Firestation 13

at 2:15pm last Thursday i saw a firefighter sitting in front of the station at Laurier and King Edward. Strapped to an office chair with duct tape and smeared with whipped cream the guy appeared helpless but having a fairly good time. at his feet was a sign that said " this guy is getting married soon. save him". sure, maybe i'm supposed to chuckle at this pre-nuptial hazing but all i could do was scowl at the groom's buddies, sitting just inside the doors and laughing.

"save him from what? marriage"?

oh please.

vanilla ice cream

....or as we call it around our house "ass cream".

My fave flavour has always been vanilla. No bells and whistles to distract from the creamy mouth-feel of sweet lickery goodness. When ice cream is in question I am a purist - cream, milk, sugar, egg yolks & vanilla. That's all. Chunks of coagulated cookie dough, waxy chips of chocolate, ribbons of syrupy fudge or frozen nut hunks can easily cover up a sub-par product.

Lois & Frimas has a vanilla that deserves only to be languidly licked from a cone. No chintzy paper cup and plastic spoon. Order a waffle cone if you are a size queen like me. Stand or sit still, don't continue on to your next errand, read or distract yourself - that would be like answering a cell phone call on a first date. Start with the drippy parts first. Slowly draw your tongue across the almost-melted surface, lapping up sliding richness and cool tingles. Always lick spiralling upwards to draw the liquifying goodness away from the cone - you want it to remain firm and crispy until the end. Swirl, circle and slurp until the icy confection has been consumed. You could toss the edible container without much bad Karma, but I suggest you nibble the cone until your hand is free.

the power of one finger

i'm typing left-handed these days. i've developed a photoshopping injury that's rendered my right hand nearly useless for typing. my right shoulder is an inch lower than the left. my neck and shoulder seized up forcing me to turn my head like batman. all from one finger! just when i start to think that maybe my blog no longer exists solely for the purpose of my posting on other blogs i get carpal tunnel.

since when am i an activist?

i'm lots of things, social organizer, mom, party grrrrl, artist, wife, slut, glitter queen .... but who'd a thunk i'd become a cycling activist? this past weekend makes it official though. i'm a bike bug, a two-wheel instigator, a vehement velocipedist.

here i was - 8:45am on a Saturday - parking my bike in a metered spot in the busy Byward Market. within minutes my husband, daughter and I are confronted by two street embassadors, 3 angry drivers, a bylaw officer and a curious CBC radio reporter. we stood our ground. i did most of the talking and in the end we got a second bylaw parking cop acknowldging that the law was on our side and the protest could go on all day if we liked. yeee haw! the parking meter par-tay was a success. a total of 5 more cyclists showed up along with Radio Canada radio and TV interviewers. we stood in the York Street parking lot and planned our next cycling events: Car Free Day, the Beach Parade, Pride Parade and the next parking meter party. More info on that - and where to join all the fun is here.