This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow,
as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man

Monday, August 21, 2006

Family Pride

All right. I keep saying I have a lot of cousins. Here's a quick lowdown: My dad is an only child and the only close family I have (had actually) on his side are his parents. Both passed now. But on my mom's side, there's lots of people! She's the second of six kids. Their dad died in 1964 (when my mom was 13) after which my grandmother (whom I consider a true saint) raised all of them on her own, the youngest was only three. This made the six of them very close to this day. Between all them, my mom and her siblings have had 22 kids of their own (now, just imagine the chaos when they're all in the same house!) and it's only very recently that we can confidently say that it's over. Note: This also goes a long way toward explaining the tendency we have of speaking very loudly such that outsiders often think we're arguing or fighting when, to us, we're just having an interesting conversation or discussion ...but I digress.

Between 1971 and 1976, my mom and her older brother Alfred had five kids, (of which I was the first) these are often refered to in my family as "the first batch" because of the short lull that followed us in births; the next one came in 1980. At many moments in my childhood, all five of us actually lived together in the same home. And so that also made us very close. This post is about the youngest two of the first batch, my cousins Marianne and Pascale.

I was at a family gathering yesterday (My Grandma's 85th B-Day) and suddenly realized that their carreers implied a "web presence" and that I could shamelessly plug them in my blog and say how proud I am of them. So here goes.

My cousin Pascale is a young professional photographer who is just starting out in her career. This is her web site where you will find pictures like this:



or this:



or this:



or this:



The model in the first picture is her older sister Marianne who is becoming quite the accomplished actress... as a quick look at her IMDB entry reveals. (and it doesn't mention all the stuff she did on french tv or the numerous commercials she's been in so far)

She was the female lead in this vampish horror film. The newly successful Québec movie industry's first attempt at the genre. Quite a shock for me to see my little Marianne in a hot, steamy sex scene!!! Guess I'll have to get use to it, because she's hot!



So that's it. I just wanted to post links to their stuff and say how proud I am of them and how much I wish them all the best in whatever is to come in their careers.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

d'Artagnan's "I shoulda bought that gorram A/C unit when I had the money" recipe for surviving a heat wave.

"feels like" 46°C they tell me...

It's not the HEAT
It's the HUMIDITY

they say...

All I know is I can't stop sweating!

Here's a solution:


Ingredients:

  • A large bucket or pair of buckets ...or kitchen pots or anything that your feet can fit in (the more spacious the better). Personnally, I use a large 10" high Rubbermade® container that I usually use for the laundry.
  • One or more towels
  • A comfortable sitting place (couch, lazy boy, whatever suits your fancy)
  • Remote control ...or a good book, your choice
  • Ice
  • One bottle of Ernest & Julio Gallo White Zinfandel rosé wine - chilled (yeah, yeah, I know, it's not really a rosé... Whatever.)


Recipe:

  • Fill large container or pair of containers with cold water and set in front of comfortable sitting place where feet would usually be if one were sitting normally (Yeah, I know it's hard work and you're already sweating like crazy just sitting down but trust me, it'll be worth it)
  • Set towels next to or around containers
  • Pour E&J Gallo into a tall glass filled with ice. (you can substitute with your own favourite poison but man! that white zimfandel stuff is great in the heat!)
  • Take off shoes and socks - If you're not already stripped to your underwear in this heat! (If it wasn't for the neighbors, I'd be naked)
  • Sit down in designated comfortable place and place feet in water.

    Voilà!

    No more sweat.

  • Enjoy drink and use remote or book to entertain yourself (Try to avoid
    methods of self entertainment that may bring about renewed sweating;
    move as little as possible)
  • Take feet out periodically to avoid getting wrinkly feet.
  • Use towel to wipe feet and avoid getting floor wet

    Repeat as needed


I'm not kidding, this really works.

Check-out my new blog 'En Français' about Québec politics:

Top Blogues