Today I took my bike down to the swamp near my house... here's what I found there....
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Radio Gaga
EMC Editorial - What's your favourite local radio station? These days, there are certainly enough of them to choose from.
I've done a lot of moving to and from Kingston over the last decade, and have witnessed many changes in my hometown over those years. To my mind, though, few things have transformed so dramatically as the greatly diversified musical selection that can now be found on local airwaves.
For a while, it seemed like every time I'd come home from university for a weekend a new radio station had emerged. While some of them seemed to fold just as quickly, I think it's interesting how we in the Limestone City have gone from having perhaps three or four radio stations 20 years ago, to nearly a dozen quality choices today.
I distinctly recall two main stations from my childhood - 1380 CKLC and Oldies 960 - that we seemed to listen to all the time in my family's car. The former was basically a pop station with a substantial dose of early '90s cheese - lots of "been around the world and I-I-I....I can't find my baby" and "walking on, walking on broken gla-ass" - that sort of thing.
The latter featured the sort of '50s and '60s bubblegum music that is simply delightful to the ears of an eight-year-old girl, and I would have a ball singing along to The Archies, Roy Orbison and Manfred Mann. Often they would play some of the earlier tunes by my dad's and my favourite band, The Beatles, and we would get all excited and crank up the volume.
I think there was a country station in those days too, but my parents would have none of that.
As I approached my teenage years, it seemed more and more stations began popping up from all the different cities around Kingston. There was one from Watertown that my friends and I used to listen to called Z-Rock. It played a lot of Smashing Pumpkins, Cake, Pearl Jam, etc., but rarely came in without a good deal of static. It was always such a treat when we actually got to listen to it without straining our ears.
Another favourite was the top 40 station The Border, which used to come in on both 102.7 and 106.7 FM. Today, of course, it can only be found on the latter frequency. In fact, The Border may well be the region's only surviving radio station from those days, although I can't remember exactly when 98.3 Fly FM came into the picture - it could have been around that time as well.
Then there was the Brockville-based station called The River that played some great classic rock like Queen and CCR. Unfortunately, it also played a boatload of Rush and '80s hair metal, which meant that it was usually not the station of choice for my crowd.
Notably, however, none of these stations were actually based out of Kingston. Compare that to today, where we can find everything from Frank Sinatra to Rage Against the Machine broadcast right here in our own backyard.
More often than not, my own dial can be found on either The Drive, Fly FM or - I'm not ashamed to say it - The Lake. Even though I was born in the mid-'80s, that station never fails to make me nostalgic for the '70s, if that doesn't demonstrate the power of the music they play, I don't know what does. I'm also not ashamed to say that I absolutely adore the standards, and was over the moon when I realized we have a station that will play them.
As for my other two favourites, perhaps they indicate that my tastes have not evolved quite as much over the years as I sometimes claim they have. After all, I still crank up the volume whenever a Beatles song comes on.
I've done a lot of moving to and from Kingston over the last decade, and have witnessed many changes in my hometown over those years. To my mind, though, few things have transformed so dramatically as the greatly diversified musical selection that can now be found on local airwaves.
For a while, it seemed like every time I'd come home from university for a weekend a new radio station had emerged. While some of them seemed to fold just as quickly, I think it's interesting how we in the Limestone City have gone from having perhaps three or four radio stations 20 years ago, to nearly a dozen quality choices today.
I distinctly recall two main stations from my childhood - 1380 CKLC and Oldies 960 - that we seemed to listen to all the time in my family's car. The former was basically a pop station with a substantial dose of early '90s cheese - lots of "been around the world and I-I-I....I can't find my baby" and "walking on, walking on broken gla-ass" - that sort of thing.
The latter featured the sort of '50s and '60s bubblegum music that is simply delightful to the ears of an eight-year-old girl, and I would have a ball singing along to The Archies, Roy Orbison and Manfred Mann. Often they would play some of the earlier tunes by my dad's and my favourite band, The Beatles, and we would get all excited and crank up the volume.
I think there was a country station in those days too, but my parents would have none of that.
As I approached my teenage years, it seemed more and more stations began popping up from all the different cities around Kingston. There was one from Watertown that my friends and I used to listen to called Z-Rock. It played a lot of Smashing Pumpkins, Cake, Pearl Jam, etc., but rarely came in without a good deal of static. It was always such a treat when we actually got to listen to it without straining our ears.
Another favourite was the top 40 station The Border, which used to come in on both 102.7 and 106.7 FM. Today, of course, it can only be found on the latter frequency. In fact, The Border may well be the region's only surviving radio station from those days, although I can't remember exactly when 98.3 Fly FM came into the picture - it could have been around that time as well.
Then there was the Brockville-based station called The River that played some great classic rock like Queen and CCR. Unfortunately, it also played a boatload of Rush and '80s hair metal, which meant that it was usually not the station of choice for my crowd.
Notably, however, none of these stations were actually based out of Kingston. Compare that to today, where we can find everything from Frank Sinatra to Rage Against the Machine broadcast right here in our own backyard.
More often than not, my own dial can be found on either The Drive, Fly FM or - I'm not ashamed to say it - The Lake. Even though I was born in the mid-'80s, that station never fails to make me nostalgic for the '70s, if that doesn't demonstrate the power of the music they play, I don't know what does. I'm also not ashamed to say that I absolutely adore the standards, and was over the moon when I realized we have a station that will play them.
As for my other two favourites, perhaps they indicate that my tastes have not evolved quite as much over the years as I sometimes claim they have. After all, I still crank up the volume whenever a Beatles song comes on.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Spring Cleansing
EMC Editorial - For several years now, I have witnessed numerous friends and blogging colleagues extol the virtues of juice cleansing. Basically, this entails subsisting on juice alone for several days while your body expels all the unnecessary "toxins" it acquires by way of your regular diet.
I never thought of myself as a person who would be a good candidate for such an endeavour. As a self-diagnosed hypoglycaemic and one who leans more toward living to eat than eating to live, the idea of a juice cleanse always seemed a little far-fetched for my lifestyle.
Last week, however, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to take the plunge. It also helped that after nearly a month's worth of too much wine, way too much chocolate and candy, and a downright appalling amount of coffee, I had had about enough of the resulting insomnia and brain fog, and was willing to try just about anything to rid myself of all the badness.
After doing some research online, I decided on a three-day cleanse from a Toronto-based company. I was quite impressed by the efficiency with which the juice was delivered right to my door the day before I began, and was surprised to find myself excited to start cleansing.
Day one on the cleanse crept by at a snail's pace, as I found myself constantly looking at the clock wondering when the first hunger pangs would set in. Strangely enough, they never did. The juice I drank diligently every three hours seemed enough to keep me satiated, and although I did long to have some of the delicious-smelling food my husband made for dinner, I did not desire it for hunger's sake.
It helped that the juice itself was actually quite tasty. That said, I am one of those weird people who regularly enjoy green juices and smoothies, so the cucumber, celery and kale juice you're required to drink at meal times was probably not as much of a chore for me as it might be for some. However, it's hard to imagine anyone not liking the maple syrup-sweetened lemonade with cayenne you have mid-morning and again in the afternoon. Admittedly, the cashew milk they have you drink before bed tastes a bit like chalk, but overall it's not that bad.
Days two and three passed in much the same way, albeit with slightly more delirium and fatigue in the evenings. On the second day, I made the mistake of going for a run after work, which no doubt contributed to these feelings. I tend to get a little antsy if I'm not able to get up and move around every few hours, and it's a difficult task to park myself on the couch all night long.
The most unpleasant part of the three days for me, though, was without question the absence of coffee from the juice cleanse menu. I'm a little embarrassed to fully disclose the tender age at which I began drinking coffee. Let's just say it was well over a decade ago. The first day of the cleanse was the first day in recent memory that I did not have at least two cups of coffee. I'm not going to lie - it was hard. A dull headache began at about noon each day, and lasted until bedtime. It was not so bad, however, that I was wasn't able to function properly. Thankfully, you're permitted to have a small amount of green tea, which supplied at least some caffeine.
Nevertheless, contrary to how days usually go for me, mornings during the juice cleanse were by far the times when I felt my best. I was also tired when it was time to go to bed - a rare and wonderful phenomenon.
Happily, these trends seem to be continuing in the days following my return to solid food, and I really do feel healthier, lighter and more clear-minded. My husband insists it's all in my imagination, but what does he know?
I never thought of myself as a person who would be a good candidate for such an endeavour. As a self-diagnosed hypoglycaemic and one who leans more toward living to eat than eating to live, the idea of a juice cleanse always seemed a little far-fetched for my lifestyle.
Last week, however, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to take the plunge. It also helped that after nearly a month's worth of too much wine, way too much chocolate and candy, and a downright appalling amount of coffee, I had had about enough of the resulting insomnia and brain fog, and was willing to try just about anything to rid myself of all the badness.
After doing some research online, I decided on a three-day cleanse from a Toronto-based company. I was quite impressed by the efficiency with which the juice was delivered right to my door the day before I began, and was surprised to find myself excited to start cleansing.
Day one on the cleanse crept by at a snail's pace, as I found myself constantly looking at the clock wondering when the first hunger pangs would set in. Strangely enough, they never did. The juice I drank diligently every three hours seemed enough to keep me satiated, and although I did long to have some of the delicious-smelling food my husband made for dinner, I did not desire it for hunger's sake.
It helped that the juice itself was actually quite tasty. That said, I am one of those weird people who regularly enjoy green juices and smoothies, so the cucumber, celery and kale juice you're required to drink at meal times was probably not as much of a chore for me as it might be for some. However, it's hard to imagine anyone not liking the maple syrup-sweetened lemonade with cayenne you have mid-morning and again in the afternoon. Admittedly, the cashew milk they have you drink before bed tastes a bit like chalk, but overall it's not that bad.
Days two and three passed in much the same way, albeit with slightly more delirium and fatigue in the evenings. On the second day, I made the mistake of going for a run after work, which no doubt contributed to these feelings. I tend to get a little antsy if I'm not able to get up and move around every few hours, and it's a difficult task to park myself on the couch all night long.
The most unpleasant part of the three days for me, though, was without question the absence of coffee from the juice cleanse menu. I'm a little embarrassed to fully disclose the tender age at which I began drinking coffee. Let's just say it was well over a decade ago. The first day of the cleanse was the first day in recent memory that I did not have at least two cups of coffee. I'm not going to lie - it was hard. A dull headache began at about noon each day, and lasted until bedtime. It was not so bad, however, that I was wasn't able to function properly. Thankfully, you're permitted to have a small amount of green tea, which supplied at least some caffeine.
Nevertheless, contrary to how days usually go for me, mornings during the juice cleanse were by far the times when I felt my best. I was also tired when it was time to go to bed - a rare and wonderful phenomenon.
Happily, these trends seem to be continuing in the days following my return to solid food, and I really do feel healthier, lighter and more clear-minded. My husband insists it's all in my imagination, but what does he know?
P.S. I broke the cleanse with a delicious vegan gluten-free cupcake from the new local bakery Nessie Cakes. You can read my feature on Nessie here!
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