bounty

just read (here) that the HMS Bounty has been sunk by hurricane sandy, and that two of the crew members were missing. i thought the name rang a bell, and here's why:



it was parked in the harbour in Puerto Rico (previously detailed here) when we went for the day on the last trip to DR.





i'm so glad i got to see this ship. very, very sad, what a huge loss.

sunset sings the sweetest tune

no sign of the sun

i wanted to run until sunrise, but had to get in the shower by 7, so. it's going to be a looooong winter.

nuts

eat more nuts. toast them in a cast iron and put em on your pancakes (over vanilla yogurt with maple syrup and blueberries and dried cranberries).





or, if you have a lot of them make some granola, you dirty hippy. i use something close to this recipe, but i simplify it and usually kind of wing it because i don't like measuring out lots of things. having to measure lots of things means i will never make it.

here's how:
5 cups oats
3 cups of various nuts of your choice, chopped if you so desire
2 cups dried fruit (raisins/cranberries/blueberries/cherries/whatever)
1/2 C applesauce
1/2-3/4 C syrupy stuff (honey/maple syrup/corn syrup/agave) depending on how sweet and chunky you want it
1/4 C oil of any kind (except maybe olive)




mix everything except dried fruit in a large bowl, spread it all on a baking sheet (it will be thick), bake it at 300 for at least 45 minutes, stirring and flipping every now and then to see how it's going. i usually leave it in for close to an hour because i like my nuts to be toasty. heh heh heh.



see? delicious. easy. it's a bit expensive to make because you have to buy all the nuts up front but you want to have those anyway, so you might as well put them in something you can eat every day.



having stuff like this around makes you feel like you are getting somewhere in life even if you aren't. they should call it "procrastination self-soothing distraction medley" or "i have accomplished this minor thing today so now i can S a J and watch parks and rec without feeling too guilty" instead of Granola.

a wide open country in my eyes

pretty sweet.

turn the summer into dust

who doesn't need to roll around in a sunbeam now and again? (that's a hypothetical question, everyone does. everyone.)

family values

this weekend i did not get drunk once. i would say i feel awesome because of it, but my sobriety was matched by an all-out junk food fest, so, oh well. balance. it's a tricky thing and i'm still learning every day.

friday night a few ladies came over for wine and talk. we had sort of planned to watch a movie so i picked up the one below but as always the time flew and we were too busy catching up and laughing hysterically to think about putting it on. what an amazing group of women, i constantly feel amazed and inspired.

saturday we went to see Frida and Diego at the AGO. it was beautiful, i highly recommend it. here is what you do: buy your ticket to the exhibit. see the exhibit. realize you want to come back when it's less busy and that you also want to be a member for a whole year. trade in your ticket stubs and pay the remainder of the membership fee-for two that's like $70. we only paid $50 (for 13 months) because of some email sale we got on. they want you. let them have you.

saturday night saw a small birthday shindig for alex and mary at their place. there was cheese. lots and lots of delicious cheese. and wine. red wine, which i am drinking again, damn the consequences. DAMN THEM.



bathroom selfie. fuck i look tired (and terrible). i was. i needed a good long sleep, which i then got, thanks in part to the red wine. consequences. i liked my shirt though. this one's a winner (almost wrote sinner). it says "i'm a secretary, but i'm off-call and tucked into this highwaisted dark denim so it's probably the seventies so i'm PROBABLY down for a good time". (really it says that i'm trying to get use of all my blouses before i become firmly entrenched in winter sweaters.)



anyway, back to the cheese.



some very saucy dish towels. alex is a collector of lady-body art. there is a nekkers print of me floating around somewhere.



sunday i dragged myself out of bed and went for a solid 5K. i'm trying to get my pace back to what it was at the beginning of the summer, around 5:20/K. i hit 5:35/K yesterday, so i'm happy with that. putting my back out then straining my quad had me out for several weeks and if i don't really keep at it, i lose it. going to go for a longer one on thursday morning i think. i want to be able to do 6K in half an hour.



this hill definitely factors into my pace, after i get to the top i have to fight to just keep going (want to die) so i'm going slow.



but seriously it was so beautiful out that i am going to make an effort to not drink and go to bed early one weekend night so that i can get out this early again.



come on.







just gorgeous.

came across this thing on grace st., what a creepy thing to leave lying around. i considered reporting it because, well, it's not exactly like it's cold enough out to warrant full face coverage, but didn't because i would feel a bit silly calling in a hat.

speaking of creepy things, as you probably know (since you are on the internet), they caught my neighbourhood perv. thank god, finally. but you know, it's not like "oh yay, now i can run around alone at night listening to headphones without being afraid", i think fear is a hard thing to remove. it leaves an imprint, and having something like this happen in your neighbourhood is traumatizing. it shows you what is possible, what there IS to be afraid of. anyway. the guy is only 15. fucked up. this society is fucked up and i'm never having kids and i'm moving to bunker etc.

for now, high park zoo!! went to lunch at the grenadier with mom, sis and sis's friend. wandered amongst the animal pens. hi, i love you.







my kind of goat.





this is a yak. it had one foot standing in it's water tub.



oh, that fur.



let's take a closer look.



CAPYBARAS!! the world's largest rodent.





a volunteer was walking around with a reindeer. do you know how difficult it was for me to not push all the kids out of the way so i could pet it? VERY. but i restrained myself.



and some of these. they all had their beaks snuggled into their feathers except one. i would imagine they take turns keeping watch.



very fluffy and cozy.



awwww. these guyz. too cute.




if you can, get out to high park right now. this week. do it. it's perfect. 

must i dream and always see your face

sweet things from across the world. they help and hinder.



beers at lunch. same thing.



alphonse only ever helps. he hasn't visited me today. i hope he's ok.



watching wildlife through my office window, it's basically a scene from a sad, dark movie.

protagonist woman sits at desk, stares blankly out window. watches small squirrel on ledge. ponders own life cycle, mortality, freedom, the struggle for existence, how bleak and meaningless said existence is. we are all just scavenging alone. dust to dust etc.

okay, so maybe he does hinder, just a little. but he makes up for it by being so darn cute.

run, jump and skip, little alphonse. someone might as well.



oh alfie. be mine forever. don't ever leave. one day i will actually bring you those sunflower seeds i keep promising you.

for now i'm going for lunch. bye.

let's play customer service

so, like every other person out there, i went fall boot shopping. i looked high and low and finally found exactly what i wanted in these. cute, right?



yup, perfect. unfortunately they only had a 6.5 and i am a 6. i know. very small feet. the VERY helpful sales girl said to just order them online. i said "good idea!". so i did, on September 28th. very exciting. 10-12 business days for shipping, it said. ok cool, i said. not ideal, but i can wait two and a half weeks since they're exactly what i want.

today, since 12 days was yesterday (if you are generous and don't count the day i ordered them) i dug out my "ORDER CONFIRMATION" email and called the customer service number to find out the "status" of my order. i got excited and was ready to hear "they're on your front porch RIGHT NOW" or "the truck is leaving the depot riiiiight now!".

instead, the woman said "they're scheduled to arrive at the warehouse on November 16th". "what?" i said. "what warehouse? are you kidding me?" i said. "why is this the first i'm hearing of this?" i said.

she asked if i checked the "availability tab" before buying them. no, no i did not, because i assume that if i can BUY SOMETHING that it is actually THERE TO BE BOUGHT. how naive of me. i've only been buying things online for ten years, so, what do i know? apparently there is a new thing where you can buy something that doesn't actually exist.

so i went and looked for this so-called "availability tab", and this is what it looks like:



let's not even get into the fact that the "ADD TO BAG" button is not only the first thing that seasoned online shoppers (like myself) look for, but it is waaaaayyyy more prominent than the "availability tab". AND let's not get into the fact that the "6" is clickable and you can add it to your bag without further ado. most importantly: to ME (and i'm pretty smart), it looks like there is a CHECK MARK (the universally accepted symbol of "YES") beside the word "availability". am i wrong?

apparently, yes. APPARENTLY, the check mark means "check this!", and you have to go out of your way to make sure that the item for purchase is actually...an item for purchase (even though you can add it to your bag). so, you are supposed to click on the availability "tab" (not a tab, more of a "word" with no indication that it is a link) to see this:



oh look, literally the ONLY size they don't have is mine. unless i wanted them in brown, which i don't (well, i do, but a girl has to pick). so, it's a "pre-order". for something that is ALREADY IN STORES. a pre-order. which they didn't tell me before i bought it, or when i bought it, didn't tell me in my confirmation email, and only told me when i went out of my way to call them. surprise!! you thought you would get them in 10-12 business days! what we meant was 49 days, then 4 days for processing through the warehouse (24 "business hours", i know what that means) THEN 10-12 business days for shipping. so, 65-67 days, depending on how the weekends fall. speaking of fall, IT WILL BE LONG OVER BY THE TIME I GET MY FALL BOOTS.

dicks. DICKS. next time i want to buy something online from UO i'll just take some money, rip it into little pieces, and sprinkle it into my cats' litter box.