why I love the mandolin.

slicer, that is.
in mere minutes I can turn two large onions into this:

it's my blog!

and apparently I am the only person to write about the bathrooms at Sears.

new photos on flickr

Augusten Elray's photosets on Flickr
A couple shots on Darren on the scooter, and of course, miscellaneous shots of Gus doing stuff.

Naomi Klein boosting morale on the line

PA050051
Originally uploaded by rabidsquirrel.

A big thank you to everyone who helped make her visit happen. It was great to hear her supportive words and rally call to fight the devaluing of public service! hurrah!

Walk Score - how walkable is your neighbourhood?

Walk Score
OK, check this site out - I heard about it on the CBC this afternoon. It calculates how "walkable" your neighbourhood is. Ours, unsurprisingly, gets a low, low score of 35/100. Since we are trying to get away from being so horribly dependent on our car, the next time we buy a home it will be a major priority to have a much higher walkability score.

bathroom etiquette

In the unusually crowded Sears washroom today.
As usual I pull the stroller into the large wheelchair accessible stall and sit down on the toilet. Gus, who enjoys stating the obvious, says "You sitting, Mama?"
"Yes, Gus. I'm sitting."
"Ohhh, Mama go peepee?"
"Yes, Gus. I'm peeing."
"Mama pooping?"
I don't really feel like answering in this crowded bathroom, so foolishly, I say nothing.
Louder, Gus asks, "MAMA POOPING?"
I say quietly, "No Gus, I'm just peeing."
Now he knows I'm a little uncomfortable. Oh what joy.
"MAAAMMAA POOOOPING!!!!???" echoes in the Sears washroom.

a rant and some new photos.

halcyon days of summer - a photoset on Flickr


It's been ages since I've written anything, not for lack of interesting things to share. I just have had a hard time finding the time to sit and write. Being on strike, you'd think I'd have lots of time, and in reality I do. The problem is the being on strike is exhausting. There have been incredible highs: seeing how strong and creative my co-workers are; and incredible lows: reading misleading media quotes from the City's public relations mouthpiece.

It has been nice to spend so much time with Darren and Gus, going to the park, the beach, enjoying the sun. It has been a summer of discovery for Gus and for me. Gus talks constantly, in big sentences of up to 10 words (me no want this bottle milk me want other bottle milk), of course he usually has irrational requests (no mumma me want wet diaper on) or physical impossibilities (watch big tv cars watch big tv pingu - translation: he wants to watch 2 different dvds on the same tv).
I've also been reevaluating my career direction. The strike has caused me to wonder whether people really care much about public libraries. I've always felt that my job made a difference in peoples' lives, helping them find information to help them lead fulfilled informed lives. But I wonder now, since so many people claimed to be "unaffected" by the strike and the City and Library Management were never particularly interested in reopening the library in a timely fashion. I've also had the time to spend with my son, who is at such a precious age - he's learning more every day and is so much fun to be with - do I seriously want to work full time? at a job that seems so thankless?
I am hoping I'll see the point of it all once I get back to helping people again. In many ways I feel like I have connected more deeply with the community on the picket line than I ever could from behind a reference desk.
Changing careers... maybe I should just do something for the money. I certainly didn't become a public librarian for the money. Recently, I've thought about real estate, corporate librarianship, going to law school, or starting a business. How fulfilling would that be?
Or just work part time, struggle a bit (financially) and spend more time with Gus and say goodbye to a career for now. I don't know how easy it would be for me to watch the opportunities go by.

we'll see.

What to say about Gus and growing up? His favourite thng to do right now is wash his hands. He loves pulling the step stool into place, climbing up, and then having one of us turn the taps on for him. He yells "faster, mumma, faster" because I usually do not turn the water on high enough for him. He still loves watching Pingu and Thomas the Tank Engine. He can pretty much tell us everything he needs, but often asks for things he can't have. He's a typical two year old in that way, stubborn, likes to say 'no' but refuses to take 'no' for an answer. He enjoys the big boy bed immensely, and is usually pretty agreeable at bedtime. Unless it's Darren putting him to bed. Discipline is becoming a challenge, there is no reasoning with a two year old! He can be quite defiant at times and really doesn't like to hear "no" for an answer. I usually try to phrase "no" in another way - for example, instead of saying "no chocolate for breakfast", I tell him he can have an egg. It doesn't always work but it has a better track record than just an outright "no". I can always distract him by asking him if he wants to wash his hands...

Gus' favourite storytime rhyme

hot licks

hot licks
Originally uploaded by Augusten Elray.

before, during and after the renos

Colour opinions much appreciated.
Before:

During:

Here is the (almost) final product of the reno of our incredibly small bathroom.

Darren on Urban Rush

silliness

he really enjoys the rubber gloves:

there are a bunch on miscellaneous photos to see on flickr as well:
Photos

ontario photos

My apologies for not posting for so long...facebook has completely taken over my limited computer time.
Anyhow, the photos have been up on flickr for a awhile, but in case you haven't already seen them, click on the photo to see them:

he had a great birthday, twice! and boy have the terrible twos started! right on time.

new dinosaurs all the time

This morning, Darren was teaching Gus the names of various dinosaurs with his new set of 36 plastic dinosaurs, saying each one's name aloud and Gus would attempt to pronounce them...diplodocus, pterodactyl, tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, velociraptor. About a half hour later, Gus comes running towards me with a plastic dinosaur in his hand. He proudly yells "DINOSAURUS TOPS!"

bananana

Darren's raisin story

Not long ago while Gus was eating raisins:

Gus looked at Darren's lip (that had a cold sore at the time) and said
"Daddy raisin?"

Darren said "No little man daddy has a boo-boo on his lip"

So then he puts a raisin on his lip and say "Gus boo-boo lip?"

Ten ways to green your kitchen

Ok, I hate that "green" is now a verb. It sounds like something unpleasant you'd do with your nose. In any case, this article has some fantastic tips for saving energy, conserving the earth's dwindling resources and just generally feeling a little less guilty.
Ten ways to green your kitchen.

p*ss and sh*t

ok, so why the crass title? Trust me, it's not a crass story either.
It's not exactly language I (or Darren) would ever use. At least not in front of our son.
Ok.
so I'm sitting on the toilet (seriously, it's NOT an offensive story) and the door is open so I can keep an eye on Gus.
He comes running towards me and starts yelling "mommy p*ss and sh*t!". I am obviously horrified because I would never teach my son to say such an offensive thing (yes, talking about poop and pee is fine, but those words just sound, well, stupid.). I finish my business and walk around the corner and ask Darren if he just heard what I heard. He says "Yes." and confirms that he has never used those words in that context. I start wondering what's going on at his daycare, what are they teaching him?...when Gus repeats the offensive phrase "mommy, p*ss and sh*t!" This time he is tugging on my pants and shirt.
and then it hits me.
pants and shirt.
I had just put my clothes on for the day and Gus was letting me know that I had pants and a shirt on.
thanks Gus.
You gotta work on that enunciation.

Your goggles slideshow on Flickr

goggles slideshow on Flickr

New photos

Flickr: Photos from Augusten Elray

stinky feet

toothbrush!

Gus brushing up!

100 mile meal!

Today was the first day of the Trout Lake Farmer's Market. We are having our first 100-mile meal (now that it's so easy!).

• Organic portobello mushrooms from Richmond, grilled and topped with organic tomme de chevre (a pungent goat cheese) from Abbotsford.
  
• Barbequed sausage featuring "Gently grown" beef, pork and buffalo from Chilliwack.

We also bought organic tomato, basil and shallot plants. And a passionflower.

pantslessness.

shoes!
Originally uploaded by Augusten Elray.

He is way too funny.

Crow cam

our friends have a crow's nest in the window of their downtown Vancouver apartment. They have a web cam up and running to check the eggs' progress!
Have a look:

Caje Creative crow cam

Cool thing alert #1

Solar Powered bicycles: The E-V Sunny Bicycle

new photos on flickr

NEW slideshow on Flickr

how cute is this guy?

laughter is the best

Darren filmed Gus playing with this new bike helmet. He thinks it's the funniest thing ever.


We took him for a bike ride in the trailer on Friday and he seemed to have a pretty good time. He fell asleep on the way home. The bike trailer is a great invention, it converts to a stroller with addition of an extra wheel so it allows you to be moblie in so many ways with the little monkey. We'll get some photos of him next time we take him out.

snap shots

please let me know if you find these annoying...
here is an example to test it out - VPLs webpage
it should be giving you a bubble snap shot of the VPL webpage when you hover your mouse over the link (blue text).

counting

Gus can count to ten.
Except instead of saying "five", he says "pies".
one, two, three, four, pies, six, seven...

phlox off!

somebody help me - is this phlox???

new slideshow - at the playground!!!

click on the photo for the newest slideshow...
Your playground! slideshow on Flickr
We had a great day at the playground again. There was a crowd of screaming and running 8 to 10 year olds pretending to be the Pokemon video game. Annoying because they kept running over poor little Gus, the guardian appeared to be about 15 and she was useless at discipline. We still managed to get a few good runs on the slide. Gus loved the crazy kids and wanted to copy them. I realize one day other kids will have more influence over him than I do. yikes! and sigh...
I took a couple videos, except I held the camera sideways and I don't know how to rotate the video. hmmm. If anyone has any ideas please let me know... I may just upload it sideways and you will all have to turn your heads. They are worth seeing, even sideways.

I have a moussaka to make, so this is a short entry. Enjoy the photos.

inclined to tedious morality in honour of Earth Day

In honour of Earth day, I challenge you all to try the 100-mile diet.


Try out the 100 mile diet for one meal, one day or however often or as long as you think you can do it.
Eating a 100 mile diet means only eating foods that were produced within 100 miles of your home. Why on earth would you want to that, you ask? Consider the statistics they cite on the 100-mile diet website:

• Minimum distance that North American produce typically travels from farm to plate, in miles: 1,500
• Number of Planet Earths’ worth of resources that would be needed if every person worldwide lived like the average North American: 8

• Planets saved if all of those people ate locally: 1
• Ratio of minutes spent preparing food by English consumers who buy ready-made foods versus traditional home-cooking: 1:1
• Estimated number of plant species worldwide with edible parts: 30,000
• Number of species that currently provide 90 percent of the world’s food: 20
• Share of each U.S. consumer food dollar that returned to the farmer in 1910, in cents: 40
• Share that returned to the farmer in 1997, in cents: 7
• Ratio of prisoners to farmers in the U.S. population: 5:2
• Percentage of fresh vegetables eaten in Hanoi, Vietnam, that are grown in the city: 80
• Percentage of all tomatoes in U.S. that are harvested while green : 80
• Major river dams constructed to irrigate California, now the world’s number five agricultural producer: 1,200
• Number of years that Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon of Vancouver, Canada, ate only foods produced from within 100 miles of their home: 1
• Amount of potatoes, in pounds, that they bought for the winter: 100
• Days that that 100 pounds of potatoes would have fed a person in Ireland, on average, before the potato famine of 1845: 18
• Combined weight in pounds that Alisa and James lost on their 100-Mile Diet: 12

Alisa and James are the authors of the book, The 100 Mile Diet - in which they ate within 100 mile radius of their homes for one year. Interesting that they also lost weight!

• 
  

see The 100 Mile Diet website for a list of references (because I didn't just make it up): http://www.100milediet.org/spread-the-word/

at the park

We had a nice morning at the park. First, he yelled at the ducks. Then, he wanted to splash in the duck pond. Fortunately a nice woman came along with two dogs and told him the duck pond was full of poop. She also told us the elementary school nearby was a good school. Her daughter is in grade four there. After the poop/school discusssion, we went over to the swing. He lasted about a minute. For some reason he hated it. Then we walked over to the playground where he got a all sandy from throwing sand around, sliding down the slide several thousand times and rolling around.
He is now watching Cars for the 100th time. He is also reading Wheels on the Bus. Hence, my ability to write uninterrupted
and Daddy just got home. Now we can put the baby seat on the back of the bike. I made a futile attempt to do so with Gus running around the backyard, playing with his hockey game. He just gets into everything.
Hopefully, he enjoys his helmet a little more once he's on the back of the bike. I tried to explain it's so he can hit his head and it won't hurt. I think he actually got it - so we'll see.

Facebook

Thank you Patricia, I may have just resurrected my social life (beyond playdates).
check out my new Facebook profile.
You can also find it on the left hand column of the blog somewhere below the flickr badge and the library thing... the facebook badge includes my current status - which means at any time you can check where I am or how I'm feeling. Right now I am cold and at work. on a break, of course.

cool photo

taken on my phone at the aquarium.

new video by darren

new video...

talking machine. repetitive

a very repetitive talking machine:
watch cars, watch cars, watch cars. meaning the movie cars. he always wants to watch it.
ockey swedu on, ockey swedu on, ockey swedu on. Hockey sweater on. he cries when we take it off.
yama dark. refers to a line in the book Llama llama red pajama
"llama llama red pajama in the dark without his mama" He used to cry on that page because the baby llama looks so sad without his mama. Now he refuses to turn the page and kisses the llama over and over again. We read that book two or three times every night at bedtime. I'll eventually have to buy it (it's from the library, naturally) because he doesn't seem to ever get bored of it. I've had it out several times.
sukuw gahs. Circle dogs. see above entry on Llamas. another book. obsessed.

eats the same foods over and over. mumitz (muffins), gups (grapes), kukees (cookies), kees (cheese)

He's lots of fun and lots of work. He definately has a defiant side - lots of arguing, very little compromise (on his part), and lots of drama over the irrational little things that he absolutely must have or do. Like wear his hockey sweater. He's had a couple of complete meltdowns because we occasionally have to take it off. We've resorted to bribery (what joy when I discovered it worked!) on a number of occasions. How such a small person can completely rule our lives is unfathomable, but rule he does.

by the way, new photos on flickr (click on the photo!):

好朋友

Happy International Women's Day 2007

International Women's Day 2007

International Women's Day seems non-existent in Canada. I know the library puts up displays and various women's groups use it as an opportunity for education and advocacy, but nothing special happens. It should be a day to honour the women in your life, to do something nice, like laundry, for your wife, mother, sister, friend, etc. I loved the tradition in Vietnam - all women are given flowers. I remember being in an internet cafe in Hanoi and I'd just had the most frustrating experience. I'd typed out a long, satisfying bulk e-mail to all my friends about our travels, I hit send, and watched the little hourglass turn over and over as the slow connection attempted to send. Sometime later, (this was a really slow connection) I noticed the hourglass was gone. I slid the mouse back and forth and the blue screen flashes at me. I was so mad - especially since I still had to pay for my wasted time and felt like complaining, but instead just paid and started to stomp off out the door. As I was stomping, I hear the cafe clerk saying "miss! miss! excuse me!". I turned around, angrily thinking "now what?" with an impatient huff. The young guy from behind the desk was now standing and in his hand was a yellow rose. He handed it to me and said "Happy Women's Day!" and sat back down. Flustered, I thanked him and left with a big grin on my face. Now that is a special way to celebrate women!

Gus' first haircut

Check out Gus' first haircut slideshow on Flickr

apología

wow, it's seriously been ages. sorry
and I didn't write a single post from Mexico. Next time I am bringing our laptop. Can you beleive that? It seems that with a sprog in tow the best time to blog is at night. Besides, during the day (while travelling) , I'd rather be doing other things than sitting in front of a computer. The laptop would also be useful for uploading our photos.
Anyhow, Mexico was brilliant.

We started in Mexico City. Unsurprisingly, both Darren and I loved it - our continuing love affair with the polluted, intense megalopolis. Unfortunately, we only had 2 and a half days. We managed the Museo nacional de antropología de México
- The Mexican National Museum of Anthropology. I would call it an absolute 'must-see' on any tour of Mexico City. Click on the photos to see other photos from the museum.

After the museum, Gus woke up so we went to the Zoo in Chapultapec Park. A very well done zoo, the animals had decent accommodation and seemed healthy and happy. As zoos go...
We also spent some time in the Centro histórico - or historic centre, which includes the zócalo, and colonial buildings such as the gubernatorial palace and cathedral. The cathedral is sinking (sorry no photo of this) - it was built on an Aztec ceremonial centre (a ploy by the conquistadors to conquer the spirit of the Aztecs), but the joke is that it is the Aztecs' revenge. Click for some photos of the zócalo.

Our hotel, Casa Gonzalez, was lovely and we'd highly recommend it to anyone staying in Mexico City. Especially with kids - I spent a lot of time looking for a place with a nice grassy courtyard (a real oasis in a big noisy city) so that Gus would have a place to run around. The breakfasts were great, the staff excellent and helpful, and the place offered everything we could possibly need. We didn't take a lot of photos of it but you can see them here.
You can also find info and photos on Tripadvisor, along with reviews - I discovered the place on Tripadvisor. In my opinion, one of the best sites for researching hotels.

The stay in Mexico City was too short, we'll have to go back. We would have loved to visit the Frida Kahlo house in Coyoacán, among other things, but we did not have enough time.

We flew to Puerto Escondido on Jan 18. PE is a quiet town of fishers, surfers and snowbirds. I was there 15 years ago when it was still a hidden surfing mecca. Many things has changed, Zicatela Beach had gone from a quiet palm tree lined surfers' beach with a few palapas selling refrescos and cerveza out of coolers to a booming strip of bungalows, small hotels, restaurants and surf shops. Aside from the highway, the only way to get to Zicatela was to walk along the beach from Playa Principal. Now there is a road so you can take a taxi. The town is quickly spreading as more folks from the US and Canada build condos and houses to retire or winter in. Surprisingly, I felt the town's vibe had remained intact. Development, though booming, is tasteful. No huge ugly compounds with huge walls, no big chain restaurants, stores or hotels (yet, although a chain coffee shop from Oaxaca has just moved in, so we'll see.).
We really didn't do much in PE. Slept, swam, drank margs at Ben-Zaa, went to the beach, ate some fantastic shrimp cocktail (I swear the shrimps were about 2 ounces each!), swam and drank more margs. It was hot. really hot, so we had to find the comfort of shade or the pool between 10-2. Fortunately we had a lovely pool at the casita - CLICK me for the POOL Slideshow! Gus loved it. The second we woke up until just before bed he would be calling out "poo- poo-". We has to start spelling it out unless we wanted to go in, because once he heard the word, he wouldn't stop asking to go swimming. Even now he asks to go in the pool occasionally.
Some PE highlights: the giant shrimp cocktails at Pascal, partying on the palapa with Cheryl and Doug and Sheila and Michael, the beach club at Villa Sol, margaritas at the BenZaa (and the crowd there too!), my mom and I getting covered in poop during dinner at Cafecito - and Darren and I gagging as we tried to change the diaper (we'd had a couple of Margaritas before

heading over and felt quite BenZaa-ed) - to make matters worse, the poop came between our soup and our main course. Somehow we managed to eat. The beach path between our casita and Playa Principal ("Main Beach"). Click on the photo to see all the images from the beach path. We each read 4 books, slept in almost everyday while Gus played with Gua-gua, swam at least once a day. A pretty sweet life.

We did start to get a little bored - so we set off for the city for a few days. We spent six days in Oaxaca City. It was a nice break from the heat and gave us some cultural exploring to do. We all loved Oaxaca. The Centro Historico (yes, historic centre) is a UNESCO World heritage site (check out my July 10, 2006 post) and full of beautifully maintained colonial buildings, a stunning green zocalo, where Gus had so much fun, walking around (it is closed to traffic), listening to the musicians - the marimba players were his favourites:

As you can see from the photo - he wants to run over and hang out with the guys. funny little man. We visited several buildings of note - the Church of Santo Domingo (note the anarchy symbol - more about graffiti later): which was lovely, but Gus was a challenge:

The Basilica:
The Public Library which was housed in a lovely colonial building set around a lush green courtyard (click on the photo to get a glimpse of the library, incudng the card catalouge) Here is Gus in the children's section:

We also had some great Oaxacan food, rich moles, chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles) and savoury cheeses. One restaurant of note: Como Agua Pa' Chocolate (like the book/movie). Sadly, a restaurant we were looking forward to enjoying, El Naranjo had closed due to the recent political unrest. Another fantastic restaurant serving modern Mexican dishes in an absolutely stunning setting: Los Danzantes. The photo does not capture the surroundings at all. We also sampled some of the finest mezcal (and brought some home) at Los Danzantes - we walked away with a high that only mezcal can produce.
We sampled some mezcal at a 90 year old mezcal bar, featuring local musicians and antojitos on the house. We were only a little hungry but we were offered local finger foods like sopes and another tortilla based dish garnished with rendered pork fat. Yummy, but hard to eat too much. Here is a dark photo of Darren in front of La Farola, the 90 year old mezcal bar:
That same night we enjoyed a rooftop patio with a view of Santo Domingo flooded with white light:
We shopped like crazy, brought home a mirror (in one piece) and several bottles of mezcal.
It was an interesting time to be in Oaxaca, just on the heels of so much unrest, the protests had ended but it seems nothing has been resolved. Tourists seemed to be coming back, the restaurants were quiet, but not empty. Our hotel, quiet, but with a rush of tourists every couple days as it was a stop on a tour bus. The place would be empty for a couple days and them suddenly packed with the 60-something set, all Americans. It was nice to see them visiting, despite unneccesary warnings from the US government to avoid Oaxaca. There was little evidence of the recent violence aside from some grafitti, now mostly painted over. Across the street from our hotel was one of the few buidlings that hadn't been painted:

Often people are saddened at the defacement of these old buildings, but in reality, these words have now become part of the history of these edifices and thus, belong there. The paint will fade, some building owners are etching a layer of the stone off, but some evidence will remain and in years to come will be known as remnants of the teachers' strike in 2006.

We also spent half a day at the ruins at Monte Alban - another UNESCO World Heritage site. Here are a few shots (click on the photo to see them all:

I am sure there are many details I've left out. If you're interested, take the time to go through some of the photos on flickr - there are lots of them and I am slowly trying to organize them. They have all been tagged by subject and geography, so if you want to browse try looking at the tags, you can click on any one of them (eg; click on "beach" and you'll see all the photos I've tagged with "beach"): CLICK HERE FOR TAGS

that's all for now. I am sure to have other musings on travel - especially some tips on travel with baby! But that will be left for future post.

lame attempt

Happy New Year, everyone!
I've just aborted a lame attempt to leave the house using the Ergo carrier I borrowed from a friend. Instruction manuals are invaluable. Of course I went to the Ergo website and found the incredibly clear instructions after I had tried many times to get the thing on so that both Gus and I were comfortable. I've had it on a few times comfortably so I thought it would be so easy, but of course we were not going outside those times so we weren't bundled up.
Anyhow, the end of a long story - amid the shuffling, stuffing and limb tangling, Gus somehow fell asleep (see photo).
The good news with the Ergo is that it is compact (will fit in our backpack) and comfortable. And apparently sleeping in it is entirely possible. We have also borrowed a frame backpack which has a sunshade. It seems so huge that it probably won't make the trip. Gus was quite annoyed while sitting in it although if we actually went somewhere he'd probably love it. The advantage would be that he would get much more shade than any other carrying device. The debate will rage on until the last minute, I'm sure.

We are doing our last minute scrambling to get everything together for our trip. We've had all our jabs, our first aid kit is loaded with "just in case" meds, I was off to get a sunshade for the stroller and a few other items. I am hoping to find a second teddy bear like the one he loves so much - I don't know how he'd get to sleep if he lost it! He sure loves it (thanks Brad!). I've gone through his summer clothes and found 8 pairs of shorts that will still fit him. We still have to find his sun hat and buy a few items - sunscreen, and probably other things that I am forgetting right now. Must make a list.

My mom arrives Thursday, with all kinds of crap in tow (mayo, Gus' travel bed, crates of ibuprofen). Darren and I will try to get out for dinner once before we leave. Seems like ages since he and I had a date.

It is entirely possible that the next post you read will be from Mexico. We are awfully busy with preparations so I don't feel like I have much time for anything else. We have postponed party plans until after we return - it seemed like such a good idea about a month ago, but with too many things on the go already it would just be insane.

sleeping baby is no longer asleep.
bye for now