Jacob Riis Lantern Slide

Lantern slide I bought off ebay last year for $8

The other day, a classmate of mine told me that a lantern slide I had purchased and used in a class presentation last year was made from a Jacob Riis image. My lantern slide is definitely a reproduction of the Riis image, but it's still pretty cool in my collection.

Cobbs Hill

Some weird ass mushrooms, I was convinced they were edible but no one would try them






View from the top

We went for a walk today around Cobbs Hill in good ol' Rochester. I wasn't wearing my glasses so I could barely see anything which is a dangerous way to play frisbee. Regardless, I took along my camera and took a few boring pictures so I could look at them later on my computer screen to see what I missed. Here!

cleanse details I promised never to disclose, tough

This one's for the nerds

Getting up early is getting easier it seems. I started a 2-week cleanse last week and I promised everyone I know that I wouldn't talk about it, but I didn't make any promises about typing the juicy details. The deal is this, no cow dairy, no gluten, no sugars (of any kind, honey and agave included), no caffeine, no alcohol, etc. This sort of thing never really appeals to me but I figured I'd give it a shot to see if I could do it. It's been exactly a week today and I must admit, I'm kinda proud of myself. I have more energy, I lost a little weight (not that I wanted to but I was feeling kinda gross after pigging out all summer).

I'm also one of those people that has a hard time believing any vegan that tells me some dessert without sugar or butter in it actually tastes good, I just assume they are fooling themselves and don't know good food. That being said, for dinner last night I made spaghetti sauce and had it with corn pasta and that shit is actually tasty. Also, rice bread = pretty awesome. When it's toasted it tastes kinda like cornbread. Tonight I made myself french lentils with pork chops and I actually went back for seconds which is something that never happens when I cook for myself. Let me just clarify that I am no convert, as soon as the two weeks are done I'm drinking a bottle of gin and eating an ice cream cone. Simultaneously.

It's been awhile and things have been busy this last week (I almost wrote "things have been busty" which is definitely not true!) I'm catching a ride back to Toronto tomorrow so I can go home for the weekend and I have some stuff to put up on etsy to see if anyone wants to buy my stuff. This seems like such a huge ordeal at this point so I have to consciously make a date to do this. There is a few antique shops here in Rochester and one of them is extremely reasonable so I might have to post some vintage finds on etsy. There are very few interesting photos for me to post at this time but I will be taking part in a field trip in a few weeks so I'll be sure to throw some photos up.

[heard] Alela Diane "White as Diamonds"

[watched] oooh, I still have to watch new episodes of Modern Family and 30 Rock!

[read] articles for class, nothing exciting

[finished] making Fennel and Patty Pan Soup

[drank] a whole lot of water

[ate] i started a 2 week detox cleanse yesterday, no cow dairy, no gluten, no oranges, peanut butter, caffeine or alcohol

[hated] going to bed early and not being able to get up

[pondered] all things photographic

[planned] entered school schedule into my new moleskeine , tres exciting

[forgot] that school involves homework and essays

[found] cheap antique shops and KFC double downs

[purchased] lots and lots of books

[fancied] Lululemon Effortless Hoodie

[clicked] stories from the oldest man in the world

"As long as memory exists that's how long everything connected to life will live"
- Ilya Kabakov from "The Man Who Never Threw Anything Away"

Susan Sontag

images via google images

Ice Cream Situations

I have taken very few pictures in the last week and I hope to remedy this soon and have a few to post up here ASAP. I've caught a ride back to Toronto this weekend so I'm super pumped to see a few shows on Queen street and drink some decent coffees. I have also done very little baking since coming to Rochester and I hope to fix that problem in the coming weeks. I've had my eye on Momofuku's "Crack Pie" for quite awhile but the name implies it's deliciousness and I don't want to eat a whole pie. Perhaps I will organize some sort of dinner party at my place so I can share the calories of my baked goods with other people.

One thing I truly love about the States so far is the price of ice cream. Pints of Ben and Jerry's cost $2.99! I can afford to have ice cream for dinner at that price. I bought my first pint last night at the grocery store but I played it safe and opted for "Half Baked" frozen yogurt. Now I can just eat more without feeling so disgusting.

DOUBLE RAINBOW!

To my right....


and to my left

The weekend before I packed up a truck to cross the border I spent some time with my parents and my boyfriend up north. The weather that weekend was rainy and cold and the wind was so bad that the power went out for most of the day on Saturday. We built a fire and all was fine, I like the cottage much better when the TV isn't on in the background.

After some pretty intense wind and rain the sky cleared up a little bit and there were rainbows all around. Kyle and a few others were out on the boat to pick my Mum up at the marina and they came back to the cottage saying there were double and triple rainbows all over the sky. There was also one point where they were "inside" a rainbow. From what I understand there was a full rainbow across the water that began and ended in the lake and continued through the water and under the boat. I'm having a hard time picturing this in my head but it sounds incredible and I'm ashamed to admit that I napped on the couch instead of going out on that boat ride! I did some awesome skies and a partial double rainbow that I took about 100 photographs of.

Once again, left...

and right

A strange little bird we found

America

My attempt to pack all my clothes

Finally, the internet has been hooked up at my new place in Rochester and I am back in business! I moved here exactly a week ago and have been living without the internet and without much else to do other then set up my new place, read and go for walks. America is a weird and wonderful place. I expected Rochester to be a small town with a small town mentality but everyone here is really friendly and there are a lot of college students so there is lots to do and see. Granted, not as much fun and exciting stuff as a city like Toronto but I'm here for school, not to spend money and go out for fancy dinners. One of the best things I've discovered so far about Rochester is their Sunday farmer's market. I got a whole bunch of stuff there this weekend for next to nothing.

- 4 organic heirloom tomatoes for $1
- a few bunches of locally grown green concord grapes for $1
- a whole bunch of patty pans for $1
- 2 vanilla beans for $3
- boqueorones in oil for $6 (not a great deal, I will admit)
- 2 pints of figs for $1
- 8 cobs of corn for $1

I was overwhelmed by how cheap it all was and now I don't know what to do with it all. I'm thinking of making a patty pan and fennel soup and possibly some sort of fig compote or tart so nothing goes to waste.

My roomate and I are living in this nice little coach house that has lots of windows, beautiful hardwood floors and so much space we don't know what to do with it all. I brought some leftover paint from my Toronto apartment with intentions of painting my bedroom but when I got here it turns out my bedroom is the exact same colour I have in my paint can! Strange. I'm hoping to make it home to Toronto this weekend so I can pick up a few things to decorate my room with, it's a little bare right now. I also need some more grey wool from Romni so I can finish up my granny square blanket and grab some delicious coffee beans from The Common.

Living in Rochester has it's perks (i.e. saving some money on groceries and beer) but I miss the variety of things to do in Toronto (i.e. good coffee and amazing yarn shops).

The perfect desk for me, found in the garbage complete with shiny cat stickers and a drawing of a princess left behind in a drawer.

Things have been insane and as per usual I have decided to procrastinate instead of sort out important details like packing up to move to another country next week. I haven't even started packing yet and I have 2 days left! It should be a pretty easy move and it really isn't too far away but I need to get cracking on this business and throw a few things into a box or two.

Let's try this,

[heard] Animal Collective "Feels"

[watched] the latest episodes of True Blood and Mad Men

[read] almost finished 'Tropic of Cancer' by Henry Miller

[finished] 50+ squares for my granny square quilt, no I just need to figure out to stitch them all together

[drank] dark and stormy, with homemade ginger beer

[ate] not enough this week

[hated] Ryerson University's lack of organization when it comes to issuing financial aid, the worst 3 hours of my week so far.

[pondered] finances, etc.

[planned] moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving

[forgot] to pack for said move

[found] Beckwith Island in Georgian Bay, clear blue-green water and perfect swimming

[purchased] -

[fancied] -

[clicked] 100 top music videos of the 1990s at pitchfork.com