I am happy to announce that yesterday, the Stick Librarian reopened the Stick Library here at the corner of Lebreton and Louisa.
The library assistant has been instructed to not add any sticks from the inactive stacks to the lending portion of the library without informing the librarian because she will be carefully tracking the annual statistics this year.
With the upcoming reopening of the Lebreton-Louisa Stick Library, the Stick Librarian was concerned that the branch's stacks were getting low.
Unfortunately for some neighbours, but fortunately for the library patrons, a recent windstorm brought down an old tree and the librarian was able to source replacements that just needed a little work this morning with a pair of loppers and an electric saw.
The library assistant/retired urban lumberjack lopping a branch
Sawing a branch
The Stick Librarian is happy the stacks are ready for a new borrowing season
Things were getting shaggy, so I asked the lovely Manon to give me a trim on Saturday.
She suggested changing things up from my usual all-over #4 or #6 and instead did the sides with a #2 and left the top alone.
Yes, we've been watching two episodes a night of Peaky Blinders for a couple of weeks and Manon wanted to try giving me a Tommy Shelby.
Arthur and Tommy Shelby
I'm very happy with it, except I feel an inexplicable compulsion to take over someone's bookmaking operation.
[I was thinking this was the first time I've had a TV-inspired haircut, but then I remembered that in 2009, I got an all-over buzz so I could be Mike Holmes for Hallowe'en.]
If you're a serious Sambal Oelek (fresh chili paste) user like me, you already know that the Huy Fong suspension is over and their Sriracha and Sambal Oelek sauces have been back on store shelves at least since early October.
However, the prices are not great. When I saw a 3.8 litre jug of Sambal Oelek at $34.99, which is almost double the price it used to be, I thought I'd be clever and wait a few weeks for this initial shortage pricing to come down.
But now here it is almost 2024 and the price is still $34.99. This hurts my stingy heart, but it's still a lower price than what I'd spend on hot peppers to make my own, never mind the time it would take and that it's very cold outside and I can't grind chili inside because someone else in the house has an aversion to tear gas.
So today I bought a jug. It's not like I'd get it from anyone as a Christmas present. We're only doing stocking stuffers and this wouldn't fit even in my oversize sock.
The question now is, will I be frugal with the Sambal Oelek and make it last until March? Or will it be gone by late January.
Les Cowboys Fringants en concert avec l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
In 2020, les Cowboys Fringant recorded a performance with l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. I was lucky enough to record it on my old PVR, and watched it many times.
The concert is one of the most moving, goose-bump raising performances I've ever seen even though my ability to understand spoken or sung French is very limited.
It will air on CIVM (Channel 69 on Rogers-Ottawa) this week at the following times:
Tremblay's death has triggered what Quebec Premier Francois Legault described Thursday as an "immense wave of love and sadness" across the province.
The CBC reported that Legault also said that Tremblay is entitled to a national funeral.
Although many Anglo-Canadians weren't familiar with Karl Tremblay and Les Cowboys Fringant, their music is well known and well loved in Québec and all of French Canada.
A teaser for the concert:
The hit that anchored their concert movie L'Amérique pleure:
A frustration with Spelling Bee is that once you hit SOLID, it kicks you out and only lets you continue if you have a paid subscription.*
I have found a way to wring a bit more out of the game by getting to NICE, which is one rank higher than SOLID. Here is how I do it:
Click "Hints" to open the "Spelling Bee Forum"
Scroll down to the line that indicates how many POINTS there are (144 today)
Determine the number of points for a "Solid" by taking 15% of the number of POINTS (15% of 144 = 22)
Guess words, being careful to not go over the number of SOLID points by concentrating on shorter words - 4 letter words = 1 point each, longer words = 1 point per letter - particularly avoiding pangrams because they are worth at least 14 points
When close to SOLID, try for the pangram by consulting the Spelling Bee Grid in the Hints.because it shows how many words there are of each length for each starting letter and the pangram has to be at least 7 letters long (Spoiler alert for today - there is a 10-letter word that starts with "B" and there are 12 words that start "BO")
Play a pangram and nothing else, if the pangram is worth at least 10% of the total score, you can make it to NICE and you'll see something like this:
* I'll probably never pay to play games, but Google gave a bunch of us free 3-month subscriptions because we were so good about giving ratings and answering questions in Google Maps. I took advantage of this, but have to admit that getting to Genius on Spelling Bee 90 days in a row meant that a lot of chores did not get done around here.
We have no jack-o-lantern this year, but the sea monsters are back on the window, so we may get a few trick-or-treaters tonight. If there are any leftover mini-chocolate bars, I will just have to buckle down and deal with them.