HRH, Purrsonal Shopper

You will no doubt be pleased to hear that 

Her Royal Highness the Cat has added 

yet another service to her 

ever burgeoning career portfolio.

Since no one, and I mean NO ONE, 

knows (and expects) the finer things in life 

like she does, HRH has decided to become 

A Purrsonal Shopper.

For a modest hefty fee, she will buy 

the most extravagant gifts 

for any person you choose and 

charge them to your credit card.

I discovered that my sister (of ALL people) 

had been taken in by HRH's new scheme 

marketing genius this Christmas

when I received the following 

lovely gifts from her --

Notice any COMMON THEME among the gifts?

Perhaps a closer examination 

of those tarot cards

will reveal the mystery . . . .

Of course, I just love these gifts

but if HRH ever gets to know that,

she'll be even MORE insufferable

than she already IS!

Books Read in 2021

I only read one published book in 2021:

1. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

I did also read an at-that-time unpublished book manuscript

(see my last post here) so goddammit, I'm counting that too:

2. InSanity by Robyn Engel.

Therefore, the count is TWO.

Two books read in 2021.

I started another couple of enjoyable books 

but I have not finished them yet, so hopefully 

they'll be on next year's list!

So just exactly HOW

have I been spending my 

reading time, you ask?

Well, we ALL know the answer

to that question, don't we?

Out of sheer idle curiosity,

I kept track of how many

Captain America/Winter Soldier

gay fanfics I read online in 2021.

ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHT.

These range in size from

flash fiction, short stories and novellas

right up to huge, sweeping, full-book-length epics.

Writing styles range from

bad to mediocre to decent to

absolutely-wonderfully-written,

could-be-actually-published-if-it-were-not-

for-the-copyright-infringement-issue

literary works.

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.

Thursday Art Date With Rain -- "Snowman"

Welcome to Rain Frances' first Art Date of 2022!

We've got lots of snow in Edmonton but unfortunately, 

it's not wet enough to actually make a snowman for this post, 

so I've resorted to photos of My Rare One's 

vintage blow mold snowman instead! 

This dapper gentleman lives 

between her two garage doors, 

securely fastened in place by 

looped electrical wire around his neck 

which then goes inside the garage. 

It looks a bit like he's being garroted but 

I assure you all, he's fine. 

He lights up the back alley at night 

with his internal 100 watt lightbulb!

[These two photos © Debra She Who Seeks, December 2021]

As per usual, I'll pad out the rest of this post 

with LOLs and memes from the internet -- 

enjoy these goofy varieties of snowmen!

The Literary Witches Oracle

I received a wonderful holiday gift from longtime blogging buddy Susan, who blogs from Upstate New York on her entertaining and often humorous blog called e-i-e-i-omg (subtitled "middle-aged homesteader meets reality"). She very kindly and generously sent me a copy of The Literary Witches Oracle. I had not heard of this deck before but it is a marvelous, recently created one. Thank you, Susan!

The oracle deck consists of 30 Witches cards and 40 Witches' Materials cards. Each Witches card features a past or present woman writer, literary icons all, many also feminist and/or lesbian icons too. Each Witch is associated with a particular quality or state of being. Some of my personal faves represented in this deck include Agatha Christie (Trickery), Emily Dickinson (The Soul), Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Freedom), Joy Harjo (Bravery), Audre Lorde (Justice), Sappho (Love), Gertrude Stein (Perspective) and Virginia Woolf (Vision).

The Witches' Materials cards are images of various animals and objects symbolizing themes often found in these witches' writings. 

A helpful Guidebook to interpret the cards is included in the box set.

Since it is the New Year, I did a three-card reading for myself using the Opportunity, Challenge, and Resolution Spread. 

My Opportunity card was Tree (wisdom, good roots, connection).

My Challenge card was Mary Shelley: Loss (the cycle of life, transitions, attachment).

My Resolution card was Toad (humour, the grotesque, joy).

While I can therefore expect to deal with some form of challenging loss this year, I should strive to find humour and positivity in the experience by treating it as an opportunity to cultivate wisdom and reliance on the support of others.

[Photos #1 and #2 from the internet;

Photo #3 © Debra She Who Seeks, January 2021]

Hello 2022!

I must confess that I have a rather curmudgeonly attitude to making New Year's Resolutions. Very, very rarely do I ever make any.

I actually kind of agree with bratty Calvin. Our society's pressure to engage in constant “self-improvement” is, in my opinion, simply a secular continuation of the harmful Christian doctrine that we are all hopeless sinners and need to improve our wicked ways to achieve illusory “perfection” and justify ourselves to God. Whether religious or secular, this pressure is actually a form of social control. It has been particularly abusive of women and girls, although it's not really good for anyone, of course.

I'm not talking about things we legitimately need to do for physical, mental or emotional health reasons or changes that are necessary to achieve self-actualization to become who we truly are. What I mean by “self-improvement” are qualities that we often feel we “should” possess because society has drummed the ideas into us, for example, perpetual dieting, obsessive exercising, repressing our true selves or true emotions to please others, etc. Those are the things which, unfortunately, are often the subject of New Year’s Resolutions.

Her Royal Highness the Cat, however, says that I am full of shit as usual. She makes the same two New Year's Resolutions every January 1st. So far the only Resolution she ever accomplishes is the second one, thank goodness.

Fast Away the Old Year Passes

New Year's Eve has never been a favourite holiday of mine. I find it to be a time of melancholy and forced cheer. I'm just as happy to skip it.

Looking forward to next year?

Jeez, I'm a real Little Miss Sunshine today aren't I?