Elizabeth Fry

Wikipedia article here.

The executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society talked at church today.  I’ve bitched about Sheriff Arpaio for allowing a woman to deliver her child in irons, and today I found out, while tears exploded out of my eyes THAT CANADIAN CITIZENS WHO GIVE BIRTH IN JAIL DO SO IN HANDCUFFS.

My disgust for the Canadian ‘justice’ system has never been greater.  No… words.

Sublime, meet ridiculous. I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about….

I should have been doing work for church, but instead I went for a walk in East Van with Carly, Paul and Katie.  I could not pry Jeff loose from Nascar and Keith was working.  Carly has gone from being gorgeous to being unearthly, courtesy of a completely natural set of blonde streaks due to travelling in Central America for four months and then working outside the whole summer.  I love that girl, she is so smart and … you know, decorative and pleasant.  And funny.  And she has superlative taste.  Great seeing her interact with her coz Katie.

Keith has a job interview for another part time job downtown.  If he gets another day per week he’ll be in very good shape.  He also doesn’t mind if he doesn’t get it as it’s an opportunity to practice his job interview skills.  Keith in many respects is a brutally practical individle… wonder where he gets that from.

Jeff just knocked at my door wondering if it was a church day.  Yes…. but I don’t have to open or close, so beautifully, I need only leave at 10.

After we dropped Katie back at work (she’s been hauling full shifts because of the staffing chaos at her job) at two I went to Galloway’s in New West for almonds for biscotti.  Son of a bear!  I am extremely miffed because the almonds were CRAP.  So no biscotti – I could be a jerk and make them anyway but I have a brand reputation to maintain.

Which ties in very neatly to my reading – I am reading Zero History.  There are some very cool ideas in that book.

I am off to church now. Choir sings, and ha ha, you’re going to miss it.

I will have to COMPLETELY rewrite my freaking homily.  THAT’S what happens when you think you know what you’re doing and then go into Buffy Research Mode.  I’ve been taking my glasses off and putting them back on A LOT.

I don’t think I’ll go to Vcon.  I gots no energy for Cons right now.

Various and sundry

Anybody who’s ever been in a battle of wills with a dearly loved animal will enjoy this.

Life is cruising along remarkably nicely.  Jeff has installed a network printer (Granny’s old printer), updated the wireless, and, and, and – the AV instructions.  Yes, yes yay!

Last night Keith and Paul and Katie and Jeff and I went to Schnitzelmania and consumed, strangely, schnitzel, although Katie and Keith actually had chicken skewers.  Then we came back home and watched really lame tv.  A lot of our fave shows have lost the plot.  Bones was beyond words lame, and CSI wasn’t much better…. too many explosions.  It’s a lab show, not an explosion show.

I purchased Zero History, What have you changed your mind about?, and the first two Toby Daye books.  Today I will spend money on biscotti ingredients.  And possibly a cajon.  I have lots of other things to do as well.

Quinoa among other things

Ack.  Whoever said quinoa was easy to harvest was a lying bastard.  You have to strip the heads, roll the seed pods in your hands, soak the seeds and rinse them about a hundred times (must determine a method that doesn’t involve gallons of water).  They’ve finally come to the point that I can eat the seeds and they taste like raw food instead of a bitter chemical (saponin).  Now I can dry them, all three of them.  (Not true, there’s a meal’s worth in there, besides the seeds I’m saving.)  Anyway I need to know this for the story I’m writing, in my head.

It’s our problem free…. philosophy…..

Work is marginally better.

Another solid night of sleep, thank goodness.

More comments about family and internet and church

I got to see Katie’s apartment yesterday!  We can tell she’s a real New West Girl, she can see the bridge from one window.  She doesn’t think she’ll be cold this winter, but the scarred single pane windows (they haven’t been painted since Tommy Douglas was alive, if appearances are anything to go by) and her remoteness from the furnace lead me to believe otherwise.

Despite the 101 bus going right by her place and despite how close she is to the Skytrain tracks, it’s a quiet house.  She lives there with Mona and a couple of other people in a house sharing arrangement.  Mona’s about my age.  She lives on the ground floor, Katie lives in the attic and some guy lives in the basement.

Daxus is currently living with a married couple who just had their first child – at home.  Katie doesn’t believe this living arrangement is likely to last but I’m sort of hoping it does.

Paul returned safely from Ontario.  He and I and Keith and Jeff supped upon a variety of things including the two cobs of corn I harvested from the garden.  They were tiny but perfect.  Now that I know corn will grow nicely in that location I will plant more next year, and earlier, too.

The quinoa harvest has started; it was either that or let them rot on their stalks.  The first batch is hulled, but by god they are still very bitter with the saponin layer, and most of the grains are much smaller than the commercial variety.  I will have to clean them some more.  I have to find a more efficient way to clean them.

I was invited to Tanya’s and to Baumfest this weekend and as I was feeling quite low I didn’t go.

Church was excellent.  The minister preached of one of the theologians of Unitarian Universalism, Hosea Ballou.

Chipper sends me this disheartening news from the internet front.  Disgusting.

Ziva is running quite rough – she hates the wet.

I have a sound tech for the Social Justice Open Mic.

Midnight gift

I awoke last night to the unmistakable sound of Eddie meowing with something large in his mouth. One small nearby thump later and his voice returned to normal. “Yes, Eddie, I see the rat. You’re a mighty hunter. Thank you so much. By the way, you’re soaking wet. Thanks for the late night weather report.” Later, I heard Margot snorting around and discovered her playing with the rat. She paused to barf on my floor, then slowly dragged the dead rat into the small pile of barf. Thanks, Margot. Also, yuck.

Off to work….

I know it’s early but I need to get some stuff done before the endless series of sensory interruptions that is my day gets going.

Look what somebody pulled out of the Fraser about an hour east of here.

Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters RULE.  I just finished watching ep 3 of the first season of the Wire, and it is among the best television ever, right up there with Homicide and Deadwood.