Secret Santa, Bits and Bobs; Ninety Weeks In

This year I started following the lovely San over at The In Between Is Mine; she is so smart and articulate, and I am forever fascinated by people who are fully fluent in more than one language, as she is; English is not her first language and yet her English is perfect. I mean, I […]

And You, Asshole, You’re Lucky To Be Here; Eighty-Seven Weeks In

Every few weeks for the past couple of months, my husband has been travelling to check on the progress of the enormous renovation of our vacation home, and to meet with all the various contractors and so forth. Last week the boys had two days off of school, and so my older son accompanied him […]

Not Okay, But Okay; Eighty-One Weeks In

I’m okay. Everything in my life is fundamentally okay – good, even – and my little boat in this tsunami of a storm is strong and well-equipped. EVERYTHING IS FINE except everything isn’t fine? I know I’m not alone here. The other day Swistle (HI SWISTLE) mentioned the strong desire to lie down on the […]

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The “I Love My Garden” Edition

Well, as I write this it is 7 degrees Celsius and we had a huge hailstorm this weekend that mushed flat all my garden beds and flowers. Prior to this, with the heat and the no mosquitoes, I was thinking what was wrong with me all these years, Calgary is not so bad, look at […]

Friday the 13th Fun: Ask Me Anything, and Five For Friday

It has been SO LONG since I’ve spontaneously written a post, and on a Friday to boot! Since the pandemic, I have had very limited blocks of time and physical space in which to write, and it’s all I can do to write weekly recaps and monthly Favourite Things. Do not get me wrong, dear […]

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Life-Changing Edition

Okay. We all know that my half-Scottish ancestry, coupled with my somewhat austere Norwegian ancestry, has made a strange consumer of me. Whereas I have more yoga clothes, black footwear, and black sweaters than you could literally shake a stick at, there are a few items that I am so reluctant to purchase that the […]

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Summer Solstice Edition

Something that I genuinely enjoy even though it’s universally considered to be a terrible invasion of privacy is targeted advertising on social media. I find it absolutely fascinating, what social media thinks that I am interested in. I mean, usually they are correct; my advertising tends towards yoga gear and Peloton and plant-based foods, and […]