A Woodland Home for a Woodland Creature (like me)

I'm tucking these away for future inspiration.
I'm going to turn into a hobbit one day right? That can totally happen.

 

*All images are from simondale.net, found via Diana

Nicole Gustafsson, kindred spirit

The Naturalist's Study

Terrarium Tree

I came upon Ms Gustafsson's work at just the right time, I think. Summer has not yet given up the ghost but Autumn is on the verge of charging in with gusts of wind, ripe squash, and the yearly explosion of copper and crimson tree-tops. Not all of Nicole's work is autumnal but a lot seems to fit in with this, the best of all seasons.

All's Well at the Schoolhouse

The Conservatory

Blue Tree Books

Hare House (in the rain!)

Oh, the colours! They're so lovely. Trees growing in unlikely places, terrariums, lanterns, rain. I can't help but be smitten. I want to get all of her card-sets but I won't want to give any away.

Look at all the places you can visit her:
Portfolio
Blog
Shop

Lanterns. A detail of a larger piece, I think.

 

Mountain of a Molehill

The Geologist's Study

Whomping Willow

Papering your walls

Three days a week I work at a desk, facing a monitor. I like to think of it as an opportunity to attend a very small showing of artwork/photography. Needless to say, I click on my "shortcut to desktop" icon frequently to gaze at whatever's on display at the moment, to take tiny mental breaks from my work and take off on flights of imaginative fancy. Here are a few that have been on rotation this summer:

Photo is from Dark Nostalgia by Eva Hagberg, source

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Seagrass, by Benjamin Lacombe

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Venice, Decorology blog

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Hobbiton, and A Hobbit Dwelling by John Howe

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Diplodocus, NHM in London, by Antonio Torres Ochoa 

 

 

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Lacock Abbey, by Brian Negus, which appeared in a couple of the Harry Potter films

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The Storm at Sea and House Roller (from Burning Man) by Trey Ratcliff of Stuck In Customs

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Amy Merrick (from her flickr)

Weathering Summer

Source: Photo by Daniel Cooper

I keep getting caught in summer storms. They inspire terrible ambivalence.

On the one hand: ecstatic relief. On the other: electric anxiety.

I love them. I love the wildness of them, and the way the sky churns like an upside-down sea. I love the trickery, the reversal of day and night. I love the rain. It falls as if weighted with lead, as if thrown down. I love the feeling that the earth is drinking deep, slaking enormous thirst. I love finding myself in the minuscule shelter of a bus stop or a parked car and listening to the percussive music of it.

I both love and fear the sudden zig-zag of lightening, and the wide-eyed counting before the thunderous boom that inevitably follows.

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I was coming home on the bus the other day when one of the more violent storms hit. The stress is a bit amped up at that job lately (not necessarily a bad thing, but an adjustment to be sure) and the atmospheric pressure did nothing to help. That particular time I escaped getting soaked, but not getting panicked. The flash and boom were simultaneous and I sat there, peering out through the fogged window at the sheets of rain chanting Faraday cage, Faraday cage, Faraday cage, willing myself not to touch any metal surfaces.

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Traveling in Montreal is precarious enough without fear of electrocution. Those bridges, especially the Champlain and the Mercier, seem set to crumble and I hold my breath as we cross them even in fine weather. When we must cross during a storm - oh my. My pilot is unflapable, but I am all aquiver. I want to pray for safe passage, but to whom? Sometimes being a non-believer is a real bitch.

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Yesterday, another storm. Fierce, but fast. It was gone halfway through my commute. I was sitting, looking out at the sky as we inched along. The clouds over in the direction we were headed seemed greenish and odd. As if another, stranger storm was up ahead. Traffic was immobile. I pulled out my earphones to see what I could hear. Sirens, actually. Off in the distance. We got closer, eventually, and those weren't clouds.

A fire was clearly raging somewhere in my neighbourhood.

Shortly it became clear that getting out and walking was the quickest route home.

The fire turned out to be at the end of my street, a couple of blocks from my place. An old, abandoned motel was burning. The main road passes in front, and was blocked off and full of red trucks. Hoses snaked along all the roads around it, water pluming out trying to reach the dancing flames. A sizeable crowd had gathered, snapping photos, filming, observing. Our local security officer held court in their midst. I see him at the library sometimes, he's quite a character. I can just imagine him waxing nostalgic about The Great Blaze of '11 in the near future.

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Today was the first day since spring that felt cool. Yesterday I wore a little jacket in the morning. Two days ago I saw a leaf fall. It was still green, but in tumbling from that branch it signaled the very start of the end.

Summer, with its relentless heat and lashing storms will soon be over.

Shiny things caught in my net

Starry Night Over the Rhone

 A little round-up of some of the neatest stuff I've come across lately:

(via heartbeets/aka Sweet Anthem's tumblr)
Serena Malyon uses the magic of tilt-shift to transform Van Gogh's works into 3D. I think they're stunning.

View of Saintes-Maries, 1888 (detail)

Wheat Field with Rising Sun, 1889 (detail)

Mountains at Saint-Remy, 1889 (detail)

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Camping in the Cotswolds: Junkaholique blog
A gorgeous blog to follow in general, but these photos of their recent camping trip are especially lovely.

Photo: Artemis Russell

Photo: Artemis Russell

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Jen Campbell of This Is Not the Six Word Novel writes about Weird Things Customers Say at Ripping Yarns, the London bookshop where she works. It is hilarious, especially if you work with the public and most especially if you work with the public and with books. Start with the first entry and work forwards to the most current, which is #7. She's just announced that she will be collecting them for a book! Huzzah!

Customer: Hi, do you have any new books?
Me: We're an antiquarian bookshop - our stock is out of print books.
Customer: So other people have touched them?
Me: Presumably, yes.
Customer: I don't think I'll bother, thanks.
Me: OK.

(from #2)


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Susannah Conway recommended this sweet peppermint lip balm by Oakmoss and well... it's lip balm! So I had to try it! It came a couple of days ago and I've been using it ever since. It's lovely. I ordered some samples of soaps and perfume oil too and everything was beautifully gift wrapped. Peace is a wonderfully spicy scent, and my fave of the bunch.

Photo from the etsy shop

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Lucy Knisley is a talented comic-maker and I am a tiny bit giddy over her take on a certain beloved series of books. OMGryffindor!!! They're funny, so full of nerdy detail and do a great job of capturing some of the... (ahem) magic of the series. If you love them too, the good news is that you can download all eight posters from her website! The bad news is that due to legal trickiness she really can't charge for all the hard work that went into them and so is simply asking for a donation. I think they're totally worth it.
And look: she and her studio/roommate have re-created the Black Family Tree! Neato!

Book Four. Click to see the glorious detail! Or, better yet, check them all out on Lucy's site.

Rosaceae Fragaria

Fragaria sp. "Parker Earl" by Deborah Griscom Passmore c.1892-1909

June is a fragrant month. You catch their perfume before you even see them: every corner market sets out baskets of edible rubies. Heavier than they look, and bursting with juice, it is best to eat them immediately lest they spoil before you taste them.  Grass sprouts all vibrant and wet, only to be mowed down, releasing that familiar green scent. Flowering trees wave their blossoms above the sidewalk, bathing pedestrians in botanical pheromones. Wild rose bushes grow thick with thorny protection and produce deceptively insubstantial flowers which can, none the less, send out powerful apian invitations.

Walking through the city is a pleasure in June.

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Did you know that strawberries are not berries at all, but rather fruiting roses?

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Along comes July to wilt us all. The word on the street is "humidex". Bright greens fade in the field, waiting for August to paint them gold. The air is heavy with moisture, and blue skies quickly turn deepest purple - clouding over at a moment's notice, flashing with electricity and pelting the earth with rain. July's perfumery consists of sun-baked sidewalks, chlorine and the savoury saliva-inducing sweet-burnt scent of barbecued meat. Which is tortuous for those of us without access to a porch or yard. I'm always looking for things I can drench in bbq sauce.

The strawberries are looking puckered and soft at the fruit stands, and it seems as if their season is coming to an end. Don't pass those suckers by though, even when they look a bit sad they're still good for freezing, blending and baking.

This is what I plan to do with the ones sitting in my fridge - Strawberry cupcakes. Mine won't be to celebrate a birthday (well, I could celebrate a little, since I do know a couple of sweet July babies) and I may add coconut. I don't relish turning on the oven, but one of those sudden summer storms just hit so maybe it won't be so bad. Besides, who can resist... just look at them:



Photo from The Muffin Myth


* Edit to add: I made those cupcakes Tuesday and they were DELICIOUS! Sadly I didn't have a ripe banana so I used Earth Balance instead of butter because that's what I did have on hand, and I tossed in a bit of unsweetened coconut. Totally lovely. Needless to say, they're already gone.

"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.

New tote! Art by Jillian Tamaki.

Arlington Farm

source

Happy Canada Day neighbours! How do you celebrate?

* Tennyson: To the Queen