quick trip to southern Ontario

I had to hit Welland for a wedding, so made sure to find some diversions there before I left. Farmer's market of course, because I have a one track mind and that's supposed to be Foodland Ontario:

I met a knitter from Welland on Ravelry and he gave me the lo-down. You should check out his podcast! He told me about a vegetarian vendor at the farmer's market, but it wasn't there this week. He also told me about knitting and crafty places all over the area, I wish I could've made it to all those little towns! I did get to Broadway Textiles, and the main LYS in Welland though:


Nancy the Librarian Action Figure liked the Welland Zine Library best:

Hit a yard sale and scored some Coronation Street loot, what great luck! Oh how I wish Spider would come back to the show with a good storyline. I wasn't watching it when he was a regular, so I only know him from when he came back to nurse Emily back to health after Richard Hillman twacked her over the head with a crowbar. He runs a juice bar in London and made her beet juice to replenish her.

Just for fun we went to Casino Niagara. I spent $5 and won $12!

Then we went to look at Niagara Falls, they're pretty.

And Magnolia climbed a tree:

Back home now, just in time to do some laundry and get to the Camera Obscura show tonight, yowza!!

back from the eastern part of La Belle Provence

Hey hey blogsters! I just got back from a week away. Unfortunately I left by eco-fu*king airplane on Earth Day, of all days! Magnolia and I are trying to grrlcott excessive carbon emissions, but it's tough.


When we landed in Quebec City, the sun was shining bright but there were still snow banks! See the snow on the side? But still mild enough to skateboard in short sleeves.


Marvelous weather for being around Vieux Quebec, and the hotel was just 2 blocks from a Le Commensal. Learned lots at the conference I was there for, as did Nancy.

After the conference ended on Wednesday we went to Gaspe to visit my cutie grandparents. We took a very long bus ride, which was less eco-oppressive than flying, plus Magnolia loved to look out the window:


I just finished reading Lullabies for Little Criminals while I was away. What a sweet, sad story. It won Canada Reads this year and was defended by John K. Sampson (who is vegan and a brilliant songwriter, and has the magic touch for picking books). It's subtle, but it'll knock your socks off.


Here's my Grampa, he just turned 102 years old!! He didn't call me la bella Carla even once, which made me sad because he couldn't remember me. But we did have some grand chats and played cards.


There was lots of snow in Gaspe, but the weather was mild:

But there wasn't any snow or ice left at the beach:


A dude I met out there told me that the seal hunt would be different if seals would become vegetarians! He said there's less sympathy for the seals because they eat so much fish, and people want to make money from fishing. Hmmm. (Either way, the fish get eaten by predators, and some would still want seal pelts.)

Home today, and that's nice after a week of eating in restaurants and other people's houses. I was aching for some asparagus risotto, so that's what I had tonight, with lots of lemon, peas and pine nuts:

here comes the Blythe

I finally got a Blythe doll! She's "prima dolly violet" and I call her Magnolia. We have so much in common: she prefers to wear skirts, she won't eat alfalfa sprouts and she loves Coronation Street.

Here she is at her first SnB. She likes to have handmade clothes but doesn't like to make them herself, so I'm making them. Here she is in the mod-a-go-go dress she came with and a scarf I knit:


Here she is at her first Oscars party. The other gal in the picture is Nancy, the Librarian Action Figure. The delicious tempeh and soba noodles with peanut sauce were made by Weibke, I just met her and she's great.

And the TVP tacos were made by Debbie. My lazy contribution was take out from Bo De Duyen.