Random Wednesday Beauty

March 25, 2020March 25, 2020 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 8 Comments

Just a quick little post today as I have to turn my hand to cake-making shortly. Wish me luck, as I’m a bit of a hit and miss baker these days, due to lack of practice.

But it’s my husband’s 68th birthday tomorrow, so a cake must be made, since no shopping can be done. The Mississippi Mud Cake contains bourbon, so how bad could it be, really?

I always like walking in alleyways, just because they off an interesting view of the neighbourhood, and are full of randomly dilapidated beauty.

Now they have the added advantage of fewer people, so higher score on the social distance-o-meter.

Unusually crowded alleyway moment.

Topographical view of a verdant landscape.

Those colours are almost as good as a tropical vacation. Feel free to squint your eyes and pretend its palm trees and a Caribbean sea.

Blue and Gold, Van Gogh colours in an old wheelbarrow.

Meanwhile, on our front street, the Spring Thing is going ahead as scheduled, in spite of everything.

Red Hot Fall Fashion Tips

September 7, 2018September 8, 2018 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 20 Comments

Bringing you, direct to you from the runways of East Vancouver, the very latest in autumn fashion inspiration. I encourage you to leaf through the new trends and adopt some elements to create your very own signature fall look.

I can guarantee you will stand out from the crowd.

Eric and Clara model “dragged through a hedge backwards” look that is so of the moment.

The Statement Nostril

I really can’t over emphasize the importance this new must-have fashion staple!

A particularly severe molting season this year has left many a corvid nostril exposed to the elements. As with most things in life, if you got it, you might as well flaunt it.

Flaunt those nostrils …

Own those nostrils!

How To Wear It

This season’s look screams, “I don’t care what I look like!” along with a touch of “I’ve pretty much given up on grooming.”

A determinedly devil-may-care attitude is required to successfully pull off this somewhat challenging fashion trend.

So worth the effort though. Just look at the results when it’s successfully done …

Don’t be shy. Get out there and strut your tattered stuff.

Mabel, last year’s calendar cover model, demonstrates how the careful use of accessories can help pull off this look. A bit of hard old pizza in your beak makes you the indisputable Queen of the Runway.

Who you lookin’ at?

The Neck Ruffle

Hot from the fashion presses, this dynamic new look is a sort of mullet hybrid.

Quite the party in back, although not much business in front (see next trend below.)

The Indie Beard

This electrifying new trend is taking all of East Van by storm. Some humans even sport the look. While thoroughly of the new and now, we see in it a nod to the first beatnik hipsters.

Mr. Pants (such a fashion guru) was an early adopter of this bold new facial experiment …

But now some of the younger crows are hopping on the straggly chin bandwagon …

Marvin thinks he looks pretty groovy.

The Most Important Fall Fashion Question

Of course, these are only fads and foibles. What those of us in the know most want to find out is:

Will Mr. Pants regain his full trousered splendour after the molting season???

Here he was, back in early August when his Pants were at their most magnificent.

Things have been looking a little sparser of late …

But, take heart, Pants fans.

I checked a post I wrote this time last year and voila, our cover model was Mr. Pants himself, taken in August 2017 with a full set of glorious pantaloons.

This gives me great hope that His Pantship will be back in full regalia once the molting season is over.

We do hope you’re going to try some of these looks, brought to you by the Crow-dashians of East Vancouver. Do send us any photos of the results!

I have felt a bit like one of those fashion bloggers who photograph edgy street fashion over the past few days. It’s been quite a laugh.

Seriously though, the poor crows are kind of miserable and irritable during the molting season, so do be nice to them. If it’s still dry where you are, think of leaving them some water. Kind words are also always appreciated.

www.junehunter.com

Ordinary Days

April 26, 2018April 26, 2018 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 3 Comments

Some days there are no ravens.

Most days really. And there are no spare minutes to go swanning off after bluebirds.

There are days that are just endless paper jamming — waiting on hold — stuck in traffic — number crunching — brain numbing — is it over yet? — sorts of days.

At these times you need crows. And rust. And weeds growing in cracks in the asphalt.

The beauty of crows is …

Ah well, there are so many things that are beautiful about crows …

OK, let’s just say that one of the great things about crows is that, here in Vancouver at least, there is almost always one handy to distract you for a moment.

Even when you’re stuck in traffic, waiting for that freight train to budge, or the log jam of cars to clear, you can almost always catch a glimpse of a crow or two doing something interesting and/or silly within view. The trick is not to get too interested so you miss when the traffic starts to move.

Sometimes a crow in the right light can be the perfect substitute for a Mountain Bluebird — Vancouver’s very own bluebird of happiness.

No matter how rushed and boring a day, there’s usually at least time for a ten minute walk outside.

And, if you look a little bit sideways, put your eyes out of focus a little, you can find beautiful things almost anywhere.

“There are things you can’t reach. But
you can reach out to them, and all day long.

….

I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.

Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around
as though with your arms open.”

From — Where Does the Temple Begin, Where Does It End?
–by Mary Oliver

Smithrite with awesome graffiti, including (in elegant script) the word “knit.”

Flowering quince in evening light against a the side of peeling set of concrete stairs.

If you can’t get to the woods, sometimes a miniature horsetail forest will do.

Of course, there are days much worse than the paper jam days.

There are days when you’re in pain. Days when you receive very bad news.

Days when you feel as if you are nothing more than a hollow conduit for an endless river of sadness.

I’ve had days like those too, and ordinary, or even extraordinary, beauty alone would not do the trick.

But it’s always been there, part of the healing recipe of family, friends, doctors, medicine, therapy and time.

Crows, rust, weeds, poetry, clouds, trees, the sound of wind, bird calls, snippets of graffiti, lichen, peeling paint, the occasional raven or mountain bluebird — they all seem like the dots and dashes of a distant morse code message.

The meaning is alway just out of reach, but it gives purpose to each day to attempt the translation.