chitown is my town

after six weeks of living in chicago, i am constantly amazed by the kindness, vitality and diversity offered by this city.

two weeks ago i bought my first bike (i named her genevieve after my happy nun character in suor angelica this summer) off craigslist. she's a beautiful vintage schwinn and the seller says he fixes up old bikes and sells them to raise money for a charity that goes towards mothers who have lost their infants.

i had a bit of a time searching for a not too expensive, not TOO dorky helmut and ended up being given one out of kindness by a worker at brown elephant, the howard brown center resale shop in my area. i asked him how much but he wanted me to take it for free.

kitchen tool box

more summer sunshine and it's been back to more crafts. my trusty boyfriend drove me to the sarnia flea market where found plenty of pretty books, all ready for repurposing. this time, i chose an old cookbook - madeline kaumen's the making of a cook (i'm saving the contents) - and cut out the book box, and had my boyfriend saw some pieces of wood that would fit in the book.

book bursts

after finally finishing all my summer music festivals for the year, i've spent the last few days relaxing before i head off to chicago for grad school. i'm currently visiting my boyfriend at his family home in sarnia, where he was doing the sarnia launch of his first full-length book of poetry, having already had the toronto launch and with a montreal and vancouver launch in the works.

it's been the week of arts and crafts. while at my cottage, i had my dad help me make two floating vases (a la emily schuman - see how-to here), one for me, one for my artist aunt. i can't wait to put one up in my new apartment!

today was the day for "book bursts."

weekend on the hudson

obviously, i would be coincidentally be reading edith wharton's "the age of innocence" the weekend my family decided to go on a road trip to the hudson valley.

the landscape on the hudson is very beautiful - it feels almost like an american version of going to provence or tuscany. however, being from canada, it seems somewhat unneccessary to drive all the way to new york state for beautiful landscapes when we're surrounded by beauty here in ontario. there is something fun about being in america though, steeped in an older european history...

our inn overlooked the hudson river - i took this picture one morning at breakfast. when we weren't wining and dining, we had time to visit the storm king outdoor sculpture gallery, filled with amazing large scale pieces by lichtenstein and other artists:

a la recherche du pain au raisin

on thursday, i was having a bad day. i'd been caught up in a confrontation (totally warranted and probably as unconfrontational as a confrontation can be but hey, i'm sensitive) and resultingly, i decided that instead of practising, i would spend my lunch break eating a pain au raisin in toronto's beautiful and historic distillery district.

i had scoped the area out the day before. balzac's coffee shop boasted a beautiful, vintagey interior, delicious ice coffee and a patio with its chairs facing towards the piazza, much like in europe. the barista had tried to entice me the day before with an eggy, moist-looking pain au raisin, but i'd been feeling too virtuous to indulge. today was my day.