Tuesday, November 24, 2009

why i'm addicted to the internet - part quatre

what i wore - drawing

so many 'collection' websites are cropping up. here are some of my favourites for a good dose of daily giggles:
and then just some other sites that keep me hooked to the 'net:

artsy
photos

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

house project update - kitchen part III

looking from the kitchen

looking from the dining room

penninsula

my hydrangea

nail gun!

i keep on forgetting to post these photos. aside from a backsplash our kitchen has been completed for several months now and our hardwood floors are down as well. to think that just a year ago our kitchen looked like this and this.

this past weekend andre and i went to factory tile depot to pick out tiles for the bathroom. it is dry walled and painted!

our renovations are moving much faster than anticipated but there is still lots to do.... we're right on track to having a reno free house in 2012.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

some books that i've really loved reading the past several months. ...and just so you don't think i love everything, one that i absolutely detested:

The Thirteenth TaleThe Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

rating: 5 out of 5

A modern story written in the 'gothic' tradition, I loved The Thirteenth Tale because of the main character's love and adoration of books, the dark mystery and the lush descriptions. The story line plot twist is amazingly smart.

Apparently the 'properness' and reserved nature of Margaret, the main character, didn't sit well with British readers and this book finally did well over the pond becoming a NY Times best seller in 2006.

This is Diane Setterfield's debut novel and I look forward to her sophomore
story.




A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

rating: 4 out of 5

Hosseini's second novel is by far, grittier and more heart wrenching than his first, which in my opinion had a story arch of a hollywood movie. This book made me rethink my position in Canada's involvement in Afghanistan.

What shines through, much like the Kite Runner, is his utter love of the Afghanistan people and what the country used to be before the many wars ravaged the landscape and cultures.





The RoadThe Road by Cormac McCarthy

rating: 5 out of 5

I bawled while turning the last few pages. BAWLED!! And I know that the movie, despite starring Viggo Mortenson will not even come close to how good this book is.

Like James Frey, this book is written without quotation marks, but unlike Frey, McCarthy writes in a way that makes quotation marks seem unnecessary.





The ShackThe Shack by William P. Young

rating: -200 out of 5

Awful, awful. The author tries to explain how a loving and fair God can allow bad things to happen to good people. Apparently this book, published independently, has a huge following because of the way it helps people understand this point. I didn't like this book at all and found the author's reliance on race generalizations to be extremely offensive. And in the end the book doesn't offer an answer to the question, instead asks people to just 'trust' God because everything that happens to you happens for a reason. So basically, if you trust and love God you don't have to take any responsibilities for things that happen to you because it all happens for a reason. Trust God and you don't have to be accountable for anything! yay!

The writing becomes really bland and repetitive near the end as well. I hate this book and pushes me towards becoming an atheist.




The Book Of NegroesThe Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

rating: 5 out of 5

The amazing tale of Aminata Diallo, a young girl abducted from Africa during the slave trade and well, I don't want to give anything away. It is beautifully written and is hard to imagine with all the details that it was written in the 20th century.




i need some book recommendations for the winter season. do you have any?

Thursday, November 5, 2009

endicott, ny

cider mill

cortland apple

DSC_2357b

the making of rose hips

binghamton university


over the weekend duke, petey, andre and i drove down to a small village in upstate new york: endicott. the reason? it was andre's first workshop for his course with the karen pryor academy.

while petey and andre attended the all day classroom session, duke and i wandered around the small city and visited parks. we stumbled upon a cute farmer's market and were stopped many times by old retirees telling me how they used beagles to hunt.

a big coup for us this weekend was when duke would stay howl free in the car waiting for us while we would dash into a super market.

the photos are from my excursions with duke.