Fullness

P 💞 L 

Weeks ago, I intended to write about our January holiday to Mexico, but life interrupted things. 

Travel makes me grateful and reflective but I need time to process all that discovery and restorative-ness. 

This trip we traveled with our daughter, her husband, his parents and our grandchildren. Imagine. 

There are stories to tell about French fries and puffer fish and a margarita stand, but mostly there was precious time to play with our favourite grandtoddlers, 3 year-old M and 1 year-old L. And although there are many impressive photos of the beach and sunsets and an excursion to a tiny island and a burrito bigger than a birthday cake, I keep returning to pictures of my daughter with her children, and this one with her young son. 

It's impossible to accurately describe the feeling of watching your children be parents to their own children: it's joy, it's pride, it's time-travel, it's nostalgia, it's laughter, it's longing, it's...peace...it's a fullness...(it's fleeting and forever) and I wish it for everyone. 

Would I steer you wrong?

I suspect I'm not the only highland steer who
feels that reading the daily news requires horns.

Nope. 😜

Happy Robbie Burns Day, dear friends. This charming artwork hangs in my son's bathroom and it makes me smile every time. 

For supper tonight I made my version of Scotch Broth, a hearty pearl barley soup with turnips, onions, and carrots. For Christmas, I gifted myself The Scottish Cookbook (by Coinneach MacLeod, the Hebridean Baker) so I'm hoping to expand my Scottish cooking beyond soup, shortbread, and scones. One more thing: although I'm not much of a drinker, I do have a favourite Scotch, Dalwhinnie. It's warm and sweet like caramel, but a bit spicy with a hint of smoke too. 

Whether you celebrate or not, Lang may yer lum reek. Slàinte mhath!

Abc?

I love the way text structures are evolving and new genres are emerging in the book world. 

Thanks to NGS, I read Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti (c) 2024, a great example of this evolution. 

In alphabetical order, each chapter features highlights from the author's journal curated into a narrative both disassembled and threaded in curious ways. With all due respect, it's a bit ADHD yet (surprisingly) each sentence, like jigsaw puzzle pieces, eventually connects elsewhere, establishing character, plot, and themes I think many women would relate to. It's also a narrative about being a writer and that's the aspect I most connected with. 

Inspired, I searched my 2024 iPhone journal and chose these entries from A to Zed. 

Is it too random, or can you infer connections?

Almost 9 and everyone's still sleeping except us. Babies have surgery. Cried through the last chapter. Dreamed I was in a drawing class with Lynn who died in 2020. Edmonton Oilers kicking ass. Funeral today and I will always regret not being there. Grandkids arrive tomorrow! Happy New Day. I have the Lego bride and groom ready! Jesus, where is my passport? Keep imagining Sisyphus happy. Love my daughter's haircut; hate her boss. Maybe don't listen to your unreliable inner narrator? Not impressed with the Connections puzzle today. Our tongues are not normal, son. Pita Pizzas, yum. Quiet, soft, floating snow. Ready for this day with you. She told me she's afraid of the 'Backson' from Winnie the Pooh. Trying to draw different types of owls and texting grandturkey pics with my childhood friend: priceless. Unscrupulous people gonna unscrup-you/us. Very uncomfortable watching these election results. World is so fucked up, but I bet if someone started playing, "you are my sunshine" on a subway, everyone would sing along. X-ray results good! You must not forget that time a random baby waved at you in the grocery store. Zone of Interest (and its compelling use of sound) gripped me and begged me not to deaden myself to the world. 

Nows

That forest-canopy feeling should be 
experienced every once in a now.

From a conversation I had today...

Her face puzzled, she asked, "don't you mean once in a while?"

Curious, I replied, "what did I say?"

"You said once in a now." 

I smiled, "that's actually better. Why wait?"

Sometimes malapropisms improve on the original. And then later today, while walking, I remembered something poet-marvel Emily Dickinson wrote: "forever is composed of nows." 

Wise words, indeed.  

So friends, what might you stop waiting for and enjoy every once in a now? 

Things that deserve the stink-eye

 

via GIPHY (the sign for idiot)

Oh, today's news. The incoming US Liar-in-Chief continues to muse about annexing Canada...hence the sign above. (Insert eye roll here.)

Historians may know that Americans tried this once before: the War of 1812. And yes, some argue this war was just a leveraging technique against Britain. Considering US history, that's understandable. But the outcome? Pretty much nothing, although the Canadians (technically referred to as British loyalists at that time), burned The White House in retaliation for US troops burning a portion of York (present-day Toronto). Oh, and there was an unintended outcome: it galvanized those British Loyalists and helped forge a Canadian identity. (Insert maple leaf here.)

Is today's news another leveraging technique? Probably...but this time more for his amusement, I guess? Something else he obviously doesn't understand or care about: since the 1800s, US & Canadian citizens have shared a border with no major conflicts, whatsoever. We've been friends for centuries, supporting each other in world conflicts. Remember 911? To me, that's more important than today's anti-democratic pissing-contest nonsense, likely to be continued for the next four years ad nauseum. Sigh. Dear US friends, hang in there. 

Also, GARDYLOO.