Happy Year of the Horse!

Gung hey fat choy, everyone! Happy Chinese Lunar New Year and welcome to the Year of the Horse! Isn't this a great photo of a young woman and her horse enjoying a good laugh together? I found it on teh interwebs.

What can we expect in a Horse Year? According to Susan Levitt and Jean Tang in Taoist Astrology:

The year of the Horse is a time of victory, adventure, exciting activities, and surprising romances. Decisive action, not procrastination, brings success. Energy is high and production is rewarded. . . . On a global scale, expect world economies to become stronger and industrial manufacturing to rise -- or expect economic chaos and collapse . . . . Under strong Horse's influence, there is no middle ground.

Well, given all that, you'd better ensure good luck and prosperity for the upcoming year by exchanging a small coin with a friend today! Click here for details of this fun little ritual.

Holy Water

The Bible has some pretty famous stories about water. But is it time to update them for our modern world? Perhaps recast them in today's language and imagery?

Oh, if only Jesus did work at the supermarket! Life would be a party every day!

In medieval times, "the imitation of Christ" meant striving to live in poverty with love and charity for all. Our comparison standards aren't quite so high today:

And of course everybody wants to get in on the act:

One final question . . . .

The short answer? Yes, yes they will.

Kimono Memories

Recently, Kestril Trueseeker had a very interesting post about kimonos over at her blog Kestril's Rhythms and Groove. It reminded me of some kimonos we saw on display in Tokyo when we were there. This particular one was my favourite -- can you guess why?

The front:

The back:

Yes, you guessed it! I love the whimsical bunnies on the obi sash! Who knew rabbits were so musical? Here's a close-up:

[Photos by Debra She Who Seeks, 2012]

Happy Australia Day, Mate!

To honour the national day of Canada's Commonwealth cousin, here's a few Down Under LOLs to tickle yer billabongs and didgeridoos:

Please note that I avoided the use of clichéd gags using upside-down photos. You're welcome.

Robbie Burns Day, Och Aye

Today is the birthday of Robbie Burns, Scotland's most famous poet. People all over the world will hold Burns Suppers, eat some haggis, recite his poetry and enjoy a wee dram as a tribute. But here on She Who Seeks blog, my tradition is to post funny Scottish LOLs to honour the bard because he was a guy who always enjoyed a good laugh, I'm sure.

Centre for Spiritual Living Labyrinth

I haven't posted for awhile about labyrinths that I have visited and, believe it or not, there are still a few more! Today I'm highlighting another Edmonton labyrinth.

This beautiful Chartres labyrinth is located on the sanctuary floor of the Centre for Spiritual Living, a "new thought" spiritual community. On the first Friday evening of every month, they move the church's chairs off the labyrinth and make it available for walking. The sanctuary is silent and lit only by candlelight, creating a serene and meditative atmosphere.

On the walls surrounding the labyrinth hang banners with portraits and quotations from various spiritual role models: Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, John Lennon and . . . Oprah! See, told you they embrace new thought!

Whenever I've gone to a labyrinth walk here, they have been very well attended. And there's always lots of young people there too. It's nice to see them embracing an ancient tradition and finding value in it.

[Photo taken from the website of Edmonton's Centre for Spiritual Living]

Me Me Me Meme!

This meme struck me as fun so I stole it from Riot Kitty who stole it from Joey. If you'd like to answer the meme questions too, feel free to steal it from me!

1. If there is one candy left in the box, do you have to eat it or can you leave it sitting there all alone for the next few weeks?

I would not only eat the candy immediately, I would eat the box as well.

2. What do you want to remember most of all, if you survive to be very old?

Not to go out in public without any clothes on.

3. Would you enjoy being a very rich and famous celebrity?

Do you mean this blog hasn't made me one already? WTF!

4. What piece of music do you personally find most emotionally moving?

"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

5. How do you deal with anxiety, depression and bad times?

Funny movies and TV shows. Also LOLcats.

6. What do you love doing that bores everyone else stiff?

So long as it's not this blog, I'm fine.

7. Did you ever encounter an inanimate object that seemed to have a will of its own?

You mean apart from my ex, Big Bad Butch?

8. What is your very favourite hotel or restaurant?

One where someone else picks up the tab.

9. What do you wish you had known when you were 18?

If I'd known then what I know now, I'd never have done or achieved anything in my life because I'd have been defeated before I started, simply by knowing how difficult it would be. Everything I am today I owe to the fact that ignorance is bliss.

World Hockey Dominance will be OURS!

Canadians love hockey, no doubt about it. And beer, don't forget beer. And even though hockey players might not be the brightest bunch around, we love them too, the big lugs.

In the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics, Canada intends to win gold in both men's and women's hockey. So watch out, world! We've been working on some new secret techniques.

Be forewarned: there will be NO lovey-dovey nonsense at the Olympics. We're gonna be tough. TOUGH!

You are all the BEST!

My Rare One and I appreciate all your kind words of comfort for us and your words of tribute for Her Royal Highness. Yes, she was certainly one of a kind! To paraphrase Dr. Johnson's famous quotation: HRH was a fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.

I'll be back to regular blogging next week.

Sad News About HRH

I'm sad to announce that Her Royal Highness has gone on her final adventure and crossed the rainbow bridge. She had a good long life but was in decline for the past few years with kidney insufficiency disease (very common among older cats). But what carried her off in the end was a sudden aggressive cancer. With the vet's assistance, her passage was peaceful and quick.

HRH was born in Winnipeg, part of an unwanted litter of black-and-white tuxedo kittens from the North End. I adopted her from the Winnipeg Humane Society when she was only nine weeks old. Her little white milk mustache and white tipped tail distinguished her from her siblings and that's why I picked her. Here she is as a baby kitten:

HRH moved with me to Edmonton and became an Alberta cat. She enjoyed many hobbies such as nagging for food, batting around fake fur mice, playing the minty breath game, running up and down the stairs at breakneck speed, napping in the sun, grooming, and lounging about on her big carpeted cat tree. HRH loved it when My Rare One would share a can of top-grade salmon with her or slip her a lovely bit of Thanksgiving turkey right off the bird. She had us both wrapped around her little paw.

On my blog, HRH lived out a secret life of adventure and mayhem. Long-time readers will remember that HRH ran off with the gypsies, toured with Lady Gaga, got deported from the USA, attended the Royal Wedding, competed in the Cat Olympics in England, was imprisoned with Pussy Riot in Moscow, got deported from Russia, became a Pirate Queen, traveled to the moon and back, etc.

Farewell, HRH, good cat and true! It was an honour to have you share our lives and we will miss you forever. xoxoxoxoxo

[All photos by Debra She Who Seeks and My Rare One]

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Here in Canada, we take pride in how tough we are when it comes to cold and snow.

But goddamn, it's been so cold since Christmas that even we are beginning to crack. I was in Manitoba right before New Year's and the overnight temperatures with windchill were -45ºC (-49ºF) and -50ºC (-58ºF). The daytime HIGHS were -35ºC (-31ºF). The cold was brutal, just brutal.

It really is kind of poetic justice for us though --

But we are not amused. Not amused at all.

But whatever you do -- make sure your vehicle is good to go! Without a running vehicle, you'll be stuck waiting in the frigid blast for The Bus That Never Comes!

And if you see a guy driving an open convertible down the street . . .

. . . then what you're really seeing is this:

The temperatures are FINALLY starting to moderate this week -- thank goodness! Not a moment too soon.

Schedryk (Carol of the Bells)

Today is Orthodox Christmas, commonly called "Ukrainian Christmas" here on the prairies because of our large Ukrainian-Canadian population. To celebrate, I'm posting a video of a well-known seasonal carol composed in 1916 by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych. I'm sure you will recognize the tune right away!

Leontovych based the song on an ancient Ukrainian pagan chant called "Schedryk" which means "the Generous One." As the new year approaches, a swallow flies into a man's house and tells him that the upcoming year will bring him great wealth in the form of many lambs, much grain, lots of money and a beautiful wife. Here it is, sung in Ukrainian, by a choir in traditional dress:



The English language version is completely different. Because the music sounded like bells to an American choirmaster named Peter Wilhousky, he wrote new lyrics with a very traditional Christmas theme. In English, the song is usually known as "Carol of the Bells" or "Ukrainian Bell Carol."



Christmas blessings to all who celebrate today!

Defining Beauty

Have you noticed that since New Year resolutions time is here, TV is absolutely inundated with weight loss ads? Women all over the western world are once again beating themselves up because they don't look like Barbie.

Even when the media does pretend to send a positive message, it is only a "mixed message" at best.

But this year, they're ramping up expectations to an all-time unattainable high.

Stop! Just stop this madness now. Please.

Happy New Year!