Labour Day Weekend

Drinking coffee made from lake water. A campfire made of fallen wood, burning in a rainstorm. Finding the right tree to hang food up and away from wildlife. Setting up and tearing down camp. Hiking. For hours.

(campsite 11B; campsite 10B)

"Can you hear the wolves calling?"

"No."

"They're pretty far away. You can barely hear them, but they're out there."

Jacques Cousteau's Toque

It's taken a long time to photograph the Jacques Cousteau style toque I knit Greg (a basic 2x2 rib in red wool), but he wore it this past weekend, while we were camping in Frontenac Park, and as the sun went down and it started to rain, I did, between fits of laughter.


This man is hilarious.


(J-Y C photo found here)

Favourites from the Sartorialist Archives

Perhaps against my better judgment, I've borrowed these from the Sartorialist for my own little archive of well-dressed people.


This guy was nominated as Sartorialist of the year.


(Found here: July 28, 2006)

the same dress worn three times in two weeks

Some school friends were getting married and invited the bf and I to their wedding. Greg was in the wedding party and was wearing a tux. I wanted to make a dress. After surveying my sister and two friends, I decided on a Cynthia Rowley pattern from Simplicity. I didn't like the trendy sleeve, so I made a proper short sleeve. I spent four hours trying to sew in pockets, eventually deciding to abandon them. I spent the better part of a day fussing about with the facing, eventually ripping it all out and trusting my instincts instead of the pattern instructions.



I wore it to the wedding and received a compliment from a wedding guest I didn't know. I wore it out to my goodbye roommate dinner. I plan to wear it again to a party later this week.



A good choice, I'd say.

Remade

I really liked my Mimi & Marge necklace, but I didn't like it as a pendant. So, I asked my clever friend Melissa- who is an artist, a jeweler and a musician- if she could change it for me. She kindly agreed.

She replaced the chain, and when she returned it, she returned my chain with a lapis charm that she'd made during a session teaching at the shop she works at.



She gave me both at dinner the other day, which was the first time we'd seen each other since her band's CD release and their cross-country tour. They're on a short break and then back on the road again in the next couple of weeks. I plan to make something to give to her when they make a Halifax stop in October.

Stratus redux

After finding our romance wine corked this past February, I contacted Stratus to find out how to go about getting a replacement bottle. They were sold out, they told me, but would be happy to offer me a bottle from their library and a complimentary tour of the winery for myself and a guest when I came back to pick up the replacement. Greg and I planned a trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake to see a play at the Shaw festival this past weekend and stopped at the winery beforehand.

We arrived at 11am and were started with a glass of Riesling. We were given a very comprehensive tour of Stratus, with details about everything from the winery’s health and safety procedures to their annual natural gas bill (we also learned that the French oak barrels used for aging wine cost $1,000 apiece, hold about 300 bottles worth of wine and are replaced every four years). We ended in the private tasting room and sampled a 2006 Stratus White, 2006 Stratus Red and a red Ice Wine. The white and the red were both assemblages. The white was a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Semillon and Viognier. The red was mix of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Gamay and Syrah. The white was everything I love in a white –fruity and creamy all at the same time, but more complex than just that. The red was good, but could sit another few years.

I’m not that patient, though, and the red Ice Wine was delicious enough for drinking straightaway. So, by noon I was making the sort of decision I often make when feeling a little merry: I decided to buy several $40 bottles of red Ice Wine.

I plan to save this second bottle of Riesling for another celebration and although the red Ice Wine was bought to offer as gifts for friends, I would like to be sure to have some more myself, so I’m likely to find a celebration to anchor a bottle of that drink to, as well.

Turkey; what I loved

Underground cities-



Ballooning in Capadoccia-



The Med-



Poppies, everywhere-



Iznik tiles-



Cities and churches carved into mountainsides-





Drinking tea next to the Bosphorus-



Learning about Roman history at the edge of the empire-



Reverence-