Right? Nay, Perfect

Posted on 31 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

I remember when I learned that red wine doesn’t go with Thai food. I remember when I learned that a homemade dressing that was spectacular on a spinach salad did not even rise to insipid on any other kind of greens. But that was then; this is now. I was this many years old when I learned that light rye bread (sans caraway seeds) makes the right toast for marmalade, by 1.6094 country kilometres. Nay, the perfect toast.

You doubt me? Try your own taste test. Take a piece of any soft white bread, or a challah knot, or an English muffin. Toasted, they’re all perfect foils for honey. Pair any of them instead with a big dollop of marmalade and what do you get? A sad little overly sweet piece of nothing, that’s what.

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Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Laughing Frequently | Tagged | 14 Comments

Ready for. Ready to.

Posted on 30 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

When in trouble,
when in doubt,
run in circles,
scream and shout.

We were discussing this little ditty just a few months ago in the context of the President’s on/off again tariffs on Canada.

Is it good advice? Not really, but then it’s not really advice, is it?
It’s a comment on what happens, not on what should happen.

Five weeks ago, I found my husband slumped over in his office chair gasping for breath. I thought that was bad until he stopped even gasping. On my part, what followed was not a textbook example of an effective emergency response, although I did manage to call 911 and today he is back in that office chair.

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Posted in New Perspectives, Thinking Broadly | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Rien d’absurde

Posted on 24 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

I reinforce my limited knowledge of French in unremarkable ways. These include repetitive exposure to bilingual talking-elevators in our Nation’s Capital. After several weeks, I feel that I could call off the floors quite creditably if called upon to do so:

Deuxième étage
Troisième étage

I add to my limited knowledge of French in unexpected ways. These include intermittent exposure to bilingual-cute signs and products created, presumably, by fluently bilingual marketeers. This is how I learn something about the language as she is spoke. Maybe even something that is true.

This past week’s offering? A box of protein bars at Costco.

My six years of junior- and high-school French and my lone year of university French never got to the stage of slightly-profane-but-not-outrageous idioms. It seems a shame. Surely we would have picked up new vocabulary and conversational usage faster and cuter. And that’s rien d’absurde.

 

Posted in Language and Communication, Laughing Frequently | Tagged , | 6 Comments

An Also Ran?

Posted on 24 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

No one is against “bringing down costs for Canadians
and helping them get ahead.”
But no one also knows what it means.
– The Hub

Oh my goodness. I quite enjoy many of The Hub’s articles, but I didn’t enjoy this bit:

But no one also knows what it means.

Guys: Get a grip. If you absolutely must have the “also”, you could do this:

No one is against “some slogan.”
But, also, no one knows what it means.

But surely what you really wanted was this:

No one is against “some slogan.”
But no one knows what it means, either.

It’s the “no one” that gets us into trouble here, I think, along with the desire to have the elegance of a parallel construction. They could have done it more simply, for sure.

Everyone agrees with “some slogan”;
but no one really knows what it means.

But, alas, no one also thought of it in time. Such are the joys of publication deadlines.

 

Posted in Feeling Clearly, Language and Communication, Laughing Frequently | Tagged | 10 Comments

Suitcase Face Again

Posted on 24 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

There’s something about suitcases seen end-on, but angled, and from a slight distance.

I had thought it might be limited to hotel rooms, but it turns out it applies to hospital rooms as well. Or as ill, maybe. Anyway, as we waited for the paperwork that would spring the Big Guy from the Heart Institute, I noticed this rather pouty little guy. A bit blue, maybe, in more ways than one.

He also reminds me of a piece of wall art that my parents brought back from Mexico a few decades ago: a Mayan calendar in green stone, I think, with a distorted face at the centre. A frog? A sun god? Dunno. But he looked a bit like this fellow.

 

Posted in Photos of Faces | Tagged | 4 Comments

Faciem Accidens

Posted on 17 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

I was going to write a thoughtful piece on merging behaviour under different traffic conditions–a subject I’ve had ample exposure to over the last few weeks–and I still might, sometime. This week, though, what life allowed was the discovery of two more accidental faces in hospital bathrooms:

  • One (on an import – my own rain jacket) that reminds me of The Scream or Home Alone.
  • One (on the sink infrastructure) that reminds me of a moose or (rein)deer.

Posted in Laughing Frequently | Tagged | 15 Comments

Magnolia Termina

Posted on 17 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

A few days ago, the magnificent magnolia tree a few blocks from the hospital was already faded and sparse. Today’s cloudbursts will have stripped off any remaining flowers.

The squirrel-beleaguered magnolia in my backyard bloomed almost without me noticing it this year, but I did catch its final moments yesterday. They were magnificent, too.

Posted in Appreciating Deeply | Tagged | 6 Comments

In the Cloud

Posted on 17 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

In my third week of parking in an under-repair and, hence, under-resourced parking system, I know what’s what. As Mary Tyler Moore said, “I’ve been around. Well, maybe not around, but I’ve been nearby.”

If I arrive during daytime visiting hours at the hospital, I wait for at least 30 minutes as cars enter the parkade on a one-out, one-in basis. Waiting in a line of indefinite duration is something I lack the bandwidth for at the moment. OK, then – early it is. But how early?

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Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Landscapes | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Magnolia Stupenda

Posted on 10 May 2025 by Isabel Gibson

About four blocks west of the Ottawa Heart Institute, just across an intersection with no traffic controls that pedestrians can use, is an exceedingly old magnolia tree that fills the small front yard of its house. Thirty feet tall? Possibly. Branches down to the ground? Definitely.

I’ve been keeping an eye on it for about 10 days. Here’s how it’s changed in that time, looking left to right.

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Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Flora | Tagged | 10 Comments