Month: December 2007

Xmas Antidotes

Funny cards.

The economics of Xmas giving.

Xmas hate – ten reasons to not like it.  Yes, the list is familiar, but there’s a sophomoric venom to it which I quite enjoy.

My ten favourite things about Christmas.

  1. Carols.  Singing them.  I don’t give a shit if I never HEAR another canned Christmas carol, but singing them is a different story.
  2. A string of dark blue incandescent lights along the roof line of a bungalow.
  3. Cooking up the turkey and having everybody go “ah!” when it comes to the table.
  4. Sitting around the homestead looking at old pictures with the family.
  5. Watching the Alastair Sims version of “A Christmas Carol”….  and turning on the TV just at the right time to catch the “Sisters” duet from White Christmas without having to watch the whole movie.
  6. Knowing that I will never again get exactly what I want for Christmas and being fine with that, because the gift part of Christmas really is for little people.
  7. Not having to beat the kids over the head anymore to write thankyou cards.
  8. Making biscotti all through the month of December and treating people at work.
  9. Listening to my father roar with laughter at the weather forecasts elsewhere in Canada.
  10. I always get cool books from Jeff.

Odessa Havana

Just cleared the door from an amazing Afro-Cuban-Klesmer concert…. I just wish ta hell Peggy had been there, because in half a century on this planet I have NEVER heard the like of that bassist.  He mopped the floor with every other bassist I have ever ever seen. Awe inspiring and marvellous.

Then in the car on the way home I worked up a tune

One time I was beautiful

There’s not much left to see

But the inside’s still as much fun

As it ever used to be

I’m not asking you to love me

I’m not asking you to lie

But you sure could make me happy

With one kiss before I die

I don’t think that I’m a cougar

I don’t spend much time in bars

I do not hail from Venus

We’re on Earth – you’re not from Mars

I’ve read some books, written some tunes

I’ve been around the block

But you sure are easy on the eyes

C’mon, let’s take a walk

I’m not asking you to love me

I’m not asking you to lie

But you sure could make me happy

With one kiss before I die…

And that’s why I like driving…… I get to work up tunes.

Many thanks to Katie K for the concert; I am very happy.  And I actually had fun clearing a foot of snow off the car.  When I got back, somebody had run the bobcat over the mess of snow and I had a real parking space…

Snow and fog

It is still snowing, although not very hard, and there’s four inches of snow on my balcony.

I think my thyroid is packing it in.  I’ve been wondering if that was the case for the last couple of years but now three of the more common symptoms dogpiled me at once, so I’ll go off and get blood tests again and see if it’s true this time.

World news round up…. (not very round, but whatever…)
Leave Africa alone…. 

an interesting article on how getting the IMF out of African policies might be a damned good thing.

Ebola’s broken out in Uganda again. 

A group of francophones opine on the death of languages globally. 

(Items are translated).

Ukrainian crocodile dies after six months on the run.

Subprime mess is ‘poor judgement of a few’.  Indeed. 

Need to hear a cat purr? 

Aussies finally figure out about drinking and pregnancy. 

Who knew that Russian hoteliers had such a great sense of humour (NSFW pic)