Happy... Pet ownership

Once upon a time, very early in the morning, before Mommy had had her coffee her cat brought a live field mouse into the room. There ensued much body slamming cats out of the way, dragging furniture out from walls, shrieking, and frantic diving ... merriment. I am happy to report that ye old 'cup and cardboard' method of capture and release works as well for cute itty-bitty field mice as it does for evil mutant 8-legged freaks.

In other news: The cat is still not speaking to me.

Dear Doggie,
See this?

This applies to you.
Also, don't eat it - that's disgusting.

Allergies, Enter stage Left.

Spring has sprung and she's a bitch,
How do I know?
My eyeballs itch
~Me

Bon weekend

Last glow of daylight

Long weekend starts NOW...
Happy Easter, Passover, Magha Puja Day, Holi, ...
Whatever you celebrate I wish you peace and joy.

On top of old ...Giza?

http://gawker.com/5992398/the-unbelievable-photos-taken-by-the-crazy-russians-who-illegally-climbed-egypts-great-pyramid?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

http://www.petapixel.com/2013/03/26/russian-photographers-sneak-to-top-of-great-pyramid-and-capture-the-view/

A group of Russian photographers climbed the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Pretty awesome pictures!!
Although I don’t understand why they didn’t wear more neutral pyramid-coloured clothing to make it harder to spot them as they climbed.

srsly! we shouldn't even be having this discussion anymore.

gif credit: some talented soul on LiveJournal
(have had in my profile for years!)

Last week in March!

Winter Postcard from Niagara 3

Yikes! Time she be flyin’! 
Next weekend is:

A) Ice Dragon How the heck did that happen already? It was months away last time I checked. If I was “smrt” I’d fix up / prep / adjust the garb now… but seriously, it’s NOT REENACTMENT if you’re not up the night before in panic sewing mode.
B) Western Easter – or “Find the Chocolate Eggs before the Dog Does” as it is known in our house.
C) April!!!!
D) Tax time! Crap! I need to borrow my work-calculators and organize my papers.

Music progresses glacially slowly. Honestly, I haven’t had much time to put any effort into it; yet again RealLife^TM and being a ‘grown up’ interferes with my fun time.

My teacher found a very basic ¹ version of a song I actually know (and that doesn’t classify as a children’s song² or something stupid written merely to illustrate the lesson concept³) – this greatly increases the chances I will actually ::ahem:: practice.

My poor teacher is used to teaching kids, so she is finding it challenging (as she is pretty much a kid herself) to come up with grown-up ways to impart certain musical concepts. For example, happy and sad aren’t cutting it as a way to differentiate Major and Minor chords. For me there are only two categories of sound⁴ – good and bad.
Good: Music, cats purring, waves on a beach, laughter, and the sound of your car finally turning over when it’s -27C (-17F
Bad: dentist drills, jackhammers, and listening to someone puke.


Attention any SCA –types and costumers out there who have any advice on working with boning…I’m all ears! This corset might be a more involved project than I was hoping for. Typical. I am lazy.


¹Basic = introduces use of two hands and two staves.
²Children’s – Mary had a little lamb isn’t as inspiring as one might think.
³Marcel darling, I’m looking at you.
⁴There is also a third category “Irritating sounds” but as this category is highly subjective to my mood it doesn’t really count

Wow. Really?

O.o Thanks to all you mostly lurkers out there!

That day in March

Currently, we're between "that day in March" and Spring. Bundled up and back to mittens and hats.

On the plus side - No mud!

















picture found on  Oh She Glows

Spring has sprung...

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies iz and we got snow.

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!

~Mark Twain

Happy Spring Equinox to all!


photo found on Facebook credit to the original photographer

I knew there was a reason

and this is why I'm a Trekkie!
Spock's "It Gets Better" Letter

yeah, I got a few hobbies...

This is one of them...

So let's get this week rolling

The future has many names. For the weak it is unattainable. For the fearful it is the unknown. For the bold it is opportunity.

~Victor Hugo

I need a personal assistant or a social secretary! (hmmmm... Downton Abbey much?)

I've got so many extracurriculars scheduled that I need to sit down and really take a gander at the calendar and channel my inner Boy Scout and be prepared! I currently feel like I'm careening from activity to event to commitments without much time to catch my breath or adequately prepare. Ah well, #MeProblems*

And on this Meatless Monday I note with much amusement that I managed to get "The Others" to eat a whole week of meatless with nary a complaint.  In fact, I don't even think they noticed. Progress!


*see what I did there? a hashtag! I'm such a hipster! LOL

Irish for a day...

May you have all the happiness

and luck that life can hold—

And at the end of all your rainbows

may you find a pot of gold.

May your pockets be heavy—

Your heart be light,

And may good luck pursue you

Each morning and night.

Sláinte!

Please remember: If your beer is light enough to turn green, it's NOT real beer. :-)

 

Have a great weekend

When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world.

~John Muir

photo: http://nariane.deviantart.com/art/Spring-Colours-121636927

We made it!

This is how I feel today.
Unfortunately I can't be like this.
Therefore today's performance will be worthy of an Academy Award.

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day!

Possibly more Hallowe'en-themed than is normal for this day, but I like Hallowe'en.

Also Pumpkin Pie RULES and should be celebrated often.

The internet is full of shake your head and wonder things. I chuckle at those who feel it "necessary" to "warn" visitors to their sites and profiles.

Warnings are fair enough and warranted in some cases; nudity, difficult pictures (death, violence, etc), erotic notions that might cause wibbly knees..

But the warnings that I'm referring to are the "I'm a bad-ass - don't mess with me" ones

• If they claim they won't tolerate any "drama", they are usually the ones that generate it.
• If they claim they don't care what you think about their fandoms/life style/etc  they are usually the ones who take the slightest criticism to heart.
• If they tell you how dangerous they are... well, you get the picture, non?

I'll let you in on a wee secret kids - the most bad-ass soul on the internet isn't going to tell you; you'll either 'know', or you'll find out too late.
And now some free motherly advice - Don't wave red flags in front of Trolls... the interdweb is full of anons just wanting to yank your chain.

One more sleep until the weekend!


photo credit: Me!
pumpkin credit: Me kid*

*yes, I let my kids play with sharp things...

Paging Captain Obvious.

A casual meander through the grocery store had me doing a slow head-shake.

The store had a big shelf tag hanging under the bottled water that read “naturally fat-free” and there was another sign in a stack of fresh carrots that read “trans-fat free” and the lettuce was labeled “gluten-free” as was the mouthwash I purchased.

I was also at a farmers market once that was selling vegetarian apples.

Science literacy fail...

The sun is up.

I'm still not quite rocking this Daylight Savings time shtick.

I have crocuses!! They are up and almost open. Pretty, but a wee tab early for our geography! The Spring bulbs are my favourites; after them I really kinda lose interest in the flowery part of the garden.

Therefore this year I am doing something different* - I'm going to slowly turn my front garden into an herb garden with other plants I think are cool and aren't usually considered part of normal gardens**




*As if the neighbours didn't already have enough to complain about already
** No, not weeds... just 'different'

This!

 

LOL. Yes, I know practice would help.

the way it is ...

The Dog: I'm going to walk through every puddle out there.
Me: Okay
The Dog: I'm going to romp through the swamp.
Me: okay
The Dog: I'm going to make you walk me in the torrential rain
Me: *grumble* Okay
The Dog: I'm going to go swimming in the duckweed pond
Me: okay
The Dog: A bath?? How could you?! I can't believe you did that to me!

Today is gorgeous here!! Sunshine! Warmth (1C/34F)!
I was outside in just a t-shirt torturing brushing the dog ! Both pets blowing their coats at the same time! Spring is 'officially' here!

International Women's Day

I offer this invocation of the Divine Feminine, within us all- men and women- in celebration of International Women's Day. May this wild and wise fire stir our creativity in the service of Life:

I call on the Spirit of the Divine Feminine to bless us.

May we know the wildness and the wisdom that is our birthright.

There is a wildness in us

that is not content with small changes, half-measures, muted joys or polite tears.

There is a wildness in us that wants to dance with Dzunuk’wa,

Wild Woman of the Woods in the Pacific Northwest,

bathed in the silver light and blue shadows of the full moon,

gathering energy from our mother the earth to do what needs to be done.

There is a wildness in us that wants to ride like Durga and Kali,

into the fray, unafraid and fierce,

destroying the illusions of control that allow human beings

to defile the very wilderness that sustains their hearts and souls

and balances their minds and bodies.

There is wildness in us fuelled by a sorrow too big to bear in silence

that wants to wail at the destruction of the earth and the harming of her children,

that wants to rend our clothing and stand on the steps of the legislature

-thousands of women standing shoulder to shoulder, garments torn, wailing-

until the law makers act to protect the body and heart of every mother and child.

There is a place in us where wisdom and wildness dance together,

the place where Kwan-Yin speaks the true name of the sacred

that lives in every tree and flower,

every heart and mind, every stone and bit of blood and bone.

The place where we know what we know and will not pretend otherwise.

The place where Lilith says, “Hell No!”

when she is told she must obey unjust laws,

must be quiet, must subjugate her being to another’s priorities,

to “practical considerations,” or “economic realities.”

She is the Maiden warrior who stands for the heart that dares to dream in colour for herself and her sisters and brothers.

She is the protective Mother who stands between her children- all the children of Grandmother Earth- and the destructive power of the dominator culture.

She is the fierce Crone, the one who cannot be seduced or intimidated into being silent, the one who speaks the truth and calls on the hearts of all men and women to remember what they know, what they love, what they are.

Sacred Feminine Fire, ignite our wildness and our wisdom, so we may live all of who and what we are, loyal to the truth, unafraid of the fire, willing and able to dream a new world.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer (c) 2011

Can I get a Hell Yeah! for the fact that it's FRIDAY again?

And if, like me, you live in a part of the world were they still do that stupid DST Spring Forward/Fall Back crap - this is the weekend that we lose an hour... cuz ya'know we all need to lose an hour in the day. I will spend the next few weeks trying to reset the remarkably accurate Tummy Clock (Pet Edition).

*wanders off muttering darkly*

Huh-blah!

I call shenanigans! My knee hurts and I didn’t even do anything yet!
Dear Knee, you whiny bitch! I’ll give you something to complain about tonight – I’m upping the work out.

Don’t get me wrong I truly appreciate that modern freedoms, and conveniences…
BUT, I was born in the wrong century. Really. I should been an adult (wealthy, of course) in the early 1900s – I follow a Tumblr called omgthatdress and it’s pretty much a given that if my reaction to a dress is OMG I NEED THAT it is from anywhere between 1900-1915 (check out the tags and scroll past the jewelry, parasols, and fancy dress outfits)

So it might seem odd that I’m playing a much earlier period than that in the SCA (I play Viking to 1400s)* – in fact the SCA only plays as late as 1600-ish.

Lesson learned! One should never taunt the fates by even joking that your goal for the week is to get organized – I now have a mountain of laundry, I’m two dishwasher loads behind, and I didn’t read the memo** that said one of my deadlines had moved up. Can you smell the panic?
Although this week we did manage to get the recycling out in time, so – Yay! That counts, right?

Alright, that's me done. As you were!


*primarily because 1500 dress construction start to get complicated and messy.
**my bad!

Ceiling update

it's a bird.

that noisy critter romping my my office ceiling is a bird. Not a mouse, rat, killer squirrel, giant blood-thirsty spider, not even a slightly unhinged clown - it's a bird. 

So a live trap has been set... and now the waiting starts

An Open Letter to Whatever is Living in My Office Ceiling

Dear Whoever You Are,

1) Shut up - you are noisy and distracting.
2) Go on a frigging diet - knocking down that much dust?  Dude lose some weight!
3) There is ABSOLUTELY NO falling through the ceiling tiles and onto my head - got that?

 Guppies and Baklava,
Me

For the Record, I am okay with rodents - but if it's a giant spider I will lose my shit.

Monday

This weekend I:

• Went to a funeral. The irony is that each person who spoke said that the child had stated that she didn’t want a sad funeral – she wanted an Irish wake; a happy party where people remembered her and laughed, and each time they said it everyone cried. I hate cancer.
• Wrote. Plot bunnies beckoned.
• Practiced harp. Not really much but I did a little bit so shut up okay stop nagging me.

I must:

• Work on push-ups! Down is fine! Up? Not so much. The shame of it all

This week I will:

• Clean the fridge. No not really, but it sounds good doesn’t it?
• Get organized!! No not really, but it sounds good doesn’t it?

no one gets out alive.

there is nothing that can prepare you for the sight of a little white coffin. nothing.

March 1st!! And Friday! And (bonus!) Payday!

Requisite Weather-related Banter (CanCon!! ;) )

I LOVE winter! Really! Nothing beats a snowy day, blizzards, and icicles. I don’t even mind the shoveling. However by March 1 the coats, boots, mitts ON; coats, boots, mitts OFF routine gets a wee bit tiresome.

So, like all good Canadians, we gradually just stop wearing boots, mittens, scarves, and even coats – regardless of the weather.

Currently our weather is grey and the temperatures fluctuate between frozen, slush, and wet; not being able to know that in advance means you’re too hot, too cold, or too wet. In case you’re wondering - the dog doesn’t care.

What I could really go for about now is some good old sunshine! It can be as cold as it wants but SHINE ON!

Music

I had my harp lesson today. The next time someone who plays music tells me something along the lines of “I can’t do math” I will smack them silly. I have to do more freakin’ math (in my head no less!!) during music than I do at my desk – and I work in Finance. No spreadsheets in Music class. Guh!

Having been trained in dance I can get most parts of the bod doing different things … to a beat … counted in my head. This skill does not seem to extend to my fingers.

Also reading music seems to have more exceptions to rules than rules. Some monk in some monastery way back in some century deserves a spanking.

Hmmmmm

I started out this entry with a mission – I was going to rant about something or other, but I got distracted and now I don’t remember

I guess that means time you all get off early… Use the time wisely!

Bon Weekend les amis!