Mourning the passing of an old friend

One of our oldest (5 years) freshwater fish passed away this Thursday. He was our favorite. Not only was he beautiful but he was a character.

He didn't have an official name but he has an amazing story. We affectionately called him Blue or "the blind guy". He was an electric blue African cichlid and one of the very first fish Diego and I bought together. The story starts when Diego and I moved in together in May 2003. I already had 3 fish tanks but we wanted one of our own...one we started together (so cute!). So we started a "colony" of African cichlids in a 30 gal tank. He was the most beautiful and had a quiet rule over the others. Some males would arise and challenge his dominance but never did his rule falter. Fish came and went but he remained a dominant fixture of our colony. He fathered many young, which he and the other promptly ate when the mother spewed them from her protective hold in her mouth.

Then in September 2003, Hurricane Juan hit and devastated Halifax. We were without power for 9 days. Every day Diego and I would come home and warm up water on the BBQ to keep all our fish at a balmy 12 degrees C. This is definitely at the lower limit of most aquarium fishes thresholds, they are tropical and prefer something around 24 degrees C! We lost 25% of our fish. Luckily we did not have any marine tanks, they would not have survived! All of our older fish died, except the young ones in the colony, including Blue. The colony was moved up into a 75 gal and new mates were added.

Then one day we noticed that Blue had swollen eyes, was beat up and cowering in a corner. He had an eye infection called "pop" eye...so we moved him into a hospital tank and treated him. A day after his return to the colony, he was again beat up and cowering in a corner. After feeding the colony and watching Blue's attempts to eat we realized that he was BLIND!!! We immediately transferred him to a home with less aggressive friends, he moved in with our angelfish. Henceforth he was known as the blind guy to most (or Blue to us).

I had to hand feed him and eventually he learned to detect and catch pellets that floated on the surface. He also had to memorize his surroundings. For the first couple of weeks he ran into everything! Eventually, he knew where every piece of driftwood was and he could stop on a dime before running into the glass. He could even give chase to the angels and give them little love nips on the fins!

As if that wasn't enough, when we went away one Christmas our furnace stopped working and when our house sitter came back from a week at his folks the inside temperature was no more than 4 degrees C and he found an apartment full of dying fish...poor guy! We lost 70% of our freshwater fish that time and all of Blue's tank-mates perished. That was 2 years ago. He died peacefully on Thursday morning.

I watched him grow from a juvenile with no colours into a magnificent male. I saw him suffer through moments of cold, pain and confusion. He overcame it all and persevered. His strength and sheer will to live inspired me and others. Many of my friends to whom I tell his story never thought a fish could learn or had memory and most of them did not believe me until they met him... The complexity of fishes never ceases to amaze me. He will be missed.

Warm Winter Glow

I am working from home today and this is what I saw on my kitchen table when I turned to get a cup of tea.
The afternoon sun shining on my bunch of yellow tulips. The yellow glow makes me feel warm and happy. So, I thought I would share a little warmth on this cold winter day in NS (-19C in Halifax).
Happy Tuesday!

Weekend of Celebration!

After having had a busy week full of computer work, I decided to boycott my computer and celebrate other people's achievements...as well as my own...my meeting went well and I am set to move forward with my research!!!!

It was my friend Alessandra's 28th b-day on Friday. She threw herself a party and cooked amazing Italian food! We celebrated until the wee hours of the morning. : )

Saturday, we celebrated out friend Roberto (from Mexico) who just got his Canadian Citizenship! Way to Go Roberto!! So we had an afternoon celebration with his family of 4 and friends! Thank goodness they have little ones and we left relatively early (10:30 ish). We were pooped from our night of carousing on Friday! We came home a snuggled up to an episode of The Jacques Cousteau Odyssey (my x-mas gift to Diego!).

Sunday, the sun was out and we were well rested and decided to head out into the wilderness! We went to hike the Salt Marsh Trail in Cole Harbour, NS. It was sooo cold! It was amazing to see the ocean frozen over along the shoreline!

Although dressed for the weather, it was cold enough to chase us back to the car after an hour.

This week in my organic veg box I received an eggplant. I have never really cooked eggplant outside of ratatouille before...so Alessandra invited me over to learn an Italian recipe that resembles a lasagna, except you use eggplant instead of noodles. It was delicious.

Here is what she taught me.

Wash two medium sized eggplants and slice into rounds. Spread them our on the cutting board and sprinkle with salt. This gets rid of any bitterness. Then to prepare the tomato sauce, get a medium sized sauce pan and fry a large chopped onion in a generous amount of olive oil. Take a large can of organic whole tomatoes and blend until smooth in the blender. Pour the tomatoes into the sauce pan with the onions once they are beginning to brown. Add three pinches of salt and two of baking soda. This removes the really acid taste of the tomatoes, it works better than adding some sugar. While the sauce is cooking, cut thin strips of soft mozzarellla cheese (we used 340g Silani brand mozza) and grate some parmesan (200g of fresh grated). Once the flavour of the baking soda has faded away the sauce is ready. First take a large glass baking dish (or any dish you use to make lasagna) and drizzle the bottom with olive oil. Add a layer of slightly overlapping eggplant to form a bed and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Laddle on some sauce, we used 2 laddle-fuls per layer, then divide your cheese into 3 portions. Each layer of cheese doe not have to cover all of the eggplant and sauce, the chees will melt throughout. Repeat until you have finished the three layers. You can more cheese to the top layer if you like a thick cap on top. We put the same amount in all layers and it covered it all just fine. Bake at 425F for 40 min or until the eggplant is soft. Serve with a salad and some lovely red wine!! Delicious!!

Hope you all had a great Monday! : >

Comforting Image(s)

This is the last day of Comfort week and I want to say THANKS to Sherrieg for organizing it! I have met so many wonderful people, got to learn about them and share my comforts, thoughts and feelings!

As the last installment of comfort week we have to select an image that brings us comfort and as with most things I cannot decide...

So here are two images I find very comforting:

This is a view of the surface of the ocean, taken while laying on the bottom. This was at one of my study sites along the coast of Nova Scotia in 2007. It reminds me of the peace and serenity I feel while I am under the surface.

The other is delicious Mexican Tacos!!!

These are called rajas con crema or sliced poblano chilis and onions, fried until tender then doused in cream...on a handmade corn tortilla! mmmmm...I can just imagine the comfort of a full belly and the flavour explosion of real Mexican food. : )

I am running off to a party! Have a good Friday evening!!! : )

Full Bloom!

I absolute LOVE flowers. I love the way they look and most of all their smell. In the spring time I always drag Diego by the hand around the city so I can oooh and aaaah over all the wonderful smells! At this time of year with all the grey and white, flowers are especially vibrant and always make my day bright. Although it doesn't smell, my Christmas cactus is in full bloom and it is glorious!
I am glad I didn't miss while in Mexico. I have a committee meeting today. These are the folks that assess the quality of my work for my PhD thesis. Today I am updating them on my progress and proposed direction...I hope they like it! Coffee is ready! Gotta run and finish off my presentation. Happy Friday!

My two most comforting habits!

Today as part of comfort week we are supposed to share a habit or behaviour that gives us comfort. I have two that I want to share.

Whenever Diego and I walk somewhere together we always hold hands (awwww!). I love holding his hand and I always reach for it when we step off the stoop in the morning to walk to work, or the moment we are shoulder to shoulder strolling down the halls of the University. I always hold his hand in a movie theater or if we are standing/sitting next to each other at a party. I always reach out for it and only realize it after I have his hand firmly in my grasp. I love the warmth of his hands and feeling his fingers our fingers entwined. It is reassuring, warm, calming and comfortable. Sometimes I can feel his pulse in his fingers, so close and so intimate.

The other of course has to do with water...who would have thought! I find my daily swim very comforting. I try to go in the middle of the day when my brain needs a rest. Sitting in front of a computer all day is really hard on the body and mind! It all begins with sliding on my dolphin print swimsuit. I reach the side of the pool and the anticipation of the shock of the cold water makes me a little hesitant but I dive in knowing that it is my refuge, my sanctuary. As I glide through the water in a world of silence I am only aware of the rhythm of my breathing and the beating of my heart. I focus on making myself as streamlined as possible to move through the water with the least resistance. I feel the stress slide off my body and imagine it swirling in the wake behind me. I immerse myself completely into this liquid medium and concentrate on feeling every stroke, the movement of my muscles, willing them to work and relax all at once. I feel free and I feel good. I can now go back and face my computer once again with a fresh mind and body.

If you want to check out other comforting habits click here.

My most comforting place.

I would have to agree with Vicky, the Ocean is definitely the most comforting place for me. I wouldn't be a marine biologist if it wasn't the Ocean! My partner Diego is also in oceanography so we share our fascination with the Ocean. We both love to go beachcombing, having BBQs on the beach, watching sunsets/sunrises and camping.

Those are our blue tents behind the bush...camping with Diego's sister and her husband on a deserted beach in Mexico.

Just us and the egret enjoying the sunset on our deserted beach in Mexico.

However, the best part for both of us is actually being in the Ocean!

Here we are snorkeling in Mexico this past Christmas!

It is such a different world under the surface, the ambient colour and temperature is different depending where you are and the time of year but most important, it is completely different from the conditions above the water!

Here I am on the left in Mexico, look at the brilliant blue of the water and note that my head is not covered! I am also wearing a 4 mm wetsuit (which means it lets a small amount of water between the skin and your suit that you warm up and it stays there).The centre photo was taken while working in Prince Edward Island in the summer of 2007. Here the water is really murky and kinda brown! Here my suit is a 7 mm drysuit (which means no water goes into the suit) and I am wearing merino wool pants and long sleeve top underneath. However, it was warm enough to go gloveless! The last photo was taken in Nova Scotia during my Masters in May 2005. The water is a blueish-green but very cold...maybe 4 degrees Celsius. I am again wearing my drysuit, but this time I am definitely wearing gloves and at least 3 layers of wool and fleece underneath!

I love the feeling that you are floating and can no longer feel the strong pull of gravity.

Sometimes the water can be so clear it feels like you are in a zero gravity world! But of course here in Nova Scotia clear water usually means really cold water!!!

The variety of life is astonishing! In the tropics, the waters are dominated by sand with islands of corals and sponges. These are likened to oases in a desert and are where much of the life aggregates.

A mixed schoal of fish, surrounding a mostly dead coral head.

A moray eel living in a hole in a coral and sponge reef.

But in more northern latitudes you get a predominance of large seaweeds that form huge beds full of life!

Beautiful frilly kelp plants on a boulder with a ground cover of a large branched green algae called Codium and a mixed yellowy turf in Nova Scotia.

A close up of the turf and our favorit friend the American Lobster!

Not to mention the sounds...or lack thereof in Nova Scotian waters (except for thos pesky power boats) and the loud crackling of the coral reef in the Caribbean.

To me the underwater world is my place of comfort! I always dreamed of being a mermaid or dolphin as a kid. I guess a Marine Biologist is the next best thing!!!