shewasavisitor

Even though it is freezing in Toronto, the last month has included a handful of garden-related road trips with M. The season to plant is quickly approaching! I’m itching to start hangin’ out in the greenhouse prepping seeds for the May plant. One of my favourite things I do is garden here and I am looking forward to it and the Summer months so much.

The first aspect I notice about a different locale is what sort of plants are growing there. Recall this excerpt from one of my very first blog posts:

Yesterday on my run, I ran through the neighbouring cities of Toluca Lake and North Hollywood and from what I saw of them, Burbank at least waters their plants. And what plants they are! Roses, orange/lemon/grapefruit trees and cactuses in every yard, all that sort of stuff. I expect it’ll take me a while to tire of the flora. I’m already thinking of what we can grow on our balcony (everything).

I’ve also written blogs dedicated to bananas, avocado, and lemons. Sigh! Plants excite me. Florida had coconuts hanging from almost every palm. I remember hearing that Long Beach was the hottest city in LA County to attempt mature coconut cultivation but it hasn’t really happened yet. The coconuts will germinate and grow a tree, but that seemed to be it. A sprouting coconut is a popular balcony plant there.

In Maui, papaya were just falling into the streets. Out of all my memories of Hawai’i, these papaya and general flora were among the most special.

The fact that roses were all over LA in the cooler months made me crazy. Florida’s no different. These people are so lucky.

One year ago:

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Random words from a Floridian:

“Gators eat anything you put in front of them.”

“A pig will eat 8 pounds of meat in two minutes and will cut through bone like water.”

“The only things left when a body is put infront of a pig are the teeth and hair.”

“Florida has panthers.”

“Gators are pretty docile when they’re not hungry.”

“You can dispose of a human body in no time when there’s a bunch of gators around.”

“Armadillos are nocturnal animals.”

“Possums are nocturnal animals. Baby possums are slightly bigger than fava beans.”

“Vultures are everywhere. They stalk weak animals.”

“A big turtle had just died along an 11 mile trail in the Everglades. When I came back in 45 minutes, the only thing left was the shell. You throw a body in and it’s never going to be found.”

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GATORLANDO

I just spent a good half hour trying to insert a video into this post. Stay tuned for that. It’s of a gator, though. It’s good.

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My girl E & I have just returned.
Our first stop: Orlando. Plane got in at midnight.
D was there to pick us up. First FL activity: rooftop dubstep.
2 drinks & a beer? $7!

Stay tuned. the Triple F could potentially carry on for 200+ days. Riveting.

BONUS: This edition of FFF features Song-Of-The-Day! The SOTD for that day was:

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There’s a lot of art out there and recently these two artists have gotten me going:

You’ve probably already heard that Banksy has landed in Los Angeles. He is rumoured to be attending the Oscars in support of Exit Through the Giftshop‘s Best Documentary nomination.

Banksy had some very short-lived pieces up on various buildings in Toronto last May; by noon that day they’d been painted over.

Brant and Adelaide:

I am also loving this:

Fluxus-/Beuys-influenced musician and artist Christian Marclay’s The Clock has left NYC. Marclay is another artist where, at least musically, analog>digital.

Thanks, Mum!

***
Non sequitur:

Today marked the third time I’ve heard Kim Mitchell play Kim Mitchell on Q107. This time: an acoustic version of Patio Lanterns. I can’t help it; I work here and so does he. I kind of love it. In fact, I kind of love it so much that it influenced me to post a blog at work.

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I’ve started bringing my camera around with me wherever I go.
Sometimes something I see is worth capturing.

Example A: Sunset in Chinatown

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I’ve never seen Micmacs but according to MB, my doppelgänger is Julie Ferrier.

It’s true, non?

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Waiting in queue for a ride on the world’s longest zip-line, I met a woman from Wisconsin. In the fifteen minute period we had before she was to zip, we got to know one another a little. She was funny, warm, chatty and equally nervous as I was for the ride. She told me that her husband was at the bottom of the cliff and didn’t think she would actually go through with something like this. She requested that I take photos of her while harnessed, to prove she’d done it. We exchanged emails and I took some photos and off she went. Even though we were on the same cruise, I never saw her again.

When I returned home, I got out her email and loaded my photos. A day later, my computer crashed. Windows had not been installed properly and the fix was free, but I unfortunately lost all my photos (and videos!) from Alaska, including the ones of the woman which I hadn’t gotten a chance to sort and send.

Over the next few days, while wallowing in the loss of my photos, I must’ve picked up the paper with the woman’s email on it and recycled it.

Only this weekend did I realise that I had loaded all my photos to an online photo sharing site, including the ones of the woman. They’re all there! And now I don’t have her email. And now I’m so mad I didn’t email her to at least let her know about the loss. Perhaps she’ll read my blog.

Do you know this woman?

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Yesterday, meteorologists in the GTA were warning us of a snowstorm that was to hit at midnight and continue much into today. 30 cm of snow over these two days was to fall on the city. Before I went to bed last night I mentally prepared myself for trudgier walks and a quiet day with no one in the office.

Results? My 7am gym class had a pretty decent turnout. I took the Path until I could take the Path no more, and with my umbrella shielding the odd gust, the rest of my walk was on par for a snowy day. As expected though: few in the office.

Torontonians react to snow (and winter in general) much differently than those from Ottawa, my home town.

In comparison:

Yonge and Dundas, 6:35am. “30 centimetres of snow”:

Ottawa, winter ’08:

Note: my Dad is 6’4″. The photo depicts the results of a “near-record” snowfall, which means there was a time when even more snow had fallen.

Classic Rick Mercer:

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