friday forte: roscoversary

happy roscoversary cake - Three Dog Bakery in Suter Brook

One year ago today, this awesome goofball came into our lives. Some people say it is a noble thing to rescue a dog, especially a senior, but I truly believe that the rescuing goes both ways.

We had only had Rosco for seven months when he went from four to three legs. The decision to amputate took almost a month and I will probably never forget the immense sadness that we all felt during that time. Bringing him home the night after his surgery was harrowing - here was our amazing hound starting life on three legs and in such distress as he got over the anaesthetic. We all had an extremely rough night; Rosco cried constantly while mr ebb and I took turns to sit with him.

But since that harrowing first night, Rosco has been an enormous inspiration. His attitude seems to be - OK, three legs ... but what's stopping us? He is keen for walks even though he doesn't go far. He is jumping up on the couch. He climbs stairs, steep banks, trails and the garden terracing.

His enthusiasm for each new day is infectious - as long as he can get outside for a potter, find a cosy spot on the deck in the sun, and go for a long sniff in the forest behind the house at his own pace, he is happy. With one leg missing, he doesn't seem to see that life is different in any way - he just keeps going.

We never expected to have to deal with so much so soon after adopting him. Making the decision to have his leg amputated knowing that he was already an infirm senior is not something we could take lightly. But his approach to life as a tripawd is infectious - now, just who rescued who?

Happy Roscoversary!
Here's to many more.

friday forte: my last?

I guess this should in theory be my last friday forte, if I want to stay mildly accurate to the title (more on this later - stay tuned - don't you just love ambiguous posts?)?

"in which i blog about

• my mid life crisis
• my attempts to find peace and harmony as a SAHM
• my attempts to re-launch myself into the workplace with minimal disruption to family life
• my fledgling craft and design business

... in other words, and in summary, my attempts to craft in, around, and in spite of my family in an effort to stay sane."

I suppose however, that I'm still blogging about the same journey - it's just the title that might have to change to reflect a new decade. If I look back over all the friday forte posts I've written, there is a sense of progression, a little like the series of self portraits in the pic above that I created over a week's blissful two-hours-a-day art workshop.

It's still a journey, a voyage of discovery - when do I get into port?

friday forte: which makes me happy

rings and things: a set of scrap rings and headpins

Being creative makes me happy.
Last week, I had enough time to dig out my metalwork bench from under piles of assorted necessaries in the garage. Yesterday I found the tools, supplies and whatnots and made time to enjoy an hour or so playing with flux, solder and flames. Above - the results, a set of soldered bits of metal - three rings, a tiny square toe ring (for tiny square toes) and a couple of copper headpins (for my torch is hot enough to melt copper wire).
And now I'm giddy with delight at having soldered metal.
It makes me happy :)

friday forte: marvel-ous movienight

friday forte: heading into summer

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friday forte: summer - let's start again

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Summer - take 2.
After yesterday's grouchy start - a headache, a poached egg (poached all by himself), reading in bed, walks with the dog and finished off with a pulled pork sandwich before a concert.
Summer - bring it on!

friday forte: work not in progress; work done

frustration: feel the rush
- necklace: mixed media, tracing paper, acrylic medium, beadwire, pearls, glass, ribbon

Finally! Studio almost unpacked.
Made stuff.
Feels good :)

I started this piece months ago, when my studio was in boxes, storage and not accessible. Basically, it's what I had to hand and portrays the frustration of being away from materials, tools, beads, ... I'm sure other artists have felt this way too.

It's like a withdrawal - going cold turkey.

It was tempered however, with simply not having enough time to create, which in itself is a frustrating experience.
So I took what I had and I created.

It is an amazing rush when you can make something out of so very little.

And now I have so much ... but then I always have, maybe just not recognised it.

Here's to more creativity! and less frustration.

friday forte: all that I used to be and all that I will be

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friday forte: guess what I did today? #gogetemcheckedout #mammogram

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friday forte: nose job and oils

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friday forte: follow that Santa

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friday forte: almost nailed it - saving the sanity

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friday forte: sally forth

artist, and oneself as artist - installation at SFU Woodwards building downtown - lots to think about

Living life with forte, with gusto - from yesterday's slightly pointed post, let's move on to how I plan to move on. I find that my housemates' motivationless inertia really saps my energy as I'm not really too great at staying still in one place satisfied.
Maybe it's a skill I should cultivate, but I'm also damn sure I don't want to miss out any more on all the living I still feel I have inside me.
So rather than look back with regret on all the movies, concerts, friends, events and so on that I have missed out on, through the inevitable waiting that comes from being a wife and a mother, I should seize the day myself and get on with simply getting on.
I've already established that some of the things I value about life are not shared by my housemates. So if I choose to pursue them, I'm not depriving them of a cherished experience though I'm sure they'll miss my ever-present concierge and scheduling services.
I really don't want to wait any longer to get on with life.

friday forte: and on to new worlds?

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friday forte: and onwards #pomovotes14

expanded? my ass - this park is way too f*cking small for Golden Spike even these days

Tomorrow is election day in the fair city of Port Moody, and it's one of the bitchiest election campaigns I've been aware of since moving here. The claws are out and the teeth are bared. It's drawn along the lines of "we know better than you", and "you're all idiots for questioning us", "how dare you ask for details!" and "if you don't understand, then stop bothering us".
Those that are concerned are being painted as scare-mongers, upstarts, and scam artists.
Those who are not concerned are campaigning on the "same old, same old, vote for me - vote for consistency" platform.

In debating,who could speak loudest, longest, without needing to draw a breath was the victor?
Even a cute video wandered into the electioneering - though I'm still not quite sure how relevant the teletubbies are, but that's politics round here.

It's interesting.
The ones asking the questions are the new crowd, the people who have not been in power for year after year.
The ones taking umbrage are the people who have been around a while and now feel scrutinised by all the questions - of course they're feeling pressured. Wouldn't you?

Ho hum!
So tomorrow I'll exercise my right to vote.
And then wait for the results.

But whoever it is who wins at tomorrow evening's count should really be asking - why were so many people concerned? why so many questions about a community plan that is apparently done and dusted? and perfect?
What was so bad with communication with the residents, forcing a great more than ten people to voice their unease? What went wrong? and what is still going wrong?
And how can you now help get the messages across effectively, between city hall and the populace? without making them feel stupid or troublesome for asking?

/political message - normal service is resumed

friday forte: shocked

happy father's day

My first thought when I saw this photo was, OMG who is that woman eep! it's me - I look totally hot!
Then I thought, don't be silly.
Then I took another peek, and yes - with the flirty look and the (ahem, morethan) hint of cleavage- definitely sexy.
It was a bit of a shock - sexy is apparently not something I do these days.
It doesn't figure in my day-to-day and, in common I suppose with a lot of midlife mums with an eleven year old boy farting/tearing around the house, hasn't for a long time.
So seeing this pic was a real throw-back to college years - the last time apparently that I did sexy pretty well (with lashings of black eyeliner, tight black clothing and hairspray). Once the shock died down, it was sort of gratifying to see that my recently improved self-care regime is having some result - all that time applying extra body lotion has been well spent. I took a look in the mirror a few weeks ago and realised with horror how much I'd let things slide. Cue the moisturisers!
mr ebb, bless him, has never been particularly fussed about the visuals one way or another, so there'd been no hints from him about letting myself go. In some ways it's quite a blessing not to have to be high maintenance with lacey frou-frou, svelte bunnygirl figure,immaculate make up and so on, but on the other hand, the lack of any feedback or effect is quite disconcerting ... especially growing older I find. Reassurance is good.
Until I saw the photo, I had completely forgotten that I can do sexy.
Cue Justin Timberlake, perhaps.

friday forte knees: cos apparently i've forgotten how to ride my bike safely

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friday forte: due diligence

If you follow this blog at all, you will know that I don't attend many blogger events.
If you follow my Instagram feed, you'll know that last night I did.

Generally I shy away from the "monetise your blog" crowd, and have never joined in a Twitter party. You won't find me shouting out about turkey brands, feminine deodorants, family-sized vehicles, or the like - mainly because it's not something I'm comfortable with. My idea of writing for a living is being paid for the quality of my words, not how much I can jump up and down online about product A, B or C.

I don't get many PR requests - if you check my blog you can easily see that I don't run many of the requests here. My Wee Guy and I reviewed an event at the Vancouver International Children's Festival a few years ago (btw, it's coming up soon - at the end of May) and we stomped our Palladium boots into the ground, giving them a thorough road test (Wee Guy grew out of his pair before they gave out - almost a year of almost continual wear and the soles were a bit thinner, the zips still worked, and the leather was comfortably soft = winners! please send another pair to try out). And that's about it.

So why the event last night?
Well - it was a Klout perk. My score was high enough to gain access to a blogger evening at Metropolis at Metrotown (the first private brand Klout party in Canada no less!). And I thought, what the heck!

Once there, I joined the line up, flashed the invite on my phone and entered the fenced off VIP area to browse from savoury nibbles, delicious fruity mocktails, and cupcakes (no adjective is required for cupcakes - they're just cupcakes from Original Cupcakes no less). Once refueled I checked out the sponsors for the evening, sampling Himalayan Salted Caramels from Purdys (thanks for the chocolate flower lollipop - the Wee Guy's eyes grew even bigger as I handed it over), and yummy smoothies from DQ/Orange Julius alongside an even yummier make-up demo from my favourite supplier, Benefit Canada (mascara! and the perfect shade of The Big Easy foundation, which I'll be adding to my cosmetics bag soon), and a lovely chat with the charming rep from L'Occitane who gave me a couple of samples of my fave lotions. I even got some Happy Water, which apparently contains a good dose of lithia (something to do with lithium) from some really upbeat promo reps, and tips on taking better self portraits from the event photographer :)

I posted, I tweeted, I Instagrammed ... I replied, thanked and hashtagged my way through the evening.

But now - what else do I do? What's the etiquette?
I had a lovely time. The music was great (thank you ms DJ). The nibbles were super. The sponsors were a lot of fun (especially the dancing Benefits cosmetics group) ... but what's my call to action here?

Have I gushed enough?

friday forte: so long and thanks for all the fish

The holiday is almost over. Today we played a giant game of chess on the top of the science museum. We had lunch at the library, dining out on its rooftop deck in the sunshine. Afterwards, we walked through old Amsterdam to the Van Gogh museum where we said hello again to the irises and meet a new sunset picture. Now were eating pizza, bags packed, just round the corner from our Plantage hotel. Tomorrow Schiphol, airplane, home. School for the Wee Guy. Back to work for mr ebb. Back to the keyboard for me. We'll be back.

friday forte: heel boy!

One of the best things I ever did was ignore people who told me to stop talking. I was accused of whining online, and I ignored the not-so-subtle suggestion to shut up. Talking, writing, sharing is what got me through a long voyage of self discovery and into my current sheltered harbour.
With sharing how I was feeling -and believe me I didn't share everything, not even half of what I was accused of - I discovered that it wasn't just me and I wasn't alone. There was a whole community out there online and in real life, who were either at the start of or in the middle of or were sheltering in their own harbour before the next voyage. And they were there to help, we were there to help each other.

Seeing the street art above reminds me that not everyone is so lucky. Some bow to the pressure to shut up and never find a community of navigators to help them set sail through the storms. Others keep silent for years till it's almost too late. Some don't know how to start the conversation.

If you've never seen it, try watching the Black Dog video to understand what it means be depressed, to perhaps give you the words to tell your tale, and if you're of the "oh shut up about it" inclination then maybe you'll learn something.

The black dog above is part of SANE's campaign to reduce the stigma of mental health issues and open the dialogue. Using the black dog created by artist Matthew Johnstone to explain his own experience with shutting up about depression, the campaign runs UK-wide to work on issues including research, support and improving access to treatment.

There's even a virtual black dog that recognises the value of online support and community.
Some people are smart that way!
Bon voyage :)