I find anything to do with the 1918 influenza pandemic fascinating; in part because it ended, and that gives me hope, and in part because I realize that we also will be a footnote in history. This week I read the book Gilead – more on that later – and came across this passage: I […]
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 […]
Summer’s Almost Gone; Seventy-Five Weeks In
I don’t think I can adequately describe the relief I felt when I received an email from the Calgary Board of Education, stating that not only would masks be mandatory for students K-12, but all other health protocols would remain in place. With the Delta variant of Covid cases skyrocketing, again, and the general mask […]
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 […]
Vacation, Mostly; Seventy-One and Seventy-Two Weeks In
Hi! On Saturday we returned from almost two weeks away, staying in our vacation house, spending time with family and friends. It had been almost ten months since my mother-in-law had seen her only grandchildren, so it was really lovely. It was a pretty busy two weeks, as we are doing an extensive addition and […]
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 […]