Look what we discovered in the garden today!
As Guy Clark asked, “What would life be without homegrown tomatoes?”
Monthly Archives: June 2009
Tazo’s Lily
When my beloved orange tabby cat, Taz, died a couple of years ago Nikki gave me a beautiful orange lily plant to commemorate his life and the happiness he brought so many of us. Each year when the first orange bloom opens I always stop and take a moment to remember one of the best cats that ever lived.
I signed up for a Twitter account ages ago, but still haven’t been able to figure out what the hype is all about. I enjoy blogging and facebooking and other online applications, but Twitter just seems a little dull to me. I want to like it — if only because the cute little bird on the logo is, well, just so. darn. cute.
Given how popular Twitter is I figure I must be missing something. I understand the basics of it, I think, but I just don’t find it all that interesting. Maybe there are ways to use it that I haven’t thought of yet — anyone care to share?
I Hate This Sort of Thing
Today’s editing/writing session did not go as well as I’d hoped. The problem was not with my manuscript, my ideas or any of the changes I am making to the document. I did not have computer failure nor did I have meetings, appointments, etc. to take me away from the task I really wanted needed to be working on. What I had was a major case of sleep deprivation, and I felt like I was in a fog all day.
I have my neighbour to thank for this. It seems he has decided to set a trap for the raccoons who come sniffing around his garbage can, and last night he caught one. Oh yay. So from about 2am on I could hear this poor little raccoon trying to escape from the cage. Around 4am it seems that s/he gave up on the whole prospect of getting out and instead started to make whimpering noises. It was awful. I had no idea what to do. The thought of skulking about over the fence in the dead of night to free a very angry and upset wild animal didn’t seem like the best of plans. I contemplated ringing my neighbour’s doorbell and getting him to deal with the situation he created, but chickened out. I looked up the local humane society’s phone number, but wasn’t sure if this constituted one of the “emergencies” that they are on call for 24 hours a day. I’m ashamed to admit that I did nothing to help this poor animal in distress and it has bothered me all day. Today I left a message with the humane society to see what they suggest should this happen again.
Is my neighbour even allowed to do this? Seems pretty sketchy to me!
This incident has reminded me of how difficult cross-fence politics can be. On the one hand, I am appalled by the thought of an animal in distress. It makes me furious and upset. On the other hand, I cherish the sanctity and peacefulness of my home, yard and garden. I work from home and I need it to be a non-stressful place. The thought of waging war with my neighbour (and, yes, this incident would up the ante, I’m afraid) makes me a little sick to my stomach.
I’m also reminded of another set of incidents, incidents that took place in another city many years ago. In that instance, my neighbour was a hunting fanatic and occasionally had the bodies/partial bodies of the animals he killed on the lawn. It was revolting. It made me weep. Yet, what could I do? He was in his yard, doing his thing. I remember staying inside a lot during hunting season that year.
My research and writing has me thinking a lot about relationships between human and nonhuman animals these days, but I’m at a loss when it comes to negotiating some of the scenarios that play out (quite literally) in my own backyard.
Bike Racks and Shuttle Buses
Some more exciting news regarding making the city of St. Catharines more bike and bus friendly — bike racks to be installed on a number of bus routes, and a shuttle bus to link up the train station with Brock University and the downtown core.
Both of these developments seem to be “experimental” at this stage, let’s hope they are the sign of things to come.
Noisy
I’ve decided to play along in the Friday photo challenge. This week’s theme was “noisy.” I took this photo tonight at the beach in Port Dalhousie during the “Drumming Down the Sun” celebration of Summer Solstice.
I’m not 100% sure that this photo fits as I tend to think of the word “noise” as a way to describe annoying sounds, and the sounds of laughter, drumming and other music coming from the beach tonight were anything but annoying! What a wonderful way to welcome the summer!
Old Projects and New Ideas
I woke up with some fresh ideas and a scary to do list this morning. I’m currently editing 2 manuscripts and, while both of those projects are going well, they are taking a bit longer than I’d like. (I actually spent over an hour on one footnote yesterday — not a simple citation, but a longer, explanatory note that was tricky to write). These are both projects that have been hanging around my life for many years. I am looking forward to moving them both out and on to the next step, whatever form that may be. I love these projects in the way one loves a cranky old relative. They are near and dear to me and I want the best for them, but sometimes they wear me down.
I realized the other day that I need to do even a little bit of work each week on my new research, generating new ideas even while I’m finishing up these older projects. It is that spark of imagination, excitement and creativity that goes with the brainstorming of a new project that I think makes academic work so addictive, what keeps us coming back and helps us to push through the bouts of writer’s block, the tedium of revisions and the sting of rejection letters.
This is why, then, I found myself brainstorming about a new piece of writing this morning even as the two aged manuscripts were sitting on the corner of my desk, giving me the evil eye. A call for papers grabbed my attention and as I was going through my morning routine of making tea, showering, etc. I couldn’t stop thinking about that CFP. A proposal must surely be written, but what form will it take, what research will it draw on? I turned to my newest favorite thing in writing productivity, Dr. Wicked’s Write or Die and hashed out a few rough thoughts. Much more work needs to be done, of course, but it is a start. I’ll keep mulling it over in the back of my head as I return to my two old friends.
Grounded
For some reason the transition from ASLE/Vancouver Island adventures back to normal day-to-day life in Niagara has been a tough one. I felt out of sorts all last week, and I’m sure it wasn’t just because of the difference in time zones. I guess it was a busy week — laundry, unpacking, getting caught up on emails and all the other things that pile up when one goes away.
Yesterday we decided to slow down and just spend the day out in the garden. It was wonderful and exactly what I needed to feel connected to this place again. We weeded, tidied, trimmed and planted. The last of the seedlings we started indoors are now in pots or in the herb garden. I’m sure I’ll never get over the sense of amazement I feel when I look at a happy, healthy plant in the garden and remember that a few months ago it was a tiny little seed planted with lots of hope in the makeshift greenhouse we rigged up in the living room.
Summer Camp for Academics
I just returned from the ASLE conference in Victoria, B.C. This is my third ASLE, and it marked the first time this wonderful conference was held in Canada. The ASLE conferences are like no other conferences I’ve ever attended. I always leave these conferences feeling not only inspired, but refreshed. If there were such a thing as summer camp for academics this would be it. We talk about our research and teaching, attend workshops, hear inspiring plenary speakers and participate in panels. We also go hiking, bird watching, kayaking, etc. On any given evening during the conference you can stroll around campus and hear the sounds of ASLEers playing the guitar and singing. There are a significant number of conference-goers who appreciate the finer points of a good pint of beer. This is the kind of conference where you can strike up a conversation with a total stranger and end up making a new friend in a matter of minutes. The dress code is totally casual and there are always vegetarian/vegan options at the banquet. This conference is unpretentious, collegial, totally inspiring and I love it! Far too often I’ve witnessed conferences turn into pretentious pissing matches and I’ve just walked away in disgust. ASLE redeems my faith in academic culture.
I heard many good presentations during this ASLE conference, but I want to take a minute to mention one that stands out above all the rest — the plenary session that featured Greg Garrard and Cate Mortimer-Sandilands. From the outset, both speakers acknowledged that their work came out of very different theoretical and methodological traditions. I suppose they could have argued loudly with one another, stomping their feet and pointing out all the reasons why they felt that the other was wrong. But they didn’t. They opened the session by taking 10 minutes each to describe the significance and the importance of the other person’s work. These were generous and genuine tributes to the work of two scholars who have done so much for the field of ecocriticism. This was incredibly inspiring and I think it serves as a good reminder that differences in scholarly approaches need not result in academic incivility.
For more on the ASLE conference, see these very interesting blogs.
I Miss the Bunnies!
I’m back home in Ontario but my mind is still in Victoria — such a wonderful conference, such a wonderful location. I want to blog about the conference in more detail, but first I need to unpack, do laundry and get some sleep.
After spending several days on the UVic campus I became quite used to seeing all the bunnies. Now that I’m back home it seems strange not to see bunnies hopping all over the place when I look out the window. (For those of you who have never been to the UVic campus, there are dozens and dozens of bunnies running all over the place!) I realize that they do present a number of problems, but as Andrew Revkin (who was a plenary speaker at the ASLE conference) asks, “what can be done about a pest that’s cute?”
I’ve blogged a bit about the graffiti I encountered while at the ASLE conference, so it seems fitting that just as I was leaving the UVic campus I spotted this piece of bunny-themed artwork. Excellent!
