Archive of ‘Solstice Cafe’ category

Reflections in a looking-glass pool

Underwater life animated on a historic building

I thought that the days of summer were truly over, but today the sky was an exhilarating riot of vivid blues, stormy grays and white. A mix of sun and clouds, with a touch of rain, and the occasional brilliant-eye-squinting ray of sunshine. Dad and I went down to the Inner Harbour, walking along one of the few paved paths in Victoria that is in a moderately tranquil location.

Regal Parliament, resting on borrowed lands

We walked along the smooth path, taking in the sights like any good tourist. It is noisy in the Inner Harbour, with the sea planes taking off towards the distant mountain, motor boats tootling around, people laughing and skateboarding, biking, dogs.

no school like zee old school

The one thing that you must listen hard to find, to separate it from the roars of city life, is the sound of the ocean, persistently lapping against the raised concrete path. I wonder what this place looked like before the shoreline was smoothed out and raised up. Were there beaches paved over, and did they use the smooth pebbles littering those ancient beaches to decorate the gray cement? A small piece of the bay is still intact, where you can see the remnants of crystal pools of green water, which carve holes in the rock-face. There are no big waves that rock into the Inner harbour any more. Not since the extension and creation of the breakwater, a few kilometers away. The water feels almost stagnant, until some boat or plane disturbs its’ surface. Just remember that this water is also full of raw sewage, one of Victoria’s very dirty secrets. Yes, that’s right, in the historic capital of this great province, our toilets flush right into the once pristine coastal waters. Pollutants don’t belong here. Not anywhere.

looking-glass pool
We strolled across the Blue Bridge, a first for me. I’ve never crossed from Esquimault to Victoria on foot or wheels. From there, Solstice Cafe, a haven of organic and homemade (many vegan!) delights, is just a few stoplights and a hill away. Steaming cups of rich cocoa, and a granola bar. Isn’t that the definition of culinary heaven? 
history unknown
I have always been fascinated by this building front on Pandora. Only the historic front remains, an eerie skeleton, a face with no body, a lid without a box. Ironically someone painted a few blue pacman on the front.  In the good old days of my freedom with strong legs and a healthy sense of adventure and liberty (always willingly accepting serendipitous situations as they arrive), I used to think to myself that the bodiless building would make an incredible picture, or a sweet backdrop for a photo-shoot. Finally, camera in hand and blue sky to boot, I captured the haunting beauty of the place on film a plastic memory card. 
I was so exhausted when we came home, although I am trying not to show it. We started my IV antibiotics a few days ago, after almost half a year without them. The medicine is caustic, and burns my heart and veins as it enters my blood stream. I feel weighed down with sickness, as though my bones are suddenly filled with lead instead of 900 mg Clindamycin.
When in sickness or pain, try chanelling your frusteration into a creative outlet. 
Don’t speak the anger in your mind and body, but instead try to look at the flipside, turn everything terrible into something good. 
An example? Today I am really suffering, and I feel like crying with the pain of the medicine going into my heart and neck. 
But someday, when I’m a doctor, and I decide to put a patient on a drug with a biting, bitter, derisive and acerbic personality, I will be able to understand their suffering. 
I am being given the power to heal, through the knowledge of suffering I am receiving. 
A further plus side is my extension tubing is 14 inches long, leaving me plenty of room to knit!
Once you start moving in a postive frame of mind, everything become lighter and warmer in my mind. I hope it can do the same for you.
I channeled my pain in sewing this afternoon. I have many incredible animal-print tees from the Sierra Club, that Dad used to bring home for me, some of which I have had since kindergarten. The sky blue and navy octopus shirt, which is too small for me and a bit faded, has just been recycled into a trendy skirt. Cut off the sleeves and neck, added a bit of denim on the sides from a pair of pants I cut off into shorts, and created a waist band from a faded black stretch shirt. I will post pictures when I have it fitted and on ma body! Should be pretty sweet once it’s done…and all recycled…how cool is that? 
<3

Running Around Town

How delicious is it to be busy while your friends slave at school? Mwahaha. But in all seriousness, I am very jealous that I am not going back to school this September. What would I give to complain about the weight of my backpack and the cost of books and the bad/late profs like the rest? Good things come to those who can be EFFing patient enough to get them!!!!

On a humorous note, by big cuz Amy showed up to school at 8:30 sharp, only to learn that school starts tomorrow. Hillarious.

Last week, dear Bonnie Henry – the BCCDC’s resident expert hypocrite, with a sickly sweet voice like Professor Umbrage – was on CBC radio, assuring the public that doctors are very knowledgeable about Lyme disease (when from her OWN statistics, it states that 6 out of 10 doctors surveyed didn’t know Lyme disease was a reportable illness). Of course, these downright lies and ignorance of their own statistics anger my mum (and I), who wrote to CBC, informing them of this error and Mrs. Henry’s falsehoods.

click the pic to enlarge CDC’s Lyme findings

Around this same time, an article about the affects of my CCSVI procedure came out in the Sooke News Mirror. CBC interviewed us both this afternoon, inquiring about the results of the Liberation procedure, and why we decided to take the risks, and responding to the controversy. It was very interesting. Hopfully it will air tmr morning…sometime after 7:30 am. Guess I’ll have to wait for zee podcast version to listen!

Out interview today was so early that we could go for lunch! We went to the Solstice cafe, an organic cafe downtown, with many vegan items. The soups are always vegan, and there were samosas too! The espresso brownie, and the GF carrot cake (both vegan) are to die for. Heaven! If you’re from Victoria, or ever visit, this is one very cool and always scrumptious stop!

Right next door to the Solstice, Sarah Kramer, vegan chef extraordinaire and cookbook author, has opened up the worlds’ smallest vegan curio shop! Clothing, toys, chocolate bars, jewelry -> all %100 vegan! We had fun browsing and chatting with the lovely Sarah. She is my vegan hero…and her cookbooks made life tasty for me again!

Our goal was to really tire me out today. I haven’t slept in 3 days, and it’s really starting to make me feel awful. My brain feel raw and numb, like a sponge that has been squeezed too forcefully. I have no idea why my insomnia has been so bad this past month…this ‘not sleeping all night’ thing has happened often. I’m not stressed or thinking about things at night, I’m not in pain I can’t handle, I’m exhausted but just can’t turn the light of my brain off. Very frusterating…but at least

~Life has a way of returning lost items for you, when you least expect. I found nail polish, a gel pen, and a piece of popcorn in the back of my chair.

Tea for two, with a side of Nostalgic Pie

My wonderful friend Jessica, is back in town, after much musical-globe-trotting, and schooling abroad. Jess is a bright light, quirky, bubbly and a very talented violist and singer. She is always so busy, that this peaceful summer lull makes quite a welcome change.  It was so nice to be able to call her up yesterday and make plans to chill today! That has never happened, and I’ve known her since we were in grade 5…gosh…has it really been 9 years already? I’m kind of teasing her here, but its usually really hard to get together with her outside of school…its kind of a joke among our friends.

We met at the Solstice Cafe for tea, a cafe that hearkens back to Paris and Vienna’s artistic cafe’s, that I’ve only read about in novels. Organic, local, fair-trade, with lots of vegan baking. Paradise, essentially.

Maybe its because Jess and I are around the same age, but when we’re together, it still feels like we’re little girls, a giggly duo who can literally talk forever. When you grow up with some one, sometimes you can’t appreciate how much they have matured, blossomed, until you’ve been away from them for awhile. I’m not talking about the ‘oh-I-can-see-you-as-an-accountant-already’ kind of grown-up, nothing bad or dull like that. 🙂

I kind of had this idyllic notion, that when it was time for people to leave to go to school, no one would really go far, Vancouver at the worst, and we’d all stay as close and our lives as interconnected as before. Most of my good friends I’ve known since Middle School, and that circle hasn’t changed very much, although we have all grown into very different people, our personalities complementing each other in our quirky way, friendships that are as well worn and treasured as a pair of favorite dancing shoes. I try to write like I am blissfully unconscious of my audience (hello? are you out there 😛 ), and so its ‘just the facts’. I know that its 100% non-fiction when I write that I have the most cherished friends imaginable; I am truly blessed. Pardon me as I overflow with nostalgia for the old days, of playing Cops and Robbers in the rain, our kilts swishing, ridiculous nicknames, playing the ‘Blue’ game on the swings, the Pickle Trees, and gossiping in Windy House…

Oft, in the stilly night,
  Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
  Of other days around me …

 (Thomas Moore)

It is kind of exhausting, talking for so long, but I wouldn’t trade our catch-up for anything. I haven’t been feeling super-dee-duper lately…always feeling like I could have used another decade of sleep, not wanting to move or think too much. Anything but knitting, or practicing my Debussy repertoire (recital on Monday!) seems too overwhelming.

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