Behold My Face

I don't know what you people think is meant by blogging ANONYMOUSLY but last month on my "Ask Me Anything" post, there were several requests for me to post a photo of myself. Linda of Woke Up, Got Out of Bed, Mary/mxtodis123 of Moontides, Vanessa of Vanessa Morgan and Linda of Life and Linda are the scofflaws and rebels who insisted that I reveal all.

I have in fact posted photos of myself in the past but all of them very coyly hid my face. Today, however, I'm giving in to public pressure and posting a FULL FRONTAL PHOTO!

The little butch with the pixie cut is me. The blonde girly-girl beside me lived next door. This photo was taken on the front steps of my house in the summer of 1960 when I was 3 years old. I insisted that my favourite toy be in the photo as well. It was a fake-fur-covered mechanical bear who turned the pages of a little metallic book when wound up. I think that's a bag of Old Dutch chips or perhaps Hawkins' Cheezies by the girl next door. My Mom took this photo on a Kodak Brownie box camera, looking downwards into the viewfinder. It was hard to get a level photo in those days.

Willow of Whimsy Willows Farm asked: "Why do you think people want to put faces to dialogue?" I think it's a very human impulse to want to visualize who we're talking to. It helps to have a mental picture of a person when conversing or even when just thinking of them. So I understand people's requests to post a photo of myself, I really do.

You'll just have to picture me as an eternal 3 year old, that's all.

Happy Irish Heritage Day!

As I've mentioned before, pagans are ambivalent about celebrating St. Patrick's Day because St. Pat "drove the snakes out of Ireland" (i.e. ended paganism in the Emerald Isle) and we still resent it. However, I have no trouble celebrating Irish Heritage Day on this date! I've got a bit of the blarney in meself, after all.

In addition to sharing some Irish LOLs with you, I want to post this St. Paddy's Day limerick that my sister wrote especially for me last year. As you can see, she and I share a similar poetic sensibility and appreciation for the finer things in life:

                       There once was a man from Dover
                       Whose dating life was over.
                       He tried and he tried,
                       But finally he cried:
                     "Will no one stroke me clover?"

So with that image fresh in your minds, here's some more LOLs --

In all seriousness, there's no accent I like better than the lilt of the Auld Sod. So musical and beautiful to the ear!

"Beware March the 15th' Just Doesn't Have the Same Ring

Today in 44 BCE, Julius Caesar was pretty grumpy and quite rightly so.

To mark Caesar's assassination, you can do your very own re-enactment at home!

It's kind of labour intensive though.

Screw history, Apple knows how to make ancient dates relevant for today's consumers --

Watch your back today, eh?

How Many Shades?

I guess it's time for me to finally get on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon too. Consensual BDSM is not my personal cuppa tea, y'understand, but I'm not prepared to be a Judgy McJudge if it's yours. We've ALL got our favourite kinks, now don't we?

Of course there will always be the HIPSTERS who are keen to be blasé or ironic about the whole thing.

(Hey, I read the One Shade of Grey trilogy 3 times . . . so only 47 more times to go!)

But while there's nothing wrong with a little fantasy, eventually we DO all have to get back to reality. Unexciting, dull, GREY reality . . . .

Remember your safe word, everyone!

A Lava Cake, a Mickey of Rye, and Thou

Today I'm going to answer some food-and-drink questions posed in my "Ask Me Anything" post of last month.

Dawna of Dawna Lee -- Because It Matters asks: "What's your favourite food?"
This is a really tough question for me because food has always been my drug of choice. Forget booze, drugs, gambling, etc -- food is my downfall. Desserts in particular are my Achilles' Heel. I've really had to cut back on my consumption over the years. Now I try to satisfy my cravings just by looking at food porn on the internet.

Crystal of Crystal Collier wants to know "What is your favourite type of cheese?"
Like most Canadians of my generation, I was raised on Velveeta and Kraft slices, so it's a wonder I have a taste for cheese at all. As an adult, my cheese preferences remain pretty conservative. Asiago is about as wild 'n crazy as I get. I cannot abide strong-tasting goat cheese in any form. And thank you for asking this question because my favourite Monty Python sketch of all time is "The Cheese Shop" and now I have a reason to post it!



Dexter Klemperer of Dexter's Midnight Musings inquires: "Canadian Whisky, Irish Whiskey, Scotch or bourbon?"
Gimme a mickey of good Canadian rye with Coca-Cola as mix, of course -- the de rigueur cocktail of choice at only the finest of Canuckian bush parties!

This next question may not seem food-related but the answer will reveal otherwise. Mistress Maddie of A Day with The Mistress Borghese asks: "If you could take over for a God or Goddess, which one would it be and why?"
I would want all the perks of being Divine but without any of the endless work and aggravation that always seem to come with the job description. So I think I'd choose to take over for the Norse Goddess Idunn, She Who Renews. Her only responsibility appears to be keeping Asgard well-stocked with Apples of Eternal Youth and Immortality. How hard could that be? I bet there's lots of leisure time with that position.

And finally, the Insomniac of Insomniac's Attic says: "Want to do lunch? You know, if I ever get up to Edmonchuk?"
Sure thing! Just let me know when you'll be in #YEG. If it's summer, maybe we can dine at Edmonton's favourite food truck, eh?

Thanks, Lesley Gore

Today on International Women's Day, I want to pay tribute to Lesley Gore, the mid-1960s American teenage singing sensation who just died last month at 68. Most of her hit songs were typical of their day -- boy-crazy pop ditties heavy on female masochistic lyrics like It's My Party and Judy's Turn to Cry. But then there was You Don't Own Me, a 1963 song of defiance and independence that foreshadowed the coming feminist movement of the 1970s -- a song ahead of its time and one that still resonates today.



As an adult, Leslie Gore came out and lived her life openly as a lesbian. So in our community, we always sing her famous song with one small change to the lyrics -- "You don't own me -- don't say I can't go without the boys!"

May she truly be in lesbian heaven now, although I'm not sure it would look quite like this, LOL --



And in farewell, I'm going to post just one more of her bouncy tunes -- a particular favourite of mine and one that My Rare One and I still sing to each other all the time!

Spring Forward Tonight!

Daylight Saving Time is upon us once more -- don't forget to turn your clocks forward an hour TONIGHT before you go to bed!

You know two jurisdictions that DON'T switch to Daylight Saving Time? Saskatchewan and Hawaii. Believe me, that's the ONLY thing those two places have in common!

Ha ha, I leave MY car clock on Daylight Saving Time ALL YEAR LONG! Tomorrow it will actually tell the correct time again, YAY!

My cat Her Royal Highness HATED any fiddling with the time of her gushy food meal. Unless she fiddled with the time herself by nagging us RELENTLESSLY to push it forward.

Of course, don't EVER confuse "spring forward" with the arrival of ACTUAL SPRING. Two entirely unrelated concepts, especially here in Canada.

Have you ever forgotten to "spring forward" and then been LATE for everything the next day? Yeah, we've all been there!

I know the girl and her cat in this photo aren't late for their train to whichever fantasy land they're off to but I'm too lazy to look up a different image. After all, I've got to preserve my energy because I'm about to lose an HOUR'S worth of SLEEP tonight. GAH!