Tag Archives: Spring

Dinner With February

Posted in Misguided Musings by

Christmas is over and packed away.  January is winding down and the dreaded month of February is rearing its ugly head.  NO ONE likes February.  There is nothing magical or lovely about it.  Oh sure, there’s Valentine’s Day but that’s brief and fleeting and overly annoying.  February is fraught with unpredictable weather (at least here) and blue moods, and muddy porches and dirty windows and bone chilling cold.  What exactly is there to like?  Even the dog can’t stand February.  It’s too cold to go outside to pee, she is cranky that she can’t get in her walks and she gives me that sidelong look when I try to get her to play.  At all.  It’s like she’s too tired to even lift her head from a pillow and why would I even suggest she chase that stupid ball?!  

DON’T YOU KNOW IT’S ALMOST FEBRUARY?!  

It’s like I’m being ridiculous for even mentioning life goes on and it’s worth trying to make the best of it, isn’t it?  

NO. NO IT ISN’T.  IT’S FEBRUARY.

The least favourite of the more popular months, February is like the annoying relative that nobody likes and dreads him arriving to any family gathering.  It’s like the other 11 months are sitting around the dinner table all reveling in their own positive energy, and then HE walks in. 

 There’s December holidaying it up and drinking eggnog.  January is still recovering from ringing in a new year with December who steadily hands him water and Ibuprofen, not to mention January trying to keep up with all the resolutions he said he was going to make, but didn’t bother because there was just. Too. Much. Wine.  March is sitting stoicly playing with his grean beans because he is both feared and loved.  The older generation is adhering to the “Beware the Ides of March” bullshit and the younger ones are readying the beer kegs for March break.  Duuudddde.   Then April is laughing hysterically at the other end of the table about the first day for all the foolish pranks, the rain that will undoubtedly ensue and the whole Easter Bunny charade that brings CHOCOLATE.  Then he turns to May and starts talking smack about how one affects the other.  “There would be no flowers without my showers, you idiotic twat!”   May sits and laughs because there’s Queen Victoria’s birthday and the traditional May 2-4 weekend which brings yetanother camping extravaganza.  Duuuude.  June is warming up to July and August who all sit glowing in their inner warmth and bestowing happiness and rainbows to September, who has hit menopause.  Her hot flashes give way to cold snaps.  One minute she’s too hot and the next she needs a sweater.  October is chillin’ it and scaring the crap out of November with a Jack-o’-lantern he just carved and November resumes her knitting of a beautifully multi-coloured blanket of red, gold and orange.   There they are, all sitting waiting for HIM to walk in.  Finally, the door swings open and in strides February, soaked with freezing icicles dripping from his nose, his face blue with depression and a random red cinnamon heart stuck to his chest.  He takes a seat and his hands shake from the cold.  

Everyone stops what they are doing and stares.  “Oh.  You’re here” they say.  “Yeah.  What’s for dinner?” says February.  And then he starts, “Hey, January are you STILL hungover?!  HAHAHA!!   Pass the beans, March, don’t hog them.  Hey, October that’s one ugly whattya-callit?  Geezuz, JuneJulyAugust, can’t you three stop all the happiness and sunshine and rainbows bullshit?!   IT’S A BIT MUCH DON’T YOU THINK?”  

They all roll their eyes and continue with their dinner.  When it comes right down to it, as annoying as he is, he’s family.  “Gaawwwdd, did you guys SEE the amount of ICE I brought to the partay??!!  It’s EPIC!”  

Oh Spring, Where Are You?!

Posted in Misguided Musings by

Spring is around the corner! That usually implies spring cleaning, a sense of warmth and impending joy at the budding of trees and flowers. Birds chirping, the ground softening, the snow melting. A clearing out of the old winter boots and coats that have been literally hanging around causing clutter and weight. Spring is lighter and brighter and warmer, where winter’s early darkness and heavy skies laden with snow cause coldness to seep in to every pore and floorboard. We feel the need to shed the layers we buried ourselves in during the blanketing of snow and ice; we need to feel the sun’s warmth and the warm breeze hit our faces without freezing our noses off. It’s nice to free ourselves from the weight of winter and head into a lighter sense of blue skies and freedom. Ahh, Spring….WHERE ARE YOU?!


It’s been a long winter and waiting for any sign of a new season is like searching the ground for that valuable that was lost last year. Instinctively, you continue to search for any shimmer of that lost earring or last quarter. The hopeful straining just to see one little glint of hope of what just isn’t there. The snow is finally melting, but the chill in the air still reminds us we are on the edge of winter’s exit. It’s still hanging around for that last hurrah before heading out the door. Hurry up, already. Get ye away! I’ve stashed my boots to the abyss of the under the stairs storage; my winter coat is on its way to the cleaners. I have no want for any of these things anymore, but winter refuses to relent its freezing grasp. Spring is ringing the doorbell, but winter refuses to rise from the couch to answer the damn door.    

The past couple of days have been sunny, giving one a sense of warmth. Until the frosty air hits my face and I remember, IT’S STILL WINTER. Ugh. It snowed on Monday and the morning sun shone on the snow, making a perfect CHRISTMAS CARD moment. It was devastating and lovely at the same time. I’ve been wearing sleeveless tops in a desperate ploy to egg spring on and beat down that winter frost. I’m not sure it’s working. I’m just ending up being cold and downtrodden that my incessant need for warmer temps isn’t enticing enough for spring to rear its golden head.  

I guess I’ll just have to remain patient and steadfast in my belief that sooner or later spring will arrive and my penchant for sleeveless tops and lighter jackets will be rewarded. In the meantime, I’ll sit over here with my blankie and coffee, the heater jacked up to ‘HOLY FUCK HOW COLD ARE YOU ANYWAYS’ temperature, and stare out at the sky waiting for a glimpse of more sun.

Stay warm, peeps….

 

Top Ten Things To Do This Spring That Won’t Involve Cleaning Anything, Making Anything or Exercising Anywhere. You. Are. Welcome.

Posted in Top Ten by

It’s exhausting trying to keep up with all of the tips and advice from the ‘experts’ on what one should be doing with all of that extra time that we seem to have on our hands this coming Spring. What?!

We should be cleaning out our closets, our email, our garage and our colons… apparently that’s a thing. Cleaning out your colon. Eww…

And then there are others who insist we get in shape for summer, get exercising for that bikini, that bbq, than reunion, and lose weight for that somebody special we’ve been hanging around waiting our entire lives to meet and to fall helplessly in love with. Ugh. Enough already. Instead of working so hard at trying to be clean and skinny, let’s just relax and enjoy the coming of the warm weather…even if it’s taking its sweet ass time getting here.

So, here are my Top Ten Things to do This Spring:
10. Laugh at the neighbours who are insistent on getting rid of the frozen snow that still inhabits their front lawns by chopping, spraying and shoveling it onto the road. Our neighbor was at it twice yesterday and her snow pile is up over her front window. It must be driving her INSANE to see my side of the street with virtually no snow on our lawns…we are just better at taking it easy AND LETTING NATURE TAKE CARE OF THE MASSIVE FROZEN SNOW PILE. Instead of being a tad obsessive about frozen shit, she could harvest all that snow and make snow cones, sell them at 50cents a pop and then VOILA…instant cash to pay for that ice pick she’s going to rust out soon. Then she would have all the neighbourhood kids clamouring all over her place looking for snow cones…maybe I’ll post a sign at the corner to advertise for her. I’m all about community, peeps.
9. Wear spring colours. It makes you feel better and more alive to be wearing pink and purple and bright oranges and reds instead of blah-black and gruesome-grey…blah. IT’S SPRING DAMMIT…let’s get the colours out! Your mood will improve too…not that you’ve been crabby lately…or maybe you have. Sick of winter and cold and ice…yeah. You’re looking a little crotchety…get out that lovely yellow sweater and those pink capris…so what if it’s minus twenty… Wear that shit!
8. Do something outside….just not knocking down the snow. Take the dog for a walk, take down the elusive Christmas decorations, search the ground for growing buds, take photos of the neighbour’s cat pooping in the old guy’s garbage can…you know, get out there!
7. Invite friends over for drinks…that’s always a good idea.
6. I was going to write ‘plant bulbs’, but I think you have to do that in the fall…and it’s work, so this is not about work. It’s about relaxation….so go to the florist or the nearest store and buy a spring bouquet to put on your table. It will brighten your room…and you can admire it as you eat your frozen snow cone. AND, lace that snow cone with some liquor….make it a ‘grown up’ treat. What? It’s relaxing….
5. Revel in the longer days…it means longer naps.
4. Remember those long forgotten resolutions you made at midnight on that freezing December night when you were drunk and couldn’t even remember your first name, let alone something to resolve to do for the New Year?? Remember those? No? Me neither…carry on.
3. Be good to yourself. You’re the only one you’ve got.
2. Make a kid laugh by telling a stupid joke. They love those, even if they’re teens and they roll their eyes at you and say you’re lame…they really think you’re worse than lame…but that’s okay. You made them roll their eyes and probably smile when you weren’t looking. It still counts.
1. Be grateful for where you are, where you’re going and what you’ve done to get here.

There you go. Enjoy your Spring…

l-amazing-photo-pug-and-tulips

The Spring Thaw

Posted in Misguided Musings by

So the weekend happened and the exhausting task of searching for dead bodies in the melting snow has me a little freaked.  What?  You think I’m kidding?  Pfft….I wish.  Seriously, the snow has melted in exponential amounts and everyone is afraid to go into their backyards right now in fear of what they’ll find.  I know some runners who refuse to run the path around the ‘hood in case something pops up that they would rather not witness.  I should back-story this a bit.  See, in January or February of this year a young man was last seen exiting a cab in our neighbourhood never to be seen again.  Many people believe he headed for the wooded area that a new subdivision is currently under construction and is also home to a walking path.  They think in his distraught state, he fell or fell asleep out in someone’s backyard or lawn somewhere.  That weekend he went missing there was a violent winter storm and the thoughts are that he succumbed to the weather.  Inhabitants are put on the lookout by the local police to scour their backyards before the full-on melt is on.  Has me a little jittery.  I hope he is found so he can be put to rest and his family has some closure.  I hope he is found to be living downtown after joining a band and dying his hair blue.  I can hope!

Spotted:  I so wish I had taken a picture of this when I saw it happen on Saturday afternoon.  My neighbor who lives across from me and beside Miss H has the reputation of being, not only a busy-body, but a lawn fanatic.  I guess she doesn’t give a shit about dead bodies, because she and her Hubby were out shoveling what’s left of the snow onto the road.  Yeah, I see you laughing.  I shit you not.  She’s pissed because as she gazes longingly at my house, its brown grass apparent and void of any snow or ice like everybody else on my side of the street, she looks down at her lawn and all she sees is a big pile of brownish frozen crap. Her snow bank remains piled on the edge of her front lawn, its brown ice and shit-colored edges egging her into a maniacal fury.  (insert wicked laugh here)  So out she goes after wrangling hubby out of his comfy armchair, with shovels in hands to set to right a definite wrong and swing those shovels as if it was the last thing they were put on earth to do.  Poor, Mr. Pat.  I would have paid good money to see him heave a big shovel full of snow at her in playful spitefulness.  Good money, I tell ‘ya!

Son played hockey on the weekend and ended up in emergency department with a possible concussion and sore ribs.  Have I ever told you how much I hate hockey?  Yeah.  Now I have reason to pile on the hate even more.  He is 80lbs soaking wet and the kid that power- drived him into the corner FROM BEHIND weighed as much as me…or more. (okay, he weighed a lot…)   Son bounced back up instead of staying down reveling in his pain and made it back to the bench.  He sat with his team despite the pain until the end of the period.  He followed his team into the dressing room for the intermission.  He came back out to start the third period with his team.  He sat on the bench and wanted to stay.  Then the nausea set in and Hubby whisked him to emerg.  Two hours later after seeing nice doctor and, by all accounts cutie x-ray techie, Son is fine.  He ended up missing the whole celebration on the ice, the medal presentation, the fun, the frivolity.  Kid that hit him received no penalty.  Nada. Nothin’.  They said if son had stayed down on the ice like we tell him NOT to do, the kid who committed the illegal hit would have been given a 5 minute penalty and tossed.   That’s not Son.   He has heart.

He was visited at the hospital by one of his friends and given his medal.  He is feeling fine now, just tender ribs but hockey has forever placed a sour taste in my mouth.

Hockey=yukky-poo-poo.

AND, for all of you who need a little reminder why I love to blog, read this and revel in the glory that is logic.

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