A Wonderful Surprise Gift

Blogging buddy Lady M of Lady M's Haunted Parlor

is a talented stained glass artist. She recently sent me

this gorgeous Pride Flag which she handcrafted!

I just love it!

Look how the light shines through its marvelous colours!

Here it is, hanging on my balcony window --

And another great photo of it, which Lady M took

at her home before mailing the flag to Canada --

Thank you, Lady M, for your

thoughtfulness, artistry and generosity!

I am honoured that you would make

such a beautiful emblem of Pride for me!

Howdy, Y'all -- I'm a Texan Now

Thanks to blogging buddy Jackiesue of Yellowdog Granny, I am now a full-fledged booster for her city of West, Texas. Here I am proudly sporting my West High School Trojans team t-shirt, while getting inspiration from a bottle of Lone Star beer and Waylon Jennings' biography.

Jackiesue sent a whole bunch of neat stuff from her neck of the woods, including a package of Texas Bluebonnet seeds, copies of The West News, and some fun magnets now gracing my refrigerator door. Good to know I can phone the West TX police department whenever I need assistance!

Thanks, Jackiesue, you rock!

Feel Like a Good Read?

What better way to make it through January than by reading a funny and thought-provoking book? Blogging buddy Rawknrobyn of Life by Chocolate: Robyn Alana Engel's Blog has just published an awesome sequel to her first book of memoirs, Woman on the Verge of Paradise, which came out a few years ago.

Robyn's new sequel is entitled InSanity and I had the pleasure of reading it in manuscript form, so my recommendation comes from my own enjoyment of it. The book is a roller coaster ride of often humorous, sometimes poignant, vignettes from Robyn's life -- oddball boyfriends, weird roommates, WTF workplaces and colleagues, and deeper explorations of issues too often ignored in our society concerning mental illness and suicide. Robyn's writing style is delightfully colloquial, easy and fun to read, yet she deals with important and serious issues in a thoughtful and meaningful way.

Even Her Royal Highness the Cat recommends this book! And you know she never promotes anything except herself!

InSanity is available in paperback and Kindle format here on Amazon.

Signal Boost!

Help out a grad student, willya? 

Blogging buddy (The Gods Are Bored) Anne Johnson's daughter needs a lot of people to take a survey she created about news sources and late-night comedy shows. The survey only takes about five minutes and is found here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12dMKWXXixARlduvbe8zhd6beGzIyoJjxgJDa38XKuiY/edit

Although the survey is geared towards Americans, input is also welcome from Canadians and others.

"Saturday Night Protest Party"

One of the worst things in the Blogosphere is when a blogging buddy passes away. Anne Marie in Philly of From My Brain To My Mouth died suddenly and unexpectedly on Thursday night. My deepest condolences to her partner of 30 years, Todd Gunther of arteejee blog. She will be missed by all who knew her.

The Warrior Queen lived up to her name in every way. She was a passionate supporter of human rights and civil rights for all, a fierce feminist, an outspoken advocate of BLM and a proud ally of the LGBTQ+ community. She had no use whatsoever for Trump, the GOP, Q-Anon, anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, or any other right-wing anti-social nonsense. All this was clear in her blog, as well as her love of cats, her artistry with knitting needles, and her enjoyment of a good gin cock-a-tail. Anne Marie was the soul of kindness to her blogging buddies, always remembering and noting in her blog birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions and passings.

Anne Marie was passionate about music and especially liked to "kick it old school," as she put it. Her blog was filled with videos of the best dance music from every decade since the 1940s, so as a tribute to her, the rest of this post is based on her words, her format and some of the music she posted in her "Saturday Night Protest Party" posts. This post concludes, as hers usually did, with one of her favourite quotations of hope and inspiration.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is how I am feeling right now.

Dance like no one's watching.

Sing like no one's listening.

"Keep believing. Keep marching. Keep building. Keep raising your voice. Every generation has the opportunity to remake the world.” - Barack Obama, July 2018

Farewell, Harry

[Photo of Harry from "The story so far" June 30, 2019]

I hate it when a blogging buddy passes away. And one of my faves did so earlier this week on August 27th -- Harry Hamid of The Rise and Fall of Harry Hamid.

Harry wrote prose -- strangely compelling, beautifully twisted, prose. He would come at subjects sideways, entertaining us with his surreal details, seducing us into entering his often macabre world of clever verbiage. His was a unique voice and I enjoyed reading his short stories very much.

Like many writers, Harry wanted to experience the world in other people's skins. When I first unknowingly encountered him a few years ago in the blogosphere, he was blogging as Katy, a beautiful, homeless lesbian who loved obscure rock bands and had an unfortunate love life (Katy's wife ran off with Katy's brother). Harry had also, it turned out, written other blogs in the personas of two different women.

A couple of years ago, when Harry came clean and revealed all (so to speak), he undertook to write his new blog in his own persona. We went with him on a new journey involving his struggles with love, life, alcohol, cigarettes and the Green Party. Then, tragically this Spring, there was a heart attack/stroke that nearly killed him, a cancer diagnosis, surgery, chemo, failing health and now death, as his brother advised us in a final post on his blog. Harry posted personal photos of himself in hospital, so thin, so frail, yet he always fought on, still writing on occasion.

A year ago, Harry noted in a blog post that this particular week in August is when everything bad always seems to happen to him --

"This week is my annual near death experience.

Jamie left. You know this. It’s been six years today. I almost died, five years next Monday. And it’s hurricane season in Houston.

In my life where nothing ever happens, everything that happens happens this week. There was the year when my car blew up. Yes, that one. I remember. I said, “Of course it did,” and all my co-workers laughed. At me. They said, “You’re superstitious after all, Harry.” That night, our server room exploded and the firemen ran up twenty-seven flights of stairs, each one wearing a hundred pounds of equipment and nothing was left but the ashes. The mayor came out. In tacky pajamas. I walked out under helicopters and the world stank sharp with electrical fire.

This was no surprise. I’d warned them. This was the anniversary of everything.

Nothing is cursed and no week and no one. You will always find a logical explanation. That’s the rule. No magic, no magic at all. So okay then, let’s have it then. I’m game.

Logical Explanation 1. There exists a strange cabal of very cruel people who are targeting me. They blew up my truck and they blew up the server room, damn them. Made Jamie leave, and Ruby. Got Veva to marry. Chose the day for my new firm to gobble up my old. Alright.

But what about the hurricanes? What about my total loss of platelets and sitting at lunch, watching my arm fill up with blood in 2013? What a strange cabal that would be.

This is the part where I get to Logical Explanation 2 and it’s the one where, in my paranoid state, I’m bringing it all upon myself. My paranoia stirs up storms! Breaks underground pipes. It kills my grandfather and the world goes up in sympathetic explosions. No good, no good, that seems even more fantastical than a curse, Occam’s razor and all that jazz.

I’ll stay in, with the lights out, this year. Maybe I will call a priest. A handyman. An anesthetist. Dial 9 and 1 on my phone in preparation. In expectation. While I’m waiting."

And now in 2019, during his bad luck anniversary week, Harry has indeed died. Rest in peace, my friend.

But you know, a very real part of me hopes that he has simply pulled another literary fast one on us -- that in a little while, he'll reappear in some new persona in a new blog, saying "Sorry! ha ha! THIS is the real me now!"

Wouldn't that be great? Yeah, yeah it would.

Universe, make it so.

Start Your Holiday Shopping Now!

As far as I'm concerned, it's never too early to beat the rush when it comes to holiday shopping! Of course, by "holiday" I mean Halloween, Samhain, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Festivus, Christmas, Yule, Kwanzaa, whatever it is you've got left to celebrate in 2018!

And if you can find that perfect holiday gift on the internet, then so much the better!

In that spirit, here's some info about a couple of new books published this year and some new merchandise available online from some of my favourite bloggers! This isn't a sponsored advertisement or anything -- it's just stuff I like!

THE TRUMPETER'S NEW CLOTHES

by Robyn Alana Engels

Robyn Alana Engel's new book is a fun political satire for kids of all ages! The Trumpeter's New Clothes is a poetical fun-fest of laughs with knock-out illustrations that will delight you! But be forewarned that, as Robyn says, it's "not for those who lean Orange!" Ha ha! (You'll love his hairpiece -- I know I do!) Available on Amazon (USA) and (Canada).

CLOWDERS by Vanessa Morgan

No one writes about cats so well as Vanessa Morgan! Her latest book, Clowders, is a spooky tale set in Luxembourg involving cats and supernatural vengeance. Frightened town inhabitants do everything they can to worship, adore and protect their cats. But then one night, an American newcomer accidentally runs over a cat with her car . . . .

This book is particularly recommended by Her Royal Highness.

Available on Amazon (USA), (Canada) and (UK).

Magic Love Crow Merchandise

In addition to an Etsy shop where you can buy her art and leggings, Stacy of Magic Love Crow now has a Redbubble site as well, where you can buy all kinds of quality merchandise featuring some of her most iconic images! I bought one of her "Happy Baby Crow" t-shirts and just love it! From personal experience, I also know that her tote bags and notebooks are great too!

Alberta Gothic

This past weekend My Rare One and I went on a road trip to the beautiful Rocky Mountain foothills of southern Alberta -- cowboy country -- ranches, cattle, horses, oil wells! We were headed to Cochrane, a town of 25,000 just north of Calgary that is nestled in a valley overlooked by a huge statue of a cowboy up high in the hills.

Now, Cochrane is a pretty kickass, happenin' kind of place but more about that later this week. Our road trip's immediate purpose was to go to Water Valley, which is very near Cochrane. We were going to visit Lynne of Insomniac's Attic blog at her new store!

If you read her blog, you know that Lynne The Insomniac is an extremely creative devotée of all things dark, mysterious and gothic! Her blog is always a delightful read. And you know what? She is even more delightful in person! My Rare One and I had an absolute blast meeting and spending time with her!

Lynne's new store is a gothic treasure house of the most unique items, decor and clothing! Here's a few photos I took which hopefully give you the feel of it --

I could not resist buying this reproduction antler horn frame with a Victorian-era photo of Odin and his ravens! Isn't it awesome? It's gracing my den/library/computer room now.

And then, when Lynne had closed her store for the day, she did us the great honour of giving us a tour of her acreage home. With characteristic humour and understatement on her blog, Lynne refers to her home as "The Little Gothic Cottage in The Spooky Forest in The Wilds of Alberta, Canada." It is all that and so much more! However, her storybook house is considerably larger than a cottage, thank goodness, because she needs the space to display all the gorgeous gothic furniture, decor and objets d'art that she has collected over the years from all corners of the world.

My Rare One and I were amazed and charmed by both The Insomniac and her home. Thanks so much, Lynne, for a wonderful time!

[First two photos from the internet; all other photos by Debra She Who Seeks, May 2017]

Celebrating Jacqueline

          

I'm very sad to learn that a favourite blogging buddy passed away earlier this month -- Jacqueline of Randomosity and Cranky Bar blogs. Some of you may have been among her readers as well. Last year, she suffered a stroke and was hospitalized since then. I believe it was another stroke on February 6th which ended her life.

Today various blogs are honouring Jacqueline's memory as a final tribute to a wonderful woman gone too soon.

Jacqueline's two successive blogs were always a fun place to visit. She had a great sense of humour and a big, BIG heart! Jacqueline loved to post about her culinary adventures, her favourite music and dealings with family and friends. She was also a talented writer and often posted entertaining and imaginative short fiction based on photo prompts.

But Jacqueline's most inspiring characteristic was her positive, upbeat attitude in the face of serious health issues and other vicissitudes of life. Although she called herself "The Cranky" in her second blog, Jacqueline never appeared to give up in the face of adversity. She celebrated the good times when her arthritis pain and Parkinson's tremors decreased and persevered in bad times when she was more debilitated. I admired her greatly for her strength of character in meeting the many challenges of life.

Jacqueline often posted videos of her favourite music which I always enjoyed because of our similar musical tastes. She introduced me to a lot of great songs and artists, including the European singer In-Grid and her hit Vive le Swing. Jacqueline posted this video two or three different times on her blogs. It was one of her favourites and has become one of mine too. Hearing it always makes me think of her and I'm glad.



Thanks to Rawknrobyn of Life by Chocolate: Robin Alana Engel's Blog for organizing this special blogosphere tribute day.

Thank You, Donald Trump!

The man hasn't even been inaugurated yet as president and already he's scored A Yuge Win for the Blogosphere for which I am profoundly grateful. He has single-handedly inspired Anne Johnson to revive her blog, The Gods Are Bored, which she had discontinued a year ago!

The Gods Are Bored is the very first blog that I ever read back in the mists of time about 10 or 11 years ago when I scarcely even knew what a "blog" was. I was immediately captivated by Anne's delightful tales concerning (among other things) bored pagan deities with far too little to occupy their time in this modern world, her family and job, Decibel the parrot, her obsession with upholstery, a mysterious poet friend named The Monkey Man, her Druid circle and her passionate environmental and other causes.

Anne honours the Sacred Thunderbird and enthusiastically serves as a local vulture festival's mascot each year. Here she is in action!

Her passion for fun, play and dress-up also extends to being a member of the Two Street Stompers mummers group every year in Philadelphia's New Years Day Mummers Parade.

She's in this photo somewhere!

Anne is deeply committed to human rights and equality. She is not going to sit by idly or silently as everything that has been achieved in the USA to date comes under attack. So she has revived her blog as a chronicle of her upcoming efforts. I encourage you all to check out The Gods Are Bored and follow along for the ride!

[All images blatantly stolen from The Gods Are Bored blog]

Owls for Laurie

This post is dedicated to one of my favourite bloggers, Laurie of I Love a Cloudy Day. Laurie lives in a northern Ontario city with her husband Garry, surrounded by the rugged boreal terrain of the Canadian Shield. Laurie loves cats and dogs and, indeed, all tame or wild creatures. But her particular favourite is OWLS.

For example, I believe this is an ACTUAL, UNRETOUCHED photo of Laurie with one of her many owl friends. How she gets away with bare arms and lacy gloves in the middle of winter is beyond me, but she is one tough COOKIE, eh?

And who can blame Laurie for loving owls? They are magnificent birds. Just look at this spectacular image of a snowy owl in flight, whose photo was captured in January by a TRAFFIC CAMERA outside of Montreal --

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, all you human photographers in the blogosphere who would just kill to get a shot like this once in a lifetime! An inanimate piece of technology beat you to it!

Owls inspire not only photographers, of course, but also artists of all descriptions. Even those whose chosen medium is the WOODPILE out back --

But, I ask you, do we REALLY know and understand owls?

Owls can have bad days, just like EVERYONE ELSE.

But I KNOW that even if an owl were having a bad day, Laurie would still love and admire it. She truly understands how important NATURE and THE WILD should be in our lives.

May owls always bring you joy, Laurie!

Bloggin' Buddy Meetup -- Francie

In September when I was in Niagara-on-the-Lake for the Shaw Festival, I had the pleasure of meeting up once again with my bloggin' buddy Francie of A North End Journal! We first met in person a couple of years ago when My Rare One and I were visiting nearby Hamilton.

Francie, my theatre buddy and I all went for a lovely dinner at a winery vineyard restaurant. And this time I came prepared for the photo shoot. See? My face is out of the shot but my purple fingerless gloves verify my identity!

Thanks for being such a good sport about all this crazy subterfuge, Francie! It was great to see you again. Vikings rule!

Bloggin' Buddies Meetup -- Jim, Ron and Sophie

When I was in Halifax in July, I had the great pleasure of meeting up with some long-time bloggin' buddies -- specifically, Jim Cuvelier of Ocean Breezes and his partner Ron Troke of from Sophie's view! My Rare One and I even got to meet their dog Sophie Doodle, who waited patiently in the car while we all enjoyed a lovely lunch at a Greek restaurant.

Jim and Ron are just as nice and fun as they are on their blogs and of course so is Sophie. We had a wonderful time with them -- so much talking and laughter!

You know, blogging anonymously, as I do, has its downside and pitfalls. Alas, I cannot post any of the photos we took that have me in them. And I was so excited about meeting the boys that I got kind of discombobulated and didn't come prepared with a plan of how to take a photo of us that hid or disguised my face.

But will a little thing like that stop me? NO!!

When I got home, I remembered how artists are employed to make a visual record of trial proceedings in our Canadian courts because cameras aren't allowed in courtrooms. Then I realized that method would work just as well in this situation too! So may I present for posterity the artistic record of my Bloggin' Buddies Meetup with Jim, Ron and Sophie --

Bryan and Brandon of A Beer for the Shower very kindly created this awesome digital portrait based on photos I sent them -- and did a bang-up job of capturing everyone's likeness! They even included my purple fingerless gloves! Thanks, B & B, you rock!

Chicken Chat

When I was in Manitoba over the long weekend, I had the great pleasure of meeting up with another bloggin' buddy -- mrsduncanmahogany of October's November! We had a wonderful visit, discussing many shared interests and experiences in and around Winnipeg. Then we got on the topic of chickens.

There are many summer festivals in small-town Manitoba that are fun to attend but mrsduncanmahogany filled me in on a new one -- Chicken Daze! She blogged about it here too. It's held in a bedroom community just outside of The Peg called Oakbank.

For the life of us, we could not figure out what connection could possibly exist between Oakbank and chickens that would either justify or necessitate a summer festival but . . . who knows? Perhaps all the other good summer festival themes were already taken and only chickens remained.

Anyway, mrsduncanmahogany and I had a lovely time sitting in an air-conditioned cafe and having something cold to drink, because my gawd it was just like a blast furnace outside that day.  It's a little known fact that Winterpeg can be hellishly hot and humid in the summer. Depending on what time of year it is, Winnipeggers basically freeze or fry.

Speaking of frying, now I'm craving KFC for some reason.

Brunching Bloggers

When My Rare One and I were in Hamilton, we had the great pleasure of meeting a couple of local bloggin' buddies: Francie of a North End Journal and Lois of Mid Life Fibres! I've read both their blogs for quite a while now so it was a special treat to meet them in person! We got together for brunch at a lovely little artisan coffee shop called The Cannon and had a wonderful time.

Here's Francie (in pink) and Lois (in plaid) helping me decipher a map of Hamilton. Figuring out how to drive up and down that darn Niagara Escarpment really confused us poor prairie flatlanders . . . .

We all had The Cannon's specialty -- waffles! Here I'm about to enjoy a delicious ham-and-cheese waffle sandwich. Yes, those are my (*gasp*) naked hands. It's too hot in the summer to wear my purple fingerless knit gloves . . . .

Thank you, Lois and Francie, for giving us such a delightful Hamilton memory! Now, LOL, back to blogging, everyone!

[First photo comes from the internet; other photos are courtesy of Francie]

[P.S. Don't forget to enter my Chocolate Stanley Cup Giveaway while there's still time -- click here!]

Disaster in West, Texas

Last night the fertilizer plant blew up in the small Texas town of West, where Jackiesue of Yellowdog Granny lives. Thank goodness she and her family are all safe! But currently it is estimated that 15 people have died, 160 are injured and half the town has been evacuated. We were so shocked to see the live coverage on CBC news last night! Here are a couple of photos from the internet showing the blast and OMG that mushroom-shaped cloud --

On her blog, Jackiesue says her first thought was "that little asshole North Korean does have a bomb!" Click here to read her account of how she rushed to the West Rest Haven nursing home inside the blast zone to help evacuate all the seniors. Jackiesue is one of the citizen heroes of West!

Here's another internet photo showing the heavy damage sustained by the apartment block across the street from the fertilizer plant --

Please keep the good people of West, Texas in your thoughts and prayers today.

Welcome Home, Renee

I am so very sad to learn that Renee of Circling My Head has passed away. She touched innumerable lives with her open and loving heart. The world and the blogosphere will be a poorer place now that she is gone.

May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest, Renee.

Perhaps the birds circling your head were angels all along.