ipod today

Go steady with me
I know it turns you off when I
I get talking like a teen
Tegan & Sara

Don't you want to feel my bones, on your bones?
The Killers

And all the spilt milk, sex and weight
It all will fall, fall right into place 
Modest Mouse

You're always trying to keep it real
I'm in love with how you feel
The Moldy Peaches

Oh (she's the only one that makes me sad)
Slipknot

I've always been dark, with light
somewhere in the distance
City And Colour

in loving memory

Since the summer, we had been secretly awating the snow. We had plans for it.

We started in late December. We prepared with Internet research. We made huge mounds of snow which we left to harden. We took our time. It took us three days.

Cutting bricks out of the hardened snow mounds, we managed to build half of a wall. We tried to create a dome slant; we left each layer to harden overnight.

Then it got warm.

This post is in loving memory of our snow fort. K and I were sad to see it go, but you know what happens next? We get to start all over again!

And we will. I'll be sure to tell you all about it. Until then, happy winter!

sometimes, a children's book...

"It's not... happy. Well, it is, it's the happiest I've ever felt. But it's complicated."

- Professor Lupin, Harry Potter and the Prisonor of Azkaban

for old time's sake

[exerpt from Laura's journal, December 9, 2013]

The year is closing off. It's time to reflect on what's been accomplished. I:

Became a lifeguard and CSCTA certified coach at the end of the summer--simultaneously. Climbed a mountain (and drank tea at the top). Partisipated in a research project with the University of Alberta. Found two of the sexiest dresses ever concieved for a combined total of $50. Adventured into the wilderness and made camp by a waterfall. Blacked out on a bottle of whiskey. Learned how to bind books. Learned how to kiss. Memorized The Raven. Purchased a really nice road bike (her name is Charlotte). Strengthened old friendships; established new ones. Discovered lipstick (properly this time). Started playing the guitar more. Re-read 1984. Earned myself a hella fine tan. Went to numerous festivals (Chelsea always knows about these things, it's great). Saw Tegan & Sara live (it's always secretly flattering to be mistaken as Lizzie's girlfriend). Successfully built a loaf of bread from scratch more than once. Completed a sprint-length triathlon. Purchased real, girlish underwear (no more boxer briefs!) Went to New York. Successfully kept a super cool bloke around for a full year (I like him a LOT--he must like me, too!) Accidentally played "matchmaker" to a highly successful end (hello, Tara). Ran a 10km race in Banff alongside my mum. Got day drunk a lot. Horribly killed a home-grown butterfly by accident. Held a pheasant as it died (then paid to get it stuffed). Started wearing colours; started wearing my hair down.

So basically lots of things. Farewell, twenty-thirteen! Life is kind of brilliant, I have to face it.

a little wheat-love for you

After a handful of years that saw my field primarily taken up by the seedy, tangly, oily canola crops that yield me no joy, this year the farmer finally planted wheat. You have no idea how much this improved my quality of life over the summer. 

I love wheat.

I am brimmed with fond memories from my childhood when I would play in it for hours; chasing butterflies, nesting in little flattened coves, inventing games or simply running through it for the sake of running. All those glorious hours spent thinking and adventuring really connected me to it. I suppose, somewhere along the line, I directly connected a wheat field with happiness.

So then there was today. Being very windy while still comfortably sunny, I decided to go for a proper play before my schedule really fills up (it's already three quarters there) and the wheat is ripe enough to be harvested. The latter should be any day now.

Wearing a shirt I stole from the boy I love, and flanked by my dogs, I scampered into the wheat like my inner twelve-year-old demanded. I ran and ran and tripped and my TOMS filled with fallen grains. The wind blew my hair into my face. Ivy almost got lost in the height of the stalks, but hopped her way towards my voice. I sang a little. I breathed in the grassy, bready, earthy wheat-smell. I watched a distraught butterfly swirl around in the wind and get caught in a tangle of stalks. I bounded along with the doggies.

Eventually, I made myself a nest. I laid down and the dogs laid with me. I cuddled them and got wheat-heads and doggy tangled into my hair. I stared into the perfectly blue sky. I smiled. I thought about the simplicity of real happiness. I thought about the things that make wheat beautiful.

 I love the way it holds onto rain after a storm.
I love how dragonflies cling to the heads while they await their prey.
I love the rustling sound it makes when the wind blows it about.
I love the slow process from damp fresh green to tindery pale gold.

I love ducking into it and feeling hidden away from the rest of the world.
I love how it moves like the ocean on a windy day.
I love the way the heads slowly curl over like an old man’s spine as they ripen.
I love flattening out a little nest-cove for star-gazing or napping or cuddling.
I love running through it until I trip (it always catches my fall).
I love telling people that my legs are scratched up because I’ve been running through it.
I love the way it tickles my palms when I drag my hands across it like Maximus in Gladiator.
I love it when my dogs run through it and have to jump three feet to see above the stalks.

I love how it gets tangled into my hair when I lay in it.

I love finding frogs in it.

I love chewing on the grains until they turn into a doughy substance in my mouth. 

I love jumping over the haybales once it’s all been harvested.

 

I couldn't resist going home to fetch my camera in order to document my wheat-love, just for you. Whether or not you too have a wheat field at the back of your house, or have known the pleasure of experiencing one, I hope this made you love wheat a little. It's a lovely thing to love.

hello again

It's been raining for days and days. Storm after storm after sun-shower. The smell has been fantastic. For once, I have no complaints about the weather.

It's been a long time since I've written to the generic Internet in the guise of a blog post, and between the last time and now everything and nothing has come to pass. There have been projects concluded and begun, people met, new experiences used up, alcohol consumed, money spent, weight lost and hair lengthened. Plans for the near/distant future have also been hatched.

After what felt like a century-long winter and snail-slow spring, the summer is looking bright. There will be festivals to attend, a lifeguarding course to pass, moth eggs to hatch, mountains to scale, bonfire parties to hold, people to visit, further clothing to construct, and an expensive bicycle to purchase. Later this month, I shall be taking my first driver's test.

In fact, life is looking bright. In this generation where "twenties are the new teens," I feel like I'm actually becoming more of an adult. I'm slowly finding that balance between girl and woman within myself. I'm learning new things, discovering new interests, mingling with new people. It's refreshing and exciting. I have so many things to look forward to and be thankful for.

And that's all I have to update about the life of Laura. Thanks for stopping by.

a bit of frost

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

These woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost