Lise's Ramblings

While cleaning leaves out of my garden beds, I uncovered Dotty, the little gal shown below. Fortunately, I didn't accidentally scoop her up and toss her in my compost bag. I didn't want to disturb Dotty further by moving the sticks and leaves to get a better view. You can click to enlarge the photos, but the quality isn't great. By the time I returned with my DSLR, Dotty had vanished into her subterranean home, so these phone pics must do.  Turns out my new-found critter is a Spotted Salamander ( Ambystoma maculatum ). While the Spotted Salamander is common on North America’s East Coast, it's also among the most elusive amphibians. Why doesn’t anyone spot these particular salamanders? Well, they are nocturnal creatures and spend much time underground, where they can avoid predators. They do so quite successfully considering Dotty's kind has an average lifespan of 20 to 30 years and her lineage can be traced way back to the Jurassic Period. A Jurassic

Has an odd-looking tree ever stopped you in your tracks? Whenever I visit Vancouver, I can't resist snapping photos of the monkey trees. If you make it out that way, watch for towering evergreens with branches shaped like monkey tails. Really. Somehow photos never capture just how silly these trees look. For the curious, google the Araucaria araucana , affectionately known as the Monkey Puzzle tree. It's native to South America and related to the Norfolk Pine. According to Wikipedia , people in Argentina and Chile consider the tree to be sacred. Recently, I howled with laughter when I spotted a ridiculous tree with bottle-brush blooms. After snapping a bunch of pictures, including the one below, I scurried off to explore the rest of San Diego.  Then, after arriving home from my digital-detox vacation, I tried my luck at googling "bottle brush tree" and found just what I needed.  Meet the  Callistemon rigidus , which as it turns out is a shrub, not a tree.

Hear ye, fair readers of mine own random ramblings, yesternight ‘twas the oft celebrat’d birth of good William. Methinks ‘tis happen’d four hundred and forty eight times o’er.    While his exact birthday cannot be confirmed, April 23 rd has long been the agreed upon date to honour William Shakespeare (1564−1616). And despite the mystery shrouding aspects of his life, and the controversy and intrigue generated by his art, everyone from historians, English professors and literary critics to conspiracy theorists and ninnies can agree that the Shakespearean works have staying power. For more than four centuries, Shakespeare's works have influenced theatre goers, readers, teachers, students and people from all walks of life. I know I’ll never forget my initiation, as a pre-teen bowled over by Shakespeare's language and wit. My mother encouraged me to read “Twelfth Night” and then we took in an incredible performance of that play at Stratford , Ontario . (Thanks, Mo

Graceful. No, that doesn’t describe me at all. Even still, I recently chose to learn to hula ( Hula ‘ Auana, the modern form practiced during the past two hundred years). While taking Hawaiian art classes, my instructor June convinced me to try her hula classes. Hula is first and foremost a form of storytelling. Well, who can resist a good story? Given all the fascinating information June shared during art class, I was curious to experience hula. Her classes were free, so I had nothing to lose, other than an ounce or two of pride. (Flashback to the early 2000s, when a ballroom dance teacher told my husband to take me home to show me how to move my hips.) Lucky for me, June’s hula classes involved a group of mostly uncoordinated strangers gathering midday in the ship’s theatre. I attended two classes and watched a third, but begged off well before the participants geared up for a graduation ceremony and public performance in front of all the other cruise passengers.

 I make a concerted effort to search Pasricha’s site   before writing any new entries, so that I don’t  repeat anything from his original content.  Neil Pasricha’s “Book of Awesome” series of print books achieved bestseller status around the world. The author has gained legions of online fans, because his positive messages and his offbeat humour resonate with millions of people. I’m writing about Pasricha, because yesterday marked his final awesome. Media outlets of all kinds are paying tribute to him and his 1000 countdown . In turn, I’d like to say farewell and thank you to Pasricha. Two years ago, after reading the first Book of Awesome , I decided to write my own additions.  At first I shared my scribbles with a limited audience of one, but within two months I had resuscitated my 2007 Random Ramblings blog and was posting my entries online for all to see. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my early-morning writing sessions, which I wouldn’t have begun without the kick

It doesn't have to be anything major. You can choose to learn anything you wish. In my case, I've often watched in a bemused fashion as family and friends play cards. I'm not sure how my brain is hardwired, but it certainly isn't optimized for recalling how to play card games. I remember how to play the basic games from childhood (e.g., Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy Eights, War and Uno), but adult card games (e.g., Bridge, Canasta and Euchre) have always intimitated me. I can't even distinguish the difference between Black Jack and Poker. So when I wrote my life list , I jotted down that I wanted to grow up a teensie bit by learning to play cribbage. I've seen people play crib, but I had never bothered to observe enough to learn and retain. Last week, that all changed when one of my sisters sat me down at her kitchen table for a lesson geared to my way of learning. We started out by playing with open-faced cards and she cut me some slack even after we began p

It's a sweet and spicy, carbonated drink. The easiest way to find Brio is to frequent Italian restaurants or grocery stores in Little Italy. If you've never seen or tried Brio, and you live outside of Canada, your best bet is to search for chinotto sodas . (Only by searching for that chinotto Wikipedia entry did I learn that Brio is based on a fruit juice.) What's better than just drinking Brio? For me, it's enjoying Brio Chinotto, because it conjures up memories of panzerotti (a.k.a. calzone) nights with family.        AWESOME!!! P.S. If anyone knows whether any stores on PEI carry Brio, please drop me a line.

It is truly freeing to unplug yourself from your many digital tethers. I don't mean the stressful, unplanned times when you can't get a network connection, but rather those opportunities you seize to intentionally disconnect. When was the last time you: left your cell at home (or just turned it off for a week or more)? avoided wifi hotspots instead of seeking them out? set out-of-office voicemail and email notifications without obsessively checking messages anyhow? logged out of social media sites for an extended period of time? let your tablet collect dust? Can't recall? Do give it a try! I recently freed myself from all my electronic obligations, interests and addictions. Truth be told, it was a temporary break, but it was for longer than I've attempted since the mid-1990s. I didn't go cold turkey all at once. I eased into it by weaning myself from Facebook and my personal sites. Then, I withdrew from my work-related digital tools. I even disco

If you have followed my blog posts for years, then you know I've written about my Easter traditions in past random ramblings. For anyone who's new to my blog, Easter is the one day of the year when my sisters and I do our best to get together.  I'm pleased to report that for 2012 I celebrated Easter with one of my sisters.  We missed you, Dorothy! Actually, that should read, "We miss you, Dorothy!" All smiles from my sister Rachelle and wee little Kenzie   It was great to spend part of the weekend with my brother-in-law and both of my nieces too.  And had I returned from my Hawaiian getaway a tad earlier I would have overlapped with my mom's Easter weekend visit to Ottawa. Alas, a single day foiled that possibility. Sharing the love with some of the girls still adds up to        AWESOME!!!