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.

Something About Some Things

Yay for The Daily Post!  And yay for the word “vague” and Savage Chickens being vague.  I don’t know why all of that is inspiring for me today.  I suppose I could dream up some vague reasons, but why, right?  It’s  got me writing.  Good enough.

I had it pointed out to me that my last post was in December.  Well it’s kinda been January ever since, but finally (Finally!) I think the snow is giving up and going away.

So here’s a few things I’ve been up to in this hundred and some days-long month from Hades.

1.  Crocheting.  It all started with my sudden desire for an old lady shawl.  So I made one.  It looks like half of a giant doily and is not particularly warm.  My attempt at making a “shrug” was somewhat more successful but it was big and bulky and annoying to wear so eventually I took the seams apart and did a border and turned it into a blanket.  I have it on my lap as we speak.  And then the slippers began.  I don’t know if I’m up to fifty pair, but it must be close.  I guess you could call it an experiment gone out of control, but I do love messing about with patterns and sizes and different yarns, and my vague goal at this point is for my immediate family to have slippers for life.  They’ve all been very nice about it so far.  Even W has been wearing shoe box size monstrosities and professing to love how warm they are.  Now I’m working on the last sleeve of a rather interesting sweater and that’s maybe all you need to know about that.
2. Shopping the yarn sales at Michaels.  Sometimes two and three days a week using coupons and vouchers and going to the checkout getting the same unlucky lady almost every time, who would probably like to ask me WTF I’m doing with all these random colours bought in fits and starts but is too polite to ask.  Or more likely she’s seen it all before and does not even care.
3. Instant Potting!  Thanks to my son who brought his Instant Pot when they all came for a visit at Spring Break.  My mother was not a fan of pressure cooking and instilled in me a healthy fear of blowing up the kitchen with one of those things.  But a week of watching K use his (and eating all the delicious stuff you can make in it) was enough for me to find the courage to buy one.  I’ve been using it almost every day since.  Yay for more experimenting!  But, you know, on the cautious side.  I sit in another room while it’s working because if it blows I don’t want to go with it.  Childhood fears are really hard to shake.  But the soups are to die for.  Well, not literally.

The sun is shining, the temperature is almost balmy, and it’s getting harder by the day to justify my reluctance to get the hell out of my house and go for a walk.  Ice on the sidewalks has been a powerful deterrent.  Probably wouldn’t be able to find any now.  But I also have a ton of reading to do, many free e-books and three new actual real books from Chapters that I’m saving and savouring and slavering over.  Well that sounds vaguely disgusting.  I don’t even care if they were bad choices and are stupid stories, they are REAL BOOKS.  Yay for real books.

So, am I back to blogging?  Who knows.  Hope so.  Seems possible.  Time will tell. I love being vague.  Kind of the story of my life.  Or not. I don’t know.

This Tree

“I read the news today, oh boy” (McCartney/Lennon)

Every morning while we sit drinking our coffee, W and I trade interesting or funny or unbelievable crap we read about on our different news feeds.  Sometimes it’s really entertaining tuning in to the next instalment of the current gong show going on in our neighbouring country.  Sometimes it’s downright frightening.  I’m afraid that all the attention, no matter how negative, simply feeds the beast.  I’m afraid we all might soon be buried alive in alternative facts (a new and improved name for bullshit). I’m afraid there might be some devious method to their madness, piling it on so high and so deep that we lose the will to claw our way out from underneath it.

So in the interests of not feeding the beast (while at the same time not turning my back on him either) here is a slide show of our wintry ice-foggy  backyard.

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I snuck in a couple of shots of my bad hair day to show you how I am becoming one with nature.  By resembling a half dead tree.  Or something way more poetic than that.  This awesome big old tree is the same one in which my sisters grandson discovered an alligator nest last fall.  We had no idea it was harbouring such an amazing thing. Around Christmas time this same grandson explained to his grandma how he could recognize Frosty from the other snowmen by the brown hammer in his mouth. For sure this boy is going places.

I hope gazing at this tree with its magnificent icy alligator nest sheltering branches towering above the other frozen things in our yard on this cold grey January Monday gives you a brief respite from whatever doom and gloom crap is taking up valuable space in your brain.

If not, here’s something completely different.  Not all news is bad.

Family of boy in Justin Trudeau town hall photo to name baby after prime minister

Sharing My World 49

Sunshine on giraffe in my junky world.

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 6 

There are a lot of questions this week, so I’m going to attempt one word answers.  This will be a first.

What is your favorite word? Coffee.
What is your least favorite word? Hate.
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Art.
What turns you off? Stupidity.
What is your favorite curse word? Frack.
What sound or noise do you love? Rain.
What sound or noise do you hate? Rage.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Psychic.
What profession would you not like to do? Executioner.
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Greetings Earthling.

Welcome, and well done, you.  Pick up your halo over there to your left.  The souls you’ve been missing are waiting for you over here on our right.  Debriefing in ten.  Next assignment to be revealed when ever you’re ready.  Should you choose to accept the new challenge, buses back to earth depart from the other side of the gates every thirty seconds.

You knew I couldn’t keep up the one word answer thing, didn’t you?

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

I am grateful for coffee, art and rain.  We are having the most delightful winter weather!  I never thought I would put winter and delightful in the same sentence, but there they are, twice.  I have doctor appointments coming up (what else is new….they seem to never end) and possibly a Family Day Weekend visit to the great white north. Although even up there it is no doubt less white than they’re used to for February.

I am grateful this is a short month and spring is close.  We have decided we will not have lawn care this summer because it is ridiculously expensive and the exercise will be good for me.  (W goes east for most of the summer). He is going to visit his parents in March and bring back one of the lawnmowers from the cottage.  There’s at least three of them there, maybe four.  I don’t even care what the reasoning behind that might be.

Well, that’s gone a bit beyond next week.  What will be will be.  I predict I will now have another cup of coffee.  This psychic stuff is easy.

Sharing My World 41

Proof that our winters here are seven months long.

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #49

What would be your ideal birthday present, and why?

I would like to have someone deposit a billion dollars in to my bank account with no strings attached, anonymously, tax free.  I believe that would make me deliriously happy.  Even though people say money can’t buy happiness.  Don’t you think it might be fun to test that theory and find out for yourself?  And see how long it would take to give the bulk of it away to people and causes you cared about?

But that’s probably asking for too much.  A gift certificate to Michael’s would be good too.

What color would you like your bedroom to be?

Deep purple with silver stars scattered all over the place.  It would be like sleeping in outer space.  Imagine a realtor trying to sell your house  totally flipping out about it.  At the moment it is a flat and rather boring creamy shade of pale yellow.  My whole house is a tribute to the colour yellow.  I have no idea why exactly, but yellow paint and I have this thing going on.  I pair it up with red, or blue, or orange, or brown, and it takes on all kinds of different characters.

Would you prefer snowy winters, or not, and why?

I do not like snow, never have and never will.  But I have always lived where there is lots of it for months at a time and have never experienced a winter without it so I don’t know if I would prefer it that way or not.  What in the world would I complain about all winter if there wasn’t any snow?

This year, so far, we have very little.  Yesterday it rained.  Christmas without snow will be weird if it happens.  But I have never been one to complain about weird.

Would you rather go a week without bathing, but be able to change your clothes, or a week without a change of clothes, but be able to bathe?

This is one of those crazy “this or that” questions where you don’t want to choose either one, because they are both equally disgusting.  Why must there be only two choices?  Why can’t we play “this, that, or the other thing”?

Okay, never mind, I will play along.  The biggest thing I hate about camping is never feeling clean if there is no way to have a hot shower every day.  I am much nicer to people when I’m clean.  So no change of clothes for a week seems like the lesser evil to me.

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

For one reason or another (maybe it’s connected to the lack of snow) there seems to be an amazing absence of pressure about all things Christmas for me this year.  The grandkids will be off skiing.  I’ve had cards on my desk for weeks but no ambition to sign and send them.  We put up a little artificial tree and outside lights on a timer and hung some junk on the doors and put some ornaments around the fireplace. I don’t want to do any Christmas baking because it’s all sugary crap that’s not good for anyone.  My sugars will go berserk if I have too many cranberries with my turkey.  So bah humbug, I guess.

Our house is still upside down until we can get rid of all the post hip surgery stuff that takes up so much room.  I can’t remember a Christmas when we’ve been off to a doctor’s appointment on the 23rd of December, so that will be a first.  Then we are hoping W gets the ok to drive again and we can get back to our version of normal.

And that’s all she wrote for another who knows how many days of relaxing and putting things off and getting very little done.  It’s a good life, even without the billion dollar birthday.

 

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.

Hurry Up and Wait

My November Day Six

I got up before the crack of dawn this morning.  These days it’s not that hard to do since dawn cracks ever later as winter closes in on us.  The plan was to be up and off to the surgery center to retrieve my husband by nine a.m.

As of whenever it was he started sending me texts this morning, I have been patiently waiting to leave.  Apparently they are in no great hurry to get rid of him.  He has to be cleared by the physio people who must be satisfied that he is sufficiently mobile to get in and out of things like the shower and a vehicle.  There are student nurses doing practicums using him as their patient.  Why does this not surprise me?

So, on the bright side, this gives him a chance to enjoy a couple more delicious hospital meals.

Drinking coffee.  Waiting for the phone to ring.  Imagining all kinds of disasters if we screw this up.

Meanwhile, this made me laugh out loud.

When W is once again impressing people with his agility I will tell them that isn’t even his real hip.

Art du Jour 41

Just in case you thought I might be slacking off in the creativity business, here’s number three in my nameless series of egg head girls.   A lot of drying time is involved in the many layers.  There’s more depth to this one and a cooler palette than the first two.

I hoped it would have more of an under water feel, but despite the seaweed hair it looks a little wintry instead.

W is having a rum (that’s like saying he’s breathing) so I am going to wash the paint off my hands and join him.  Let’s just call it celebrating the end of a beautiful spring-ish kind of day.

 

Art du Jour 33

My inspiration for this composition came from a Pinterest pin. There’s no end to the ideas there, and I’ve pinned many.  I’d have quite a collection of my own art work if I sat down more often and used them.

I’m loving the colours here.  In my idea of a perfect world there would be predominantly reds and yellows during the day, and pinks and purples at night, with all other colours merely accents.

We are enjoying the most incredible weather for January today.  Well above freezing and snow melting everywhere.  W looked out the front window this morning and mused that perhaps winter was over.  That was a pretty delusional observation.  I’ll remind him of it when we’re in the middle of a blizzard in May.

But for now, time to bask in the sunshine.