey sky, everything looks dead. Sometimes winter can be so incredibly beautiful, but it doesn't seem that way today. Maybe because it is warm and melty and almost feels like Spring is coming but I know it really isn't.

I think I'll take a little walk now. Maybe the fresh air will clear my head and I can get something done when I get back.