LOOKING SMART

Unique embroidered clutches and purses copying the first edition designs of your favorite literary classics, by Olympia Le-Tan. Found on We Love You So.

ELECTRIC

One of my favorite flowers, glowing with life. See more here.

SEE HOW THE MAIN SAIL SETS

When I was a kid there were four places I wanted to live: boarding school, tree house, attic bedroom & boat. Something about small intimate spaces, the kind of place where you get to live in your head a lot of the time, that was the kind of place I wanted to be. Nothing's changed for me really, I still crave unconditional living (though I've since crossed boarding school off my list). I will always yearn for a certain seclusion, for my own magic realism.

This afternoon Mary and I visited the Maritime Museum in Vancouver. We boarded the St. Roch, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Schooner and the first ship to completely circumnavigate North America. It was the perfect place to renew a childlike imagination on a cold and rainy day overlooking the Burrard Inlet.

FISHY BUSINESS

I arrived in Vancouver last Friday for a week-long visit. I'm at Mary's house now (we just enjoyed toast and mochas for breakfast) but for the first two days of my trip I stayed with friends Sara and Chris who recently moved from Edmonton. On Saturday we went to the Steveston Village Fish Market where we bought a five dollar salmon (the whole fish was five dollars) and ate fish and chips for lunch. Excepting this morning, I've eaten delicious, wonderful fish at every meal here so far. I love Vancouver.

Lunch at PaJo's, yummy.

Chocolate Eclairs from Beard Papa's for dessert.

Mascot maple syrup. I totally got in trouble from the store owner for taking this photo, whoops.

Our salmon, also yummy.

BEWARE WOLFSBANE

Motivated by Halloween I was looking around work yesterday for something spooky to share with the masses. Other than a few pumpkins and some stunning, albeit wilting, black kangaroo paw (worth checking out if you ever have the opportunity) I was coming up with nothing. It wasn't until I looked in the far corner, surrounded by pink roses and Lisianthus did I spot the most unassuming of terrifying flowers. Monkshood or Aconitum is a tall graceful plant with soft, cloud-like clusters of flowers at the top of each stem, found mostly in shades of purple and blue, they are a welcome contrast to the fall palette. The only problem with Monkshood is that they happen to be fatally toxic.
A subject of folklore for centuries, Monkshood may be more recognized by its other name: Wolfsbane. The stories tell of Wolfsbane being used in everything from witches' poisons to vampire repellent to werewolf tranquillizer, this last one in fact being not far from the truth. Aconite, the poison derived from primarily the roots of the Aconitum plant works as a deadly sedative if ingested in too large a quantity. When taken internally (or supposedly in extreme cases externally) the poison slows the heart rate down to a point of death, but at the same time paralyses the respiratory system, meaning that as your heart is slowing to a pace that cannot support the body, your lungs are also unable to take in any air, which in fact causes death by suffocation before the heart rate stops.
In small doses, the herb can be medicinal, utilized even in traditional Chinese practices, but be forewarned: it has been documented that even so much as touching this plant to your lips or tongue can cause extreme distress to the body. These flowers are a staple in the floral industry and are one that I handle regularly this time of year and thus far I have no weariness (or mythological encounters) to report. However I cannot help glancing to my side as I type for there is a bouquet I brought home for myself of Monkshood, Rose hips, and Anemones and with each sentence another petal of the evil Wolfsbane heavily drops from the stem, scattering death all over my kitchen table. Perhaps staying home this Halloween isn't the safest option after all.

MRS. RABBIT

For the past few weeks I've been helping my friend Kim sew costumes for the Capital City Burlesque's Halloween show which happens at New City this Friday. I finished Marissa's Jessica Rabbit dress earlier this week and it's pretty damn fierce -- I never knew redheads with 40-29-43 measurements actually existed in real life.
Turns out making clothes which are designed for the sole purpose of coming off rather than staying on is a whole different ball of wax. Changing my mindset about the wearability of these garments has been oddly liberating, kindof like burlesque itself I would guess.
Of course, this doesn't mean I'll forgo zippers for snap tape in my own designs anytime soon.

ELISABETH BELLIVEAU

Beautiful artwork by Elisabeth Belliveau.