January 22nd, 2008 writerspice
The snow keeps coming – a further ten to 20 centimeters expected today, on top of the 40 we’ve received since Saturday – and here’s what that looks like right now through my office window.
On the weekend, J. and I valiantly embraced the wintery-ness of it all by walking to the local track to strap on our skis and do a few loops. But as soon as I pressed down on the plastic clamp that keeps the boot in, crack, it broke. The sun had come out, so I stood and soaked it up while watching J. break trail and slide his way around a few times.
I must admit that this kind of weather is exciting. It’s all over the radio, a news event, as Rick Mercer has ranted about. As he oh-so-concisely puts it, “This is Canada. We have winter. Life sucks. Get a toque. And embrace it.” This attempt at, um, embracing, is likely why winter festivities abound across Ontario. Not needed so much during those balmy wintry days of late, organizers must be gleeful with as they observe this more traditional Canadian season coming down all around.
One thing’s for sure, the 1,200 square foot ice castle that’s built every year at the Port of Orillia should stay intact as long as this weather does. Home to Shivers, the mascot of the Orillia Winter Carnival, the structure will be erected on February 2 and 3 (want to help? Visit the website), in time for the grand event on February 8, 9 and 10. This shin-dig has everything you could ask for: dog sled rides, snow sculpting, a polar bear dip, a pig roast and much, much more down home fun in the sun snow.
Posted in Orillia, Seasons | 2 Comments »
January 19th, 2008 writerspice
Last May, in downtown Santiago de Chile, I found myself laughing my head off in a brightly-lit diner. It was around midnight and a few of us, gripped by hunger, had sauntered up the street from our hostel to find something to eat. Little did we know the menu would prove more entertaining than the sauce-slathered chicken sandwiches, spilling slabs of avocados (although that does sound pretty good right about now).
Without a camera, I couldn’t surreptitiously record the pages, nor did I want to insult the staff by stifling giggles as I asked for a copy. Instead, I committed a few of the jucier bits to memory and wrote them down in my journal back in my room.
Isn’t this one of more amusing aspects of travel? Finding English words twisted into phrases that are just so funny… In that diner last May, I laughed harder than I had in months. My three Hungarian friends eyed me, alarmed, probably afraid I’d soon slip into convulsions.
In reality, I simply couldn’t make up my mind between “meat for the poor thing” and a pork dish called “he she differs / he she cooks”.
It’s a shame that the Beijing Tourism Bureau is working so hard to wipe out “Chinglish” in time for the Olympics. Not only are these abstract little phrases amusing, they also provide some poetry. Anyone up for an “attache pan of mold?” Yum.
Posted in Contemplations, Just For Fun, World | 1 Comment »
January 16th, 2008 writerspice
My interview with TravelBlogs.com is up today. Read my responses to questions about the relationship between travel and writing, when I first found my wanderlust and, of course, what advice I’d give to newbies. Then come back and tell me what you think. Does travel feed your creativity? What is inspirational (or not) about that other place, just over the horizon…?
Posted in Contemplations, Writing Life | 2 Comments »
January 15th, 2008 writerspice
This morning, before the sun came up, I took our dog for a walk. The sky was that pearly blue that deepens into an impossible, nearly neon shade before the sun emerges over the horizon and washes it out. It was beautiful – fat snowflakes drifted to the ground, settling over a new layer of white.
The walk was a refreshing tonic for the desperate addiction that seizes me at this time of year. While working on articles – lately, about Michigan’s art coast, eating local at area farmers’ markets and Quebec City’s 400th anniversary – I carve out small breaks to surf the net for bargain getaways in exotic locales. Barring that, an inn, any inn or resort or spa or hotel, in a part of the world at least a two-hour drive away, will do.
So I was pleased to stumble across iloveinns.com yesterday and this: buy their book, the 19th edition of Bed & Breakfasts and Country Inns, and you’ll get a gift certificate for a free night (usually midweek) at any one of several participating properties. The book costs $24.95, making it a great deal.
I spent awhile perusing the website’s list of participating properties and saw a few places I’d heartily recommend, including the Londonderry Inn, a former farmhouse in mid-coast Maine, an area I wrote about for both NOW Magazine and the Georgia Straight.
Closer to home, there’s Petoskey, Michigan’s historic Terrace Inn, where the innkeeper told me that one of his guests asked, when told about their Ernest Hemingway-themed room, “How’s it decorated? With booze and women?”
On the western edge of Michigan, there’s the lovely Hexagon House B&B (pictured above) in Pentwater, a small town with a dozen art galleries on the east coast of Lake Michigan. Within my stomping grounds, there’s the Pretty River Valley Country Inn, near Collingwood, where each of the guest rooms has a fireplace, a must after exploring the wooded 120-acres on your snowshoes or skis.
With the possibility of my going back to school next year and rising costs of renovating our house, we might not be going anywhere anytime soon. But, still, it’s fun to daydream.
Posted in Bargains!, Recommended | No Comments »
January 11th, 2008 writerspice
For all the people I’ve met who think Canada means Shangri-la in some other language… this comes from Toronto housing advocate Cathy Crowe:
..Yes, Canada is at war in Afghanistan. Since 2001, Canadian Forces have been fighting a war that has now lasted longer than World War II…
Our military spending will reach $18.2 billion in 2007-08, the highest annual amount since World War II.
Much of this is being spent on military equipment intended for the war in Afghanistan, like the $3.4 billion for four military transport planes and $1.3 billion for 100 battle tanks.
That $4.7 billion for arms could have provided at least 30,000 affordable homes for homeless families.
The military budget now represents 8.5% of all Federal spending. The Toronto Star reports that Prime Minister Harper intends to boost the Canadian Forces budget to $20 billion by 2010. This flies in the face of housing activists’ long-time demand that an additional 1% of the Federal budget, approximately $2 billion, be put towards a new national affordable housing program.
Homelessness and hunger are well documented and the most painful expressions of the poverty here in Canada. Surely, we should be demanding that our federal government put an end to it.
After all, as Gandhi stated, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
If there is such a thing as a moral war, I don’t think this is it.
To sign the Housing Not War declaration or to learn more: www.housingnotwar.ca.
Cathy Crowe’s newsletter is at http://tdrc.net/index.php?page=newsletter.
Photo by Jonathan Greenwald
Posted in Issues, Toronto | 2 Comments »
January 8th, 2008 writerspice
Having returned refreshed from my holiday hiatus, I am ready to atone for the blogger’s sin of disappearing off the face of the earth for over eight days…
With a brand new year comes some freshly published clips to share.
Last winter, when January was white, snowy and damn cold (unlike these days with persistent rain and fog turning the world to a setting suitable for the dreadful Gothic novel stirring in my mind) I bundled up and went dog-sledding for the very first time for Simcoe Life. Here’s the evidence – including pics – to prove it.
This past autumn, I also ventured over to both Collingwood and Wiarton, for stories for Edible Toronto’s latest issue.
Let me know what you think!
Posted in Ontario, Simcoe County, Writing Life | No Comments »
