May 26, 2010
This past weekend was Victoria Day Weekend, affectionately known in these parts as May 2-4. That does not mean it happens from May 2nd to 4th, as my lovably dopey husband thought, it means it happens on the Monday of or preceding the 24th of May. It is the unofficial start for the Canadian summer, and seeing as we live in the Golden Horseshoe now, Alan and I had to do what everyone else in the GTA and surrounding area does on this weekend. Leave. head north. If you are to believe the Toronto media, every resident of the Greater Toronto Area goes camping in the Muskokas this weekend.
We went way north. Norther (more north?) than anyone else we know. We went eight hours north to see Lemmers and the rest of the Lemmers clan. Another pair of guys I went to high school with went as well. We left on Saturday morning at six, and got to Kirkland Lake around 3, and then proceded to drink beer and play euchre and Rock Band, and look at pretty stuff. We had fireworks with the neighbours, which were interrupted by a small firework injury, a small shed fire, and the OPP asking us about our fireworks permit. It was a great weekend. Despite the 1200 km we put on the car.
We brought both our cameras with us and here are the results:
It was a really nice weekend. The drive home wasn’t as terrible as I had been expecting, and I think Alan had just as good a time as I did. I hope that we will be able to go back for another weekend, or that the Lemmers clan can come south and see us some time this summer.
Shannon Patterson, filed under Life |
Ursula K. LeGuin - The Left Hand Of Darkness
The Left Hand Of Darkness
Ursula K. LeGuin
1969, 304 pages
The Left Hand of Darkness is a tale of first contact. The people of the planet Winter are visited by Genly Ai, an emissary of a federation of planets known as the Ekumen. The people of Winter are asexual, only taking a male or female role during their mating cycles, and as such they don’t really have a concept of gender roles. Their political system is largely feudal, and there has not been a war for many generations. The people don’t seem to be too trustful of this newcomer, and he is eventually exiled from kingdom to kingdom in the hopes of being granted a meeting with one of the kings of the three kingdoms. Eventually, Genly Ai is forced to team up with the also-exiled Lord Estravan for a suicidal journey across the northern glaciers to try and reach the king.
I finished this book over a month ago, so forgive me for missing important details and glazing over certain parts of the book. Overall, when I first read this book, it didn’t really strike me as amazing. It won lots of awards, including the Hugo and Nebula awards, and was considered a groundbreaking novel in science fiction as well as feminism. Possibly due to the years that have passed between now and its initial publication, the book didn’t really hit a nerve with me. I found the first half of the book entirely boring, and was only really interested in the characters during their trek across the ice.
Now that I’ve had some time to mull over the book, it’s much better than I initially felt it was, which isn’t really saying much because I originally thought it was awful. The book was pretty good but I don’t think it’s great. I’m not sure who I would recommend it to, but I would certainly pass it on if I find the right person.
Shannon Patterson, filed under Recipes |
May 18, 2010
I had a great weekend. On Friday, I went to dinner with Courtney, then the Waterloo and picked up Kat, then we went to Josie and Chris’ for about half an hour. Then we went back to Hamilton and hung out. It was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday, and we had Tim Horton’s breakfast on the beach, then went shoe shopping, then went to Albion Falls, then went out for lunch with another friend of Kat’s. After lunch, we went to Webster’s Falls and Tew’s Falls, then hiked out to Dundas Peak. It was so pretty and we had a lot of fun.
Sunday I relaxed and watched the rest of Being Human and other fun stuff like that. It was a great weekend, with the exception of not getting a damn thing done. Had to do laundry and groceries and all that last night, but it was totally worth it.
Pictures!
Shannon Patterson, filed under Uncategorized |
May 12, 2010
In just ten minutes of browsing today, I found the following shirts I now must have:
Fail Whale
Russian Division
Bazinga
Go Away
Recursion
Compiling
First Doctor
Also, they’re now selling xkcd shirts, and I want all of them. Well, most of them. Nope, I just checked, I want all of them. What’s a girl to do with all of this awesome in one place? They have Delorians! And sonic screwdrivers! And Futurama toys! And lots lots more. Just wanted to share some of my favourites with you.
Just as an aside, I’m also quite excited about Futurama coming back next month.
Shannon Patterson, filed under Internet Discoveries & Bandwagons |
May 10, 2010
So when we last left off, I had failed to visit the town of Kanturk, but found castles and pretty stuff anyways. I am now down to the last three days in Ireland.
Thursday of last week, I decided that I wanted to see the Cork City Gaol and some of the other cool old stuff in the city. I set off in the morning and jumped on the City Centre tourist bus, which cost about 10 euro, and drives around to all the cool stuff all day. The tour is narrated, and gives some of the history of the things you are passing, and makes about six or seven stops around the city. Most of the things I wanted to see, but the gaol wasn’t, so I stopped there first, and toured the building, which is very beautiful. I was there for about two hours, taking pictures and looking around, and then I got back on the bus for the rest of the tour. Other stops I made on Thursday in Cork were at St Finbarrs Cathedral, Crawford Art Gallery, The English Market, and then I spent the rest of the day wandering around the island(s).
I also learned that the island I thought we were staying on is actually 14 islands, that quay is pronounced the same way as “key”, and a lot of the crazy city center streets were at one point rivers. It makes the crazy streets seem a little more logical.
Friday I went to Cobh, which is pronounced “Cove”, which at one point was called Queenstown. It was the final port of call for the Titanic, and where survivors of the Lusitania were brought. It was also highly involved in emigration to the United States, Canada, and Australia during the potato famine and into the twentieth century. There was a big exhibit on Cobh’s maritime adventures, and it was a beautiful town, but it was raining, so no pictures. After that, I went to Midleton to see the Jameson Whiskey Distillery, and then I went to Kinsale, but got mad at the terrible parking and one way street situation and stopped by the seaside somewhere else instead.
We had a lovely last dinner in Cork, packed, and on Saturday we spent all day in planes and airports. It was not awesome, but we got home safely.
Overall, I loved my Ireland adventure. I spent most of my time at least slightly lost, and it was pretty fun. After a while, I started figuring out where I was, but I was never exactly sure. The country was absolutely beautiful, and on the rare moments when I wasn’t completely terrified on them, the roads were kind of fun. About half of the time I couldn’t understand what people were saying due to their lovely accents, and even when I understood the words sometimes it didn’t make sense. It was a lot of fun and I would go back in a heartbeat.
Pictures are collective from the last time I put up pictures.
Shannon Patterson, filed under Life |
