Things they say in Thunder Bay

 

Flag of Thunder Bay

Dart - At first I thought a lot of people just enjoyed the game with the bulls-eye. I started to get suspicious when you could get 'a pack of darts' from the convenience store and "go out for a dart". So Dart here means cigarette. 

Seen - "I seen it happen", "I seen that", "I seen this thing the other day." This made my eye twitch at first. Then around month 5 I started to accept it as a part of my surroundings. Then last month it happened, it became ingrained in my vocabulary and I said it... seen. Steph was the only witness but I'm fessing up, I used seen in the grammatically wrong way.

Inner-city - One of the first malls in Thunder Bay, Intercity connects Port Aurthur and Fort William. The T just gets vacuumed out, like the second T in Toronto for Toron-o Locals.

P.A. - Stands for Port Aurthur, the city although called 'Thunder Bay' is still divided in two parts.

Wes Fort - The West Fort part of Fort William... lets not go there.

Shag -  "Please come to my Shag." is something you're bound to hear every week in Thunder Bay. It's basically a Jack and Jill (for you Southern Ontario folk), a joined bachelor/bachelorette themed party to raise money to cover the expense of a wedding. They are usually themed. Because I work most every Saturday I have been saved from going to one, but I have already bought or been given many a ticket.

Persian - Not to be confused with a person's nationality, this is a type of very gross pink doughnut that people fawn over for a reason I still have not uncovered. Amazing for doughnut lovers maybe but I can't really imagine it.

Camp - Instead of the Southern Ontario word for cottage people up here in Thunder Bay say camp even though they clearly mean: a solidly formed structure on a designated plot of land (usually including a sauuu-na), not to be confused with a tent in a campground.

Right ______ - "It's right cold out there", "That's right horrible", "He's right crazy" There's a lot of 'right _____' going on in this town.

Sauuu-na - The proper way to say Sauna here in Thunder Bay is a little 'cat got your tongue' when you get to the u. The Finnish/Dutch pronunciation is rampant here.

Purple Locks

I've been adding tiny bits of purple with no real effect, really trying to mix the colour I wanted. After some strand tests it's finally here! I would give the recipe for those wanting to mix their own but unfortunately I really can't remember. I know there's some of the left over pinks I had, with some Manic Panic Ultra Violet and Bad Boy Blue. A good rule I came across is the colour in the bowl should be two shades darker than the colour you want to end up with. I left the top blond and saturated it with purple shampoo that tones the blond to get it close to a white silver, striping it of the yellow hues.

 Here are the results:

"Road Trip" Day 3, 4, 5

#ThrowbackThursday This is a recap of last Aug 2013, a continuation from Road Trip Day 2

"Road Trip" Day 3 - Disco 

I spent most of the day at a coffee shop working online. I got an awesome odd job of writing descriptions for candy and other miscellaneous items which kept me nicely occupied whenever Jenn was at work. These are my two favorites from that day:

Cupcake Toothpaste
Sweeten the mundane job of brushing your teeth with Cupcake Toothpaste! Your dentist may not want you to eat a cupcake a day, but you can get the same sweet flavour without the calories, while taking great care of your pearly whites. This great-tasting toothpaste is a mouthful of that cupcake flavour you love. If you get excited about desert, you may find your self brushing after every meal, because this toothpaste tastes just like the frosting on a cupcake!

Folding Pocket Comb/ Delinquents with Combs
In the form of a switchblade knife this plastic comb will have you looking like one of the bad boys and you may just feel like one of the characters from The Outsiders. A simple button releases the comb so you can practice fast opening techniques and get your hair slicked back the second you need to tame that pesky stray hair and keep looking cool. You'll feel ready for any hoodlum adventure with your slicked-back do. Slide into lock position to keep your comb safe when not in use. Pomade, white tank top, and leather jacket not included.  

It was a really fun job. If anyone out there needs any writing related work. I'm happy to take a look!

Anyway... Later that evening it was time for the Rafters Guide Wednesday Night Disco Party. Everyone dressed up in the best disco outfits they could get their hands on. A few of us without costumes piled into Mikes car and were brought to a locked room in the rafting headquarters. Two giant dress up boxes (some called them tickle trunks) were at our disposal. We tried on all sorts of clothes from the 60's, 70's and 80's until we were each fashioned with the most ridiculous patterns.

Everyone looked amazing in their sequins, spandex, neon, and general random garb. It was off to The Lariat Bar, where Disco Night has become a summer tradition in Buena Vista. Lots of dancing and drinking had us stumbling back to Jenn's rafting trailer to get some sleep before the road trip to Boulder we were to journey to the following day.


"Road Trip" Day 4 - Meet the Family

Gary

We woke up early to pack up Gary (Jenn's car) and secure the kayak for our short voyage North. In the car Jenn found some beautiful 'Bon Voyage' white daisies waiting for her, which stayed with us the whole way (See pic left). After saying farewells to the rafting summer Gary got revved up for the first leg of our journey.

It was a scenic Colorado drive to Jenn's parents house, where I was finally going to get to meet her folks! After hearing so much about each other and having already virtually met via skype it was a warm welcome and so neat to see where Jenn had grown up after moving from Alaska. We only stayed for one night but I got a snapshot of Jenn I hadn't seen before. I helped her get all her things organized for her Oregon life to come. I even got a few glimpses of the Inspiration Books Jenn has kept regularly; filled with awesome quotes, pictures, and good vibes. 

"Road Trip" Day 5 - I heart WY

In the morning we jumped on 287, not to be confused with The 287, apparently only Canadians say 'The' before their highways, and crossed over to Wyoming. We quickly encountered camels as soon as we crossed the border, that's right camels!! We also saw some prong horns, which I had never seen before and as we searched for a rest stop we mistakenly thought "Siam Cafe" would have some coffee.Decaffeinated and grumpy, I was pretty haughty about a place calling themselves "Cafe" in huge letters when in fact they had no coffee or even tea to speak of. Thankfully Old Town Coffee was just up the street where we picked up some expensive java and paused to take a look the works of a Mother and Daughter who were debuting an art show together just that day.
We got back in the car and headed North West thinking our destination was Targhee. However while we were in the car I happened to be flipping through a travel magazine where there was a big picture of the Teton mountain range. "We can go there!!" Jenn exclaimed and promptly changed our route for the detour. By the time we got to a look out point the sun was setting and we only caught the purple clouds, the mountain range hardly visible. We jumped back in Gary and searched in the darkness for a campground close to the Grand Teton National Park. We were lucky to find one and snuck our way in, finding a secluded spot. The air was cool and I was in bliss to find a complete absence of bugs. We felt no need to set up a tent, we just laid out sleeping bags on the ground and peered up at the sky through the trees and of course pulled out the crib board. We went to sleep already excited about waking up before the sun to catch the Tetons at sunrise.

Spastic Chicken

Today I decided to tackle the frozen whole chicken that was in our freezer. Since becoming not Vegan I thought I should handle the carcase of of the animal I'm about to eat. Really get face to face with my dietary choice. One of the many reasons I became vegan was partially being afraid of not being able to cook meat properly. The only time I remember actually helping to make a chicken breast was when I was 12 and I made it in the toaster oven. I put in some red wine and was only slightly turned off when the chicken came out discolored. That was my only memory of ever cooking chicken on my own, I just never do it. Salmonella, botulism, and other ways of giving myself food poisoning have kept me far away from cooking my own meat. Nothing bad will happen to you if you cook tofu and vegetables wrong!

A few weeks ago Dan and I made Albondigas, my grandmother's recipe for meatballs, that I've been really wanting to make but couldn't muster up the courage on my own. So with all my trust placed in him, Dan and I made them together. Then last week I had my first experience cooking them alone and didn't poison either of us (yay! whoo! I was half terrified, half excited.) My grandmothers recipes are primarily responsible for getting me off the vegan train and I want to prepare them all and make a legible recipe book of them before committing again to the meatless way of life.

Which brings me back to today where I thought, "Hey why not tackle that whole chicken?" So after much texting with Dan, that I in fact could do this and the steps it would take to get said chicken unfrozen, I filled the sink with cold water and started to become slightly frantic when the Ziploc freezer bags kept it afloat. Over the course of about four and a half hours I rotated it in the water and tried to find odd things to weigh it down with, to no avail.

Then it was time to take it out of the bag...

With a sour look on my face and trying not throw up, I handled the cold carcass to rinse it off with cold water and to look inside for the giblet. Not knowing what I was looking for I had to wiki Giblets and confessed to Dan that I didn't know where the the hell giblets would be. Fun Fact: "If the heart and kidneys might be loose in the cavity, they'll be obvious". Well there was definitely nothing obvious loose inside so I went back to rinsing as I whispered tender "I'm Sorry"'s after having immersed my hand into the animal. That's when I started to remember the video I had stumbled upon hours after taking the bird from the freezer:




The video is about a slaughterhouse with some foul practices and is narrated by Sam Simon, who is pretty awesome; Co-creator of the Simpsons he's donating money and the time he has left, (after being diagnosed with terminal cancer) to animal welfare. So as I dried off the cold wrinkly skin and whispered "Sorry" again to this fowl, I sincerely hoped that enough reiki and salt would cure any trauma this chicken incurred under my hands and the hands before it.

Then I really got spastic. It was time to actually put the thing in the crock pot. I was determined to use the slow cooker to make something, and had Googled: Crock pot whole chicken. I found a few recipes but none that I had all the ingredients for so I meddled them all together. This is the recipie I came up with:

Step 1: Unfreeze the chicken. Keep it in the bag and immerse that in very cold water for a few hours (Aprox. 4.5)

Step 2: Run around the kitchen picking out herbs. I had salt, pepper, ginger, cayenne pepper, and fresh basil.

Step 3: One recipe from Wellness Mama said: I’ve also heard of stuffing the chicken with an onion, apple or orange for more moistness and great flavor. So I did it, I shoved an apple inside this poor chicken. I also cut the apple to make it fit... The same recipe also called for butter at the bottom of the crock pot, so in went half a stick.

Step 4: Now clearly thinking I was overcompensating for not having any celery or rosemary and that maybe all these ingredients were not going to work, I thought it was time to open a Fat Squirrel Beer. A beer that Dan and I got in Wisconsin at a very dimly lit bar/liquor store called the Hammond. A few sips got my nerves down and I squeezed a lemon over the chicken, then slathered the skin in all the seasonings, and placed it breast down into the crock pot.

Step 5: Adding 3 large cloves of garlic, chopped onions, and carrots the bird was pretty covered up when I thought I might as well add some of the beer to the mix as well.

Step 6: Cover and turn on high for 6hrs.... and wait...

I finished the last sip of beer and opened another as I hoped I hadn't overdone it with the seasoning...

UPDATE: It turned out awesome! When the 6 hours were up the meat fell smoothly off the bone and tasted delicious. The sauce at the bottom with the carrots and onions was really nice on rice beside the chicken. Looking forward to sandwiches and soup all week!

Surprise Getaway

Duluth, Minnesota

I was whisked away this weekend by my lovely boyfriend to celebrate a year of being together. I know... "Awwww's" all around! This was a huge deal for me, and it made me so happy. A significant other actually planning a trip for us to take together, and across the border! Dan even went through the rigmarole of getting our passports renewed (which for some reason took 5 visits to the passport office). I've never traveled with a boyfriend and it felt pretty lucky to use our new passports together. Dan was also the first bf I've traveled on an airplane with (last Dec), I think this means good things.

Unapologetic & Outlander

I have been awesomely and brutally reminded recently how I MUST stop apologizing, especially when someone is taking offense.

One woman encouraged me after I confessed I had deeply offended someone and was worried about it, "That's their problem," she said, "if they're very offended you can say 'I'm sorry you feel that way', but don't apologize for you."

"Finally Sam!" Was another response when I fought back instead of being complacent.

When I worked with Johno in Paris, he did his best to verbally beat the reflexive "sorry" out of me and that same "sorry" has weaseled it's way back into my life in an over abundant way. As a server I feel like I have to apologize a lot during a shift. Sorry about this and Sorry about that, when really I could get by with saying it less because these days I say sorry for EVERYTHING!

Soooorry: 'Excuse me, I need to pass'

Sorry?: 'I didn't hear you'

Sorry: a knee jerk reaction to basically anything that causes anyone discomfort. 

So with these extra forces re-affirming me that the "sorry" has got to go, I also recently read a novel with an unapologetic female lead, who takes 600 pages before her first "I'm sorry"!! That was a big eye opener for me.

If you're looking for a nice big book to keep you warm for the winter, Outlander heats up quite quickly. It mostly takes place in 1743, but don't be deceived, it's fun and adventure, not someone droning on about history. There are fun facts about history sprinkled into the book but it's more about a strongly opinionated woman from the 1940's living in the 1740's. It's a lighter read than most of the books chosen for book club which made it seem like a vacation to journey with Clair. 

On the author's website in the description of the book Diana Gabaldon says:

"What I used to say to people who saw me sitting outside a store with a pile of books and asked (reasonably enough), “What sort of book is this?”, was, “I tell you what. Pick it up, open it anywhere, and read three pages.  If you can put it down again, I’ll pay you a dollar.” I’ve never lost any money on that bet"

I found that to be true. I was hesitant to read the book, despite hearing it was fun and having a whole 600+ pages to read for book club, but once I opened and read the first pages I was drawn in. 

I think what I found most disappointing in the book are the actors on the cover. I actually took a better look at the faces a few chapters in, still wondering who the people on the front were supposed to represent and laughed. "Nope, that's not Clair and Jamie." went through my head and I probably rolled my eyes at the possibility. No chance.

If you miss reading Game of Thrones, miss having a page turner in your hands, and aren't afraid of some sex scenes, then take the leap and try this out. *I also think this would make a good gift* I don't want to give any spoilers so I'll just end by saying I think the lead, Clair, is pretty kick-ass.

International Festival Of Authors

On Thursday I attended the IFOA volunteering to sell books for the Northern Woman's Bookstore and wow, was I inspired. Three authors read from their works at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer - All The Broken Things
Alison Pick - Between Gods
Michael Winter - Into The Blizzard: Walking The Fields Of The Newfoundland Dead

I got to the gallery early and had a chance to look around at the special juried exhibition on display showcasing the talented works of Northern Ontario artists.  I learned that it has been ten years since the last juried exhibition where instead of one artist the room held numerous styles and a taste of each artist's works. I was especially happy to recognize some art that I had seen at other spots in Thunder Bay, now hanging upon gallery walls.

As Katja, Gillian, and I set up books from local authors and a variety of books from the three authors that would be speaking that night, we were joined by Margaret Phillips, who is the strong force behind The Northern Woman's Bookstore. Everyone was happy to see Margaret out at the event and made a point to say hello and see how she's recovering from this tough year of health issues.

When it was time to listen to the speakers the event started rolling with CBC's Lisa Laco as the host. Each author gave a brief synopsis of their book and read for ten riveting minutes. My favorite part was the Q&A, specifically the question about each writers process.

Writing as a daily activity could not be stressed enough.

Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer and Alison Pick were surprised that they had the same writing style: To get everything on paper first with an old school pen and then transcribe onto the computer, making that their first edit.

Micheal Winters was really funny, he made a good distinction about the internet. The computer that he writes on does not have the internet and he likened it to having two rooms. In one room there is a puppy, in the other room there is a dead dog, a 5 day dead, very smelly, dog. Now the dead dog room is your novel and the puppy is the internet. It's better to have separate rooms, because naturally everyone wants to play with puppies.  

Happy Silly Hallowe'en

I really did not want to be anything sexy, cutesy, or girly for this hallowe'en. [One friend tried to convince me to dress up by saying, "It'll probably be good for tips" which made me cringe.]

Have you seen this vid yet?

SO, after much debate the night before to even dress up, I've decided to go as a hipster dude, which kinda ended up looking more like a french farmer...
 

My reasoning for this costume and why it won out... Well, I recently got suspenders from a clothing swap and really wanted to wear them and a mustache. BUT ALSO because working at a bar/pub/restaurant I knew I'd be inviting certain attention had I dressed up as say... a catholic school girl just because I have the skirt.

It was suggested to me to be a Goth because that's pretty opposite my personality but it still holds sex appeal. If anyone deems this Hipster Dude/French Farmer costume sexy throughout the night it will be my personality, not my body on display. We don't live in a time yet where a woman dressing in a revealing outfit wont get you a certain kind of attention from certain kinds of people. Knowing full well that certain kinds of people are gonna be intoxicated and not necessarily on their best behavior and I wont be in control of the kind of people I'll be in contact with, I'm going for the most androgynous and let face it silly costume.

Happy Hallowe'en, have a safe and fun night! 

Pink Flamingo Hair

I use to be a brunette, and once upon a time (circa 2008) I bleached my brown locks from a box so it was an awesome orange, and then covered it in Manic Panic electric blue. It only lasted a few weeks but from then on I wanted to grow my hair as long as it would go and dye it a whole bunch of colours.

I left it long for a while, and when I was traveling I didn't have time or money to waste on hair care. This year was finally the time! I went professional for the bleaching and trusted Sal at Violet Blonde to take me as blond as he could. Sal has seen my many hair transitions, from super long to pixie short, and he always makes my hair look amazing. He had my complete trust and I loved the blonde he managed to get me to. 

I let it stay blonde for a few weeks but when my roots started to come it, it was time for the pink!

I started with Manic Panic Cotton Candy. Placing it sparingly in highlights so it peaked through my hair. It was nice to start with but I quickly started adding more until I wanted something more vibrant.


I got Manic Panic Fuschia Shock,  Hot Hot Pink, another Cotton Candy and went to work mixing colours and layering for an ombre effect.



The Fuschia shock was completely overpowering though...

The ombre effect was hardly noticeable until after a few washes. Then the lighter pinks started to wash out completely. That's when I learned you could mix colours with conditioner and place all over, to restore the colour. That's when the ombre really came through.

Then I was kinda over it with the pink washes and an annoying patch of fuschia would not let up. So I redid my roots and did an all over bleach at Curl Up 'N' Dye. 
Now I have a new blank canvas to try out...

Purple's next!

The Blog Overhaul

I've hardly been writing on this blog over the past year... as you may have noticed. Instead I've enjoyed being a hermit. Keeping mostly to myself this year has been a time of replenishing, of staying in one place. (Well staying in the continent at least.) I've only done 6 small trips this year; The Road Trip through the U.S. that I started writing about, then Toronto, another road trip, Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg.

I've still been recording the books I've read here, but haven't added any descriptions or reviews yet... oops!

I feel like the hermit veil is lifting though... So came the blog overhaul! The background picture is one taken while walking in snowshoes on lake Superior.

Post's to come:
My colourful hair
Throwback Thursday posts
Whimsical Wednesdays

"Road Trip" Day 2 - Lets ride mustangs bareback

(Posted a little late, this took place in August 2013)

"So... how do you feel about going on an adventure?" Jenn asks, and of course I'm always up for whatever she has in store. We jump into Gary (her car) and head off through the roads of Buena Vista on a beautiful sunny day. 

Arriving at a small ranch I learn about the gentle nature of two beautiful mustangs who have been taught like no other horses I've met. These horses were never whipped or hurt to be 'broken', natural horsemanship is beautiful to witness. While sitting on Wyoming bareback she responds to the gentlest touch. Sitting forward, she knows to go forward. Leaning to the right, she knows to go right. Sitting back, she knows to stop. It really feels like the horse can read it's riders mind.
Jenn and I were allowed to walk the land on these great horses and here are my two favorite photos.

It was such a beautiful day.

"Road Trip" Day 1 - The best F*cking Monday of my life

(posted a little late, this took place Aug 2013)
Since I arrived in Buena Vista at night I had no idea the view that was waiting for me when I woke up. I stretched, yawned, and open the door to see the trailer park where all the rafting guides were living for the summer. A glance skyward had me in awe, almost everywhere you look there are beautiful 14000 foot peaks, and the sun was shinning in the valley.

The Sawatch range, on the west side of the Buena Vista valley is home to fifteen 14000 foot peaks, the largest collection in Colorado. Not only do these mountains look gorgeous, but when storm fronts come through the area they smash into the Sawatch range and dump all their water and snow on the west side of the mountains, the storm systems break apart and reform on the other side of the valley. Because of this the valley of Buena Vista is blessed with an average of 312 sunny days, the most sunny days out of any other town in the whole of the USA.

Jenn returned with Mike and it was off to coffee, breakfast burritos, and renting a raft. Then we were off to the liquor store and I still had to find shoes.
"Pull over, pull over! That's a consignment store, I'll be two minutes." I shout to Jenn as i jump out of the car.
So no, I didn't bring running shoes. I've lost so many pairs of shoes over the past two years that I only own flip flops, black flats, and some heels that have stayed in my closet at my parents. I had considered buying runners in Toronto but I had trusted our materialistic world to provide, and it did. After two minutes and $20 I was back in the car with a pair of brown and turquoise Brooks. Now I was ready to raft.

While Jenn and Mike pumped up the rafts and got things secured, I got my basic training. It was a mix of: paddle hard, stick your feet in strong, and you'll know your PFD is tight enough if your beer stays in place at the top. It wasn't time for helmets just yet, Mike drove the car to our put out (where we'd be taking the raft out) and was going to hitchhike back to our put in.

Jenn and I took that time to play a game of crib and begin to catch up on all the summer adventures.  When Mike came back I was finally nervous, I have never been on white water before and I didn't want to fall in. We went over all the saftey precautions and I knew I was with the best have-fun-BUT-safety-first guides. Mike had ran the river only once before, and Jenn was going to try her paddle at reading and running.

Notes were scribbled on paper and put in a clear dry sack giving clues on what turns and bends and rocks where coming up, but Jenn would have to rely on her training as a guide to make it through these class 4 rapids.

First you hit Primero, Segundo, Tercero, and Pumphouse; a succession of four rapids close together that give you just a taste of what you're in for.

Jenn maneuvered us and the raft by shouting out strokes that we had to obey. I did my best to plunge my paddle deep into the water without falling overboard. At the beginning my enthusiasm made up for my lack of skill but by the middle I was leaning into the action and making a strong stroke.  

Then it was Wall Slammer and rightly named. Our raft tapped the wall of the gorge and we were pushed back to the middle to observe the great walls of the canyon on either side of us. I was in awe of the 1200 ft walls of the rock on either side of us.
Then it was back to paddling. Rafting on the Royal Gorge combines Class IV rapids setting you up for a wild ride and finishing with the unanticipated bliss of completing Sunshine Falls.

Unbeknownst to us there was a photographer that captured us at Sunshine. 

After we were three quarters in we found a spot to pull up the raft where there was a small climb up the canyon to a mini ledge for cliff jumping.

I have never gone cliff jumping before. Yup, I'm just too chicken shit. This time I was armed with a helmet, a PFD, an encouraging friend, and I still had hesitation. I was clinging to the wall, just afraid to look down. Mike went first and my heart was racing. 
"If you jump before me, I'm not going to do it." I told Jenn as she offered to go ahead. 
"Well, you don't have to…" 
"I want to, I just… I've been conditioned not to do things like this." 
Moments away from a deep philosophical conversation, "You're thinking too much." 
"Yeah, you're right." I took a deep breath and launched myself from the rock, screaming all the way down. The plunge was amazing and I surfaced quickly. I was still alive, adrenaline was pumping, and as my head broke through the water I had one though: I want to do that again.
"Feet up!" Mike screamed at me as I quickly floated back to the raft turning to see Jenn jump behind me.

We were all wearing broad smiles and passed around some fireball to warm up from the cold water and added another layer of sweaters.  "That was fucking amazing! I can't believe I've never done that before!"

"Yup this is what we've been doing all summer." Mike leaned back with his arms gesturing to the life of rafting.

"I'm thinking of all the Monday's I've woken up to go to school, go into an office, get on the subway. This is the best fucking Monday of my life."

"And we still have more rapids to hit!"

We jumped one more time and got back in the raft for the craziest rapids of the gorge. One after the other, all in succession. No time to think, just listening to Jenn calling out strokes to make it through the zig zag rapids without flipping and without getting caught it the rocks. We all hollered and whooped and clicked our paddles together at the end of Sunshine. As we came to the put out we were all exhausted and euphoric.

Laying on the raft as it lets out air photo by Jenn

Photo by Jenn

It was time for dinner and I was spoiled for life in terms of white water rafting. The truth of the danger we faced didn't catch up with me until the next night at a party where the rafting guides gave major props to Jenn for reading and running the gorge. 27 people have died on that stretch of water and we had a perfect ride.

 I am so grateful for that day