Della Ratcliffe

BC Truffle Festival! First since 2019!
This Saturday at UBC Farm: “Tantalizing and Tasty Truffles: Biology, Foraging, and Culinary Craft in BC “
Saturday, February 28th, 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Details in link

secure.touchnet.net/C20435_ustor...

Take a minute to Write to Council and join thousands in demanding ICE be kept out of Vancouver during this summer’s World Cup festivities. share.nwmd.social/s/9SWXzSNx

Just picked up these vintage threads (for a fibre/stitching project) at HOB TOO at 3626 W. Broadway in Vancouver. Lots of other colours available too.

The True Price of Every ChatGPT Prompt | Earth Day AI tools like ChatGPT rely on energy — and water-hungry data centers. As prompts soar, emissions rise, raising urgent questions about sustainable AI growth now.

From EarthDay, “The True Price of every ChatGPT Prompt”: As generative artificial intelligence becomes embedded in everyday life, the environmental footprint of the system powering it is growing just as rapidly.

More at: www.earthday.org/the-true-pri...

Happy Lunar New Year!

It’s #PancakeTuesday tomorrow! I’ve enjoyed this Shrove Tuesday tradition my whole life (but no longer observe Lent). Pictured is how we always have them: thin crepes, with sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, rolled up and served with a wedge of lemon. Last year’s crepes pictured below.

Today is Int’l Childhood Cancer Day. Let us stand with kids living with cancer, those we’ve lost, and advocate for safer, more effective treatments to save little lives. ❤️ 1,700+ 🇨🇦 kids are diagnosed with cancer every year.

This is why I ride for #GCCC each August!

greatcyclechallenge.ca

Statement by Prime Minister Carney on National Flag of Canada Day, 15-FEB-2026.

Sadly, our flag 🇨🇦 is at half-mast today as we mourn the losses at Tumbler Ridge.

www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/stat...

Small Prophets review – Mackenzie Crook’s magical new comedy is pure, pure pleasure Wonder lies below the surface of this truly fantastic sitcom from the creator of Detectorists. It’s an impossible marvel of TV making

Just watched Mackenzie Crook’s #SmallProphets on the BBC. Wonderful! Can’t wait for Season 2!

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Exactly! Most people I seeing swimming this time of year wear a wet suit! This swimmer just wore a basic swim suit!

After our Kits Beach stroll, we headed over to Zapoteca, a new-to-us Mexican restaurant in west Kitsilano, specializing in Oaxacan flavours. A delicious meal followed by a complimentary Valentine’s mini dessert: corn flan (flan de elote) with fresh/puréed raspberries topped with dulce de leche.

It was a perfect day for a stroll along Kitsilano Beach here in Vancouver. So many folks were walking along the Sea Wall and on the beach, where some were playing volleyball. We saw a brave lone swimmer exiting the water (look for the white dot!).

The B.C. government has proclaimed today a day of mourning across the province, in honour of the victims of the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting.

As in Amanda Gorman’s 2022 poem “Uvalde”:
“May we not just grieve, but give:
May we not just ache, but act…”

I do not know what triggered this tragedy but let us continue to advocate for a society without guns.

Flowers emerging on local lawns, a result of our winter of no snow and spring-like weather. Seen in the #Kerrisdale neighborhood.

Amanda Gorman’s stirring poem honouring Renee Nicole Good (screenshot from Gorman’s X post).

When you have kale, kielbasa, celery and potatoes that need to be used… make soup! A batch in progress… and oh so steamy!

Today my left knee is 12 years old! I know not everyone has a successful TKR, but I was fortunate to have a positive experience after years of pain and mobility challenges.

And with our Canadian health care system everything was free and the care was first rate, for which I am exceedingly grateful!

The mild winter in my Vancouver neighbourhood is so confusing to the plants: early blossoms on the plum trees, the liquidambar / sweetgum is greening, and a clematis — a shrub in the Ranunculaceae family, aka old man’s beard and traveller’s joy — has taken over a pole in our parking lot.

Works-in-progress from Week 1 of the #TinyTuesdays challenge from YouTube @watercolorkari (52 weekly small paintings). Each week she shares a small drawing (2.5” x 3.5”) on her YouTube channel (there is a playlist just for Tiny Tuesdays) and we paint along. Week 1 painting was a coffee mug.

Not sure I understand why the Trump administration cares about Christians in Nigeria and not Christians in Ukraine

A sleeping An Cailleach on my Solstice table wreath

Solstice Blessings!

Solstice arrived today, Dec 21, at 7:03 am (Pacific Time) as Winter Solstice north of the equator and Summer Solstice south of the equator. Let the celebrations begin! 🌟 ☀️

I am always delighted when I see Witch Hazel’s vibrant blossoms, so welcome as autumn comes to an end… and a sure sign (for me) that Solstice / Christmas is coming. 🌞 🎄 ☀️

I love that as we approach Winter Solstice there are still so many red berries on the trees and shrubs. Today I cotoneaster (a member of the rose family), rowan (aka mountain ash), and hawthorn. Wikipedia notes that all three are related.

Red berries at Christmas remind us of nature's resilience.

Donald Trump has finally won a peace prize – from Fifa, no less. Here are five other awards he should win | Arwa Mahdawi The inaugural award bestowed upon the US president could pave the way for many more colourful accolades. I have some ideas, writes Arwa Mahdawi

LOL www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This week’s #bookbinding output including a spinning accordion-style book with w/c paintings on teabag paper (from a tutorial by @vintagepagedesigns), a sketchbook for drawing in nature, an accordion envelope-style book filled with some botanicals and drawings/paintings, + some W-I-P shots

Prepping materials for my next book project…It is based on a YouTube tutorial for a refillable lay-flat sketchbook by #bittermelonbindery. I’m making a smaller version for travel, and plan to make a larger version too.

🤣 thankfully inedible for humans … but apparently a treat for beetle larvae 🐛

No one will stop me from defending our freedoms.