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By doriluthy, February 22, 2010 2:01 am

Come on! Why else do we have children if not to dress them up and have a little laugh?

Anyway, Finn (cowboy boots and shades!) and I (shaved my legs this week!) have been out exploring the city of Vancouver- maybe you heard that the 2010 Olympics are here right now? Chaos? Masses of people roaming the streets? Very excited hockey fans waving jumbo size flags as they line up all over the city to kill time while they anxiously awaiting the next game (sorry for your loss tonight, Oh Canada)? Nightly fireworks and a big cauldron of flame?… surely you’ve heard! Anyway, wandering the City with my doesn’t-give-a-crap 17 week old baby, we’ve discovered the busiest place to be is downtown- Granville and Robson Streets are closed to vehicles, making blocks and blocks of party zone, and Robson Square with it’s evening fire and light shows, free zip line across downtown (6hour lineup!), lots of fabo live performances, and the thousands of people wandering the streets in all forms of cheer and excitement, makes for a lively core to this generally not so lively city.

But this afternoon we decided to avoid the big crowds and went down to Granville Island for Winterupption! (my favourite Vancouver free winter event!)- and it honestly was no busier down on GI than any other Sunday afternoon on a beautiful sunny day- I think that the masses of people are focused downtown, and not really wandering much afield. Chinatown, Gastown, the Drive and Kits all seem to be about the same level of busy-ness as usual… are the Olympics really bringing the kind of economic shot-in-the-arm that was envisioned? Hmmm… A wander through Chapter’s bookstore this afternoon, at the corner of the busiest part of downtown, proved extremely quiet, with very few people shopping and I was told by a clerk that has been like this for the whole week- although the lineup for the neighboring Starbucks stretched halfway through non-fiction!

Regardless of this all, we are enjoying ourselves as much as possible- just look at this photo- can you believe the excitement on this face? (As you can see he is a big fan of tobogganing.)

Okay, so I’ve been having these moments wandering around the city with Finn and surrounded by his people, when it occurs to me that HE IS CANADIAN. I mean he is born here, and for that reason alone he will always be different from his parents. We don’t quite belong like he does. It’s like growing basil, you can either start it from a seed (the challenging old fashioned way) or you can buy a starter and transplant it (of course that’s what I do)… But seriously folks, it’s pretty cool having a kid that is really fundamentally different than me. Sometimes I feel like I just delivered him to where he belongs, as if from the beginning of my life I was destined to give birth to Canadian Bacon.

Did you watch the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics? Did you see the fabulous k.d. lang singing Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ (2 of my fav Canadians, btw). Well I just got all teary watching her singing, and holding little sleeping Finn close channeling all the mama pride I could muster on behalf of my blissfully ignorant bambino. It was awesome, and I’m so glad he has this place to call home.

I’m off to bed! Must get rest for tomorrow, another fun-filled day of Olympic-themed action.

Ciao!

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By doriluthy, January 8, 2010 4:24 pm

I love hand knits on babies… No, I LOVE them! I take this obsession quite seriously folks- I think it’s because pretty much every yarn looks like a chunky knit on a baby- and who doesn’t love chunky knits!? The problem is that it takes me YEARS to make a chunky knit garment for an adult. But for a 9 week old baby boy who loves to suck on his fist? About 1/2 day (in between feeding, diapers, and playtime, of course!)

It happened yesterday, innocently enough, when I was overcome with the overwhelming urge to swaddle my son in knits. I was sitting on the #19 bus, heading to the aquarium for our weekly sit and watch the beluga whales session, with Finn happily sleeping in the sling, when the bus went right by my favourite fabric store. This itself is not a big deal, as it is on the route of course. But when I saw a woman walking out of the door with a giant bag of wools (who wouldn’t want an entire bag full of wools at $1.99/skein!!) I immediately, and definitely impulsively, pulled the cord to stop the bus, jumped off and made a bee-line for Dressew. Sometimes a person is just SO overtaken with the desire to finger yarn and swish sticks in the creation of a wearable garment. Or at least that’s my explanation for what came over me!

I grabbed a skein of velvet mossy green Nashua, #8 needles, and walked back out the door just in time to hop on the next bus. I had about 20 minutes to cast on and rally up a few rows. And before I knew it, Finn’s little scarf was taking shape! The rest of the day was spent working on the little tiny project, and it’s just divine!

Ahhh… that should quench the desire for a few days! (I also have 2 wee sweaters in the works right now, spring wear for my little man- with only a little sleeve work left to finish, stay tuned!)

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By doriluthy, May 12, 2009 12:06 am

Mother’s day yesterday. Happy day to those who are, or are mother’s to be (rock on!). I bought myself tulips. Yesterday also marked the beginning of week 16 for baby Peanut. A new stage of development and apparently I’ll be able to start feeling the little bugger soon… Well let me make that clear, feeling the movements. I certainly felt pregnant last night- I went to bed last night with the first heartburn I think I’ve ever had as an adult. Bring on the TUMS! It felt like something was squishing my stomach up into my chest, and as I laid awake thinking about the anatomy of a pregnant woman I realized it is only going to get more dramatic in the upcoming months… I mean, think about it. Where do all the intestines, organs, stomach, and lungs GO to provide space for the growing child? They hang out, they get flattened, they move around enough to accommodate this growing body.

Once I did manage to fall asleep, I dreamed that my insides were opening up, I was hollow inside, and that my intestines were curling themselves up like a rope stack, neatly tucked in my rear end. How convenient! In the dream my butt became a useful storage area for organs and whatnots…

I woke up around 1:30- the usual first wake up time- and as I stumbled ot the bathroom I instinctively put my hand up on my belly and discovered that a small ledge is forming there, the baby is growing.

For someone who has struggled with weight my whole adult life, it is an interesting exercise to watch this quick growing happening in my belly, and to try to stop the self-criticism as it arises… I have no control over this growth, and I have to ignore all socially bred instincts that are yelling “ATKINS!”. I can only shake my head, smile, and come to terms with the fact that my body is not my own for the next while. It is a strange strange concept. I am eating the best I’ve eaten in a long time, exercising, and sleeping as much as I can… And my belly keeps on growing. (That’s a good thing!) Of course the experience of pregnancy is one of the most natural processes on the planet, but a part of my socialized brain is sending out signals that things are out of control… It is happening so fast, and I have to shift 20+ years of concerned body image, and learn to smile and be excited over the fact that my jeans no longer zip up. Or that my shirts are starting to ride up over my belly bump. And all of this will only get more dramatic in the upcoming months! Wowee…

What a journey. I seriously think (hope?) that one of the big parts of learning through this experience is letting go of some of that old body image baggage. I’m confronting it daily in the mirror, and on the street, and sitting down (que unbuttoning of pants).

Egads, it’s also Children’s Festival week in Vancouver- I’ll be manning the face painting tent, stop by if you’re around and check out the belly. Time for bed!

Ciao.

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By doriluthy, February 7, 2009 11:35 pm

Dustin and I just got back from Unwinding, a contact improv dance performance at EDAM dance studio. We went with friends Yin and Jeff. Yin had just completed a week long workshop at EDAM, and she wanted to expose us to a new experience, and it was incredible! Throughout the hour show, which involved improv jazz music/sound and improv stage lighting guiding and moving the 2 performers to wander their way in and out of touch and interaction and isolation, flowing through balancing, twisting, lunging, movements of all types, I was struck by a feeling- THIS is such a perfect analogy for a relationship.

Yin explained about “golden moments” in improv, those times when the performers and the audience can feel that incredible syncronicity happen, sometimes it can last for several seconds, several minutes, and occasionally for an entire performance (although I think that must be most rare)… This is the life of a relationship, so perfectly performed. At moments, when both performers are in such delicate harmony gathering the energy close and tight, the audience tense with anticipation, and then in a breath it can dissipate, or maybe it lasts a little longer? It comes and goes… Unpredictable (improv). And like those days, weeks, months and years that pass in a relationship- you find those golden moments can be fleeting, or somewhat lasting, but rarely last an entire lifetime… The “success” of your performance is dependent on the other person’s ability to read you, support you, let you wander off and have your moment of self-reflection, come back together and gather strength to roll over and over each other in tense twists of staccato exploratory movement. Subtle hand gestures that find rhythm and humor together, and those unspoken passive and active choices for who directs the movement for a time.

This, for those who ask, is 10+ years in a relationship.

This is such a perfect performance to see today, having just heard the wonderful news that two dear friends are now engaged to be married (we knew you could do it, D!). I recommend, as pre-marriage advice, to go see some improv contact dance and take some notes on how softly the performers give one another space, and support, all in one breath. If we could all learn how to give and take so readily, life would be so much easier.

Beauty, eh.

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By doriluthy, January 22, 2009 2:12 pm

Hey cats! Thanks for the yummy feedback about the granola- glad to hear it’s spreading it’s oaty-goodness across the planet!

I’ve been in a baking mood of late, and had the pleasure of making a big funny cake a couple weeks ago. I wanted to share the recipe here, because it was the best carrot cake I’ve ever had. And I’m not tooting my own horn, because the recipe is called “Canada’s Best Carrot Cake”!  And it really is! The Canadian’s I served it to LOVED it. Icing- not too sweet, cake- lots of carrots, and SO moist. I know of a big carrot cake fan who reads this blog- let me know how it goes?

Why did I bake it? The Mergatroid building- which is where my studio is located, along with about 40 other artists, had a big party, to celebrate the new year, and we threw in a surprise “lotta-love-in-our-hearts” celebration for our building owner, Mr. M.F., who is just the biggest sweetheart in the world. I mean, how many people can say that about their landlords? I CAN! The cake was part of the surprise.

So here ya go:

Link to REcipe: Canada’s Best Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

And photos:

OH the magic of food colouring! Thanks to my business guru, who is quickly becoming a expert (ahem) kitchen helper, for mixing up JUST the right colour green.

About that colour- the Mergatroid bldg is painted that colour. I forget what Mr. M.F. called it, but I think it’s chartreuse. The photo doesn’t capture it very well. But dang it was tastey!

Moments before devouring:

This cake passed the strict Flavour Approval Rating Taste System (FARTS) of 6 year old Maya. She gave me a FARTS-2.  That means she came back for seconds! (Your FARTS is directly proportional to the number of times the child goes back for more. This can be tricky if parents are nearby to manage the system, greatly limiting the highest rate achievable. I personally think this cake deserved a FARTS-6. Honestly.)

Enjoy the recipe!

Ciao.