Beautiful Idiom

Ecology Is Worth Studying

2009-10-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

I just finished teaching my grade 10s Ecology in science class. To help make it relevant to them, I asked them to write a paragraph describing their favourite places in nature. Then we had a little class discussion and I asked them to send me pictures of their places. I figure, if they have some connection to a natural place like their family's cottage or a park, then studying ecology has a point--to learn about and preserve that natural place they love so much. Here is the slideshow we put together:

The TANGLE of the Century

2008-12-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

This Christmas Holiday has been a fairly productive one. I got home to North Bay almost two weeks ago with a Yaris full of laundry, homework and Christmas presents.

Homework-wise, I managed to organize my teaching binders and mark an assignment and a test (having 83 students makes marking pretty boring!).

I helped my brother Sam change a tire on the van (a long story involving snowy road conditions, a median and a flat).

I got measured for some new cross-country skis at a store here in North Bay called Big Wood. The skis were a fantastic Christmas present from my mom which I tried out yesterday.

My patience was tested by my brothers trying set up the movies they downloaded for us to watch. Every single night there was a conflict over HDMI and VGA and USB wires and picture quality.

All this aside, I must say that my very best accomplishment this break was conquering the TANGLE OF THE CENTURY. Very shortly after arriving, I realized that my little sister Randi had been wearing her long hair loose and flapping in the breeze for about four days. Now, for the ordinary observer, this might not seem like a big deal, BUT for Randi, this means disaster. When I looked at the back of her head, she had a very big tangle. This tangle was threatening to take over her entire head, then her body then everything else in the house. Good thing our cocker spaniel was smart enough to stay away from the it, otherwise he could have been sucked in!

We went down to the mall, waded through holiday shoppers and found some detangeler spray and came back home. After supper that night, I gave Randi a shower, used lots of conditioner and we settled down to watch Wal-E and wage war on the tangle.

After the movie was done, we had finished about one quarter of the tangle BUT Randi had to go to bed.

The very next morning we started bright and early at 8:00. It took us until almost lunch time to subdue the tangle and restore Randi's smooth and luscious locks.

So far, this has been my top achievement this holiday:

CARla a CAR and South CARleton

2008-03-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

One month into teaching and I still love it. It's challenging but I am seeing the pay-off already (and not just because I got paid on Friday!). I love the challenge of getting the kids to learn stuff. The hardest thing for me is to get into the groove of disciplining the students and keeping them in line...but we teach so we learn right?

To enable me to get to work I had to get a car. So here's some shots of me the day I got my little blue Yaris. It sparkles in these pictures! Currently it's covered in salt and dirt which is the draw back of buying a car in the winter.

Ok...so I could never be a car model!

Poor, Poor Neglected Blog

2008-01-27T11:34:00.001-08:00

It sure has been a long time since I last payed attention to this blog. I sort of feel like Mary did when she first discovered the Secret Garden and was facing a whole garden full of overgrown vegetation. Except the key difference is that the blog didn't become overgrown during my neglect. So maybe this blog is more like my sea monkeys whose food I lost when I moved and who are trying to scrape an existence out in their algae-filled jar. Well technically, the algae grew during this time as did the sea monkeys so this is also an inaccuracy...

I suppose this situation is mostly like a blog that I forgot about for almost four months.

I must have been doing something during this neglectful period. And indeed I was--just look at this list:
- I supply-taught at various high schools around the city (involving many bus adventures/misadventures)
- I worked some evenings and weekends at the Expedition Shoppe (involving much laughter at inappropriate things and ridiculous customers)
- I visited my family quite a bit, going down to Guelph once and up to North Bay in early December
- I saw Craig Cardiff, Two Hours Traffic and Joel Plaskett in live shows
- I purchased Joni Mitchell's album Blue which I absolutely love and highly recommend
- I went to North Bay for Christmas and had a fantastic time with the family: movie watching, laughing, cooking, eating, corn-holing, toboganning, snowshoeing and the like
- I applied for tonnes of teaching jobs
- I had two job interviews
- I got one job!
- That's right blog-land! I will be teaching at South Carleton HS in Richmond ON on Feb 1 until the end of the school year. I'll have grade 9 science and grade 10 math...fun, fun, fun!

So that's the long and the short of my life over the past while. Here's some pictures to prove it:

(Mom celebrates turning 50, Andrea and I snowshoeing, Rory, Lucy and Andrea playing Cranium, Sam, Randi and Sarah at New Year's)

I felt so symbolic yesterday

2007-10-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my silver birthday. I turned the big 2-5.
Since it is Thanksgiving weekend and also the weekend we're celebrating my Mom's 50th birthday, I rented a car to drive up to the new family home in North Bay.
The car was silver.
My dear friends the Brocks also gave me a silver necklace for my silver birthday.
While I drove from Ottawa to North Bay I listened to one of my favourite CDs of all time, August and Everything After by Counting Crows. I know that silver and grey are different colours and that one is a metal and one is just a shade but I couldn't help feeling symbolic yesterday anyway.

I will paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very very meaningful
Grey is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play

Re-kindling an old flame

2007-07-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted, so long in fact that my internet browser no longer had beautifulidiom.blogspot.com in it's cache of frequently visited sites and I had to type the whole address in all over again.

Just in case you got all excited over who Mr. O. Flame might be, you can remember that in order to have an "old" flame you have to have once had a flame...

My old flame is my love of biking--or cycling if I want to try to impress people. Since my family moved out of town when I was in high school, our main source of transportation was biking and this is probably where my love began. For several summers I biked to work, I would bike out to Trent every day until it got too cold or icy, I was even able to borrow an ancient 10-speed from my housemate in Kingston while I was at Queen's this past year.

In Deep River when I worked at AECL I would bike in to work and home each day. It was about a 45min ride down a sunny dirt road deep in bear country (I'm not kidding!) but it was nice because I could have a shower once I got to work. That was so handy especially on rainy days when I would arrive covered in mud. One of my favourite comments from people when walking to my office, biking clothes and backpack looking like a puddle attacked me from behind was "did you bike in the rain?" I always wanted to respond with something like "no, the mud is my latest fashion accessory"

In Peterborough, I was a frequenter of the Rotary-Greenway trail. If you live in or near Peterborough you really should take advantage of it. You can bike all the way from downtown to Lakefield, it's quite a nice ride and there is ice-cream at the end!
If you are around Peterborough and are looking for an exciting challenge, try biking to Lindsay. You can look it up online but you pretty much just follow the old railroad in Jackson's Park until you get there. I did it once and it took me about three hours to get there and a little bit less on the way back. This trail is actually part of the Rotary trail too so technically you can bike from Lindsay to Lakefield if you want.
Here's me looking buff and tough on the way to Lakefield with my dear friend Terri.

Now I'm here in Ottawa and working at a shop downtown. I don't like biking of busy city streets and I also don't have any place to clean up before selling camping equipment to people; therefore I have been taking public transit (also eco-friendly) to work every day. I have been missing my bike-rides though.

I've come up with a new plan: get up and go for a bike-ride before going into work. Today was a day off so I decided to test out the plan and check out the National Capital Pathways. I biked from my current house at St. Laurent and Donald out to Mooney's Bay and down the Rideau Canal to Ottawa U and home in about 1.5hrs. I went past both universities, a beach, some cool houses and two water-ways--it was brilliant! If you're living in Ottawa, I recommend the Pathways. You can check the map out at http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/_flash/biking/_pdf/map.pdf . The paths go all along the Ottawa River and into Gatineau Park too.

If anyone ever wants to go on a big bike-ride I’m in (unless I’m working or already have plans!).

Duck or Chicken?

2007-06-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was hanging out with my friends the Brocks and my buddy Gavin brought up a year-long debate: Is Donald Duck a chicken or a duck?
This perplexing question has been rattling around his mind ever since he saw Disney's The Three Musketeers. Apparently there is a scene where Donald is accused of being a chicken and momentarily turns into one.
After some stunning displays of logic and reasoning on behalf of Lesley and I, we got Gavin sorted out--I think.
What do you say he is? Duck? Chicken?

Something I didn't write:

2007-06-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here's an essay that I read in the Globe just now. Having lived in cities for the past six years, I have often struggled with whether or not to give money to people in the street. I'm glad someone else also thinks about this and wrote about it. In the end, people are just people and I can be a person to them.

FACTS & ARGUMENTS: THE ESSAY

The panhandling blues
If I had a dime for every time I've said, 'Sorry, no,' I'd never have to work again
L.A. KING
June 7, 2007

'Excuse me?" The whispered question was faint amid the bustle of a Friday evening sidewalk. Wrapped up in my own impatience to get home, I didn't realize he was speaking to me.

"Excuse me, miss," he said again, a little louder this time but still breathless, difficult to hear against a backdrop of rush-hour traffic on wet pavement. "Could you possibly spare some change so that I can get something warm to drink?"

"Sorry, no." My automatic response was out of my mouth before I'd even looked up into moist, blue eyes. I saw hope there, and watched it melt into disappointment as his gaze dropped.

He smiled then, and nodded without looking up, gesturing apologetically toward me with his hand. "That's okay, thanks anyway."

I watched him shuffle off, shoulders hunched under a tattered backpack, ankles - white as fish bellies - visible above unlaced sneakers, head bowed against the rain or the judgment of strangers or both. I was struck by the fact that he didn't stop to ask anyone else. He just kept walking.

I've grown immune to the requests of panhandlers, wearing my cynicism like a suit of armour.

The form of the approach is irrelevant; I've seen them all before. There is the conspiratorial request, one addict to another: "Can I bum a smoke?"

Or the silent act, suitcase displayed like the stage prop it is, plea scrawled in black ink on a piece of cardboard; "Stuck and broke. Anything would help."

Even the occasional attempt at originality feels forced and false: " 'Scuse me, ma'am. Can I interest you in providing just a small donation so I can get totally toasted today?"

If I had a dime for every time I've said, "Sorry, no," I'd never have to work again.

I tell myself that I say no because I can't say yes to everyone. I tell myself the few cents in my pocket wouldn't make a difference anyway. I tell myself that my donations to all the assorted charities dedicated to helping the homeless are enough.

The truth is, I'm irritated by the intrusion. I just want to get to where I'm going without someone trying to guilt me into passing out coins like so much Halloween candy.

But those moist blue eyes wouldn't leave me alone. They haunted me as I stood there in the rain, waiting for the bus. I saw that open face looking expectantly at me. I saw the immense effort of asking etched in the lines between his nose and mouth, visible in the tremor of his lip, audible in the hesitancy of his voice. I recognized him, even though I'd never seen him before.

With what felt like a twisting of my heart, I remembered the $10 bill in my pocket, change from a lazy lunch spent bitching with co-workers over beer and nachos at the pub down the street. I looked up the sidewalk to see if I could spot the tattered backpack. I imagined catching up to him and tapping his shoulder. I pictured surprise on his face as I slipped the bill into his hand and felt the gratitude of his smile as I walked away without a word.

I shook my head and smiled at my own idle musings.

Still, I stood on tiptoe and craned my neck to get a better look up the street, past commuters and shoppers, around groups of teenagers gathered in packs, but I couldn't find the backpack. I reached into my pocket and fingered the crumpled bill. It felt like a piece of scrap paper.

It hadn't been that long, I thought. He couldn't be far. Maybe he'd turned at the intersection; he might be just around the corner. I hesitated for a moment, questioning the wisdom of chasing a homeless man down a dark side street. I considered the possibility of missing my bus and the dreary half-hour in the rain until the next one. But the corner was only a few steps away, it would just take me a minute to walk over and have a look.

I paused and wondered, holding onto my indecision like an umbrella. I shuffled in insulated, waterproof hiking boots, remembering sock-less feet in lace-less sneakers, and looked up to see my bus splash to a stop at the curb. Just another sheep in the herd, I joined the queue of commuters jostling for position, hoping for one of too few seats.

Staring at the seams running down the back of the cashmere coat in front of me, I fondled the $10 bill in my pocket and thought how handy it would be come lunchtime on Monday. I caught my own reflection in the bus's fogged over window and, with throat and cheeks burning, lowered moist blue eyes against the gaze of strangers.

L.A. King lives in Victoria, B.C.

It's been a while...

2007-06-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

This beautiful rain-bowl that you see is the product of a two-year quest for some amazing mixing bowls. They are made of durable melamine and nest together perfectly. The centre yellow ones are actually measuring cups (I know you were wondering who would ever use such small bowls). Ever since I lived on Dublin Street in Peterborough with Elspeth and her wonderful set of bowls I have been looking for some to call my own. Yesterday when I saw them at Winners for $19.99 I was bowled-over and I had to snap them up.

Some of you are probably thinking "Carla, we don't care about your new bowls, what have you actually been up to lately?"

Well first, I'm offended, the bowls are super and don't you forget it!

Last week sure was a busy one. I got a job, I graduated and I had a first day of work, I hung out and I went shopping.

My brand new job is at The Expedition Shoppe in the Byward Market. We sell camping and outdoors equipment and clothing. If you're planning a trip, stop on by and I can hook you up with some great gear. I spent one Saturday afternoon there and I already want to buy half the store! I will be working full-time but on minimum wage (thank goodness no commission!) so no worries, I won't actually be able to buy half the store. The co-workers I've met seem great and quite relaxed so that is awesome. I will be able to work full time in the summer then drop down to part-time as I need to in the fall when I start supply teaching. It's amazing what can happen when you listen to God and bring your resume to the place he tells you to!

Now for the graduation. You might be wondering why there are no pictures commemorating this momentus occasion. Well, the answer to that is because my mom still hasn't sent them to me. Those of you who are observent will be wondering how I was able to take a picture of my new set of bowls but nothing of my own graduation. Well, the big memory card for my digital camera refuses to initialize so I now I have to use the small card that can only take six pictures at a time. I want to get a new fancy camera but I will need to save some cash first. So the moral of this story is that you will have to wait for my mom to send me the pictures of my graduation before I post them.

Graduation at Queen's: very formal, I had to promise my undying love and loyalty to Queen's University, I knelt, got hit with a hat and was told to "rise Bachelor of Education". I mostly just joked around the whole time with a guy from Trent who I sat with. It was nice to go back to Kingston and to show Mom and Randi all around. I didn't get as much time to see everyone as I wanted to--everyone: if you're going to be in Ottawa, let me know and we'll meet up and visit then and I'll do the same for you in your cities. I got a Queen's Nalgene and and a t-shirt from Minotaur the games store to commemorate the occasion. After walking around historic downtown Kingston, we drove home to Ottawa and had a nice dinner.

I believe that's all the updating that needs to be done for now. Until next time....

A Marching Ant

2007-05-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

As promised, here's a picture of Randi-Roo as a Marching Ant at her ballet recital. I would invite her to my picnic any day.

Shania

2007-05-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

I'm keeping you forever and for always...

I just got back to Ottawa yesterday. Sam and Randi drove me up. Well, Sam drove; Randi asked if we were in Ottawa yet every five minutes. We brought a van full of boxes full of everything I own. Sam drove on a 400-series highway for the very first time, and did quite well. We went out to Boston Pizza for lunch and Randi got pasta shaped like bugs.

It was nice to go home to Deep River but it's good to be back in Ottawa again. The Dearings got a new kitchen. Well, I should say, they finished the rennovation of their kitchen while I was gone (they did not purchase a brand new kitchen and plug it into their house as one might a printer into a computer).

Anyways, it's great to be back here in Ottawa but I woke up this morning singing Randi's all time favourite Shania song. It's crazy, I thought I had been so successful this week because I managed to avoid listening to any of Shania's eight albums.
[Aside: I only know that there are eight albums because I saw an ad for a made for CBC movie called Shania: A Life in Eight Albums]
I hadn't factored in Randi's particular favourite song. She knows all the words and sings them with a dreamy expression on her face as she does her ballet moves around the kitchen.

...we will be together all of our days...

Did your hear that the town of Timmins, Ontario changed the name of their train station?
Now it's the Twain station!

This is for all you perpetrators, imitators and haters...

2007-05-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ya that's right I'm talkin' 'bout the Cha Cha Slide y'all!

That fine dance mix spun by DJ Casper and introduced to me by the famous, pro-star Trent Summer Sports Camp counsellors: Chile, Shaggy and Squirt.

I have unleashed the dance craze on my family, well the half of them that are home. Randi is the most enthusiastic about it, not surprisingly. The boys are OK, Rory caught on faster than Sam but that's because it's a dance where you have to know your left from your right.

If you haven't hopped on this dance train, I highly recommend downloading yourself a copy and letting your feet move to the beat.

cha cha real smooth...

No, it's a mop!

2007-05-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

We were walking down the trail today to give the dogs a little stretch. Randi did not want to go on this walk but I made her anyway. She was whining and whining about all kinds of random things so I was trying to distract her. I started pointing out little nature-y things like birch bark (woof!) or violets growing by the side of the trail. Suddenly one of those little blue-ish butterflies started fluttering in front of us. It being nature-y I pointed and said "look, a butterfly" only to be informed that "it's a mop, Carla."

I guess I got schooled by a whiny six-year-old...

(here are some blue butterflies making a blue butterfly)

Getting the hang of it

2007-05-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a pink two-wheeler that closely resembles Randi's. The training wheels have recently be taken off her bike and she has been working on her biking skills. Yesterday and today we went to get the mail at the end of the road (about a 15 minute walk). Randi rode her bike both times. She is really getting good. Both days she rode almost the whole way home without stopping. She still hasn't gone over any sweet jumps yet though.

I forgot how biking is something that you have to figure out and practice until you get the hang of it. It's cool that once you learn, you just always know how...just like riding a bike!

Kindergarten

2007-05-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

So... two Bachelor degrees later and what do I do? I go straight back to kindergarten!

Well, only as a volunteer and only for a morning.

My mom suggested I pay a visit to Randi's kindergarten class while I was home. At Randi's ballet recital I talked to her teacher and we arranged for me to go in this morning and help with the math table.

The greatest thing about small towns like Deep River is that there is always a connection...six degrees of separation is distant in a town like ours. Randi's teacher, Linda MacVicar-Cox, was our neighbour for the first eight years we lived in Deep River. We shared a driveway. She watched me, my sisdiggler and two brodigglers grow up. She was mine and Andrea's Brownie leader.

I biked into the school for around 9:30 this morning and was greeted by Mrs. Jardine, the secretary of T.W. Morison P.S. who used to be the secretary of Keys P.S. (our old middle school). Mrs. Jardine has two daughters who I went to school with. She came very close to remembering my name: Cara is certainly close to Carla. Just think of all the kid names Mrs. Jardine would have to remember over the years...

Anyway, I got to Randi's class just as they were finishing up a story and a snack. I got to help the SKs make books about money. Does anyone remember the Canada In My Pocket song? We read little sentences about each coin, cut and pasted the coins, coloured them the right colour (they actually had metallic crayons), then made the whole thing into a book. We talked about the coins and about the special symbols on each one. A little boy named Dominic and I decided that the Bluenose has its name because everyone who goes on it their nose painted blue. Daniel figures that the scariest coin is the Cari-BOO because it's a ghost!

All in all it was a fun day re-visiting kindergarten. I don't think I could actually teach kindergarten. If you put me in charge of 20 four to six year olds everything would dissolve into chaos to the point of no return. Although, singing little songs to transition to new activities is awesome. Maybe I'll try it in a grade 12 physics lab:
Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, clean up clean up.....

G'day G'day!

2007-05-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not in a land down under, I'm simply saying "hi, nice to see you" the Ottawa Valley way. I guess I should really say "nice to see yous" since I'm technically talking to more than one of you and we should try and be gramatically correct eh der buck!

Anyhoo, here I am in Deep River, home of blackflies, bushies, nuclear reasearch, a Tim Horton's, a Burger King, a PetroCan with great Indian food, several great beaches, a Dairy, a symphony orchestra and my family until this August.

I will be here for a week to look after my little sister, Randi, and keep the house intact while my mom is gone on a trip. This week it will be Me, Randi, Rory, Sam, Cassie, 'Kita and Oli (those last three are dogs...I don't have that many siblings!)

Today is Randi's birthday and she is six! Holy smokes, I can't believe it! She got almost a whole wardrobe of clothes, a disc-man and some CDs by such great artists as Shania Twain and Brian Adams (at least she's keeping it Canadian!).

Last night Randi had a ballet recital and it was pretty cute. She was a marching ant who spoiled a picnic. The title of the recital was Dreaming of Spring and each class was a different kind of bug or bird or spring thing. I think the subtitle should have been Skipping and Flapping because that was the base move of most of the dances. We had some pretty good laughs as you can imagine, all those little girls skipping and flapping around the stage in tutus and antennea, forgetting their steps, telling their friends what to do, being graceful balerinas. There is some real talent in the Deep River Ballet Club and lots of potential too! I took some pictures but they didn't make it off the camera before Mom left so I'll have to post our Marching Ant later.

I'll keep you up to date with the many adventures I'm sure I'll have this week in Deep River.

Shoes on a wire

2007-05-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

So, a little while ago I was driving with Tim and just after we passed Gloucester High School we noticed a pair or shoes hung over a wire above the road. Tim was all like "What's the deal?" and I was all like "I dunno."
I didn't think about it again until I was listening to the R3-30 Countdown podcast today and I caught a line from the song "Ride My Bike" by Japanese Pop Songs. The line was something about a shoe hanging alone from a powerline.
That got me wondering "What's the deal?"
After some quick internet research while I was supposed to be writing my resume I have discovered that no one actually knows why people hang shoes from powerlines.

Some say it means that you can get drugs at the house under the wire.
There are other references to gang activity.
The bully hypotheses: kids bullying the weakling among them by throwing up their shoes.
In some regions it is what you do with your old shoes when you get a new pair.
Maybe some people do it for the artistic effect.
I have heard that it is possible to tell the weather by what's going on with the shoes outside...if they're blowing it's windy, if they're coverd in snow it's snowing...you get the picture.
In the movie Big FIsh you couldn't leave the magical village if your shoes got hung up on the powerline and everyone walked around in sock feet.
Basically, no one knows specifically why shoes are strung up on powerlines. The conclusion is inconclusive. Mankind will forever be asking "What's the deal?"

I Spy

2007-05-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

I love a good spy story, a good conspiracy theory is even better. Last night Kristen, Mike and I watched The Good Shepherd. It was about American intelligence during WWII and the birth of the CIA. If you haven't seen it, I would reccomend it; it's a bit long though. There is a cool break down of a grainy, secretly recorded videotape that is better than a CSI analysis. The movie also looks at the impact of the spy business on a person's life. He got into it pretty slowly but, before he knew it, he was a full-fledged spy.

Spies are everywhere! Today I read an article in the Globe about American military contractors who suspected that Canada was spying on them using coins with tiny radio transmitters implanted in them. There was all sorts of intelligence communications and a 29-page report around this. Apparently the Canadian Mint is into nanotechnology as well as honouring vetrans. The coins in question were the poppy quarters that came out a couple years ago. Check out the video:

Another kind of spy that I like is an apple. No, it's not an apple fitted with nanotechnology to track unwitting children via their lunchboxes, it's the best kind of apple to use for apple pie according to my Mom!

A Closing Day and an Opening Night

2007-04-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my very last day at Teacher's College at Queen's. After a great final class, us phyiscs students decorated a comemorative ceiling tile with our photos and names and headed over to the Portsmouth Tavern (left) for lunch. I don't think I could have thought of a better way to end my time at Queen's than saying goodbye to my physics friends over some tasty burgers, pub fries and some pitchers of Keiths.
Cheers guys, it's been a great year and we'll see each other soon--even if it's just online!

Yesterday was also the opening night of Guys and Dolls at Gloucester High School. While I was on my practicum I got suckered into helping with the choreography of this show. For the past five months I've been faking my way through putting together numbers and teaching them to the kids--thank goodness for Donna and Anne, the real choreographers, because I tend to be challenged in the rhythm department.
The show was a hit! The kids were amazing, their jokes were hilarious, their timing excellent, not to mention their dancing! I'm so proud of them! And no, I'm not just saying that because they're "my" kids!

The show is still on Friday (tonight!) and Saturday (tomorrow!). If you're in the Ottawa area and are looking for something to do come on out to Gloucester High School on Ogilvie for a great show. The show starts at 7:30pm and tickets are $7. See you there!

Now to complete my very last assignment for Teacher's College...

Carla

Attention All Earthings!

2007-04-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Happy Earth Day so I hope you all did something to reduce your destructive impact on this wonderful planet we call home. I did three things. I helped Michelle fill up her backpack with plastic grocery bags and empty it into the bin at Loeb and I purposely didn't eat beans in order to reduce my methane emmissions. I also scored a celebratory Boddington's glass from a pub which saved a river from being polluted by the harsh industrial-strength dishwashing liquids.
The Planet thanks me!

If Earth was ever colonized by an alien race and if us humans ever gained our independance through a hard-faught revolution where a lot of green blood was spilled, wouldn't it be cool if April 22 (Earth Day) was the day the aliens signed a treaty declaring Earth a soverign planet? That way we wouldn't get confused about which Earth Day we were celebrating.

The other reason I need your attention earthlings is to announce the winner of my widely successful Blog Name contest.
If you can't remember the contest, scroll down and you will find more information in my previous posts--you can't enter though because the contest has already been won.
The winner of the constest is Cam who correctly guessed that my blog's name, Beautiful Idiom, came from the Ox song L.A. City. If you care to listen to this song, check out their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/oxmusic. Thanks to all who participated.

Carla

I think I'll move to Australia

2007-04-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I wanted to move to Australia. I woke up and the last thing I wanted to do was get up and get ready to get on a train to Kingston. I finally made it downstairs and my housemate Mike asked if I had looked outside yet--I knew that what was outside wouldn't make me happy. Don't get me wrong, I love winter and snow, just not in the middle of April. I ended up getting to the bus stop later than I wanted to. The OC-Transpo driver was rude to me. I stepped in a big pile of slush getting off the bus. The lady in front of me at the ticket desk didn't seem to know what she was doing or where she was. The first part of the train ride was fine but the second was terrible. I could have walked the distance between Gananoque and Kingston faster that the train crawled there. I then had to catch the Kingston bus which always takes a long time but it seems longer when you're grumpy and already thinking about moving to Australia. Even though it would make me late for class (which I hate being), I stopped at Tim Hortons and got a toated bagle with herb and garlic because I knew that being hungry all afternoon would only make matters worse. When I trudged between Tim Horton's and campus, there was no way to keep my feet dry because whoever clears the sidewalks had probably been laid off for the summer.

Disclaimer: Usually the weather doesn't make me this angry but it seemed like a personal insult or something--all that snow, slush, rain and fierce wind. I am not a fan of climate change and I do my part, just look at all those forms of public and environmentally friendly transportation!

If you're like me, you spent a chunk of time each day of your grade three life sitting cross-legged in a fidgety semi-circle on a shaggy carpet listening to you teacher read stories. Maybe you are just like me and Mrs. V. read you the story Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Or maybe you have heard this book (or read it) somewhere else. If this is the case, then you know that by saying "I want to move to Australia" I am really idiomatically saying "I had a pretty stinky day." If you have never heard of or read this book, check it out it's worth the read. It might not ever win the Mann Booker Prize but it is pretty good none the less.

Perhaps I should address the little contest that I created. Has anyone made any real progress yet?
Since Ox lyrics are hard to come by on the Internet you have two options:
1. Call up the band and ask them if they know which song I likely got my blog name from.
2. Go to one of the websites that lets you listen to their music such as: http://www.myspace.com/oxmusic
I have heard some people spreading rumours that I do not actually have a prize for this contest. Who do you think I am? What do you take me for? Of course there is a prize! I am a good cookie cooker and I will cook some cookies for the contest winner. The contest winner will be free to request any kind of cookie they prefer. I do make a great ginger snap and I also know how to make gluten-free cookies for those who need that type of consideration. Cookies are also easy to send in the mail so don't let that disqualify all you out-of-townies.

Concluding my second post, this is Carla signing off.

Inaugural Wine and Cheese

2007-04-12T12:08:00.001-07:00

Hello One and All!
I have finally joined the wonderful world of bloggers on the net. So welcome to my blog and my blog-warming wine and cheese party.
As the little tag-line at the top of this thing says, I like idiomatic phrases and I also like the phrase "beautiful idiom". Looking back, think I got the inspiration for it from a line from a song by an independant Canadian band based in Vancouver called Ox. They're great so maybe I'll have a little contest here on my blog:

If you can tell me which Ox song likely inspired the title of this blog I will give or send you a sweet prize.
(Leave your answer in a comment or email me)

This blog will not necessarily always centre around idioms but I will include beautiful ones that I come accross and you can send me ones too. Maybe sometimes I will wax philosophical about life and people and how those things can be idiomatic too. You often need to understand the person's surroundings and culture to understand who a person is; you can't always understand what a person does or says just on its own.

Philosophies about life, the universe and everything often come out at wine and cheese parties. So does pompous name-dropping. About two months ago I got into a cab that David Suzuki was getting out of. On Monday night I spent 1.5 hours with the Queen. When I was 11 I met Michael Dorn who plays Warf on Star Trek.

Anyway, I hope you will stop by and check out this blog every once in a while. I personally have a routine of blogs and webpages that I check almost daily. Some people say this wastes time but I say it helps me stay informed.
You're always welcome here at this blog although I can't guarentee wine and cheese every week!

Cheers,
Carla

PS. Here's a doggie bag of cheese to take home:
Did you hear about the injured tap-dancer? He fell into the sink.

Where does bad light go? To prism!

What do you call soemthing that plays music on your head? A head band.