Commuter's Weekend: Bloomsday Edition

Welp, this is my life these days. My me time. The time for reading books and writing theses. More the former than the latter, but I guess if books are what I do... it's all research really.

But at home, it's Father's Day and Bloomsday. Very recently I lost my grandfather, my mother's father, which I meant to post about first and completely forgot, but I suppose this is more timely. Anyhoops, MomBlom and I decided to spend the day together, in honour of both our fathers. We tried to think of something that they would both enjoy, but apparently all they really did together was work on a pig farm, with my Grandfather's quiet stoicism and my father's ensuing feelings of inadequacy (a city boy, you see). Consequently, we just decided to go out for lunch (and a Guinness), watch some Sherlock, and finish the evening off with some Irish Whiskey.

In other news, remember how I only had three peonies last year? No? Well I don't really feel like linking to that entry, so all you have to know is that there were only three flowers on the shrub, but I learned that if you cut the blooms off on the first year, you'll have a lot more the next. Well turns out that's true! These are just the six biggest as of today:

in the same vase in the same place! But I won't leave them out in the sun like last year because a) they wilted in an hour and b) there isn't any sun.

Oh my god, what is going ON back there? Well that's MomBlom's fantastic new garden in the works. Here she is plotting exactly where the vegetables and herbs are going to go. Immediately after a little gust of wind!

Oh yeah hey, remember that whole thing about Peonies and ants? True:

Apparently they like the sweet coating on the unopened buds, and may help to weaken the structure such that it's easier for the flowers to open quickly, but there's nothing to say that the flowers can't open without the ants, or that the ants pollenate the plant, so it's not really symbiosis. It's just something cool that happens. Also, a brief dunk in the pond rids any cut blossoms of their ants and does no harm to the blooms either!

Other things about the back yard: I'm in charge of the pond this year! Which of course means no goldfish, and the lilies are totally taking over again. But there's a pretty flower about to come out so I don't have the heart to choke them out with, say, water hyacinths.

Lots in the works for the garden, and while I'm sad to miss it during the week, it's really nice to see such progress on the weekends. Next up: these plants have to go somewhere...

Winter? What Winter?

And this was weeks ago! And it may be misleading since the window wasn't open for very long, but I'd set my toast on fire see, and was pleasantly surprised by the weather. Since then, the flowers have bloomed and the trees are getting leaves. The hostas are even starting to come up, or at least something is.

I think I might take the day off tomorrow. Really off. Clean some, cook a bit. Seems like I haven't eaten in a week. Maybe get serious about poking things with needles, instead of just letting my yarn slowly take over.

But hey, some cool things. I got to write another paper about Ulysses! Felt like a bit of a cop-out since I took a whole course on it, but this paper delineated the publication history, which is super interesting and which I'd never had the chance to really go into before.

I decided I was going to make a stand and specifically not drink on St Patrick's Day (the mild hangover helped this resolution). I was going to ignore it completely! Yeah! Then walked out of the house realizing I was wearing a green shirt after all. EVERY YEAR. I do wish I had some whiskey for a cake though. Or, you know, just to have.

Hanukkah Dinner

 Treats for everyone this year. A potluck Hanukkah dinner, for which I made an Irish coffee cake. Because um... well if you know Ulysses... um... you'll get it.

That and I this cake graced the cover of the latest issue of Fine Cooking and I just wanted it. Assign dessert to me, and your potluck gets serious.

Only the chocolate curls didn't work out at all. I even tried their tip of taking a vegetable peeler to the chocolate bar. But flakes are better than nothing, and CERTAINLY better than Christmas-coloured vanilla chips, so all in all a success.

I just love this apartment. At this point a discussion was had about the waiting list of potential tenants, with the result of a few disappointed guests (mainly me).

Table is set, manischewitz poured.

The menorah is lit and a prayer is said.

And then the light doesn't even last through dinner! What is this?!

A good night. All very traditional and warm, at least until we migrated to the Jane Bond and I tried to buy that Nat King Cole record with Hanukkah gelt as a joke, and the DJ didn't know what it was. And then I couldn't find any real money, so that was embarrassing.

In other news, I hear Vancouver got REAL SNOW today, while my mother just picked fresh herbs from the garden here in Waterloo.  What is THIS?!

Next up, decorating Christmas cookies!