Mourning Doves 2009

Mourning Doves
Originally uploaded by theseawithin

My mourning dove returned to her nest this year. Last year she built one nest. So far this is her second clutch for this year. I think her first clutch completely failed and I found her dead baby on my porch. So far this clutch seems to be doing better.

Loose in the Mailunit

Loose in the Mailunit
Originally uploaded by theseawithin

I know it's the 'in' thing to hate the USPS, but I've never felt that way. I've always been a huge fan of any mail service. I love everything about mail. Lately, while I was extremely exhausted I accidently put my rent cheque that was in an envelope only marked with my landlord's name in a USPS box. I didn't have an address on it because I only need to put my rent cheque in this box in my garage door. Anyways, I didn't actually realize this idiotic blunder until 24 h later! I madly phoned my bank to cancel the cheque. Turns out it cost $30 to cancel a cheque ($15 if you do it on the internet). Lame. I then remembered I had actually written three cheques that same day, luckily by examining the pen imprints on my next cheque I had cancelled the right one. I was still worried that someone was able to cash the cheque before I cancelled. This where, while I love the USPS, I don't always trust all their employees. My mailman wears jeans, doesn't organize the mail to my property so I have to look through three boxed to pick mine out, and I swear somedays he just takes the day off.
I received a surprise in my box on Saturday. A letter for me from a USPS department "Loose the the Mailunit" from an Oakland post office. Inside was a form letter about how they found an article of mine that was loose in the handling system and my cheque! Phew!

Boston

Boston Subway
Originally uploaded by theseawithin

I recently went to Hartford, New Haven, and Boston. My first trip to New England. I loved it. I especially loved Boston's especially ancient subway system. I wish I had a photo that better captured this.
Yale was an incredible campus and really made me want to go to grad school again. I kept my eye out for Blaire or some GG filming.
I also checked out Harvard and kept my eye out for E.O. Wilson, but no luck.

it was the hat, afterall

Last night, I saw Leonard Cohen live. This was probably one of the best concerts I had ever been to. It was also the most money I had ever paid for a concert and we were in the 2nd crappiest section. I don't see big acts a lot, but this was still pricey for a big act I think. 

Growing up, our tv was in the cold dark room in the basement. This room also housed numerous books shelves and the sound system for our house. This was a record player sound system, and get this, it was so hi-tech it even had a tape deck. While watching TV I would also look through my dad's record collection. I vaguely remember there being a lot a Beatles albums and stuff like Cream and the newest album being Thriller, which I kinda remember was actually my brother's. I always remember seeing Leonard Cohen's "Songs of" because of the album art on the back and the photograph of Cohen on the front which I probably thought resembled my dad. I didn't actually listen to that album until I was in junior high. My sister, who was in high school at the time, had a friend over who thought it was awesome we had that record, so we started listening to it. I've listened to him since. 

Anyways. The concert was amazing. He played for 3 hours. Not a fan of encores, I did appreciate that when he ran off stage (actually skipped) he only waited for about 10 seconds before running back on. He had some pretty classic dance moves too. He also did stop and say some pretty hilarious Leonard stuff such as 'I haven't been here for 14 years, when I was 60 and a kid with a crazy dream'. I wish I had brought a pen to write all the stuff down. 

Oh and if you can, rent the documentary "Ladies and Gentlemen...Mr. Leonard Cohen".

Where the Wild Things Are

I'm usually jaded when I hear about such projects. Making a movie based on Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are"? Give me a break. But with Spike Jonze directing, Dave Eggers writing the screenplay, and The Arcade Fire providing the soundtrack, it has some serious potential. I will definitely be catching this in the theatre. Maybe this time I will actually be able to see it in 3D, unlike the Coraline fiasco. 

GoWinnipeg!GoMarcel!

Marcel Dzama directed a music video! Department of Eagles - No One Does it Like You

And here is a video about him directing the video:

Go Winnipeg! Go Marcel!

Bart Art

I am absolutely loving the new advertisements for BART at the stations. It's all by Mick Wiggins. I love seeing the California flora and fauna in a Bart Station.

New Book.

I haven't been able to put this book down. Read it. It is strange in so many ways, but fascinating and incredibly well written. I am always amazed by the ability of translators. 

Saturday Grey Day

Not only did I eat a lot of sweets yesterday, but I bought a pair of shoes and a marc jacobs' hoodie. Both items were grey.

Saturday Sweet Day

I spent part of the morning in Hayes Valley. We had lunch at Frjtz's and then had dessert at miette and paulette. We got some great caramels at meitte's and some malt balls of course. 

We also bought a couple macarons at miette so we could compare them to paulette's macarons. 

The larger lumpier brown (chocolate ones) are from miette. They were way too chewy. The beautiful smooth ones are from Paulette. They were much tastier. Although as much as I love the aesthetic of macarons they always seem like they would taste better than they actually do. They are tasty, but I just always expect more. 

I also got a new pair of shoes in Hayes Valley but I will post about those later. 

This American Life

I got introduced to "This American Life" (and NPR) about 4 years ago when I first moved to the USA. My friend who had a lab across from mine would always be listening to it while he sorted ants. He would always tell me I would love it. I figured I would, since I was a diehard CBC fan in Canada. While I listened to NPR in my car, I just never got in the habit of listening to TAL. 
I'm not a huge fan of cutting fabric. I would find it tedious, but not anymore. I now cut fabric in one hour segments while listening to a TAL podcast. My one problem is that I need an order to everything. I decided that I would listen to every episode. I started with the newest one and continued. This would screw up a week later when a new one was added. I'd listen to the new one again and if I had time to listen to more than one a week I would jump down to where I left off. This was a little confusing. I started keeping track of the episodes in a notebook. Sometimes the "new" one was actually a rerun. My system was clearly flawed... well not exactly flawed, just not efficient or logical. I needed my system to be efficient and logical. I finally changed my system. Today I started at the very beginning. Episode One. I was wary of starting from the beginning because I thought they might not be as good, but so far I am happy with them. I don't know if I will ever catch up. I should make a point of listening to at least two a week. To get started with my new system on the right foot I'm going to listen to Episode Two today!

Coraline

I finally got to see Coraline this weekend. I was really excited to see a 3D movie, because I never have before. The theatre said it would be in 3D, but when we got there it wasn't! Turns out a 5:45 show on Saturday isn't in 3D. Thanks for letting me know internet. We didn't want to wait around until 7:00 to see it in 3D. Anyways, the movie was still amazing. I am most blown away by how it was made. There are tons of great videos on youtube that show the artists making all the crazy stuff. Did you know the cherry blossoms are actually popcorn? Watch this talented lady make miniature sweaters:

And this woman poke on every single piece of hair(!):

Boreal Birch Syrup

My visiting friend brought me a Boreal Birch Syrup from her hometown, Thunder Bay, Ontario. This is a syrup made in her town by a couple of friends of her.
Thunder Bay is here:


Boreal birch syrup is produced much like maple syrup. This is a great video showing how they make it:


It has a more molasses-y taste than maple syrup. I really like it. I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes on their website. I think I'll try to butternut squash one first!

Happy Square Root Day

I love days like this! This is probably more exciting the a palindromic year (1991, 2002). I couldn't believe I got to live through two of those!

Celebrate today by eating root vegetables cut into squares!


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New Music

I don't keep up with music nearly as much as I used to. Mainly due to lack of time and money. In the good ole days I probably bought a CD a week, now I am lucky if I can fine one new CD to get every couple of months. For the past few years the only way I have been finding new music has been through friends. My most recent visitor introduced me to Thao Nguyen and she may just be my next music obsession.

New Stuff

Last weekend I was shopping downtown with my friend who was visiting. I hadn't been to h&m in months, as I had gotten kinda sick of every store downtown except Bloomingdale's. I was quite pleased with what they had and got this coat.

It also matches my new Orla Kiely bag perfectly!

Soy Tourista!

I was lucky enough to have a friend visit me for a week. I got to do some touristy things that I hadn't done yet, like walk on the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove down the coast a lot which is always nice. Seeing the Elephant Seals at Ano Neuvo was probably the best part!

They're Back!

Last summer, I was extremely lucky to have a family of Mourning Doves nest above my doorway. They had two clutches last summer.




Lately I've been noticing some possible clues that they were back. Twigs and grass are left right outside my front door. The other day there was a long piece of green vegetation hanging right down in front of my door. They had cleaned it up a few hours later. Then I would start to hear them chirping away early in the morning. I took this photo today from the inside of my house. This nest is especially special because I can watch them from inside my house!

Berkley Illustration

Did I ever tell you how much I am in love with BerkleyIllustration's prints? I'm sure I did. Plenty of times! If you have been to my apartment this fact is very apparent.
I am anxiously waiting for their new February animals. Then I will buy this Meerkat and maybe one of the new ones. My collection will never be complete.

Orla Kiely

I've been wanting to buy an Orla Kiely bag forever. I actually really, really want her luggage, but fancy luggage is something I will never justify buying. I'd been holding off buying one of her bags mainly because I couldn't really afford one. When there was finally a good bag sale at Bloomingdale's hers were all sold out. BUT they are currently 50% off at her website. It took a long time to decide which one to get. I hope I am happy with it!