http://www.102clearfm.com

I have always loved doing things alone. I’m not sure if it’s because I spent a lot of time by myself as a kid, due to geographical isolation, or if it’s just something that’s in the blood.  So when I read this post on Jezebel.com, it whet my appetite for solo adventure. Their point is that when you go it alone, there is never a need to compromise. As a married mother with kids, that experience might be a little like waking up in the morning on a different planet. But holy &$@*^, how great it might feel!! So here they are, in no particular order-ways to push yourself beyond your comfort level, to ignite the lone wolf within:

1.   Dining out  – not because you are trying to meet someone  not only because your partner couldn’t join you, but because there is something self-loving about eating good food with your own company.

2.    Movies – this is something some of us have been doing for years- you pick the movie, you pick the seat.. and if you can slip out and grab a matinee in the middle of the day, it’s almost like 2 hours of meditation. Beautiful!

3.   A Concert - This one scares me, but apparently for those who have gone before… empowering!!! Plus you might make an incredible new friend with the person sitting next to you.

4.   Travel –A lot of women talk about it….and that’s interesting because when you travel alone you are essentially signing up to do a lot of activities alone, but again… great because you keep your own pace, and that absolute independence, according to one woman who has travelled alone several times is “intoxicating.”

5.   Road travel -  a subset of the last one, but is really its own experience. The ultimate in “know-thyself, free spirited independence”, according to Jezebel.com.

So, there you go. As my 98 year old friend Mil used to say to me, “I’ve never minded my own company.” Maybe you could feel that way about yourself too…if you had five minutes to get reacquainted!

What do you love to do alone?

Bonus Code: HOW DO I GET YOU ALONE

I am looking out my window right now, literally lusting after the sunshine. It is a brilliant warm afternoon, and with these having been in short supply the last couple of weeks, it feels like a crime against nature not being out there and enjoying it.

On Saturday, when it was the first real warm day of the year (+10, as I recall), I spent a lot of time outdoors with my children. They went bananas, like animals being released from a cage. It was the first time I saw them play together in long while where they didn’t fight, but instead sort of found their way into an activity they could share equally. My 6 year old pushed his little sister up and down the sidewalk in her tricycle about 30 times - he happy to finally be in perpetual motion, and she basking in the attention of her beloved big brother. Later, when I suggested we eat our lunch on the porch, they screamed with joy. I brought out the food and glasses, and proposed a toast. (We have been clinking glasses at our house for years; the kids love to do it, and feel included in something special that we are doing.)

D: “To spring!!!!”
Three Year Old: “To Mother Nature!!!”
Six Year Old: ”Glory to Mother Nature!!

That was a good day.

And while on the subject of siblings getting along, another great moment for our household…last night was my son’s wind-up at MTYP. For as animated as he is in everyday life, A does not really enjoy performing in front of others. He much prefers to communicate one on one, and yesterday was really hard for him. He was almost in tears as he saw us in the hall outside the theatre, and lunged at me, hoping he could get out of it. His dad was able to “talk him down”, and he went along with the rest of the group. When it was his time to come out, he walked sheepishly into the performance area. All of a sudden, his little sister, who was sitting on my lap, started to clap loudly, and shouted at the top of her lungs, “YAY, A!!!!!!!!”

It is so hard to watch your child struggle with anything, knowing that sometimes our loved ones have to struggle to grow.  But the littlest one had it all figured out.  Sometimes, the only thing to do, is cheer.

So….
BONUS CODE: YAY SPRING

I know, I know…nobody in this country  REALLY likes the monarchy anymore. The fact that we have a Governor General as a representative of the British monarchy here in Canada, is about as popular with its citizens as the proposed changes to the national anthem. However….

I love Michaelle Jean. Since the time she has taken over this position, I have gone from “Whaaa????” to being totally enamored with her. The position of GG, particularily while she fills the spot, is a little like a super fancy ball gown; you don’t really need it, you could live without it, whether it serves any REAL purpose is debatable…but whenever you see it, it totally takes your breath away.

This story really touched my heart. And I couldn’t stop looking at this picture today, and now that I am at home getting ready for bed, I still cannot get it out of my head. She laughs, she cries…she even eats seal meat, if it’s what she feels the situation calls for. And she makes no apologies for who she is. I can respect that. 

Bonus Code: MICHAELLE

Haha! I enjoyed this very much. Although on International Women’s Day, I did have to acknowledge the lack of equality; if it were gender reversed, the whole thing would would potentially come across as catty:

Bonus Code: KIMMEL

We got into a bit of Barbie chat on the show today, but that couldn’t touch the controversy of the Harper government proposition to  change the lyrics of the national anthem. Is it politically correct and the right thing to do? Or is it going too far?

Raising eyebrows in particular is the line “True patriot love,  in all thy son’s command”, for obvious reasons. I read with interest that in the original version of the song, that line read, “True patriot love, thou dost in us command.” So it was changed to something a bit more modern - an interesting point to note considering our debate today.

When I first read about this today, I thought, “This isn’t hard…why don’t they just change it to “in all of us command”?  Then I read a column in the Calgary Herald in which the author writes that there exists an alternate version of “O Canada” in which that’s exactly how the line reads…and she’s been singing it that way for some time. And then there are other opinions, like the one I picked up from someone on Facebook today: “Yet another ridiculous feminist move…One word…WHY? So stupid…”

 I honestly don’t think the nature of the change is what’s ticking people off, but rather, that it requires a bit of effort on our part. People don’t like change. The the thing is, by the true definition of the word, that line IS  sexist, in that it technically excludes any women singing the song. Whether you think it’s a big deal or not is another thing entirely. I am not offended by the line, but if they decided to change the line, sure, I’d support that. And my barometer these days, which has made deciding how I feel about these things a whole lot easier, is my daughter. How would I want her to hear the lyrics? What if she asked me about it sometime: “Why do they say sons, mom? I’m not a son, I’m a daughter.” I would rather she not have to ask the question.  And so, yeah… there are a lot of issues probably better discussed on the first day back from prorogue. I get the joke. But what shocks me about the debate this has created is  the condesension  that it is breeding between women. To the gals screaming “stupid *$#@ feminists!!”, remember: because of them, we gals are able to enjoy things like equal pay for equal work, and the vote. Sometimes creating improvement in society means being unpopular. Although, there is irony in that, based on the vitriol I’ve been reading today, had Facebook and the rest of the internet existed back when the original lyrics were changed, we probably wouldn’t have anything to talk about.

Bonus Code: TRUE PATRIOT LOVE 

I am in a state of zen today! After almost a year without, I am now the proud owner of a camera again.  My last one went missing after a night of revelry in the states last year (beloved Fuji, I’m sorry all those shooters came between us!) and I did not replace it. However, after a serious drought, the money tree in my possession began producing again recently - sufficient enough fruit to purchase a new one. I could have bought anything just to HAVE one, but I must admit, when it comes to pictures, and the taking of them, i’m a bit of a snob. I want something good. If most cameras are equipped to capture images with 10 megapixels, I want something that will do, I dunno…a 1000. A bit of an exaggeration, but I just love a good picture. There is something unbelievably engaging about a well taken photo. It has the potential to elevate the status of the simplest things, and extract something poignant  from any given moment And I must admit, it has been hard waiting; I would often feel physical pain watching my kids playing, or my daughter sticking her hands in her pudding, knowing it was a moment worth immortalizing with digital technology.
So this morning I took a miilion pictures of my daughter. Pretending to be a fairy - 10 shots. Eating the jam off her toast with her fingers, 16 shots. Brief pause to wipe fingers…and then another 20 of her just sitting there. That was just too much fun.

The number of pictures that somehow end up any place other than a photo album or frame really bother me. At some point, someone loved that person enough to take a picture of him or her. And yet, either by mistake or misadventure, or perhaps deliberately, the picture ends up at the dump, or underfoot on a sidewalk somewhere. Recently, my husband bought a house that he is doing a little work on. Taking out a wall between the kitchen and dining room, he found a couple of photos that had somehow slipped behind the wall.  I took them out, and was just so taken with the incredible cuteness of the chidlren in them. He put them in the junk trailer, but the sight of them there, all covered in drywall dust was just too much. I took them out, dusted them off, and took them home.  Whoever lived that that house had loved these kids so much that their pics went on a kitchen wall, probably so that whoever was eating breakfast could start their day by looking at them. Maybe those children lived far away from whoever it was that put their pictures there.. Maybe they got to kiss and hug those kids everyday. Either way, I had to take them home. I don’t know what I’ll do with them. I am putting them here as a way of honoring the love we have for our kids and grandkids..such that we take pictures of them in the most mundane of moments, or when they are covered in facepaint, or coated in jam. Even though they are destined to slip behind a wall, and into the past, there is something undeniably magical about those everyday moments. These
are the good old days….

Bonus code: WHO KNOWS THESE CUTIES? 

Well, not yet. But in my mind (and those of the scads of people who have joined the “Lilith Fair…Winnipeg Wants You!” Facebook page), I am feeling it already….a hot summer night, grass under bare feet, and music - lots of incredible music.

I started the a page with the hope that at the very least, Sarah McLachlan would be made aware that there are people on the prairies that want her show to come here. This weekend, a story initially done about the page in the Winnipeg Free Press was picked up by other papers across the country, including the Vancouver Province. I don’t know if we stand a snowball’s chance in hell, but the odds that she has at least HEARD about this are even better now. And maybe she will (re)consider Winnipeg as a stop on Lilith 2010, although at this moment she is pretty busy with the Olympics (like the rest of us, in our own way. PS: Way to go, beating the Ruskies last night, Team Canada.)

So if the thought of one of the biggest tours slated for this summer stopping in Winnipeg appeals to you, please join. And tell your SK friends. They can come too. I can’t force them keep the Rider jerseys at home, but I think it’ll be understood…

Oh my gawd… look at who might be coming to town

Bonus Code: LILITH FAIR 

Hello all! So nice not to be rolling around in bed, writhing in pain! (And I don’t mean watching the opening ceremonies at the Olympics. Poor Wayne.)

I thought this would appeal in one of two ways:

1. Either you will try this, like so many  did the egg peeling trick vid I posted last year, because it could save you time, but mostly because it looks kinda COOL..or

2. You won’t believe how awesome Maryann from “Gilligan’s Island” still is.  It’s marvellously cheesy!

Bonus Code: POTATO

So I saw this today and just didn’t know WHAT the hell to think.  

The item is called a ”Hoodie Footie.” When I first saw it I immediately thought, “Snuggie”. But no! As the commercial went on, I began to get very envious of the woman in it. Because she looked incredibly warm, whereas I was not.

It is not an exaggeration to say that I go to bed as thoroughly dressed as I am when I’m out in public. We’re talking: t-shirt, sweater, long pants of some kind, and socks. Full on. Otherwise I am cold. And I hear my mother’s voice saying, “Take your socks off! Your skin needs to breathe!” My husband’s argument that being naked and very close to someone who is also naked has been scientifically proven to produce warmth greater than gortex and virgin wool combined is only slightly more appealing. Further to that, there is the theory that an item like this might be the most effective form of birth control ever invented. But I can’t help myself! If I’m not warm, I can’t sleep. And this goofy arse thing looks VERY warm.

I have drawn the line at wearing a toque to bed, but with this thing…problem solved! Despite the persistent feeling of embarrassment, I’ll take six.

Bonus Code: HOODIEFOOTIE

Got this forwarded to me by a co-worker today. It was a youtube clip of a newscast from Australia where, in the background, you can see a guy looking at his email. Some of the attachments were apparently pictures of nude women. While you can’t really blame someone for opening an attachment and being sure of what’s in there, after the first one, he continues to open two more…and anyone watching the news that night got much more than a financial report. (Mind you, if we’re being honest, a lot of us would have found it hard to stop after just one  - yes, even us ladies.) We’re not supposed to be doing it at work, of course. And this guy got his bell rung but good. I would love to find out if he got fired after this video went viral. Poor fellow.

Next up, a little brag. My next door neighbor happens to be a fabulous musician. His name is David Hasselfield (although it took me several months before I stopped calling him David Hasselhoff by default, I imagine because I am a child of the 80’s. Go Kitt!!!)

The first summer we spent in the house was this past one, and although it was not the hottest one on record, those old Wolseley houses don’t have much in the way of A/C other than opening the door. Which Dave did, often when he and his band would be practicing. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was stepping out onto the front porch on those days, the lustrous sound of the saxaphone swirling through the air. It is a special privilege living next to someone with that kind of talent for that reason alone. Plus, he usually shovels the sidewalk between our houses. Nice. Thought I’d share a bit of it with you…this song (Potted Palm) is cute and very relevant considering the time of year.

Click here to listen to Potted P

Bonus Code: POTTED PALM