Archives for 2016

2016 Boyhouse Year In Review

Everyone is talking about kicking 2016 to the curb, and certainly it was a strange year, with sadness and loss and disheartening attacks. There were lots of tragedies this year, but as always, there is light and love and laughter to be had too. 2016 had some tough losses in the Boyhouse, but there were […]

It’s a Festivus for the Rest of Us.

I am BUZZING on caffeine. It’s 7:14, I’ve been awake for over three hours, and I have people coming over this afternoon. Whee! Note: I say this like it’s something unusual but the fact is I am almost always awake around 4, so it’s just like a regular day, with the exception that it is […]

Is Rusty still in the Navy?

Today the 13 day cold snap has finally, finally, FINALLY lifted, and the temperature soared 20 degrees – still below freezing and with very high, cold winds, but 20 degrees nonetheless. I should not at all have been surprised, then, to see two people in shorts in the Co-Op parking lot. Shorts. In below-freezing weather. […]

Finally Feeling Festive, and Universal Studios: Wilder, Faster, Scarier, and Wetter.

Normally I’m in full-on festive mode on November 1st, MAYBE November 2 if I’m exhausted from Halloween. But this year November didn’t feel very festive to me; too crazy, too busy, too sad. I was putting myself through the motions a little bit, but now after this weekend, I feel like myself again. It’s full […]

Disney’s Animal Kingdom, or “What’s a Yeti?”

Good grief, it is cold in Calgary right now, even by Calgary standards. Preparing the children for school feels a bit like that Hoth scene in The Empire Strikes Back – “My friend is out there!” – and all the dogs in the city are going slowly mad, stuck in the house. Spare a thought […]

People are people

A cold snap has hit the city and it’s hit me especially hard since I just got back from a week in Florida on Sunday night. The past day and a half have been an absolute blur of writing, working, yoga teaching, housecleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry. Dear lord, so much laundry. A week in […]

Nicole’s Favourite Things: It’s The Little Things Edition

We said goodbye to my father-in-law this week. He passed away after a long illness and will be very much missed. To many people he was a larger-than-life character, the life of the party, a legend, but to me he was the man who welcomed me into the family with open arms. He and I […]