Holy shit. This guy's stuff.  Unreal, and it's oil.

Tuesday. My friend Rivka

This is my friend Rivka. Sometimes when I'm around her I get goosebumps because she's so awesome. In one of my past lives, I worked at the Fashion Clearance Centre. It was in the basement of the Bay downtown, and it was a really interesting place to work. It's the reason I know what a drunk person's breath smells like, and that the number one hosiery buyer is a man (who has a leg with a stiletto boot tattooed on his calf, and who used to call me little sister). That's where I met Rivka. She was fresh to Winnipeg via Ethiopia by way of Italy. I helped her learn English, and she tried to convince me to be a Christian (in the nicest way possible). Her English continues to improve, I'm still not a Christian, but we're still friends.

She does so many things for the women in her community, and despite what, to some people, would be huge disappointments, she continues to move forward with the most positive attitude I've ever seen. She makes me so fucking happy about everything when I see her, and were it not for a weird job I had when I was 18, I wouldn't know her.

Monday. Hello weekend

Winnipeg woke up in a great mood! We all survived!

Tuesday. The things that don't seem like anything, but turn out to be

Two summers ago I had a garden plot down the street from my apartment on Langside. It was my first garden and, as with most things in my life, I did a little research, applied what knowledge I already had, and hoped for the best. I bought tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. I weeded and watered, and the plants flourished. I've always had a "green thumb" but this was especially rewarding because despite the elements best efforts, everything thrived.

The house next to the plots had the most spectacular garden. It filled the whole front lawn, and sometimes I would go "tend" to my plot just to look at it. One day the woman who lived in the house came out, and we started chatting. I openly gushed about the wonder that was her front yard, and she complimented me on my efforts. It sort of felt like praise from the Queen.

Last week at work I was chatting with the bookeeper. She's a lovely older woman with grown children. She was talking about how her and her partner have moved into a 55 plus place, and how she now takes care of the solarium there. She was talking about the move, and how she had been on Langside for 15 years, and how much she loved the street. Something clicked, and I asked "did you have an amazing garden in you front yard?" Yes, she did. Lydia the bookkeeper is Queen Lydia of the gardens, and my life is really funny in that way.

Monday. New York possibilities.

"Oh my god you and I in New York? It would be like It's Always Sunny vs. Girls but without the stupid whining and with more drunken makeouts with random boys/me cheering you on and talking to the ugly friend, hahaha. I'll work on it."

I love my friends. 

Thursday. Bibio

This is just lovely. I love Ambivalence Avenue, and am very much looking forward to his new stuff. 

Tuesday. Snake

Year of the Snake. Into it.