October 18, 2012: Oh, covering just about everything!

October 17, 2012: Birthday festivitie... October 19, 2012: Mailbag!

October 18, 2012: Oh, covering just about everything!

Well, whaddya know: Hallmark Channel Reaffirms Series Order To ‘Cedar Cove’ Starring Andie MacDowell. Our old friend, Carl Binder, takes the reins of a new series, Cedar Grove, for the Hallmark Channel. According to the interweb: “Production will take place in Vancouver”. And we all know what that means. Yes! I’ll finally get the opportunity to make my acting debut. At present, I’m not sure what recurring role I’ll be playing – the quirky love interest, the mysterious out-of-towner, the eccentric freelance photographer for the local paper – but I’m sure Carl will come up with something spectacular and befitting my thespian talents.

When my sister and I were kids, my father used to forage for wild mushrooms. Invariably, he would always come back with Shaggy Manes. Creamy white and bell-shaped, they were utterly delicious pan-fried with with a bit of butter salt, and garlic. I don’t see them around anymore and, even if I did, I’m not sure I’d have the confidence to correctly identify them. I mean, what do I know? Well, I suppose at the very least I know that poisonous mushrooms DO exist unlike, say, unicorns or a good movie about talking cars – which is more than can be said for this family: Family seriously ill after eating wild mushrooms for dinner. Two points of interest in the article. The first: “Pakistan-born Noor said she was unaware wild mushrooms could be lethal because it was common to pick and eat them in her homeland.” The second: “A family was rushed to hospital after a woman mistakenly served “magic” mushrooms she had picked from her backyard.” Believe me, if they had ingested the “magic” variety of mushrooms, their symptoms would have been very different. Instead of vomiting and diarrhea, they would have experienced a deep-seeded sense of well-being, a newfound appreciation for the comedic merits of the old Naked gun movies, and a girlfriend tripping out because she is convinced your head is expanding before her eyes.

Coincidentally, we picked up the above-pictured ‘shroom from a vendor at Granville Island today and will be having it for dinner tonight. It’s (fingers crossed) a perfectly safe matsutake, highly prized in Japan, that Akemi will be preparing two ways: in soup and with rice. Wish us luck!

I knew it! Creativity linked to mental illness, study confirms. It explains A LOT.

Back in Montreal, Baby cat has bounced back a little. He’s at the hospital, on I.V., but has resumed eating again and is in better spirits.

Mom pays Baby a visit.

Also in Montreal, sis’s husky, Aspen, is feeling down after his recent chemo session. I’m sending positive thoughts. Also, I recommend he sit down to a couple of episodes of Modern Family to help lift his spirits.