{ kissing }

In case you've ever wondered why we kiss: Why Humans Kiss.

I know I've often wondered...

{ looking for a fresh start. }

I've been feeling rather devoid of photo inspiration, pulling things from my old archives to share with my friends on flickr. You might be feeling devoid of inspiration if everything outside was as brown as it is here, though.

I think the fog yesterday did something for the grass, though. I saw my first blades of green today on my way home from dinner. So there is hope for Alberta after all!!

Tonight was a pleasant evening spent with friends. We were treated to one of the best Chinese meals I think I've ever had. I really gorged on the flat rice noodles--something I haven't had since I was in high school. I am looking forward to enjoying even more of them tomorrow out of the doggie bag I brought home. What a special treat.

My plan for tomorrow is to deal with the rotten disease that our fridge seems to have caught; in a period of two days, our fridge went from perfectly normal to smelling like rank death. I took everything in the fridge out, sniffing each item thouroughly; however, I was unable to locate the stinky culprit. Every few hours I would throw something out, starting with the most suspect items--the green onions first, even though they weren't soggy or rotten. Next went the old celery and a tender avacado that was a little past its prime. While I was at it I found a jar of long-expired mayonnaise and some too-old salad dressing. Toss, toss. I left the fridge for a day, replaced the box of baking soda. Today? Still stinking. Out came the cauliflower and some leftovers.

There is hardly anything left in my fridge. There is half a carton of fresh eggs, a litre of milk, some jars of jam, and some pickles. There are two limes and a few bottles of BBQ sauce, salad dressing, and a wedge of cheese.

What is stinking so bad?!

Tomorrow everything comes out, shelves, drawers and all. Perhaps I have a rotting culprit hiding under cover somewhere. I will wash the whole stinkin' thing from top to bottom and solve this problem before I head back to work on Monday!!

While I'm at it, I'll have to restock at the market, seeing as I've thrown out or consumed nearly all of my fresh food. Perhaps I'll add an extra box of baking soda to the list, just for good measure.

I can't wait for tomorrow--the fresh start. Now all I need is some photo inspiration...

{ photographic memory }

my friends jumping from the dunes in Jeffreys Bay

This photo embodies a fond moment I'm happy to have captured. We were in Jeffreys Bay, bonding together, wandering over the dunes in the sun, wind whipping the ends of our hair into our wide-open, laughing mouths. We played and jumped and tumbled, and I snapped a few photos to commemorate living in that moment.

I'm happy I did.

Today I worked with an Afghani refugee girl. We've been working on English for a few months, and today I was helping her to write down a few of her favorite items for a social studies assignment. She drew a picture of a camera, a book, a pen, and a few other things. I asked her to try to tell me why she liked her camera. I gave her a sentence template to start:

I chose a _______________ because ...

She told me she could answer the little question about why she likes books and pens and flowers and the sun, but the camera one, she gestured to me, was too difficult for her to explain in English.

"Try," I said.

"I can only in Farsi," she stumbled.

"Try in English. Tell me," I urged.

"There is some word," she said. "To put my think and my time to camera."

"When you take a picture, you can see a special time again?" I asked her.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

"This is a memory," I explained. I wrote some things on a card for her:

MEMORY (1) one
MEMORIES (2+) many

She took the card back to her desk and said, "Okay. Wait, okay?"

She came back two minutes later with the sentence for her project:

"I chose camera because I can make a memory of nice times."

Maybe that's why I've chosen a camera as one of my latest favorite things, too. I love recording moments and capturing memories, like the one of the sunny jumping excursion I had with dear friends nearly twelve whole months ago. Thanks to Lima for the little revelation!

{ April Fools }

cream colored gerbera daisies at the greenhouse

On a day such as today, April first of all days, I do feel that April fools. It's fooled me! Shouldn't it be spring by now? I am aching for warmer weather and am just utterly depressed by the snow and wind that is creeping back to us here in central Alberta! I'd love to proclaim that the above photo was from my balcony or my mother's yard, but you won't find such a scene out of doors quite yet; I found these gorgeous, vivacious flowers in a greenhouse and nowhere else.

I just indulged in my second bath of the day: I had one mid-morning and the other mid-afternoon. A waste of water, I know, but the core of me could just not warm up from the wind no matter what I did--I layered sweaters and slippered my feet, snuggling in a blanket, but the chill stayed with me. I had to blast it out with a little hot water therapy and follow that with some flower-photo gazing to calm my inner hysteria. I've closed the blinds and the curtains as if to dupe myself into thinking that spring has sprung. Everything outside is dull with brown and leftover snow mould; not too much snow lingers, but nature just won't let it leave. We have snow forcasted all week again! It is an ironic and sad final day of spring break, this dismal, biting day.

Much like my friend, Karel, it seems, I have spent today doing stressful but de-stressing things. Here at my house I have attempted to repair my car (no luck at that, however); it is also laundry day, bathroom cleaning day, guest-room tear down day, marking day, and kitchen cleaning day. I am wiped out but am feeling back in control, right in time for school tomorrow morning. I had meant to get to the grocery store before this evening, but I think I will settle for Kraft dinner and an apple tomorrow at lunch as I do not want to take on that biting wind yet again.

I think I shall have to close my spring break with a lovely cup of my new and yet untasted loose-leaf peach herbal tea. Dinner might be some sauteed asparagus and a small cup of brown rice, or perhaps just an apple and cheese. I'm feeling low-key and am feeling a touch of grief for my looming return to work. No need to overdo it tonight with a big meal. No need to dirty my shiny kitchen sink, either.

If you or your children are heading back to school tomorrow as I am, I hope you have a sunny morning to whisk you on your way. And if you do, could you send it my way? I'm tired of the snow.

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