Thong Thursday

The Independent Observer got me all nostalgic yesterday. Here are some other things I miss:
1) Cougar work boots.
2) Prosperity
3) Typewriters
4) Massive amounts of pot
5) There is no fifth.

Gone baby gone

We see a number of new condo towers going up in Centretown and I'm of two minds about this.

On the one hand, anything that injects some life and people into the core is good. On the other, I wonder where all these folks are going to eat, shop, stroll and generally enjoy life?

Too many downtown bookshops, cafes, cinemas, grocery stores and restaurants to count have disappeared over the last decade or so. And the only things that seem to spring up in their place are condominiums, office towers and chain-sponsored coffee shops.

Five places I miss:

1. The Canadian Tire store at Kent and Laurier, torn down in 2002. A veritable urban oasis of tools, home supplies, paint and sporting goods. Apparently the smallish outlet did not fit with the corporation's vision of suburban megastores.

2. The Bay Street Guest House. Once a quaint bed-and-breakfast on Bay near Gloucester, it has been a graffiti-strewn wreck for years, endlessly waiting to be demolished along with several other adjacent houses so Richcraft Homes can put up a honkin' big condo building.

3. The Elgin cinema on our beloved boulevard, where Audrey, ESI Cultural Affairs Officer, once toiled as an usherette. Little-known fact: it was the first theatre in North America to have two screens. This foreshadowed the multiplex trend that eventually sent The Elgin to the big box office in the sky.

4. The little cafe just inside the Rideau Centre, across from the magazine shop. It quietly served fine, fresh-brewed coffee, delicious pasta and tasty sandwiches. A perfect place to steel oneself for an afternoon of mall-bound Christmas shopping. I can't even remember its name. But maybe that's a good thing, as I do know the replacement is a Starbucks.

5. There's no fifth thing. It's already long gone.

Image: http://www.magma.ca/~hra/travia.htm

Tank Top Tuesday

A little something shiny!

Fantasizing!

During an outing at the Cube Gallery in August, I played a game that I am certain many of you played as a kid. When the Eaton's Christmas catalogue would arrive in the mail, did you ever hide with it in your room for hours and fantasize that you could order anything your heart desired? I did.

When I saw the art by Alison Smith-Welsh, I was inspired to virtually shop for some of you. In my fantasy, I bought

this ensemble for the ESIs' darling, Audrey,


a pair of panties for the lovely Pandora (this piece is called Pandora's Box),



boots for the indomitable Zoom to continue to kick ass,



and of course, this corset, for the sensuous Nursemyra.

A little mouse-over the pictures will give you an extra tickle.

Google Poem: Symptoms

* I knew I was sick when I woke up and had to cancel my interview for the university

* I knew I was sick when I did not even want to look at my new steed and wheels and some really slick Timex clothes

* I knew I was sick when I wasn't getting any better

* I knew I was sick when I began coughing up one green golfball-looking globule after the other

* I knew I was sick when I couldn't even enjoy a Miller Lite with Kev on Sunday

* I knew I was sick when I turned down French fries!!

* I knew I was sick when I was trying to make some scarves and my head a was just busting from the pain

* I knew I was sick when I didn't want to knit!

* I knew I was sick when I pulled over to the side of the road to throw up

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