The last of the dots and dashes

This is the end of the dots and dashes month, photo-theme-wise. I have been spending a lot of my mornings lately in the office of the Hot Docs festival, registering volunteers and helping out. We are not over-worked at all; people are coming in slowly but surely and there has been no rush, as least when I've been there. 

So I have time to look at things like plastic chairs, covered in dots. 

A heating unit, covered in dashes!

And out the window, I can see the diagonals of the cranes building us some new skyscrapers at Bloor and Bathurst, site of the Honest Ed's store in years gone by. 

Right in front of me was the base for the computer, diagonals all the way. 

This month's photo challenge was fun, but I wish I had gone looking in weirder places; gone into the woods or paid more attention to plants. It all seemed to be manufactured dots and dashes. 

Next month's photos will presumably be in outdoor settings, as the theme is Environmental Trash! I have almost two weeks here before I go on my trip, so I will see what I can do around town. May is also cherry blossom month here in Toronto, so stay tuned for that! 

I received my package from the walking tour company! I have two OS maps of North Norfolk and a nice book with loads of info. I have been fussing and planning and whatever, and this just gives me more fodder, so I am pretty happy about that. 

 Tomorrow I will introduce the May cookbook and see what I can do about finding some nice pictures of the environment with some trash. I'm interested to see how that works out. 

Almost the end of April

Well, here we are nearly at the end of April. I have thought about my photo theme of dots, dashes and diagonals, but find that I am once again mostly looking at architecture and street furnishings so need to look elsewhere. 

An owl was on our street recently

I also think about my cookbook situation and am realizing that perhaps my two go-to recipes in this month's book are indeed all I need from it. A never-fail, totally adaptable pancake recipe, 

and a never-fail, totally adaptable, vinaigrette recipe! I see that it calls for garlic powder which I haven't had around for years: just throw in a smashed clove. And celery salt... never used it. But it's always great!

These two have served me well for many years. When I was first pregnant I ate the most elaborate pancakes, with bananas and peanut butter and all sorts of add-ins. Yum.

I am knitting a wee bit. I lost a fingerless mitt once and so now am knitting another. In completely different yarn, but the same pattern. They will keep me a bit warm on my walk in May. But surely I won't need actual real mittens?!?

It'll be fine

May will bring a new photo theme. I am not so keen on "Environmental Trash" now, although I will be in an interesting environment for a bit. Quite the challenge to take attractive pictures, though, I would think. Another E theme could of course be England! You'll get some of that I am sure. 

The cookbook for May is a cute one, and although I will be away for a couple of weeks in May I will leave instructions with Stephen and Elaine to go wild with it. 

Now we have a couple of days until Stephen's birthday, when we will have a couple of people over. First birthday party in a couple of years! Then, a few days after that we move Kid #1 out of town. The house is full of stuff. The basement has been thoroughly explored and emptied for the first time in years and years. Meanwhile it is Hot Docs time again, so I am out of the house a lot volunteering with them. I hope to be able to watch films online at home, but won't know for sure until the festival starts. 

So, never a dull moment, and I will fill you in as matters progress!

Chili and a salad

My book for this month is Whole Foods for the Whole Family, a (obviously) family-oriented book from La Leche League. Quick things; not fancy things; feed a lot of people without going broke things. 

I made a salad. Romaine lettuce, cut-up orange, bits of red onion, dressing made with orange juice. It was fine, but I tend to like more "stuff" in my salads. It reminded me that oranges are delicious, so that was excellent. 

The next recipe was for lentil chili. Cook ground beef (or tofu) with onions and garlic, add canned tomatoes and tomato paste, some chili powder and other spices, lentils. I used a can of lentils because that's what I had, but you can add dry lentils and there should be enough liquid with the tomatoes to cook them up. We had it over rice. I like that sort of stuff but the family reaction was pretty meh. 

I know there are some excellent recipes in this book, but maybe the two go-to ones I know are really the only stunners. More investigation needed; please stand by!

My Dotted Rays is done and lovely! A multicoloured, stash-busting extravaganza. 

I love the early Stephen West patterns like this. It is a garter-stitch shawl with just a bit of oddness. Very clever and not at all fussy. 

It is not huge, but just snugs around the neck nicely, with little bits of colour popping here and there. 

Some April walks

My practice walks have been getting longer. The other day I was supposed to walk 13 km, which is quite a long way, and takes 2 or 3 hours. I am glad to have my camera as an excuse to stop a mo and take a picture. 

Some dashes and diagonals on an access cover. 

Some diagonally laid bricks! I am not sure why they did it this way, but they look like they have been there a very long time. This is a short road leading to nowhere, near a ravine. 

Just next to the diagonal brick road is this handsome chimney. This kind of decoration in bricklaying is called "diapering." That's a little fact it's hard to forget once you know it. 

Yesterday I walked about 8 km, down to a hospital for a booster Covid vaccine and back. Someone was discarding this dotty bench in an alley. 

The home stretch: I walked up that diagonal path across the park. 

My Dotted Rays scarf is knitted and washed and just needs to dry overnight. I will show it to you as soon as ever I can. 

Dots, dashes, diagonals and perhaps something to eat

First up, I must show you the state of the knitting. This is the Vancouver project, now on hiatus. I got those green bits done while I was there, and the blanket is almost halfway done. It will be nice and light and soft and warm, and certainly colourful, when it is done. It's Stephen West's Mohairino Medley, with no mohair. There are four patterns and five colours (plus I have a couple of pops I put in for a row here and there) so never-ending fun. One of the patterns is kind of a pain to knit but the others are straightforward and pretty mindless, which means great knitting for visiting and chatting, which I haven't really done much of lately. Also great knitting for looking out the window and not paying attention. 

This is the Toronto project. Very nearly done, so watch this space!

Then we come to the photo theme of the month, Dots, Dashes and Diagonals. Like markings on the road?

 A diagonal bike ring. Not meant to be diagonal!

Definitely dots and dashes and diagonals on this garage door. 

I'll get to work on finishing up the knitted shawl, which is called Dotted Rays, so, perfectly fitting. I'll get to work on finding a recipe in this month's cookbook, Whole Foods for the Whole Family. Today's chore, though, is to walk 13 kilometres as practice for my Norfolk walk, only a month away! 

April is here

Happy April! I will show you some pictures from a walk in our final days in Vancouver.

Green things on trees! It really is spring! (Now I am back in Toronto and I could show you dead grass and maybe a crocus poking up.)

I went along the seawall and saw this cheerful fellow. He is gigantic and red. 

Leaves on deciduous trees are a welcome sight but a (smallish) giant sequoia next to the barge, with a clear blue sky behind, is a definite winner. 

It was apparently International Day of Trans Visibility, so up on Davie Street there was a wee rally. 

This month's cookbook stayed in Toronto, so I didn't start in at the very beginning of the month, but I will get to something this weekend, I imagine. This month's photo theme is Dots, Dashes and Diagonals. That will be interesting!