Police and Animals

"A scared panda clings to a police officer's leg after an earthquake hits China" Link Here 

My husband came home tonight with a picture and story about an officer who was working Christmas day.  Long story short a seal, a 300lb seal was stranded.  Animal control said, don't worry about it, it will make it's way back to water.  So the officer watched as it became increasingly weak and short of breath, a normally hostile animal suffering needlessly, on Christmas Day of all days.  Starting alone with a bottle of water the officer struggled to help an animal outside of his provincial knowledge.  Eventually his efforts drew the curiosity of the locals, who joined in, feeding the seal fish.  With the help of the community the seal allowed itself to be assisted back to the ocean....

Not all police stories are feel good.  Not all animal stories end well.  But sometimes, sometimes the The Rest Of The Story comes out....

The World is Calling my Name

Love

So much to say, after an intense visit home, much to post and much to think on.  From wife abusing cop haters (I will point virtual fingers at) to angels and new love..but as exhaustion and jet lag set in my most important point is,  I feel loved...and I miss you momma, thanks for always being there...

Edited to add I'm letting go of a wee revenge fantasy.  While being verbally assaulted by a couple of criminals was very scary I'm not going to 'out' them or their family business online.  My prayers go out to their families and in particular the spouse of one who is in a very abusive situation.  It is not my place or my story, I was merely passing through a very ugly place.

Starbucks and the Ocean Fight Cabin Fever

More than a month of rain + a taste of a visit home = a pretty cabin fever'd me....The solution is a drive to Rainbow Haven Beach with some Starbucks in hand...the view, well, it was such a soupy fog that we weren't sure the ocean was beneath it.  It felt very surreal and ghostly.  The public washrooms warned of poison and the drive there was a man made one way passage built over the ocean...and yet...it helped.  It was warm and beautiful and the areas on the drive there reminded me of the adventures yet to be had!

Crow Dreams

*image found here
To begin; add a dose of courage and hope, a dash of inspiration, a handful of tried and true wisdom and mix it all up with a prayer, love, fun, some local charity and my unique brand of owness and I can see the future...

Loving the Flock of Bird Motifs...

I don't know why I keep seeing these bird images, a trend right now or an omen....either way I NEED this case from this Etsy seller blueburnice

Where I'll eat my first beignet...

*Cafe du Monde image found here

New Orleans...

*images courtesy of google images :)

That's it.  Enough is enough.  I miss girl time.  Yes, I love being an R.C.M.P. spouse, yes, H division is lovely...but being lonely SUCKS!  And so, it's off to New Orleans, in 5/6 months for moi.  It's warm, it's colourful and I will be there with a very diverse and kick arse group of girls (yes I said girls, not PC) and will make some wicked old timer stories...Grandpa Elliot here I come. xo

http://girlgetaways.com/

Wishes XO

*image found here

My Feelings Summed Up...

*there is always hope image found at we heart it, here...

Well, my apologies to those friends from away trying to gently encourage me to embrace, or rather re-embrace Facebook.  For awhile now I've lacked the words but I see someone else has written them for me.  While perusing my morning Nova Scotian blog list I stumbled across this quote "Facebook is for people you used to know" at Gifted Typist and the interesting comment "I heard that Twitter’s activity has dropped 30% in the last few months. But millions are shutting down their Facebook accounts as well. Me, I like blogs." 

So there it is in black in white, I have an email address, two in fact, I will be getting a proper long distance plan and I have a blog (that is admittedly mostly a catalogue of my fancies, passing or otherwise), if you live nearby there is an abundance of great coffee/tea shops to visit in, or if you are from further away I have a spare room, I am also willing to hop on a plane after the summer has passed, I love getting mail and sending unique letters/cards...and that is that.

Mori Girl Fashion

* images found here

Now these are girls after my own heart.  A Mori Girl is defined by this beautiful blog as " The mori girls (森ガール) belong to a Japanese subculture. 'Mori' means forest in Japanese, and mori girls look like fairytale forest wanderers in their loose dresses, vintage prints and quaint accessories. Mori girls choose to live their lives on their own terms, stopping to appreciate the little things that others overlook amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life." 

Further and more detailed information can be found here the Mori Girl likes loose dresses and skirts, seldom wears trousers, prefers twisted things to simple ones, seems like natural-kei (a related style) but is actually more contrived, cares about the quality of materials, likes ethnic styles, wears A-line skirts and dresses, likes the style of little children, has a taste for dresses or blouses which look like smocks, doesn't like clothes which are sweet from head to toe, favours dark blue, dark green and bordeaux brown, looks good in warm colours, prefers short nails (an important differentiator from the loud, vulgar gyaru style endorsed by mags like Can Cam), likes fur, knitwear, fluffy hats and ear-muffs, ponchos and boleros, wants to carry a leather bag, tends to use a pochette (a sort of pocket on a strap), prefers small gold things to silver things, likes old things, like the expensive antique watches old people have, likes a large-motif necklace, sports animal motifs and candy motifs, checks and dots, floral retro, lace, leggings or tights, basic round-toed flat shoes."

The stuff of dreams, lovely...

Food Journey's of a Lifetime

Oh wow, wouldn't this add to, simplify and yet deliciously complicate my bucket list..."For pure pleasure, few experiences are as satisfying as a chance to explore the world’s great culinary traditions and landmarks—and here, in the latest title of our popular series of illustrated travel gift books, you’ll find a fabulous itinerary of foods, dishes, markets, and restaurants worth traveling far and wide to savor.

"On the menu is the best of the best from all over the globe: Tokyo’s freshest sushi; the spiciest Creole favorites in New Orleans; the finest vintages of the great French wineries; the juiciest cuts of beef in Argentina; and much, much more. You’ll sample the sophisticated dishes of fabled chefs and five-star restaurants, of course, but you’ll also discover the simpler pleasures of the side-street cafés that cater to local people and the classic specialties that give each region a distinctive flavor.

Every cuisine tells a unique story about its countryside, climate, and culture, and in these pages you’ll meet the men and women who transform nature’s bounty into a thousand gustatory delights. Hundreds of appetizing full-color illustrations evoke an extraordinary range of tastes and cooking techniques; a wide selection of recipes invites you to create as well as consume; sidebars give a wealth of entertaining information about additional sites to visit as well as the cultural importance of the featured food; while lively top ten lists cover topics from chocolate factories to champagne bars, from historic food markets to wedding feasts, harvest celebrations, and festive occasions of every kind. In addition, detailed practical travel information provides all the ingredients you’ll need to cook up a truly delicious experience for even the most demanding of traveling gourmets." Product description found here

Spiced Hot Chocolate

Now this is a woman after my own heart. This scrumptious looking hot chocolate is homemade and spiced just how I like it, isn’t the image just a feast of simple luxury. The recipe along with a zillion other amazing, beautiful food, travel and life posts can be found at The Road Forks .

Jian Bing/Chinese Street Food

This video almost had me in tears.  Oh how I miss Chinese street food.  These crepes, with a bit of green onion, egg and hot sauce are absolute heaven...grab one of these on a cool winter morning and just wander about just soaking in the atmosphere...This site Here attempts to replicate this treat.  I don't know, I'm sure it's quite good but somehow food made at home just seems a little too pristine; it’s missing that street food grit that makes it so yummy. Just a case of the grass is greener I’m sure as I have friends in countries who have access to street food and won’t go near it (see wrinkled up nose = dirty)...

Almost Fearless

I've just downloaded this Free Ebook, Almost Fearless by; Christine Gilbert http://almostfearless.com/ .  I have high hopes that this will be an inspiring read as we approach 2010!

Edited to add that I didn't love it...maybe it's just that it wasn't needed for where I am personally...

Happy All Saints Day!

It's drizzly and cold. My black cat is stalking the halls voicing his silent protest that change is definitely in the air. I know the sun will come back out but for now the tide has changed with the time (change).
We are road tripping on an errand to Maitland Nova Scotia today, and this prospect cheers me as only travel can. So, I'll refresh my mint, hot chocolate and hope that the day brings us some much needed good tidings.

The Art of Non Conformity

This is a new fav. site for me! While blog hunting for new and useful tips about how to downsize our large suburban home into a 3 bedroom apartment, otherwise known as distilling our lives (actually quite a freeing process the universe has gifted us with), I found this site. 'The Art of Non Conformity' http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/ and so far I am impressed. He seems to have grasped how to be different, live differently not for the sake of being odd or a non conformist but simply because he, like every self same one of us, is different. He state's the essence of his philosophy (read in full on his site) is this

"1. You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.
2. If you don’t decide for yourself what you want to get out of life, someone else will probably end up deciding for you.
3. There is usually more than one way to accomplish something.
4. You can do good things for yourself and help other people at the same time."

Nope, nothing startling new, but he doesn't claim to be inventing the wheel. In my mind he's just putting out there some good reminders...and he loves travel, definately my kinda person!

My first Nova Scotia Mystery

Well, not being out there just yet I haven't seen it for myself, but I will! These walls near Halifax apparently defy explanation so much so that the area is even protected until an answer can be found. One write up I found said "In 1991, the Province decided to extend Special Places Protection to the site , pending further study. Despite a number of suggested explanations by various experts, the most popular being that it may have been a British military training and practice area from the post-1749 period, no fully satisfactory explanation for the site has yet to emerge. The main site, consists of approximately 150-metres of snaking carefully-built dry-stone wall of varying height and width, generally following the brow of a high ridge, along with the remains of two dry-stone polygonal building foundations. The smaller of the two foundations abuts a tall vertical cliff face and includes a stone staircase. Recent investigations in the Chain Lakes Watershed Area to the east of this have revealed a collection of enigmatic ruins that appear to be linked to each other, and to the main walls site, by the remains of a highly unusual type of road network. Despite the fact that most typical sorts of development have been prohibited in this area since it was set aside for the purpose of the City Water Supply in 1846, these enigmatic ruins must be distinguished from the many relics of Colonial activity throughout the area, including damming, road building, pipeline and canal construction, the railroad construction in 1904, electric power corridors, quarrying, woodcutting, hunting, a known homestead site, a known WWI entrenchment and machine gun installation, and recent recreational activities. We need to also be aware that a Mi’kmaq medicine woman was known to reside in this area and that there may be other relics of Aboriginal occupation to be found." found on http://aliceinparislovesartandtea.blogspot.com/

So, wonder what it it? Magic and lore or just unexplained construction as of yet...

Nova Scotia Bound

It's just a month away that we move to Nova Scotia. We keep hearing that it's God's Country and the most beautiful place on earth...I must admit that having one foot already on the road is making it very hard to concentrate on the million things left here to tie up and hug goodbye. In the spirit of embracing our new home I'll be posting as much Nova Scotia content as possible. I can't say that as an Ontarian that I'll be able to post the true spirit of the East, but I'll still be looking for the wondrous everywhere...This is in the Public Gardens in Halifax.

I Really Will....