The Map of the World

A few years back, while purging the house of assorted detritus, I happened upon a large map of the the world from a 1988 edition of National Geographic. Seemed a shame to toss it, so I put it up on a wall in the laundry room and the kid and I started pining the places we had been -- red for me, blue for her, and yellow for the places we had been together.  Naturally there are quite a few more red pins, but over the years I've taken the kid on a a few cool trips:  a cruise to Alaska, Disney in both California and Florida, Antigua, Egypt, Greece, plus assorted forays across her own country.  She's got the travel bug, that's for sure, and I like to think I gave it to her.

She's now a professional photography student and one requirement of the program is to participate in a two week practicum.  A little work experience project.  I've been hounding the kid for months to get her butt in gear and get something arranged.  At the very least line up a local wedding or portrait photographer to hang out with and learn the ropes of their business.

Nope, not for my kid.  Not gonna happen.  That would be "boring."  Well the luck of the Irish (might as well keep this travel related) seemed to be shining down upon her.  Didn't she find a two week photo tour during the period she needs it, get permission from her course co-ordinator to attend, arrange for the tour guide to mentor her for her practicum, and book flights -- all in three days.  One whole day before the tour closed for reservations.

So in April she heads off on her own for the very first time to...NEW ZEALAND.  She'll spend two weeks traveling the south island with a tour group of eight.  The experience of a lifetime.  Her own Green Jar Adventure. Looks like I might have a little healthy competition.

Just might have to buy some more blue pins.

Book Review:  Richard Wagamese's Indian Horse was a Canada Reads selection in 2013.  If you're not a hockey fan, a great part of the book may bore you. Being a huge hockey fan, I loved it.  And not just the hockey part. It's the story of Saul Indian Horse, an Ojibway raised in the residential school system and it deals with the subject in a sensitive, thought provoking way. It's an eye opening read.

Call Me Rembrandt

There's so much more to painting than just filing some nail holes and slapping on a coat of paint.

First, take off all the door trims -- without damaging the drywall. Check.

Next, rip up the carpeting in the hall and on the stairs and cut it about a foot away from all the other walls.  Check.

Then, so as not to impale any people or puppy feet, pry up all those little nail strips that hold the carpeting in place. Can you say, "pain in the butt?"  Those suckers splinter.  Especially when there are three inch nails holding some in place. Like they require three inch nails. Mission accomplished -- without bloodshed I might add.

And then it was time for the main event. After about 25 hours over the past week the joint is finally painted.  Two coats...except for the part of the entrance hall that requires the scaffolding.  Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Even managed to get most of it on the walls.  I was going to title this entry Call Me Picasso, but that would have painted a whole different picture as to my abilities...if you know what I mean.

Oh, and my plinkplink?  Disappeared as mysteriously as it began (knock wood), despite endless days of heavy rain and some snow thrown in for good measure.  

Curiouser and curiouser.  Call Me Alice?  


Book Review:  The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches is the 6th in this series by Alan Bradley and I've been faithfully following along since the beginning. There is just something about 11 year old heroine, Flavia de Luce that strikes my fancy.  Maybe it's her love of poisons.  This latest instalment takes the series to a whole new level and in an entirely different direction.  Good thing too or they could have started to teeter towards tedious.  They are a fun, quick read and sometimes that's all you really want.  New to the series? Starting at the beginning is a must.  

Plink...Plink...Plink...

So I'm sitting at my computer about 10:00 last night, the rain is bucketing down, and I'm putting together a presentation I have to make in the morning. Yeah I know, kind of last minute.  And I was really regretting my penchant for procrastination because I had a massive headache and all I really wanted to do was lie down and relieve the pain in my neck.  See I'd been painting the walls and should have stopped well before I'd spent seven hours going up and down the ladder, cricking my neck to make sure the line against the ceiling was just right.

So anyway, I'm typing away and I hear plink.  I stop, I listen.  Nothing.  Type, type, type...plink. Okay, I know I heard that.  I step into the hall and listen. Nothing.  Back to the keyboard, type, type, type...plink.  Arrgg!  What the hell is that?  Back into the hall and wait. Plink...plink...plink...  And then I see it. One drop of water hanging from the door frame of the closet.  Plink onto the floor where it is immediately soaked up by the carpet underlay which I've left in place after ripping out the carpets. Pull up the underlay and the plywood is soaked.  Examination of the cupboard reveals no other wet spots and the fresh paint is unmarred. Methinks the tricky drips must have found their way through a screw hole holding the door track in place.

This means a trip into the attic is in order.  Which requires removing my clothes to access the very small opening in the the ceiling of my bedroom closet.  And at 11:00 p.m. -- ain't happening.  That's what buckets are for.

It's not an old roof, I replaced it about 13 years ago.  And I need this on top of the renos that are now in full swing.  Can't a girl catch a break?  Guess it's better to find it now rather than after the new flooring goes in, but still.  I'm frustrated.  There's only one thing to be done.

Isn't that what chocolate chips are for?


Book Review:  I was leery about the February book selection for my book club.  It was an Oprah pick at one time and she and I are not usually on the same page when it comes to books.  So I was more than pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis.  Each chapter deals with one of Hattie's children and reads as its own story but they are beautifully connected to each other and to Hattie.  If I had to describe this book in one word I'd say, "Exquisite."

....and I guess I really should stop procrastinating now and get up into that attic.

Carrying Less

A friend who has gone before me recommended I read To Walk Far, Carry Less.  It is the definitive guide on what and how to pack for the Camino. What it boils down to is that your pack shouldn't weigh more that 10% of your body weight, 11 to 12 % tops once you add in your daily rations of food and water. The author also takes it as far as weighing everything, and I mean everything, right down to the tags she urges you to cut off items, before weighing them all afterwards to see how much weight you've saved. Might seem a tad extreme on first consideration but I'm sure after days of lugging my belongings on my back I'll be happy to think it's 500 grams less because I took the time to follow this advice.

Which brings me to a bit of a conundrum.  For the third year running I'm participating in the East / West Challenge, a weight loss bet I have with a friend who lives on the eastern side of the country.  The first year I kicked butt, lost 15 lbs and won a Chapters gift card.  Then we both bought digital scales and were faced with the harsh reality that our old ones had been out a tad.  I mean, it still meant I lost the weight, but I had to start the next challenge up a few.  The year was an unmitigated disaster.  My friend was kicking butt...then she went on a three week cruise followed by several shorter trips and it was all downhill from there.  I never got ahead all year and ended the year more than I started.  Year 3 of the Challenge is based on a convoluted point system devised to encourage slow weight loss and maintenance as we tortoise our way towards the coveted Chapters gift card.

So here's my conundrum.  I figured it would be beneficial to lose some weight before my Camino so as not to be dragging extra poundage across northern Spain.  But as I lose, so must my pack.  Let's just pick a number at random -- say I weigh 160 lbs.  That means my pack can weigh 16 lbs.  But let's say I lose 15 lbs before I go.  So if I weigh 145 lbs, my pack should only weigh 14.5 lbs.  That's a lot of stuff I'd have to eliminate.

Moral of the story -- if I lose too much weight, I may well be walking the Camino in, well, let's just hope it's warm out.


Book Review:  I read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes after two friends highly recommended it, with a caution to keep the kleenex handy.  I was hesitant -- romance isn't really my thing, but I was assured it was not "Harlequin-y."  On that count she was right.  The writing was fine, the story was fine, the characters were well developed, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.  Waaaaaay too predictable for my liking.  That I didn't come close to shedding a tear says more about the "yeah, I know exactly where this is going" aspect of the story than it does about me being a cold heartless bitch.  Hey, I'll have you know I cried -- nay, wept -- at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.