On the whole, I am very proud to be a Canadian.  I am proud that Canada upholds a reputation for being a peaceful and polite society;  I’m proud of Canada’s multi-cultural philosophy; and, although our politics may be viewed as meek and boring,/… Read full post »

I made a realization yesterday. I no longer care about stupid fashion trends. 

I mean, I've thought that I didn't care before, but I still did care a little bit, at least enough to question white cotton rompers. Now I just walk away and banish them from my consciousness. 

I suppose… Read full post »

Today, like most days in Vancouver, is grey and soggy and positively depressing.  It’s the kind of day when being alone with one’s thoughts can lead to all kinds of dissonance.  Luckily, I have a Boxer.  Having a Boxer means never losing your sanity.  It’s/… Read full post »

The Morning Coffee Swish 'n' Gulp

 This revolting one-two assault on the senses first thing in the morning is a colossal violation of breakfast etiquette.  People who swish their coffee in  their mouths like mouthwash, ballooning their cheeks out left to righ… Read full post »

I have more than just a little sympathy for today’s generation of grocery store check-out clerks.  Not all of them of course, just the boorish, louty ones who struggle with a deep seated need to deliver a litany of metaphorical bitch slaps across the faces of the everyday shopper. 

T… Read full post »

When it comes to the delicate, pleasing symmetry that is sheer aesthetic perfection, it is but the beauty of nature's own divine haunting that invariably reduces me to tears. 

I am a highly visual person. 

     … Read full post »

After heading into the woods yesterday morning with the pup, and then missing the sign-post that marks the path that leads back to my street, I learned pretty quickly what it is to be rife with panic, while positively lost.

I live in an area of Vancouver that could be considered … Read full post »

I am willing to bet that for the real, live, insufferable jack-ass, the arrival of “social networking” must have hit like interpersonal Viagra, so that thoughts on the potential for due respect and popularity, under the guise of ostensible potency, must’ve been more than just a… Read full post »

I like to prepare my family’s dinners the same way I like to live my life – intuitively!  And after countless years of experience in both realms, I can assure you that intuition is the way to go. 

The following salmon filet preparation is just one example of reci… Read full post »

When I was about 17 and dating a much older, '67 Mustang driving Michael Landon look-alike, I thought it would be super cool to treat him to a tiny glimpse of just how thoroughly adorable I could be. So I launched right into the song that was playing on the… Read full post »

"The most important thing happening in classical music anywhere in the world" ~ Simon Rattle

It’s been 35 years since Jose Antonio Abreu gathered 11 of Venezuela’s most vulnerable street kids in an underground parking lot, put musical instruments in their hands, and offered them… Read full post »

Hold on to your barrel chairs everyone 'cause this UK chart topper is gonna blow you clean through the wall.  

The track is "Propane Nightmares", performed by the Australian bass/drum/electro-rock band "Pendulum".  It's their second single from their… Read full post »

I happened to catch Mama Mia on the Movie Channel yesterday and was bathed in a wonderful frisson of anticipation.  “Oh Boy! A sun drenched, ABBA-fuelled, 2 hour escape from reality!”  Same expectations I had when I saw this film the first time. 

But as a fragmen… Read full post »

You Americans have had a lot to think about these days what with the whole "Universal Health Care" vs. "Socialism" comparison/contrast still incomplete  and gnawing away at the collective politic.

We Canadians, on the other hand, have finished our Universal Health Care a… Read full post »

As many of you know, the last week has been one of the most harrowing and confusing periods of my entire parental career and for a while there, I was really starting to worry that I’d lost my daughter for good.

She’d run away because I’d read two of her MSN… Read full post »

Whether or not anyone stopped to consider Julia Child in the thousands of days that preceded the release of "Julie & Julia", clearly it is de rigueur to write in reference to The French Chef now. 

Everyone wants a piece of Julia Child, and in case you were won… Read full post »

After forty some-odd years of catastrophic misfires between my mouth and brain, I’m starting to wonder if I might actually have it in for myself.  Based on my experience with me, there seems to be no reliable hook up between the things that I intend to say, and what I come /… Read full post »

It doesn’t take much to drive me right ‘round the cock-a-doodie bend, I’m not going to lie to you.  I am a highly sensitive human being and that means that a substantial crap-load of stimuli is constantly bombarding my synapses, thereby pushing me, ever so assuredly, closer and… Read full post »

If ever there were a categorical killer DNA cocktail sure to eviscerate its host of every last shred of apparent intelligence, it is “over-sensitive” blended with “hyper-insecurity”, laced with “unconventional perceptions” - all served up in a B… Read full post »

Is there any greater challenge to one’s ability to remain centered in agape  love than the clanging, controlling, hyper-critical gong that is the “Alpha Human”?  (She enquired rhetorically.)

The Alpha Human - Their chief weapon is Arrogance! 

Alpha Humans -… Read full post »

It’s amazing what excessive amounts of red wine and dark chocolate can do to a girl over a 4-day span of chaos punctuated by petulance.    Seems that the emotional benefits of hunkering down with a fine bottle of Zinfandel and leftover Mother’s Day treats is equally te… Read full post »

Not too long ago my 5 year old daughter asked, “Mommy, do you love God?”

Now that’s a big question.  

“Well, Kiki", I counselled, "let’s just say I don’t hate Him”.

“HA!” exploded my 15-year old, “great parenting Mom&rd… Read full post »

Mother’s Day in the Rego household started off quite nicely, albeit not exactly according to plan, but what are a few diversions, misunderstandings and knockdown, drag-out battles of will between spouses on the one spouse’s supposed special day that only comes once a year, anyway?&… Read full post »

My husband often laments the fact that I just don’t “get” him.  “I am Brazilian!” he will declare, chest held out, forefinger shooting toward the ceiling in spirals.  “And that is why you do not understand me!”  “You do not understand my… Read full post »