Jananas

I’m very lucky to have an awesome (almost) sister-in-law. Kerri and Chris just moved out to a small farm, which came with a barn! Of course, we started discussing livestock and we may have purchased two lovely Border Leicesters who may have arrived last night…

Blogoverse, meet our sheep! First up is Beatrice, named because all of her kin are also named after the Royal Family. She has a lovely (albeit dirty) rear.

Next is Sweater! My intentions are obvious (thankfully I didn’t name her lamb chop!).

Lastly, the two lovely ladies hanging out together. Even crazier is that two alpaca brothers (Pete and Prince) are arriving on Wednesday.

We’re heading down to Ohio this weekend to get some last minute wedding related stuff sorted out (like licenses, ha!). I’m stoked to get to see Kerri and Chris, hang out with our nephew Harper, and play with sheep!!

I found out that a friend recently had a child (more specifically, their partner did). I spun up 12oz of Juliespins’ superwash merino in the Circus colourway. I divided one braid into sixths and spun each. I spun the other braid in one fell swoop. Then I plied the two together. The result was that one skein was predominately blue/green and the other is red/orange.

This weekend I cast on for an easy baby cardigan. Little Raglan cardigans are starting to become second nature. I don’t necessarily know sizing off hand, but as long as I know how many stitches to cast on and how many I need for the sleeves, the in between bits are pretty brainless. I cast on Friday and this is where I am this morning.

I’m using the more green skein for edging, which I quite like. I’m also splitting up the use of skeins on the arms so that the two are better matched (well, hopefully they will be!). Its funny, the last baby cardigan I knit was longer and narrower compared to this one. I need a toddler on hand to write down my own kids clothing size/measurements database to help me with stuff like this.

I really like this sweater and am debating switching it up and gifting it to someone else because I feel like this sweater needs to be appreciated/loved hard. Ah well, baby things knit up so fast that it’ll be easy to get away with this.

A friend of mine is working for the Map & Data Library at U of T. They are doing some crazy work, funding the digitization of old fire insurance plans (which become public domain after 60 years). She’s come across a couple of my neighbourhood (Dundas & Dovercourt in Toronto) that she’s sent my way. In fact, she’s been given permission to start blogging about some of the maps she finds, so check out the Map & Data Library’s blog to see all the awesome things she’s uncovered.

1884

I love that Dufferin is the western city limit on this map. And that what used to be the old elementary school on Dovercourt north of Dundas (torn down now to make room for a new police station), used to be an orphanage! Also, our house didn’t exist. In fact, our road didn’t even exist. Crazy.

1890

My road exists now, although its spelt a little differently (there’s an extra ‘A’ in there now). In fact, my house exists now – and we’re one of the first ones on the block, which is pretty cool. Its funny to see churches where the Remax building is now. Oh, how times have changed. The current Roman Catholic church at Dovercourt and Argyle apparently started life as a Baptist church. And that Garrison Creek is still visible (there are even bridges!). And just how empty it all still is.

1910

This map is less detailed, but all the houses are here. Apparently the Baptist church also had a Memorial Hall and Sunday School attached. And for some reason Lisgar was referred to as North Lisgar.

Looking at these maps makes me wonder what the deal was with the architecture of the time. The houses are all designed to look very similar, with the narrowing at the back. Was there a functional reason?

One of the things that Jason and I are interested in is the history of body modification whether it be piercings or jewelry or tattoos or scarification. We’re not active collectors, but when an opportunity presents itself we’ve been known to take advantage of the opportunity. A couple of weeks ago my friend Maurie told me about the Guild Shop here in Toronto, first as a potential place for some registry items and later to let me know about a friends & family sale. I, of course, looked through the website and immediately fell in love with a print by Germaine Aranktauyok titled Tunilik (which I believe means the tattooed woman). We picked it up this week and it is amazing!

Germaine’s cousin works/volunteers at the Guild Shop, so I was able to talk with her a little bit about the tattoos. Apparently, the tattoos in the print are based on those of Germaine’s grandmother. Tattooing started at the hands, went up the arms and onto the breast. Faces were tattooed last. The main portion of the design identified the tribe/clan, although some elements are unique to the individual. She also described the traditional process, which involved very sharp leg bones from caribou, sinew, soot, and sewing.

I think its lovely. I’m excited that by purchasing this print and hanging it out in our house, we’ll be able to share this piece of (not very well known) Canadian culture and history with friends and family and future generations.

A large part of why time has been so tight this year has been that I’m partway through my yoga teacher training at YogaSpace here in Toronto. The experience has been challenging and time consuming and rewarding and amazing. Right now we’ve finished two of the three in class modules (i.e. 120 hours of class). The crazy part is that during each six week module, my weekends are totally booked – so I go almost seven weeks without a day off! I’ve learned that even though its difficult (and sometimes frustrating), that I’m capable. What a lovely lesson to learn.

I’ve also been practice teaching this year. In fact, this coming Saturday is my last official class! How rewarding though to see this on the schedule, after convincing myself that I really do need to drag my ass out of bed or away from my spinning wheel and go to class right now.

There’s my name!!

I was having a discussion with a friend about my experiences during my MBA. I used to be petrified of presenting. My MBA made presenting a little more comfortable. Teaching yoga, however, has made it feel much more natural. You try getting up in front of a room full of people, teaching them for 80-ish minutes all while trying your best to keep them from injuring themselves. One of the hardest lessons is learning to shut the fuck up. Just because there’s a space in a class doesn’t mean that you need to fill it with words.

I wonder if learning this element of patience will translate over into being a better negotiator?