Last Legs

Food, Photography, and Fun Things To Do.

This is the lettuce portion of my garden. Behind the lettuce you can also see fennel, peas, lemon balm, chives, thyme, parsley, and nasturtiums. I am trying to create a sort of herb section of the garden back there in the corner near the fence. After this picture was taken I planted some bergamot, too! I would like to get a larger container for the lemon balm. Maybe a foot and a half across. If anyone has one, please leave it at my garden for me! Thanks!

Above is a photo of my first harvest! I went back the next day (yesterday) and picked another batch just as big. It tastes wonderful.

The day I picked the first batch I found out it was my friend's birthday (he is kind of secretive) so I decided to bake him a cake - inspired by my Mother's Day cake, and my friend Jocelyn's sugar icing idea - so I got out all the ingredients and was pretty fricken excited about surprising him at work. Something went terribly wrong. It could have been the oven was acting funny, or perhaps I didn't whip the eggs enough. I was pretty sad so I decided to try again (even though I had washed all the dishes and put all the ingredients away) and it also turned out like crap. So after wasting 6 eggs and a bunch of sugar and flour I took him my delicious greens instead.

In happier food news, I made a delicious beet greens, mushroom, tomato, and shrimp dish with a lemon dill sauce, served over millet. I made the same thing again last night and used Enoki mushrooms!

My friend Priscilla is doing a show for the Fringe Festival in September and I took the photo that she will be using in the program guide:

 And finally, a couple of events/activities that you might want to/should participate in:

The 30 Days Project - Create something for 30 days straight and share it with people. Registration ends today, project begins tomorrow. FREE!

Craft Party / Etsy Meetup - Come hang out with other crafters and craft. June 18, 2-5pm. FREE!
 
Ricky Powell Slide Show - "The legendary street photographer is coming to Fortune Sound Club on June 2, and he’ll be doing a little show and tell session." FREE!

Swap-O-Rama-Rama - "Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing and craft supply swap in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing." $5/$6

Talent Time - "Talent Time is a live monthly comedy / variety / chat show & cable access television program featuring the country's greatest comedians, musical artists and novelty acts. Past guests include: Miniature Mariachis, Comic Hypnotists, Celebrity Impersonators, Extreme Wrestlers, Airbands, Drag Queens, Magicians, Laughing Meditation Demonstrations and Tribute Bands." $8

 

Another Vancouver Mistake

I went to watch the deflation of the BC Place roof. I am extremely disappointed in the decision to replace the fabric roof. I think the building was a unique architectural enhancement to Vancouver's skyline. There are really no words. Tomorrow, when I am not so tired, I will try to write something more politically charged. But for now, here are my pictures of the sad moment.

 

 

Gray is Okay - New Flickr Group Project

 

I started a Flickr Group today called Gray is Okay. It is a photography pool for the things in life that the online world tends to forget about. It is for things that are real, and not necessarily pretty. This project was inspired by the following things:

 

1. It stuck with me when, after being dumped recently, someone pointed out that you can’t judge people’s (ie. ex-boyfriend’s) lives based on the pictures they post on Facebook, because people post birthday parties and barbeques, not changing a flat tire in the pouring rain, or putting their cat down.

 

2. I read an article on “Marthettes,” women who have beautiful crafty lives of perfection, and who share these lives on their stunning, pastel-infused blogs, which the article suggests average women like myself will read and inevitably compare ourselves to, leading us to feel inadequate. The article made me think two things.

 

a) I will be the first to admit that I can often feel low after reading a string of these blogs.

 

b) The reality is that what these women choose to show on their blogs is only half of their lives. No one lives a 100% peaches and cream life. And quite frankly, if they do, I feel sorry for them. I often find inspiration and beauty in things that are ugly or awkward. Which leads me to number 3…

 

3. Nan Goldin.

 

In a world where life is easy to document, I think that it’s a shame that it seems to be people’s goal to post only what is appealing to look at.

 

So this is me encouraging you to post photographs of your failed baking, spilled red wine on a white carpet, your skinned knee after a fall, and the three weeks of dishes that have piled up after a loved one has died.

 

When life is shitty  s l o w  d o w n  a little, and take note of it. Snap a picture. It might give you some perspective.

 

So the purpose of this photo pool, if not only for a place to put these images, is to hopefully glean something from these shitty experiences.  And maybe if a snapshot is taken, it can be looked at after the fact, and inspire something greater. When observing something shitty after it has happened, you might find some beauty in it.

 

Please include a description of what is going on in each photograph.

 

At the time the Flickr group is only viewable by members. I am working on getting this changed. There seems to be a problem with Flickr's privacy settings. Thanks for your patience.