Missing it. This face. That’s all. That’s the post.
I had better add that I am missing my daughter and son-in-law too, hadn’t I? 🤣 In case, there was any doubt…
Vacation almost over. Back to real life and this face all their faces, soon!
Rock on,
The WB
My phone is rapidly filling up with photos of Mr. Adorable aka Bowser aka my grand-doggy so what’s a blogger to do? Create a weekly photo dump post of some of my adventures in dog-sitting, I suppose! I’ll start out with a post of the pup in his quieter, non-bitey non-crazy mode: THE NAP. Let sleeping dogs lie and all that 😁.
Here’s the progression of a nap from the week before last:
Another day, another nap:
Now that the weather has finally heated up and we’re a bit older, this is the preferred nap strategy:
And finally, the car nap:
Rock and nap on,
The WB
In case I end up being incommunicado this weekend…
I hope this historic storm is historic only in that it didn’t happen or wasn’t as bad as predicted, but I’m not taking any chances.
I have filled the house with food that doesn’t need cooking, taken cash out of the bank, parked my car away from power lines, removed my ice scraper from my vehicle, downloaded a couple of e-books, and charged up all my electronics and power banks. I guess I am as ready as I can be!
Rock on (and stay safe, fellow Ontarians!),
The WB
This is going to be a two-parter, because Summer finally came to town in September and hung on through almost all of October.
I did try to make the most of the great weather while it lasted, and when I wasn’t working.
Tomorrow I will do a photo recap of the glory that was October.
Rock on,
The WB
Dearest Blog,
I learned quite a few years back that there are certain times when menu experimentation is welcomed but traditional holiday meals are not one of them…at least not with my family.
I am reminded of the time many years ago I decided it would be fun to stray from the tried and true celery, sage and onion stuffing to venture into cranberry, apple and sausage territory.
FAIL. BIG FAIL. You don’t mess with the best part (some would say the point) of the whole meal.
You’d think I would have learned from this debacle dear Blog, but as usual you would be wrong.
This year I decided I was so sick and tired of cranberries-in-everything anymore (damn, those cranberry marketing people are GOOD) that I banished the sauce from the table.
In our family, most people tend to give cranberry relish the side-eye at Thanksgiving and Christmas even when I go to the trouble of creating a fresh cranberry masterpiece from scratch instead of dumping a blob of it from a can into a bowl. We’re just not big cranberry sauce eaters.
So I thought it would be a really safe bet to have a cranberry-free table and sub with IKEA’s lingonberry sauce instead, to see if that was better received. It’s red, it’s tart, it’s tasty with savoury stuff like…I don’t know…Swedish meatballs? What’s not to love about lingonberry sauce???
YEAH, about that. Forgot that it wasn’t going to be just family at the table but a lovely couple of guests as well. Guess what? These guests LOVED cranberry sauce with their turkey.
Luckily for me they also LOVED lingonberry sauce and were OK with the swap. So the awkward moment was quickly smoothed over. Not a FAIL but a NEAR MISS.
Next year I will have both sauces at the ready.
Rock on,
The WB
Another April, another 26 posts.
Got through them again, without too much angst although some posts were pretty durn lean due to time and creativity constraints.
I am disappointed I didn’t get to visit as many blogs as I was intending to, before the madness that is the challenge began pre-April. No one to blame but myself.
However, I do have the list of 2016 participants bookmarked and it is my plan to dive in to it throughout the next 12 months to find more great bloggers to visit.
I am so very thankful to the A-Z Team for making this possible every year! I find this exercise revitalizes me and reminds me how much I get out of spewing my guts on keeping up ye olde blogge.
My goal for 2017 is to come up with a theme. There, I said it.
Rock on,
The WB
I hope everyone had an absolutely delightful day yesterday because I know I did!
I had been dreading Mother’s Day a little as this year marked my first motherless Mother’s Day in 56 years. But the anticipation of how I would feel was, as usual, worse than the actual way I ended up feeling.
I was determined to make it a good day and that in itself paved the way for me to have a very good…no, great day! Because I had planned ahead to make Mother’s Day my bitch.
I woke up early , raring to clean and reseal the slate tiles in my bathroom. I also did laundry and finished binge-watching the rest of Season 2 of Grace and Frankie. Goddess bless Netflix, I say. And Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin and the writers and the rest of the cast. And yam lube and Count Drinkula and Hitler’s Circumcision. And so on.
Then I went to the Village Rec Centre and signed myself up for a 10 visit pass and got ready to attend my first drop-in fitness class. Of which I ended up being the only participant. SHIT. No hiding in the back or dogging it. I was the centre of the instructor’s attention. THE. WHOLE. CLASS. And today I hurt where I didn’t even know I had muscles. It was glorious. Especially watching Instructor Ian show off all his killer fitness moves (which I am supposed to be aspiring to perform myself, one day) as I was egging him on. Hah!
I kinda committed myself to trying out his yoga class tomorrow night too. Damn.
Anyhow, while I was wrecking myself at the Wreck Centre all hell was breaking loose back amongst the famille. Mizz J had been trying to reach me and I wasn’t answering my cell phone since I left it at home. As this was unusual behaviour for me, she enlisted her brother, Miztah K (lives 5 minute walk away), to come over to my place to recover my certain-to-be-dead body before she could drive across town to do it herself. Before a pack of wild cats came in to eat me, I suppose.
So this was the situation I dragged my sweaty self home to, after Instructor Ian handed me my ass.
Miztah K had told his sister that I was just probably out and about since there was no dead body (or cats) to be found in my place. So I found her making herself breakfast in my kitchen and relatively calm by the time I arrived back home.
The rest of the day was nice and peaceful. I made supper for us all, including Miztah K’s delightful girlfriend, Mizz C. I also made my kids work, carrying a bunch of stuff down to the basement in preparation for next month’s renovation of 3 rooms. No free lunch at Mom’s house…hehehe.
I was the beneficiary of the most wonderful Mom’s Day gifts. Behold:
After supper, it was time to sleep through make fun of bitch about watch a couple more installments yet in the never-ending James Bond film festival ongoing at Chez Badass. Roger Moore’s interminable reign had finally ended so it was Timothy Dalton’s highly forgettable turn. Next up is Pierce (Mamma Mia) Brosnan.
All I can say is I appreciate Daniel Craig more with each movie I watch in this series.
Hope you remembered your momma and/or your kids were good to you.
Rock on,
The WB
…Van.
Specifically a retro-style camping van.
Something like this:
Is what I am envisioning for adventuring with, in my retirement years.
And then sometimes I think I would rather have something like this:
I fell in love with the Airstream Bambi at a camping show this winter.
Thankfully retirement is still a few years away. Maybe by then someone will have come up with the perfect option for me. A VW van with the modern trimmings (A/C, bluetooth…for starters) or a Bambi with an induction stove and solar panels…Hey a girl can dream, can’t she?
Rock on,
The WB
…Singleton Status
Last year during this challenge I was writing about how I was never going to marry again.
That still stands. I still feel this is the best situation for me, going forward. Two tours of duty in matrimonial land have been enough for this woman.
I had dinner with a friend last night who is in the same mental boat as I am. He lost his partner 22 years ago and has never felt the need to have that kind of committed relationship again since.
In chatting over Indian food last night, we both realized we had experienced very special, deep relationships with our significant others. Once-in-a-lifetime-if-you-are-that-fortunate relationships. When you have that and then lose it through the loss of your loved one, you don’t want to settle for anything less ever again. And frankly, you don’t want to try to look for that again with anyone else.
You are complete, as is. You and your memories. And you don’t want to sully those with a subsequent sub-par relationship. It wouldn’t be fair to either of you.
It is very hard to explain to someone who has never experienced this.
I’ve had many well-meaning friends and acquaintances tell me that I will find someone again, and not to stay alone for the rest of my days. I appreciate that they think I am lonely or sad, and are thinking only of my happiness.
But I am not lonely or sad. I am happy and content. In fact, any mention of having another relationship with a man causes a real visceral experience in my body – I actually get sick to my stomach at the thought. Talk about your gut reaction!
So, I still say never and my body agrees. I’m going with my gut on this one.
Rock on,
The WB
…Introvert.
An introvert is what I am. As I suspect a high number of people participating in this challenge are. Blogging seems like such a natural fit for an introvert.
Introverts are the new black. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t see an article expounding on the glories of introversion and how the introverts of this world make excellent friends, co-workers, employees, leaders. Go ahead. Google “Introvert” and see where it takes you.
Introverts used to be viewed as shy and socially maladjusted individuals. Now, finally the truth is out there.
We’re not shy. We. Just. Don’t. Like. You.
Kidding!
Well, not kidding actually. Chances are high if an introvert is quiet around you it’s because they have already decided you’re not worth engaging. Or they are still trying to figure out if you are worth the energy it will cost them to engage you. Because most social interactions will do that to an introvert – drain them of their energy.
I had this problem in University. A very loud (and, I thought, idiotic – she actually carried a burning cigarette into a lab where ether was being used) fellow student once loudly proclaimed in front of a group of my peers that I should sign up for assertiveness training. Because I never talked to her, I suppose.
I was baffled by this outburst as were the few classmates who actually knew me. I never asked her how she came to that conclusion because I didn’t value her opinion of me or anyone or anything, so what was the point? Besides, I was still pissed that she could have blown me up that day.
Introverts are not any better than extroverts. The world needs both types. It’s nice that introverts are finally getting their day in the sun.
Now please go back to leaving us alone. 😉
Rock on,
The WB
