Brief summer update: very busy - at work and around the house.
Looking forward to the cottage vacation Aug 23 to Sep 2.
The summer hasn't been that great (don't have to tell you that), and it's almost over anyway... :(
Keep in touch.

Unless you have visitors over, you usually don't go to touristy places in your area. At times you are (OK, I am!) overly judgemental about them, thinking this stuff is not worthy my attention... Places like CN tower, Exhibition place, Ontario place are not on my list of a regular weekend hang out. African Lion Safari never was, I always thought it was a) for little kids b) overrated and overpriced..

Live and learn not to make assumptions... I had one of the most impressive experiences of my life.
Elephant swim was beyond anything we expected.



(pmore photos to come. I am still sorting them out and uploading)

я так устала говорить на чужом языке. вдруг так отчетливо почувствовала, сколько стресса от того, что меня не понимают, или от страха, что не поймут. и сколько усилий уходит на АРТИКУЛЯЦИЮ... иногда я ловлю такое же усилиле на лице собеседника. иногда такая гримаса, что, кажется, им аж больно меня слушать. а мне. мне БОЛЬНО им все это рассказывать.
я, кажется, устала. от всего.

While the message could have been stronger, and some of the facts were questionable, I thought this was a good social ad.
Educational, too! I had no idea about planned and perceived obsolescense...

Reminded me about how guilty I am sometimes of consuming thoughtlessly...

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

Slowly but sure getting back into the joy of painting and sketching EVERY DAY. На выходных вообще сам Бог велел (как это сказать по-английски???)

 

For the first time in my Canadian life I am attempting to file taxes with software (vs. on paper as I've always done before).
I like it, only there is one problem -- I spent as much time doing taxes with software as I usually do on paper: first 5 minutes on entering the numbers, and then an hour trying to ensure it calculated everything correctly and isn't giving me too much money back.

Я все еще в душе наверное советский человек??

UPDATE: может и советский, но получалось уж слишком много денужки возврата, и я таки дырку нашла и вовремя поправила, а то.. прижали бы меня к стенке.


BTW: are your lights off??

Went back to TSA for life drawing (thank you, Irka) and got courageous to sketch on the bus again. Something to celebrate!

Struggling to have the discipline to paint every day. Here, Nadya is the list in case you're missing things to draw/paint.
101 - Draw a bar of soap
102 - Draw a power plug
103 - Draw some exercise equipment you use.
104 - Draw some salt and pepper shakers
105 - Draw some scissors
106 - Draw something tart or sour
107 - Draw how you get your news
108 - Draw a light bulb or several
109 - Draw a clock you have around the house
110 - Draw something with a flame or flames
111- Draw a bowl
112 - Draw something fresh
113 - Draw a fence and write about fences in your life
114 - Draw something ugly that you love and keep for sentimental reasons.
115 - Draw a shopping cart or basket
116 - Draw something green
117 - Draw something round
118 - Draw hair or something with hair
119 - Draw some rocks
120 - Draw a flashlight
121 - Draw some coins and journal about youthful memories regarding coins
122 - Draw something that includes shade as a part of the picture.
123 - Draw a bell
124 - Draw something yellow
125 - Draw a bird or birds
126 - Draw a sponge
127 - Draw a skyscape
128 - Draw a view through a doorway from one interior room to another
129 - Draw people doing something
130 - Draw some school supplies.
131 - Draw a spray bottle
132 - Draw a chain
133 - Draw a peach
134 - Draw a familiar person place or thing, but from an unusual angle
135 - Draw a salad
136 - Draw something that's alive
137 - Draw something you can turn on or off
138 - Draw something soft
139 - Draw something with a handle
140 - Draw an envelope
141 - Draw something with bristles
142 - Draw something hot
143 - Draw an herb or spice
144 - Draw something square
145 - Draw a fall tree
146 - Draw a favorite food
147 - Draw or paint something made of wood
148 - Draw or paint something soothing
149 - Draw a broom
150 - Draw a candle or candles
151 - Free choice
152 - Draw a nut
153 - Draw something in a plastic wrapper
154 - Draw or paint a lemon and journal about lemon memories
155 - Draw some steps
156 - Draw a sandwich
157 - Draw a towel
158 - Draw a kernel of popped popcorn
159 - Draw a favorite cooking tool
160 - Draw a trophy
161 - Draw something you think smells wonderful
More on Flickr in Danny's note.

The best movie I've seen in months. Outstanding animation, brilliant characters and the history I personally never knew.
Highly recommend (while I suspect everyone else has already seen and heard :-)

With the new iPod came more frequent visits to iTunes and their store (they do sell you the handle, don't they :-)

Something I always ready to pay for is tedious work done for me. In iTunes it is called iTunes essentials - compilations of music by topics, i.e. Piano Jazz essentials, or Motown Essentials, or Europop essentials :-)) And while some of the themes I'd rather explore by myself, some I just can't. Don't know where to start.

After I discovered and fell in love with Eric Satie, I found out that he is called a French impressionist! :-) Turns out there are a lot of other folks who are :-) including Debussy and Ravel! Oops. Now I know...

So I went and bought the first of four compilations of "iTunes Essentials - French Impressionists" and gladly paid money for someone educating me on the "Basics". I am pretty sure I will proceed to the "Next steps", "Deep cuts" and "Complete set" very soon.

By the way, pursuing one of my goals for this year -- musical education. Hey, I never before had goals for a year in advance!!! :-)

В этом году особенно модны резиновые сапоги, разноцветненькие такие, веселенькие. Сегодня я пожалела, что у меня таких нет. На улице сплошная манная каша. Сильно пересоленная...
***
Two clean, healthy looking beggars, regulars in our neighborhood, chatting in Tim Hortons:
- Were you here yesterday?
- Yeah, I was here.. You?
- Nope, it was too damn cold and way too much snow...
- Yeah, I shouldn't have bothered either. Had to take a cab back...
***
Bought a new iPod nano 8 gb. Really had to push myself because I am a firm believer that I don't need any new "better" hardware if what I have works. Well,  iPod shuffle (Ninka's birthday present, 2005) finally started skipping songs. I think I did well avoiding the temptations for 3 years! What helped (call it cheating) was the iPod classic I gave Tom last x-mas.. I did get to play with it quite a bit ;-)

To think -- I was seriously considering immigrating to Australia instead!
and miss all this!

честное слово, понятия не имела, что из этого получится, сидела баловалась. часа 4 правда баловалась. удовольствия - море, ну и вот такой получился морской пейзаж.
акварель, ручки, карандаши, кулек и маскировочная жидкость (нет, не нюхала, чесс слово!)

you would think with the limited resource I have (it being my hand hit by carpal tunnel syndrome) I would use the limited time to do some useful stuff - like answer e-mails, post pictures, write about vacation...? No can do. sorry

The best photograph of the trip is nonexistent. It will forever remain in Tom's head. We both regret that I didn't take my camera to the horseback riding adventure...

We rode through the bush to a beach on the Altlantic ocean (we stayed on the other side of the island - on the Carribean sea). The horse, of course had a saddle and everything. But the special experience offered was the riding the horses IN the ocean. Little did I know - it was bareback.

To make a long story short, I made it quite far :-) To the water and about 5 meters into the ocean, where with a big splash and a lot of noise I fell into the water. I climbed poor Bob again and fell --- two more times :-)

Tom was hysterical (he stayed on the shore - claims he didn't take his swimming trunks)... I thought he'd have a heart attack he laughed so much. I laughed, too. It was indeed very funny. You'd have a good laugh, too if we had a camera...

On a serious note, looking back I remember a strange feeling - of guilt. It felt wrong - placing my weight on the back of the poor animal -- for what? Just for an entertaining ride... For the same reason I didn't grab his hair when I was sliding off his wet back into the water. "It would hurt", I thought.

I don't think I will ever be looking for this kind of fun again. But I did have a good time.

No need to mention, some places I didn't know existed were sore for a few days... 8-|

Live slow. Sail fast. Eat well.

Off to St. Lucia, Almond Morgan Bay resort. Looking forward to it very much. It promises to be lush and hot. Can't wait.

UPDATE: Tthe most difficult thing is to leave the computer behind. I don't know if I can survive without it! 8-) It's good for me, I know. It's a kind of a therapy... I'll do my best.
UPDATE: the second most difficult thing was to leave behind Tim Horton's. A Canadian will understand :-)