Gryphood One-Offs

I've mentioned before that I keep a physical version of my Gryphood blog. It's a collection of recipes taken from my cooking blog divided into two binders, one titled "Main Course" and the other "Snacks and Sides". I also keep a copy of the WALES cookbook. Recently, I decided to make another: "One-Offs". 

Usually, if I don't enjoy something that I've made, I won't bother recording it. However, every once and a while there is an exception for this rule. In fact, right now, out of the 127 entries to Gryphood, there are twelve dishes that for some reason, I felt compelled to post, but which I don't realistically think I'll revisit. These are the recipes that I've dedicated my "One Offs" binder to.

I've listed them below, to try and justify why I've given them such a placement.

Cabbage Rolls

I like cabbage. I'm okay with rice, tomato sauce, and  ground beef. It's a simple recipe, made of things I like, but I doubt I'll make them again. I found the leaves got smaller the further I got into the cabbage, leaving the rolls at inconsistent sizes.

I tried making a casserole version of it. Maybe I'll try that again, but I used the food processor and I think I shredded the cabbage too finely. My brother liked it, but to me the whole thing combined to feel like a hot salad rather than a casserole.

Cauliflower Crust Mini Pizzas

I got this recipe from the Diabetic Code cookbook. The crust was actually meant to be for poached egg, but we made pizza. I had a few failed attempts. First I used a dishcloth instead of a cheesecloth when attempting to squeeze the water out of the cauliflower. Then I neglected to use parchment paper. I also thought I could consolidate the suggested four disks into one large crust. I couldn't.

Eventually I got my act together and did everything as instructed. End result was that I could properly cut and lift slices like a normal, wheat-based crust. Lee-Anne said "I hate how much I love pizza" which indicated that I got the desired effect.

In the end though, it's just too labour intensive to make again. I'm glad I finally managed it, and was proud enough to make a blog post. 

Curried Chicken Salad With Arugula

As of this posting, this is the most recent entry on Gryphood. It's the last recipe in The Diabetic Code that we had selected as wanting to make. So by completing this one, we're sort of soft-retiring the book, and this dish represents that accomplishment.

Lee-Anne made it, and while I liked it fine, she says that it was "missing something" and that she wouldn't make it again. 

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

At the end of the book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, there is a list of recipes from the iconic diner. They are intentionally written in the style of someone who already knows how to cook, and is just using them as a personal reference. So it was fun to see if I could translate this into something useable.

When the season was right I attempted this most signature side for which the book was named. I had to make a batch of bacon because I don't keep enough grease on hand to satisfy the recipe. Makes sense for a diner to have a surplus though. In the end, I found that breading the green tomato slices like I would a cut of schnitzel had a more desireable outcome than the suggestions from the book. 

I did sort of learn through this process how to make these breaded zucchini slices which were a thing from my childhood. Just treat them like schnitzel.

Fried Okra From the Whistle Stop Cafe

This is almost the same recipe as the one above, but using okra instead of green tomatoes. I'd never had okra before, and perhaps if I'd grown up with them my feelings would be different. But as things stand, I found them less appetising than the green tomatoes.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Loaded baked potato is one of my top three favourite soups, alongside broccoli cheddar and mulligatawny. I wanted to learn this one as a recreation of the version from my college cafeteria. However, both times I've tried, I failed. And I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong, so there's not much for me to build off. I'll just let other people make it.

Macaroni Corn Casserole

I got this from a video for ADHD friendly recipes. Weirdly, it's the Gryphood post that has the most views, with 209. I've wondered if this was someone's favourite recipe, and I've asked the people that I know visit my blog, but no one has claimed to be the one that keeps visiting this page. My brother says that when you see a phenomenon like this, it's probably because someone that comes for the blog in general has bookmarked that specific page.

Apparently it's pretty common for someone with ADHD to have a go-to recipe that isn't very strenuous on the mind, often which they can make a large batch of so that they can have plenty of leftovers and avoid needing to think about cooking more than they have to. For me, it's fried rice. For someone else, it's this casserole.

I thought it was just mediocre. The video I got it from also gave me my chicken tortilla soup recipe though, which is my mom's favourite of the things I make. 

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

It's a lot harder to make crispy sweet potato fries than one would think. If you just make strips, they'll turn soggy under the heat. Like the cauliflower crusts, this took a few attempts and I was eventually happy with the outcome, but it was just a little too finicky to repeat.

Provencal Ratatouille

I made this with my brother. I got the recipe from The Mediterranean cookbook, which has been a very reliable resource. It was satisfying to make and seemed to come together well, but it's very eggplant forward and I don't really like eggplant. Not the recipe's fault, just a personal thing.

Tonkatsu Sauce

This was part of my Okonomiyaki recipe. I decided to splice it off and make it its own unique post, because I have a "Dips and Sauces" section in my Snacks and Sides binder. I'm glad I did that too, because while I've revisited my okonomiyaki recipe many times since, I haven't bothered with the tonkatsu sauce. Tasted too much like ketchup, which I dislike. Also, I'm not sure it's authentic, because when I've described my grievance, I've been told that tonkatsu sauce shouldn't taste like ketchup at all.

Tzatziki From Mediterranean Table

This was my second tzatziki recipe, which I only included because I liked the source better than my first, which I just ripped online. However, the two are extremely similar in their ingredients, most of the difference being in quantity. The Mediterranean Table's version makes a huge amount which is not difficult to scale down with a little mental math, but because I already had a version that doesn't require any editing, it was hard to justify the existence of both recipes in my binder.

Zucchini Fritters

When I had my little health scare a few years back, I felt like zuchini fritters might be a healthier alternative to potato pancakes. However, I had the same issue as I did with the cauliflower crust. Really hard to get enough moisture out. I've learned that any recipe that includes a cheesecloth is going to be labour intensive. I had a few failed attempts before finally getting it right and learning that I just don't like zuchini fritters that much.

Big Storm

A couple weeks ago we had a big storm. I remember being at work and people talking about the weather forecast, worrying that it would hit right around when members were supposed to be getting their rides. Thankfully, it held out just long enough for everyone to get safely home.

It did come though. I got a series of alerts on my phone, the type that sounds out even if you have your volume turned off. One of them said we might see golf ball sized hail. One said that there was a tornado in my cell coverage area. Not a "warning", or "watch" (I can never remember which is worse), but an actual tornado. I've never had an alert like that, although I have no idea of what constitutes my "cell coverage area", so who knows how much danger I was actually in.

Regardless, we live in a basement apartment so I was already in an ideal environment. Lee-Anne was in Kitchener City Hall for a Compass Kitchener meeting. I wasn't too concerned. That seems like the safest possible place to be for a situation like that.

Indeed, they were evacuated to the underground parking garage. She said the worst part was the loud alarms screaming out of everyone's phones repeatedly. I've experienced that once myself, when we were at a WalMart during a similar but lesser event.

My brother was out of town, but I sent a text to my mom to stay inside. After it was all over, she replied that she'd been out in the storm. She had walked to her pharmacy and got caught in it on the way back. Remember, she's still recovering from breaking her leg last year. She said the wind was almost bad enough to knock her over, but she managed to make her way inside relatively unscathed.

After things settled, an image of a tornado touching down circulated around local Internet communities. It was debunked as AI generated. There were a few locations that got pretty intense, where "the air was coming from every direction" and people claim a tornado formed. I know someone who was driving near one of those areas when the storm came in, and she can't confirm but said it felt possible.

We didn't get the golf ball sized hail, but apparently they did in Toronto. 

It was the talk of the town for days after, everybody discussing where they'd been and how bad it got in their area. More than a few trees came down, and limbs were torn from many that survived. There's maintenance work still ongoing from the resulting damage of that day.

Our place was pretty much untouched. The linden tree lost a branch but all our delicate flowers somehow made it. In fact:

 

Since then, three sunflowers have blossomed! This will likely be as many as we're going to get. I always say that even one sunflower is a victory, so even if we had to try a little harder this year, and yielded less, I'm still going to count this as a success.

RIP Ivan

I met Ivan back when I worked as a Summer Program Facilitator. At that time, there was a role called Peer Leader. It was an opportunity for people diagnosed with developmental disabilities to work for wages, helping to run the program. Each facilitator was paired with a Peer Leader, and my partner was Ivan.

Since then, he happened to move into the area where Lee-Anne and I live. I would see him occasionally in the neighbourhood and often at local events.

Recently, Lee-Anne saw a Facebook notice from a mutual friend asking about what happened to him. I did a little digging and apparently he has passed due to cancer. It must have been especially aggressive since it looks like he was diagnosed only about a month beforehand. He was a year younger than me.

https://erbgood.com/tribute/details/18298/Ivan-Vincent/obituary.html 

It reminds me of when I was in college and a fellow student, Bri, got diagnosed with a rare condition and passed at the age of 19. Someone that didn't know her well asked me about it and I said "She didn't seem like the type of person that would die". The person replied, "Everyone keeps saying that. What does that mean?"

I'm not quite sure. Maybe it's just when it happens to someone young with no obvious additional health consideration. I mentioned that Ivan had another diagnosis, but as far as I'm aware, completely unrelated to cancer. Maybe when someone's life has already been impacted by one rare struggle, it just feels unfair when another, unrelated and unlikely misfortune comes along. 

He was a musician. I remember that he'd written a song called "The Old House Mystery" and made a music video on YouTube.  Later, I found his channel. I think he took that specific video down but he had kept making music, so I subscribed. As a courtesy he did the same for me, which I thought was funny because I've never uploaded anything there. Sometimes when people would talk about channel numbers, I would brag about my one subscriber.

Lee-Anne met him at an event hosted by Grand River Hospital. It featured live music by The Strumbellas followed by a drone show. I actually did a blog post on it. Ivan had come for the music and left before the drones came out. This past weekend was the Bestival, which is an event where I'd run into him in the past. Two stages blocking off Belmont ave with live music alternating between them. The type of place you'd expect to see Ivan.

Garden Update August 2026

I mentioned in my post "Living Under the Eye of Mordor" that we had two types of sunflowers, and the smog storm killed one but not the other. Since then, the remaining half has endured some kind of repeated insect infestation leaving only four survivors. Three of them seem large enough to be resilient to the elements, and the other one is really trying but we'll have to wait and see. Even just one blossom is a success and we're not that far from the end of the season.

The snow peas were the other casualty of the smoke. They had produced at that point but should have lasted longer. 

Tomatoes and bell peppers have been the most reliable, and we've done well with chives, parsley, and lettuce. We've been able to have some salads using only garden ingredients.

Our zucchinis have lived and stayed healthy, flowering continually but something keeps munching on them before they can do much. We've grown them before and had success, but this has just been a bad year.

As far as decorative plants go, the coleus have predictably dominated. The morning glories have just recently blossomed as well. I had two pots with two variants, one blue and one red, but both have produced red flowers! Don't know what happened there.

One thing that was kind of interesting about the morning glories was, they seemed to know where they were going as soon as they sprouted. Other climbing plants that I'm more familiar with, such as snow peas, cucumbers, and zucchini, kind of grope around blindly until they find something they can grasp. You can train them by moving their vines to more strategic vantage points, and they take the suggestion. But the morning glories all seemed to lean in the direction of our fence until they reached that intended destination, as if moving by sight as well as touch. 

We have a large tree in the middle of our backyard, a linden I think. It casts a good deal of shade which might be limiting our garden. At one of the monthly community bakes, one of our neighbours suggested we try growing crops that do well with indirect light. She suggested broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. I really enjoy each of those, especially sprouts so it would be nice if it were true.

We also have a tree in our front yard that has caused some issues. It's a Manitoba Maple, which I've heard from a few people is considered a weed. Looking it up, they are considered pioneer species. Resilient in isolation, capable of growing fast, short in lifespan. Although I haven't heard people speak so unfavourably of other species that share those traits, such as birches, willows, and poplar.

But even the local plant expert, who has a pollinator garden and believes, generally, in leaving nature to its own devices said that this tree would be firewood if it were on his lawn.

It had grown so ferociously that it was encroaching on the neighbours' property, branches drooping into their driveway and threatening to knock against their car's windshield.

So I trimmed its lower branches, which I felt bad about. On observing me, I heard a mother reassure her child that "He's just trimming it, he likes the tree". I really hated seeing violence against plants when I was that age.

I told the Manitoba Maple, "Look, I'm only cutting your lowest branches. They're the least useful to you anyway. I know I'm not doing you any favours, but this will stop the neighbours from getting mad at you and is your best shot at continued survival".

Really, it had grown to an extent that I could do no meaningful damage with a pair of clippers. Young branches sprung out with a youthful green that bordered blue. In the end I had a hefty pile of branches that Lee-Anne is using as feed for our new composter. 

Last year, our neighbour gave us some hostas. In my initial garden post, I said that I thought I could identify one of them. Since then I've confirmed six, one more than we planted. They're supposed to do well with indirect light, which was the thought behind the gift, but they've been pretty diminutive.

They have responded well to the new patch of light opened by the break in the Manitoba Maple's lower branches. Since trimming, the hostas have all been perkier. One that had been chewed down to nubs has produced new leaves and the largest of them has flowered! They're still not much when compared to a lot of the others seen around the neighbourhood, but its an improvement and maybe they'll do better next year. 

Gardening aside, the wild turkey near my work has been sighted two more times! Lee-Anne and I went into the cemetery expressly to see if we could find it and we did. It's likely the same one

 

Family Up North

My mother and brother are visiting my grandparents up North. For the past couple of years, Lee-Anne and I have made the trip out there and it was beginning to feel like a new tradition. However, due to Lee-Anne's surgery getting postponed, the fact that she's recently become a Direct Support Worker, and because I'm trying to get my driver's license, it's been difficult to schedule. My grandma did remind us that they are available year-round, so maybe we'll make a winter trip.

My brother hasn't been up there for many, many years. It hasn't been so long for Mom, but it's still a big undertaking for her because of her leg injury. This is likely her most ambitious undertaking since she broke it.

At least this arrangement leaves us available to take care of their cats. Right now we have them over in our apartment. My mom said she'd prefer this to us visiting to take care of them. She worried that they would be lonely. 

Normally I would have argued with her on this point. They have each other for company and the stress of relocation to me seems about as bad as losing access to their humans for a week. Crucially, reintegrating them with our cats might be difficult.

But we'd learned from the second fire that they remembered each other. So I was content to give Mom the benefit of the doubt in understanding her pets' stressors and they are here with us now. This way does cut down on travel time between our place and theirs.

Indeed, the four cats remember each other as well as they did on their last reunion. We don't have as much access to sunlight, but we are closer to grass, crickets, squirrels etc. The kitchen window has been a treat for our feline guests.

 

Their cats are more aerodynamic and are better at getting to places. This isn't a big deal, except I'm propagating a bunch of succulents and one of the windows that isn't usually accessible can now be reached. I had to rearranged the office so there were no viable launching points, and I moved the bedroom plants to the living room. Kieran has been whining at me to let him into the now-occupied window. I don't know why he likes it there, the view is pretty obscured.

As a random aside, a wild turkey walked by my work recently 

It sauntered up past our building alongside the cemetery to the main office. I and another facilitator went out to look at it. We messaged the team and a few members came out. Someone from the other building alerted a few people to it as well. The turkey seemed unconcerned with our presence.

Apparently this isn't the first sighting. My manager told me that a highschool student who had a placement with us the year before the pandemic saw one but didn't mention it in the moment.

It's been a good year for birds. I've captured several pictures of hawks, some good ones of bluejays and cardinals, and even a woodpecker. Now this turkey. 

Eli Wood

In my writings about the two fires that impacted my mother and brother, I've referenced a third. Not quite as close to home but still within my circle. I've said that I would eventually get around to talking about it, and I guess the time is now.

About a year ago, a coworker mentioned that she'd need to take some time off. After a few days, she linked an article about a house fire. It had started in the back unit of the sectioned house where she lived. It was severe, requiring her to evacuate, causing the home to be unlivable, and even managing to wreck her car in the process.

Later I came across a post on Reddit from /r/kitchener discussing the disappearance of Eli Wood. On reading, it sounded like his absence had been brought to light after a fire started in his apartment. Foul play was suspected. 

https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/article/missing-kitchener-resident-linked-to-arson-investigation/ 

Noticing the similarities between this and the recent circumstance of my coworker, I decided to look up the addresses referenced in this article and the one she had shared.

Yes. They were the same.

On my colleague's return, she confirmed that the unit where the fire started was the residence of Eli Wood.

She had not known him beyond exchanging pleasantries. Although learning more about him, he could have fit into our circle, as he was a Master of Social Work student.

It's easy to speculate. It might have been an attack of opportunity, Eli being perceived as vulnerable. He was very slight of stature, only 4'10" and under 100 pounds at the age of twenty five. Maybe a burglary.

He'd had a rainbow tattoo and around the time this happened there had been a number of unusually coordinated attacks on the LGBT community. Maybe Eli was victim of a hate crime.

More details emerged. Apparently he had actually disappeared three days before the fire. His service dog had been in the unit when it burned. So the poor animal had been left unattended for three days before perishing.

The thought that jumps to mind is that whoever set the fire was trying to destroy evidence concerning what happened three days prior. 

Some people think Eli himself was the culprit, but that doesn't make much sense to me. Can't accept insurance if you're disappeared. He had obligations requiring his presence, such as completing his Masters degree, and I might be naive, but I think it's unlikely that someone with even an ounce of heart would kill their own dog in such a cruel fashion.

For a long time, there were wanted posters with his face on them all over town. Even recently, Lee-Anne and I went for bubble tea at the place near the University of Waterloo and they still had one up. I hear that a local park is going to be named after him.  

I saw someone speculate that whoever set this fire might be the same person that lit the one at my mother and brother's old building. Just goes to show that these events are pretty rare, I just happen to be associated with them.

By the way, apparently an Uber driver told my brother that he heard that the parking garage fire where he used to live was perpetrated by an angry ex-boyfriend. Obviously not a credible source, but probably the closest thing to closure that we'll get. It's a grimly funny image, an angry guy setting his ex's car on fire, accidentally smoking out the whole building. I had thought it must have been done by someone who really knew what they were doing, as it seemed strange that something so indirect could cause so much damage. But maybe it was a fluke.

Living Under the Eye of Mordor

This past Wednesday I left to go to work and found that everything was bathed in yellow light and smelled of smoke. There were fewer people outside than I was used to. I checked my work chat to see if there were any accommodations to the schedule, but I had no new messages. I shrugged my shoulders, thought "Well, this feels like the end of the world" and walked to WALES as usual.

I had failed to pay attention to the news. Apparently this was smoke that had drifted down from the Thunder Bay area. These past four years or so in North America, we have had particularly ferocious wildfires. I have family scattered across the continent and it feels like every year we need to check on one of the branches to see if they're alright.

For people in Southern Ontario, it's easy to feel like there has been a linear progression in severity. However, if we only compare with the last half-decade, it hasn't been a particularly bad year for them.

Here was a picture of the sky around noon:

 

That strange little dot in the centre is the sun. I noticed it, realised it wasn't hurting my eyes, then remembered the warnings we got during the Solar Eclipse. We had been cautioned not to look directly into it because, while it wouldn't cause pain, it would be damaging. The reason being that an eclipse causes sort of optical illusion, where the eye doesn't know to use its usual defence mechanism of dilating, even though it's just as dangerous. I wondered if this smoggy sun had a similar nature and averted my gaze as quick as I thought of it.

One of my coworkers referred to the eerie red dot in the sky as The Eye of Mordor.

The conditions of our climate have been noticed by the WALES members. One asked me, "Is fire just part of the weather now?

I got kind of fatalistic during a discussion at lunch, and, trying to be reassuring said "The Earth has had four mass extinctions in the past and life has always sprung back more sophisticated than before. If humans disappear, it's likely that whatever replaces us will be better suited to handle situations like this"

This failed to have the reassuring impact that I hoped for. It turns out, I was the only one with mass extinction on my mind. 

We had to cancel all outdoor activities due to poor air quality and postpone a community barbecue. People are spending as much time as they can inside and often wearing masks when they venture out. COVID vibes.

Most of my pea plants are dead. We had two types of sunflowers and the smoke killed one but not the other. We did get our first bell pepper of the season, though.

I'm also a little contrary, in that when things are bad I start to notice what is still good. I got these pics during the smog storm

 

It's mulberry season and I was trying to find time to harvest some. Thought I might try making pie and maybe jam, but don't feel comfortable going out when the air quality's so bad. It's supposed to be better by Monday.

In other news, Lee-Anne finally had her surgery booked for this coming Wednesday. About seven months past my prediction. She had a couple of pre-op appointments that she needed to flex her schedule around, them only giving us a day in advance to plan for. After completing these, she was immediately informed that they had broken the equipment needed for the surgery and had to postpone the procedure until further notice. 

Canada Day and Cherry Festival

Last Wednesday was Canada Day. I really think they need to shorten the name to Canaday, since as-is it sounds like it has a built-in stutter.

We went to the fireworks display in downtown Kitchener. It was our first time going. The previous few years we went to the drone show in Waterloo, which is their equivalent. I had been avoiding going to the Kitchener show, as the past few years I'd seen articles about young people shooting fireworks at bystanders.

Reactions always seemed toned down. I would see comments talking about how "irresponsible" it was for them to do this. I'm not usually one to avoid areas that are viewed as dangerous, or to assume trouble from any particular group, but this seemed like a predictable, reoccurring instance of fairly significant violence that could easily be avoided.

It's also not usually difficult to get Kitchenerites angry and exaggerative about a local issue. But for some reason, in this particular case, it was just mumbles about irresponsibility. Isn't getting shot with an explosive pretty dangerous?

Lee-Anne and my brother wanted to go, and just like everyone else, they didn't seem worried about it. So I reconciled myself with my fate and we went.

There was actually a local fireworks ban in place because of this issue. Although, based on how many we saw being set off on our walk over, this effort hadn't proven totally effective.

The show was supposed to start at 10:30, but it didn't wind up happening until like, 11:45. It was preceded by live music from The Last Tiger, which had proven to be a pretty good draw for the crowd.

Despite the place being crammed by the time we got there, somehow we found a pretty central viewing spot. I don't think it's good practice to do too much recording while at events like this, as it leads to living through a screen, but I did snag this pic just to kind of show how optimally we were positioned.

 

At one point, fire erupted from each of the side buildings. First in bursts, and shortly as a sustained stream. This is what really got a reaction from people, and it was intense enough that one could feel the temperature rise. I think it's a little funny that with all our advanced pyrotechnics that can make the sky glitter in every colour and send streams of light curling over a crowd, what really makes people pay attention is just a big old bunch of fire.

The turnout was impressive. Much more significant than Waterloo's. Part of me was proud that my city is more ready to come out, have fun and be together. But it was also a little overwhelming and I probably wouldn't come back.

But the reason is the crowd, not because anyone got hit by a firework. I realised once we got there that I'd always heard about shenanigans happening at Victoria Park. I assumed that's where the display was, but it's actually always been at Kitchener City Hall. So I had imagined people shooting into the crowd, when in reality it was mostly at each other and I guess sometimes at random park goers. Still bad, but we weren't in as much danger as I'd thought.

Somebody did pass out near us, though. Also there was a clown.

Then on the weekend we had the Cherry Festival. It's an annual event held in a smaller local park in our neighbourhood. Not quite as grand as Canada Day, but still pretty significant. It included the sale of cherry products, as well as some food trucks, stands with local artists, live music, carnival rides, professional wrestling matches, and an antique car show.

I probably mentioned this joke last year. But sometimes I like to say that, since Cherry Park is on Park Street, they missed out by not naming it Park Park. Then at the Cherry Festival they have antique cars parked in it. This could have been the Park Park Park. 

Lee-Anne's parents came down for the event. It was raining slightly but the turnout was still pretty good. My brother came later, but we'd left at that point. We all bought some cherry stuff, and Lee-Anne and I got a little rock goose to put in the window with our succulents.

(dis)Ability Art Gallery

Throughout June, the central Kitchener Public Library hosted the (dis)Ability Art Gallery. As the name suggests, the contributors all had experience with disability and/or chronic illness.

Lee-Anne and I checked it out. I've also made a dedicated post to my Gallery Blog. Here's a link:

 https://gryphonsgallery.blogspot.com/2026/06/disability-art-gallery.html

A few of the names were familiar to me. I know the artist that did these:

 

 At the Central Art Walk last year, I bought a piece from the person that did these:

 

 

The one I own is of a cat walking forward with a rainbow at its back. I keep it in my office at work. Here's proof:

 We went to this right after I did my colour contrast experiments using bird images. So I was amused to see these

 

 

Obviously there's a lot more going on in these works, but still, there's a bluejay, a cardinal, and a humming bird! Which were my three favourites when I was trying them out.

 By the way, since I was adding equal parts of each colour in my previous demonstration, I decided to go back and do these:

One on the left is a hand-mixed purple, one in the centre is pre-mixed, and one on the right is blue. I did this because according to the primary colours of pigment, yellow is contrasted by purple, whereas for the primaries of light, it's blue. I showed Lee-Anne my sketchbook and asked her to choose which hummingbird she liked best. She chose the one on the left. I showed them to her on my phone, and she chose the one on the right. So it may be that preference is chosen based on the medium something is delivered.

Although I know I've made purples that translate better to a screen. For example:

 

I also wanted to mention that in my Colour Theory post, the guy in the second video screws up in a fairly sizeable way. The colour wheel he gives has white in the centre, meaning its for light, but he's talking about, and later demonstrates for pigment. You can tell that the gamut he shows on the chart for red-yellow-blue would be incapable of making green, which is obviously false. So pthalo green is not some miracle hue capable of unlocking a quarter of all possible colours. It's still nice.

Anyway, the disAbility Art Gallery was cool. A lot of the art had something to do with personal experience. One of them made their piece out of doctor's notes. One of them included an abandoned project that they were unable to complete due to a medical emergency. There's one that was made by a person when they were recovering from stroke. There were depictions of being misaligned or standing out in public settings due to feeling like they can't fit in.

That weekend we also went to a neighbourhood bread bake. There is an outdoor wood-burning oven in one of the community gardens, and once a month people gather to use it. I kept it simple with standard white bread loaves. I haven't been baking much lately, and was disappointed by how little they rose. Maybe the yeast was just old. It did turn into edible, serviceable bread.

Colour Theory

 I recently watched a video that blew my mind. It asserted that red is not a primary colour

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYW9GoDbPE0

The reasoning she gives is that you can't actually make a vibrant purple by mixing blue and red. To achieve this colour you need to use the actual primaries, which she says are cyan and magenta.

And of course they're cyan and magenta! Think of a printer!

But how can this be? I grew up with the Red, Blue, Yellow (RBY) system. It's what I've been using all my life. Yet, I know for a fact that I've made purple before. Case in point:

 

In our public schools, RBY is what we're taught. Even in university, I took a beginner art class and they used this system. However, I went through my paints and found a tube that I got back then, and the "red" I was given was actually magenta. So they likely were practicing Cyan, Magenta, Yellow (CMY) but using outdated terms.

 I made a colour gamut comparing the two systems:

 

 

Some interesting takes here. It feels absolutely bonkers to mix magenta, which my eye perceives as red, with yellow and to get another shade of red instead of orange. I assume that if you wanted orange using CMY, you'd just add more yellow.

Cyan, despite looking similar to blue, immediately evoked in me the image of a pocket where a pen has exploded. This made me realize that "blue" pens use the same colour ink that printers do. Makes sense but I never thought about it. Red pens likely use magenta.

Indeed, red and blue make grey, while magenta and cyan, after lightening, make a kind of pale purple. So CMY wins that particular competition.

HOWEVER! You'll notice that beneath the colour wheel, I did the unholy thing and mixed the two systems. And the combination of magenta and blue made a more vibrant purple than staying pure to either.

So blue, you're still on the team. Red, you are out! It also makes sense that when these discussions come up, people always choose to beef with red but not blue. The CMY folks secretly know that blue still has utility.

But then I watched another video on the topic.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcr9K0BcN2s

This guy pulls up a colour wheel and draws a triangle between each set of three, showing the capacity of each system. Indeed, CMY creates a wider variety than RBY, however, there are still combinations that the latter can do but the former cannot. He mentions that CMY is particularly bad at making darker skin tones. Printers are racist, I guess. 

He suggests burnt umber if you want to paint people, which is why the very bottom of my colour gamut is dedicated to it.

 He also says that it's impossible to recreate the exact shade of red using CMY. You can make a decent approximation, but you can't replicate it. It makes sense now that the CMY folks often say that mixing magenta and yellow creates a "better" red than the one on the traditional colour wheel. If it's "better", then you have failed to recreate it,

So if you're definition of a primary colour is that it can't be made with a combination of others, then both red and magenta are primary. Indeed, if this is the logic we're using, then there are simply more primaries than some of us are willing to admit.

But all of this was not the most fascinating part of the discussion for me. The colour wheel he pulls up is round, and three points make a triangle. This leaves almost and entire quarter of the wheel untouched! How do I access those mysterious colours?

He answers that question. If you want to reach over to that side of things, your best bet is something called pthalo green.

I made a colour gamut for this secret king of its quadrant:

 

 

Mixing it with magenta gets a sort of purple, while red makes grey again. Even if it's primary, red has far less application than I thought.

The takeaway he gives is that, if you can only choose three colours, CMY gives the widest variety. But there's lots it can't do and you don't have that limit. He goes over the pallets of great artists and I think the number he says is that they all have between 9-13 colours, most with over ten. 

I still wanted to see how the two systems compared when using contrasting colours. So I doodled some birds.

 

 

These aren't necessarily supposed to be good, they're just colour experiments. I used roughly even amounts of each colour when mixing for contrast. Exception is the green parakeet, where I used three tones of the same colour. The wings and head are the even blend.

I could have shown the same dignity to the canaray. Obviously could have given it more love.

I had to look up "most purple bird", which turned out to be something called Costa's Hummingbird:

 

Obviously my versions didn't come out nearly that vibrant, but I needed to stay true to the experiment. If I was really aiming to do it justice, I would have used magenta, blue, and white. Or just a premix.

And all this to say, these rules only apply to the primary colours of pigment. I believe this is called additive colour theory, in which combining everything results in black. This contrasts with the primary colours of light, or subtractive colour theory, in which combining everything creates white.

I'm pretty sure that a computer screen uses the primary colours of light, so everything I've shown in this post is still only an approximation!

The primary colours of light are red, blue, and green. So if the primaries of pigment are cyan, magenta, and yellow, that means there are no overlapping colours between them! Bonkers. 

Garden 2026

Last week Lee-Anne and I put in our garden.  In the past, we've gone to Wal Mart for our plants, but since then we've become aware of a local nursery. It feels nicer to support a small business, doesn't require an awkward trip over the light rail, the plants are healthy and they have a nice selection. Their seedlings are a little further along than they have been when we've gone to Wal Mart.

It's been an uncommonly cool May. The actual day that we planted was hot to the point that I wore shorts. and we had our first barbecue. But now it's cold and rainy again.

We didn't shake things up too much. As far as vegetables, we're doing tomatoes, bell peppers, zuchinis, peas, sunflowers, lettuce, and parsley. Since we did so well with the sunflowers last year when Lee-Anne took the lead, I'm stepping away from it this year as well. I don't know if I'll bother counting the blossoms at the end of the season. Since last year was so good, I think we can take it as a complete success, so we'll just try to replicate it. 

Lee-Anne's also taking on most of the responsibility for the herbs and decorative flowers. We didn't have much luck with lettuce last year but we started from seed. This time we got them partially grown so maybe that will make a difference.

 

Last year we tried a bell pepper for the first time and it was successful, so we're more evenly distributing room between them and tomatoes. 

As for the tomatoes, we just got Early Girls this year as usual. They produce quickly, which has been my answer to an issue that I've had where the crop comes late and stays green by the end of the season. However, I've since learned to remove the suckers, which has helped a lot and I would have been okay to try a larger, slower tomato. But Lee-Anne likes the Early Girls and didn't feel the desire to try something different, so we're sticking with what has been reliable.

 

We're trying the zuchinis directly in the ground this year. In the past we've grown them in trays, but Lee-Anne wanted to plant the sunflowers in a place where they face into the yard, so the Zuchinis can take the spot that they used to have. And the tray that they used to occupy can be allotted to peas.

 

 

Tulips have come and mostly gone this year. Lot of activity from our bulbs in the front yard but it's not clear that the hostas our neighbour gave us have had any activity. Apparently they still have a good chance.

We have two large terracotta pots from my mother and brother's old place. They grew Morning Glories in them to a high level of success, so I'm doing the same. I got blue for one, red for the other.

Last year Lee-Anne tried a flower assortment but one type really dominated. This time we've dedicated a pot to the one that did best. I don't remember the name, but here it is.

Last year for Christmas, my mother in law got me a bird bath. We've installed it this season, and the rain has filled it for us. 

 

I haven't noticed any birds using it, but it has developed a collection of  what I presume to be deshelled snail bodies. Slug like things with spiral shapes but no hard outer layer. 

Indoors, I'm propogating a bunch of succulents. Recently, there has been some staff changes where I work. Someone went to a different team, and someone that used to be with us came back. Confusing funding reasons for why this happened. So I decided that I wanted to give them both succulents as a going away present. I also wanted to give one to my brother as a housewarming gift.

I have two of these plants. One of them came from Lee-Anne's grandmother's farmhouse. The other I got about seven years back, near to when my career started. They were propagated by someone that worked at the main office, and it just so happened that when she gave them out it was my birthday. Since then, mine is the only one that has survived. 

Although that might not continue to be true. This year I noticed that it wasn't drinking as much, and little bits were beginning to go bad. Thinking that it might be root rot, I cut away the unhealthy looking parts and from those sections, harvested from them what appeared to still be good. Those are the pieces I've been trying to propogate. I also switched the soil in the plant pot, thinking it might have become non-nutritive over the years.

It's been a few months and the main plant looks healthy but is still drinking slowly. The cuttings seem thirstier and have put out roots. Of course, it's slow going and I haven't felt confident to give them out as gifts. Another one of my coworkers is switching roles in a couple of weeks, so I'll give them out then, even if they're still small. 

They Got the Couches

I mentioned recently that the cleaners for my mother and brother's old apartment made good on delivering their "recoverable" items to their new location.  This saved a lot of effort on our part in organizing a move, and they did a more professional job of it than we could have hoped to achieve. For the most part, this completed their living space. They got cookwear, bookshelves, hard-surface furniture, art, and books. But they were missing soft furniture.

The cleaners had said they could "do their best" with what they deemed "non-recoverable", and deliver it. My brother had put in a request for a couch and armchair. It might have been strategic to just get reimbursed for these and purchase new versions of them, but they were from Lee-Anne's grandmother's farmhouse. They were older than my mom and so it's unlikely that they could find a suitable replacement.

Despite the cleaners initially saying they would put in the effort to deliver them, there had been a few complications since. Asbestos had been discovered, and the people brought in for that were not the same as everyone else. Tenants lost access to their units and in the meanwhile, items were bagged and categorized.

Here are some pics of the old building and apartment stripped for asbestos. 

 

It was easy to imagine that offering to move the furniture was a generosity offered before all this happened. Plus, after delivering the initially considered "recoverable" items, they might feel soured on doing a second trip. 

And yet, the offer had been made through recorded channels, so they couldn't quite say no either. One day, my brother got a message from them, saying that they were ready to move the items. And they did. Maybe they wanted to work on the rest of the unit and complying with the request was just the easiest thing that they could do.

I know that I keep saying this or that item will "complete" their unit, but they still need a TV. My brother has ordered one, arriving Monday. As well as soft furniture, lots of electronics were not considered recoverable.

Also, when I inventoried our art in a previous post, I failed to note that one of my aunts did lose a piece in the fire. A framed painting of a flower vase.

 I'm still discovering things that they recovered. For example, they now have a stuffed Eeyore that none of us remember. Maybe it got mixed in from a different unit somehow.

Also, we got this back:

 

The Zwibble Dibble! 

Talk about something that was once very important to me, that sparks a ton of memories but of which I was unlikely to ever think about again had it not shown up. This might be the oldest stuffed animal I have. I thought it might come from our place in Toronto, where I lived only until I was three, but Mom thinks it came from the place after. Still, old enough that it comes from an era when my ability to form memories was still in development.

This is the Star Touched Dinosaur Zwibble Dibble. When I told Lee-Anne its name she asked "Is that a Pokemon?" I don't blame her, because on my first attempt at Googling (I accidentally called it "Dwibble Zibble", silly of me) I only got results for the Pokemon Dwebble.

But its from an old series of children's books from the 80s about environmentalism. You can listen to a person read them to you on YouTube:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDqoobE4goo

Otherwise, both Mother's Day and my mom's birthday have passed. Those two things are very conveniently set close to each other. I gave her a physical copy of my Gryphood blog, and a curated version of the WALES cookbook.

Found a Ring

One time, before the more recent fire, I was walking over to my mother and brother's place when something caught my eye. I was on my own, it had begun to rain and wind whipped around me. It was dark out and I was walking alongside the bottom of a hill, next to the closed swimming pool. Something shiny glittered from the shadows.

I stepped off my path to inspect this interruption of the night. Pawing through the mud, I extracted what looked like a wedding band.

I wasn't sure what to do. Perhaps someone would realize they had lost it and return. But it wouldn't make sense to wait, exposed to the inhospitable elements under such uncertain terms. There was nowhere to leave it that would be visible yet near to where it was lost.

Looking closer, it appeared to have some kind of inscription. Very difficult to discern under the low light, I nevertheless felt it was somehow familiar. I walked further and beneath a streetlamp confirmed my suspicions. Elvish.

It was the One Ring to Rule Them All.

Of course it wasn't actually. After the success of the movies, it had been an obvious merchandising opportunity to make replicas of the One Ring. You could tell it wasn't real because if it was it would only show Elvish script after being exposed to fire.

But the way I found it felt very cinematic. The One Ring is supposed to find its way back to its master, the Dark Lord Sauron by attracting the attention of people who would wish to possess it. By inducing feelings of greed and power lust, its bearers inevitably fall to ill fortune and so it cannot be truly possessed. In this way it moves from hand to hand until reaching its intended destination.

So here I was, fighting through a bitter storm, and somehow, half-submerged in mud it shot a small glimmer of light at me. Despite the subtlety of the gesture and the discomfort caused by pursuing it, somehow I felt compelled to find the small object.

I like to imagine that someone bought a lot of One Ring replicas and left them in various places where they would feel epic to find.

Or maybe it's the actual article and the person that would commit the arson was attempting to reclaim it.

Maybe he had somehow carried the flames of Mount Doom, the only substance capable of melting its material, and he was actually some manner of hero attempting to prevent the Dark Lord from rising once again.

Anyway, I keep it on my keychain now. I did have someone growl "My preciousssss" at me since then. Someone who shouldn't have known what I had in my pocket, quite oddly. 

The Move is Done

The cleaners made good on their offer to move my family's stuff to the new location. Seeing the pile of non-recoverable items at the old unit made it feel like they weren't going to get much back, but seeing the huge display of boxes at the new place made me wonder what they left behind.

The packing was done in a much neater, more consistent and thorough way than how we did it after the first fire. Much of the bulk of  the moved items turned out to be boxes and packing paper. Once we cleared that out, it looked much less daunting.

Most of the boxes were labeled. One of them had a drawing of a book instead of the word "books". I guess one of the movers had an artistic streak, or it might have been a way to break up the tedium of the day. 

We did indeed retrieve mine and my aunts' paintings unharmed. The only exception was a still life that I'd done of four bell peppers, but that one had less sentimental value than most. I even have a second one in the same theme.

We also lost a print of some birch trees from all the way back at the place I lived five years ago. No one was attached to it though. I got it from a thrift store along with some other random images I thought were vaguely nice. Lee-Anne didn't feel the same and got me to leave behind most of my thrift store art when we moved to where we're at now. The birch trees were just nice enough to get a pass.

But when we got some nicer and more personalized decorations, the print got tucked away. When my family moved to the old apartment, we gave it to them as a house warming gift. After some time, my mother complained that it looked too much like hotel art, and so it got put in their walk-in closet.

When I visited the apartment for the first time after the fire, I thought that the taken items were considered non-recoverable, or at least under consideration, while the stuff still in the unit was intended to be cleaned. I found the birch tree print, but none of the other paintings, which made me think it was the sole survivor. It became a bit of a joke that this piece was immortal, despite no one really wanting it. However, I misunderstood how they were handling things, and it turns out that it's the only wall hanging (other than my bell peppers) that isn't going to make it. That's fine.

They got back most of their cookwear, books, clothing, and hard-surface furniture like bookshelves, tables, and dining room chairs.  For some reason, the cleaners packed an empty pickle jar. I guess they don't know what might have sentimental value.

I found a bunch of old college textbooks and a notebook from Katimavik that I'd never seen at their previous place. They had some stuff that never got unpacked after the first fire, and I guess they were included in that. 

Their place is looking mostly complete. All they're missing is some soft furniture. We requested the couch and arm chair from Lee-Anne's grandmother's. It would just be a shame to lose them since they're older than my mom and they would have survived such a short amount of time after leaving the farmhouse. At one point it was said that they would do their best to clean them and then send them our way, but they've been quiet on the follow up and since they've already done one move, they might not want to make another.

Since they had renters' insurance, they received a cheque to cover the inconvenience of relocating. They'll get another to refund the items that can't be recovered.

Back to Normal

My mother and brother have moved out. I'm not going to give any indication as to where, juuust in case an arsonist is reading this. I doubt it, but after two fires in under a year and a half, despite the causes being quite different and the culprit in the second case being caught, you just can't be too sure. I've never shared an address on here while the person referenced is residing there, but I did give some descriptions of their circumstance relative to us.

They were motivated to move when it was announced that the estimated timeframe for people returning to their units was increased from 3-4 weeks to three months. Just two days ago, because I'm still on their mailing list until the end of April, this was updated to six months from the time of their message. So, including the two that had already passed, this would mean returning a total of eight months after the fire.

Apparently they had people requiring emergency accomodations living in seven different hotels. Now, for those willing to wait to return, they have partnered with another rental agency to take in people for the estimated half-year until their homes are habitable again. Those that are okay with moving will be given priority for properties owned by the company. For people staying with friends and family, they have frozen rent, and people still bound to a lease have been given permission to terminate it early.

So they're being mostly responsible about it all. It's interesting though, I feel like some of the new condo buildings have sprung up in a shorter time period than the estimate for restoration. Lee-Anne said that sometimes, it's cheaper and less labour intensive to destroy a place and build from the ground up. Of course, that's less of an option considering we're talking about people's homes, and Park Place cares at least about its reputation.

I'm happy to update that the paintings I was worried about were declared recoverable, so we should be getting those back. The couch and chair from Lee-Anne's grandmother's were not so lucky, which was the case for most of the furniture. However, the cleaning company said that they can still do their best and then return them. The declaration of "non-recoverable" is mostly to give the owner an option of getting refunded under tenant's insurance.

Although I feel like getting the furniture back might be a little bit more difficult than originally anticipated. We had pretty free access to the unit for awhile, until their hallway got blocked off for removal of asbestos. The people doing that were different than the cleaners, and during that time they bagged up all the non-recoverables in a giant pile. This means we lost our ability to survey the items in the apartment and since then, we've received some emails asking for permission to throw everything out.

I get the impression that someone felt freer to offer us our stuff before it was all bagged, but the asbestos thing has since made it inconvenient to retrieve items. I think they may be legally required to do so though, as they are still asking permission. But without access to the unit, and without being offered a list of what they want to throw out, it's hard to make decisions. My brother has still requested a few items.

To give the cleaners credit, they have offered to do us the great convenience of delivering their items to the new location. This would relieve us of the need to make moving plans. 

My brother moved out first. Mom stuck around with us a little while longer until they could get a bedframe at the new place. This is because her leg is still a little messed up due to breaking it last year. Even having one less person was a relief, as it freed up a room.

Probably my greatest feelings of depression about the situation would spark  in the mornings, while drinking my cup of coffee. It being a time of year when the sun was slow to rise, our apartment would be cast in darkness when I got up for work in the mornings. With someone sleeping in every room, I would have no choice but to return to bed, drinking my coffee in the dark with Lee-Anne sleeping next to me. After my brother left, I was able to go to the room he was staying in and have my beverage with the lights on.

 The cats moved on the same day that my mother did. It's hard to tell how they feel about everything.

Friday the 13th Again

Because February is the only month that is exactly four weeks (except on leap years), this means that all the dates in March are the same except the last three. So the only way to have two Friday the 13s in a row is for the first one to be in February. Which it was this year, same day as the fire.

Yesterday was our second, marking one month since it happened. The weather suited the occasion. After three days of warmth, we were hit by a blizzard. I didn't bring boots or a coat to work because it looked innocent enough when I left.

This was also the last day to fit within the building's original estimate of three to four weeks before residents could move back in. 

The bad luck came, although not as dramatically as last time. We received an update to their estimate saying that it would actually be about three months. Whether that is counting from the event, or from now, was unclear.

My brother's birthday was on the 12th, and that day some people came to clean and deodorize the items still in the apartment. Unfortunately, a few things were considered unrecoverable. Among these were a computer chair and some bar stools. The latter is a little disappointing, as Lee-Anne and I got them new as a housewarming gift for them. They'll be compensated for it by their tenant's insurance, but still.

There were also a list of things considered under review. Among these were some of my paintings. Specifically these ones:

 

It's too bad, as these are sentimental and difficult to replace. They also survived the first fire, which hurts to see them lost in a second one. If they are, we don't know yet.

Lee-Anne and I visited the apartment today. Her family had given my mother and brother a couch and arm chair from the home of Lee-Anne's then recently-deceased grandmother. Those pieces of furniture were sturdy and likely older than my mom. There was no indication whether or not they were considered recoverable.

One funny thing I noticed was that the worker's actually used their whiteboard. To write some series of numbers that I don't know the meaning of. Lee-Anne drew the face of a cat next to it.

Behind a mattress that was set against a wall, I found a piece of paper with a note that just said "NO!". 

A collage of family photos had its frame cracked.

We rescued my brother's cactus and brought it back to our place. It's only just due to be watered and looks no worse for wear. 

They Found the Arsonist

The person that caused the fire at my mother and brother's building has been caught. Here's an article.  

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2026/02/26/arson-charges-laid-for-fire-at-kitchener-apartment-building/

They didn't release a name, but we know it was a 32 year old man. They did include a potentially non-exhaustive list of charges put against him. Most of them seem what you would expect of an arsonist, ie, use of a disguise and tools, disregard for human life etc. The only somewhat interesting detail in there is that he broke probation, meaning that he's likely a repeat offender.

When something like this happens, you always want to know why the person did it. Was it simply for the sensation of creating a huge fire? Was it to impact a large number of people? Was it targeted toward someone in the building, or the company that runs it? We'll likely never find out.

Here's another article, from before he was caught. This one includes a photo of him on the night of the event. I wanted to post the pic directly on here, but I think they protected the image somehow.

 https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/article/police-release-photo-of-person-tied-to-fire-at-kitchener-apartment-building/

 In my initial post on the topic, I mentioned the coincidence of it happening on Friday the 13th. At the time, the fire was considered non-suspicious. Now that we know it was arson, I can't help but think there may have been a bit of human intentionality on choosing that specific date.

The building has been sending us regular updates. Their present estimate is that it will take one or two more weeks before people can move back in. However, that might not be the case for my family, as they said that part of their restoration process is going to include removing pieces of the bathroom and kitchen, including the shower and cabinetry. This is only the case for people living on the first floor, which is where their apartment is.

We have been able to go into the apartment. In the emails, they said we would be able to go in for "supervised visits" which made me think that we would be monitored by staff. But you can just go, sign in and say what unit you're visiting and you can take your time. You just can't hang out or sleep there.

We've been able to get some stuff, like a folding mattress for my brother that he has from the last time he needed to stay with us due to a fire. He was just over, clearing out the bathroom and kitchen as per reccomendation from the building, so that they can do what they need next week. 

Fortunately, one of the requirements for tenancy was renter's insurance. Despite the fact that they didn't need to be provided housing, they're still getting $50 for every day that they're not in the unit. They're also getting reimbursed for the food that needed to be thrown out due to the refrigerators power being cut.

Every tenant is required to have all of their possessions cleaned. They will let us know when they go to our unit, and they encourage one of the resident's to be present while it happens. They're going about this in a relatively respectful way, but it still feels invasive. 

They have a rule against smoking in the building. This fire was like the ultimate chain smoker. 

Year of the Fire Horse

This past February 17 was Lunar New Year, transitioning from the Year of the Wood Snake to that of the Fire Horse. The Chinese Zodiac includes 12 animals and 5 elements. My mother turned 60 in 2025 which means that, for the first time since she was born, it was her animal-element combination. This should have brought great fortune, and things were going pretty well for her, until she got hit by a car, broke her leg, and got chased out of her home due to fire for the second time in a year and a half.

When I was young, maybe around ten, I had this book of Astrology which merged the Western and Eastern variants. In it, it said that the Year of the Fire Horse was considered to be the most intimidating of the 60 combinations. Apparently this was true to the point that people in China would avoid having children during this time, as those offspring would be fated either to greatness or destruction. While the Fire Horse isn't necessarily bad, it tends to evoke a sense of fear moreso than opportunity.

Considering the hardships that my family has undergone and the current state of the world, I would prefer a calm and boring year to a dynamic, high-energy one. 

Here is an article with some details on the fire that occured in my mother and brother's building:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/article/suspicious-fire-set-in-kitchener-parking-garage-police/

In my last update, the incident was considered "not suspicious". However, since then the fire department has conducted an invesitgation and now the most likely cause is thought to be arson. The building is now conducting repairs and clearing out smoke. The damage was more advanced than their previous estimate, and so they're thinking it will be another three to four weeks before residents can move back in.

This building has operated in a much more thoughtful way than the place in Guelph did. They've provided hotel rooms to anyone that wasn't able to stay with friends of family. Now that things are looking to take a little longer than expected, they have upgrading those people to rooms with full kitchen facilities.

Apparently even though the apartments were not considered habitable by humans, they allowed people to keep their pets there. Although now they are saying that people need to find alternative sheltering options for them as they go through the units to clean them individually.

The building advertises itself as pet-friendly. When everyone evacuated, I saw many dogs and cats. I have to wonder what it looked like when they opened up the Social Room in a neighbouring building to shelter the tenants in the wake of the fire. It must have been a zoo in there. I have to imagine that the chances of some animals reacting poorly to each other was high.

Apparently all humans escaped the building in relatively good health. There were two injuries and one person was hospitalized, but is now fine. I wonder if all the pets were similarly fortunate. Articles have not mentioned this, unlike the fire in Guelph, where they did report on the two cat fatalities between the eight living there.

Since the incident, it has occurred to me that there was an additional layer of awkwardness to the situation which thankfully didn't manifest. You might remember that, a few years ago I facilitated de-escalation training to all the firefighters in Kitchener. The chances of them coming in while I was saving the cats, and needing to implement the same training I'd provided for them, on me now in a state of escalation, was non-zero.

It's tough because in neither incident were my mother or brother in any way at fault. They didn't install the air conditioner that exploded on the house in Guelph, and they didn't light the car on fire at their current location. This is gratifying on a moral level, but on the other side of things, it means that there's nothing really to learn and therefor, no way to prevent it from happening again. One might say that the same thing happening to them again is highly unlikely, but when lightning has already struck twice, it seems less improbable. Besides, if we're looking at my network as a whole, this is the third strike. I'll tell that story in a future post.

The first time, they were staying in a low-rent location that was independently owned and poorly maintained. But now they were living in a fairly professional location and it still happened. 

It's difficult to reconcile oneself with the fact that, every night when you fall asleep, you are relying on everyone choosing not to light your house on fire. Because anyone can do it, and there's nothing you can do to prepare. It's hard not to imagine how it would be more difficult to escort my mother with her still-faulty leg up a flight of stairs to get outside, and to evacuate four cats instead of just two.