halloween

what's this? no photos?!
I'm off the ball this year. Pepper went to a Halloween / trick-or-treating party in Georgetown. (sigh... growing up so fast; already joining her peers... just as all kids end up doing, sooner or later, where halloween is concerned). she didn't decide what to be until she got there - there was a treasure trove in this theatre performance family. in the end, she was a fairy.

on the home front, rob momentarily lost the boys while they were trick-or treating and i had a heartattack. turns out they went to the townhouse complex where their doors are actually in their backyards, and one gate blew shut.
fierce was the monster under your bed, with a small bed affixed to his head. he won an originality contest at cubs. and bosco had to abandon his plans to be indiana jones after his beaver leader misplaced his whip and failed to deliver on his promise of bringing it to him at school the next day. bosco was in tears when he got off the bus, and i now have a massive grudge against this leader.
after acknowledging his sadness, bosco decided to be wolverine instead.

Japan

I'm afraid I can't tell you the name of the village in which any of this took place. In fact I can't even tell you in which of Japan's 66 prefectures or even in what year of the benevolent reign of which emperor any of this occured, for all of this happened so very long ago that there isn't a soul alive who could possible remember any of it.
None the less, once upon a time...

 

We are now 'in' Japan - a country of weekend strangers (fathers who work too many hours), education moms (who will attend class if their children are ill), and cow massagers (for the famous Kobi beef)

We've listened to many Japanese folk tales - our favorite being The Boy Who Loved to Draw Cats (the intro is at the start of this entry), watched the full 9 hours of Shogun, dabbled in origami, learned a few new words in Japanese (the children can easily count to 30 thanks to their karate class) and prepared a low table for our authentic Japanese meal :)
(since it is winter, we should have a heater under the table and the quilt lays over our laps to keep us toasty warm during the meal)
 
The appearance of Japanese food is as important as its taste. Because of its Buddhist roots, it must contain the 5 flavors & colours - those being salty, sweet, bitter, spicy & sour.... and black, white, yellow, red & green.
The children prepared (white) rice - always in a Japanese meal, in fact the word for meal is the same as rice - (black) berries, (yellow) egg, (green) cucumbers, and (red) smoked salmon.
 
They also made miso soup with tofu and soba noodles; you are supposed to use chopsticks to eat a morsel, then take a sip from the bowl, and repeat.
 
The children also made a fat roll of sushi with rice, salmon, cucumber and carrot.
 
 
 
Pepper has been trying her hand at manga (japanese comics) where the story traditionally flows from right to left:
 
 
Lastly, Fierce worked diligently for a week to create a samuri costume for Bosco made out of hole-punched cardboard and string.
 
 

McMicheal Art Gallery

 
pretending to be tom thompson, and then visiting his cabin
 
 
i loved this art gallery dedicated to the Group of Seven and other Canadian artists and i can't believe we haven't been to it before. i (frugal me) even bought a print to bring home! (not this one - it was little island by a j casson)
 
but i have to say my absolute favorite part was the work of Diana Thorneycroft - her send ups of the group of seven were insightful, political, and soooooo funny.
 
the grounds were beautiful too. we must go back soon!
 
 
finally a proper photo of yoon!
 

enjoying his new toys

 

irony at the AGO

 
 

we took the subway to the AGO and saw some great stuff:

photographs enlarged to the size of canvases, depicting people interacting in front of art in a museum - and here we were - interacting with *that* art.

in the same exhibit, a thumbnail photo of the World Trade Centre on 9/11 was blown-up to pixalization size. this anonymity of the photographer suggests that art doesn't need to originate with, or belong solely to, the artist

a B&W 7 min film called 'kiss'.
image: a man's mouth. and after staring & staring, you feel the urge to kiss him. but when the film finally loops back, there is a shell on his mouth and - slowly - tentacles spread out, and the slug moves away. and again: just the mouth

and our favorite - stretchy man. this face is surreal, you want to touch it so badly. and again, the eye is drawn to the lips. is this because it is our natural tendency when staring into a face for so long?

 
 
 
 
pepper sprawled out with her nose bleed:
 

oh yes - the irony:
when we were leaving, we passed a docent who told me to put the children's papers in my purse; they were not allowed in the gallery
not allowed in the gallery? but the children *made* these picture at the art stations that are located throughout the gallery
what?!

 

physica phantastica

 
 
 
 
 
 

our favorite part: the super cooled magnets that 'float' over the magnetized track.
but that's not why it was the fav part of our day - there was a mishap when the student poured the liquid nitrogen into his styrofoam cup and it tipped, causing a rush of liquid nitrogen down the table and all over bosco!
his face was priceless... and so was his 'smoking' stomach. talk about a close encounter with chemistry

 

twilight zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sick

fierce is sick - a fever of 40 C, and too listless to get out of bed

so pepper & bosco keep vigil by his beside, bringing him water or some food, taking his temperature, drawing the curtains, keeping him company

 
 
 

yes, it's noble
but i guess pepper & bosco will be taking to their sick beds soon, what with all that close contact

bosco's loot

 

 

happy birthday bosco

a halloween themed party with costumes, creep boxes, scooby-be-doo, pin the bones on the skeleton, a pumpkin pinata (forgot to get a photo before it was bashed - but rob did a lovely job)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
and something else i meant to photograph before we ate half of it - the ghosty brownie cake that wouldn't stand up (those recipe book photos must be rigged)