FEBRUARY 14, 2009 11:06AM

Valentine's Day for Dark Souls (reminder)

Darkside Dating - devilish hook-ups

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=107046  Read full post »

And you thought you were kidding, Larry, with your post yesterday.  THIS JUST IN
 
"Treats and mischief: a Hellenic Halloween"

"... a raucous three-week stretch in February ... known as Apokries ... marks the run-up to the Orthodox Church's Great Lent from Feb. 7 to March 1.

Read full post »
FEBRUARY 13, 2009 1:40PM

Oh my God, Kalvin is a Kanadian!

I guess we're not all nicey-nice after all!

FEBRUARY 13, 2009 11:47AM

Boring (solvent) Canadian banks

Fahreed Zakaria, he of the teeth and intense gaze, writes in Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/183670) about our Canadian banks, which, nyah-hah, are in good shape, thank you very much.

During trips to the U.S., dealing with American banks was something I always hated.  Once my late husb… Read full post »

For anyone interested in modern Paganism, I really recommend Gus diZerega's blog on BeliefNet (http://blog.beliefnet.com/apagansblog/)

Yesterday he said, "Why should I, a committed believer in the Gods and the Sacred, support a guy who has been used by atheists to debunk the existence of a sacred re/… Read full post »
FEBRUARY 13, 2009 9:01AM

Obama's Canadian Relatives - who knew?

Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is married to Konrad Ng, whose mother  Joan, owns an art gallery in Burlington Ontario.

 But I guess Obama won't be visiting her in the course of his five-hour visit next week to the Ottawa (capitol) airport.  Nor even his other brother-in-lawRead full post »

FEBRUARY 13, 2009 3:31AM

Don't you people ever sleep?

It's 3.30 in the morning my time.  One of those nights and the pill hasn't kicked in yet.  It's easier to look at the computer screen, which is self-illuminating, than read a book.  You gotta HOLD the book, besides.  So checking in to see what's happening.  Lots.  People… Read full post »

FEBRUARY 12, 2009 2:29PM

The quickening of the year

100_0398  

I phoned someone to invite her to the Imbolc sabbat we held last weekend and started explaining what we were celebrating. I paused, searching for a good turn of phrase, and she said, “The quickening of the year.”

Exactly. And once again I was amazed at… Read full post »

FEBRUARY 12, 2009 1:29PM

The quickening of the year

 

100_0398

I phoned someone to invite her to the Imbolc sabbat we held last weekend and started explaining what we were celebrating. I paused, searching for a good turn of phrase, and she said, “The quickening of the year.”

Exactly. And once again I was amazed at how… Read full post »

FEBRUARY 12, 2009 1:09PM

The quickening of the year

 

100_0398

I phoned someone to invite her to the Imbolc sabbat we held last weekend and started explaining what we were celebrating. I paused, searching for a good turn of phrase, and she said, “The quickening of the year.”

Exactly. And once again I was amazed at how… Read full post »

"Sometimes it's fun when things go bump in the night!"

This landed in my in-box, just in time for Valentine's Day - a blurb for a Satanist dating site.  I must be on somebody's list somewhere because I'm Wiccan.

Okay, required disclaimer:-  By us Wiccans, Satanism is a Christian idea that… Read full post »

FEBRUARY 10, 2009 10:07PM

Nothin' ain't somethin'

You remember that atheist campaign by way of signs on buses?  I tuned into CBC (Canadian public radio) this afternoon just in time to hear a couple of letters about this being read - or, rather, about an ensuing discussion about the claim some people make that atheism is a kind… Read full post »

"...The BBC also looked into the porn racket in Britain and discovered that the peak point for online porn-on-demand is 11 a.m. on Sunday. Also that the demand comes equally from men and women."

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090209.wdoyle0210/BNStory/Entertainment/column… Read full post »

This is from a story in the Globe & Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090206.wlcolour06/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/?cid=al_gam_nletter_newsUp

It's about what color to put on your computer screen, depending on what kind of work you're up to.

 But I'm wondering how… Read full post »

FEBRUARY 9, 2009 12:53PM

Lamb with lavender

A friend tried this for a dinner party last week.  We went out and found food-grade lavender essential oil ("USE ONE DROP ONLY!") at a health-food store and dried lavender flowers at a specialty herb-and-spice shop (a place that smelled wonderful, even halfway down the block on a cold winter's d… Read full post »

This Canadian loves Turkey, tho.  I was there in the fall.  Wonderful country - boy, have THEY invested in infrastructure.  Very modern in many ways...but they have marvelous old Greek and Roman ruins.

When you arrive at the Istanbul airport, you have to buy a visa.  There's a big… Read full post »

FEBRUARY 7, 2009 11:03PM

Divorce fair (not a Polish joke)

 "It is hardly standard fare at most sales expositions, but here at Warsaw's first divorce fair there are not one but two DNA testing companies hawking their services. They are joined by a selection of lawyers, counsellors and private investigators."

Apparently divorce fairs are a happenin' thin… Read full post »

Editor’s Pick
FEBRUARY 7, 2009 10:17PM

Canadian woman, 60, gives birth

After in vitro, of course.

She's East Indian.  Got the in vitro done in India.  Where she's not the oldest - a woman there gave birth at age 70.  

Our Canadian East Indian elderly mother had twin boys.  Of course they would have to be boys - would she have… Read full post »

Editor’s Pick
FEBRUARY 6, 2009 9:36PM

Are Wiccans infiltrating churches?

 

A Pagan blogger, Gus diZerega, wrote a post on Beliefnet yesterday with this title, after reading an alarmist article on this subject by Catherine Edwards on an United Methodist site (http://confessingumc.org/confessional_statement/resources/items_of_general_interest/wicca_infiltrates_the_churRead full post »

FEBRUARY 6, 2009 3:39PM

47% of Americans have smoked pot

According to an October 2002 Time/CNN poll, 47% of Americans have smoked marijuana. And users and advocates of the plant reportedly* have included the following, several of whom are admired by Kellogg's customers: (Kellogg being the sponsor dropping Phelps)

Louisa May Alcott
Jennifer Aniston
Bing
Read full post »

Just the sort of thing someone of my advanced age needs to read when contemplating learning how to operate my VCR.  

Okay, I used to be able to do it.  And probably still could.  It's just that there's an extra step now that I have satellite.  I actually installed a… Read full post »

Sedentary workers at risk for sleep apnea

If your job chains you to a desk for much of the day, it could be increasing your chances of developing a serious sleep disorder, according to a landmark study by Toronto researchers.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinions/columnists/

Applies to peopleRead full post »

Here's Obama on CNN (from the campaign) saying his father was born Muslim, became an atheist, grandparents who were lukewarm Baptists and (some other Protestants), and a mother who was a skeptic....but, damn, believes Jesus Christ is his savior, and thinks religious organizations are a good venue for… Read full post »

The visit will take place at the Ottawa airport.

No convoy from airport into the capital city.  No reviewing troops, or calling on the Governor General (our first Black one) and no addressing the House of Commons.

Actually the House won't be in session.  But a report in the National Post… Read full post »

FEBRUARY 4, 2009 6:54PM

Skunk in the house (for Lisa Kern)

I don't know why I woke up.  There wasn't any sound.  And when I sat up and looked out the bedroom door, it was the instant before the little black and white creature trotted by.

 I just sat there, frozen.

 Then the creature trotted back the way he'd come.

I knew,… Read full post »