30 is the new 16

I haven't written for a while. It turns out that it's hard to juggle school and work and colds and 30th birthday party planning. But things have slowed down, and now I have time to sleep and ride horses.


Michael turned 30 on Wednesday. It's kind of a big deal, and we celebrated accordingly. Michael rented a Nintendo Wii since we had so much fun playing it in Ottawa, and it totally dominated the festivities. Thankfully my mom sent sparklers that managed to distract everyone enough to take a cupcake break. That's right, the reign of the traditional angel food cake has ended. I wasn't up for the headache with the egg whites, so Michael gave me permission to try something else. I surprised him with gingerbread cupcakes that were topped with warm caramel sauce and whipped cream, all made from scratch. I've never made caramel sauce before, and that was the most interesting learning experience. As far as health is concerned, caramel isn't very redeeming. It is sugar and butter and cream and a little bit of water and vanilla. That's it. It's scary to make in the same way that making donuts without a deep fryer (i.e. with a big pot of hot oil, like how my Baba makes them) is scary: you can really burn yourself. I got the cake and the caramel recipes from the Joy of Cooking.


In order to recover from the party and the cold that I had for a week, I slept for 11 hours last night. I'm not sure I've ever slept that long before, and it was glorious. Instead of spending the weekend in full recovery mode, I decided to sign Michael and I up for some horse riding today. It still seems like a totally random activity, but it was fun. A coworker of mine set it up, and I thought why not? I'm up for new activities. I was a little nervous at the beginning, but it turned out to a relaxing jaunt through the woods near Prospect Lake. I even calmed down enough to hold my camera up with one hand and take this picture:


I think I have the right amount of fear in my eyes.

A report on Ottawa

I like Ottawa. I'm not sure that I'd want to live there, but I like it. The city lost points when the PM didn't meet us at the airport, but it gained points when Michael pointed out that John Manley was on our flight to the capital city. We made him nervous while we giggled and pointed at him while waiting for luggage together.

We didn't do any of the wonderful things you suggested, except go for a drive in Gatineau Hills, and the only reason we did that is because the wedding was at a ski chalet in the Gatineau Hills (I was in Quebec for the first time!). It was as beautiful as you'd expect at this time of year. Michael said he wasn't impressed with the fall colours, but I think he felt their goodness before the trip was through.

Museums need more leisure time. Am I right? That said, I'm intrigued and I really want to go back and check them out sometime. The Diefenbunker? Awesome. Also: the Art Gallery looked amazing from the outside, as did the Civilization Museum. When I finally visit Montreal, I'll stop by Ottawa for the museums.

Parliament Hill didn't disappoint. In fact, I think Michael, Imtiaz and I were all pretty impressed by the magnificence of the buildings. We don't have old stuff like that on the west coast (uh, except for the legislature). When Michael saw the line-up for parliamentary tours, he said it was just like Disneyland.

We went to Ottawa for Nathan and Cindy's wedding, and it was really lovely too. The weather didn't work out, but everything else was perfect. The ceremony was short with lots of cute music: Badly Drawn Boy, The Cure, Nathan's mom and brother. The dinner was traditional Thanksgiving dinner and the wedding cake was a tier of cupcakes: yum. None of the speeches were inappropriate and the slide show was really touching. I want to get married just so I can put together a similar slide show. After all of the formal stuff wrapped up, we danced until dawn. My hips were hurting as we climbed onto the shuttle back to the city. I tried to take pictures of the dancing, but they never capture the moment, do they? If you want to see other, better pictures, check out the ones on Flickr or Facebook. None of those are as good as the patriotic one in this post though. Am I right?

The Darjeeling Limited

Why? Why didn't I know about this latest Wes Anderson movie until one of Nathan's wedding guests informed me of its release last weekend? Don't you guys have my back? It looks beautiful and everything I want it to be - better than Life Aquatic, I predict. It's only on in Vancouver this weekend. Who's going?



A report on Ottawa will be posted in the near future.

Coming soon: a capital weekend

I'm going to Ottawa this weekend. As far as Ontario goes, I've been to Lake Superior, Niagra Falls and Toronto, but not Ottawa. I wonder if Stephen Harper will shake my hand when I arrive at the airport? I don't like him or anything, but I want to honour that Simpsons episode when Tony Blair greets the Simpson family at Heathrow. I wish life was like that.

Michael's high school friend Nathan Phillips is getting married in Ottawa. When I went to Toronto for my choir trip in grade 11, we went to Nathan Phillips Square. FACT: The square is named after the Nathan Phillips who was Mayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962, NOT Michael's friend from Prince Albert.

I imagine that I'll take pictures of myself on Parliament Hill, but what else should I do? I'm not sure how much spare time we'll have, but we've rented a car: we're mobile. Any suggestions?

Ode to David Attenborough

I just wrote an op-ed for my Writing Popular Science class, and I want to know what you think. We have to submit it somewhere, so I was thinking of emailing it to The Tyee (see link on the right).

Bonding with nature through documentary television

The melodic voice of Sir David Attenborough, the knight of nature documentary narration, beckons from the TV:

“A hundred years ago there were one and half billion people on earth. Now over six billion crowd our fragile planet. But even so, there are still places barely touched by humanity. This series will take you to the last wildernesses and show you the planet and its wildlife as you have never seen it before.”

I was going to go for a walk, but Attenborough has convinced me that if I want to bond with nature, I had better have a seat on my couch.

Attenborough is introducing the series Planet Earth, the 11-part BBC nature documentary that has been running on CBC since 2006.

I’m not the only one who has been transfixed by the series, and it’s no wonder. The documentary, which, as its name suggests, captures the entire planet instead of focusing on one species or region, has been aired during the height of global warming anxiety. It is also the first of its kind to appear in high definition format; nature has never looked more natural.

An American Discovery Channel release of the documentary tried to reach beyond the BBC crowd by replacing Attenborough’s narration with the voice of actress Sigourney Weaver. It worked. Talk show hosts Ellen and Oprah both featured the documentary on their respective TV shows, urging their viewers to educate themselves about the state of the planet.

But is TV the best tool we have to learn about our natural surroundings?

f you live in a city where the only green space you see on a regular basis is a manicured municipal park or the blocks of grass that your neighbours may or may not maintain, the answer is yes.

Nature documentaries like Planet Earth are beneficial because they arouse biophilia, the human propensity to affiliate with other life forms. Biologist Edward O. Wilson uses the term to describe the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life. In our increasingly urban landscape, we have to find the connections where we can, and in our media saturated culture, TV is an accessible option.

Besides, while I might see a seal or a pod of orcas from the beaches at Beacon Hill Park if I’m lucky, I’m certain I will never be in a position to witness snow leopards pursuing markhor goats in the Himalayas, let alone be able to watch crab-eating monkeys swimming from an underwater vantage point.

While the series may arouse biophilia, it doesn’t make explicit reference to the world’s environmental problems until the last episode. In the DVD cover notes, Attenborough says this was intentional.

“This new series is more a celebration of our planet, not a lament about the state of it,” he explains. “It shows what is still there. In some areas there is no doubt that we are doing damage to our world but, at the same time, there is a vast amount of uncharted and untouched wilderness.”

Attenborough’s sentiment explains why this nature documentary has been particularly effective. It doesn’t take the doomsday approach found in other global warming documentaries, such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.

However, it’s hard not to feel the impact of global warming as you watch the Ice Worlds episode. In it, a male polar bear is unable to find footing on melting ice; he resorts to swimming, which he cannot do indefinitely. His desperate need to eat brings him to a colony of walrus, but he is already too tired to succeed in his attack. Wounded and unable to feed, Attenborough tells us the bear will not survive.

If you’ve had your fill of complacent biophilia after watching Planet Earth, but walking outdoors isn’t for you, watch the companion series Saving Planet Earth. It explores the work of global conservation charities. BBC launched the series in June 2007 with an episode presented by Attenborough. This time he examines the impact of humans on the planet, and once again his voice and his medium make the reality of global warming go down a little smoother.

Look what I started

A tea towel by Erin Coulter:

I like the colour scheme and the steam.