Love languages - as learned in a Romanian orphanage

Kyle is drying his hands in the kitchen after preparing supper. I walk toward him with my arms outstretched for a hug. Kyle runs away into the living room.

Me: Hey, I want a hug.
Kyle: No.
Me: I need loving touch.
Kyle: Okay, fine. (pokes my calf with his socked foot) There you go.
Me: That is not loving touch.
Kyle: If I'm willing to touch you, that means it's loving.

Because the Highland Fling doesn't count

A while ago, Kyle's mom asked me which sport I would most like to be good at. Honestly, if I could choose another talent to have in this life, it would have nothing to do with conventional sports. I would choose to dance.

Each summer, I watch "So You Think You Can Dance." In past years, I have taken great joy in the amazing talent on this show. When I watch, I sit on the couch smiling, twitching, and wishing I could express myself and create something meaningful with the movement of my body. Unfortunately, I cannot. Once, while dancing at a wedding, Kyle informed me that partnering with me was like pushing a side of beef around on the dance floor.

Oh yeah? Is that so? Would a side of beef keep trying to take the lead? No, I didn't think so!

Below is a clip of a contestant who can do a fantastic robot.

Moving Along

There has been a lot going on the past little while. Kyle and I both convocated last week. Even though the ceremonies can be painfully long, I really enjoyed my convocation. In addition to having my parents in town, I was able to convocate with two dear friends from my programme and I got to wear a Master's robe with crazy bat sleeves. Even though I'll miss being a student and was sorry to say goodbye to the UofC, it feels great to be finished. Convocation was significant for me because it marked the accomplishment of something I have wanted since high school and have worked hard for.

The morning of my convocation, I received a job offer from a local agency. After taking the weekend to think and pray about the position, I accepted it and threw myself headlong into my new grown-up life. With only two days under my belt, I think I made the right decision. The staff seem fantastic and I'm learning a ton from the man who is training me. The change feels really sudden but good. It's hard to believe that I'm allowed to be in charge of someone's treatment or be their therapist. Despite the weirdness, I'm excited and confident that I will be able to do good and fulfilling things in this new role.

I'm learning and you can too!

Lately I've been reading about how the type of banana we eat (the Cavendish) is under threat of Panama disease, a soil fungus. Apparently, until the 1960s, North Americans ate a different type of banana that was wiped out by this same fungus. Reportedly, the old bananas were much tastier than the Cavendish. However, I've also heard that these bananas used to walk 15 miles to school in the deep winter snow, uphill both ways.

I'm not too worried about the banana situation as there are a few hundred other varieties being cultivated around the world. If the Cavendish is wiped out, different types of bananas can be grown and imported. Don't worry. There is no impending banana dooms day.

What's interesting about this story is how bananas are grown and the reason they can be wiped out. Unlike wild bananas, which are full of giant hard seeds, domestic bananas are seedless mutants. Sometimes, banana plants in the jungle spontaneously produce new plants with two full sets of sex chromosomes, making them delicious but uanble to reproduce. People take cuttings from these plants and cultivate them for food. The result is fields full of carefully-cultivated clones of the original plant. Being genetically identical, the whole crop is susceptible to the same diseases. Consequently, if one plant is taken out by a certain pesticide-resistant fungus, the other plants are likely to follow.

Who knew?

On Bird Love and Things you Can Buy

Now that I read it again, my sassy spring rant was mostly just mean. Sorry to any and all who either live in High River, have a flooding basement, or are shocked each year by the return of Stampede. To turn the tide of negativity I decided to post about some things that I have been enjoying.

1. It's no surprise that I am enjoying spring. I savour the slowness of rainy days, the freshness of green grass, the change of pace when the sun comes out, and the scent of blossoms. The view into our backyard is fantastic. The only downside is that every time I look up from writing resumes or working on papers at the computer, there are birds doing it in our lilac tree. I don't know if they also enjoy the scent of blossoms, but in the sparrow community, there is something very sexy about our lilac. A few days ago, two birds created this crazy little flapping ball and then, in the throws of passion, fell out of the tree. Worried, I got up from the computer and ran to the window to see if they hit the ground. No sign of hurt birds. They're probably making tiny sparrows in a less thrilling location.

2. The Hippy Report: I finally found an environmentally friendly liquid dish soap that works! After trying many that didn't sud, my friend Karen recommended Seventh Generation. Their lavender scent is gorgeous and it works as well as conventional dish soap. I love it so much, I have to hold myself back from climbing into the sink with my dishes. The second update in the hippy report is a recommendation for a delicious fair trade organic coffee. It's called Oso Negro and it's roasted in Nelson, BC. What's not to love?

3. While it was raining, Kyle and I made great use of the DVD machines at Safeway. If you haven't tried them yet, you should. The selection is a bit limited but a new release costs $1.53 per day. That's a crazy good deal! A couple of weeks ago we rented a beautiful film, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". Its based on the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a French man who was paralyzed after having a massive stroke. With only the ability to blink one eye, he wrote a memoir.

Inspired to read his memoir, I looked for it at the public library. There were 47 people who had requested the English translation and 3 for the French. Although I'm pretty sure that I'll be constantly looking up words, I'm going to try reading a French book for the first time in 10 years. Wish me luck!

Spring Rant

Every year around this time it rains. When it rains, the rivers run high. And when the rivers run high, there is flooding south of Calgary. Invariably, Global News is on scene each spring to capture this story.

Last night, I watched an interview with an unfortunate man from High River whose basement has flooded. In his interview he said, "You never expect this to happen to your house." What?! You own a house in a town called HIGH RIVER, a town that is built on a FLOODPLAIN!

I feel badly for people whose houses flood, I do. It sucks when your things get ruined and you have to pay to clean up the mess. Also, the High River area is beautiful and I understand why people choose to live there. But honestly, being surprised by spring flooding in High River is like me being shocked by all the drunken, pancake-eating professionals in cowboy hats that innundate downtown Calgary each July.

Family photo

I didn't get either of those jobs I interviewed for and am starting a new round of applications. Even though I was a bit bummed out, one of the employers managed to be very encouraging while telling me that I didn't get the job. I'm mostly over my unemployment grumples and enjoying my freedom again.

Last night, I decided that Kyle and I needed to take a "family photo" to send to a friend in India. I chose a spot in the back yard and Kyle set up our camera on the fence. As we waited for the timer to go off, Chaz kept wandering into the photo and dropping balls at our feet. We decided that rather than having tiny basket balls in front of us and a fuzzy black streak in the picture, we'd just get him to sit down in front of us. Kyle came up with a brilliant plan. He commanded Chaz to sit before placing his ball on the fence so that our obsessive dog would be looking into the camera. It worked really well the first time.In the second photo, Kyle again got the dog to look forward by saying, "Chaz, where's your ball?" Unlike the time before where he stared longingly at his ball, Chaz ran forward and jumped up against the fence, reaching up to get it. As our camera wobbled on the fence, Kyle took off running. I just wish you could see Chaz's snout in the frame, then it would be the perfect depiction of life at our house - Chaz doing something bad, me laughing, and Kyle trying to avert disaster.