Calico Visitor

 Since my sister named my place Calico Corners a few weeks back, guess what?

 Yup, another stray calico cat showed up in the barn.

This little gal is a tiny bit less shy than the last one -- who seems to have disappeared completely -- but I still can't get close to her. I've fed her the past few days and she seems to have disappeared again. Stay tuned.

Goodbye Diane

My friend Diane Bedford died last week. I've known her since the early 2000s and for the last two years, was lucky enough to work with her at The Glengarry News. She was the proofreader at the paper.

I typed the classified ads and was always discouraged at all the typos I made. In order to egg me on, she bought a package of sparklers and put them in her desk drawer. She told me that when I finally got the ads typed perfectly, she'd give me a sparkler.

To my delight, it finally happened last summer. Diane came downstairs and said in a hushed tone, "I have to see you out back." I followed her to the parking lot and she turned around and said, "It's sparkler day!" I couldn't have been more delighted. I was only ever lucky enough to have that happen twice. I was more than lucky enough to consider Diane a friend. She will be missed.

Early Bird

Around here, red-winged blackbirds don't normally show up until the end of March, generally a few weeks ahead of the robins. Now that many robins overwinter here now, red-wings are the real harbingers of spring. This fellow showed up under my feeders on March 6, the earliest I've ever seen one. Could spring really be here? The days are getting warm enough!

My First Job

My first ever job was at Karn & Garber, Printers and Lithographer in downtown Toronto as a paste up artist. My first day on the job happened to be on International Women's Day, March 8,1983, 29 years ago.

In the early days, we'd use a huge camera to shoot stats and one day, on a Saturday, we made rubylith glasses and put the huge, horizontal camera on its smallest setting (10%, I think) and did a very long exposure so that David (who set the camera) could run in and be in the photo. We turned the copy board flat so it would shoot us. This was the result.

 Our art room was a lot of fun to work in...

...and play in too!

 We worked with a fantastic group of people...

...who got along fabulously well.

And since were were young, that meant lots of parties...

 And peace marches...

 Even then, I always seemed to have my camera with me.

 We ate together...

 ...and drank together; this photo from the company Christmas party in 1984.

 We had many fabulous parties where we'd do things like play typeface charades (bold? italic?)

But mostly we were good friends who enjoyed each other's company at work and outside of work too.

Twenty-five years later, we got together for a reunion in the exact place we all met, now a trendy restaurant in a trendy area of Toronto. And I'm happy to say, I consider all of them to still be my friends. Lucky me!

Step-by-step Mondrian Cake

This amazing cake, based on the art of Piet Mondrian was designed by pastry artist Caitlin Williams Freeman from the Blue Bottle Cafe at the SFMoMA. Other folks have tried to reproduce it. Since today would have been Mondrian's 140th birthday, I thought it was the perfect time to try and whip up a cake in his honour.

I started with red, yellow and blue food colouring.

I made a classic pound cake and split the batter in half. Then with that half, I split it in thirds and added the colour to each batch of batter.

In a greased pan I laid down the colours side-by side. First the yellow...

Then the red...

And then the blue.

 The balance of the white cake was put in another baking tin...

 And I baked them for about half the time suggested.

I split the three colours into strips...

And trimmed off any overlapped colour.

 With the white cake, I trimmed off the dome to make the cake flat.

 Then I started the construction project. Two white strips and a blue for the bottom layer.

 I evened out the white a bit more to make them all the same height.

Then I added chocolate icing between the strips to attach them all together.

More chocolate icing between the strips...

 And then icing on top of the first layer...

 Completely covering it.

Then I started to build the second layer. Oh, oh. I didn't have enough white cake so I added a trimmed up section of Sarah Lee pound cake from the freezer and then a strip of red for the second layer and covered that with chocolate icing.

The third layer had the yellow strip and two white strips on either side. I trimmed both sides to make the cake an proper rectangle and then...

I covered the whole thing with chocolate icing.

It's not as perfect as Ms. Williams Freeman's version. Hers has a lot more panache but for a first attempt, I think even Mondrian himself would have gotten a kick out of it. Happy 140th birthday Piet!

Happy Birthday Piet Mondrian

Tomorrow would have been Piet Mondrian's 140th birthday.

Some time ago I noticed a fabulous Mondrian-inspired cake by pastry artist Caitlan Williams Freeman from the Blue Bottle Cafe at SFMoMA. Since I can't get to San Francisco in time for Piet's big birthday, I thought I'd whip one up on this side of the globe.

Happy birthday to you Mr. Mondrian. You've inspired many...including me!

Stay tuned: Tomorrow's post will be how I made this cake, step-by-step!

My Friendly Robin

My little friend the robin has been hanging around more and more and getting a bit more friendly. Now I leave him apple peelings and the leftover core. And if I don't have any leftover, I cut up a small apple and leave it for him. Spring is coming and I hope this guy and his bride nest around here. Would love to be an aunt!

And March Marches On...

 There seems nothing nicer in the world than walking in a so-called 'winter wonderland' after a big snowfall.

My Ithaca sister and Toronto brother have both told me tales of blooming crocuses and winter aconite and folks mowing their lawns. Okay, so that last one might be a bit of an exaggeration. But with all that in mind...

 ...I decided I'd better enjoy the white stuff while it's still here. Only a month to go and then it'll be sianara!

 In the meantime, doesn't this spruce look happy with its winter coat?

As does this wood, anxiously waiting to be split and burned when the snow flies again next year.