Month: August 2015

Golden Hour

Posted on

I’ve been waiting patiently. Each morning, for days on end now, the clouds kept sunshine from peeking through my castle windows until late. But I’ve kept waking early and watching for the cloudless sunrise. 

Rumor has it that an hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset, the sunlight falls softer, redder, and makes the world look almost magical. I anticipated seeing the wide, wild farmlands of Canada covered in early autumn dew in the soft dawn light… and waited. 

“Goodbye, goodbye,” sang Carolyn, waltzing out the door yesterday. “It’s my day off tomorrow and it’s going to be beautiful weather. I’m taking my grand-daughter shopping. Goodbye, goodbye!” With a whirl of skirts, curled blonde hair and old-fashioned pearls my glamourous sixty-something coworker departed, and in the following pause, I realized tomorrow would be the day I’d waited for.

The morning dawned cloudless and I scrambled to leave, driving fast along the highway trying to find the farmland outside the tech-centered suburb. “Tech, tech, tech, tech, FARMS!” is the way Clarke described the area, and he was right – past the shining modern buildings there’s only undeveloped farmland. The light was already pouring over everything, the perfect morning! I wound my way out along Carling Avenue and there it was: the road to nowhere. This is where I’d stop to enjoy the golden hour.     

   
   
Everything was covered in dew, stunning and ethereal. As the sun rose a bit higher, it got even more beautiful…

   
   
Someone made their home in this field:

   
 
And I discovered a ghost spider, which, as ghosts often do, refused to be photographed properly. BUT I ASSURE YOU I saw him in incredible detail, frail and translucent. That white dot is him! See?

  
And with that, there was nothing left but to put a flower behind my ear and take a selfie. 

  
-The Dauntless Princess-

Peanut Butter M&M Brownies

Posted on

Sometimes you feel the need for a chocolate-peanut-butter-something. And buying a dessert just isn’t enough… You need to bake it.

Baking presented an unusual challenge, as I have no cooking utensils, measuring cups or KitchenAid here. But I’m pleased to say that I made this dessert in a pot measuring with a drinking glass, and it came out delicious.  

 
First I baked the brownie base, from a mix. And melted some peanut butter onto the top.

  
While it was cooling I mixed up the peanut butter dough for the top…

  
…then spread it on the base.

  
When it was all smoothed down I sprinkled the joyful mini M&Ms on the top.

  
On top of the M&Ms I drizzled the final decadence… Melted peanut butter. 

I couldn’t wait, so I dug in right away. It was insanely good. The perfect thing to satisfy the peanut-butter-chocolate craving.

And the best part? It’s even better after having been in the fridge all night. Diabetes, here I come.

  

Sound of Light

Posted on

Traveling through Gatineau last weekend, I’d glimpsed huge fireworks in the distance over downtown Ottawa. Come to find out, it’s an international fireworks festival where each Wednesday and Saturday a different country put on their best display. Admission was $8. I could do that. 

It was Autumn who invited me to go. Autumn, who also works with my company and is awesome – I can only describe her with words like savvy, determined and ballsy – has been working downtown on a renovation project. She met me downtown and we took an Uber to the Museum of Natural History. It was on the Quebec side, so French was the common tongue. 

Rain had poured down earlier in the day, but the sky was clear last night, and the sunset laid soft colors around the museum, the river, and Canadian Parliament. There was a man pushing a bubble machine through the crowd, and the kids followed him like the pied piper.

   

    
 
Finally it was completely dark, and on huge loudspeakers in French and English, two announcers opened the show. We all stood for the Oh Canada. Then the lights began.

These were the best fireworks I’ve ever seen in my life, and there is no substitute for physically being there. The size of the bursts and their three-dimensional beauty can’t be truly captured on camera. My favorite of all, and I didn’t even try to get a picture, were the golden fireworks that glimmered and shimmered elegantly over the river. 

Meantime, the kids behind me were having the time of their lives pretending it was chemical warfare.

   
    

 I’ll go back next week on the 22nd for the grand finale, because it’s now that I’m here and the Sound of Light isn’t to be missed.

Tres bon.

-The Dauntless Princess-

P.S. If you want better photography than mine, look on Instagram #soundoflight for some great pictures!

Beyond the Wall

Posted on

The light is turning here.

The long summer days, which began as early as 5:00 a.m. and ended as late as 10:00 p.m., are growing shorter.  The sunlight is still cheerful but less confident.  The leaves are lush and green… and yet, the faintest whisper of fall is in the air.

One day, out of the blue, a messenger hawk brought a bold note from the Western Wilds to my castle in Kanata. It read simply,

“Greetings!  Are you visiting Canada and not letting me know?  For shame!  I grew up in the area and can show you the sights.  I live 1.5 hours away and will come to visit you next Saturday.”

It was signed, of course, David from the fortress West.

I remembered David as tall, overwhelming, bombastic, collaborative, and inclusive of all when we met briefly in New York.  He makes his living as a warrior at the fortress West.  He is the tough-and-ready boots on the ground with the organizational skills to overcome any odds, found on any average day running through the Canadian wilds braving bears, moose and mosquitos.  Standing next to him made me feel small as a baby squirrel.  And when he jumped out of his car at the castle last Saturday night, my co-worker Clarke and I had to brace ourselves a bit against the force of his presence.

He whisked us away to dinner, and then after we’d talked through politics, religion, the military, and politics again, we speeded away across the river into Quebec, into the woods, to an unknown destination.  “A scenic overlook,” he said, and went back to speaking of his beautiful German girlfriend.  The sun was setting quickly.

We arrived at 9:00 as the last of the light was fading.  A stone wall ran along the side of the road and between the wall and the road, cars were parked.  We parked and got out to take in the view.  To our backs was the north: the road, and behind the road, the Gatineau Mountains.  In front of us was the south: the stone wall and a beautiful, fertile farm valley.  The farmhouse lights twinkled under the massive sunset.

“This is it,” he said.  “North of us, there are no major Canadian cities.”  The mystique of the northern wilds clung to his words.  For the moment we all stood in the between: on the wall separating domesticated life and untamed wilderness; under the day sky turning dark, and summer turning autumn. One foot in the safe and familiar… one dangling over the unknown.

Reflecting in the moment, I felt myself also between.  Hovering on the wall between the known and the wilds, looking toward the adventure of the unfamiliar.  Homebody with gypsy horizons.  Leaving the safe to explore the uncomfortable.  There’s always a wall, isn’t there?  There’s always a new frontier to explore, whether it’s physical, mental, emotional, or relational.

For myself, I seek new borders; and from there, I always want to push forward to find the adventures beyond the wall.

Beyond the Wall View

~The Dauntless Princess~