Widow's Endorphins: Marijuana in Abundance

Widow's Endorphins: Marijuana in Abundance: My Aunt Iris was the daughter of a Greek banker, and grew up in the social swirl of Cairo in the '30s, '40s and '50s.  O...

Marijuana in Abundance

My Aunt Iris was the daughter of a Greek banker, and grew up in the social swirl of Cairo in the '30s, '40s and '50s.  One of her favourite words, was "abundance", and it had nothing to do with money.  I have a vivid recollection of her enthusiasm for the farmers' market in Seattle's Pike Place Market (the ancestral home of Starbucks).  She delighted in the luscious and colourful fruits and vegetables, fish, and cheeses, found "in such abundance!"

There's an almost spiritual moment, when we acknowledge the abundance around us...our blessings.  I am blessed with wonderful people in my life.  Iris was one of my favourite people...

My Dad met Aunt Iris and Uncle Vic in a mining camp in Saudi Arabia, in the years immediately after World War II.  Before returning to Canada, in the early '50s, he would travel with them through France, Italy and England.  Iris, Vic, and Vic's mother (a Russian Comtesse), would later immigrate from the arid Middle East to lush, green East Vancouver, buying property two doors up from my grandparents.  My Grandmother - who loved reading history books and biographies - was blown away by a photo of la Comtesse and her husband, a Russian General, seated by the poolside with Nicholas and Alexandra.  Yes, the Nick and Ali!

For someone who grew up with servants, and going to restaurants, she was an excellent cook.  She was a foodie, before there were foodies.  From her, I learned so much about vegetarianism, organic food, meditation, yoga, astrology, and healing.

Iris always had time for me.  I remember being five years old, and sitting on the wicker chairs of her veranda, feeling so very grown up and ladylike, learning afternoon tea etiquette.  Years later, sitting outside our family tent at an ashram in the Kootenays, she would tell me stories of the elaborate parties her mother would attend in Cairo...and the dresses she would hand sew, letting seams in or out for even the tiniest change in weight.

I always felt so at home in Iris' homes - the one she shared with her husband, and the ones she lived in after her divorce.  She had a wonderful sense of style, combining antiques and Bohemian "hippy" pieces, with art collected from her travels around the world.

She spoke English, French, Italian, Greek, a little Russian, and some Arabic.  Her musical sounding voice, with its laughing lilt, is what I remember whenever I think of her.

On the Westcoast this Summer, in the city by the sea she so loved, I finally met with her granddaughters, my beautiful "cousins" Tamu and Zia, known in Vancouver fashion, film and television circles as the Stolbie Sisters (Zia has done Meghan Markle's hair).

They have their own website, and clothing label:  Stolbiebrand.com  Their slogan is "Stolbie: for the socially a-wear".  They take their commitment to environmental and social issues seriously.  Over lunch at the Vancouver Art Gallery, they asked if I would like to design marijuana leaf inspired clothing, in time for Canada's legalization of cannabis, on October 17th.  Of course I said YES!!!  We three, each had a sense that Iris was present...that this was a full circle moment in our lives.

Who would have thought that a full circle moment would lead to such a run around?  Looking for a marijuana leaf to photograph was an adventure in itself...a trip, as we used to say back in the '60s!  I don't smoke anything, so I sure didn't have any plants on my balcony!  I called the Toronto Botanical Gardens to ask if they had a plant or two to photograph...the guy on the other end of the phone, laughingly admitted that while cannabis is a botanical, they don't grow any!  Next, I nervously called the Toronto Police, explaining my mission.  When the officer stopped laughing, he explained that while marijuana won't be legal until mid October, I would not be arrested for taking pictures.  He couldn't tell me where to find a plant, and suggested I just Google "Dispensaries". 

To save you the trouble, clinics are basically doctors' offices, where you can get a prescription for marijuana.  They don't have plants, not even to pretty up the office.  Dispensaries are like pharmacies, filling those prescriptions.  They dispense the packaged product.  They don't have fresh plants either.  Head shops are like funky kitchen supply places.  They don't have plants either, at least not out front.  You can blow out a lot of birthday candles waiting for some people to call back...

I even went down to Toronto's Kensington Market district, and asked around.  You would have loved to see the expressions on people's faces, when I asked if they knew where I could find a marijuana plant to photograph.  No one - not even the hydroponics guy next to the smokin' living room - had seen a plant.  Do I look like a narc?

The opposite of abundance is scarcity.  Just as I was becoming paranoid about the scarcity of marijuana in Toronto, and whether I'd ever be able to create a marijuana dress design, a Facebook friend invited me to her home.  Nicole is the beautiful mother of a boy who was waiting for a liver transplant at the same time as my late husband was waiting for his.  It's wonderful to see her son thriving!  As a teenager, Nicole had surgery for scoliosis.  She is in severe pain, and medical marijuana is an enormous help - she doesn't have to take opioids, or liver-damaging Tylenol.

I imagined Nicole would have a plant or two on her kitchen windowsill...not the enormous plants growing in her backyard!  Marijuana in abundance!  They're the size of Beefsteak Tomato plants!  I have renamed Woodstock, Ontario - Weedstock!  The leaves were large and healthy, and I photographed whole plants, as well as single, twin, and triple leaves, in both brilliant sunlight, and shadow.

The elongated geometric shape of the cannabis leaf is ideal for clothing design.  Just as marijuana is coming out of the closet, I've designed canna leaf inspired dresses, draped kimonos, belted kimonos, long, flowing peignoirs and other items to fill your closet!   

This has been a harsh and cruel Summer in British Columbia.  Soon after I left the clear, blue skies behind, heavy smoke from wildfires blanketed the province.  There were weeks, when the sun was a coral coloured ball in a smokey grey sky.  Weeks, when the sky appeared to look like sunset...at high noon.  More than 1,252 million hectares of forest have been burned.

This is close to my heart.  It is close to the hearts of Tamu and Zia, too.  For every item purchased on Stolbiebrand.com, one tree will be planted in British Columbia.  I am so proud to be even a small part of the reforestation of BC.  Please support this project, that trees will once again grow, where fire raged.  Abundance!

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Love, Love, Love Lavender!

Widow's Endorphins: Love, Love, Love Lavender!: I know where there are lavender fields, kissed by the sun, and the salt air of the Salish Sea...where gentle breezes carry the sw...

Love, Love, Love Lavender!

I know where there are lavender fields, kissed by the sun, and the salt air of the Salish Sea...where gentle breezes carry the sweet fragrance of lavender on the air.

Rise early, and catch the Horseshoe Bay ferry to Vancouver Island.  In dawn's early light, the mountains and sea are lavender blue.  Breathe deeply.  Relax, and enjoy the journey.

   

Travel South from Nanaimo's Departure Bay ferry terminal, to Vancouver Island's verdant Cowichan Valley. known as the "Provence of Canada".  There, you'll find Damali Lavender Farm and Winery in Cobble Hill.   

There are 25 different varieties of lavender grown on the farm.  It is a sensual pleasure to walk through the colourful fields.  The soft, soothing scent of lavender surrounds you, and there's a gentle humming of bees.  

  

Lavender grown on the farm is used in essential oils, soaps and lotions.  Lavender is often found in recipes from the Provence region of France, including Ratatouille, a rich tomato-based eggplant and zucchini casserole.  Island chefs use the farm's lavender in scones, lavender shortbread cookies, lavender lemon loaf, lavender lemon icecream, and lavender chocolate ganache.

Soon, the farm will produce its own lavender honey.  Bee hives were placed on the property just this year, and the honey had not yet been harvested, when my charming companion and I visited the farm.

There's a vineyard too, and a winery in what was once an old barn.  Damali Winery planted it's first vines more than a dozen years ago.  Then, in 2011, the winery produced its first wines.  The grapes they've planted are Cabernet Libre, Castel, Siegerrebe, and Pinot Noir.

They also grow blackberries, raspberries, black currants, and rhubarb - all of which are used to make the fruit wines which carry the Damali label.  I loved the Rhube Lavande, a light, and refreshing rhubarb wine, with a lemony tang, that is perfect on a hot, Summer day!  The lavender naturally  sweetens the rhubarb, and the rhubarb gives the wine a delicate coral pink colour. 

The farm has a licensed picnic area, and invites guests to BYOP (bring your own picnic).  Bon appetit!  The farm is in and of itself, a feast for the eyes! 

  

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Home

Widow's Endorphins: Home: The Westcoast of Canada is more beautiful than I remembered!  After nearly three decades in Quebec, and Ontario, coming home to Va...

Home

The Westcoast of Canada is more beautiful than I remembered!  After nearly three decades in Quebec, and Ontario, coming home to Vancouver and Vancouver Island, was a gift to my heart and soul.  The photograph above, was taken atop Burnaby Mountain, about a mile and a half from where I grew up, and near the terminus of the controversial oil pipeline expansion. The mountains and sea are part of me...an eternal part of me. 

I arrived in mid-July, long before the smoke from wildfires blanketed the coast.  What I noticed immediately, was the air.  The air is fresh.  It has a lightness of being, even on a hot Summer day.  Walking along the seashore, or standing on a pier, the smell of the salt air and creosote-soaked timbers, brings back memories of my youth and childhood.  'Twas as if I'd never been away.

But, I had been.  I hugged old friends I hadn't seen in thirty, thirty-five, even forty-five years:  soulful, deep hugs, to make up for the lost decades.  Lifetimes have passed.  New generations have grown up to have children of their own.  Yet, we picked up our conversations as if we had just seen each other the day before.  It felt so good to be with each of them once more: women I went to highschool with, co-workers from my days in broadcasting, old friends and new friends.  Sometimes we'd talk late into the night, and other times, just enjoyed the quiet.  It's great to be around someone you can just sit with, without having to say anything.  I already miss them all so much, and can't wait to return...home.

The Westcoast is often referred to as the, "wet coast", due to the abundance of rain throughout the year.  During my three weeks there, there were blue skies and sunshine almost every day, so I had a clear view of the mountains.  The Sleeping Giant, is the Indigenous name for the mountain formation created by the outline of Grouse Mountain, Mount Seymour, and other mountains on the North Shore.  She really does look like a giant, on her back, in a deep sleep. I say, "she" because she's also known as the Sleeping Princess, and Sleeping Beauty.

Sailboats and freighters have long shared the waters of English Bay...even making way for kayaks.  The vessel in the foreground carries a bright red sign, protesting the expansion of the oil pipeline, and tanker traffic that will pass through these waters, en route to the Salish Sea.   These beaches are ground zero for environmental activism...Greenpeace was born here.  

Everyone told me that the city - indeed, the whole Lower Mainland - had dramatically changed in thirty years.  I didn't recognize my old neighbourhood!  Everything was new to me.  Yet, I felt at home everywhere I went. 

Whole communities of sparkling highrise condos, and office towers, have emerged along the Skytrain light rapid transit routes.  Everyone wants to live in Vancouver!  Housing is a serious issue, and one which everyone talks about.  Vancouver is an expensive city inwhich to live, due in large measure to housing prices.  Many have sold their homes, and moved outside the Lower Mainland.  As a result, housing prices elsewhere in the Province, have also climbed significantly over the years.    

My Great Grandfather was a ship's Captain and Pilot in Portrush, Northern Ireland.  His seafaring youngest son, "abandoned ship", and headed for the gold fields of Northern Ontario, and later took his pregnant bride to the Pacific coast city of Vancouver, British Columbia, where my Dad was born.  Our family roots in Vancouver go back to the early 1920's - which is nothing, compared with the ten thousand year history of  Indigenous people on the Westcoast.

I am Quebecois, and Irish, yet the art of the Westcoast Haida, Nootka, and Coast Salish is part of my culture.  An adopted part of my culture.  I've missed the presence of totems, and carvings.  They are a proud part of the artistic and cultural landscape of British Columbia.  The grand works of art are displayed for all the world to see, in parks, airports, and ferry terminals...where this fellow mirrored a pre-caffinated me, waiting for the really, really, really early morning ferry to Nanaimo's Departure Bay, on Vancouver Island.

Strangely, I've become enamoured with another kind of totem, carved from BC timbers:  the iconic telephone pole!  Though I once considered them industrial eyesores, I've grown to love them.  They're everywhere in Vancouver:  leaning in back alleys (another uniquely Vancouver feature), and along the streets of older neighbourhoods.  My heart leapt when I saw them again!

Blackberries!  I'd forgotten about the wild blackberries growing around those telephone poles, and along roadside ditches and rural fences.  There's nothing as deliciously Summer, as sun-sweetened blackberries...except, maybe crab and prawns fresh off the fishing boats of Steveston!

   

 

The Salish Sea splashes the shores of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, as well as Vancouver on the Mainland of British Columbia.  Fishing trawlers, tugboats, freighters, ferries and sailboats ply its salt waters, anchoring in the open waters, or tying up dockside at a marina.  The vessels are beautiful to photograph, with both graphic angles and sweeping curves - much like the lines in Coast Salish, Nootka and Haida art of the Westcoast.   

If you're thinking of Pete Seeger's '60s folksong, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?... this is after all, a floral photography blog (flowers and photography being my endorphins) - I'm getting there...eventually.   When I wasn't pointing my camera at the sea and mountains, I did take photos of flowers, which I'll share in upcoming blogposts...the Westcoast is the home of Flower Power!

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.