Canada

Better Late Than Not at All


Never fear, it is November and I will blog every day, barring calamity.

Daylight Saving Time

Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via Flickr

The BlogHer post is here for those who are interested, but otherwise just a quick update on the weekend.

Whatever has been ailing me appears to finally be giving up. Today was the first day I didn’t feel like falling over literally in about a week. The gash on my foot was remarkably better today as well now that the wound is closed and the swelling diminished. Just in time for the child to start looking pale and complaining on and off about her tummy. Though so far she has not vomited or run a fever, she is pale and not straying far from quiet play in the not quite finished living room.

The kitchen tile is looking stellar.

Edie stopped by for lunch and visited into the early evening.

And now it’s time for bed. Or nearly so.

Fall break is this week. Poppies are everywhere and the living room might actually get painted and if we make it until Wednesday with no snow fall whatsoever, it will be some kind of climate change freaky record for the Edmonton area.

What’s new with you?

Get Out the Vote! … For Me


Can-vote-stub

Image via Wikipedia

Quite unexpectedly I received word informing me that I had been nominated for Circle of Moms, Top 25 Canadian Mom Blogs list. Having never been recognized by an actual award that wasn’t a product of someone’s considerable skill at badge making, I was stunned.

I am still stunned.

That people read me at all is a thrill that just never gets old. Ever.

To be nominated for blogging though surpasses that thrill, which is saying a lot.

Truth be told, I am still not all that comfortable with being known as a “mommy blogger”. My relationship with my uterus is ambivalent during the best of times, and there is a part of me that wishes the webosphere afforded me other options than leading with my womb. If you are mom and you blog – you are a mommy blogger. If you are a childless woman – you are a militant feminist blogger (which is kind of like being a cat lady only virtually). If you are over 55, well, you’ve ceased to matter regardless even in this projected reality where men pose as women and have more popular blogs than actual real women do.

The reality of these “topper most of the poppermost” lists roots itself firmly in our high school pasts when we voted for Prom Queens and courts or Student Council members based on their flawless looks, coolness and the perception that somehow the world could only be safe and orderly if we contributed willing to the rigid social caste system that enslaved us.

So one of the things a nominee must do is inspire the troops – and by troops I mean you, dear readers, to click on over and vote for me. Daily.

The rules are as follows: Only one vote per IP address daily and the voting is open until November 17th. I can’t vote for myself, but only because my husband has claimed the right to use our IP address to fanatically vote for me daily himself. Which is awesome and why he is the best husband ever.

Realistically, I know you all have lives and more important things to do than help me stuff a ballot box, and really, I doubt I can win, but I would like to avoid coming in last or worse, not making the Top 25 at all. If you could vote just once, right now, I would be very grateful. Just click this link. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Thanks! I’ll keep you posted on the results as they roll in.

The Northern Lights


Some Inuit believed that the spirits of their ...

Image via Wikipedia

I hadn’t seen the Northern Lights once since moving to Canada four years ago. Scientific explanation for their absence from the night sky centered around the lack of activity on the surface of the sun. Despite looking quite active, the sun’s surface has been cooler in the past few years, fewer flares and no sun spots. This has some sort of dampening effect on the phenomena known as the aurora borealis.

But last night as I was finishing up in the downstairs bathroom, Rob called for me to come upstairs quick.

Northern Lights!

According to him, they were not very impressive last night. He’s seen better and much like my take on the bison in Yellowstone this summer, he’s not that awed because they are a fixture in his life. They have always been.

I was pretty impressed though with my “northern exposure” moment.

The sky here fascinates me generally. The way the clouds stack up so close to the horizon they seem within grasp and the way the sky curves to meet the distant edge of the earth. Sometimes, it’s almost claustrophobic, the sky seems to loom so close.

Northern Lights are mainly a winter phenomena. Their sudden appearance this last week does not bode well for a lengthy fall season, which is a bit depressing given the fact that the last of Edmonton’s snow from this last winter has only just melted away.

But it was awesome to see the lights snake across the dark expanse last night.

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