Following my new trend of updating my blog only on major holidays: the (post) Christmas post. This is our version of holly, west-coast style. This is Oregon Grape Holly, basking in the sun Christmas morning.

We really lucked out in so many ways this Christmas. The weather was gorgeous all weekend. We were also really lucky to avoid both the snowstorms and intensified security screenings during our trip to Massachusetts this month. We got back on the 21st. We had a great time visiting my family, but I always feel it is tempting fate to go at Christmas. We managed to get away with it again this year.

Here I am getting ready to open one of my presents. It’s from Sam, as you can tell by the wrapping job.

It was a lovely quiet Christmas at home. We ate our way through the day, including Gary’s french toast with homemade bread for lunch.

I plan to update this blog religiously next year. So — see you on Easter! But seriously folks, I’m giving some thought to what I want to do with this space for the next little while. I won’t be here too often, but I’ll keep posting occasionally, perhaps in a different format.

Meanwhile, my resolutions for next year are pretty retro, technologically speaking. Working in social media has me thinking far too much about technology and social networks. I have a real love/hate relationship with Facebook. On one hand, I love being able to find people I’ve lost track of, and get glimpses of their lives. On the other hand, I’m uncomfortable turning over such a big part of my life to a third party, for-profit business. Isn’t that a bit creepy? Or is it just me?

More than anything, it’s made me realize I haven’t been very good at keeping up with all those people myself. So, this year, I’m in the market for a new address book. A real, physical book. I will write down all the addresses, phone numbers, birthdays I’ve been writing on pieces of paper or keeping in emails that I can’t find when I need them. And if you get a call from me, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Happy 2010 everyone!

Bugs have become a recurring theme lately around our house. If it isn’t gypsy moth caterpillars in the apple trees, it’s yellow jackets building a nest under our patio table. Fortunately we noticed a lot of activity around the table and discovered the nest before giving the table a good yank or knocking into the nest with our knees. Gary did the honours of removing the nest and let it be noted that he showed exceptional valour.

I spent some time in Victoria’s chinatown this week, while waiting for our car to be repaired. We are a one-car family, so I hopped the bus into town and brought my sketchbook with me. Which was a good thing to have, since there’s not much open in Victoria at 8:30 am. I love that time of morning when the coffee shops and breakfast places are busy and people are off to work. Stores are closed and different city things are happening: window washing, trucks making deliveries. It was a beautiful sunny spring day.

Our veggie patch is now tilled, amended, and planted. Radishes, chard and lettuce are sprouting so far. I’m also happy to see that my years of neglect are paying off in the herb garden. I love those plants that just want to be ignored. Some of my sage, oregano, parsley and thyme plants that I started two years ago are pretty well established now. My plan is to keep reclaiming ground from the overgrown gardens and plant more of those neglect-tolerant plants. I call it the “clear, hold and grow” strategy. And then eat.

Having the Bruins and Celtics both in the playoffs, yet living in Victoria? Best of times, worst of times.

A couple of weeks ago, Gary and I were watching Elvis Costello with James Taylor on Spectacle. (Anyone watching that by the way?) Elvis asked James Taylor about North Carolina, where he grew up, and he described it as the “place of my longing.” I like that phrase: that idea of home, how places become something more than what they are in reality. It’s not so much that you idealize that place, or even that you think being there would be so great. But memory distills moments from that time and place, and that feeling of home, into a few amber drops of honey that are held in the heart.

I once read something Joe Pernice wrote about his song “Somerville,” I think the phrase was that Boston is “far from the best city ever invented,” but he misses it anyway because he’s from there. Which is pretty much what I’m saying, but a lot more concise. I get that irrational longing sometimes. You know the longing is irrational when you start to get misty watching “The Departed.”

Speaking of which, when I was in Boston a few weeks ago I went to opening day at Fenway Park with my brother who awesomely got me a ticket. I wasn’t even supposed to arrive in time, but the game was awesomely (for me) rain-delayed by one day allowing me to actually go. So here’s the kind of moment that will never take place in Victoria (much as I love it): Bullpen door opens, and “Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys plays as Jonathan Papelbon stalks to the mound (in his scary intense way) to close the game. I can’t explain it.

Unrelatedly: the Dropkick Murphys used to show a highlight reel of former Bruins goon PJ Stock mugging various players. And now he’s a commentator on Hockey Night in Canada with perfect teeth. He’s pretty good actually. And for you Boston people: Do you know that Don Cherry is like royalty up here? Do you know about his suits? I don’t think the vital status of Don Cherry in Canadian life is well known in Boston, but I may be wrong. Google Coach’s Corner.

Oh well, its up to the Celtics now, with the Bruins losing in overtime tonight to end their season. They lost in pretty good style, though. One last word to Patrice Bergeron — keep the playoff beard!

These are our new farm friends, showing off their good sides in the evening light. These are all this year’s babies. Aren’t they sweet? We’ve been visiting the gang up at our landlady’s farm, helping out a bit with the evening feeds. Unfortunately the sheep don’t really need attention in the evening, except for these lambies that get a little bit of hay. They look like a little group of backup singers.

Long summer days=short summer posts.

A few pictures from the last two weeks; visit from my sister and her family (I miss you guys), Metchosin Sheepdog Trial, Butchart Gardens. We also had a lot of great hanging out time, visiting the beach, watching the scene in downtown Victoria on lunch hour, playing with Sam.

Finally, at the end, a scene from my Thursday commute home. From Victoria’s Inner Harbour to Metchosin by bicycle! That’s approximately 24 km (almost 15 miles). It only took me, well, a somewhat leisurely 1 hour and 47 minutes. The great part was that I could take my bike into work on the bus, so I didn’t have to face the steep gravel pit hill first thing in the morning, get to work at 10:30, get all sweaty and bring extra clothes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it does greatly decrease the chances that I would ever actually do that.

Things are still quite busy around here, so it may be a while between posts. Enjoy those long summer days.

BC’s new carbon tax went into effect July 1. In June, everyone in BC got a check for $100 from the province, a one-time bonus to ease the shock. Just the push I needed to finally get a new bike — one that I might actually want to ride, unlike my old one. Isn’t she a beauty? I would call that colour “Arbutus”. Pretty.

The story has it that Gordon Campbell (that’s BC’s Premier, for residents of the US) started to take climate change seriously after reading George Monbiot’s book “Heat.” I read “Heat” last year, and it is an amazing book. A downer? Yes. But a well-reasoned one. Monbiot’s research assistant should have gotten his name on the book too. It’s more substantiated than anything else I’ve seen. It tries to answer the question of whether and how we can make the changes necessary to reduce carbon emissions enough to avoid the worst effects of global warming. Gary is reading it right now, which is good, so he can share in my sense of generalized dread. I read it last year, and actually, I feel more hopeful now than I did then. Its starting to feel like things could change.

Of course, it hasn’t stopped me from flying off across the country, like we recently did to Toronto. Where, (among other things) we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame and saw the Stanley Cup . . .

So, for penance, today we took the bikes to the Metchosin Farmer’s Market and bought our local peas and swiss chard. It all sounds very nice and neighborly, but I tell you, its a cut-throat atmosphere when the market opens at 11. People cutting in line all “oh — I didn’t notice you were there” like. Jockeying for the last bunch of spinach. I think you could make some money buying up all the spinach and basil and then setting up your own stand and selling it at a 100% markup.

Our own garden is very neglected. Makes me appreciate the value of drought-tolerant plants — there are some lovely flowers in the front garden (which is totally on autopilot from all the gardeners who came before us) in spite of the neglect and the dry weather. This photo is for my mom, of the hens and chicks we bought the spring before last, which has recently experienced this fascinating growth spurt.

I’m having a work-at-home weekend, here, so I must get back to it. We are getting excited for the next in our series of July guests. It’s a lovely summer, but busy, so excuse me if you don’t hear from me again for a while. I’ll be on my bike.

Well, my sweetie is away, and it’s just like old times for me and Sam. A walk in the morning before work in the first light of the day, and a walk when I get home, usually after it’s already gotten dark. A quick dinner after that, then a quiet evening at home. Gary, if you’re reading this, we miss you! We’ve fallen into all kinds of bad habits — watching too much TV, eating too many little snacks. Come home quick!

I’ve been working full time for the last couple of weeks. Its a change from what I’ve been doing, for sure, but its amazing how quickly the routine becomes familiar again. Getting that one or two little things done in the evening becomes a big victory. Like tonight, woo hoo, I finally completed the RAM upgrade on my mac mini! I was so determined to have that mini all upgraded and running for the new year, I got my CS3 upgrade all installed, updated the OS, and ordered 2 gigs of RAM. Then I got the mini open, which is a semi-legendary task which involves the use of putty knives and screwdrivers to pry off the outer casing. I ordered some incredibly cheap memory from an online retailer (I mean, it would literally have saved me $300 compared to the official apple memory), but the chips were bad. I gave up, returned it, and went to a local store to buy the memory (still cheaper than apple), so at least if it didn’t work I wouldn’t have to get the RMA, mail it back, etc. etc. Anyway, when I got there they had just sold their stock and I had to wait another couple of weeks to get the memory. So it was gratifying to finally get the memory installed, power everything up, and actually see the happy apple appear and everything start up cleanly! Please excuse this oversharing of my geeky evening, but Sam just doesn’t seem to appreciate the magnitude of this moment.

The goose at the top of the post is from my sketchbook. Sketching is great because you can do it in little bits and pieces, and actually it’s good practice for me right now to do it in short spurts. I’m trying to do lots of gesture sketches and short thumbnails, trying to train my eye and hand again. You really get out of practice when you don’t draw often enough. I’m used to doing gestures in figure drawing, but for some reason I never thought of doing them for landscapes or animals. Its hard not to get overwhelmed by the detail in a scene or the quick movements of a bird or other animal. Working on getting a few quick marks down and keeping your eyes on my subject more than my paper is helping me get at the essentials.

The beach near our house is the scene of a local New Year’s Day tradition — the polar bear swim and New Year’s Day Levee, hosted by a family that lives at the end of the beach road. The afternoon’s events include a walk and run through the park to the beach, timed to end just before 2 pm. Walkers, runners, swimmers, and spectators gradually gather at the beach, and at 2 pm the swimmers dash into the surf. The gathered crowd then wanders up to the host’s house to warm up, and a big buffet is put out with everyone’s holiday leftovers, loaves of fresh bread, casseroles and hams, and lots of desserts. Did I swim? No. But I did join in on the walk from our street down to the beach, and went to the open house for a while.

The great thing about this event is that its all generated by one family opening their doors up to the community, and now it has become a tradition for many families (this is their 20th year). While the hosts are still mingling on the beach, people start walking up to the house and putting out the spread. Its a self-starting party. The atmosphere was so welcoming and convivial that I found it pretty easy to talk with new people, which is not really my strong suit. Afterwards, I hiked back home through the park with my neighbor’s daughter who is home from university. It was a grey day, but the views of the Olympic Mountains were amazing. Fresh snow was blowing off the peaks in swirling clouds, catching the light from different angles all day long.

It was great, but I missed sharing it with Gary and Sam. Gary has a cold, and coughed so much last night he barely got any sleep. And Sam would have loved the walk, but not the party. So the boys had to stay home while I tagged along to the party with our neighbors.

And now back to the kitchen: Couldn’t wait to start using the Rebar cookbook, so Saturday night I made the Udon Ginger Squash in miso-shiitake broth (p 178, for those reading along at home). I tried to follow the recipe as closely as I could, in fact I picked the recipe because we had a beautiful orange japanese winter squash in cold storage that I wanted to use (picked up in the fall at the Metchosin farmer’s market). We even took a trip to the “market on millstream” (west shore version of the market on yates) for the seaweed and other items that I couldn’t find at Thrifty’s this week. The dish turned out delicious, and was worth it just for the part where make the gingery baked squash.

The flavor of the miso broth was great (thankfully, since the preparation involves simmering the stock for an hour with six bucks worth of seaweed and dried shiitake mushrooms — it was rather painful to realize I was just going to strain them out and chuck them in the compost). One small drawback of the recipe: its a bit awkward to eat without making a mess. You’ve got the broth, and the udon noodles, and these whole leaves of baby bok choy and squash wedges, which make for a nice presentation but do present a bit of a cutlery dilemma. (Knife, fork, and spoon, I decided.) But all in all, it was a perfect warm and colorful dish for a sleety, rainy, windy winter night.