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

"The blue unbroken circle of the sea"*

"Longing" by Judith Signoriello

Sea Fever by John Masefield

  source

I must go down to the seas again,

to the lonely sea and the sky

and all I ask is a tall ship,

and a star to steer her by;

 

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song

and the white sails shaking,

And the grey mist in the sea’s face,

and a grey dawn breaking.

 

I must go down to the seas again,

for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call

that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day

with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume,

and the seagulls crying. 

I must go down to the seas again,

to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale's way

where the wind’s like a whetted knife

And all I ask is a merry yarn

From a laughing fellow rover,

and quiet sleep and a sweet dream

when ere the long trip’s over

Dover, photo credit, found here

"Pacific Ocean" by Lupen Grainne

"Day at the Beach" by Lupen Grainne

Bahamas, March 2011

Bahamas, March 2011

Cape Meares (Oregon), photo: Laini Taylor

"One with the Sea" by Robert Cadloff

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Beach near Bamfield, BC

* Title: Sara Teasdale, From the Sea