Saturday, November 23, 2013

Grow Your Own!

A few weeks ago, I saw several "pin" the same link on Pinterest. It told us that we could all grow our own celery stalks from used celery! 

No way. There is no WAY, but after I thought of it, I realized that I hadn't seen any celery seeds on the celery that we'd eaten. But maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.

Anyway - two weeks ago, I decided to give it a whirl. I had bought celery because Bennett is loving it as a snack right now. I cut all the stalks off and wrapped them in tin foil (another instruction from Pinterest to help the celery last longer - and it works!) and then placed the "stump" for lack of a better word, into a small glass dish with about an inch of water. 

One week later - this was growing!

Snow

Well - the snowy season has officially begun! We had warning of a snow squall yesterday into today/tonight. It started late this morning/early this afternoon. I snapped this shot while stopped at a light on my way to the dump. Yeah - nothing quite like taking a huge pile of recycling to the dump in this weather!

p.s. It's really just a blizzard, I'm not sure why they call it a squall. To make it sound more ominous? More romantic? 

How To Speak Canadian

So there was a catchy television ad a few years ago for Foster's Beer. The tagline was, "Foster's. Australian for be-ah." I have no idea if that ad is still running, but I remember it! I think they had another one that simply had the words, "How To Speak Australian" typeset over a video of someone drinking Foster's.

Anyway - I've noticed since moving north of the border that although we all speak English, the Canadians say some things a little differently. The first one I noticed was the absence of articles. So, if you're in a car accident back home, the paper would report that "the victims were transported to THE hospital by ambulance." Here, the report reads, "the victims were transported to hospital." What the what? You're missing an important word there, y'all!

Also, I've heard this one more frequently than I've seen it in print. However, it's there! When you finish a task, how do you tell someone that you're done? I would have said, "I'm all finished WITH my Christmas shopping." Or, "I'm all done Christmas shopping." Not here. You'll need to learn this phrasing: "I'm done my shopping." Or, "Are you done your dinner?"

Another biggie is the substitution of "for" for "at". Especially in reference to time. So - let's say I'm going to meet up with some girlfriends for dinner at a restaurant downtown. One who is native to Ontario would say to me, "Okay, we're doing dinner for seven." I'm sorry? I thought there were only five of us coming, who are the two add-ons? "Just five of us, for seven o'clock." Oh. Is that confusing to anyone else? And it's not just for dinner time. "Let's shoot for the library for nine." I don't know what that means!

If that isn't confusing enough, let's say that The Bay (Hudson Bay Co.) is having a sale this weekend. Down in North Carolina, we would have said, "Hey, y'all! Did you know that The Bay is having a huge sale this weekend? The whole store is on sale with super markdowns!" Up here, I hear: "Blythe. Did you know that The Bay has a sale on?" After pausing a minute to wait for the rest, Me: "No, I didn't! A sale on what?". Them: "Pardon? The Bay has a sale on. You know? The whole store is cheaper."

Here's proof! I took this shot today while out killing time at the mall.

And if there's been a markdown on a specific item, let's say socks? A native would say, "The socks are on for 20%." WTH, y'all! I seriously need some Rosetta Stone for Canadian!!

Television

I was reminded again this morning why I hate commercial television. In an effort to let Brian actually sleep in after a late night working, I took Bennett to "Old MacDonald's" to climb and get some energy burned. 

I selected the one closest to our house because snow is expected this morning and I didn't want to get stuck far from home. What I neglected to remember is that this one has a t.v. visible from the play place. 

Bennett was an absolute zombie the whole time we were there. Thank goodness he thought the commercials were "grown up shows" and didn't realize they were trying to sell him toys! The sound was muted. A tiny blessing I suppose.