[rain in toronto]

I can't believe that we're actually having rain in Toronto! In December...wierd. The people putting up the windows in the house were first complaining because of the extreme cold and fierce winds and now they're getting soaked. Wonder if this has anything to do with climate change. (I'll have to ask Steve.)

Here are some photos as the snow gets melted away:

[egg nog]

Where else but Canada will the front page of the newspaper's food section be dedicated to finding the best eggnog?! Sadly, as the journalist explains, "we had our fill of holiday cheer but no eggnog we tasted came close to [the] top rating of 10." What a shame eh?! So, for those egg nog fans out there, the best of the (North American) supermarkets is Master Choice Premium coming in at 7.1 rating. Some comments about this eggnog, er um, holiday tradition: "Yummy. eggy. Spice just right," and "Tastes like cake batter." Coming in second place with a rating of 7 is Dairyland Original which has "perfect texture" and "tastes like rice pudding without the rice." In last place with a score of 3.9 is So Nice Noel Nog (soy). It has a "bad aftertaste. Truly awful," and is "about as Crhistmas as vegan fruitcake." That sums it up for y'all out there: make your own nog (with plenty of rum of course!)


*Quotes from "The Toronto Star," December 21, 2005 edition.

[snow in toronto]

Here are some images for those of you who don't have a white fairyland outside your window:

[toronto]

So I left London and have arrived in snowy Toronto. The first difference I noted was the icy touch down. The plane veered left and right and finally came to a successful stop. Whew. All the passengers had been bracing themselves and we'd been told not to worry if the oxygen masks dropped. Hrm. Not sure about that. After collecting my luggage from the smooth-running carosel I went through customs. Not a prob. Then out into the terminal to meet my folks who were picking me up. As I scanned around the terminal seemed so empty (ok, it was midnight but Heathrow is always busy!). It was also spotless. The floors were so clean there were reflecting light to make the space seem even brighter. I see my dad in the distance holding a sign "welcome to Canada." Ha. After hellos and hugs I ask, "wow, dad, you made this?" (all the while wondering if the airport had begun to offer craft classes while people waited in the arrivals area). My dad just muttered. I tried again, "So dad, did mum make the sign." Again he muttered. Finally, he cracked under my admiration for the colourful sign - he saw someone else use it and "borrowed" it....HA! Only an Italian could do that!! Crazy eh? He was so proud of it as well. Perhaps the airport should begin those craft classes. During the snowy drive I marveled at the space. Buildings are not on top of one another and each house is set back from roads. I think that's the thing I miss most when in England, the lack of space. Of course England has much to offer too!! Anyone who can travel is really so lucky to be able to experience other cultures and ways of life.

[it stops with me]

"How did it get to the point where men and women are at war, and their children are the swords they wield against each other? It is not just about my family and my ancestry. I don't know where it started, but I do know where it is ending. It is stopping right here with me. I choose a different legacy for my children to pass generation to generation. I was not the first girl to be abused in my family. But I will be the first to say, c'est fini. No more. It stops here with me."

An exerpt from the book It Stops with Me: Memoir of a Canuck Girl by Charleen Touchette. I've just reviewed it for women writers; check out their site.

[taking a break]

I'm just taking a wee break from writing my thesis overview and am reading through the furtherfield site when this article by MEZ caught my eye.

Here is an interesting quote: "In fictionscapes driven primarily via narrative, meaning is derived via a mimicking mechanism that apes interconnectedness via a truncation of experiential echos. The distilling aspect of this process makes Context a poor, invalid comprehension cousin by Narrative standards."

[words made flesh]

This is interesting: "Although it was not until 1957 that mathematician John W. Tukey coined the term “software”, its history can be traced back to Antiquity, according to Florian Cramer [1]. One of the main advocates of Software Art and long-time researcher on the relations between literature and computing, Cramer has written the book “Words Made Flesh. Code, Culture, Imagination”[2] during a fellowship in the Media Design Research program at the Piet Zwart Institute [3] in Rotterdam. In this 140-page essay, he develops a historical overview of the philosophical, mystical, literary and artistic currents that lead to the present concept of software as a cultural practice."

http://www.furtherfield.org/displayreview.php?From=Index&review_id=167