oh, little bird!

How can anything that looks so tidy and perfect...

be so bad for you? Good thing I only crave them about twice a year; we can at least be grateful for that.

Vive la Difference, Monkland Village and Beyond...

 

I wasn't sure if Vive la Difference, a lovely little fair-trade shop in Monkland Village, would have a web site, but it does and it's a hum-dinger! Besides displaying lots of the enchanting things inside the shop - in particular I love the handmade children's toys  - it features profiles of the artisans whose work is sold in the shop. (The shop features the work of artists in the developing world, as well as from throughout Canada, and all artisans receive fair trade payment for the work). Even more impressive, all profits for 2008 will be donated to Mama Africa, a Montreal-based organization that supports women and HIV-affected orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Clean as a ....

There are a few spots - OK, many - in my apartment that I have been putting off cleaning. Some, like the outside windows, can justifiably be delayed until the weather warms up. But places like the fridge and the storage space under the sink - well, that's just procrastination. When I finally get around to it, however I plan on mixing together a few natural ingredients to make my own cleaning products, which coincidentally smell better and cost less than the chemical stuff.

If timing is indeed everything, then maybe my procrastination has not been for not. Because much as I have the vinegar and water mixture down, I have wondered how I can break my dependence on Vim, one of those soft-scrub cleansers I use on everything from sinks and counter tops to storage cupboards. Then just last week, within a half-hour's time, I received two e-newsletters with instructions for home-made cleaning products. How happy was I to find a recipe for a home-made soft-scrub product!? Better yet, a creamy one? You can only imagine. Anyway, I am including the recipe for you below, as well as the link to Green Living Online, which in turn got the recipe from the Montana-based environmental health group Women's Voices for the Earth. This might actually make cleaning, er, not so bad!

Creamy Soft Scrub
Suggested uses: Use this creamy soft scrub on kitchen counters, stoves, bathroom sinks, etc.
2 cups baking soda
½ cup liquid castile soap
4 teaspoons vegetable glycerine (acts as a preservative)
5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree, rosemary or any scent you prefer (optional)

Mix together and store in a sealed glass jar, shelf life of two years.
Tips: For exceptionally tough jobs spray with vinegar first-full strength or diluted, scented-let sit and follow with scrub.
Dry soft scrubs can be made with baking soda or salt (or combination of both) with 10-15 drops essential oil to scent.

http://www.greenlivingonline.com/HomeGarden/window-cleaner-martini-anyone/

 

Nice noggin!

I don't think I've ever thought of protective bike gear as beautiful, but this one really is. It is the 'chandalier helmet" created by London-based Sawako Furumo and puts my 20 year old Bell model to shame. (I really should upgrade, not just for style purposes but because the protective foam lining actually degrades over time, providing less chushioning for the all-important noggin).

I just pulled up the website, and if you visit you can see lots of other pretty models as well as read the good press!

http://cyclefashion.co.uk/

Still more encouraging...

Sprrriiiiinnnnnnnggggg!

I know I've mentioned this before, but we've had a helluva winter here. This means that Montrealers are even more giddy than usual at signs of spring, which I'm happy to say have finally appeared. As hard as this long, long winter has been - there was still a couple of feet of snow on the roof next door just last week - spring has sprung like it means business.

The shoots and tiny blossoms pictured here are as beautiful to Montrealers as any amount of blossoms those of you in milder climes have been enjoying since February. Our seasons here are so defined and fleeting - except for winter, which is only the former - that we revel in the smallest sign of changes. We may well get a bit of snow before spring sets in for good, but the fact is it's started, and no amount of anything can turn back this particular clock. The streets are filled with people - some underdressed, others overdressed - but all milling about with no greater purpose than to just be outdoors under the warming sun. Alla-flippin-lujiah! 

Insanikitty wuz here.

Moments ago I entered my room to see that somehow - and I'm just assuming this was his work - Rupert had managed to affix a waist-tie from one of the sweaters hanging in my closet to the plant stand, which was fully a foot-and-a-half away. Did he knot the sweater around the stand first, and then tug the latter closer? Or did he push the plant stand - aka old metal chair - closer to the closet, and then knot it? Will I ever find out? No. Is my cat certifiable? Yes.

21 Chocolate Bars. Might I be dreaming?

Growing up, one of my fantasies was to be locked in a Laura Secord shop overnight. For survival purposes, I would be forced to snack on chocolate until the staff arrived in the morning to unlock the surrounding gate. It's unlikely this will ever happen, and in terms of chocolate my tastes have since shifted to other brands. (Growing up, and having a sister who lives in Switzerland will do that to a person). So how do you think I felt when just a half-hour ago, Canada Post dropped off a parcel filled with chocolate bars - 21 to be exact! These are not from my sister Elena, who has spoiled me plenty with good chocie, but my new friend Isabelle in Neuchatel who recently spent a week with me on the tail end of a North American visit. If you're going to have friends and family in wonderful places, Switzerland should definately be one of them! 

There's no way I can eat these all by myself, but that won't stop me from trying. I've already eaten one, eaten it the way a wolf-child sits down to a first breakfast of ham n'eggs. Chocolate good!

A lovely spring day, and I for one took full advantage!

 

Wait, wait - Doris is 86?

All of my online sources - including IMDB - stated that Doris was born in 1924. But damnit Janet, didn't I open the latest issue of Vanity Fair to read that Hollywood had shaved a couple of years of her age and she is, in fact, 86. Besides Go Fug Yourself, IMDB is one of my go-to online destinations, and I am troubled that it misled me. We'll just say it wasn't intentional, be adults, and move on.

I could have just ammended the previous post (see below), but then that would have precluded my using this rock-a-doodle image of D.D. in a decidely fab hanky halter. It's hardly there at all, but seems just right for said birthday gal's below the radar, subliminal sex appeal. I'm making one of my own as soon as I log off, and don't think I'm kidding!