My Wheel of Fortune Year

[L to R -- Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Light and Shadow Tarot, Gaian Tarot]

Depending on our individual birth month and day, a specific Major Arcana tarot card is assigned to every calendar year and governs it with its archetypal energy. For me, 2023 is a Wheel of Fortune year. Therefore, the Wheel will turn for good or bad and bring major life changes and new directions. Usually a Wheel of Fortune year is quite unmistakable in its rotational upendings and turning points. And so has mine been to date!

[L to R -- Cat Tarot, Runic Tarot, The Pulp Tarot]

Early in 2023, my lengthy connection with My Rare One came to an end. Our rather turbulent 20 year relationship had many ups and downs already, moving over the years through romance, cohabitation, separate abodes but continued partnership, and a final BFF phase which now has also terminated. We are not in each other's lives anymore.

This is, of course, a major life change but one which I am prepared to meet. Every ending is a new beginning, after all, and who knows what the future holds? Good things, I hope.

[L to R -- Morgan-Greer Tarot, Tarot of the Cat People, Triumph of Life Tarot]

A Wheel of Fortune year can and does bring good things too. By way of an example, I recently won a $250 gift card from our Canadian grocery chain, Save-On-Foods, in its Hockey "Score and Win" contest!

Woo hoo! Free eats! "Thanks, Dave!"

It's Our Anniversary Today!

Yes, 15 years together for My Rare One and me! Apparently, this makes it our Crystal Anniversary. Oooooo, SPARKLY!

And as all you couples out there know, there's a lot of adjusting, fine-tuning and compromise on both sides that must go into any lasting relationship. So, thank you, My Rare One! I love you!

It's Our Anniversary Again!

My Rare One and I are celebrating our 14th anniversary today. From the first time we met . . .

. . . until now, things have been just one delightful romp!

Fun, fun, fun all the time!

Of course, all you long-term couples out there know that can't possibly be true!

No, we have had our fair share of choppy waters and stormy seas as well, but so far have successfully managed to sail through it all!

We still want to be each other's adorable little angel . . .

. . . and little devil too!

So here's to another year!

My Rare One, That Sweet Talker

Not too long ago I had another birthday. It left me feeling somewhat over the hill and worse for wear.

But My Rare One (who is a few years older than I am) made it all better.

"You'll always be jailbait to me," she said.

Perogies and Vodka for EVERYONE!

I'm starting off this month with some happy news that I'd like to share with you. My Rare One and I are now officially dating again, having decided to kiss and make up a little while ago! But we are not going to live together any more. I am keeping my apartment and the independence it provides. We both need that physical and emotional space for a relationship to be possible and to run smoothly.

So now my Slavic Sweetie and I are wearing our best babushka scarves and celebrating our reunion in the golden wheat fields of the Ukrainian steppes or the Manitoba prairies or maybe even right here in Edmonton -- I don't know exactly where this illustration is set but it's some place with a gazillion Ukrainians anyway.

Oh, my malenky saboulya! *smooch * smooch*

[discreetly fade to black as the sound of tsymbaly music rises]

[Art by Felix d'Eon. Note: Link is NSFW]

A Quick Update

Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for your kind words and good wishes that you left on my last post. Your comments mean a lot to me.

Here's a quick update. No, I am not living in this box in some back alley! I have found a great apartment in downtown Edmonton that I am about 75% moved into. The relocation should be complete by mid-June. I have always loved living centrally in urban hustle and bustle! Odd for an introvert perhaps, but so long as my apartment itself is quiet, that's all I need.

Speaking both for My Rare One and myself, our spirits are good, I think, all things considered. A bit of roller-coasteriness on occasion perhaps, largely due to me. Of course, we're both disappointed that the Montreal Canadiens have now been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs. What? HOCKEY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING!

A New Chapter Begins

When My Rare One and I got back from Tahiti at the end of March, we mutually decided that it is time for us to amicably separate. Actually, we made that decision on our 11th anniversary. We won't be having a 12th.

The key word here is "amicably." We are not ending our friendship, only our romantic partnership. It's just time for each of us to have our own space and individual lives again. We're both fine with this decision. There is a longstanding tradition in the gay and lesbian community of remaining friends with your exes. So My Rare One and I will still hang out, see each other around, keep our mutual friends, etc.

As one of my favourite Goddess songs says: "She changes everything She touches, and everything She touches, changes." All will be well.

This month I'm in the process of moving to my new apartment and getting settled in there. So my presence on this blog and in the blogosphere will be rather sporadic for awhile. But I'll be back! See you then.

Ten Years Today!

Today is My Rare One's and my 10th anniversary! So I thought I'd tell you all how she came by her name. It's from the chorus of one of my favourite Scottish folk songs called The Tiree Love Song:

Ho ree ho ro, my bonnie wee girl,

Ho ree ho ro, my fair one,

Will you come away with me, love,

To be my own, my rare one?

Here's a beautiful acappella version sung by Canadian folksinger Eileen McGann:

Happy Anniversary, My Rare One! *smooch* I love you!

To My Rare One on Our 8th Anniversary

While we missed out on being young together, we can hopefully look forward to being old together . . . . I can see us many years from now in the seniors home . . . you, me, Her Royal Highness the cat or her successor . . . two old babas doting on our beloved feline . . . .

And if that's not excitement enough, we'll get all gussied up and go to the activities room to play canasta . . . .

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in his hand
Who saith, "A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"

--Robert Browning

Love you! xoxoxoxoxo

Pet Snuggies!

Thanks to Wendy of eWitch, I now know that there are Snuggies for dogs, too! Aichihuahua! Here's the actual TV ad:



I couldn't help but notice that the Snuggie people are not so insane as to suggest that cats should wear their product too. But then I saw this video:

Snuggies for everybody! EVERYBODY!!!

All Hail the Snuggie!

The first time I ever saw a Snuggie advertised on TV, I wanted to make vicious, savage fun of it and mercilessly mock anyone who would be so stupid as to buy one. But before I could utter a word, my Rare One exclaimed, "Oh, isn't that a great idea! I want one! I want one for Christmas!" So I had to bite my tongue. Hard. But I did it. And of course I bought her one for Christmas. And not just a regular Snuggie either -- a DELUXE Snuggie. Nothing but the best for MY girl.

You can see what's coming, can't you? I just LUUUUV the Snuggie. I use it all the time, much more than my Rare One does. During my convalescence, the Snuggie has been my constant companion during naps and at night. It is warm and comforting. I cannot imagine life without it now. How did I ever manage to live B.S. (Before Snuggie)?

A Second Near-Fatal Dose of Laughter

I was encouraged to walk as much as possible in hospital in order to kick-start the old bowels again. One evening, when I was hobbling around the hospital's main floor with my Rare One, she suddenly asked, "Do you have any money on you?" Slowly and with some difficulty, I pulled out my little change purse from my housecoat pocket. "Great!" she said, snatching it from me and turning away to rifle through its contents. "Ooooh, a fiver and a ten! That'll be enough!"

"Help, help!" I called out in a weak voice, "I've been mugged! I'm only a poor surgery patient, minding my own business, and this big, strong, healthy person has just mugged me!"

This sent us both into gales of laughter, with predictable results for me (as per yesterday's post). In all fairness, though, I recognize my own role in promoting this painful episode, so it's not entirely fair to blame this near-fatal incident solely on my Rare One!

Laughter is Not Always the Best Medicine

As part of her nursing devotion while I was in hospital, my Rare One brought in the newspaper and proceeded to read me the headlines. Part way through the first section, she read out a particularly gruesome one -- "Murder victim's tongue found in river."

Oh, my!

Then, after a short pause, she said, "No, wait -- touque, not tongue."

This misreading struck me (for some quirky reason) as absolutely hilarious and I started to laugh uncontrollably. So did my Rare One. But the pressure on my stomach from laughing caused me horrible pain at the main incision site and I soon started crying uncontrollably instead. It was awful!

My Rare One felt bad but I reassured her that it was my weird sense of humour that was to blame. However, we didn't dare read any more headlines after that!

So, Reader's Digest, you have been proven WRONG -- laughter is NOT always the best medicine!

At home now, recuperating

I got back from the hospital yesterday. Oh, it's so good to be home at last! It was a long, long week! I'm still a little tender in spots, but basically I don't feel too bad. Which is surprising, considering how badly I felt just a few days ago right after surgery. But the human body is an amazing piece of work and it's incredible how swiftly it can heal and restore itself.

(I have no idea why the preceding paragraph is blue and underlined. Moreover, I can't figure out how to fix it. So fine, be like that, @#$*!! Blogger.com!)

Thank you again, everyone, for your kind comments and healing wishes over the past week. I really do appreciate all those loving gestures and believe they made all the difference!

Anyway, now I must take it easy for 6-8 weeks, get lots of rest, don't lift anything too heavy, etc. Of course, I'll be eating lots of medicinal chicken noodle soup . . .

. . . and being nursed back to health by my Rare One (actual unretouched photo). She has been so lovingly attentive, helpful and unfailingly patient over the past week. I really don't know how I would have got through this without her! *smooch*

So when I got home, there was a small pile of mail waiting for me -- bills, flyers, junk mail, the usual. Plus a letter from Madame Zara! I'll share it with you tomorrow, once I'm over the shock of the news that it contains.

Our Sunday Ritual

Every Sunday morning, my Rare One and I go for strawberry waffles at a nearby restaurant. It's our own special time. While enjoying our waffles, we try to answer the trivia questions in the local Coffee News. After that, we read our horoscopes for the upcoming week. Then we do the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

In order to avoid any Sunday morning line-ups at the popular breakfast spot, we get there fairly early. We roll right out of bed and go. We don't even wash the stink off, as they say. Consequently, some Sundays we show up looking pretty much like this:

Ah, good times. Good times.

Thermostat Wars

Now that autumn is here and winter is coming fast, it's time to put the furnace on. And that can mean only one thing in our household . . . cue ominous music . . . Thermostat Wars!

Oh, the reasons for this situation are simple enough. The following cat represents me:

And the following cat represents my Rare One:

Sometimes the claws come out and the fur flies, but most of the time we achieve a negotiated settlement, LOL!

Fact # 2

2. I was instantly smitten by my Rare One.

A couple of years after I moved to Edmonton, I went to a women's house party where I first met my Rare One. I was instantly smitten by her. She was friendly, attractive, outgoing and fun. She was the only woman I had met in Alberta who I wanted to date. I made discreet inquiries about her but alas! She already had a girlfriend so that was the end of that. But a couple of years later, our paths crossed again and this time she was single! The rest, as they say, is history. Or, in our case, herstory.

My Rare One

My Rare One and I have been a couple now for five and a half years, living together for three. She has many wonderful qualities, skills and attributes, including tolerance of my sometimes offbeat hobbies. Her name comes from the chorus of a beautiful old Scottish ballad called The Tiree Love Song:

Ha-ree ho-ro, my bonnie wee girl!
Ha-ree ho-ro, my fair one!
Will you come away with me, love,
To be my own, my rare one?

There's a great video of this song being sung by Denis Ryan (formerly of Ryan's Fancy) and Raylene Rankin (formerly of the Rankin Family) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFCAEopGBN8