I need, I want, I get: The Christmas Conjugation
Ok. This should have come out a few days back, but you know, there was Christmas, moving into our new place, and curling games to go see!
But today, today my friends, the temperature is -25'C, which CBC reliably informs me "feels like -39'C". The Weather Network is more optimistic: only -36'C. YIPPEE!!
Ummmm... WTF?!?!
This is perfect "Donut Poking" weather if ever there was. I'm staying in and getting this done!
Don't call me a wimp. The East is under an Arctic outflow; in Ottawa it was so cold yesterday (which was "warmer" than today") that they closed the outdoor Canada 150 rink! If it's too cold out there for real Canadians to skate and PLAY HOCKEY, I feel vindicated in my decision!
After all the excess of Christmas, I have been pondering what I want, versus what I actually need. We did well this year.
One of the best things we got was an unexpected box from Lynda's parents and her sister's family - full of handmade cards and love. Sure the Lindt balls were great. But they didn't induce crying. Well, maybe the dark chocolate coconut ones...
Apparently what I need if I want to go outside anytime in the next 8 weeks is a full body suit made of the thickest puffy jacket material that will cover me head to toe.
What I HAVE are 7 largely useless jackets:
The "West Coast winter puffy" is now rated "indoor use only". The thick one is great but leaves my expanding derrière exposed, and the rest are most definitely not seeing the light of day until April at the earliest! What I'll GET is probably chilblains / frostbite from being too cheap to buy said long warm duvet jacket, as I would never wear it again in BC !
We spent Christmas Eve and Day at the house of one of Lynda's oldest friends. I mean she's not OLD, she's younger than me!! Oh you know what I mean! Anyway, I wanted to repair Lynda's long coat (one of us might as well be warm) as the zipper was coming unstuck at the bottom. All it needed was a few stitches.
Christina has everything. No really, like EVERYTHING. We actually changed our questions after a few hours of being at her house from "do you have a... ?" to "where is the ...?", so confident were we that it would miraculously appear from a cupboard! When the Apocalypse comes, I'm heading to her place!
Anyway, I asked where the needle and thread and a thimble (sewing in a zipper is a little hard!) may reside? The needle and thread were easy. A thimble? The efforts involved in trying to find said thimble far outweighed its essentialness. (I used the end of the cotton bobbin! ) But SPOILER ALERT! Guess what Christina's getting for her birthday in February?!
So I guess what I am saying is at Christmas you get a bunch of stuff you think you need, only to realize you really just wanted it, as most likely if you live in the white western world, you need NOTHING (except me, I NEED THAT JACKET!), only to discover the things you THOUGHT you actually just wanted were just a cover for the people contact you got from getting it.
Not the THING, the CONTACT.
Ahhh the real message of Xmas. I'm an old dog learning new tricks.
On Boxing Day we upheld our West Coast Christmas tradition by going to see the newest Star Wars- THE LAST JEDI. [queue soundtrack that transports me back to 1977. Yes, I am THAT old!]
doo do do do da dooo doo do da dooo do do, do da do doooooo
(SPOILER ALERTS)
Now I want a light sabre again! DOH! Do I need one?! Maybe I could use it to cut through the ice on the steps out back!? No, I would likely lop off my own appendage in the effort, and be hopping around like the Knight in Monty Python yelling, "it's just a flesh wound!"
Star Wars was, for me anyway, about "hope springs eternal", even in the face of Snoke and the the First Order. Man is he UGLY, and even more lopsided in 3D!
Secondly, Star Wars says that evil can, and will, turn on itself in the name of power. Power corrupts and all that.. Just like Putin and Trump. Now that I say that, Snoke did look a little like Putin and Trump's love child! 21st century humanity will have to wait for a modern Kylo to come slay them both. There is hope in Kylo... I can feel it... he didn't blow his own mother up!
Finally, there was the idea that everything you really need is already within you. (EXCEPT THICK DOWN JACKETS... THEY ARE AT MEC OR ICEBREAKER!) Sure, a new shiny light sabre might be handy, but you can always steal some rich dude's ship... Oh wait, I may have gone offtrack there...
Anyway, call it the Force if you wish. It’s a simple idea. Mother Earth, whatever, will provide. Not warm jackets or thimbles, but probably most of what you need.
Very eco friendly.
No batteries required.
May the Force be with you. I'm off to find a hot water bottle and a blanket and practice my french. Classes start in 3 weeks! #conjugatethat
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