Why Did the Snail Cross the Road?

I have absolutely no idea.

 

Dude, It’s Been a Minute

…and the Doubles have been calling out to me.

Bob, (remember him?), is now old enough to, not only drive, but also offer to get me food. 😃

Let’s just say this greasy deliciousness didn’t stick around for long.

Trini Doubles from the local Caribbean restaurant.

Another thing: is life really complete without candies from your childhood? No, no it’s not. That’s why this also happened a few minutes later…

Botan rice candies from Japan. I love the rice paper that each candy is wrapped in underneath the actual wrapper.

Then this happened directly thereafter…

I’m ashamed to admit I don’t know what type of fish this was, but regardless, it was delicious.

And while we’re on the topic of things happening, a few other things transpired (shocking, I know):

Jelly candies, also with rice paper around them, from Japan.
Red bean cakes. Do you need me to keep articulating the country of origin for all this stuff?
You sprinkle this on rice to keep things interesting. Fellow Asians no doubt understand the struggle. Go figure, I accidentally bought the one with wasabi.
I’ve decided to try making hijiki salad. Dude, I came home and realized I forgot to buy the one thing I originally went to the Japanese grocery store for—mirin. 😖
I’ve been calling these powdery, edible hacks sacks “munju” my entire life. Imagine my surprise learning they’re also known as “daifuku”. Who would’ve thunk it, eh?

And lastly, this, too, came to pass. (I really want to make a joke right now, but I’ll spare you…just this once):

I thoroughly enjoyed the contents of this bento box—so good!

Well, that’s all I got fer ya today.

Feel free to re-oggle this post to your heart’s content, and tell your friends while you’re at it too, eh?

😄

The Unexpected Happened

For anyone who knows me, they’re quite familiar with the fact that I never use my oven. And when I say never, I really mean never.

Up until a couple weeks ago, I hadn’t turned that thing on in almost five-ish years. That’s a pretty long time to not use an oven, right?

A good friend of mine helped me get the oven racks back into the oven which was a real game-changer (haha). Since then, I’ve baked blueberry muffins on three different occasions, including the batch in the picture below.

Seriously, had you told me a month ago that I’d enjoy making these as much as I do, (and using an oven, at that!) I would have never believed you.

My, how things can change. And so quickly, too!

The third batch of organic muffins I’ve made. Everything in these are organic, with the exception of the table salt used.

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Felicity

What’s on my needles? Why, Felicity of course! 😊

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Workout

So, instead of a gym membership, I purchased a seasons pass to the Zoo. I’ve totally gotten my money’s worth and have been here several times since last July.

What I love about the Zoo is, not only that I can clock about 4000 steps on my FitBit, but also that I get to check out the animals while I’m at it.

Love it here!

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Majesty

I never fully understood why they’re called the “King of the Jungle”. I never really understood the term, “Heart of a Lion”. I never fully comprehended what the big deal was about a lion’s roar…until today.

While at the zoo, I heard their roar in person for the first time. All I have to say is, “Wow!” I was amazed at how loud it was and how far it travelled – I heard it what must have been about a kilometre away! And their heads! Have you seen the size of a lion’s head??? It’s massive!

Today I learnt what all the fuss is about. They are utterly beautiful creatures – one of God’s many works of art. Simply magnificent.

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Pioneer Village

Although the weather has been a bit wonky of late, earlier today wasn’t too bad. I decided to make my way over to our City’s Pioneer Village and enjoy a bit of the sun while it lasted.

Peek back into time.

Yellow

 

Red Barn Which Way Shall I Go? Annie Freeway Clearing in the Woods Post Blue Massive Beckon

Chill

Here’s a five-month old Dave. Dave is a Dumeril’s Boa. Dave is extremely strong for his size, much stronger than my ball pythons. Maybe it’s just more noticeable because Dave constricts. I like Dave. Dave is cool.

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For You

Love’s as strong as death my love
Unyielding as the grave
Relentless as the desert sun
And rivers cannot wash my love away
And many waters cannot quench love
– Rich Mullins

Canopy With a View

About a month ago, my best friend and I visited a popular ski resort.  No, we didn’t go skiing :-).  Yes, we actually  do get spring and summer in Canada :-).  We took a tour through ancient caves, did a six-hundred metre canopy walk through the trees (that was fun but slightly stressful), and zip lined a couple times.

I want to just come back to the canopy walking for a second.  If you ever decide to do something like this, make sure you’ve got a good pair of running shoes on, you don’t have weak knees, and you’re capable of balancing your way across really skinny planks of lumber hinged together with creaking metal connector doo-hickey-thingys.  May sure you’re okay with hugging a tree for dear life eighty to one hundred feet up in the air while you unclamp yourself from your life line wire and re-clamp it to the next wire moving in the opposite direction.  Make sure you can balance yourself when the wind blows up there.  Make sure you won’t freak out when the wood planks make this funny sound like they’re going to snap in two at any minute and leave you dangling like a limp rag doll when your harness catches your fall and you snap back about ten feet in the air due to the impact.

Other than that, enjoy the experience and get some great pics! 😛

This is a view of a dead canopy "trail" after we had finished the canopy walk.  Taken while standing on a canopy base build around a massive tree trunk about 70 feet.  I loved the zip line down.

This is a view of a dead end canopy “trail” after we’d finished the canopy walk. Taken while standing on a canopy base build around a massive tree trunk about 70 feet up in the air. I loved the zip line down.

I got brave while balancing on those ridiculously skinny wood planks to pull out my camera and snap a quick shot.  It was super peaceful up there and very surreal.

I got brave while balancing on those ridiculously skinny wood planks to pull out my camera and snap a quick shot. It was super peaceful up there and very surreal.

 

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Stumpy

Cricket’s toe was bitten off a few months ago after a bad fight with another hormonal female. I’m thinking of changing her name to Stumpy. My poor girl. 💜

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Betcha Can’t Find Me…

Actually Brucie-boy, you gave me a good run for my money 😊

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Things that will not survive a parrot in the house.

Testing, testing?

Three Birds and a Cloud's avatarThree Birds and a Cloud

All of the above have been rescued before maximum damage could occur.

Not pictured: Wires; cables; any technology, but computer keyboards being a favourite; any cloth material; toys (of course); popsicle sticks; tissues; boxes; door frames; anything unattended, ever; anything you’re using. There is a parrot’s creed, which also applies closely to toddlers:

1. If you like it, it’s mine.

2. If I can reach it, it’s mine.

3. If it’s in my beak or foot, it’s mine.

4. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.

5. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.

6. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

7. If I’m chewing something, all the pieces are mine.

8. If it looks like mine, it’s mine.

9. If I saw it first, it’s mine.

10. If you have something and you put it down…

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Training Day

Way back two Septembers ago, I had purchased an Aviator Harness for Keeleigh. Things were a bit nuts at that point and I just didn’t have the time or the energy to train her.

Today I decided to take a crack at it. I watched the enclosed DVD about getting the bird accustomed to it before trying to get it on. Keeleigh is pretty tame and so I figured it wouldn’t take her too much time to get used to it.

First I draped it around my neck while holding her and giving her scritches. She immediately took it off me and walked off with it in her mouth to play with it. After a few minutes, I continued patting her and draped it across her back. No reaction. So five minutes later, I easily put it over her head and got her into it. The challenging part was tightening the harness around her “waist”, but since she’s used to me picking her up and holding her different ways, I was able to get it tightened. I took her outside for a walk around the block. To show her appreciation she pooped on my shoulder. How adorable.

Getting it off wasn’t difficult at all. I hope she lets me put it on her again so easily next time.

Newman was born December 24,2012 and I brought him home March 10, 2013. He’s a Maximilian Pionus, and oh, is he a smart one! I want to eventually be able to get a harness on him as well, and so with this baby, I think it’s going to take me a bit more time.

I started today with his black harness draped around my neck; it was the first thing he went for. He started playing with it right away, which is a good sign. At least he’s not scared of it. I’ll take it slow with this one, I don’t want him getting freaked out by it early in the game. I really want to be able to take him outside with it on.

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Bzzzzzzzz

I was at the Whole Foods in my area yesterday, and couldn’t resist shelling out a few extra dollars for this great 100% cappings beeswax candle.

A few weeks back, I’d picked up a few tea light candles made by this company and loved them!

I’m a huge fan of the negative ions they emit while burning, plus the fact that my parrots are safe around them. I’ll never burn a paraffin candle again…

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Tom, I Love You

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I’m not quite sure which one’s Tom, but I’ve decided that I like his Diner.

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Still Searching

I’ve been through at least two different themes and I still am not able to decide on one I like.

Yes, I’m a cheap-skate, because the ones I like, I don’t want to pay for.  I’m after the free themes :-P.

I was using Choco – it was nice, but I got a bit tired of the brown colour, so I’ve now changed it to “Chunk”.  I’ll play around with it and see if I can customize it a bit more to my liking.

Am I ever going to be satisfied with the way my blog looks????

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A True Friend

A True Friend
A true friend knows your weaknesses
but shows you your strengths,
feels your fears but fortifies your faith,
sees your anxieties but frees your spirit;
recognizes your disabilities
but emphasizes your possibilities.
William Arthur Ward

New WordPress Theme?

I’m kinda getting sick of my current blog layout.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love it still – Contempt is the layout I’m currently using.  I distinctly remember spending hours on one of my previous winter holidays getting my blog to look the way I wanted it to – basically getting it up and running.

That being said, I think it still might be time to “shop around” and see what other options are out there….

Don’t be surprised if the blog looks different in a day or two 🙂

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Woofstock 2012

Today I decided to go down to Woofstock. I felt really bad about it, but I decided to only take Bruce along with me. My reasoning was that it was a really hot day today, I don’t have air conditioning, and I didn’t want Zoe to overheat.

It’s really good that I left Zoe at home, because I was on the highway and ended up getting a flat tire. If she was with me, she would’ve really been overheating in the car while we waited for the tow truck.

Here’s a video of poor Brucie in the backseat with all the windows open putting up with all the wind. There was also a very small chihuahua downtown that we met. I’ve never seen another adult Chihuahua the same size as Bruce. She looked like she was a little bit shorter than Bruce, but Bruce wasn’t quite as long and he was skinnier as well.

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What The !@?!$$&%#^*~£¥.!!?!!

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Here lies Marsha. Marsha with the half chewed off face. I used to think that Dwarf Hamsters were cute. I’ve since learnt better.

Dwarf Hamsters are nasty little cannibals. I just fed Marsha last night. I knew she was old and sick, but didn’t expect her to die so soon.

I just hope her sister, Number 4, chose to wait until she was dead before she crunched on her right eyeball. I’d say it would have been the only decent thing to do.

David Letterman’s Top Ten Most Polite Ways to Say Your Fly is Down

10. The cucumber has left the salad.

9. Quasimodo needs to go back in the tower and tend to his bells.

8. You need to bring your tray table to the upright and locked position.

7. Paging Mr. Johnson… Paging Mr. Johnson..

6. Elvis is leaving the building.

5. The Buick is not all the way in the garage.

4. Our next guest is someone who needs no introduction.

3. You’ve got a security breach at Los Pantalones.

2. Men may be From Mars…..but I can see something that rhymes with Venus.

And the #1 way to tell someone his zipper is unzipped…..

I always knew you were crazy, but now I can see your nuts.

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner..

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man!

That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; I had lost my heart to a lovely girl called Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, 30% shares of my company and the car. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly.

Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife s divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully. My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy.

Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset.

I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office. On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she\had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me; she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head. Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mum out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life.

My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office… jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind… I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore. “,

She looked at me, astonished. Then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death does us apart.

Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote: “I’ll carry you out every morning until deaths do us apart”

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed – dead.

My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I had been so busy with Jane to even notice.

She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from whatever negative reaction from our son in case we pushed through the divorce At least in the eyes of our son I was a loving Husband.

The small details of our lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, the property, the bank balance that matters. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

If you don’t share this, nothing will happen to you, but if you do, you just might save a marriage. Relationships are made not to exploit, not to be broken. We teach some by what we say ,we teach some more by what we do but we teach most by what we are.

Yamoto Drummers of Japan

This past Monday night, my best friend and I went to see Yamoto Drummers of Japan at the Rose Theatre in Brampton.

It was hands down one if the best performances I’ve ever been to. They did a great job of getting the audience involved. I love the mixture of traditional and modern, and absolutely loved the shamisen performance. I couldn’t get over how fit all of them were; I could never go for such long stretches of time continually beating those drums to death, and so quickly too.

After the performance, we stopped to take some pictures of the lights.

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Driving

I had a great time cruising the city 🙂

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