Fancy a Fracas?

Today’s Word: Fracas

Fracas

[ frey-kuhs, frak–uhs; British frak-ah ]  noun

• a noisy, disorderly disturbance or fight; riotous brawl; uproar.

OOOOHHHH I love a good fracas, don’t you? From the sidelines with my bad knee, of course. Probably not as much fun if you’re right in the middle of it. That chicken looks seriously ready to rumble though.

We are experiencing our first winter snow flurries today! My knee did not give me a heads up on this. It’s more than a skiff, but less than would cause much concern if a brisk wind came up. Our street is still bare but wet, and about the same colour as the drab November sky.

Snow tires are going on vehicles later than normal this year. We live in a place where it’s wise to have them. Unless you want to risk sliding around on the roads tempting the Fracas Gods to orchestrate a disorderly winter pile up. Cuz I’m pretty sure they do that.

It’s going to be a long winter isn’t it?

Sharing My World 87

Share Your World January 6, 2020

 

Is ‘hello” enough for you these days?  (credit to Rory –https://aguycalledbloke.blog/2019/12/29/is-hello-enough-for-you-these-days/ )

If it includes eye contact and a genuine smile, it’s good enough for me. However, if it also includes asking me if I’m over 55, and acting surprised when I claim to be 15 years beyond that, even better. And then telling me I qualify for a seniors discount, simply for being old – wow! This happened to me. I wasn’t even wearing makeup and my hair was still damp and a tad wild from my shower. Normally I dont leave the house looking like that, but maybe I should try it more often.

Do you believe in Murphy?   For those who aren’t familiar with Murphy, here’s a wee explanation:  Murphy’s law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”.

Yes, I am a faithful follower of all things Murphy. That way, when things go right, it’s a mini celebration.

Does evil come from within?  If so, why?

Within, without, above, below and maybe even sideways, you just never know. I used to believe we weren’t born with it, but the nicest people can end up with the wildest houligans. One thing I know for sure, hate being the greatest evil, it can spread like wildfire.

Are intelligent people more or less happy than others?   What defines intelligence?

Not sure intelligence has much to do with happiness. I’ve met some pretty stupid people who aren’t at all sad about it.  Intelligence is the ability to learn, understand, and reason.  And then not act like a moron.  Unless that’s what makes you happy.  I try not to judge.

Gratitude Section

Please feel free to share a quote, photo or thought about gratitude.

Hmmm, what am I grateful for today.  Not the big snow dump we got overnight, or the drop in temperature, but because of both those things I’m grateful for a spouse who delights in snow blowing.  The house is warm, the sun is shining, the days are getting longer, the grocery shopping was done just before the weather got crappy, and I have chocolate ovaltine in the cupboard.  Sorry to the people who gagged about that last one.

I also talked to my sister this morning and have started another crochet project, this time for my daughter-in-law.  Those things aren’t exactly related, it’s just how my intelligent mind works, stating random things out of the blue and being annoyingly happy about weird stuff.

Life is good.  January is long.  Time to stop talking. Until next time.

Sharing My World 69

 Early morning sunshine and shadow which prompted W to ask me what the hell I’m taking a picture of now.  

Share Your World May 1, 2017

Would you rather live where it is always hot or always cold?

No.  I would rather not live in either one of those places.  I would complain about the heat and people would tell me to move somewhere not so hot.  Then I would complain about the cold and people would suggest I shut up about it or move to a warmer climate.  People are weird that way.  Not sure why they can’t figure out I just like to complain.

I would prefer to live in a temperate zone with the occasional heavy rain, cold wind, hot day, chilly evening, dense morning fog.  But mostly blue skies and sunshine with those other things thrown in to offset the boredom and make me less complacent and more apt to appreciate the fair weather.  However,  no earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.  Or tornadoes.  Or mud.  A lot of mud would be a real deal breaker.

Do you prefer long hair or short hair for yourself?

Long straight hippie hair was great when I had the face to go with it.  Medium length was great when I had the time and ambition to style it every day and turn up for work looking presentable and sort of half-assed put together.  Now hair that’s too long just drags my face down.  It’s already droopy enough on its own without help, so short and sweet is my preference these days.  I just don’t see the point in going through a lot of fussing about with it anymore.  Tell that to my high school self who spent five years of her life going to bed with rollers the size of frozen orange juice cans in her hair and then trying not to smile too much the next day because it would cause wrinkles. She probably wouldn’t laugh, but I sure am.

What is your favorite month of the year?

May is nice.  It has Mother’s Day and my birthday in it.  I’m also quite fond of July and August.  As long as there’s no volcanic eruptions or earthquakes or monsoons and the bugs leave me alone.

What is the easiest way for you to learn something new? By reading, by seeing and doing, in a classroom?

Definitely by seeing and doing.  I watched a towel folding video three times before attempting to make a bear shaped creation on my own.  I had no idea I was so dense and my towels were so incredibly stupid.  But I got it done.  That sucker is never going to be unfolded again while I live and breathe.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful it appears to be spring-like again after all the weather shenanigans we have dealt with this April.  W did spring cleanup of the lawn for a couple of days and then we watched the snow fall for many days and many nights after that.  We became reluctant to draw the curtains in the morning never knowing whether we would be facing a lawn mower or a snow blower day.  Typical April for us really, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it or not gripe about it.

I am looking forward to finding out if my Tiger Lily bulbs will survive a brutal uprooting and transplant from the back yard to the front flower bed where nothing grows except a big wild-looking thorny thing.  It might be some kind of berry bush, I can’t remember, but it’s very hardy and persistent and refuses to die so I quite like it.    The Tiger Lily bed was annoying to manoeuvre the lawn mower around so I got rid of it.  Yep.  Does not take much to piss me off.

And that is also the reason why I have had to wean myself gently away from the daily news.  Life is just too short to spend so many hours in a day wondering why about so many things.  SO MANY BIZARRE THINGS.  Where do you even start.  And how do you stop once you get started.

The good news is, there has been a marriage in our family!  I don’t know if I’m supposed to make that announcement because it’s not my story to tell, so I’ll just leave you all hanging about the details.  Except to say I’m very happy about it, so there you go. Don’t ask me any questions.  You know what happened to that flower bed.

I found it on Facebook.  Source of all good and worthwhile stuff.

How Do I Love Thee January?

Let me count the ways.  A list of all the good things about this winter month from hell.

1. There aren’t any.
2. Just kidding, there’s got to be something.
3. Penguin Awareness Day is coming up on the 20th (and Squirrel Appreciation Day on the 21st).  (You can find more weird days to observe and celebrate here). If you would like to ignore the U.S. presidential inauguration there are obviously many more important and worthwhile things happening this month on which to redirect your time and attention.
4. Daylight is increasing by leaps and bounds.  Or minutes if you want to be realistic.
5. A week and 2/7ths of this month are over already. Yay!
6. Many people richer and smarter than I am are leaving Canada and going south to get warmed up.  This means they can feel all smug about the crappy weather they’re missing and the rest of us will be delighted to accept admiration for our perseverance and stoicism in sticking around and facing the elements. I will also happily accept sympathy and pity.
7. There are all kinds of sales everywhere this month, and this is a good thing for me because I’m so done with shopping from the previous month I feel no temptation at all to be out there saving money on things I don’t need.
8. There are at least three good things going on in number seven.  So maybe we can round this up at the end.
9. The shortbread cookies are almost all gone. I think we may be down to our last dozen.  Finishing them is W’s responsibility and he continues to be up for the challenge.
10. The list of artists who were approached to perform at the inauguration, and refused,  continues to grow.  Penguin awareness Day is looking better and better.

And now I’m going to sneak in a knee complaint just to let all you knee problem people know how much sincere empathy I have for you after my week of hobbling around swearing.  Holy crap a hurting knee is awful.  The other day I sat down awkwardly and it snapped and crunched and shot excruciating pain to all my extremities at once (I may be exaggerating, but only very slightly, really) and since then it has been getting progressively better.  Not the cure I would necessarily recommend. Sitting around with my leg elevated and straight and having W cook and do laundry for me is my favourite method so far.

Okay!  Back to enjoying this gloriously cold snowy overcast day!  There might not be too many more of them left!  I just rolled my eyes so hard I gave myself a headache.

How To Amuse Yourself While Waiting

My November Day Eight

While waiting this morning at the lab for W to get his blood work done, I saw a poster like this one across the room. The small print was too far away to read, but what would I need to read it for? I am smart and can figure things like this out. Right?

P   Pull something.
A   Agonize over the possibility that you just pulled the wrong thing.
S   Stop pulling random things, you moron!
S   Start running.
Ha! Pretty close, hey?

If you are ever in a burning building with me you will be safe as long as you can run fast.  Beyond that I’m not making any promises.

It’s a rather gloomy overcast day with wet snow and rain and a biting wind.  Perfect for lighting a gingerbread candle and staying the hell indoors.

Hope you’re snug and warm and having a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

A Skiff of Snow

---

My November Day 2

This morning we woke up to a skiff of snow.  By the time I got around to heading out for my walk, most of it had disappeared.  There were still wet snowflakes in the cold air under a steel grey sky but they melted as they fell.

If you don’t know how much snow constitutes a skiff, here is a skiffy little snow creature to give you an idea of how scaled down your snowman has to be when all you’ve got is a skiff to work with.

I love his pointy head and skinny little twig arms.

I also love that our community has so many bike/walking trails but it’s easy (in my case at this particular point in my life and my new fitness regime) to keep going until I’ve gone too far without thinking about getting back to where I started. Let’s just say I was extremely happy to see my driveway again.

What Did You Say?

Today the weather was blustery and cold and I didn’t feel much like venturing out for my walk. It’s only going to get worse before it gets better and walking outside on the icy sidewalks will soon become treacherous. So today seemed like a good day to switch to plan B and do a fake walk on my mini trampoline. It’s low impact and makes me sweaty and short of breath, so the results are definitely similar. I just switched my weight from one side to the other in a bouncy fashion and then got my arms working as well (and after awhile couldn’t believe how slowly doing that made the clock move….)

Later when W asked me if I had gone for my walk I said “No, I did some dancing on the trampoline”. And he said “You did WHAT on your hands and knees??”

OMG, both of us being half deaf is going to be so much fun.

The Sixth Day of May

Yesterday on our walk home from voting in the provincial election I took this really bad phone photo of a beautiful tree covered in white blossoms. What happened to those flowers? At least you can see how green everything is. Or was. I will get to that.

Then I look a VIDEO of some yellow and red tulips. You will have to trust me when I tell you they were lovely. But they just stood there doing nothing, so the video was boring and I deleted it. Stupid phone with its little buttons.

The election results last night were surprising, to say the least, but very, very gratifying for the gazillions of people who have voted ‘other than P.C.’ for years and years with no hope in hell of changing anything. And yeah, that would include me. The Conservatives did not even make official opposition, and the NDP party has a majority. We were so over due for a change. Let’s hope it’s a good one.

Well before Christmas last year W took his truck to a guy who does body work to have his rusted fenders and things worked on. Obviously I’m fuzzy on the details. What I do know is that he was told to take his time, keep it as long as he wanted, there was no hurry to get it done. Six months later we finally have the truck back and W can stop driving my car.

This is our garage yesterday, with a big empty space on the left where the truck parks. W is out driving it somewhere. And there’s my car, barricaded behind many heavy things. It’s so wonderful to have it all to myself again.  What the hell??

And this! THIS is this morning, taken from my kitchen window, because I’m not going out in THIS. It started snowing around midnight and hasn’t stopped. Yep, we often get snow in May. It will all be gone in a day or two, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. I wonder how those tulips are doing.

And W has gone off to his appointment to get the summer tires put on his truck.

Gawd I love this place.

Art du Jour 46

I’ve been missing my charcoal.  This doesn’t look much like my magazine picture model, but I’m sure she must look like somebody.  I started off on this project with the intention of drawing 365 faces.  Obviously I’ve gone off on a lot of tangents.  Now I’m just doing a count of art days and anything goes.

It was a lovely quiet Sunday here,  once W got back inside from a couple of hours of blowing snow all over the neighbourhood this morning.

I wish I was kidding. Third day of snowfall in a row.  But higher temperatures in the forecast so it will soon be gone.  I try to never complain about rain,  because at least it’s not snow.

Does this look like a young Jane Fonda to you?  It wasn’t supposed to.  What the hell.  I’ll just pretend I meant to do that.

The Snow Game of Fox and Geese

 

This is a game of Fox and Geese, played by jungle animals, on holiday somewhere in Canada.  Montreal, maybe.  Or Sudbury.

The Rules:

1.  Tramp out a big wagon wheel shape in the snow.  This can be done with one person holding one end of a rope at the centre of the circle, and another person at the other end of the rope plodding through the deep snow while taking shouted instructions from the rest of the group waiting to play.  Or you can all just get out there and eyeball it until everyone agrees it could work.

2.  Using some random criteria, like who has the meanest looking face, choose a player to be the fox.  For this game, Zebra it is.

3.  The ostrich, monkey, giraffe, lion, hippo and elephant are all geese to start the game.

4.  The geese must run around and across the wagon wheel rim and spokes like mad things,  while the fox chases them.  All players must not take short cuts, but stay on the wheel at all times.  No face plants or snow angel breaks allowed if they can be avoided.

5.  The hub of the wheel is a safe zone where the geese may stop long enough to gasp for air, and then they have to get back to running around in a haphazard fashion.  Except always on the wheel.  Don’t forget that.

6.  If a goose (for example, the elephant) is tagged by the fox (in this case, the zebra), the elephant then becomes the new fox and the zebra is a goose.  Identity crises all around, accompanied by a lot of yelling to inform the other players, who may or may not hear you over the sound of their own laboured breathing.

7.  There are no winners or losers in this game, only enthusiastic participants who don’t mind looking like a bunch of shrieking maniacs cavorting and prancing around in a snow-covered field all afternoon.

The game ends when:

– the wagon wheel is trampled into oblivion

– the fox, unable to catch anyone, becomes frustrated and starts to cry (there is no crying in snow games – tears freeze)

– at least three faces or three sets of toes have turned blue, or some related colour to be determined by the group, because of exposure or frost bite

– the bar opens at the hotel (you’re on holiday, remember?)

– the lion gets hungry.  Time to go.

This bit of nonsense Is in response to

The Second Annual Contest of Whatever

at Evil Squirrels Nest

It’s not too late to submit a game related animal post for this contest;  deadline is Sunday morning.  And it’s never too late to get out in the snow and play a pointless snow game with your family and friends or some jungle animals on holiday.  Stupid snow should be good for something.