Gypsy Letter # 7

I was wondering how long Lady Zaza's "perfect life" with Lady Gaga was going to last. Not too long it seems, according to this urgent email which I just received from my footloose feline --

Hello, it's me again. DISASTER HAS STRUCK!!!

On the weekend, Lady Gaga's tour hit Phoenix, Arizona. While the roadies were setting up and Lady Gaga was doing her sound check, I took a little stroll around the city to see the sights. You know Arizona's new law that allows the police to check the immigration papers of anyone they regard as suspicious? Well, they determine who is suspicious not only through RACIAL profiling but through SPECIES profiling too! A big cop stopped me and said, "You don't look like an AMERICAN cat to me, furball -- show me your papers!"

It's so unfair! It's not MY fault that I entered the United States illegally with my gypsy band. We were just seeking a bit of southern sun and warmth in the middle of winter! HOW COULD THAT BE WRONG? Everybody in Canada wants to do that! But not even Lady Gaga could persuade the authorities that they were making a horrible mistake. What is this world coming to, when a CELEBRITY is ignored?!?

To make a long story short, the fascists are DEPORTING me back to Canada on the next plane to Edmonton! DEPORTING ME!!!

Please come and pick me up at the airport at your earliest opportunity. Signed . . . your poor persecuted kitty.

What Your Cat is REALLY Thinking

Now you know! Don't say no one warned you!

Auntie Beehive's Art Glass

My Auntie Beehive loved decorative art glass. She had two large pieces which occupied pride of place in her living room. "My EYEtalian glass," she always called them.

The first was a shallow orange bowl with two enormous asymmetrical arms spreading out for a total wingspan of at least three feet. It sat on a doily on the hi-fi. It was a truly spectacular piece of hand-blown glass.

While I have no trouble remembering the first piece of art glass, my mind is fuzzier about the second piece. (In my defence, it has been at least 30 years since I laid eyes on them.) To the best of my memory, the second piece was a large, blue, vase-like affair which sat (again on a doily) on a mahogany drop-leaf table. I don't think it impressed me as much.

For this post, I scoured the vintage art glass sites on the internet, hoping to find photos of that particular style of Venetian or Murano glass. But alas! The above photo is the only one that gives even a faint suggestion of the glory that was my Auntie Beehive's EYEtalian glass.

Mind Blowing Blog Award!

Thank you so much, dear Mary/mxtodis123 of Dreams, A Pathway to the Soul, for considering this blog to be worthy of a Mind Blowing Blog Award! Yowza! I'm humbled by its receipt (and I just love that design!)

Now it is my privilege to pass the award on to five other mind blowing blogs. It's very hard to choose because every blog I like is mind blowing, IMHO. So I thought of different types of mind blowingness and picked that way.

Serious Mind Blowing:

Rebecca Harding of The Sustainable Soul: Natural Spirituality -- Rebecca writes eloquent meditations on environmental spirituality.

Artsy Mind Blowing:

Sarah of Cottage Garden Studios -- Sarah's whimsical and beautiful artwork, plus her fabulous photography, are always a joy to behold.

Outrageous Mind Blowing:

Elly of BugginWord

Corey James of madtexter

Jackiesue of Yellowdog Granny

I'm grouping these together because each of them never fails to make me say, "OMG, they said WHAT?" Kaboom!

Seriously, check out these blogs if you have a moment -- you won't regret it!

Farewell, Law and Order!

So Law and Order has now been cancelled after 20 years. Last night I watched the final episode. I confess that I am a belated Law and Order fan. I didn't really start watching it until 2005, but by then it was in syndication five nights a week so it didn't take too long before I had watched pretty much every episode!

Some characters/actors I loved; some I hated. Here's my three faves:

Detective Mike Logan (Chris Noth) -- just the right mixture of sensitive guy and surly macho!

Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) -- Oh Lennie, Lennie, how I miss your cynical, wisecracking ways!

Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) -- He's the reason I started watching Law and Order in the first place. I love a good tenacious, crusading lawyer! When he got moved to the role of District Attorney a couple of years ago and got less screen time, I think the show lost its heart and soul.

And of course, the real star of the series -- that fabulous opening theme song!

Doink Doink!

Victoria Day

Today in Canada we celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday with a statutory holiday. Woo hoo! It's the first long weekend of summer and is traditionally marked by much drinking of beer while camping. In fact, this holiday is sometimes called the May two-four weekend, the same way a box of 24 beer is called a two-four. We Canadians are nothing if not classy, eh?

Queen Victoria was born on May 24, 1819. I don't know if any other country in the world (including Britain) still officially marks her birthday like Canada does. But she was Queen in 1867 when Canada became a Dominion independent of British rule, so she has a special place in our history for that reason.

One year I happened to be in Victoria, British Columbia on the May 24th weekend. The City of Victoria prides itself on its British heritage. Each year they hold a big Victoria Day Parade which, apart from the usual floats, bands and dignitaries, features lots and lots of Pipe Bands. We luuuuuv bagpipes in Canada. So did Queen Victoria, of course.

Auntie Beehive's Fad Diets

Like many women of her era, my Auntie Beehive was a relentless dieter. She was naturally slender so I think it was more of a control thing with her than a weight thing. But also, women were just expected to diet in those days. It was part of being a socially acceptable female. [Editor's note: have things really changed since then?]

Auntie Beehive was always experimenting with one fad diet or another. I think she tried them all over the years. The strangest one I remember her following was the Oranges-and-Metamucil diet. For weeks, if not months, Auntie Beehive lived exclusively on navel oranges and Metamucil fibre supplement. Does anyone else remember this weird diet? It can't have been very healthy.

Nowadays you can actually buy orange-flavoured Metamucil. Of course, you know who it reminds me of every time I see it in stores.