CN Power

Riddle Time folks! What is classified as one of the 7 Wonders of the (Modern) World,  weighs  130,000 tons,  stands 1,815 ft tall, cost $63 million to build over 40 months by 1,500 workers (24/5) and receives 1.5 million international visitors annually?  

Want more?? It gets hit by lightning 75x each year, has a hollow center that was used for the world’s tallest successful egg drop (yes, weird and wonderful) and has been the landmark for raising millions of dollars for in support of wildlife and natural habitats for the past 23 years.

Ok, I’ll shut up. You know it’s the CN Tower.   

On April 27^th, I climbed that bad ass beast for the first time - and perhaps not the last as part of the WWF  Camada Life CN Tower Climb.

Along with a few equally insane friends, we bust out our moves of glory and hit the stairs just past 7am ready to reach the top! It takes the elevator 58 seconds, travelling 20km/h, to reach the glass floor level (our goal). It took us 22:46 to climb almost 2,000 stairs. I’d classify that pretty awesome.

Take that Lanny Potts, Jim Walker and George Schupp.

     

O'Noir

I read a great book serveral years ago called Tongue First: Adventures in a Physical Culture. Essentially a experiement of body behaviour, the author journeys through a number of physical endeavors (from shaving her head to floating in a sensory deprivation tank) to examine how we use, abuse, depend on and deprive our bodies based on varying measures of self-awareness, habits and boundaries. It was cool. 

I thought of that book when developing my list. In particular, when deciding to go to O'Noir, the dinner-in-the-dark restaurant that I went to a few weeks ago, for the First time.

(post yet to be finished, in the meantime - see pic above. The "Exit" sign wasn't even there/visible - that's how dark it was!)

 

Ms. Power's Class Meets Mayor Rob Ford

  

Oh what fun! For the first time, I met a Toronto celebrity ;)

He did not grab my butt.
He did not appear to be on cocain.
He did not solicit for donations.
He did not read the newspaper during our visit.
He did not refer to students as "sucky little kids".
He did not demand that 2 TTC buses pick us up (although the gesture would have been nice)
He did not attack us for taking photos of him.
He did not gay bash.
He did not speak of Ford Nation.
He did not lecture the kids about graffiti.
He did not tell us to drive cars, not bikes.

He did however, not look one of my students in the eye the entire visit. And, he was awfully huge.   

Keep Calm & Can On

It's a SNOW DAY!! As a teacher, I think of being able to enjoy this illustrious Canadian celebration as the ultimate commission. So, as I cozy up at my desk in front of the window white-out for a day of lock-down, I naturally drift toward thoughts of sock slippers and faux fur blankets, spicy Rooibos and baked goods, neglected books, old movies (by that I mean from the 90's) and of course; frequent naps and constant eating. Absolute, blissful hibernation.

Thankfully, for the First time, I stocked my shelves with home-made canned goods earlier this season. Yes friends, my domestic evolution continues. Sometime back in November, I took my First stab at canning pickled beets, garlic-pepper beans, mustard pickles and carrot soup. One would think such a methodical project to be quiet, perhaps even soothing. It seems however, that I'm able to make mayhem of anything.

The day started by dragging my Mom around to a half dozen farms and grocers in and around Brantford. I should have realized at that point how overzealous I was being to can 4 different things on first attempt. I get excited though. Once back at the homestead, the peeling and chopping began. Holy Hanna!! I'm convinced I developed carpal tunnel, dermatitis and some kind of sous-chef aversion syndrome from those dreadful 5 hours. Once my purple stained fingers had gained feeling again, I started sterilizing the jars. Opps, scolding hot water doesn't feel that awesome on tender extremities. Keep calm and can on! Then came the cooking and mixing (relatively easy) followed by the processing set up. Turns out each batch required a different processing time (the time needed for filled/sealed jars to sit in a boil bath to kill-off bacteria), so I could only put a few jars in at a time (at 10, 20 and 30 minutes each turn). Bottom line, a lot of time watching water boil.

Idle time is not my friend. As I watched and waited, I started Googling. "bacteria from canning", "botulism", "food related illness" etc. Curse the Internet. As my paranoia increased so did the boil time. By the last few batches, I was letting the jars sit for almost an hour. The sun set, every pot in my Mom's kitchen remained dirty, my eye lids quivered and my soul whimpered as I strained to accept that I might not be confident enough to eat my own canned goodies....after all that.

A few weeks of research eventually eased my worry and I finally unveiled my hard work. YUM! They were wonderful, I am healthy and so are all of the people who received jars as holiday gifts. (That's right, I'm not goin' down alone!!)

So here I am, snowed-in and thankful for it as I enjoy a bowl of beef stew with a side of pickled beans thinking to myself, "it's just about time for a nap".