Back near the beginning of this project I drew a portrait of a friend, who subsequently let me know that he felt the photo I had based it on was his worst likeness of all time. Fussy, fussy, fussy. So, I have done another version, this time in full makeup. Let’s hope this one suits his exacting fancy…

By the way, if you’re not listening to The Long Winters, what’s wrong with you?

When I was in New York recently, I bought the latest bar by Vosges Chocolate: milk chocolate with alder smoked salt and bacon. That’s right, BACON. It sounds weird, but it is so utterly fantastic, I can’t even begin to tell you. I shared it with my friends Debbra and Phil, who loved it as much as I did, and since then, we have been on a mission to uncover salty chocolate wherever it lurks. Today was my birthday, and so they whisked me away to an undisclosed location, all very secretive. It turned out to be Bowen Island, where we visited an amazing local artisan chocolatier, Cocoa West, and indulged in absolutely incredible truffles and hot chocolate. Such a treat.

It had been snowing when we left Vancouver, and was grey and misty as we pulled out of Horseshoe Bay for the 20-minute ferry ride. By the time we emerged from the chocolate-fest, the sun was out—most unexpected—and so we walked down to the beach. Debbra was quite a show-off in her rubber boots, splashing around in the tide like she was seven. It wasn’t until tonight that I realized just how much she looked like Christopher Robin while doing it…

This past summer and fall the city workers of Vancouver were on strike, which meant no garbage pickup for three months. As you might imagine, the rat population quadrupled on a weekly basis. My cat Millicent started catching them everywhere, in the garden, on the street, and even one or two in the house. Luckily they’re roof rats, and not the bigger sewer-loving Norway rats, but once they’re in your house, a rat is a rat is a rat, right? The problem is, she would bring them in through the cat flap unharmed, and they’re feisty wee guys. Unlike a bird that gives one sigh and expires, the rats fight back—and so once in awhile, if the team isn’t in place, they get away from her. As such, she doesn’t exactly earn the “trusty sidekick” label, seeing as she is usually responsible for them being inside in the first place.

But still, Millie and I have this rat wrangling thing down to a science. She corners them while I get The Box (a shoebox customized for this very activity), then once she gives the signal, I move whatever the rat is hiding behind, she chases it straight toward me, and I slip the box over it, slide the lid underneath, and wrap the custom-sized belt around the whole shebang. Then I walk or drive with the box down to the ravine a couple of blocks away and let the wee guy go. And every time, it’s the same thing: I put the box down, pull the lid off, and they are crouched in a corner. When they see the faint promise of freedom they pop their heads up, look around, and give me a look that says “Seriously???” To which I say, “Seriously,” and off they bound into the blackberry bushes.

“And STAY out!”

This system is all well and good, but next time there’s a garbage strike, I’m stepping in as mediator. Enough of this rodent-fest already.

The Sugar Frosted Goodness challenge this week is Superhero.

Awhile ago I wrote about my long-standing obsession with New York, and my experience upon arrival, but that first trip was somewhat disappointing, not because my expectations were too high (I had traveled enough that I knew to suspend them), but because I didn’t want to simply visit New York, I wanted to visit New York in 1978. Part of what appealed to me was the dodginess factor: the dirt, the crime, the grit. Of course I know it was more dangerous and I wouldn’t have felt so safe walking through Manhattan, and I can imagine it’s a vast improvement for those living there—but as for fulfilling my big-city fantasies, it simply wasn’t what I was after. I have certainly learned to love it for what it is now, and once I got my bearings and began to avoid the more touristy areas and wander through the somewhat forgotten bits, I found a taste of what it had once been.

I had a conversation about this awhile ago, and I was asked if I wouldn’t rather be there in the 20’s than the 70’s, but really, if I could do the time travel thing, I would spend the 20’s in Paris, without a doubt. Havana in the 1890’s, Miami in the 30’s, Mexico in the 50’s. It adds an extra edge to the typical “if you could go anywhere” question, doesn’t it? Where would you go?

As I mentioned previously, drawing people is something I have actively avoided. Many years ago, a friend asked me to draw him, to see how I would capture his image. I never did. I’m sure he has long since forgotten this request, but I never have. I just couldn’t do it back then—I had no confidence that I could pull it off, and couldn’t even bring myself to try. The time has come. This morning I picked up my pen to do a quick practice run—I figured once I did a few trials and worked out how to approach it, I would rough out the final in pencil before committing to ink. Generally I try to avoid the pencil, but this was to be a portrait, and portraits are hard, right? Well, somehow I was able to pick out the lines in the face easily—all of this car rendering is apparently improving my ability to draw human faces (although I still found myself wishing he was a Studebaker). I never really look at a full drawing until it is finished, and once it was done I was shocked to find myself quite happy with the result. It definitely feels like the person. Go figure. Screw the pencil—there will surely be more seat-of-my-pants ink portraits in my future.

Screaming Meme

So, I have been tagged a number of times for this meme that’s spreading around NaBloPoMo like Norwalk on a cruise ship. I have been avoiding it for reasons that are summed up perfectly by saucygrrl here. But more and more folks are tagging me, so here’s what I am going to do:

First, I’ll list those who tagged me, please take a moment to check out their fine blogs:
http://accordingtoheather.wordpress.com/
http://tealtown.blogspot.com/
http://www.feileacan.com/Blog/
http://linesfromlinda.com/
http://www.thegoodqueen.blogspot.com/
http://hot-mommy.blogspot.com/
http://grumppopotamus.blogspot.com/
http://www.imagined-community.com/blog/

Second, I’ll refer you to this, which shows more than seven random things about me.

Third, rather than tagging seven more folks at random, I will leave it open to any seven people who are interested in participating. If you’re into writing a post listing seven random things about yourself, just leave a comment with your blog link, and I will publish my list from that.

Sound fair?

I also want to thank everyone again for all of your kind comments, you have no idea how much you help me press through at 2am when I stagger over to my desk and fire up the scanner by feel. Onward!