spiral bound: "And that true North, whereof we lately heard"*

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

"And that true North, whereof we lately heard"*

We stand on guard for thee

Oh Canada. How do I celebrate? Let me count the ways.

1. Reading
Did you follow Canada Reads, way back in February? Was anyone else thinking Who invited Debbie Travis? None the less, there were plenty of intriguing book recommendations to be had. I am a little ashamed to say that I've read none of this years nominees, but the program was enough to spark my interest in all of them. Essex County and The Birth House were both on my to-read list for ages, but The Best Laid Plans was no where near my radar and now I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy it. There are clearly a lot of CBC listeners at my library because all five books have spiked in popularity since this winter and are now appearing on lots of bookclub lists.It's The Book of Negroes all over again! Actually, not quite. That one's still going strong.

2. Online Reading
Some of my favourite Canuck haunts, online (in no particular order):

poppytalk
Hark! A Vagrant
sweet | salty
Schmutzie
Hey, Lady Grey
Jillian Tamaki
The Muffin Myth (every recipe is good, every single one)
Susan Juby

3. Travel
Coast to coast! Sort of. Well, I went home to see my family in April, which is on the west coast and I live in Montreal so you know. From sea to shining... er... river.


In my parent's back yard


Forest near where I grew up, lower mainland BC - why did ALL my forest photos end up fuzzy? Why?


Deep Cove


Stanley Park, 3rd Beach (I think?) in the rain


More rain at the beach/seawall


At the heron reserve in Chilliwack. Make sure to enlarge this to see the neat heron-shape.

Also, I went canoeing in Parc Mont-Tremblant a couple of weeks ago. Which was lovely. Except for the bugs.


What are they doing? Our best guess was "eating bird poop", which is what's under them. Not so pretty anymore, are they?

Erosion is neat.


Loon!

Taken from under a large towel where I was hiding from black flies.

Just last weekend I was in Ottawa to visit mon frère. It rained a lot, so we went to the Natural History Musem (er, I mean the Canadian Museum of Nature), which was gorgeous inside and out.

Outside

And in.

I think the dioramas will get their own post because I'm kind of in love with them.

Aaaaaand, well, I complain a lot but actually Montreal's not such a bad city afterall.

La Main/Blvd Saint-Laurent street fair

4. Eating/buying local

The lip balm you always wanted. Nothing is better. NOTHING. (Man, their online boutique isn't up yet. When it is, vanilla cream. Trust me.)
This is where I'm doing yoga over the summer, lovely studio and lovely teacher.
This is where my produce is coming from over the summer. We just got our first basket last week and it was mostly lettuce + greens and it was very tasty indeed.
This really is the best coffee to be found in the Concordia/Faubourg part of downtown (which is where I am 3 days per week). I had stopped treating myself to fancy coffees at the office, but since I discovered Myriade I am less able to resist temptation. They take their barista-ing seriously. As they should.
Café Oxford (in NDG) is where Adrien and I like to go for breakfast/brunch most weekends. The food's great, and I love how much fresh fruit comes with the meals. Fruit like mango and local berries, not just the standard slice of cantaloupe. Well, they have that too, but they leave it off if you ask (I do).
I just got this new tote bag because it's too darn cute.