Have You Hugged Your Unicorn Today?

While re-indexing old posts, it has come to my attention that I have not blogged about unicorns since 2013 -- SIX YEARS AGO!

How can this be?

I must jump in my UNICORN CAR and REMEDY the situation at once.

Unicorns get such a BAD RAP in our society. Their CUTENESS prevents them from ever being taken SERIOUSLY.

Plus, unicorns are CONSTANTLY HARASSED by narwhals and their lawyers. It's a VENDETTA, I tellz ya!

And yet, WHO AMONG US does not love unicorns? The whimsy and charm of unicorns can bring a smile even to the most HARDENED of HEARTS.

So just let me end on a POETIC NOTE --

Actually, more than a whole BAGFUL of them!

SPARKLE ON!

Do You Play Bridge?

My Rare One and I love to play cards -- Cribbage and Hand-and-Foot Canasta are our personal favourites, although we have been known to play other games on occasion as well, like Euchre and Rummoli. When I was a kid at home, we played Whist almost exclusively -- it was my Mom's favourite. She was also a menace at Gin Rummy, although I could defeat her occasionally at Crazy Eights.

My Rare One and I have just taken on a new challenge -- we have signed up for beginners' Bridge lessons at the Edmonton Bridge Centre! I am feeling a bit of trepidation about it, given Bridge's reputation for difficulty, but I'll give it my best shot.

Why Bridge, you ask? We are good friends with another lesbian couple -- let's just call them the Valhalla Valkyries -- who are avid Bridge players. They have encouraged us to take up the game. I'm not sure what it's going to be like playing Bridge whilst screaming through the skies of battle on horseback but how bad could it be?

Monday, Bloody Monday

Ugh, it's Monday morning once again. This calls for serious prayer.

And if the Divine does not answer our prayers, 

let's call on the Other Guy.

Coffee is a human need that's as old as we are.

Maybe even older.

It's what we need to kickstart the old bods.

If we don't have time to make coffee at home,

let's get it at a coffee shop!

Although commercial coffee is expensive . . . 

. . . and can be very frustrating to order.

No matter how we do it, getting some coffee inside us

is our only must-do goal for the day.

You know it's true.

The Books I Read Last Year

When I was a kid, I was an absolutely voracious reader. This lasted right up until I graduated from university. But alas, as soon as I was out working full time in the real world, the available hours I had for pleasure reading dwindled dramatically.

During the last year of my career in 2017, I only managed to read seven books for pleasure.

SEVEN!

But I had big plans for a turnaround in 2018, my first year of blissful retirement, free at last from competing demands on my time!

So, how many books did I read in 2018?

SEVEN! 

Oh, the humiliation of it all!

But, for the record, here are the seven books I read in 2018. All of them are novels --

1. Ann Patchett, The Magician's Assistant

2. Rick Riordan, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Hammer of Thor

3. Ed McBain, The Gutter and the Grave

4. Karen Connelly, The Change Room

5. Madeline Miller, Circe

6. Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows

7. Beverley McLachlin, Full Disclosure

Do I really have to tell you what my ambitions are for this year, 2019?

All Together Now: Awwwwww!

I love photos of kids dressed up as favourite superheroes and recently, I've come across two such photos that have just knocked my socks off!

Isn't this baby girl the cutest little Wonder Woman you ever did see?

And look at this awesome fusion of superhero and indigenous imagery in the pow-wow regalia of a little Captain America dancer and his Winter Soldier drummer!

Ukrainian Christmas Eve

Under the old Julian calendar still used by the Orthodox Christian Church, today is Orthodox Christmas Eve or, as we refer to it here on the Canadian prairies, Ukrainian Christmas Eve.

And as long-time readers know, My Rare One's heritage is 100% Ukrainian and mine is 0% Ukrainian but I am a major wannabe. So this evening I am making a celebration for her, as I always do, in my half-assed, pagan, non-Ukrainian way.

The traditional 12 meatless dishes to be eaten on Ukrainian Christmas Eve are far, far beyond my culinary abilities to prepare, so I'm just going to pan-fry up some cheese perogies with butter, onions and bacon. See? I can't even make one dish meatless! And I'm not making borscht this year either. Are my standards slipping?

Every year I buy My Rare One a small Ukrainian-themed gift and give it to her in a culturally appropriate gift bag. In the past, for example, I've given her a chocolate bar from the Ukraine, an art print of a pre-Christian Ukrainian goddess, a beet candle, design books and dyes for making Ukrainian Easter eggs, and an assortment of Christmas decorations, a tea towel and a golf ball all decorated with traditional Ukrainian designs.

Here is this year's gift --

Shhhh . . . don't tell her, but inside is a bag of beet chips! That's why I'm not making borscht this year. Don't want to risk a beet overdose!

I bet they'll be quite tasty with the perogies! At least, here's hoping.

Yay, It's National Lizard Day Today!

No, it's not. I just needed a catchy title for this post of lizard memes and images.

Of course, I'm using the word "lizard" very loosely here. I'm no naturalist, so I'm not even sure what half these critters are, factually speaking. And I know, I know, some of them are really dinosaurs but jeez, aren't dinosaurs just big, extinct lizards?

Cut me some slack, willya?

(This next one, ladies -- amirite? Amirite? Hell, yeah!)

I'll leave you with this final, creepy gif. You're welcome.