Citric acid

sunny

My boss turned to me the other day and said (about the weather), “it may not quite feel like spring, but it certainly feels like the end of winter.”

He’s right. It’s -20C out today but people are walking slowly, with their coats unzipped, instead of the hunched-down speedwalk of January. The sun is waxing slowly towards it’s most powerful months, instead of the feeble and faraway white disk we’d become accustomed to.

Spring puts me in the mood for bright, tart flavours. We won’t have local produce for months, but I can whet my appetite for them with lemons and maple syrup, pushing aside rich and steamy depth-of-winter things for precursors to asparagus, three long months away.

Not for a few weeks, though. Tomorrow, Eric and I are mimicking the monarchs we’ll hopefully see by giving winter the slip and heading to Mexico, for limes and cilantro, for hiking and eating and generally engaging in relatively tame sorts of malarky (the kind we do best).

The blog will be quiet, but feel free to follow along on instagram, where I’ll be feeding my social media addiction whenever I can get wifi.

Sog Jog

Faced with a rainy run this morning, I decided to leave my poor beleaguered iPhone at home and head out for an old-fashioned music-less jaunt. With no nike app, I had to rely on running a familiar route so I would know the distance, and having forgotten to check the time before I left, I have no idea how long it took.

Despite being decidedly low-tech, it was one of my nicest runs in quite a while. The rain was light enough that it didn’t drive into my eyes or give me a chill; instead it clung to both me and the grass and gave the river a beautiful misty look. I listened to the birds and staged long imaginary conversations in my head, and had the path mostly to myself.

flounce

our manic mugs

Every year when springtime finally rolls around I’m pleasantly shocked by how nice Ottawa is. Somehow the long winters are so effective in bleaching my memory of warm weather. I also forget how early the sun rises directly into our bedroom window, making for early weekend mornings. All the more time to drink coffee, I say.

We helped surprise a friend for his birthday brunch at our current favourite restaurant, which was masterminded by his awesome girlfriend. If we can stay up that late, we’re due to surprise him again at a not-as-local dancing establishment this evening – I think that she had 5 surprises planned for him overall.

Our summer is shaping up to be as busy as they always are, and fall even more so. If I may be cryptic (it is my blog, after all), plans are coming together nicely.

Five Great Things about Biking

I know I won’t shut up about it, but I love riding my bike to work! I feel so great when I arrive – energized from the exercise and relaxed because I was pedalling myself in rather than relying on a bus that only sporadically follows a schedule.

Here’s a little list of other things that have made my rides enjoyable this week:

• Seeing the first of the year’s goslings wobbling along the side of the river
• Learning the difference between the male and female songs of the redwinged blackbirds that are everywhere along the river
• Feeling delicious cool air rushing ahead of a thunderstorm on our first humid day yesterday
• Hitting the green lights perfectly so that I can get all the way from Parliament onto Sussex, then bomb down Murray st and make a left onto Dalhousie without pedalling or braking
• Balancing a latte in my basket when I’m early enough to stop at Bridgehead

So far I’ve been pretty lucky with drivers and pedestrians, although people don’t seem to react at all to my bell – maybe I should get a klaxon horn? I’ve had a few cars block my way but haven’t felt threatened by traffic at all – let’s hope it stays that way!

New wheels

My first bike commute to work on Thursday was great. I was the slowest (albeit best-dressed – what’s with the lycra, Ottawa?) cyclist on the path, but I still made it to work 15 minutes faster than the bus. I’ll have to experiment a bit with routes – to stay on the bike path involves some wicked hills and walking my bike over the locks on the canal; the way I took involved a frightening number of busses.

What I love even more than commuting, though, is trundling leisurely around the neighbourhood, filling my basket with bagels and salad greens and seeing my lovely corner of Ottawa in a new way. It’s also a welcome addition to my exercise regime, which is becoming more and more important with every passing Doughnut Sunday (a very real thing in our household).

Stylish helmet suggestions, by the way, are most welcome. Other than the day I picked it up (above), I’ve been dutifully wearing my Canadian Tire $11 bike helmet and feeling like a royal dork.

the price of cyclist fuel

She’s finally here!

After weeks of anxious waiting and cursing the bus, my new bike is finally home! The shop was going to keep her for another day to put on the basket and kickstand, but with a bit of cajoling they did it for me this afternoon and I was able to ride home with the wind in my hair, the sun in my eyes, and a big grin that just wouldn’t quit.

I love my hipster neighbourhood

An unbelievably early spring (slash almost summer – going up to 29 on Wednesday!) has arrived and we’ve been spending the weekend basking in the sun and enjoying our local amenities. We live in what’s been voted the best neighbourhood in Ottawa, and I wholeheartedly agree. Hintonburg has such a great vibe, from the old-school Carleton Tavern to the just-opened and super-hip Suzy Q doughnuts.

I will never eat a tim horton's doughnut again

The neighbourhood is really mixed-use and walkable/cycle-able, although on Saturdays Wellington St really fills up with cars (mostly Subarus with child seats in the back…). Every time we walk the dog, we pass a new great-smelling restaurant, and the ones we’ve eaten at so far have been amazing. We live right beside a farmer’s market, which is awesome in the summer for grabbing veggies for dinner. There’s also a sweet 5-pin bowling alley, more coffee shops than you can shake a stick at, several great bike shops, a theatre (the live kind, not movies), a health food store (for bulk spices and delicious organic sodas), an amazing burger place that uses all grass-fed local meat and cheese, and, and, and… I could go on!

Basically, it’s hipster paradise (Eric’s words) or the discerning eater’s convivial dream community (my much nicer words). People ride bikes, socialize in the front yard while kids play in the street, and buy from local independent shops. There’s a thriving car-share program and a dog park with (mostly) amazing regulars. The biker gang keeps crime down, and the community centres, after-school programs, assisted living facilities and libraries have lots of people to pitch in. As much as I love my job and can’t wait to live overseas, I’m going to miss this part of Ottawa a lot – we’re going to make sure that we enjoy it to the fullest this coming year!

Where Have I Been?

… is what I’m sure is the burning question for all 3-7 of my blog readers (hi!).  Well, I’ve been around, but busy!

• Getting exemptions on my reading and writing tests in French (which means I never have to be re-tested)
• Setting a test date for my oral exam (July 27th!)
• Deciding with Eric that we’re going to go to Ecuador instead of Argentina (way cheaper, a bit warmer, and still full of mountains, jungles, and guinea pigs)
• Attending a shower and then a wedding for my cousin, and taking photos at the reception
• Trying to help Eric make some potentially life-changing decisions

I’ll be back soon with more details and photos, but until then, I hope that you’re all having a wonderful June!

One of three photos of me at my cousin’s wedding – the rest of the time, I was behind the lens!

Birthday List #16: Hang out with my Mom

A few weeks ago, I met my mom in Kingston for a mother-daughter weekend that we had been planning since last summer.  Despite the terrible weather, we had a really great time, and have decided to make it an annual event.

My mom and I have always had a really close relationship, but I had originally had some reservations about the weekend, because over the past few years, my mom has been a bit different.  More sensitive, less likely to joke around, less energetic.  But the reason that we had postponed the weekend when it was originally planned for the fall was because my mom had to have surgery, and since she’s recovered, she’s been a whole new person – or rather, she’s been herself again.

Watching this transformation, and spending time with my mom this month, made me feel really ashamed for not having realized that she was dealing with some major chronic pain issues, and that there was a very good reason for her short-temper and exhaustion.  In my defense, it took her doctors almost as long to realize it as well – she wasn’t diagnosed until shortly before her surgery.

I have a whole new level of respect and admiration for people dealing with long-term medical conditions.  I’ve been lucky enough to have spent the majority of my life in good health (with the exception of a remarkable number of face-plants and the accompanying broken noses and teeth), and I think that I had been a little short on sympathy (or is it empathy?) for people dealing with pain.

Me and the Momster in Ottawa last year

Which is to say, our weekend was really fun.  We went to a spa for massages, ate a delicious vegetarian lunch and an even more delicious dinner, hung out with my cousins who go to university at Queen’s, and overwhelmed this super-quaint B&B with our extended family (my aunt and uncle had coincidentally ended up in Kingston the same weekend, and at the same B&B).

I also got to grab a coffee with my friend Liz and her husband Jay before heading home, which was fantastic.  Liz and I met in seventh grade at summer camp, but have never lived in the same city, and I hadn’t seen her since the year that I graduated high school.  She’s now in Colingwood, so hopefully we can get together the next time that Eric and I are in Owen Sound.

Sprung Spring

It’s here!  After a long winter, full of snow and cold and darkness, my favourite season has arrived (full disclosure: I also say that about fall).  It’s sunny until 730, I don’t need mittens, and there are robins and buds on trees – even a bunny!

Nice weather makes me so incredibly happy.  I feel energized, as though I could do twice as much as I was in the winter.  Instead of wanting to eat stew and go to bed, I feel like going on long walks, going to the gym, and studying more french in the evenings.  It’s awesome!  Obviously, this pertains a lot to my long-term plan to move to a country that doesn’t have winter.

the inaugural wearing of my new skirt

Dog-wise, life is going well.  Gatsby is scared of the following:  robins, squirrels, wind chimes, wheelie garbage cans, buses, ducks, starlings, and bicycles.  However, he did poop on another dogs’ head at the park on Friday, so he’s still totally awesome in my eyes.

Other than that, not much is going on here.  We had friends visit on the weekend, which was great, because they used to live in Ottawa and I miss seeing them as much as we did last year.  They live in Montreal now, but are (hopefully) planning on moving back next year.  The apartment is really coming together, but I’m saving a reveal until I can get a full set of pictures organized, and I’m hoping to submit a tour to Offbeat Home, so it’s a surprise for now.

Hope you’re all having a lovely spring!