winter solstice

Solstice Fantasy
We wake up at 7 a.m. in our old farm house in the country. Omar gets a fire going in the big stone fireplace while I make coffee. We snuggle in front of the fire drinking coffee and watching the sun come up on a crisp winter day. Then we have a big brunch.... eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns and more coffee. Around 4 p.m. we strap on snowshoes and take the dog out for a long walk as the sun sets. Then back to the house, stoke up the fire and enjoy pot pie and red wine. Then early to bed (heh heh). The whole day would be a break from the hectic Christmas season and frankly, day to day life. I love the idea of Solstice. I love winter but I love summer more and I feel like the turning point to spring should be celebrated. Someday maybe this will be how it happens but in the meantime...

Solstice Reality
Up at 6 a.m. Walk the dog by myself in the dark in -28 (-39 with the wind chill) weather. Shovel the driveway by myself in the dark in -28 (-39 with the wind chill) weather. Make coffee, eggs and toast. Spend the morning cleaning the house and getting mentally prepared for 6 hours of working in retail on the last Saturday before Christmas. Work those 6 hours with a smile on my face (it's the most wonderful time of the year, after all). Pick up Christina's dog and car. Scrounge up something to eat. Finish cleaning and then (the highlight of the day!) pick up Danette at the airport. Tick off another day in the countdown to my Christmas break. 3 more to go!

december theme song

Totally missed my November theme song. Probably because I was so tired that my soundtrack for the month was just a constant buzzing in my brain.

December is shaping up to be much better, although it is stupidly busy. Have solved the Cleo 4 a.m. meowing problem (lock her in the back room and put in ear plugs), I'm on a sleep schedule, I'm getting exercise and eating well. Things are going good. Despite extra hours at Children's and an extra job at Silver Lotus and no time to have any fun....

Anyway, onto this month's theme. The death of Nelson Mandela has been all over the news with pretty much everyone commenting on what he meant to them. For me, other than obviously acknowledging that he was one of those rare people who make an enormous positive impact on the world, Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement marked my political awakening. And this is the song that kicked me in the butt....

It was released when I was 15 and unlike all those crappy famine relief Christmas songs, this was a protest song. It wasn't a song about feeling sorry for people over there while we sat smugly over here. It was a song about action. And so, the following year when I got my driver's license, I took action and boycotted Shell. Take that evil oil company! Clearly I still had lots to learn but it was a beginning.

This video also happens to be filled with amazingly cool artists like Run DMC, Lou Reed (!), Joey Ramone (!!!), George freakin' Clinton, Miles Davis, Jimmy Cliff..... like, the coolest of the cool (not including Bono and his mullet on this list). So it wasn't just my introduction to world politics, it was also my introduction to the big, wide world of music.

Plus, it's still a really great song. So thhhhppppp Do They Know It's Christmas.

ten for ten

Ten things I love about O...

1. He's honest. He will tell me if my butt looks big in those jeans.
2. He'll be nice about it.
3. He's pretty funny.
4. Even when he's not (ahem, pie joke), he's still amusing.
5. After all this time, his quirks are endearing. I won't start listing them here...
6. As far as I can tell, he generally finds my quirks endearing as well.
7. I definitely don't feel smothered.
8. He's handsome (those eyes.... the smoulder...).
9. I'm ridiculously fond of his teeth.
10. I learn new things from him all the time.

I could go on (and on) but since we're celebrating ten years today, I'll leave it at that. Happy anniversary, darling!

october theme song

First it was little Cleo, waking me up at 5ish all summer, 'cause, like, the sun is up and the birds are up and she's up so I should be up. Then I got bonked in the head mid-August I have been in a state of constant fatigue ever since. Now winter is looming, the days are darker and all I want to do is hibernate. And then wake up refreshed.... but alas...

crooked mountain

7:30 a.m. Saturday

6:30 p.m. Sunday

And oh, I did not want to come home...

september theme song

10 days and counting until Omar is back for Thanksgiving (unless, of course, he gets work).

Can't believe how September just disappeared. So much going on this month. New roommate moved in,  some minor house renos (which could lead to even more minor house renos), have started applying for jobs again, have started my couch to 5k program again, trying to deal with the garden bounty. Work is really great but also busy. I'm doing a full-time job in part-time hours so there is no catching up.

That's actually how the whole month has felt... like I'm constantly trying to catch up.

Which is part of the reason why I'm super excited about Omar's arrival. It means four days of a whole lotta nothing at the cabin. I can't wait!

august theme song

Have been listening to this recording pretty much nonstop since seeing Whitehorse at the Folk Fest in July. The whole album seems made especially for me, with song like Cold July, Jane, Mismatched Eyes.... but this is the song I love the best. Dig it, man, dig it.

happy birthday to me!

july theme song

And plenty more coming in the weeks and months ahead. Though I guess that's always the case...

purple

sangria peppers

eggplant flowers 

and ready to eat

creeping thyme

my very first blueberry!

june theme song

Living my country dream for two whole days. Oh, there will be car wheels on a gravel road.

birthdays

Took Ayva to Brush Fire yesterday for a very belated birthday date. Was way more fun than I expected and I now understand why painting ceramics was all the rage back in the what... 60s? 70s? My kitchen scrubby frog definitely seems of a 70s vintage. I painted a new water bowl for the cats, O painted a bulls eye dish and Ayva did a frog. But not a scrubby frog....

This was followed by a trip to Dairy Queen, so a pretty darn good evening. Looking forward to next week when we get to pick up our ceramic masterpieces. But in the meantime...

My beautiful sister and I are heading to our cabin at Crooked Mountain this weekend for some birthday celebrating of our own. We're about half way between each of our birthdays so we'll make some toasts, eat some birthday cookies and engage in some highly competitive Aggravation playing. Can't wait!!!

"spring" has sprung-ish

Since I've been bitching so much about the weather lately, I thought I'd post a few pics to show that all is not horrible (even if it isn't as awesome as it could be)...

Garlic I planted last fall is coming up!

Ditto the fancy heirloom rhubarb.

The kitchen window is open for business.

Oh ya.... and Cleo has shed about half her body weight in fur, so it must be spring!

may theme song

Feels totally wrong to use a commercial as my theme song but:

1. This is what I have in my head all the freakin' time these days and it is totally catchy;
2. A quick internet search reveals that I'm not the only person who wishes this was a real song and not a jingle;
3. I have been watching a ton of hockey this winter (and by watching I mean, knitting and listening, and then watching the replays when anything exciting happens). Go, Sens, Go!

H-O-C-K-E-Y!

more freakin' snow

I'm going to change the name of this blog to Catherine Complains About the Weather. Jeez, man. More snow!!! I can't take it!!!!

Maybe it should just be Catherine Complains.... leave things open for mosquito season, should it ever arrive.

In any case, we didn't get hit as bad as Dauphin. They had 20 cm as of 10 a.m. with snow continuing throughout the day and overnight.  Hehheh. Always some small joy in someone else having it worse than you.

Tomorrow (that's May 1st, folks) is the 5-year anniversary of O and I moving into our house. We celebrate every year by taking a picture of ourselves in front of our humble abode. The weather is supposed to be *sigh* snow and a high of -1. I'm going to try my very best not to look miserable. Don't want to give the impression that our home is anything but happy. Because it really, truly is the place where my heart is.

flowers

Flowers at Jumilla Stories. Flowers in my inbox from Kana. These are my poor flowers but I'm not complaining.

Dianthus, doing their best.

Oh wait.... yes I am.

Winnipeg has apparently set another weather record. We've never gone this far into April without hitting +5. Go Winnipeg!!! Forecast for tomorrow is +1 with snow overnight, turning to snow/rain on Wednesday. But after that things start to look up. Which is great because our community clean-up is on Saturday. And I'm getting mighty sick of looking out the window at this...

Lexi's little buddy, Linus, wondering WTF?!?

april theme song

Going to make you work for this one. Go to the Great Lakes Swimmers page on CBC Music, then click on the Albums tab, then scroll down to Bodies and Minds, then click on List Tracks, then on When It Flows. *phew* But it's worth the work, I promise.

What a crazy 9 days! Good things, bad things but overall loads of upheaval. O came home from three months of treading the boards in Alberta. I actually got a job (one-year, .8 EFT term but not complaining). Our sewer came this close to backing up but thankfully we caught it in time. Had a big blow-out with my dad. Not my finest moment perhaps but I firmly stand behind everything I said (er.... yelled). Tomorrow I'm taking O to his long awaited knee surgery.

AND the weather has been brutal. -19 going to work this morning. -26 if you count the wind chill, which I do since I was walking straight into it. Sometimes a song called When It Flows is just what's needed.

When it flows from the fingers

And turns to stone

It shatters with the touch

Feel the air, breathe it in

Turn the corner, take the bend

Give or take the bend

It's a spiralling cork-screw path towards you

It's a sinking, twisted path from me to you

For a second I saw you so clearly (clearly)

For a moment I knew you so dearly (dearly)

I looked into your eyes and into your mind

You were laughing like a statue come to life

The subtle piano raindrops

The creaking of the buildings and their cellos

The wind was our violin

The sky was a symphonic mural of stars

Hiding behind perfectly placed clouds

Because everything is the way it is

And everything is perfect in their imperfections

And everything is placed the best

And it is now, and it is here

And tomorrow is another now

Waiting to happen

The roar of an action silences all the words

The cry of an accomplishment

Drowns the whimper of ten thousand words

And we live in our actions and our reactions

And we live in our actions and our reactions

march theme song

Still on the job theme. Or lack of a job theme. With Spanish subtitles!

defying winter

Perhaps I'm taking the wrong attitude....

I'm just bitching whereas Canadian Granny says, "No mosquitos today!"

Trying to picture my mom doing this and failing. Trying to picture anyone I know doing this and failing.

vernal equinox

I'm stalling. It is gorgeously sunny and as long as I stay inside, drinking the amazing coffee my sister brought back from Costa Rica, I can pretend that it is actually a nice day. And not minus 33 with the wind chill. With a big pile of snow to shovel. *sigh*

I can only stall for so long because my pooch really does need a walk. *sigh*

I have so many things to do indoors that it is easy to stay in my jammies drinking coffee. Like applying for more jobs, putting together a feedback form for the workshop last Friday, cleaning the house, eating cookies (thanks Mama!), listening to Q and trying to figure out how the new Ikea bathroom cupboard goes together.

But then there is this....

takemeouttakemeouttakemeouttakemeout

One more cup of coffee, then I'll put on long johns, parka, scarf, big mitts, toque, Sorels and we'll go. Happy spring, everyone! *sigh*