Bibliomama

Eve and I didn't go to Bluesfest for the first time in years last year - the lineup just didn't really hit for us, and it made sense to save the money for something else. I didn't buy passes this year either, but my lovely friend Pam had an extra ticket to see Hozier on Friday night and was willing to trade it for my knowledge of the best parking and setting up routine. There were many years of Bluesfesting While Anxious , but at this point I've done it so much that the anxiety has subsided considerably.  Eve and I saw Hozier with friends at the Folk Festival a few years ago and the show was amazing. I had listened to some of his new stuff and didn't like it quite as much, but he played a lot of old stuff this time and even the new songs were fun to watch live - also, he didn't play our favourite song the first time we saw him, and he did tonight. He always seems really lovely in person also (I know it could be a front, I have given up thinking I know anything ...

 FIRST, my periodic awkward answering of questions from comments because I still can't decide if I should answer them IN the comments, or it doesn't format properly, or whatever. Questions by ANNE, the loveliest of commenters - YES, Eve's supervisor's wife is indeed pregnant for the SIXTH TIME, resulting in his sabbatical being postponed and Eve now being able to start her master's in the lab she loves in September.  ALSO YES, Eve's shoes are Doc Marten Mary Janes, and they are GLORIOUS. She's out wearing them right now, but I will get a close-up when she gets home.  Engie, thank-you for making me remember vividly the experience of watching television in Ontario and hearing a show announced for "Wednesday night at ten o'clock: ten-thirty in Newfoundland." Even though we all used to comment on it all the time, I don't think I've ever looked up what the reason was until now. It's not terribly exciting: "This time zone exists beca...

 On Canada Day, Tony makes a smoked-all-night brisket. Because he wants to, not because Collette badgers him into it. I think. Mark looks like he's checking out my husband's butt, but he's not. I think. There were the usual wide-ranging topics of discussion. Did you know that the kilogram is now defined in terms of Planck's Constant, instead of in terms of some cylinder thing in France? The cylinder thing is called The International Prototype of the Kilogram (band name!) and is platinum-iridium. I am sure some of you DID know this, but I did not, and it took me a minute to understand the concept. As a way of not forgetting it, the way I often forget other interesting facts, I have taken to saying "Did you know that the kilogram is now defined in terms of Planck's Constant?" almost everywhere I go, which makes me a super-fun guest/hang out partner.  Also under discussion was the question of how many people's blood would be required to generate enough ir...

Eve has been scouring Facebook Marketplace for stuff for her new apartment. Oh shit, I haven't blogged about the new apartment. Okay, SO, we had looked at two apartments in two days while we were down for grad. They were okay-ish, but not great, and a little too far from the bus route to compensate for other cons. We had had trouble booking a lot of appointments for the weekend because a lot of places don't show apartments on the week-ends, which seems weird to me because when do people who work full time find a place, but anyway. There was one place that looked pretty good, and I managed to make an appointment to see it Tuesday morning just before we headed home. It was quite nice. It had a washer and dryer in-unit, which the others didn't (one had them on another floor, one had them in the basement (gross) and you had to pay for them. It had air conditioning, which the others didn't - both of these things weighed in, because this one was more expensive but we would ha...

What was wrong with the dessert, Suzanne? I'M GLAD YOU ASKED. Well, not really, but I'm happy to talk about it because it was SO WEIRD. It was a brownie that was supposed to come with chocolate sauce, caramel sauce and ice cream and whipped cream - all three of us were going to share it. I didn't used to like brownies that much, but the malt chocolate brownie dessert at Jack Astor's sort of changed my mind a few years ago. So it was a brownie. It pretty much came with a bit of whipped cream and a sliced up strawberry. No problem. It also just tasted... really weird. Kind of like somebody had maybe used the knife they used on the brownie and strawberries to chop up some garlic and mushrooms first? I would have said something, but we were kind of just ready to cut our losses with the restaurant. I will say that it was not outrageously priced. I really liked the salad I got, and the salmon and mashed potatoes were...fine. Matt got a steak that he said was adequate. Eve got...