That's how long it has taken my hip injury to heal. Two cortisone shots, weekly physio and dependence on an effing cane, but today -- touch a lot of wood -- is the first day I have felt relatively normal.
"If you hadn't been in such good shape, you would not have healed at all," said my doctor. That was very encouraging and it's true. No matter your age, keep moving. I was able to swim, not my 50 laps every day, but 36. That kept me going. I am now confident I will be able to do my 2-K Lake Windermere swim in August -- my fourth! Invermere, B.C., is a gorgeous town. If ever you are in the neighbourhood, visit.
Aging is not for the faint-of-heart. And by the way, if you are on Celebrex stay on it!!!!
Monday, June 27, 2016
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Personal and terminology
That's what Brexit was all about. It was a personal rivalry between Cameron and Johnson, both alumni of Eton and Oxford, where they competed feverishly on many levels and it all culminated with both taking opposite sides of the EU exit question.
But I think it was mainly Johnson's fault. A scholarship student at Eton and two years ahead of Cameron, Johnson could not abide the fact that the privileged Cameron was clearly the superior intellect. Afterall, Cameron got a first and Johnson only a second upon graduating from Oxford. And believe me, there is a very significant difference between a first and a second at these schools. The other thing that backfired on Cameron was his deliberate side-tracking of Boris from a run for the Conservative Party leadership by encouraging and facilitating the latter's successful bid for Lord Mayor of London. Right, that's him out of the way, thought Cameron.
Wrong.
It was all a prank, a bit of naughty high-jinx and school-boy antics carried way too far to the detriment of the global economy. It was all very Old School Tie played out by a couple of spoilt children of the partying-hunting-shooting set who can now look in the mirror and congratulate themselves on a disastrous result. Clearly, any graduate of Eton and Oxford, as Boris is, has to know that leaving the EU was a huge mistake. He played on the "Jolly Olde" sentiment of the senior set to the detriment of their children and grandchildren, who will now be stuck in a dwindling and ever-eroding economy made up of people who do each others' laundry. They now join Norway and Iceland as isolated countries, instead of remaining part of an international trading partner. The Queen will now be Queen of.....what? A tiny island when Wales and Scotland join the EU.
But she has her love of The Commonwealth to blame for the disastrous immigration policies that lie at the heart of Brexit. If you were a member of a Commonwealth country, you could jump on a jumbo jet and emigrate to Britain where you could make L 15s an hour driving a bus or collecting garbage. And millions did just that.
B's English relatives are a perfect microcosm of what went wrong. Living in Leister, his middle-aged cousin and her family decided to vote "no". Why? Because they don't like immigration. Plain and simple. Never mind that their children will have to leave a now-isolated island to get ahead. Who cares?! "We have our country back," they declare. It's so self-centred to see a bunch of white-haired seniors waving the Union Jack in pubs amid bunting and declaring victory. But what do they care? They still have their pensions and the national health, so don't give a toss for the future. B actually called them to try and talk some sense into their heads, but to no avail. These are the descendants of relatives who had to leave India in 1947 and opted to settle in England, as opposed to B's family who struck out for Canada. That's the basic difference. Guts versus no guts.
For Johnson and Cameron it's simply another version of The Eton Wall Game. Google it, very "special" and unique to this snobby place.
One other vital element in all this is terminology. When Britain entered the EU, it was called the "Common Market". That was palatable because it was a mercantile term, not a flag-waving one. The French -- naturally -- wanted to smack Britain and pushed for the "European Union" nomenclature. Germany, not to be outdone by France and to one-up Britain, went along with the change. So a commercial union suddenly became a European nationalistic one, which did not sit well with the Brits. The Brits have never thought themselves part of Europe, so began to bristle at being lumped in.
Why couldn't they just leave it as the Common Market? What's in a name? Lots.
But I think it was mainly Johnson's fault. A scholarship student at Eton and two years ahead of Cameron, Johnson could not abide the fact that the privileged Cameron was clearly the superior intellect. Afterall, Cameron got a first and Johnson only a second upon graduating from Oxford. And believe me, there is a very significant difference between a first and a second at these schools. The other thing that backfired on Cameron was his deliberate side-tracking of Boris from a run for the Conservative Party leadership by encouraging and facilitating the latter's successful bid for Lord Mayor of London. Right, that's him out of the way, thought Cameron.
Wrong.
It was all a prank, a bit of naughty high-jinx and school-boy antics carried way too far to the detriment of the global economy. It was all very Old School Tie played out by a couple of spoilt children of the partying-hunting-shooting set who can now look in the mirror and congratulate themselves on a disastrous result. Clearly, any graduate of Eton and Oxford, as Boris is, has to know that leaving the EU was a huge mistake. He played on the "Jolly Olde" sentiment of the senior set to the detriment of their children and grandchildren, who will now be stuck in a dwindling and ever-eroding economy made up of people who do each others' laundry. They now join Norway and Iceland as isolated countries, instead of remaining part of an international trading partner. The Queen will now be Queen of.....what? A tiny island when Wales and Scotland join the EU.
But she has her love of The Commonwealth to blame for the disastrous immigration policies that lie at the heart of Brexit. If you were a member of a Commonwealth country, you could jump on a jumbo jet and emigrate to Britain where you could make L 15s an hour driving a bus or collecting garbage. And millions did just that.
B's English relatives are a perfect microcosm of what went wrong. Living in Leister, his middle-aged cousin and her family decided to vote "no". Why? Because they don't like immigration. Plain and simple. Never mind that their children will have to leave a now-isolated island to get ahead. Who cares?! "We have our country back," they declare. It's so self-centred to see a bunch of white-haired seniors waving the Union Jack in pubs amid bunting and declaring victory. But what do they care? They still have their pensions and the national health, so don't give a toss for the future. B actually called them to try and talk some sense into their heads, but to no avail. These are the descendants of relatives who had to leave India in 1947 and opted to settle in England, as opposed to B's family who struck out for Canada. That's the basic difference. Guts versus no guts.
For Johnson and Cameron it's simply another version of The Eton Wall Game. Google it, very "special" and unique to this snobby place.
One other vital element in all this is terminology. When Britain entered the EU, it was called the "Common Market". That was palatable because it was a mercantile term, not a flag-waving one. The French -- naturally -- wanted to smack Britain and pushed for the "European Union" nomenclature. Germany, not to be outdone by France and to one-up Britain, went along with the change. So a commercial union suddenly became a European nationalistic one, which did not sit well with the Brits. The Brits have never thought themselves part of Europe, so began to bristle at being lumped in.
Why couldn't they just leave it as the Common Market? What's in a name? Lots.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
My favourite household appliance
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| Use this whenever I can. Nothing smells better than sheets dried on the line! |
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Floundering around
Killing people and getting them high. Those seem to be the two priorities for this feckless new government under Trudeau-the-Younger. Television coverage is teeming with coverage of either the assisted suicide bill, now bouncing back and forth between the Commons and the Senate, or the legalization of marijuana.
Is there nothing more pressing to deal with?
How pathetic and scary for Canadians to have a government that seems to have no clue about national security or the economy. Our borders are under threat from Russian and other countries on the north, yet the Katzenjammer Kids seem incapable of knowing what to do. They can't seem to get the navy afloat with anything seaworthy and have no idea what jet fighters to buy. Or not.
It's as if the PM (I hate to even call him that) has ADD and can't connect the obvious dots. To make matters worse, he sacked all Liberal Senators from the caucus and declared them independent. Thanks to that unconstitutional lunacy, the Upper House acts as if it can do whatever it pleases!!?? How dumb can you get??!! How does he expect legislation to pass when he has literally given unelected senators free reign to do whatever they want? Drunk on their new-found power, they will now re-write everything the Commons gives them and that will be disastrous.
The other stupid move was passing the law to change the wording of 'Oh Canada' to remove "all our sons command" and replace it with "in all of us command". Who cares? Maybe because the bill's sponsor is a francophone, but anyone with any knowledge of the English language knows that "men" or "sons" automatically implies and includes women, so of what use were months of debate and hassle in Parliament to change our revered anthem? None. It's not like French, where everything is either masculine or feminine -- and it obviously had nothing to do with reason or sanity. No, it had everything to do with the fact that the member pushing it, Mauril Belanger, has ALS and is dying. Sorry to say, but it was a ludicrous and grotesque spectacle watching him arriving on The Hill in an ambulance, being wheeled into the chamber, slumped over and drooling, while his ridiculous bill passed as a kind of bizarre sympathy vote for no reason other than to assuage the conscience of those present.
Canada has so much more to worry about. We are so effed.
Is there nothing more pressing to deal with?
How pathetic and scary for Canadians to have a government that seems to have no clue about national security or the economy. Our borders are under threat from Russian and other countries on the north, yet the Katzenjammer Kids seem incapable of knowing what to do. They can't seem to get the navy afloat with anything seaworthy and have no idea what jet fighters to buy. Or not.
It's as if the PM (I hate to even call him that) has ADD and can't connect the obvious dots. To make matters worse, he sacked all Liberal Senators from the caucus and declared them independent. Thanks to that unconstitutional lunacy, the Upper House acts as if it can do whatever it pleases!!?? How dumb can you get??!! How does he expect legislation to pass when he has literally given unelected senators free reign to do whatever they want? Drunk on their new-found power, they will now re-write everything the Commons gives them and that will be disastrous.
The other stupid move was passing the law to change the wording of 'Oh Canada' to remove "all our sons command" and replace it with "in all of us command". Who cares? Maybe because the bill's sponsor is a francophone, but anyone with any knowledge of the English language knows that "men" or "sons" automatically implies and includes women, so of what use were months of debate and hassle in Parliament to change our revered anthem? None. It's not like French, where everything is either masculine or feminine -- and it obviously had nothing to do with reason or sanity. No, it had everything to do with the fact that the member pushing it, Mauril Belanger, has ALS and is dying. Sorry to say, but it was a ludicrous and grotesque spectacle watching him arriving on The Hill in an ambulance, being wheeled into the chamber, slumped over and drooling, while his ridiculous bill passed as a kind of bizarre sympathy vote for no reason other than to assuage the conscience of those present.
Canada has so much more to worry about. We are so effed.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Let's face it
Conrad Black is a deadbeat. He now owes Canadians $12.3 million in unpaid taxes and Americans $19.3. That's disgusting. The public record shows that he has divested himself of millions in property all over the world, but his bank accounts don't reflect the millions he has made from the sales.
His wife, however, apparently has lots of valuable property. Gee, wonder how that happened? But my old alma mater, the CRA, is on to him and has put liens on the sale of his Toronto mansion to at least recover a few shekels, but it will be relatively few because after the mortgages and other encumbrances on the property are discharged, there will be but fewer than $1 million for Canadians to claim. This means, as the court said, "there will no longer be funds available to satisfy the tax debt."
Let me tell you, if he has to go to a doctor or into a Canadian hospital he better be presented with a hefty bill. And he might remember that we put people in jail for such offences. Pay your taxes and be grateful for the privilege.
His wife, however, apparently has lots of valuable property. Gee, wonder how that happened? But my old alma mater, the CRA, is on to him and has put liens on the sale of his Toronto mansion to at least recover a few shekels, but it will be relatively few because after the mortgages and other encumbrances on the property are discharged, there will be but fewer than $1 million for Canadians to claim. This means, as the court said, "there will no longer be funds available to satisfy the tax debt."
Let me tell you, if he has to go to a doctor or into a Canadian hospital he better be presented with a hefty bill. And he might remember that we put people in jail for such offences. Pay your taxes and be grateful for the privilege.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Don't think so
Well, here are the latest ugly summer shoes for women. Must be designed by men who hate women and can't bear nice feet and legs:
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| Wouldn't put one of them on my feet. Ever. |
Nothing good......
....ever happens after midnight. That's what I told my kids when they started exploring nightlife. It remains true. The nauseating massacre in Florida happened just after two a.m., when everyone is dangerously "over-refreshed". That's what happens. And by the way, I doubt there is the usual "radicalization" connection with the killer. He may have used that as an excuse, but my theory is that he was a closet gay, hated himself because it's taboo in his religion, and killed as many gays as he could in a club he regularly frequented. Apparently, he was also on a gay website.
So, so sad. My enduring question about young men who do this is: Where are their mothers and what are they teaching their sons?? We are all reared at our mother's knee, thus mothers bear a huge responsibility when their children go "bad".
Now we have the usual crap from Obama 'et all' about how guns have to be restricted....etc.......etc......etc. Trust me, nothing will change thanks to the NRA and its very generous gifts to politicians of all stripes.
Too late, fellas.
So, so sad. My enduring question about young men who do this is: Where are their mothers and what are they teaching their sons?? We are all reared at our mother's knee, thus mothers bear a huge responsibility when their children go "bad".
Now we have the usual crap from Obama 'et all' about how guns have to be restricted....etc.......etc......etc. Trust me, nothing will change thanks to the NRA and its very generous gifts to politicians of all stripes.
Too late, fellas.
Friday, June 10, 2016
All right, already
The service for Muhammud Ali was just a tad over-the-top, in my view. I mean the guy was remarkable, but the length of the televised goodbye was too much. By the time poor, old Bill Clinton got to the podium, everyone had said everything. Ten times over.
All I can say is thank God for Billy Crystal. At least he injected some welcome humour into the verbiage in homage to a guy who basically tried to kill people for a living.
Then I tune in to watch Don Martin and 'Power Play' and there's a repeat of Ali's wife's too-long speech. Again. Maybe it's because I am Canadian, but I think the Americans go overboard on this stuff. I'd rather be watching coverage of the Queen's 90th, or the gun salute to Prince Philip. All the sports channels gave Ali more coverage than the great Gordie Howe!
It was all a bit much. And it's still going on......and on............
All I can say is thank God for Billy Crystal. At least he injected some welcome humour into the verbiage in homage to a guy who basically tried to kill people for a living.
Then I tune in to watch Don Martin and 'Power Play' and there's a repeat of Ali's wife's too-long speech. Again. Maybe it's because I am Canadian, but I think the Americans go overboard on this stuff. I'd rather be watching coverage of the Queen's 90th, or the gun salute to Prince Philip. All the sports channels gave Ali more coverage than the great Gordie Howe!
It was all a bit much. And it's still going on......and on............
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
A little too much
With about $300,000 worth of about 50 hand-woven silk carpets scattered throughout their house, these people didn't wear shoes. Trouble is, I love shoes and, along with jewellery and accessories, they make any outfit.
The dilemma was: take them off, or leave them on? Against my better judgement, I took them off because B took his off. Our hostess was barefoot and the host wore only socks, so this was a strong signal to put the carpets first. I don't like this "MO", as you can imagine. We had been invited for coffee to their home by a couple B knows. Why he commits me to these outings I have no clue?? I find it very annoying, but I go to be a "proper wife". As if.
These people are Russians, so their perspective on the world is quite different from my "pro-tax" view of the world. But here they are, living in Canada and talking about their latest medical procedures -- paid for by taxes!!! Get it?? No. Very annoying.
______________________________________________
Calgary weather is sublime these days. Hot, but never any humidity. A good day in Calgary cannot be beaten. Even 30 degrees is so pleasant and you don't need air-conditioning. I definitely don't miss the Ottawa Valley wring-yourself-out-and-lie-on-a-fainting-couch weather!
The dilemma was: take them off, or leave them on? Against my better judgement, I took them off because B took his off. Our hostess was barefoot and the host wore only socks, so this was a strong signal to put the carpets first. I don't like this "MO", as you can imagine. We had been invited for coffee to their home by a couple B knows. Why he commits me to these outings I have no clue?? I find it very annoying, but I go to be a "proper wife". As if.
These people are Russians, so their perspective on the world is quite different from my "pro-tax" view of the world. But here they are, living in Canada and talking about their latest medical procedures -- paid for by taxes!!! Get it?? No. Very annoying.
______________________________________________
Calgary weather is sublime these days. Hot, but never any humidity. A good day in Calgary cannot be beaten. Even 30 degrees is so pleasant and you don't need air-conditioning. I definitely don't miss the Ottawa Valley wring-yourself-out-and-lie-on-a-fainting-couch weather!
Monday, June 6, 2016
An ass literally hanging out
B and I dropped into a patio this afternoon and saw this.............
A young woman wearing barely-there cut-off jean shorts sauntered in with her ass literally hanging below her shorts! I mean, her cheeks were right there, jiggling for all the world to see. I have tried to draw this disaster and I am not exaggerating! It was absolutely disgusting.
Made me wonder, as I saw her plant her entire nether region on the chair, what I might have been sitting on myself??!! Has anyone no shame?
Guess not.
A young woman wearing barely-there cut-off jean shorts sauntered in with her ass literally hanging below her shorts! I mean, her cheeks were right there, jiggling for all the world to see. I have tried to draw this disaster and I am not exaggerating! It was absolutely disgusting.
Made me wonder, as I saw her plant her entire nether region on the chair, what I might have been sitting on myself??!! Has anyone no shame?
Guess not.
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