"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

Is it really like a writing desk at all?

I'm not sure just how much stock can be put in this website, but it seemed a good, reasonable answer. I like the response "they both have inky quills" best.

"Raven" by John James Audubon. Have you

seen his illustrations? Gorgeous. Definitely encouraging

my creeping birder tendency. Found HERE.

*      *     *

From wikipedia. Please click to enlarge. It's worth it.

I'm thinking about ravens. Or rather, of one raven in particular.

A few years ago I went camping somewhere north of Montreal with my love and we met a raven. I know I'd seen them before (I am from British Columbia after all, where they grow on trees) (ha) and had certainly heard them before, on walks in the woods, but this was a very up-close encounter.

Did you know that ravens are the size of turkeys? I wonder if the raven has swollen in my rememberings. Maybe it was the size of a very large chicken? No, I'm sure it was bigger than that.

He was so brazen, so cheeky. He almost seemed able to grin. Or wink. Or both.

(I only assume it was a he... could just as easily have been a she)

It was morning, and we'd just come out of our tent. The forest was mostly still, although you could hear the mist-muted sounds of other campers making breakfast, off in the distance. We heard a percussive noise in the trees above our site and looked up, all groggy and bed-headed, to see a feathery black giant. His head was twisted to the side, the better to see us. 

He hopped down to ground level, having decided that we were about as threatning as kittens, and strutted around for a while. We were totally enchanted. 

The campers next to us were either not up yet, or had already left to do some early morning activity, so our raven friend wandered around their site looking for snacks. Or trouble. Or both. 

He poked around a woodpile ("Look how BIG he is!" we exclaimed, "He must be as big as a turkey!"). He snooped in their stove ("Look how CLEVER he is!"). He scratched in the rubble under their picnic table ("Look how BEAUTIFUL he is!"). He clicked his beak and made throaty noises ("Listen to how WONDERFUL he sounds!"). He catalogued their garbage and found little of interest ("See how endearingly CHOOSY he is!"). He moved here and there, sometimes quite near to us ("See how his black feathers gleam PURPLE and BLUE!").

I remember being struck, not just by his size, but also by his shape. I sort of had in mind the image of ravens as big crows. But they aren't at all. Crows are much sleeker birds. Ravens have heft, and also shaggy throat feathers. They both have crafty, intelligent eyes.

We were crushed when he moved on, about twenty minutes later, to cause trouble elsewhere. How wrong would it be, really, to have a raven for a pet?

This stunning photo was found, through a google hunt, at this curious spot.

As far as I can see, no credit is given to the photographer.

It appears to be a book proposal by one Boria Sax. I don't know if it ever got published.

Boria Sax is a delightful name, don't you think?

Now I want to read The Mythical Zoo.

Dear Mr. Boria Sax, you seem so interesting (and are possibly a fanatstic raven photographer),will you be my friend?

Starlings, songs and a lovely Smithers-ite

I'm cleaning out my closet today. I'm such a packrat.

There are things in there that I haven't worn in like... eight years. And I've only lived in this apartment for five.

Gah! The dust! Allergies suck.

Ok, so onto something interesting.

Photo credit: Tam Stuart

European Starlings. So pretty. I've noticed them around every spring/summer and have always thought them to be neat birds. Shiny black, sprinkled with polka dots, a purplish sheen... lovely. I'm not a birder, or at least I never used to be, but I feel a creeping birding tendency coming on. I think it is a hobby that I may acquire soon. I guess I need a birding guide and binoculars. For some reason I associate this with elderly people, but really, that should make me feel quite at home (I am a 33 year old elderly person).

Last weekend though, I visited a local natural history museum, and I discovered that they are the zebra muscles of the bird world.  Apprently all the North American European Starlings are descendents of a group of 100 or so that were released in 1890 in Central Park by a poetic (but misguided) soul who wanted to bring every bird mentioned by Shakespeare to the New World (I read this both on wikipedia, and [minus the Shakespeare part] at the museum).

So... they are pretty but they are pests.

In unrelated news, have you heard of YouTube Disco? What a smart idea! It's a bit like global network of dreams (gnod) but instead of just suggesting new music for you to check out on your own time, it helpfully creates a playlist for you to listen to and discover. The way it works is that you put in a band/muscician  you like and then hit Disco! and voilà. It plays a mix of the band you chose and other stuff that is similar. Neato mosquito. 

And finally, guess what I'm up to lately? Reading! Nice, hun? I'm taking a summer class to inch ever closer to getting my library technician diploma and it happens to be a Libraries for Young Adults type class, and we have to read a book a week and review it. Eeep. I am a bookworm, it's true, but I am also a pretty slow reader. I may try to do some of this reading via audiobook. Anyway, even though it's daunting, it is also exciting! Usually when I'm taking classes I have to sneak fiction in on the sly, guiltily. Now I can lounge around reading great YA literature and still totally be doing homework. So awesome. 

The first book I read is Alice, I Think by Susan Juby. 

(Check out how cute her website is, speaking of birders:) 

It's a great book! Not only is it clever, quirky and quite funny, it's also Canadian. It's set in Smithers, BC and is a diary-style account of 15 year old Alice who is headed to high school after a lifetime of home schooling. She's wonderfully odd and antisocial and fun to read. Especially funny are the adults of her world, as seen by her. Her hipie parents and their tragic friends, her teachers, counselors, and her boss are all hilarious. Or rather, the way she talks about them is hilarious.

Ok, I'm headed back to the closet, and then I need to get oustide to enjoy all 22 degrees of this lovely afternoon.