My Cuke Runneth Over

Last year, I lost all my cucumber plants to a hungry and persistent bunny. This year, I decided to share. I would plant two hills, and between them, I should have enough surviving cucumber plants for our own family's modest needs. Well, this time around, Mr. Bunny decided he preferred the zucchini. Still acutely feeling last year's loss, I was reluctant to cull, even after it was obvious that all the cucumber plants would survive. So this is the picture I came home to, after my week away. The cucumber plants are raging through the garden with a vengeance. We've started harvesting and have been eating cucumbers daily. We've even made a small batch of pickles. For this first week, supply and demand are more-or-less balanced but I'm sure this situation won't last too long.

A Week at the Ithaca Suzuki Institute

Kate and I have just come back from another road-trip to Ithaca, for the Ithaca Suzuki Institute. I wrote extensively about the institute's program and touring Ithaca last year, so I won't bore you with all the details again. I will simply say that it was, again, a week of terrific instruction and inspiration for Kate. She had private, group repertory and orchestra classes, and she attended optional play-ins and concerts. The elite Preludio students performed in a fantastic all-Kreisler concert at the beginning of the week. Kate got to play in two group concerts this year, including the final play-down which (for her) started with Bach Double and ended with the Twinkle variations.

Kate had a packed schedule this time around, so we didn't have as much time for touring, but we did make it out to the Cayuga Nature Center, with nice easy hiking trails and the truly awesome 6-storey treehouse shown above.

We also escaped Ithaca College's cafeteria, where we had the unexciting but inexpensive meal plan, to eat in downtown Ithaca. We had good meals at Viva Taqueria and Moosewood Cafe, and Kate indulged in a spectacular chocolate ricotta mousse at the latter. I love walking around Ithaca Commons, with all its restaurants, bookstores and cafes. The photo above shows Kate in front of a stop on the Sagan Planetary Walk, named after the late Cornell astronomer and author, Carl Sagan, whose books I loved as a teen.

We are back home now, and Kate is getting a well-deserved break from violin practice. I am frantically trying to catch up with both housework and real work before we depart next week on our next vacation.

A Weekend with Family

We took an extra-long Canada Day weekend to join Joe and Jill in Montreal. They're in Canada for a short time, and though I saw Joe a couple of months ago, we hadn't seen the rest of the family since we were in Singapore for Christmas 2008. Julia and Kate were thrilled to spend time with cousins Oliver and Martin, who are growing into smart, active boys with loads of personality! The girls were willing to babysit, so we even had an evening out at a Tapas restaurant in Old Montreal with Joe and Jill. Mom has almost fully recovered from her surgery (we were all teasing her for giving us such a scare earlier in the year), and Dad cooked plenty of good Chinese food, as always.

As an extra bonus, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal was on and we caught a few of the outdoor shows. Todd ducked into the Montreal Guitar Show for a couple of hours to check out the incredibly expensive handcrafted guitars made by top luthiers. I consider myself lucky that we managed to leave Montreal with only one new guitar, a nice but much less expensive acoustic guitar for Kate which ironically we found in a bookstore. Well, it had been a bookstore but now it sells musical instruments too, and we really did go in looking for books ....


We happily had the chance to spend time with many of our other Montreal cousins. Some joined us for a day at the amusement park and the rest we saw at a BBQ hosted by Beryl and Rob, who graciously gave us accommodation on our last night in Montreal. Now, Rob is a Master of Meat, and this photo above should convince you if you had any doubts. This is his pride and joy (after his three beautiful daughters, of course), his handcrafted smoker complete with wireless thermometer so that he can check the status of his meat in the comfort of his living room.

Apart from the horrible traffic between Montreal and Toronto, it was a terrific weekend, with great weather, great company and great food!

Sunday Craft Update -- June 13

Elann had this amazing sale on JJ's Handpainted Kaleidoscope mohair yarn. A knitting friend and I couldn't resist and we split a massive order. There are still a few colours left, if anyone wants to take advantage of the 70% discount off regular price. Julia is modelling a mitred-square shawl, made from Elann's Sunbeam Stole pattern, free if you create an account on their Web site.

This week, there are a number of World Wide Knit in Public Day events. Unfortunately, I have a busy week and won't be able to make it to any near my home. In any case, I'm never shy about knitting in public and do so at least once a week. I don't need any extra encouragement, but it would have been nice to support the more timid knitters. So, please, go out this week and knit in public!

A Wedding

My cousin Barnaby got married over the May long weekend! We travelled to Montreal to attend the wedding and reception, and everyone is thrilled that Krista (along with her four-legged friend, Mr. Frodo) is joining the family. They had a traditional Chinese banquet, the kind where you eat non-stop for three hours (followed by the traditional Chinese Black-Forest cupcakes, of course). Todd, Kate, Julia and I were happy to see all the cousins, and especially glad to see my mother there. She had just returned home after spending the past couple of months in the hospital and convalescent home, and there was no way she was going to miss this party. Congratulations, Barnaby and Krista!

A New Blog

Kate and I have started a new book blog: Two Canadian Readers. We'll be posting reviews of books we've enjoyed.

Why a new blog, especially when I've been having trouble enough keeping this one up to date? First, I've been posting book reviews on LibraryThing regularly for the past year. I've not included the reviews here because I didn't want to clutter up this blog for those who come here for knitting patterns and family updates. More importantly, Kate was eager to have a place where she can post her own thoughts on her favourite books.

So we'll see how this new venture goes. The difficulty, of course, is in keeping it going once the initial enthusiasm wanes. However, if it gets both of us reading and writing more, even for a short time, then that's a good thing!

48-Hour Book Challenge

It's time again for MotherReader's 48-Hour Book Challenge! This event will take place June 4-6, and the goal is to read as much as possible over a 48-hour period. Related activities include writing reviews on one's blog and visiting other participants' blogs to read their reviews.

I had so much fun doing this last year that I'll be joining again. Last time around, I read for 16 hours and finished 4 books, and I hope to increase those numbers this year. Kate has decided to join me as an unofficial participant.

For every hour I read/review/blog, I'm going to donate a dollar to The Literacy Group of Waterloo Region, an organization that provides adult literacy training. For every hour Kate reads, I will donate a dollar to her pick, The Central Asia Institute. This is the organization started by Greg Mortenson of Three Cups of Tea fame, to provide educational facilities in remote parts of central Asia.

Kate and I both have a stack of books ready to go. I've cleared my calendar of all commitments and warned the rest of my family that I will not be available for non-reading social activities or chores that weekend. Kate and I do have to attend a parent-child book club meeting on Sunday, but that sort of counts, doesn't it? Julia won't be joining, as she will be spending the entire weekend studying for her final exams, which take place the following week. The house will be very quiet, as long as Todd doesn't decide to hold a jam session.

Please consider joining us for this fun event or donating to these two very worthwhile charities!