So this year, I’m going to be participating in Rule of Stupid’s rather suggestively named Come for Company project (RoS just can’t help himself!) where bloggers can support other bloggers who are maybe feeling left out at this time of year. He ran it last year and this year – with Rarasaur hosting – as “Company for Christmas”, but has since decided to do an expansion, an awesome idea! 🙂
Anyway, I think I signed up. Technologically, I’m not the brightest knife in the drawer. Er, sharpest bulb in the drawer … knife in the socket? Whatever. You know what I mean. The lights might be on, but there’s no knives in the drawer.
Nevertheless, drop by, take a look, decide if you would like to volunteer or maybe you would like to participate.
You know, the stuff you eat. Well, I suppose you eat it. I mean, from what I’ve heard, no one eats it. It gets shoved into the back of some cupboard, or into the corner of a freezer, and there it stays until is discovered, like an Indiana Jones artifact. You have to dig it out with a pick.
And by then, it will have acquired the density of a hockey puck.
But my questions is, if so many people hate it, why does it keep showing up on store shelves? Somebody must be buying this dreck.
And what about the people who make them?
If you stop and think about it, there’s an awful lot of fruitcake around at this time of the year, and if you can find one person who says he or she likes it, then you’re farther ahead than me, my friend.
My mother used to make fruitcakes. She would start in September so that they would age properly.
“Age” properly??? I don’t get it. They are the only thing on the face of the planet that doesn’t age.
If Armageddon were to occur tomorrow, the only thing left would be fruitcake. It would be a sea of fruitcake. You would have to elbow the fruitcake out of the way. Every fruitcake that everyone in the world has ever been hoarding would float to the surface, bobbing there like little brown pontoon boats.
Sorry. I just had to have a mini-rant.
Anyway. Once she had made them, she would store them in cake tins and every couple of days, she would take them out and paint them with rum.
Now, I’m half French. And I was raised mostly around my French relatives. And to me, and them, the whole fruitcake thing was a complete mystery. Why would you put this lurid neon fruit that you would never eat by itself for fear of contracting a dread disease, into a pan of perfectly good batter, leave it for months, douse it in rum, and then oooh and ahhh over it?
I suppose it had to be doused in rum. That was the only thing stopping it from getting up and walking out and starting its own colony.
fruit cake side view (Photo credit: Dani P.L.)
Anyhow, once it emerged from hiding, my mother would spend the rest of the holiday coaxing, cajoling and ordering people to eat it.
I mean, I know that there used to be a time when fruit had to be preserved and anything sweet, especially at Christmas, was a delicacy.
But my goodness! We aren’t eating hard tack any more, so what’s with the fruitcakes?
And those blanched nuts on top of it. Yikes! The word “blanched” says it all.
To me, a fruitcake should be made with real fruit, dried or fresh, and not that stuff that has survived a nuclear winter. And if you want to add some real nuts, that’s good, too. I’d be happy to try some fruitcake that has been made with real ingredients.
What about you? Are you a secret lover of fruitcakes? Do you feel that fruitcakes have been unfairly targeted by discriminatory forces? What is your fruitcake opinion?
Life turns on the simple things, I believe. They are the things that keep us going, that provide us with that little boost, that make life worth living.
In no particular order, here are some simple things that I really enjoy:
1. Chocolate. The darker, the better. And if it arrives as a brownie, I’m in heaven.
2. Being greeted by my dog at the door. He’s so nonjudgmental. He doesn’t care what’s going on. He’s just happy to see me.
3. A sunny, crisp, windless fall day. They are so gorgeous!
4. A good glass of red wine. I’m quite fond of the new-world wines, but Europe has some pretty good stuff, too!
6. Browsing a newspaper from front to back on a Sunday morning with a pot of coffee at hand. And not an online paper, either. I haven’t been able to do this much lately as I’ve been really busy.
7. A hug from my M. He gives the best hugs!
8. A beach on an ocean.
9. Reading a great book. The kind of book that leaves you wanting more.
10. Visiting with my best friends.
There are lots of other simple things that I enjoy – these are just a few of them.
Am I hallucinating, or is it still September? Because yesterday, I went into one of the local hardware stores and what to my wondering eyes should appear but eight rows of Christmas lights, and icicles, and pre-lit Christmas trees. Just remove from box.
Standing there in my shorts and sandals, I was sure that I was experiencing some sort of flashback.
My gag reflex is working overtime but it seems I have to start swallowing some Christmas pudding already.
I’m no marketer, but are there really that many eager Christmas light buyers in September? Or is it as I suspect – that we have to suffer this nonsense every year because it’s being shoved down our throats? And earlier and earlier?
Next thing you know, Peter Rabbit‘s bunny trail is going to be covered in tinsel. He won’t know whether to crap an egg or lay a turd.
It’s nauseating. Pass the Christmas pudding.
We haven’t even had Thanksgiving or Hallowe’en yet. Ho ho ho.
And I’m offended and appalled at the idea of Remembrance Day poppies having to compete with candy canes and tiny reindeer. It’s crass, disrespectful and downright ignorant.
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against Christmas. But commercial enterprises are trying to turn it into a year-round, debt-inducing crusade for stuff-buying.
Do I need to learn to accept the fact that Christmas has nothing whatsoever to do with spirituality, the winter solstice, family, food and fun and everything to do with masses of lucre and just shut up and stop whining?
Or should we be making our opposition – for many of us, anyway – to this charade known? Apparently, 68% of Americans don’t want to be exposed to Christmas advertising before Thanksgiving, which in their country, takes place at the end of November. I’m sure that in Canada, the numbers are similar.
Hang on a second. Let me throw up first, and then I’ll choke down some more Christmas pudding.
It’s true. Sometimes, I hate technology. When it works, it can be a lifesaver. When it doesn’t …. ARRGGHHH! It can truly make your life miserable.
My computer is old and then it caught a virus. It was on life support for a while, but then it recovered. And now it’s back on my desk, really looking like it would rather be anywhere else but there. But it won’t have to wait long – there’s a new one coming – and then it can enter a happy retirement somewhere, probably as my back-up.
So that’s my explanation for why I haven’t been reading the people I follow. My most sincere apologies! With an ailing computer and a surge in work, I haven’t been able to keep up.
But why didn’t I use my smartphone? Well, yes, I have a smartphone. But I don’t like reading from the small screen and I don’t like doing much typing from it either. And I don’t use my work computer for personal stuff. My employer keeps track of that sort of thing and I know people who use their work computers for personal stuff anyway, but the thought of my employer looking over my shoulder gives me the creeps.
In some ways, though, it was liberating to be a little disconnected. And I began to really notice the reaction of some people to the fact that my home computer was sick. They displayed a sort of panicked pity, like I had told them that I might die from a contagious, dread disease, and that they might, too.
I talked about this reaction with an acquaintance of mine who doesn’t even own a cell phone. She said that people have outright called her “strange” for not carrying around a phone and that she’s been asked how she can even get by without one. She has actually felt discriminated against because she chooses to go “tech-less.” Isn’t that her right?
I find Facebook annoying. There. I said it. I think I would rather visit a drive-through organ replacement outfit than use Facebook. And Twitter and Instagram? Not impressed. And I don’t see how people really have the time to use them, either. Multitasking? Studies show that that doesn’t really exist. We just wind up doing two or more things in a mediocre fashion.
And, yes, I know that these social media serve their purpose and have been helpful during times of crisis. I’m not saying that they shouldn’t exist.
But I have the right to not use it, and to say that I don’t use it without feeling stigmatized.
I recently read about a store that wanted to require its customers to “sign in” using Facebook and to also use it to register purchases. There was something of a backlash and the store relented. This was clearly a very aggressive attempt at marketing research, and it backfired.
But how long will this last? I like to have control over my privacy and my opinions. Wars have been fought for these rights. Are they being eroded in the most insidious way possible – because we’re slowly allowing it? Because our need for attention is outweighing the importance of our privacy and our own thoughts?
When it comes to technology, where do we draw the line? Or is it already too late?
Program for 1912 Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, front cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Two weeks ago, Calgary, home of the Stampede, the world’s biggest rodeo, was inundated by flood waters. If you saw any of the coverage on television or Youtube or if you live there, then you know what it was like. Other nearby communities were also flooded, especially High River, which was hit particularly hard. Four people died and the property damage has been astronomical.
Mayor Neheed Nenshi’s skills as a leader were tested in a big way, and he succeeded in a big way. His calm,  common sense approach to all the work that needed to be done established a calm, common sense method for dealing with the situation. As a result, there was very little crime or idiocy  and people helped each other wherever and whenever they could. All the first responders and City of Calgary employees knocked themselves out.
Today, Calgary begins its 127th Stampede. The last two weeks have been a hard slog to get ready for it. Some of it had to be scaled back because of water damage, but the show is going ahead, as usual.
Calgary has managed to pull through this disaster with grit, determination, dignity and respect.
The Canada Day Parade making its way along Westminster Avenue in Montreal West (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today is Canada Day – our national holiday. Canada is officially 146 years old.
It’s time for fun, food and fireworks.
I am a very proud, patriotic Canadian and am grateful to have been born in this country. Many, many others are not so lucky and are stuck in some awful place where they have little or no control over their lives, especially the girls and women.
Today I give thanks for the privilege of an accident of birth.
There has been loss of life and the damage to property has been monumental.
Calgary and the other communities are hanging in there, though. Calgary is still planning to go ahead with the Stampede which is due to start two weeks from now.
Makes me feel petty for having  whined about my wet basement and also reminds me to be grateful for what I have.
I’m thinking of all of you and wishing you the best.
English: View from the Finley Bridge, looking South toward City Hall and Court of Queen’s Bench. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I was/am a fan of the HBO series The Sopranos, so it was with sadness that I heard of the passing of James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano, at the age of 51. He was on holidays in Rome and apparently died of a heart attack.
I enjoyed his acting and the series. He employed a deft hand in creating a truly screwed up character; a mass of psychopathic contradictions who could kill with his bare hands one minute and tenderly kiss his daughter on the cheek the next. Tony Soprano transcended the stereotype of the typical mob boss with his fainting spells and his trips to a shrink.
Gandolfini played many other parts, however.  He had been on Broadway and most recently had been in Zero Dark Thirty. He was also preparing for a new HBO series.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 