Time to Get a Life

Last night I stood on the soccer field in the pouring rain, watching the Green Geckos run, herd-like, after the ball and slipping and falling on the soggy, wet grass. It’s cold here, as it often is in June, and it seems to be sapping my energy and also my personality. On the “news” this […]

It’s my dog’s birthday!

I used to think that people who celebrated their pets’ birthdays were, how shall I say, a little bit lame. But! That was before we had Barkley, the wonder dog. Mark is presenting him with his birthday treat. I tried to manually take out Barkley’s red eyes because the photo made him look like a […]

Stitches and Disney and Snow in Late May

This is a photo of my backyard this morning: What’s that on the ground? SNOW! And what are all those buckets in the background? They are covering up my poor, non-frost-tolerant flowers that I planted on Tuesday. And why would I plant non-frost-tolerant flowers prior to June in Calgary? Because I am stupid, evidently. I […]

Gone With The April Snowstorm Wind

Right now it’s snowing, big thick flakes; our entire yard is blanketed, the whitened trees swaying violently in the wind. After dinner the boys went outside with umbrellas and snow boots, running and screaming with joy in the wind. Wouldn’t it be nice to view an April snowstorm like that, like an unlooked-for and unexpected […]

Spring-ish

We’ve had a run of really unseasonably warm weather and I spent the afternoon cutting back perennials, pruning shrubs, and pulling back mulch to squeal over the teeny sprouts of my emerging very hardy perennials. Then I immediately replaced the mulch because while I might be excited, I’m not stupid: no mulch shall be removed […]

Groundhog Day is the stupidest day of the year.

I was about to launch my annual diatribe against Groundhog Day, and thought I would actually look up a bit of the history behind this dubious so-called holiday. It turns out that modern day North American Groundhog Day has roots in European weather lore, the pagan festival of Imbolc, and the medieval Catholic holiday of […]

You’re out of touch, I’m out of time

“Why do old people always talk about the weather?” I clearly recall asking my mother this question, probably flipping my spiral-permed hair with my mood-ring-adorned hand and rolling my eyes. Likely I was wearing a black Depeche Mode concert t-shirt with ripped jeans at the time of this comment. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would […]