January 18, 2024
CNOY 2024 in support of the Fort York Food Bank!
It’s cold out there, and so many people need support more than ever. This will be my third year participating in the Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser in support of my neighbours at the Fort York Food Bank and I hope you will support me. If you’re local, consider joining my Harbord Village North team and walking with us on February 24. If you can’t make it or if you’re further afield, please consider making a donation here.
The food bank has set an ambitious goal of raising $200,000, reflecting the fact that they’re receiving more clients than ever before, currently more than 4600 a week. The Fort York Food Bank are doing essential work these days and I’m grateful for an opportunity to help.
February 17, 2023
Do Good for a Chance to Win a #TodaysTeacup Teacup
It’s just ten days before the Coldest Night of the Year event where I’ll be walking in support of my local Fort York Food Bank to help them meet their goal of raising $100,000 in support of the vital services they provide to my neighbours.
(FYFB is a small but mighty food bank in downtown Toronto. They serve over 2,400 clients weekly with grocery hampers, hot takeaway meals on Sundays and a grocery delivery program for 160 seniors every Monday.)
And now the stakes have been raised—when you donate to our campaign, you’ll be entered into a draw to win a most extraordinary, coveted object, the very FIRST Official #TodaysTeacup Teacup, perfect for your own personal tea times to add a bit of ceremony to your life.
Even better, the Official #TodaysTeacup Teacup is not just any old customized mug, oh no, this Official #TodaysTeacup Teacup was designed and created locally by my friend and neighbour, the multi-talented @esquared.designs—and it could be yours if you donate to our #CNOY2023 team today! Once the event is over, I’ll be making a draw and will personally mail this mug to YOU! (Canadian addresses only please.)
Do you want to win?? Donate at our team page and you’re automatically entered into the #todaysteacup giveaway while raising money for good in the process. Win, win! WIN!
July 4, 2010
Pie in the sunshine
Will you tolerate another picture of a pie in the sunshine? This time a cherry pie (my first! Hulling is tedious, but the pie is delicious) in stars because I don’t have a maple leaf cutter. Purchased with cherries from our farmer’s market, which supplied much of the deliciousness we partook in this weekend. We had a wonderful Canada Day in the sunshine, with friends for dinner, and then spent the rest of the weekend soaking up the city. We went to Trinity Bellwoods Park on Saturday, and I’d forgotten about wading pools, which meant that Harriet had to go swimming in her clothes. She was all right with this, however, and also got in lots of swinging, and sliding, and crawling in the grass. A similar day was had today at Christie Pits, where we also watched an old-time baseball game, went swimming in the city pool (not just wading, and we were equipped with suits and towels), and then played afterwards underneath shady trees. The parks in this city are better than any backyard you could dream of. It was a whole weekend as good as the pie.
The one problem with all this goodness, however, is Harriet’s “separation anxiety”. Quite a difference from last year at this time when Harriet didn’t like anything, she now doesn’t want to leave anything she encounters– she cries when we take her out of the swing, when we take her out of the pool, when she has to get off her bike, when her dad leaves the house in the morning, when the UPS guy leaves the house after having me sign here, when she has to put her ball down, when anybody (including complete strangers) is playing with a ball and she can’t have it, when we get to the last page of Over in the Meadow, and heaven forbid I take my keys out of her mouth, and suggest she not eat my credit card. She’s also taken to pointing at things she wants and screaming in a way that shatters eardrums. I now understand why sign language might have been useful (but still, not I how might have implemented it into life).
She does take things hard, does Harriet. She has never ever left a playground and not had eyes streaming with tears… Though she really is a happy kid, recovering quickly from her traumas. At left is a photo of us taken last week by Star reporter Vinnie Talotta, which is pretty much our Hats most of the time.
Anyway, I am very busy lately working toward an upcoming deadline, and I’ve also gotten involved in a reading project (which I’ll tell you about when the time comes) that involves me having to read 20+ books in the next two months. This means my library books are way backlogged, and some even due back without having been touched, and my summer rereading project has totally stalled. I should be able to step up some in the days ahead, however, and I look forward to reading Katha Pollitt’s Learning to Drive, rereading Joan Didion, and writing up a post about our next meeting of The Vicious Circle and this month’s book, Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. And updating you about my ongoing obsession with bananas, of course. You’ve probably been waiting for that.
June 10, 2010
Hot Summer Books!
Okay, these are called hot only because I’m looking forward to reading them this summer, but that’s hot enough, right?
The Lovers by Vendela Vida: Truthfully, I know nothing about this book except that it’s Vida’s new one, but her last novel Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name was so stunning, surprising, and subtly brutal that I’ve been hungry for its follow-up ever since.
Far to Go by Alison Pick: I read an excerpt in The New Quarterly a few issues ago, and have been looking foward to it ever since. I read Pick’s first novel The Sweet Edge last summer, she’s a poet as well, and this story is something completely different, set in Czechoslovakia in 1939 and based on the experiences of her family. (I can’t find a link, but it’s published by Anansi).
The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn: I read her novel What Was Lost last summer, and am looking forward to this follow-up. Though British old-lady novelists are my favourite, I’ve got a thing for the young ones too.
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman: Once again, I know nothing about this except that it’s Laura Lippman’s latest stand-alone, and we do love Laura Lippman here at Pickle Me This. Sadly, my life is no longer as such that I can curl up in a Muskoka chair with a beer, and give my weekend over to it, but I’ll make do and no doubt be enthralled.
May 24, 2010
On Shirley Jackson
I’ve not read anything by Shirley Jackson, but her book The Haunting of Hill House was on Sarah Waters’ Top Ten Ghost Stories. And now, my amazing new book club The Vicious Circle (and yes, if I wasn’t in this book club, I’d be jealous of anyone who was) will be reading her novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle. And since I read this article yesterday, I’ve been itching to read her short fiction. I may be the only person ever who hasn’t read “The Lottery”. Life Among the Savages might also be right up my alley. So I’ve just got this feeling that I’m on the cusp of something– all of these books to be read/loved before me. And my love of anticipation is as such that I’d sort of like to have them before me forever. The only thing I might love more than anticipation is a good book, however, so I’ll be picking up some Shirley Jackson sometime soon. I think I am going to ask for a gift certificate for Ten Editions Books for my birthday.
February 15, 2010
Housewarming
Welcome to the new home of Pickle Me This, designed and built by the good people at Create Me This. We (and our extensive archives!) are very happy to be at home here. Looking forward to some great content up in the next few days, including an interview with Amy Jones and a rather shameful post on my own authorial encounters. For now, you can check out my Valentines recommendation for a different kind of love story.
And now, to warm up the house, please leave a note and let us know that you’ve dropped by.
