Bye Bye Fishies!

So I've been planning on getting rid of my fish since like forever. The pump is too loud, and I don’t like having to bother with changing their water or feeding them. My Dad kept saying that if I want to kill them that I should use clove oil, because that will painlessly euthanize them. Well I didn’t want them dead, I just didn’t want to look after them any more. So I had planned on letting them go in the pond at my aunt’s house as soon as the weather got warm enough. Well, I went to her house for dinner tonight, and let them go. So they get to live happily ever after in a big pond, and I don’t have to bother looking after them any more. Huzzah!

And I know that sounds terrible, that I can just get bored of looking after a pet and get rid of them, but hey, I'm an adult, and if I don’t want to look after something then I don’t have to and you cant make me!

Froggies!

If another person tells me it's a toad not a frog, I'm going to scream! I know it's technically a toad. But IMO, the word frog is a general informal term for a frog or a toad, or whatever.

It's very hard to take a picture of a cat.

This is my upstairs neighbors cat. IMO, it's a very ugly cat. Dont get me wrong, I like cats, but this one is just ugly and stupid.

chelo kabab

I grilled pork kababs for lunch. And I went all out and made the rice to go with it and everything.

Although I dont know how they get the rice so yellow. Mine was pale pale, even though I used a lot of saffron. From the pictures I've seen, the rice should be the colour of an egg yolk, because apartently sometimes it is an egg yolk.

Dear Garden Snails

I hate you. Go die.


I will hunt you down at night with a flashlight and drown you in salt water.


I will crush you.


When you killed 2/3 of my scarlet runner, that was an act of agression.


It's all out war, Biotch!

Come into the light

Left Wing Activists, Environmentalists, and Neo-Nazis Oh My!!!!

This morning when my radio alarm turned on, in my half asleep state, I heard something on the news, and it was enough to get me out of bed and turn on my computer.

...The protesters come mostly from across Europe: left wing activists, environmentalists, neo-Nazis, labour groups, and a minority just here to fight.....

I know it’s guilt by association, but it’s gotta say something when leftists, environmentalist, and neo-Nazis all have the same agenda to disrupt the G8 summit in Germany.

And what’s up with protesting meetings anyway? Dialogue is a good thing. These moonbats would be the first to complain that we should hold talks with rogue states like Iran and North Korea. And well, I’m all for diplomacy, but at some point enough is enough, you have to say STFU.

Note: I don’t know where to host sound files to be embedded or even just where to host a file for download, so I made it into a YouTube video.

Long Hair

I think of myself as a short or medium length haired person, But I took this picture and wow it looks long!

phlox

I think phlox is Susie's favorite flower, but I'm not sure. It grows everywhere here, and I don’t see what's that great about it. Perhaps her favorite is actually creeping phlox. Anyway, I took some pictures while biking home.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Something's missing.

My piano

I'm very excited because I'm getting a piano. My church bought a new electric one, so the old one of course is no longer needed (and the church is small and already has an electric organ and a keyboard sometimes used in choir practice and a keyboard in the sunday school room, so it would just be in the way). The piano doesnt actually belong to the church, it belongs to a lady who attends the church. But she doesnt play so she doesnt want it back. So I bought it.

Beans growing in a pot

albino garlic mustard

Garlic mustard is an invasive species from Europe. It’s similar to dandelions in that it was first brought over as a culinary herb but then later became a problem. Although it’s not as widespread as dandelion, because the seeds aren’t carried by the wind, they just fall around the parent plant, it’s a worse plant because it can excrete a garlic smelling substance in its roots which can be toxic to other plants.

Contrary to what Becca told me, it’s not poisonous to people. And it’s actually quite tasty. It has a very mild lettucy quality, with just a hint of garlic.

Here is a picture from my backyard of a half albino garlic mustard. It kind of reminds me of that crazy half albino lobster.

Spinach Bolting

We had a few warm days in early April, so I planted spinach. It has been pretty dry, so they grew slowly. But I figured that because I planted them so early I’d at least be able to harvest enough for a salad or something. But then about 2 weeks ago they started bolting.

The first to go to seed were actually the most immature plants. As you can see in picture 1, 2, and 3, they still have their seed leaves! I’m very disappointed. This must be how parents of teens who get knocked up feel. My babies are having babies!

The last picture is of a more mature plant. The bigger plants didn’t go to seed until like a week after the little ones started. So I looked at them in the garden and I said to myself, “I’ll go to the store first and buy some spinach to subsidize what I have in the garden, so there will be enough to actually cook something. Then I’ll pick the spinach that hasn’t yet bolted tomorrow.” And guess what, when tomorrow came, everything had bolted.

I don’t know how farmers manage to do it. Sew the seeds as soon as the ground thaws? I think I’m gonna give up on growing spinach. Frozen spinach is like what, a dollar? Or just not eat spinach at all. I don’t really like spinach, to me it feels kind of gritty on my teeth. Swiss chard FTW!

Churches

So when I first came to university, I didn’t go to any one church. I had about 3 or 4 churches that I'd go to depending on my mood and how late I slept in. But this last year and a half, I've been going almost exclusively to St Lawrence. The people there are so friendly and open, they've gotten me involved in stuff, so I just feel I belong there now. And I feel a bit guilty whenever I visit a different church.

St Lawrence is an adorable church. After WW2 a new subdivision was built and settled primarily by veterans. Being a new neighborhood, it didn’t have a church nearby, but the people started a Sunday school in rented space (I think they rented from a school, but I’m not sure). Eventually a couple of people got together and decided enough was enough, they wanted a real church. But other people were upset about it, because they felt that the Presbyterians would take over (it had been non-denominational or multi-denominational up to this point) and they wouldn’t have a place anymore. And the nearest Presbyterian church was upset because they felt the new church would be encroaching on their territory. But anyway, that worked out and everyone is happy now.

Eventually St Lawrence bought its own building and moved it to its current location. The building they bought was a former gun club. I like to think that it’s very biblical that they took something like a gun club and turned it into a church. Although personally I think gun clubs are awesome and there’s nothing wrong with them, but you get my drift. I told this to Cesar and he was like, “so what? They just bought a building that happened to be at one point used for guns, it’s nothing special, just a normal transaction.” I wonder if he remembers saying that.

My church is very small and very quaint. It’s more of a chapel than a church in appearance, but it does the work of a church 10 times its size!



So that brings me back to my original point. I love the church I go to, and I feel a bit guilty when I don’t go to St Lawrence (especially considering I am in the choir so people know when I’m not there), but on the other hand, I like to go to other churches too sometimes.

About a month ago I went to a Portuguese church. I was at the Laundromat one day and it was beautiful outside, so I went for a walk while waiting for my clothes to dry. And that’s when I noticed it. I do a lot of biking and walking, so I know this area well, but this church was so perfectly tucked in on a residential street, I wouldn’t have seen it unless I walked directly by it.

So I visited the following Sunday. The church was very beautiful. It was an old church that had been updated, but still kept its charm.



The service was, of course, in Portuguese. I know some Portuguese, enough to carry out a mindless msn conversation. But I couldn’t even distinguish one word from another. I don’t mean to blame everyone but me, but I think it was because its European Portuguese, not Brasilian Portuguese. And people from Portugal run their words together. It was cool though to hear the music. Some of the songs were ones I knew in English, only with Portuguese lyrics, but most were completely new. I found it really fun to listen to. Even the old hymns were cool. In English, even if I’ve never heard the hymn before, there is a certain old hymn quality that makes everything vaguely familiar. But in Portuguese, that quality is something diffent. So everything was really new.


Finally there is Knox, which is the church I usually go to when I vist my grandparents. It’s a very beautiful old church with fancy carved wood everything and stained glass windows and….. A real pipe organ!



But other than looking cool, it’s pretty blah as a church.