Victoria Day

Kate had the brilliant idea to rent bikes on Centre Island this past Victoria Day. We took the ferry across the harbour and rode around from one side to the other:

Then we went for dinner and gelato, stopping at Kate's for sweaters and chairs, and then watched the fireworks at the beach with Charles and Camilla:

balance of the tulips, two months on

They then looked like this:

And this:

Finally this:

Tulips in Bloom Day 1

It was a shame I kept my tulips in my bedroom; without my contact lenses in, I couldn't really see them from my bed, and I spend so little time in my bedroom in any case. I should have brought them to work, but I've had bad luck transporting plants around and didn't want to risk the streetcar trip, as I would have inevitably had to balance the flower pot with my coffee, a book, my gym bag and my purse. All the same, on their first day in bloom, they were a pleasure to look at first thing in the morning:

The Last Five Books I've Read

The last five books I read, in order:

Nadja by Andre Breton (1928); Last Nights in Paris by Phillipe Soupault (1929); White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000); The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (2011); McSweeney's Issue 39 [This took me from after New Years until last night, when I finished the story about Carlos the Impossible (bullfighting! And the bull won!)] (2011).

Of the first two, surrealism... I suppose. They're both French, though I read them in English. Maybe something is missing from the translation. White Teeth was a book club book, but I was the only one who actually read the book and so the book club failed. The Marriage Plot I loved so much that I recommended it to other people. McSweeney's Issue 39 was 95% excellent. That last five percent is missing because I couldn't get behind a poem called "Fifty Ways to Eat Your Lover". I tried, but "When he says he needs some time off, jam his hand into a toaster oven" and "When he shows up with flowers, nibble the hair from his arms" were two of the most benign of Amelia Gray's poetic offerings and I have a weak stomach for tortured love.

A Month of Tulips

A couple of months ago I decided I was going to try to become a vegetarian. I like hand-packed burgers, Sunday roasts, and meat platters as much as the next girl, but for a variety of reasons, the time seemed ripe to make a change. My friend Claire is a vegan, and for the most part, it's difficult to figure out what to cook for her, but I'd bought a new cookbook to help me with the new diet and was inspired to try my hand making Claire dinner. I tested out the ratatouille recipe three times before inviting her over and I spent so much time making the main, I ran out of time to make us dessert. Claire brought me a tulip plant as a hostess gift, which was incredibly thoughtful and totally unnecessary. The first day it looked like this:

It bloomed for four days before it looked tired and I had to trim it. However, it seems to have at least one more flower in it. More photos to follow on Mondays to come.

Tulips

tulips = spring.

Black Dog

It's sort of mine, but I've also promised a friend I will give him this painting one day:

In any case, I love it.