Distractions, reflections

The Monocoque, Moline Airport. Aircraft inside Moline Airport terminal named The Monocoque presumably designed for one pilot and maybe neither passengets or baggage. Christmas decorations in progress. (Moline, IL) 20131205 1030

Dressed for skiing at Mount St Louis Moonstone. Restarted tradition of skiing on my birthday, sons ready to ensure survival. Two on snowboards, two on ski blades, me on conventional skis. Lift lines are short on Dec. 24. (Coldwater, Ontario) 20131224 13:07

Ryerson Rink, Boxing Day 2013. Casual hockey playing on rink at Gould and Victoria Streets doesn’t follow rules of university, but who would be there to enforce on a public holiday? Shoppers on nearby Yonge Street might see skaters as scenery. (Toronto) 20131226 1649

Seven bags of herbs from Siang Ye Tang. Traditional Chinese Medicine prescribed 7 bags of herbs, to be boiled and drunken over the next 7 days. Symptoms of heat, dryness, lower mental acuity. Unusual directions to come back next week for more herbs, as my head has been hot over the past month. Decoction to be prepared under range hood, but house will smell Chinese for a while (Chinatown East, Toronto) 20131229 1604

Herbs Post Decoction. Spent Chinese herbs after boiling 4 cups of water down to 1 cup of decoction inside the electric Chinese medicine cooker. Trying to resolve excess heat (yang, fire) and dry skin with leaves, bark and roots prescribed by Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner. House is now full of unpleasant herb scents, I drank the black liquid as rapidly as possible to minimize offending the taste buds (Toronto) 20131230 1415