will the wind ever remember

hi. lets go on a trip. i hope you like snow.

























we stopped at this field to "get some fresh air" and i'm so glad we did because just ahead of us a buck walked out of the forest, across the road, and back into the forest. it was something.









this was taken in my favourite parking lot in algonquin. it was deserted but the drop toilets were open (thank you!). it was silent and beautiful and i got to stare into the most magical forest and just breathe it in. those small trees are actually quite large and there is something so breathtaking about the juxtaposition. tall trees.

"i smell my past"

i know this is a month old but if you haven't seen it, you need to.

holiday partying

it's no secret that i like getting festive. any excuse to decorate stuff, get dressed up, bake things, give stuff away...you name it, i love it. I LOVE CHRISTMAS. there i said it. christmas is when my whole family (with some exceptions) gathers at my cottage for a week and hangs out in sweatpants having LOTR marathons. we balance it with multiple snow-related outdoor excursions each day. when i was little my dad would sneak off into the woods and my mom would take us outside to listen for santa, who we always heard (or wanted to think we did) in part due to the faint jingling of mystery bells off in the distance. we would scramble into bed, and try to fall asleep as quickly as possible to hurry the morning to us. there may or may not have also been several instances of a "magic" christmas tree in the woods that would light up when we walked past it after christmas dinner. yes, i come from a fairy tale, i know. anyway, this all means that i am conditioned to love christmas and as such when it rolls around i'm ready to paaaaar-taaaaaaaaaaayyyyy. which is great, cause so are my friends.

first up: hanukah party. mood lighting is important at parties. it makes people feel like they're good looking and then they have more fun.



mood lighting with candles. happy birthday matias!



bathroom selfie! shut up, otherwise there are no photos of me because i am TAKING them.



rennick, you look sheepish. why ever would you look sheepish? up to NO GOOD.



party time!



matzo ball soup time! rennick helps himself to another bowl. i would have had more than one if i hadn't only discovered it right before leaving.



tami saves the rest from being drunken by drunken louts (me).



that's it for hanukah party, it was a great time!

quick break for a squirrel convention. i count ten. it was a sight.



next up: mike and jana's xmas jam.

two week old baby! TINY BABY!!!!



who's that girl by the tree?



okay, so for this party there was a gift exhange, whereby you bring something that you no longer want from your house. great idea.



eric unwraps, and falls in love with papa smurf.

not sure what alex is looking at.



jay and julia STEAL the smurf.



eric has to pick again. a wolf painting. lovely.



AND THEN HE STOLE THE SMURF BACK! reunited.



do smurfs like mulled wine? probably. i ended up with a six pack of old milwaukee. yum.

next party: my own. here is a thing i made. i hung it in the bathroom so people getting a little alone time could do so in the company of the smell of pine. i also hung a mistletoe with plans of forcing people to kiss under it and take their pictures but that didn't happen because i wasn't dressed when the doorbell first rang, you know how it is.



at one point there were about 7 or 8 humans under the age of 4. there are 4 visible in this photo, if you count eve's dress on the right there. too much cute. i put out a gingerbread house for them to decorate and keep them entertained. it was a hit and is now a work of art.



upside down addie!



eve was running around wielding this. i don't know what it is, but it was funny.



this is an "after" of the food table. there was an entirely separate baked goods table. i really wish i had taken photos of the before, because i impressed myself. it ALL got eaten. decimated by hungry holiday revellers. i think there were about 60 people that came through in total. insane.



this is at about 10. an hour after this i could barely walk through the kitchen.



ELF BABY!!! oh little elf baby you are the sweetest.



then i stopped taking photos. if anyone has any, please send them to me. particularly if you have one of ME at my own party, that would be great. i wore sequins, red lips and the heels that you can only sort of see in this accidental photo of a shadow of them. or did i? for all you know i could have been wearing a garbage bag. literally the only me-related photo of the night. i was so excited to see so many people i love that the documentation fell by the wayside. next time i'm hiring a photographer.



it was a blast. best party i've ever had. 

i don't got beef 'cause i don't eat no meat

i have not watched the following video, but if you eat meat, then you probably should. i just can't stand watching this stuff, the images stay in my mind and it's all i can think about. these are the reasons i don't eat meat. i refuse to participate in the factory farming industry. if you do (and if you eat meat from the grocery store, then you do), you should at least educate yourself about where your money is going, and what kind of bad karma you're putting in your mouth with your "but it's soooo delicious" bacon. fuck you, i don't care about your taste buds. bacon-free since 1996.

even the still of the video brings tears to my eyes. pigs are so gentle, and so smart. fuck these people.

personally, i think that eating pigs should be illegal until we get this cruelty shit under control. we need to fix this, and the only way i know how is to boycott. if we all did that maybe there would be some change.

tell me the truth

mega jam.

THIS DAY ON LIVEJOURNAL NINE YEARS AGO

Title: It's really long eh?

Body: i just read the whole Indian Act

p.s.: "A person is entitled to have his name entered in a Band List maintained in the Department pursuant to section 13.2 if that person was entitled to have his name entered, and his name was entered, in the Band List immediately before a copy of it was provided to the Minister under subsection 13.2(2), whether or not that person is also entitled to have his name entered in the Band List under section 11."

WTF???MY BRAIN IS WAY TOO SMALL FOR THIS!!!

/end post. why i thought my brain was small for not being able to understand that upon first reading it is beyond me. oh, the indian act. you tricky devil. i wish i could remember all of that stuff i learned. i also wish that you could do updated refresher courses. wouldn't that be useful.

and then i fall and then i know

this is what happens when you try to paint a ceiling with your top bun. this is one section of many sections. it really knows how to hide in there.



saturday night i was "tired" so i didn't really want to "go out" so gathering at lauren's for wine and cheese fit the bill perfectly.



there were lights



there was a dog, she was adored.



see?



can't decide who's cuter



so then, as usual, we got a second wind and ventured out to the red light then the get well, at which point we were struck by crowd ennui (?) and i asked if everyone wanted to go to a christmas party. obviously, we did. who doesn't love christmas parties? the worst people, that's who.

here we are, standing around, you know.



oh, what's that? apple pie moonshine? OKAY! YES! HERE WE GO!



what's that? MORE apple pie moonshine? OKAY, YES THIS TOO PLEASE.



then Lorien showed up with a bottle of screech and that is the end of a story i like to call "i don't remember how i got home", alternate working title "how i ruined my sunday".



anyway, glad i got that out of my system i needed to blow off steam and thar she blew.

okay, it's christmas, and that means baking. the joy of cooking is a pretty good go-to. i use this recipe every year:



it has never failed me. ever. i would like to memorize it. i do every year but then i forget because i have too much other stuff happening in my mindgrapes. way too much.

another good go-to is I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris.



this book is like a bizarre pinterest board curated by a delusional qualuude-popping housewife. it is full of helpful advice, such as:

"A good trick is to fill your medicine cabinet with marbles. Nothing announces a nosey guest better than an avalanche of marbles hitting a porcelain sink"

“Don't leave a piece of jewelry at his house so you can go back and get it later; he may be with his real girlfriend.”

also, wisdom:

“Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it.”

and:

“I think it's good for a person to spend time alone. It gives them an opportunity to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone.”