Category Archives: Embrace the Season

Bloody Hell

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After such a cold April, May suddenly – and briefly – burst into summer. We had gorgeous sunshine and summer-like temperatures all last week, which had the happy result of warming up the community centre, so my yoga classes were taught in a normal-temperature setting, rather than a frigid one. The yard is becoming greener by the minute; the Mayday and lilacs are leafing out before my very eyes, my perennials are starting to peek out of the warmer, sunny beds, and I have been in a state of joy all week. I was able to have the windows open in the early mornings, so I practiced yoga while watching the sky lighten and hearing the birds chirp, and it all felt very Mary Oliver. In fact, I pulled out my Devotions to read her thoughts on the shift of winter to spring before my practices. I recently came across a meme that was along the lines of the world being on fire, the news depressing, everything is terrible, and Mary Oliver says “But have you ever really thought about a LEAF?” That’s how I felt.

I have been working on really embracing every season, both literally and figuratively, but I am very much a Summer Girl, and although it didn’t last, this week of summer-feeling temperatures has really boosted me. That, and a couple of huge things happened that lifted a heavy weight off my shoulders, which I am not in a position to talk about yet on this blog; I definitely have a spring in my step.

The spring was decidedly missing in my step the other day when I jauntily donned my cute summer shoes sans socks for a walk with Rex. These shoes are several years old, and well worn-in, so I don’t know how or why it happened, but I developed a blister and then that blister broke open, exactly at the halfway mark of my walk. Why do things always happen when you are exactly the furthest possible distance from home? I had some tissues in my bag, and so I tried to wrap them around my heel to relieve the pain of walking, but bizarrely, the back of my foot started bleeding profusely. By the time I got home, the tissues were half-in, half-out of my shoe and were soaked with blood, I had blood all over my shoe, and I felt a little like Count Almasy in The English Patient. I have been WALKING. For three DAYS. Except instead of three days, it was three miles. One of my octogenarian neighbours drove by as I was coming down the street, and pulled over to chat. I hoped he couldn’t see my foot, which by that time looked like an old-timey depiction of a leper’s, with the trailing bloody tissue and my subsequent limp. I had a pedicure scheduled the very next day and I didn’t want to cancel, as it’s a small local business, but I will say it did sting quite a bit. A ripped-open heel doesn’t pair well with orange-peel exfoliation.

Speaking of blood, I had to get routine bloodwork done on the weekend. I made an appointment at the lab, stopped eating and drinking at 7pm on Friday – which was a little sad, since I wanted more wine; it was Friday, after all – and toodled over early Saturday morning, expecting that the past would predict the present and I would be home within twenty minutes.

I clued in that this might not be the case when I was greeted by a giant line snaking down the hallway. It turns out that the lab started taking walk-ins, which it hadn’t done throughout the pandemic, and I felt extremely grateful to have an appointment, as the wait for walk-ins was three to four hours at that point. Three to four hours! I was already feeling a little off, since by 7:30 am I have generally consumed several cups of coffee, and I was, of course, not allowed to do this for fasting bloodwork. I can’t imagine my state had I had to wait three to four more hours. Someone might have gotten stabbed.

I was called for my appointment only ten minutes late, which I thought was excellent, and then I sat in the little room for twenty-five minutes while the woman who was to take my blood kept tapping on the computer, as other white-coated people dodged in and out with panicked questions and she herself had many panicked questions. It turns out that the lab had been taken over by an American company, and their new system was put into place that very morning, their system that was set up for American insurance and not Canadian universal health care. Why this was the case I have no idea but the woman was almost in tears of frustration by the time she finished the extensive paperwork and actually took my blood, which took all of about ninety seconds. She tearfully told me they had only been open an hour and she already had seventy people in the queue, so I wished her luck in what was going to surely be a very stressful work day, grabbed my little urine sample container, and fled.

I don’t really wear masks much anymore, although I had to wear a medical one for the lab. Even my doctor and dentist do not require them now; this was the first time I had worn one, other than as a courtesy to the checkout people at the grocery store while in line, for a long time. I was happy to do it, of course, labs are gross petrie dishes at the best of times, but this was the first time in a long time I felt a little weird being in a crowd. Maybe it was all the incessant coughing. The WHO announced the end of the global health crisis this week, but I guess I haven’t personally felt in a crisis for almost a year.

Not everyone feels like I do, of course, which is to say that I felt very seriously about the pandemic in the thick of things, and now I feel like I am calmly moving through the world, not thinking or worrying about Covid in any real way. If, however, you are in a group situation and you say something along the lines of being past the pandemic, it is a guarantee that someone will chime in to say that we are NOT past the pandemic, that Covid is still with us, people are dying of Covid EVERY SINGLE DAY, and what about long Covid, there’s so much we don’t know, etcetera. All of those things are true, of course, other than the pandemic part, as of this week, but also? I am just going to live my life in the most mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy way possible, without that constant-fear feeling I developed from 2020-22.

Of course, there are people on the flip side too. We had a plumber in to fix our toilet – not Hot Tony, but one of his almost-equally-hot employees; what is with the hot plumbers in this company? – and as I was chatting with him pleasantly, he came out with “I respect everyone, and everyone has a right to their own opinion…” and at that point I knew. I knew what was coming. Anyone that starts a sentence declaring a right to their own opinion is going to have an opinion that I will disagree with, and that is what happened. “…but I really didn’t believe the whole Covid thing,” he stated. Whether he didn’t think the pandemic mitigation strategies were effective or beneficial, or if he didn’t believe the existence of Covid at all was unclear to me and I did not want to further this line of conversation. After all, the guy was fixing my toilet. I took that as my cue to mention that I had just made a pot of coffee and did he want any, and when I came back with said coffee, he said that he hadn’t been sick once in the past three years. I suppose that meant the latter, in terms of his belief. I did not comment on his sample size of one, but I was happy to have a fixed toilet.

Weekly Reading

Flight. OH.MY.GOD I LOVED THIS BOOK! Wow, wow. Incredible characters, relationships, and nuance. Incredible writing. This follows three adult children and their families as they navigate the first Christmas without their mother. It is so moving and beautiful. Wow. My fellow lovers of character-driven books will love this; anyone who has encountered family drama or sibling issues or difficulties with blending families and in-laws will really find this relatable on so many levels.

No Filter. You know I love a memoir, especially a celebrity memoir whose life is SO DIFFERENT from my own. Paulina Porizkova has had a fascinating life (so far!) From her childhood during which she was subject to an international custody battle between Sweden and Czechoslovakia (the Swedish hockey team threatened to not play the Czech one in 1972 because of this drama), to her living in Paris alone as a model at AGE FIFTEEN, to her relationship with a man 21 years her senior at age 19, to the dissolution of her marriage and being left with no money upon his death, this book is a ride. It’s comprised of essays, which I love. Wow, she has been through a lot. Although she speaks well of her ex-husband, he seemed toxic and controlling and apparently spent all her millions of modeling money, while making her feel like she’d didn’t contribute financially in any significant way. She talks about how she has changed from being mean, judgmental, and arrogant, and accepting her changing face and body. Years ago my friend Alice (HI ALICE) said that reruns must be hell for actresses, and I think that goes for former supermodels too. I really enjoyed this.

Enchantment. What happens when you’ve gone through a global pandemic, you have constant chatter of social media and news, and you just can’t concentrate enough to read books anymore? This author had that experience and so worked to awaken enchantment in her life through the natural world. This is a beautiful book about connecting with the world, although I didn’t love it like I thought I would, since I loved Wintering so very much. I do find that I am willing and able to read with interest other people’s experiences and feelings about the pandemic, which I wasn’t able to do a year ago.

This week is not going to be so gloriously summer-like, but it is shaping up to be a perfectly pleasant spring week, with nary a snowflake or freezing temperature in the forecast. It’s a wild and precious life we are leading, friends! I’m going to bandage up my feet and get out there and enjoy it. I hope you do too. xo

Snow, Selfies, Sensitivities, and Segues

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“I don’t know how anyone can live in Calgary for any amount of time and STILL be surprised by snow in April,” my son’s podiatrist said to me, conversationally, as the snow flew sideways outside the window in the exam room. I agreed, and went further: snow in May hardly makes me blink, although I did feel a little alarmed at the snow mixed with thunder that was happening at the time.

I took a few photos, not for shock value on social media – there would have to be a real dump of it for that, and this was barely a centimetre – but because the snow looked really pretty contrasted with the blue skies, giving rise to the very popular Calgarian view that “at least it’s sunny.” Blue skies are lovely, it’s true, although given the choice I would take grey skies and much shorter winter duration.

I like to take photos, but I also like to have my picture taken. There is a photo, circa 1979, of my dad and brother dressed up for a Scout meeting, and I am in the corner of the photo. I remember desperately wanting to be in the photo, but being told this was a special photo just for the two of them. I was photobombing before photobombing was a thing.

I was thinking about this when I was recently taking photos of the guys on the beach; a woman offered to take photos of the four of us, which I gratefully accepted. She said to me that moms are always behind the camera, and should be in photos more, and I think that’s very true generally, but not particularly in my case. I appreciated the sentiment, but there are lots of photos of me, and when all else fails, there are selfies!

Recently Engie (HI ENGIE) asked how to take a good photo of yourself, and I have two pieces of advice: find good lighting, and shoot from above. The first photo is a straight-on shot, and you can see that by taking the angle higher, it results in a more flattering photo.

That last photo cracks me up. A few years ago, my MIL discovered the selfie function on her phone while looking down at her phone, and was absolutely horrified to see herself in that way. She told me tearfully that she could not BELIEVE how bad she looked and how much she has aged and is that what people see when they look at her? GOD NO, I told her. I was quick to assure her that NO ONE is seen in that angle and that we all look terrible when shot from below. Shoot from above! Find good lighting in the house! If all else fails, try the car.

Even with good lighting, not everyone loves having their photos taken; we all like different things, of course. I was thinking about the rich tapestry that is our world when I was recently in a bookstore: there are so many different kinds of books. How many books have been written in the history of time? It’s overwhelming to think of, but also heartening because there is something for everyone. No matter your taste, there is something out there.

I read a lot and I do try to read a wide variety of things, but within certain parameters. My dislike for dystopia, horror, sci-fi, and fantasy is well-known, so I avoid those genres. I love books that are very character-driven, rather than plot-driven, and I have been told at times – usually by strangers or slight acquaintances on Instagram – that such books are boring. I suppose to some they are, because I find my avoided genres to be boring, among other things, and so it doesn’t bother me that we don’t all share the same view.

But sometimes, it does bother me. Not often, but sometimes I will share my feelings about a book to a friend who has similar tastes to me, and then I will be taken aback when that friend isn’t on the same page, so to speak. I have many friends with widely diverging tastes, and so this is a very infrequent occurrence, but sometimes I do feel a bit hurt when a friend doesn’t love something in the same way, when usually they do.

This is a very silly way to feel, because I didn’t write the book, I have no stake in the outcome of the book, and yet. Several years ago, after I talked about how much I loved Calypso, a friend mentioned she had read it and hated it. I was so surprised since we had shared a similar view of many books, but when she said I just don’t get it, it’s not funny at all, I admit to questioning everything we had talked about before. Who is this person, I wondered, maybe we don’t have anything in common after all.

There are people who prefer cats to dogs, and although I can neither understand nor relate to such feelings, I can appreciate those people all the same. And most of the time I simply appreciate that we all have different reading tastes and love different things, but once in a while I will feel a bit hurt and put out. It feels like a dog person saying how much they love dogs, but they don’t love MY dog.

Speaking of my dog, he was a bit put out that I had to leave him to go to the dentist. I was mentally prepared for it to take all afternoon, but happily for Rex it turned out to be only a cleaning, not a checkup, and it took only fifty minutes. Some of you may recall my last dental appointment, which took ninety minutes, much of which was probably due to the long, involved conversations I ended up having with the hygienist.

Sometimes I wonder is it just me or everyone, and now I realize that no, it’s just me. A simple cleaning probably should not take fifty minutes, but the I ended up in another long, involved conversation with the hygienist, a different one from last time. She kept stopping what she was doing to get my reaction to her viewpoint, or to ask me a question, and while I’m always happy to chat, I did at one point think could she just talk and I listen? Would it be rude to ask her to just keep scaling?

It is interesting to think of how one topic segues into another, and sometimes I wonder how did we get here from there? What is the thread that links topics? Unsettlingly, sometimes no such thread exists. Our conversation started, as it always does, with yoga. As soon as a stranger learns I am a yoga teacher, the conversation naturally goes into that person’s experience with yoga, and their love for or hatred of it. After that we discussed the following, in order: seed cycling for hormone support, bodybuilding and how the hygienist placed second in the Bikini Division of a recent competition, the use of creatine and supplements in the bodybuilding world and how the hygienist refuses to use them, leading to a second-place only, our favourite red wine varietals, the Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby, ziplining in Costa Rica, competitive dance routines set to Mamma Mia, salsa dancing, the hygienist’s broken foot and the physiotherapy she is doing, her ex-boyfriend’s habit of leaving used dental floss on the living room coffee table, germ phobia and the increase of such feelings during the pandemic, and lipstick. How did we get there? I don’t know exactly, but shout-out to Cover Girl Outlast lipstick. “Oh wow, this is the most amazing lipstick!” the hygienist said to me. “This whole time, it hasn’t smudged or left a mark on my gloves at all!” Getting through a dental cleaning with perfect lipstick does feel like a win, and also, seed cycling? Who knew! Certainly not me; life is so interesting, you can learn new things every day.

Weekly Reading

The Social Climber. I thought this was going to be a rags-to-riches story, instead it’s a novel of revenge. The first half of the book, I was sure the book was going to go one way, and did it ever veer in a different direction! It was very entertaining, with some very unexpected twists. Thanks to Birchy (HI BIRCHY) for the recommendation!

Trespasses. At the heart of the novel is a love affair between a twenty-something teacher who occasionally works in the family pub, and a married man twice her age who is a renowned barrister. This simple affair is greatly complicated as it takes place in Belfast 1975, the height of the Troubles. To be honest, this is a time and place I know little about so I spent a lot of time looking things up to understand context, characters, and what was happening. Without that info, this story is confusing and difficult to understand. But oh! It’s really excellent. It’s so moving and I literally gasped out loud at some parts. DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH MARRIED MEN is always a good place to start but when the married man is a Protestant who defends IRA members, and the woman is Catholic, and it’s Ireland in the 70s…things might be even more doomed. If you don’t have a background on the Troubles, like me, use this book to do some research and reading. It’s really good. Who recommended this? I feel like one of my readers did and I cannot recall who. If it was you, let me know!

Hello Molly! Sometimes I’ll read a memoir by a celebrity I hardly know, and I’ll feel like I really wish I hadn’t. But this was the exact opposite. Molly Shannon is an incredibly hard working, interesting, and inspiring woman. She had a really tough start to life – she was in a car crash caused by her father when she was four, and her mom, baby sister, and cousin were all killed – and wow, did she ever do everything in her power to live a happy and fulfilling life. This was a very easy to read and quite uplifting memoir. I can’t say I was a Molly Shannon Fan before – but I am now!

It’s going to be a busy and fun week ahead; lots to do, and also, it’s my Birthday Week! I hope you have a wonderful week. xo

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Here Today, Gone To Maui Edition

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Aloha! I’m back from my digital detox which, as it happens, I took on Maui!

What a fabulous trip. We have been to Maui several times, the last one being in 2016, and it was interesting to see that it has changed very little from that time. The two main changes I noticed were that every single restaurant or eatery had a sign saying that they were short staffed – and there were many radio commercials about hiring opportunities all over the island – and that since October of last year, only mineral, rather than chemical, sunscreen is allowed on Maui. This is wonderful news for the coral reefs, of course, but also? I hope someone soon comes up with a mineral sunscreen that doesn’t feel like those neon zinc sticks that you would see on the noses of Australian lifeguards in the 80s. Mineral sunscreen, with its white streakiness and heavy feel, is not my favourite, but I love the fish and turtles and other ocean creatures, so I’m happy to comply.

Honestly, the whole trip was my Favourite Thing; it was our first big family trip since before the pandemic, and in my mind there is the possibility that this could be our last big family trip, at least for a while. My yoga ladies, discussing this with me, pointed out that as long as you’ll pay, they’ll go, which I’m sure is true, but timing and life might get in the way. In any case, it was a wonderful trip – definitely our last big spring break trip – with lots of great family time, sunshine, and ocean. What more could I ask for?

The re-entry to Regular Life has been a bit rough; we flew in on the red-eye, getting in at 7:00 am on Tuesday, in addition to being exhausted it’s been a scramble getting groceries, picking up Rex, getting organized with life, and remembering how to dress for below zero temperatures. Also, I currently have, according to my blog reader, 158 unread posts, so I have some catching up to do. In the meantime, I have to mention a few of my specific Favourite Things from paradise.

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Here Today, Gone To Maui Edition

Fruit Is Nature’s Candy

Probably ten or fifteen years ago, there was a trend called the 100 Mile Diet, meaning that a person should strive to eat food that was produced within 100 miles of wherever they currently reside, mostly for environmental reasons. Well. As a person who lives in Calgary, if I did this then during the winter I would be Laura Ingalls in the Long Winter, eating nothing but bread and a single potato each day, and maybe, for excitement, some old cabbage. I have many, many issues with this kind of smug and judgy diet, which inevitably is created by someone living in California or some other gorgeous climate with lots of year-round produce. One such issue is that it has been proven that greenhouse-grown produce in cold climates use much more non-renewable resources than do trucked-in produce, so fuck you, 100 Mile Diet. However! When I am in a place like Maui, I feel like I COULD happily partake in such a diet because OMG THE FRUIT. The fruit! It’s all so good, being so close to the source. A pineapple that has travelled from afar in the winter just does not taste the same as those island-ripened prickly queens, and so I enjoyed delicious fruit each morning with my coffee, watching the sky brighten in the early hours.

Things Are Getting Skechy

In my youth I would sacrifice comfort for fashion, when it came to footwear, but I have no time for that now. Life is too short and too fun to wear uncomfortable shoes, but also, I want my comfy footwear to be cute too. I love Skechers; they consistently fit me well and I like how they look.

Every morning on Maui I would go on long walks, breathing in the ocean air and appreciating the palm trees and flowers everywhere. We stayed in South Kihei, which is a really active-in-the-morning place – EVERYONE is walking or running – so it’s pretty fun for people watching, as well as nature enjoying. I saw many yoga classes on the grounds of the fancy Wailea hotels, and thought hey, I could totally teach that. I would see couples taking photos of each other and I’d offer to take one of the two of them. One morning – at 8:30 on a Monday – I saw a wedding on the beach. I love my daily constitutionals – to borrow a term from my afore-mentioned ladies – and taking them alongside the ocean was just incredible.

In addition to these comfortable and cute walking shoes, I took these Skechers slide-on sandals for the beach and pool. Look at the sparkles!

Speaking of sandals, I also brought a pair of Skechers that were more appropriate for walking when I didn’t want the bulk of an actual shoe. They are so cushiony and strappy at the same time; I wore them when we went out for meals, and for our shopping trip to Lahaina, where I found a HAWAIIAN CHRISTMAS STORE at which I purchased two personalized ornaments, and then the shopkeeper actually said Mele Kalikimaka to me, and my life is now complete.

What, you can’t see the sandals? Yes, well. I thought I had a photo of them, but it turns out the only ones with my feet in them were group photos, so I did a little cropping. As an aside, that dress is a workhorse. I bought it in 2012, it’s from Prana, a yoga-wear brand which may be defunct, and it has a shelf bra. We all know how I feel about a shelf bra. Anyway, here are the sandals, tiny though this photo may be.

A long while ago, Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) posted about things she wished she liked; my comment to that was that while there are a lot of things I dislike, there isn’t anything that I WISH I liked. I am taking this opportunity to amend that comment. Flip flops. Flip flops are so cute, they are everywhere, and oh my god, the thought of having something between my toes makes those toes curl up and I start doing involuntary Kegels. I just cannot do it. I have been like this my whole life; putting flip flops on me is like putting boots on Rex. It is an unnatural thing and we cannot walk or even move under those conditions. I even have to do deep ujjayi breathing when I’m getting a pedicure and the esthetician puts toe separators on to do my polish.

You Can Leave Your Hat On

Even the heavy-duty sunscreen is no match for Maui sunshine, and so I wore a hat on my walks and while reading outside. This is not just for vanity reasons – I don’t want to look like an apple doll – but also for melanoma-prevention reasons. I wore this cute sporty hat from lululemon on my walks:

I also brought this ADORABLE, foldable hat that I bought on a whim from amazon, which ended up being the perfect travel hat. It has a wire brim which is easily reshaped after being mushed in a suitcase or beach bag. It also has a chin strap to keep it from flying off on windy days, of which we had few.

Hair Baby, There Mama

I didn’t have my hat on all the time, though! The boys taught me to body surf and boogie board, and you guys, it is SO fun. My husband said the whole time, I was laughing and smiling, especially when a big wave would carry me far up the beach.

It’s a family photo! Can you see?

Anyway, all that salt water and sun could have wreaked havoc on my hair, but it didn’t, because I used this:

I love Bumble and Bumble products generally, but this is beyond amazing. I think it really helped with sun damage – after twelve days of sun and salt water, my hair does not look like orange straw, which is a victory in itself. It’s pretty pricey, even for this tiny bottle, but the big Sephora sale starts next week, so I think I’m going to buy more in the larger size. We travelled only with carryon luggage – I will NEVER again check luggage, mark my words, the freedom of walking off the plane and not waiting for or worrying about luggage is glorious – and so this little trial bottle was worth the per-milliliter expense.

Outfit of the Month

I love getting dressed in warm climates. It’s SO easy. Maui is such a casual place that you can wear a swimsuit and cover-up to the grocery store and no one bats an eye. This is my favourite cover-up, it’s a cute little dress with pockets!

A word about swimsuits: up until about eight years ago, I was a big fan of the tiny bikini. It was around the time I turned forty that I realized that string bikinis were no longer suitable for a couple of reasons: a) my breasts resemble droopy water balloons that have sprung a leak, and b) the boys were at an age where I was no longer comfortable around them or their friends whilst in a state of extreme scanty-cladness. As well, I have enjoyed water sports with them as they have gotten older and more active, and let me tell you, a small bikini is a recipe for wardrobe malfunctions. I am still a two-piece suit fan for using-the-washroom purposes, but my bikinis have a lot more coverage and support. This is my new favourite:

Of the four bikinis I packed, I was surprised that this single-strapped one ended up being the best for boogie boarding and body surfing. It must be noted that my younger son looked at me strangely and said “Mom, are you wearing a BELT to the beach?” Yes, it does indeed have a belt attached, which feels silly but looks kind of cute.

I feel so fortunate that, after three years of cancellations and disappointments and general angst, we were able to take this trip. There are a lot of big changes coming to the Boyhouse, and this trip was what I needed to centre myself, to be present, and to really appreciate my family and my life. How lucky. xo

March Madness

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Marching Into March

In many parts of the world, March marks the arrival of spring, but in Calgary, March is firmly a Winter Month. My birthday is in the last third of April, and I feel like that is the tentative start to spring, although it can certainly snow in any month of the year. Yes, you read that correctly. I have experienced snow – in the air, not on the ground – in both July and August. March is typically the snowiest month of the year, which has brought great joy to Rex, and a lot of lower back stretches to my classes, to alleviate any pain from shovelling. Most of my ladies outsource that job, but I think lower back stretches are always appreciated.

Calgarians have a strange tendency to disparage climates in other locations, probably to make ourselves feel better about our six, seven, eight months of winter. Any mention of typically beautiful cities with short winters – particularly cities in BC – will conjure up a “well, it’s horrible and cloudy there in the winter,” and while that may be true, and Calgary does have lovely blue skies often, it feels very much like sour grapes to me. Also, while we do enjoy a lot of sunshine, our winters are very long and very cold, and we also have a lot of this:

It’s cloudy here too, people.

All of which is to say that while I am embracing the season, friluftsliv, hygge, et cetera, I am also enjoying photos of spring in other parts of the world. It will be a while before my garden boxes are green, and in the meantime, I need to break Rex of this very bad habit:

All By Myself

It has been a bit of a strange weekend, here in the Boyhouse. My husband was out of town for the first time in months, my older son was working closing shifts Friday and Sunday, and my younger son was at the high school wrestling City Championships. Friday night, it was just me and Rex at home for dinner, which felt very odd. I think the last time I was home alone for dinner was when the guys took a trip through Yukon and Alaska in 2019. I had my usual favourite dinner of Greek salad with pita and hummus, plus some red wine and tortilla chips and salsa, because I am a girl who knows how to enjoy herself. I topped it all of by watching the first two episodes of Season One NYPD Blue. I used to love that show, and I still do, but I wanted to see what it would look like thirty years after its release. It turns out, it is a great timepiece of New York in the early 90s, and the camera work is just as interesting as I remembered.

Now, these days I do not watch much television (do we still call it television? I mean shows in general) so let’s just take this observation with a grain of salt, but there really aren’t many non-beautiful people cast in TV or movies anymore. It seems like everyone on-screen now is gorgeous, and has perfect teeth, and boy, that was not the case back in the early 90s and prior. I think 90% of the cast of NYPD Blue is pretty average looking, if not downright unattractive, which is kind of remarkable by today’s standards. All these regular-looking people, living full – if dramatic – lives, having romances, friendships, successes and failures.

I feel like it was the advent of Friends that kicked off the whole We All Look Fantastic And We Have This Amazing New York Apartment; but before Friends, we had this:

Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon

Speaking of popular culture from the 90s, I watched Pulp Fiction with the boys on Saturday night. My older son had seen it recently and, hearing a story about how the first time I saw it I was on a date and I fainted during the scene where Mia gets an adrenaline shot in the heart (spoiler alert for an almost thirty year old movie), asked if I wanted to rewatch it with him. My younger son, exhausted from a full two days of wrestling, decided to join, asking first what the movie is about. We looked at each other for a moment and I said I don’t know. It’s kind of plotless? I still don’t know how to describe the plot but it really holds up. I am not a Tarantino fan, but this movie is the exception. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a hitman who has a spiritual awakening. Also, the soundtrack, as the kids say, slaps.

Memories of Barkley

I was at the library this week, and a young, lovely librarian lit up when she saw me. Hi! she said excitedly. How is your sweet dog? I must have looked a little blank for a moment, and she continued to chatter about the days of curbside pickup, and how she loved bringing my books out and seeing that cute brown labradoodle, I have a brown labradoodle, right, and he is just like a stuffed animal, so cute?

Oh.

You know that moment when you’re going to say something that will cause awkward feelings, but you have to do it anyway? Her face fell as I explained that he died, but I loved that she remembered him so well.

The very next day I was walking Rex, and to mix up his route I walked down a street that was part of Barkley’s loop to the library. A woman was shovelling snow and she stopped to ask if she could say hi to Rex. I didn’t recognize her but clearly she recognized me as she asked how long ago Barkley died, and how sorry she was, and how she always liked seeing the two of us on our walks.

It was really nice to hear these two women – both kind of strangers – talk about Barkley in such a sweet way. The last couple years of his life were so fraught; I walked him every single day to keep him ambulatory, and every single day a stranger would comment on his appearance, generally in a “what’s wrong with your dog” kind of way. Every single day. I had people stop their cars on the street, roll down their windows, and ask about him. I had people ask if I was aware he had a lump on his side, as if it could have possibly been missed. I had one man ask when I was going to put him down. It was all very hard, but these two women were so kind, and so sweet, that it really helped erase all the sad feelings I had about that time.

Library Thievery

The reason I was talking to the librarian in the first place was because I had gone in to pick up a book I had put on hold, and it wasn’t on the Holds shelf. I wondered if it was still on the cart, although I had received notification that the book was in the day before. It wasn’t, and this led to a lot of searching and typing on the computer, and the librarian sighed deeply. “It’s a popular book,” she said, “and sometimes people see these popular books on the cart, and they TAKE THEM.” I honestly was startled at the thought of looking at the holds cart, seeing a book with a name receipt to indicate the person who had put it on hold, and then, shrugging at the rules, taking the book out. Of all the places for breaking the rules, I never think of the library as one of them, but the librarian told me gravely that this happens all the time. It’s one of the issues with the self-checkout. WHO KNEW. Certainly not me! I am a rule follower generally, and so it would never occur to me to sneak a popular book off of the Holds cart that wasn’t for me. Consider me shocked.

Weekly Reading

This feels like a good time to segue into weekly reading. I had a couple of real winners this week!

Girls They Write Songs About. Oh wow, this book! I was mesmerized. I read this very slowly because I needed to absorb every single word, and I reread many pages a few times. But how to describe this? There’s not really a plot. But it’s a story about women, about choices and relationships and work and becoming. The narrator is around my age and the story begins in NYC in 1997, and I could see myself in this story, the multiverse version of me, that is. It’s just an incredibly written, beautiful, raw, dark book that is also affirming and uplifting, but very real. I was on a real high after finishing this book; I could not stop thinking about it, so I logged into Goodreads to see if there were others who felt this way. This was a big mistake. There were so many negative reviews that I immediately logged back out, because I did not want to be brought down. What I am saying, then, is that while I absolutely loved this book, it seems like many people do not, so, you know. Your mileage may vary.

The Marriage Portrait. I had put this on hold, but unsurely; historical fiction is a tricky genre for me as I feel it is so hard to do it well. Often I find that modern values will be placed in historical fiction, to the detriment of the plot, and the dialogue can feel very off. Also, there was a lot of buzz about this book and that doesn’t always translate to me to be an enjoyable read. I mean, sometimes it does, but often I am disappointed. I read the jacket before starting the book and two things stood out: I had read and enjoyed this author’s memoir about her multiple brushes with death, and The Marriage Portrait was an imagining of the life of the subject of the portrait in Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess. I, along with everyone else, probably, read and dissected this poem in university; I really liked it and at that moment, I was in. I did enjoy this book about a young Florentine woman married off to the Duke of Ferrara; and some of it was a little heavy-handed with the imagery, and I quibble with the ending, but for the most part it was a sweeping story that really hooked me in. I was in the perfect mental space to be transported by this novel.

Happy first week of March, everyone! I wish you all an abundance of blue skies, good books, fun shows, and maybe something growing in your garden besides a 95 pound dog. xo

Getting Controversial In The Boyhouse

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It was so cold here last week, with an enormous dump of fresh snow; it looked really pretty, in contrast to my Walking Outfit, which was not so pretty. Snow pants! Toque! Giant fake-fur hood! Frosted-over eyelashes! Teenage me, who wore tiny skirts with tights that were Just as warm as pants, Mom, would have been horrified.

Speaking of horrified, I have a complaint. It may be more of a personal pet peeve, but it is something that bothers me greatly, and that is when people state subjective opinions as objective facts. Or, more accurately, when people state negative subjective opinions as objective facts. There is a big difference between saying I hate chickpeas, and chickpeas are gross. When a person states an opinion as a well-known fact, such as Alice Munro’s writing is boring, I get my back up: no, YOU THINK it’s boring. There is a big difference between a person’s perception and the actual quality of the item in question. You can think whatever you want to about whatever you want, but opinions aren’t facts.

And I love hearing other people’s opinions, even negative ones! But words matter to me, and hearing Top Gun is a terrible movie is not the same as I hate Top Gun. Hate away! Opine that it’s terrible! But that is not an objective fact. There are many things that I don’t like, but that doesn’t make them objectively terrible; for example, I dislike action movies and books by Jody Picoult, but objectively, those are not bad things. They are just things that I dislike. I might THINK they are bad, but they are not, objectively.

Interestingly enough, my impassioned opinion about opinions-as-facts does not encompass positive opinions. If someone said to me ketchup chips are the finest chip ever invented or dogs are god’s greatest creatures, I would not be offended, particularly since those are two opinions I share, but even if I did not share them, I would be happy that someone else found joy in weird Canadian salty snacks and puppers. Therefore, all you Cat People reading this might be thinking How dare! Cats are god’s greatest creatures! and although I won’t agree I will just be happy for you and your purring companions. Enjoy your kitties! I’ll be over here with my fuzzy favourite, who may be wondering if I am indeed somewhere inside all those layers.

Anyway, I was thinking of this – my opinion pet peeve – because in my not-so-recent Ask Me Anything, Stephany (HI STEPHANY) asked what controversial opinion do you hold? I thought about this for a long time, because I didn’t think I hold any controversial opinions. I believe that people are all equal and deserve to be treated as such, regardless of gender, skin colour, sexuality, religious beliefs, or abilities, and that all people should have autonomy over their own bodies and be able to make choices that best suit their own life journeys; these seem to be topics that generate controversy for reasons I cannot fathom, but to me, equality and autonomy are not a matter of opinion.

This weekend I realized that I do indeed have a very controversial opinion, and that is that I hate pie. Yes, all kinds. To me, pie is a grievous waste of fruit at best, and a flaky monstrosity at worst. Cake all the way, baby. Cake all the way. With the same passion that I hate pie, I love cake; yes, all kinds. I even love grocery store sheet cakes that are universally considered to be subpar, with frosting that is universally considered to be too sweet. If one of them was in my house right now, I would cut myself a giant corner piece just to get the extra frosting, and arrange it so I could get an extra frosting flower on my piece as well.

Usually when I voice this extremely controversial Anti-Pie opinion, someone will ask what about pumpkin, what about rhubarb, what about apple? No, no, no. And I am not yucking anyone’s yum, here, but the thought of biting into a soft piece of cooked apple makes me physically shudder. Listen, I love apples. There’s nothing like a fresh, tart Macintosh to make my heart sing. However. I do not love COOKED apples. I don’t like pastry in general, but the thought of eating a piece of pie with soft, mushy apple in it…I can’t. I have always been this way and probably always will be this way.

So I hate pie, but I love my guys, and they love pie, so I make one for them every so often, and one of those occasions was this weekend.

Many perfectly good apples were sacrificed in the making of this dessert.

Speaking of desserts and Ask Me Anything, my lovely friend Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) asked what are your top recommendations for baked goods? This was fun to think about because I bake something at least twice a week, often more. Usually that baking is a snack loaf or muffins for the boys, but sometimes I throw together a batch of cookies or a cake. I am absolutely loving Julie van Rosendaal’s cake cookbook, and her pumpkin snack loaf is in regular rotation around here. The Lutheran Ladies have an amazing banana muffin recipe that I use frequently, as well as an oatmeal chocolate chip muffin that I based this recipe off of.

I wrote a weekly food blog at YMC from 2013-2017, and I have all of the recipes, plus some that I wrote on this blog, listed here. It is split into sections and one of those sections is Baked Goodies; I think my favourites from that list are the Pot of Gold Cupcakes, the Chocolate Chunk Coconut Cookies, Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies, and, of course, my Grandma’s Gingersnaps. My mom’s Sugar Cookies never fail, and are a holiday staple around here.

I do love baking, but I should note that all of the above recipes are my own variations of the original. I never follow a recipe to the letter, because I am a wild rebel when it comes to baked goods. I mean, why limit ourselves to a teaspoon of vanilla when two teaspoons would be more delicious? Why use a whole cup of sugar when you can cut it to three-quarters and no one notices? Why not try coconut oil or add some extra chocolate chips? It’s a fun way to play with baking, and when the weather is dipping into the minus-a-lot, it feels like a nice, cozy activity.

Weekly Reading

Speaking of cozy activities, it was a good week for getting some reading and puzzling done.

Mary Jane. I was born in the year in which this book was set – 1975 – so I can’t say from experience, but it seems to me that people in the 70s were really separated into Establishment and Counterculture. This book – a sweet, cute coming of age story – deals with a young girl who is hired to be a summer nanny at a house that is definitely Counterculture. They smoke pot! The doctor is a psychiatrist, not a medical doctor! The wife doesn’t cook or clean and the house is a disaster! The girl is from a strict Presbyterian home that, inexplicably, has a framed picture of President Ford in its dining room. Anyway. The girl – Mary Jane – brings her mother’s housewifery skills into the chaotic household, and she learns what it is to be accepted, and becomes part of the family. It’s a sweet little book, although I found the dialogue to be stilted and contrived, but light and enjoyable nonetheless. One thing I really liked, which is quite unusual, is that at one point Mary Jane thanks her mother for teaching her all her skills, and says how much she values them. In my own life, I spend a great deal of time creating a calm household with lots of delicious food in it – see above! – and sometimes I wonder if this is time well spent. It was nice to see it valued in a book that was very tongue-in-cheek in name.

Navigating The Messy Middle. Many many years ago I read Ann Douglas’ Mother of All Pregnancy/ Baby/ Toddler Books, and I loved them. Canadian content! I feel like I’ve come full circle, reading her book about being a woman in midlife. Well, maybe not full circle; perhaps in 20 years I’ll read about being a woman in the golden years. Anyhoo. This is a book that is almost entirely made up of interviews with other women, and it is incredibly inclusive and diverse. Because of the interviews, it reads like a series of long-form old-school magazine articles, if that makes sense. It makes for a nice fast read. I don’t know if there’s anything particularly new or earth-shattering here, but it is such an affirming book. Because of the diverse viewpoints, it really made me feel both seem and like we are all on a journey, with different paths, but together. Very uplifting and encouraging: from being a sandwich generation to body changes! I really liked the sections in friendship, relationships, and “raising” young adult children.

BFF. When I started reading this, I thought this seems familiar, and that is because the author also wrote the memoir Group, and there are a few overlaps between the characters and stories in that memoir and this one, about the author and another women who lived their whole lives with a lot of difficulties maintaining female friendships, but who become very close friends. Here’s the thing: I didn’t love Group, and I didn’t love this book, which is probably on me – note to self: read the synopsis BEFORE blindly putting a book on my library list. I didn’t love BFF for the same reason that I didn’t love Group, and that was that I found the author to be incredibly frustrating. Yes, I realize that flaws and foibles are what makes for a good memoir, however, get it together, author. I guess her particular flaws and foibles were just especially upsetting to me. However, this wasn’t wasted time; there were some thought-provoking parts, particularly about female friendship triangles, and the end of the book had some really insightful thoughts about the pandemic and how it helped the author reconnect with long-lost friends.

You guys, Wednesday is MARCH! March! What a whirlwind life is, even when not much is going on. I hope you all have a cozy week, doing things you love, and maybe even eating some cake – or pie, I won’t judge! My aversion means more pie for all of you! xo

Happy Galentine’s Day!

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It’s February 13, and you know what that means!

Happy Galentine’s Day!

I don’t know what it’s like in your house, but in mine, Valentine’s Day is kind of a non-event. Not a total non-event; we do celebrate with cookies:

And cake:

But other than baked goods and the tank top decorated with a bee and the words Bee Mine that my husband gave me one year, we really don’t celebrate it around here. If you know me at all, you would know that the bee top won me over for years to come, although I am still waiting on the I Choo-Choo-Choose you card.

So there’s no big romantic dinner (on a Tuesday, are you crazy?), and wine mid-week disrupts my sleep; my husband and son have pollen allergies so floral bouquets are a no-go as well. I could really get down with heart-shaped chocolates, although I usually like to buy them discounted on February 15. What can I say, I’m half-Scottish. We spent Friday night watching a special on Super Bowl commercials, and Saturday watching only the funny parts and fast-forwarding the rest of Old School, so who’s winning at romance now?

I do like to lean into the idea of GALENTINE’S Day, though. Last year at this time I vowed I would host a Swistle-style Galentine’s party (HI SWISTLE), but I remembered that vow only a few days ago, so that was a no-go. Next year, maybe. Instead, I put together a bunch of silly classroom cards for my Monday afternoon ladies, and taped a strawberry Lindor to each one. If you have never tried a strawberry Lindor, my goodness, you are in for a big treat. If you like fruity chocolate, that is, which I do.

For Christmas I received a new Garmin watch, and one of the new features on it is a “Body Battery,” which uses metrics like heart rate, stress levels, and sleep quality to measure the body’s energy reserves throughout the day. I am OBSESSED. I used to focus on Steps and Intensity Minutes, but now it’s all about the Body Battery, baby. Well, I still look at Steps and Intensity Minutes, but other than hitting my daily goals, I don’t really care much. With the Body Battery measurement, it’s fascinating to me to see my energy levels go up and down, and what affects them. If I read for an hour, what happens? If I walk for an hour, what happens? It’s not like I need data from a watch to tell me that I’m tired or refreshed, but it’s nice to have that confirmation, if you know what I mean.

Here’s the reading after a decent sleep:

And a not-great-but-not-terrible sleep:

And here’s a Friday night sleep, after I’ve had a couple of glasses of wine:

Oops! Well, the cost/ benefit analysis still comes up in favour of Friday night wine, as it is a treat I look forward to, but everything has its price, I guess.

In terms of batteries, and recharging them, I sometimes think of people in this way. There are people who I feel literally energized after talking to or visiting with, and there are those who I can feel my battery draining away in their presence. It’s not that I dislike those people, or never want to see them, but I do limit my time around them, and bring awareness to myself and how I’m feeling when I am around them.

In a Charge My Battery move, I signed up for my friend Sara’s (HI SARA) yoga event at a local art gallery. This is the first led yoga class, not taught by me, that I have attended since 2018. Sara has a thriving online teaching presence, but every few months she has an in-person event and the stars lined up for me this weekend, and I was able to attend.

Let me tell you, what a treat it was. My daily practice and, obviously, the classes I teach are all set by me; I flow through my own cadence and breathwork and asana. What a treat it was to follow along with the nourishing, delicious class of asana Sara put together! If you’re local – or even if you’re not, because she’s online! – you should really check out her classes. Rumour has it that her sweet dog Alton is always on or near the mat during her online classes.

I’m sure this guy would love to be on my mat too! But he’s still sleeping when I’m practicing.

Weekly Reading

I didn’t really make any New Year’s Resolutions, or choose a word of the year, or what have you, but after reading that nightmare of a book back in late December and regretting the time wasted in reading it, I have decided to just…not finish books if I don’t want to. Generally I push through, thinking maybe it will get better, and you know what, it rarely does. Why am I wasting my time? NO MORE. So far this year I have picked up and then immediately taken back to the library four books. The first was Something Wilder, by Christina Lauren. I have liked and not liked their books in the past, and I read the prologue and the book jacket before deciding that this one was not for me. The second was The Opportunist, which I had picked up on a whim at the library, and by the first chapter I was completely irritated by the characters. The third was a book that is actually quite good, but that I realized I had read before, in August 2020, which is When You Read This. Does that happen to you? I will start a book and by the first or second chapter I will think wait a minute…and then I’ll check my spreadsheet and see that yes, I’ve been there and done that. So, there was nothing wrong with When You Read This, but if I’m going to reread something, I want it to be on purpose. The final Did Not Finish Or Even Start was Matthew Perry’s memoir. I do not, as a rule, enjoy addiction memoirs, and by flipping through it casually I could see that it was ENTIRELY about his addictions. Also, after reading a paragraph here and there I saw that it was trying really hard to be funny, and I decided not to waste my time.

Anyway, I had some real winners this week in the reading department. In what can only be described as Library Kismet, all the books that came in on my hold list this week were romances. Does the library know it’s Valentine’s Day? Maybe!

The Bodyguard. Well! This was just the most delightful read! It was exactly what I needed this week. The plot, while a little silly, is just so much fun and I am 100% here for it. It follows a woman who works as a specialized bodyguard, and she is put on duty to guard a Chris Hemsworth-like movie star from a stalker, as he has moved to Texas to be near his ill mother. He doesn’t want knowledge about the stalker to add stress to his family, so the bodyguard needs to be undercover; she has to pretend to be his new girlfriend. PEOPLE. I AM HERE FOR THIS. I think we all know what happens in romance books when there is a pretend relationship – SHIT GETS REAL, Y’ALL. I can’t say enough about this cute book, because although, like I said, the plot is a little silly, the theme is REALLY good and heartwarming, and the epilogue, my goodness, the epilogue. A delight. The narration and dialogue are really funny, too. If you need a pick-me-up, go get yourself this book, stat.

In A New York Minute. Oh my gerrrrrrd this was SO MUCH FUN TO READ! I am dying! It’s such a good romance – it starts with the worst day ever: a layoff, a sweaty subway ride, a wardrobe malfunction to end all wardrobe malfunctions. Listen, while carrying the box from her desk after being laid off, her dress catches in the subway and completely rips down the back, leaving her as exposed to the New York commute rush as wearing a hospital gown. And someone is live-streaming it onto Instagram stories. A stranger comes to her sartorial rescue – but the two are opposites. OPPOSITES YOU GUYS, I THINK YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN. It’s such a romp and I never say this, because I generally deeply dislike when books are adapted for the screen, but if this was made into a movie, I’d watch it. The happens to be cohost of one of my fave podcasts, Forever 35. If you love joy and happiness and warm fuzzy feelings, I recommend both book and podcast! 

Nora Goes Off Script. Well, with this, I am 3/3 for incredible romance novels this week! This was so good; a screenwriter’s home is the set for her movie, and the leading man stays on for a while after to rest and recharge. He settles into her routine as a single mom, and they end up having an affair. This takes twists that I did not see coming, and was a delightful mix of “I am woman hear me roar” and heart warming romance. Oh, and by the way, the screenwriter is a Hallmark-movie style screenwriter who makes it big with a different style of script, and I was here for it. A Hallmark-type-book with a twist, about a Hallmark-movie-writer with a twist! I loved it. 

Happy Galentine’s Day, my friends, and may your Valentine’s Day be filled with self-love and battery recharging. May your February 15 be filled with half-price chocolates. xo

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

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The polar vortex has arrived, and with it, snow. As polar vortexes go, I feel like it is really not that bad, and can’t figure out if I’ve turned into Lieutenant Dan on the shrimping boat in the storm. IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO? I’m not complaining, by any means. I’ll take a mild polar vortex any day. In any case, it’s really pretty right now.

It’s been a bit of a dull week around here; it’s that late-January, not-much-is-going-on feeling. I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some of the very fun and light questions that I received on my Ask Me Anything, which is still open, by the way! I’m happy to answer anything you might want to ask. This week, it’s all about Fun Stuff! Thanks for the very fun questions, friends!

Food, Glorious Food

Elisabeth (HI ELISABETH) asked: If you could eat one meal for a month straight, what would it be? This is a very easy question to answer; I decided to take the soft lob right out of the gates. Greek salad and hummus with pita, that is my answer. I could easily eat that for a month straight; when the guys went to Alaska for ten days, I ate it for six of those days, and the other days, I was visiting my parents. It is my favourite, I never get tired of it, and it’s nutritious and nourishing too. Add in a few glasses of red wine, and you have my perfect Friday night. If we are talking about food that I don’t personally prepare, there is an amazing local place called Aida’s Bistro that has the greatest Lebanese food you could ever hope to eat, this side of Beirut. We don’t order there frequently because a) we don’t often eat out, and b) it is super hard to find parking around there, even just for take-out, but people. PEOPLE. They have a sandwich called The Mouh and if I could eat that, along with their dip sampler, on a weekly basis I would be a Happy Woman. Well, I’m already a Happy Woman, but the eggplant, my god, the eggplant. That is not even a euphemism. Mr. Boyhouse already provides the eggplant aplenty, if you know what I’m saying, but wow, do I love their Mouh and baba ganoush. Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) asked: What are your desert island foods? and I would reference all of the above, but also let’s throw in some salsa and chips, maybe a few Macintosh apples, and definitely a nice Lindor.

All The World’s A Stage

Elisabeth also asked: If you could pick any job and magically have the necessary skills, what would you choose and why? This is also a fairly easy question for me. I would, absolutely, choose to be a theatre actor. And if we are fantasizing here and believing that everything is in place for the magical career, then I’m going to say a Broadway stage actor. Let’s add in the ability to sing and dance, and maybe I’d be a Schuyler sister? When I was young, I was in several plays and I loved everything about them; I loved learning my lines and blocking the scenes and the endless rehearsals and, of course, I loved the performances. I am a performer at heart and even just remembering my stint as Amanda Wingfield, with the lights and the sound and the audience, well. I smile in warm remembrance.

YOU MUST CHOOSE

Suzanne (HI SUZANNE AGAIN) asked: If you were forced to endure eternity without hair removal services for ONE body part (this does not count your head or eyelashes (Nicole note: DAMMIT)) what would you choose to grow to luxuriant lengths? Now, I know that no one is actually going to hold a gun to my head, screaming YOU MUST CHOOSE, but wow, I gave this thought like that was going to happen. I am a near-daily leg-and-underarm shaver, a very frequent client of the lady who does my bikini sugaring (in fact, I see her tomorrow!) (god, remember when I tried to do my own bikini wax? Some things are best left to the professionals), and my eyebrows are a mess that require constant work, so I am going to say MY ARMS. You might think that is a cheat, but you would be wrong. I wax my own arms a few times a year, usually before a vacation. Hey, I’m half-Scottish and my body thinks it is still in the Highlands and must be kept warm via body hair. However, if I’m giving into one fuzzy part, it’s going to be my arms.

You Probably Think This Song Is About You

Suzanne also asked: What is your number one karaoke song? That honour belongs to You’re So Vain, which is my absolute favourite karaoke song, but last summer in Mexico I sang Before He Cheats and honestly, that was a blast too. If my friend Jen (HI JEN) is with me, I coerce her into singing Hold On by Wilson Phillips. One day I am going to serenade my husband with You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, a la Top Gun. Some of you may remember my fortieth birthday, when one of my husband’s colleagues dressed up in my husband’s Top Gun flight suit (doesn’t everyone have one of those in their front closet?) (see also: eggplant) and started the serenade, becoming one of my favourite people ever and fulfilling the dream I’ve had since seeing the movie in 1986, in the Orpheum Theatre in Estevan with my cousins.

Boogie Shoes

Another fun question from Suzanne: What song would get you on the dance floor every time? There isn’t much that wouldn’t, but for sure anything disco would get my boogie shoes going. If there were girlfriends, or even female acquaintances nearby, I would be grabbing their arms and dragging them to dance if I Will Survive came on. But honestly, it doesn’t take much. I’d do a conga line or the hustle or YMCA or even get low, low, low. I need someone to invite me to an old-school wedding, clearly. I’m always happy to, as the Black Eyed Peas say, get it started.

Weekly Reading

After all those mysteries last week, this week I delved into more usual Nicole reading!

Dear Life. After talking about my favourite authors, I had a strong craving to read Alice Munro, and so I chose this collection because it’s one I have read only a couple of times before; most other collections I have read many, many times. This one is very interesting because Munro notes that the last four stories are not really stories, but more autobiographical reflections. Many of her stories contain elements from her own life, but these ones are specifically autobiographical, which I find fascinating. All of the stories here show the moment that a chance encounter or a choice occurs for the protagonist, and shows how life changes from that moment. This is something that I am genuinely fascinated by in my own, and other’s, lives. We are where we are in life because of choice and encounters, and it’s interesting to think of what could have been.

Home of the Floating Lily. Short stories? Check. Woman author? Check. Introduction to another culture? Check. Theme of ordinary life written in an extraordinary way? Check. This lovely debut collection checked all my boxes of things I look for in a book, and I really enjoyed it. This book deals with Bangladeshi people and their experience living in Canada, as well as their home country, and I am here for it. The title story was the one I liked the least, but I will be thinking about the story entitled All The Adjustments for a long time. It follows a widow who is living with her in-laws in Bangladesh, as is the custom. Her late husband’s brother brings a wife home to live – also the custom – and the new sister-in-law is Canadian born, half-Bangladeshi. The household changes on her account, and it is just such a good story. I am personally fascinated by arranged marriages. I think, like all marriages, that some work and some don’t. There’s no telling that arranged marriages are worse or better than Western “love matches,” I think. But I find it fascinating, the process and the idea behind it, and so I actively seek out books that discuss it.

The Jetsetters. Let me preface this by saying that I love my new Kobo; I love syncing all my library “shelves” and seeing books pop up. However. I guess I now have an algorithm based on the few e-books I have read, and the library suggested this one as I had read The Lifeguards by the same author. Here’s the synopsis: dysfunctional family goes on a Mediterranean cruise, won by their mother, and (spoiler alert!) gains an understanding of each other. It’s like having a sandwich for lunch: quick and easy, somewhat satisfying, will totally forget about it tomorrow.

Love and Saffron. Engie (HI ENGIE) and Lisa (HI LISA) both recommended this book, and it really is a lovely and sweet book made up almost entirely of correspondence between two women in the early Sixties. There is a large age gap, and they live in different places and have different lives, but they become close friends, supporting each other through difficult times. There is an underlying theme of food and the introduction of international cuisine and flavours, which I loved. The author’s note states that she based this on her own friendships, and people that she knew, writing this warm-hearted book during the pandemic. It’s just a light, sweet book that will make you smile.

If you have answers to these very fun questions, please feel free to share! I’d love to know what you’d karaoke or dance to, what food you could eat exclusively, and even what body part you would allow to get as fuzzy as fuzzy could be! Have a wonderful week, friends, and if you are being Polar Vortexed, may it be a mild one. xo