Random Small World Moment

So on Thurs I was chatting with one of the women I work with who I don’t know well but have met a few times.  I mentioned that I wasn’t going out with the team after work because I had tickets to the Royal and the fact that her eyes lit up rather than giving me a confused look lmk she was probably a horse person.   Sure enough, v much a re-rider, had ridden as a kid and started back up super-recently.   So we chatted for a bit and I didn’t immediately recognise the barn she was riding at, but said I’d poke around ;).  Also, she only knew her coach’s first name - Ally (there are a shocking number of riding coaches in the area named Ally) but by the description I had a strong feeling I might know who it was.

We were chatting about riding schools in general and I happened to mention Foxcroft (which is where I rode as a teen, and where I started teaching) — turns out that’s also where she rode as a kid and timing-wise there’s a very strong chance I taught her at summer camp at some point or another ;). 

Then fast-forward to today and Ally sends me a pic of “look who’s in my lesson!” — so this Ally, who I’d hoped but didn’t really believe it might be, is who I both rode and worked with at Pony Club when I was in uni.  In Fredericton. (For those not in the loop - it’s about a 15h drive from here).

So yeah - double small world loop with the same person.  Kinda made my day :) 

TIL: Spanish Edition

So I just had a lightbulb moment:

I can’t believe how long it’s taken me to realize this but I think part of the reason I can read in Spanish so much easier than I can listen is that my eyes read ahead of my brain.  So for all the critical information to understand Spanish that comes later in the sentence than in English, I need the speaker to pause after each sentence so I can mentally understand the words, restructure and translate.   But when I read, my brain gives me the meaning of the words in English, and my eyes are far enough ahead of my brain that I have the structural info already.

Realized that while reading a transcript while listening to a blog post. 

Now arguably it'd be nice if my brain could just give me the meaning in English when listening like it does for reading ;).   Maybe some day!

And while I completely get why my teachers say not to translate 😂 I’m not good enough for that quite yet!

The one in which Bev rides to the rescue.

Alright team, buckle up for the wicked alignment of things that resulted in my car being abandoned in the GO Station parking lot for the night ;). 

I went to the office today - I know, foolish life choice, but stay with me ;).  As per every commuter, I had my backpack with me.  Into it, I carefully secured my keys in the zippered pocket they live in every time I commute since I don’t actually carry a purse anymore.

Why don’t I carry a purse anymore?  Well because like most digitally competent people, everything I need is on my phone.   Everything, that is, except my work ID badge/door key since that is not an option in my current office.  And also I don’t like carrying extra stuff ;)

So suffice to say I forgot said work badge.  No big deal - I’m reasonably good at finding colleagues willing to let me in.

All good right?   Except…. I had agreed to go to a work-sponsored charity event after work in another building.   No worries - I was going w a colleague.  But said colleague had to bail :(. But still no worries - my card, that I didn’t have with me, also works in that building.  However, I wasn’t concerned about its lack because quite frankly, they want people at charity events and it was taking place on a floor that has reception, so cool.

Now since this is one of the few times I’m in the office back to back days, I deemed there was no reason to lug my laptop home as long as I brought my phone w me.  Minor win for commuting.  Minor loss for adulting.

Why should that matter?   Well dear reader, I went over to the charity event and dutifully stayed until the end (also - it was well done and is, in fact, something I firmly believe in supporting so…. Fair).  At which point as I gratefully headed back to the train station I realized…

…my car keys are still in my backpack at the first office. 

*sigh*

Okay but it’s a gorgeous night and less than a 15 min walk.  Also, it’s not like I have anything better to do tonight at this point.   

Except…. And I’m super glad I remembered this tiny issue before walking all the way back…. You need a badge to work the elevators after hours AND to open the door to the floor.  A badge that I don’t have on me.   And since I was one of the last to leave the first time, odds of anyone being there to let me in even if the elevator worked were nonexistent. 

So yeah, because I don’t carry a wallet, and because I forgot my work badge, and because I’m going to the office tomorrow, and because I agreed to go to the charity event, and because I went alone, I cannot drive my car home.  Had any one of those things been different, you would’ve been spared this ridiculous story and Bev wouldn’t be currently riding to my rescue at the train station and saving me cab fare 😉

No-Socials November

So last night while I should've been sleeping, I crafted the idea of No-socials November.  In my head this also includes YouTube, unless I'm using it solely to figure out how to do something, and background noise TV - by which I mean when I walk into a room and the TV is on (which it always is cause I married an extrovert) to not give up what I was doing to watch whatever is on.

This may be a particularly hard challenge cause I'm in the office a lot this month, which means a significant amount of train time, which is often absorbed with socials.   It also has become my go-to for when I'm too tired for whatever I'd actually *like* to be doing.   I'm loading my kindle in hopes that reading fills that void the way it used to.   I also realized that I hadn't seen a single post about Nanowrimo from anybody yet this year.  That could be in part due to the changes in the org, but also probably the algorithm has decided I'm not interested.  And while it's right that I'm not super passionate about *participating*, I still like to hear about others' adventures. 

Also, I woke up this am thinking "meh, it's not a hard challenge why bother" and then physically fighting the urge to sign in which to me meant yup, probably should do it ;).  So.  My rules of engagement:

- no apps on the phone (I left my phone charging in our bedrooom where Chris is still sleeping so it's safe from me now lol, but to be deleted as soon as he's up).
- the only "sign-in" allowed is webbased and only to follow a link to view something someone IM's me something; some of my friendships are mostly meme based and I'm not interested in disconnecting from them.
- messenger is legal; I use it the same way I do texting and as per above, it's my only means of communication with certain people who I enjoy communicating with ;)

My hope?  Partially I get over the twitchy feeling of *needing* to check any time I'm bored and also that I break the habit of checking any time I'm bored.  But also that the more creative aspects of my life - writing / drawing / stabbing, or even the learning aspects - piano / spanish, start to make a more regular occurrence.   We shall see.

My concern?  That it's going to be harder than I'm comfortable with.

And, obviously I can't post this link on socials so highly unlikely this will be seen before said challenge is over.  Blog posts and photos will be the two things I want to share that I can't.  That's disappointing.  But I know from experience that I'll sign in "just to post" and then fall down a rabbit hole so...  

Let the games begin ;)

#TIL: Comma Chaos

This post is only for those of you who are writing or grammar nerds.  The rest of you, pick a topic that interests you on the right and enjoy ;).  

Comma Chaos in English

So TIL there’s a worse trauma possible due to a lack of comma than that felt by Nelson Mandela and everyone else harmed by a missing Oxford Comma.  However, it’s not relevant in English writing only in Spanish and until now I had NO idea.  Zero.  Ziltch.  Nada.  None.  So now I’m wondering how much I’ve misread cause of it lol.

So - here’s the thing, this post is why actual live teachers are important, cause this TIL comes to you from my Spanish lesson today, and suffice to say Google Translate has never imparted this info to me ;)  Also, I’m writing this as much to solidify in my own little brain as to share this complete randomness.

These two sentences:

• Van a reformar la casa, que está vieja
• Van a reformar la casa que está vieja

Do not actually mean the same thing.

The words translate roughly into They are going to renovate the house which is old. 

The one with a comma functions similarly to how it does in English - the comma gives us extra information.  So this one house, right here, is being repaired because it’s old.  

But the other one, without a comma, means they are renovating the old house (not any of these other ones around here) 

That missing comma was donated to create a whole neighbourhood!   😂 

For those who read Spanish, here's the official version
For those who don't,  it's the pretty picture of the above ;)

This one amused me:

• Los hijos de Clara, que son simpatiquísimo, vienen a visitarnos
• Los hijos de Clara que son simpatiquísimos vienen a visitarnos

Basic Translation:

Clara’s children, who are very nice, come to visit us.

Vs: The nice children of Clara’s come to visit us (but the other, not-nice, children stay home)

So there you have both your and my educational moment of the day ;).  

Making a healthy snack horrifically unhealthy

So C randomly came home the other day w a collection of apples - not that apples are exactly rare in the fall in Canada lol but these were lovely, clearly local-ish, and not a type we generally need…. “They were given to me and I was hoping you might make pie happen”.  Given the disproportionate amount of cooking he does, I’m generally pretty open to baking requests esp when it’s not a waste of precious summer hours.

Suffice to say it doesn’t take much to twist my rubber arm.  I hate cooking but somehow love baking - probably cause the outcome usually lasts longer than it takes to make it ;).  And it’s tasty.  Almost always 😂 

Given the choice though, apple crumble is so much better than apple pie.  I’ve made it before but had a recipe I hadn’t done that I’d wanted to try for salted caramel apple crumble squares.    

So this seemed a good chance to test that out.  Also found a recipe for making said salted caramel.   So all good - walk over to the grocery store for the couple ingredients I didn’t have (looking at you heavy cream!   We’re not going to discuss the calories in this adventure).

So I made up all the parts - I was mildly concerned about how the caramel would work out but figured if it failed, we would still be left w some form of apple crumble so that’s not a bad worst case scenario.

As I was layering the crumble I wondered how structurally sound the bars would be.  Spoiler alert - they are 100% not ;).  However, I have not one, not two, but three things I will do differently next time to impact the structural soundness.

I’d never made any kind of candy before beyond melting already-made chocolate into molds (lol autocorrect is convinced I meant “moods” - and maybe I did!).  So I wasn’t convinced about the salted caramel; also, it seemed like a lot of salt.

But, one thing I do reasonably well is follow instructions.  Which is a problem if they’re not well written but this is one of my favourite recipe authors- not for the ridiculousness at the start that I’ve yet to read but cause her recipe’s generally have all the steps required and none that are not and if you do them in order, good things come out of the oven.   You’d think this was true of all but alas dear reader, it is not. 

So they were well written and as a result we had lovely looking apple crumble and lovely looking salted caramel sauce - which C bravely tasted and informed me it was excellent.  Yes - following instructions for the win.

But then….  It has to go in the fridge for 2h before you can cut them.  Boooo.   But if the caramel goes in the fridge it’ll have to be reheated for use.  It’s in a stainless steel pan.  It cannot go in the microwave, and reheating on the stove runs the risk of burning before I ever even got to try it.

So.  Solution.  Pour the caramel sauce over the squares and shove the whole thing in the fridge.  Done.

About that.  Did I mention the recipe for salted caramel was not part of the recipe for the bars?  Which means the amount was not relevant.  Which means instead of a drizzle - which prob would’ve been ideal - we had a thoroughly blanketed treat 😂 

Fast forward to today when we finally got to try it.   Lessons learned:

• the instruction to line the pan w overhanging cookie sheet was a win.  Super easy to get it out of the pan for cutting
• The now thick layer of caramel significantly impacted the structural integrity of the squares.  Lol as soon as I started to cut them, there were challenges ;)
• The paper won again since I used it to redeposit them in the pan in relatively the same condition they came out in
• My apple layer also contributed to structural unsoundness - it was way too think.  The instructions had said to squish them down; I thought I had; spoiler alert - not nearly enough.
• Also, in future I’d run the base (which was actually shortbread) up the sides for extra soundness.  At least, I will if I can’t sort the apples out.

So in the end we cut some out, heated it up, threw on some whipped cream cause we needed more calories, and gave it a go.  It is extremely the opposite of a square ;).  But it is SO tasty.  And super sweet w the extra caramel that it has installed portion control.  Although I’ll admit the salt portion of that makes it addictive and counteracts the portion control.   C also doesn’t find it as sweet as I do (normal) so maybe other people would like it more :)

Overall not quite exactly what I was trying to make but it’s so yummy I don’t actually care and I’m pretty pleased how the caramel worked out.   Next time I’d mix in a few green apples to balance it out and probably back off the caramel a bit - although not as much as you’re supposed to ;)

The final result - that's all gone now.  Yummy!

Kitten silliness

Moriarty

So I was freezing cold when I got home today and decided a hot bubble bath (well along w turning on the heat) was the solution.  Tub is in our ensuite and usually bath time is right before bed, so as a result our kitten Mori - who loves playing in the tub, has never seen it full of water (animals aren't allowed in our room at night cause I'm a light sleeper and not a good human when I don't sleep ;)

But - this was daylight so I didn't lock the animals out.  He was *super* concerned about the loud tap running and was yelling at me from the other side of the bathroom.  I - being a stupid human - did not get out or take his warning seriously 😂 

So I turn off the tap and Mori comes over and pokes his head up.   Jumps up on the surround behind the tub and head butts me a few times purring and then goes away.  All is good.

Right so I’m half asleep soaking, no critters around.  Then *splash*!!!    😂 Mori had tried to cross the window ledge and failed, fell in the tub, and managed to levitate himself out, completely soaked and absolutely covered in bubbles.  Somehow without scratching me in the process.

He flew back to the floor mat absolutely traumatized for life and frantically started trying to solve the fact that he was now soaked and covered in bubbles.

It’s hours later and I’m still chuckling at the desolate drowned rat kitten wearing a bubble sweatshirt and looking so very confused as to what had gone so horribly wrong 😂.

I gave a moment’s thought to hoping the bubbles weren’t toxic to cats but figured by the time I managed to catch him it’d be too late for me to do anything about it anyways.  I am amazed at how much of the bathroom my 8lbs kitten managed to soak in .07 of a second.

Today's amusement for you :).   Alas too fast an adventure and I was asleep for the first part of it, so suffice to say, there are no photos ;).  But I kinda wish there were.

Rebel Kitten

Pure innocence ;)

So with Enola it wasn't all that hard to convince her to stay off the counter.   Mori, otoh, is a bit more adventurous ;).  So a few weeks ago we ordered a device that will blast air any time it senses motion - it doesn't have the best reviews, but theoretically it should deter the kitten from jumping on the counter.  Said device arrived yesterday, but it needed batteries which I figured would be a today problem.

Well this morning I got a text from C that mentioned he "picked up batteries on the way to work".   Ummm okay?  I figured there was more to that but busy work day so didn't ask too many questions.  Got the story when he got home.

Apparently he was making chicken breasts for his lunches and had left them on the stove while he put dishes away (now understand our kitchen is not large and is horseshoe-shaped.  If you are putting away dishes, you are by definition within arms reach of the stove).   It seems Mori hopped up on the counter and helped himself to one of the chicken breasts 😂     You have to realize, the chicken breast is nearly as big as the kitten.  C did, of course, get it back.  But omg the gall of that kitten.  I have to admit I'm still laughing at the scene I never got to see in reality ;)   

And yes, the air device is set up and appears to work.   The noise more than anything scares him off.

Anyways - just some silliness that made me laugh.  I adore this kitten, even when he is being a holy terror 😂 

Whirlpool Adventure Course

Some great views today!  Note the whirlpool boat for an idea of height. 

Right - so interesting and highly entertaining learning experience this weekend ;)

Pretty good ego check, tons of fun, and still smiling more than 24h later so deeming it a win all around.

So there've been just a few times in my life where I've realised I have a moderately impactful fear of heights.  But it always seemed somewhat arbitrary to me -- mostly I love heights, but every once in a while I'd find myself in a situation w almost paralysing fear and I couldn't figure out why.   But most things I've read have suggested that this is one of those things that get worse with age, and being the stubborn human I am that means I keep finding things to put myself in situations to challenge that fear.  Well this weekend I figured out the trigger - it's not heights that scare me, it's heights that I could fall from ;).  Walking on the edge of a cliff w no barrier = scared out of my mind and probably reduced to crawling.  Abseiling into a 50m cave = no problem at all.  Crazy-long zipline in Costa Rica?  No problem - quite happily enjoying the view.   Hiking at the top of a volcano?   Terrifying.  But it finally clicked for me this weekend.  Why?

Because I convinced two friends to join me to do the "ropes course" I somehow discovered was in Niagara (I thought I'd seen it, but I don't think I've ever actually been there before so maybe not...).  Anyways - when I looked it up there was a kids course, a classic, and an extreme.   And of course typical me goes "well classic looks like it's still for kids, so extreme is probably better"; fortunately intellectual me chimed in and suggested "do the classic first, and if it's boring, you can go back for extreme".   lol the classic route suggests it takes 90-120 mins to complete.

Some of the course

The website doesn't do a good job of showing what it really is.  I was thinking it would be a similar experience to the Walk in the Clouds in Halliburton or even the zip lining we've done in a few places.  Well.  Let me clear it up for you.  It's not ;-P

First, age range.  While I'm going to admit we were probably the oldest ones participating, the group in front of us were also "real" adults.   Immediately behind us was two kids - plausibly tween-age?   Siblings -- their parents were following along on the ground.   Actual kids had their own area - at the end of our adventure I saw a group of them getting the exact same instructions we'd had, but I have to assume there would be a little more supervision there once they're going.   The only ones we saw on the extreme course were tween-age.  I no longer have any desire to do that one ;)

Okay so we got there and there was a bit of waiting around - the coms at the very start wasn't great.  BUT, I have to say that was 100% made up for by the extreme patience of literally everybody working on the course.  I was super impressed by that.   

So they got us all into harnesses - I want to say maybe about 10 people?   I could be making that up, but a few groups of people.   We went over to a tiny park where we got a lesson about connect into the line system, how to work the zip lines, and how to disconnect.  They run two practice runs at the same time so we got through that really fast.  Well, the others did *eyeroll*.  It took me a ridiculously long time to figure out how to attach to the cable and honestly - while I got better at it, it was a pita about 50% of the time.  Neither of the others w me had any challenges though so I feel like this was the first ego check ;) 

Anyways we all passed the lesson and moved to the actual course.   Waited until it was our turn to go (they space you out cause you can't pass once you're in and no more than 3 people on any platform), hooked in, and then the adventure began.  It started with walking across some boards, then a board with a big gap between the next board, and then right into a single wire?!?!   Little did I know that by the end those would be easy.  lol but the first few wires I shuffled across (ie, never actually lifted my feet) whereas by the end it was a casual stroll and fully okay with turning around mid trip to talk to J who was behind me ;)

This one was trickier than it looked

Anyways - lots of puzzles to solve.  The first half of the course was about 20' in the air.  The one puzzle on that level that made me screech was when I stepped on a log and it dropped!   Turns out it was a bit of a teeter-totter.  Which I loved once I realized I wasn't going to die, but that first step was a little iffy.   Lol I think the other two were pleased to have me go first so they could see what the tricks were to each one ;-P.     

Some examples of challenges early in the adventure;
the first is a single wire, offset from centre; the second is offset boards to walk across

Anyways - each of the challenges the first part was to figure out what the trick was and how to navigate it; the second was to actually do it.  

This was an easy breather one

And I'm pretty sure they tested the course with adults, because any time I started to get tired there'd be a zipline (sit down and take a break) or something comparitively easy.  

 

B on one of the first ziplines for these extra breaks

The one that looked really easy ended up being the hardest physically was a rope net.  Then after that you just jump down ;).  The jump down was a auto-belay type rope so seconds after stepping off the platform you have a slow ride to the ground :).  

I found this one a lot more challenging than I'd expected

At which point, the person on the ground asks if we want to do the 2nd half of the course.  Wait what???  We were hot and tired but...  Okay?  *shrug*.  So up a ladder we go to the 40' course.

Only one person on a ladder at a time

Given the 30-ish degrees and the fact that there was no water at the break point, we were pretty tired and thirsty than expected going into the second half.  This was another ego check 😆   Not quite as fit as I'd like to believe.  Top course was literally the route back, higher.  

Much higher, but good views. 
At the bottom of the pic, you can see some of the first round.

Many of the obstacles were similar, but there were definitely enough new ones to keep it entertaining.   One that was surprisingly fun was a ball hanging on a string that you had to pull over, climb on, and swing across to the other side - Miley Cyrus wrecking-ball style lol.  

Many of these were more challenging for sure,
but having done the others already, they seemed similar

Anyways - the last obstacle of this round was the hardest as well - it was the one on this one that earned an involuntary screech from me but alas I have no pictures ;). Partially cause I was the one taking the pictures and partially cause there wasn't a lot of space to take photos of the two behind me cause we accidentally caught up to the people in front.  But it involved balls that spun when you stepped on them, and single rope loops, and a variety of other things that each on their own was okay but combined like that was brutal.  I, at least, found it to be a challenge, esp when my foot kicked the rope out in front of me, swing style.  It was fun but not exactly under control ;)

The views were pretty awesome

But the whole thing was fun, I would definitely do it again.   And I was pleased that the height actually had no impact whatsoever -- I suspect because evidently my brain decided the safety cables earned their name ;)

Fitness-wise - Next day I felt fine, but next evening my core was screaming at me 😂    Those stabilisation muscles remember their job fairly well but haven't been used in a long time!  So yeah, that was the last ego check ;)

So yeah - it was tons of fun, way better than I expected, and also more of a workout than I expected.  They say their goal is to push you out of your comfort zone, and I'd say they did that at just the right level.   

When left to my own devices I discover all kinds of randomness

Some completely random things that I've recognised an appreciation for this week: 

Olympic announcers who can make a sport comprehensible to people who have potentially never even heard of it before while not sounding condescending- done right it can drive a real new interest in the sport.  Sports I’ve learned a ton about this week starting from zero:

• Surfing (hurry up and wait taken to the extreme 🤣); announcers need to fill a lot of empty space
• Skateboarding (the park variation - I still can’t get over the age range of these competitors: 11-50)
• Speed climbing, and also the boulder/lead climbing 
• Kayak cross (this to me is steeplechase with the potential of drowning!   lol would be a blast if I had skills and were the only one on the course but no way I’d want to do it w other kayakers ;))
• Breakdancing - ok gotta admit I didn’t love this one enough to learn much about it, but at least I know a little bit about it now...  

Translators of musicals.  I’ve been informed that what I need most to improve my Spanish is intake - active or passive doesn’t really matter but has to be understandable to me; sheer volume is what I need and preferably listening rather than reading.  So while I was practicing drawing, I put the TV on for passive Spanish (usually it’s just off unless C is home.  Or this week on Olympics which I’m loving) and set it to Disney.  Some of the ones I watched I’ve only seen once or twice so I couldn’t tell you the lyrics in English to know if they did a good job of changing them.  But the one I knew by heart I was super impressed- obv not always a literal translation but the same meaning, the same intent, and with words that suit the rhythm, tone, and rhyme requirements of the song.  That takes translation to a whole new level and I am in awe.

Teaching strategies that I’ve either experienced or picked up from others in all kinds of areas that I’m learning are rooted in science that makes me appreciate coaches who got there before the science did ❤️.   But also makes me 💯 more likely to apply it knowing *why* it works.   Also - if this sort of thing interests you, highly recommend the first section of “The Talent Code”.   I’m not finding much new in it (but, to be fair, I read a lot about adult learning - although this book is applicable to any age) but the way it’s put together and the science behind WHY it works, I’m finding fascinating.  It’s also a light and easy read, which helps.