Category: Mixed Nuts

Faits divers du vendredi

~ Veronique ~ 2 Comments

For my English readers: Friday’s Mixed Nuts in French. ‘Cuz it’s their turn!

1 Une bête noire, c’est la traduction de “pet peeve” en anglais d’après Google. Je trouve que bête noire fait beaucoup plus sérieux que pet peeve mais enfin, allons-y. Une bête noire pas trop sérieuse: les aliments végétariens préparés imitation viande. Tout d’abord, on s’entend pour dire que les aliments préparés sont moins bons pour la santé que les repas fait maison. Du soya modifié génétiquement, transporté en camion sur plusieurs centaines de kilomètres jusqu’à l’usine de transformation la plus proche puis transformé en croquettes de poulet végé, est-ce que c’est vraiment plus vertueux — ou nutritif — qu’un bon filet de porc frais produit localement? Si votre corps se rebelle tellement à l’idée de devenir végétarien que vous devez le truquer avec des produits tels que des lanières de bœuf sans viande, peut-être qu’il essaie de vous dire quelque chose…

Et pourquoi pas un bon sauté de tofu?

2 Deux choses: “Les petits enfants ont besoin de deux choses: des soins et de l’affection.” J’ai été à la fois touchée et bouleversée par le travail du personnel de l’escargot. Tant de besoin, si peu de ressources. Où est-ce qu’on commence? Allez voir ce reportage de l’émission Enquête (43 mn): Épisode 15 – Ils étaient six . On se pose tellement de questions quand on devient parent. Parfois je croise des couples dans l’allée des couches au supermarché en plein processus décisionnel. Allez visiter quelques forums Internet sur l’art d’être parent. Les questions existentielles y foisonnent ainsi que les déclarations à l’emporte-pièce sur ce qui fait un bon parent (ou un parent négligent): sein ou biberon? co-dodo ou chambre à part? garderie ou aide familiale? en français? en anglais? est-ce qu’ils offrent du mandarin? organique ou conventionnel? Les enfants ont besoin de soins et d’affection. Le reste tombera bien en place.

3 Trois chandelles sur un gâteau en coccinelle:

Joyeux anniversaire!

4 Quatre fois 10 = 40 jours de carême avant Pâques, la fête du renouveau. J’aurais voulu vous écrire un beau texte inspiré sur la traversée du désert et sur ce que l’on apprend sur nous-même en larguant les ballast. Mais je manque de souffle. J’ai parfois l’impression que ma traversée du désert a commencé il y a 4 ans et que j’attends toujours Pâques et le renouveau. L’arrivée des jumeaux a amorcé une période encore plus intense de sacrifice et de minimalisme, comme un arbre à fruit qu’on taille à l’automne et dont la récolte promise tarde à fleurir. Pour le carême cette année, je promets de continuer à attendre le printemps et de ne pas douter dans la noirceur des promesses reçues dans la lumière.

5 Cinq chevilles, ou plutôt Le mystère de la cinquième cheville, roman en bonne et due forme commencé mais jamais terminé par moi-même lorsque j’avais entre 12 et 14 ans (fait non vérifiable mais corroboré par le nom de mon chien à l’époque à qui est dédié le lieux principal de l’histoire — Cléoville). Ma mère a retrouvé 3 de mes manuscrits en faisant des fouilles quasi-archéologiques dans son sous-sol. Témoins d’une époque changeante, les deux premiers manuscrits sont tapés à la machine et le troisième à l’ordinateur. Si comme moi vous approchez de la quarantaine, The Museum of Obsolete Objects promet de vous faire vivre des moments de nostalgie ou de désespoir.

Friday’s Mixed Nuts

~ Veronique ~ 3 Comments

1 One statement that may be offensive or viewed as insensitive to others but here we go. The public rendering of grief over pop-culture figures dying of drug/alcohol/both abuse  — like Amy Winehouse or Whitney Houston — drives me bonkers. It drives me bonkers because every day people die of drug abuse, either from overdose or over-usage. They don’t die in glory, they don’t have every Hollywood figure tweeting their sorrow, they don’t have glossy pictures of their better days splashed all over newspapers, they don’t get public tributes at award shows declaring what a great loss we’ve all suffered. They die alone, ravaged, miserable. Often, their families and friends have given-up on them years ago. Their only circle of support is the circle that keeps them deep into addiction hell. Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston were the same miserable, ravaged, lonely people, just with publicists to smooth over the mess. They spent the GDP of a few small countries on dope, they messed-up their kids and loved-ones, they wasted their lives and talents and they get celebrated. Meanwhile in the Sudan…

2 Two court cases that should give you pause when a government official tells you not to worry over mandatory minimum sentences because prosecutors will use judgement in laying accusations: Smickle and Ian Thomson. Be afraid: prosecutors prosecute, that’s their job. Judges use judgement, that’s supposed to be their job… Unless you tie-up their hands with mandatory sentences.

3 Three years is too old to participate in programs at the Ottawa Public Library. Now, they do have a baby program for 0 to 18 months and a toddler program for up to 3 years. As a mother of 8 with a shiny new 3-year-old and infant twins, there is not a whole lot I can do outside the home. Can’t take them skating (I was informed by the helpful attendant that even infants in strollers needed to wear a helmet on the rink…. my babies are 4 months old!), can’t take them to the pool (there’s only so much life-saving you can perform with two babies in a sling) and now I can’t take them to story time because my 3 year-old is too old. Let me tell you something that may come as a shock to many modern parents: babies don’t care about books and stories. Babies care about you. You could read them the side of a box of Cheerios while sitting on the toilet and they would be just as enthralled, as long as you make eye contact. My 3 year-old on the other hand loves stories but doesn’t cares much about boxes of Cheerios once they are emptied on the floor. A day-time program for preschoolers would be welcome.

4 Four-ty is too old to start thinking about babies but we knew that already. What is worrying is the rising infertility rates among younger women. But, hey, who cares? There’s always new reproductive technologies, right? Wrong:

Canada’s pregnancy specialists have been sounding an alarm over the risks of deferred motherhood.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada – which has just issued new guidelines to doctors on “advanced reproductive age” and fertility – worries that women are placing too much blind faith in hightech fertility treatments to help them conceive once they’re ready to have a baby.

In an interview with CBC All in a Day, a doctor commenting on a new study of rising infertility rates noted that while the solution was for women to have their children younger, that wasn’t going to happen. His suggestion? Egg freezing and in-vitro fertilization once a woman is ready to reproduce. In other words, the solution to unreliable reproductive technologies is more reproductive technologies. Time to go watch Children of Men again!
5 Five pounds to my pre-twin-pregnancy weight! I’m not bragging: I had help from two run-ins with strep and a bout of stomach flu. But since I have a pedestrian interest in food and nutrition I thought I would mention that Weight Watchers is not a miracle diet. It requires discipline and determination and it works. Forget about fads, pills and devices and embrace the Eater’s Manifesto: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. And if you really want results, do what one of my formerly-obese-now-training-for-a-marathon friend did and register for a running clinic from the Running Room AND Weight Watchers. You will not regret it, I promise!

Friday’s Mixed Nuts

~ Veronique ~ 3 Comments

1 one new English word I learned this week: distaff. In French, the word for distaff (“quenouille”)  is also used to describe the pollen-holding part of the reed (“roseau”) as in “Holy Cow there’s a lot of pollen in a distaff!”

On our daily walk, we picked a "quenouille" and my daughter asked if she could pick it apart. "Sure", I said,"Here's a bowl."
Aaaaaah.... Lesson learned (or rather "remembered from childhood")

2 two pet-peeves (bear with me, I don’t have many): TV doctors wearing scrubs and lab coats. Really? I didn’t realize that you had to be sterile to explain how the excretory system works to a camera. And Gmail.  I can’t understand how a web service with a user interface that is so counter-intuitive can make so much money. Oh, wait, that’s right, they’re not making money from the users of the interface, they’re merely selling access to their users to marketers. I’ve been trying to find an attachement for a couple of hours now, I think I clicked on just about every icon on my screen. User interfaces like this are why it’s so hard to teach my mother-in-law how to use her iPod. “Yes, I can see the pictures but I don’t know how to open just one.” “Touch it.” “Touch what?” “The picture” ” What do you mean??” “Just touch the picture you want to see Grandma!” “Aaaaaaah! So easy!” All this time spent trying to open a stupid attachement is giving me too much opportunity to notice the targeted ads on the sidebar. Hey marketers, tell your clients that when I see their ad as I’m reading a personal email on a related topic, I’m spooked. Not tempted to buy their products. Spooked. And considernig closing my Gmail account. This book The Daily You by Joseph Turow is next on my reading list.

3 three feet is how far my baby daughter throws up when she burps. I love babies but not the part where I walk through life stinking of sour milk.

Better out than in I always say!
Mom? Could you, uh, like, put down the camera and maybe clean me up? Maybe?

4 four crying out loud!    When they say you shouldn’t type anything into a computer (and especially online) you wouldn’t want read in a court of law, that’s what they meant: Ottawa jogger sues blind runners for crashing into her . See that last paragraph?

“We Googled her name to see who she was and it showed that she ran a race in April 2010, so if she was hurt so bad that she said she’s been unable to run, why is her name listed for running a 10-k months later?” Dunkerley asked.”

5 five… I don’t have a five… Except, wait, five fingers way up (as in “High Five” ) to all the moms out there on the “mommy track”. Earlier this week I was asked by a TV research assistant how I was balancing out work and family. I’m not, I said. “Balancing out” work and family is a game of fractions where what you give to one you don’t give to the other. The idea of balance or equilibrium means that you are somehow giving equal parts to both plates. I like my work but I don’t want work and family to balance. Family comes first and in my case, it means that I write MP correspondence part-time with a graduate degree in law. I will never fly in the Prime Minister’s plane but I will always be home in time to make a healthy diner for my family. So give me a high five if you’re with me on the mommy track, over-educated and under-employed, and not resenting the workplace for being different than the family place. ‘Cuz the workplace is missing something crucial and that’s my children.