virtualDavis's blog

Brussels Sprouts: From Blah to Oolala!

Deutsch: Rosenkohl English: Brussels sprouts

Brussels sprouts bounty (image via

Mount Stephen Club No More?

George Stephen House - Mount Stephen Club

Image via Wikipedia

Did you solve the Montreal Mystery in my last blog post? Did you guess which Montreal mansion was the location for our decadent brunch?

Plaudits to Steph Sirois (@StefS31) and Linda Coffin who answered correctly that the mysterious Montreal mansion in the video is Mount Stephen Club! Both Steph and Linda have personal connections to the property, one from college reasearch and the other from growing up two blocks away... Bravo, Montrealophiles! (Shoot me your mailing addresses, and a prize will help you celebrate your smarts.)

The Mount Stephen Club occupies the late 19th century mansion of George Stephen, the co-founder of Canadian Pacific Railway. This extravagant home in Montreal's Golden Square Mile was architecturally inspired Italian Renaissance palaces. The interior is extravagantly finished in detailed Cuban mahogany, English walnut and exotic woods and boasts many marble mantles, stained glass glass windows, and grand staircase fit for royalty.

Wandering Rose

Gypsy RoseThe Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Montreal Mystery

My bride and I escaped to Montreal, QC and environs this weekend to catch up with good fiends, Fabrice and Veronique.We stayed in their spectacular, almost-complete new home located about ten minutes east from Montreal. In the country! How many cities offer the bounty of culinary, cultural and professional opportunities of Montreal, with the luxury of country living only ten minutes away?

Windless Surfing or Champlain Valley Pedaling

The dangling carrot this morning -- like many mornings this summer -- was a blast across Lake Champlain on a windsurfer with my bride.

A productive morning, a quick lunch, then back to work. With the carrot still dangling, I noticed the breeze kicking up outside my window. I renewed my commitment to wrap up in time to skitter across the waves, wind at my back, as I raced into the moment and away from deadlines, benchmarks, lists...

My beautiful bride interrupted me mid afternoon.

"I'm headed out. Join me!"

And I did. One last phone call. One last email. Then I dove into a my pea green swim trunks and headed down to the waterfront. I could see my bride "rowing" with the sail. She was pumping to build up speed, hunting for wind. I took out the wind meter and turned it into the light breeze. Just shy of 5mph. Too light for windsurfing.

I could see my bride heading back in toward shore. She was disappointed. The wind had fallen.

But the sun was still high the skies were blue. Water was too rough for enjoyable water skiing, but the afternoon was perfect for cycling. So I returned to the house, swapped swim trunks for cycling shorts and headed out to the carriage barn to liberate Major Jake for an adventure.

Meandering Empire Avenue

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What is that? Gobble-di-gook. Of the Empire Avenue variety...

Unlike other avenues I'm prone to probe, this one is different. No smells. No found poetry. No dog crap to sidestep. Well, not literally, at least.

You see, Empire Avenue is a digital avenue. Actually, it's more like a digital universe. I wandered in a couple of months back out of curiosity. A digital flaneur meandering a newly discovered digital avenue. A couple of days exploring, and I was hooked. A bit spooky, really.

So I left.

Well, not totally. I kept me account open with an eye to returning when the sublime summertime non-digital world stopped distracting. But the emails, the notices, the reminders continued. People kept buying stock in me. And some began to worry that my stock price was falling, rising, erratic.

And yet I was too absorbed in Rosslyn Redux and Redacting Rosslyn, in gardening and windsurfing, to venture back into the digital avenue.

Until this morning. And once again, I'm intrigued.

Walkabout Chronicles

 

We get so caught up in our work, obligations, and duties that the truly important parts of us become lost. From there it is a downward spiral as we get increasingly distant from our true self. Eventually a crisis develops that awakens us to the realization that we are no longer our true self. It is at this time that we should (must) go on walkabout to get life back in order. We leave things behind and we begin a journey. (Walkabout Chronicles)

 

Fantastic concept. Fantastic website! Meanderting spirits will feel right at home at Walkabout Chronicles and might even want to share their own stories. I'm a long-time fan of the walkabout concept first explained to me by my parents as a little boy when our cat would disappear for a week each year. The ritual stuck, and I've been a loyal observer ever since. If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about, your walkabout immersion should start with the good stories over at Walkabout Chronicles.

Struggle to Transcend


Birthright: one man's struggle to transcend (film credit Sean Mullens)

When images speak louder than words, and moving even images even louder, I know enough to shutter the gob and watch. And listen. And learn. This short directed and filmed by Sean Mullens tells the story of one man's "daily ritual to find his natural self through surfing." Not the story you're expecting. Even when it's over.

Caroline Casey: Beyond Limits

Adventure as a concept is too often relegated to the realm of make believe, of epic wanderers, of exotic locales and death-defying incidents. To be sure, adventure -- festooned in all of its children's book glory -- includes these colorful illustrations. But it also includes much, much more.

Adventure is a choice and a world view and a lifestyle. Adventure is a paradigm through which all decisions, all hopes, all fears, all ambitions and failures and risks and victories are transformed into vibrant opportunities. Adventure is a daily attack against sleep walking. Adventure is choosing to be totally 100% alive!

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