Month: January 2026

When I was growing up as a kid in the eighties there was this one defining feature that you would see everywhere, and now that it’s gone, I get a weird sort of nostalgia for it. And it’s really rather odd, if I do say so myself. That feature? You might ask… Massive rippling burgundy curtains on every wall or surface. Going to the movies? You could expect stairs, levels, and burgundy curtains everywhere. Going ice skating indoors? We’ll do I have news for you, along with burgundy curtained walls we have blue cloud sky patterns on the ice, a magnificent cyan blue. Rippling burgundy textiles were either all the rage from the seventies with heavy carry over into the eighties, or had its hey day in the eighties. That shit was every fucking where. Inside restaurants. And I miss it. It was a bold statement! Couldn’t tell you what it was trying to say, but it was loud, bold, and omnipresent. The colour of my youth outside the home — burgundy; rippled hanging curtains, with gold tasseled ends, or draw strings. Black objects with gold or silver inlays. Black porcelain toilets. Dark stained wooden cabinets, hutches, and tables. It was a wild time. Dim orange lighting, and ash trays and heavy smokers. Not a good time if you were asthmatic.

Then we got builders beige, Millenial grey, dark slate grey homes with black trim, open concept homes, dual toned kitchen uppers from lowers, marbles and granites for counter tops, soon carpet will be back in fashion leaving hard wood & laminate floors covered up for another decade or more. The times they are a changing!

Funny the things we get nostalgic for isn’t it. Sometimes it is people, places, old brands or toys, but I think the hardest hit are the “feelings” we experienced from our youth. There’s no going home, as they say. Which house from my youth would I yearn for anyway? We moved a double digit number of times. My childhood home memory spans five, or six, possibly more places. Houses, apartments, different countries, and entirely different groups of surrounding people. If I had the chance to “go home” where would that even be?

Speaking of which, the last time I moved was 2009, this is the longest stretch of time that I have lived in one place, with the same friend group, and the same neighbours, and I think my kids benefit from having roots of their own developing here. One childhood home where all the memories are. We’ll, besides the inlaws house, farm property, and the cottage, but those also don’t move or change locations, we do. We go there. It doesn’t randomly become a new destination to find every few years.

I grew up feeling nomadic, and I’m not outgoing enough for it anymore. Making new friends over, and over, and over again isn’t in my wheel house anymore. I really don’t want to move even if we somehow come into money, via lottery or otherwise. I love my tiny house. I’ll stay put I think. Although I did get pretty good at moving, and paring my life down to fit a number of totes, boxes, bags, and bins. I love a good purge! I can spring clean like the best of them. Marie Kondo has nothing on me! You just have to remind yourself that your house will not magically expand in size just because you cleaned out some closets, cabinets, or storage rooms. The foot print remains the same, but you might enjoy some visual freedom from clutter, or have an easier time opening doors, or walking with fewer items in the way.

How did large hanging burgundy curtains become a discussion on purging, moving, and childhood nostalgia? I don’t know, but my disorganized mind took us there didn’t it? Sure did Bob.

It’s Saturday, and the last day of January. I have had the second best ever month on this blog this January. I hit 800 or more views. Wild. I don’t expect to hear the 2,000 in one month like last July, but this is a very strong start to the year. My fifteen cents in ad revenue is a testament to that! So thank you! Germany, Singapore, even the US, and the UK have put up significant numbers here already this year. I do not know what you have found, or that which you seek, but I’m happy you found this wee little blog on your travels. Thanks for stopping by, and looking in. Ciao Bella!

It’s like the previous week was on replay or something. Cold weather, check! More snow, check!, weird cough slash illness, check! Snow day to cancel school the same week as a pre planned PA Day, check! It’s like January doesn’t want to end, and wants to go on forever. Forget Groundhogs day, January PA Days are vying for the position so we can never get out of the cold ass month. I feel exhausted. What day is it anyway? January 73rd? Ugh.

What’s worse is we aren’t even into the coldest month of the year yet, we still have the deeper freeze of February to look forward to, and exist within. Grocery shopping, getting gas, climbing, taekwondo, dance, girl guides, school drop off & pick up, dog walks, all of these things exist with an outdoor component, and February is here to kick us in the teeth for it. Oh, and don’t forget the snow shoveling, and the chipping of ice that awaits us all. Thanks! I hate it.

I was able to finish the first draft of my report nearly two days earlier than expected, so I can work on a couple of different things for another client today. With the kids home, yet again, I will need to stop frequently to deal with fighting, squabbling, and requests for food & beverages. Oh joy! I was under the impression they were going to the cottage with the grand parents last night, but that didn’t materialize. The extra deep cold seems to have taken the wind out of everybody’s sails for heading north. I don’t mind. I dislike the drive when we go for only one or two nights. Road conditions aren’t ideal for road trips.

I’m going to have breakfast shortly, and then I’ll get to work. I had hoped the kids would sleep in since they complain of being tired on every other school day morning, but I had to be up before eight am anyway. Why was I blessed with children that don’t want to go to sleep, stay asleep, or sleep in during the mornings when that option is available.

What Friday type things await us today? US interference in the Albertan separatist movement. Threats from T regarding airplane certifications. More threats of annexation. Cool, cool, cool.

Oh don’t get me wrong, it is blisteringly cold outside this morning, a very tepid minus seventeen before the wind chill factor even gets considered, so don’t wax too lyrical about the sun, because balmy it isn’t. But the precious vitamin D from what little sun shine we do have is a great mood enhancer regardless of exterior temperatures. I’ll take a moment to bask in the orange glow of the sun through all of this grey dinginess. Take what I can get at this point. The saddest day of the year approaches, Blue Monday, where we’ve gone so long without sunshine, warmth, and heat, so it makes us all a little depressed.

But, the days are getting ever so slightly longer with the sun up now until almost five thirty, soon to extend beyond until almost six, and then BAM! Spring will hit, and the grass will turn green, buds will appear on trees, and the birds that haven’t died from bird flu will come back, and we will all get outdoors far more often. And the lawn care cycle begins anew. Awesome.

For now, we enjoy each individual day that has any sun shine to it, or a wide open blue sky, because with winters here being so cold, and having returned to snowy form, full of shoveling, it’s best to take your moment of joy/peace whenever you can find it. I found out my Balaklava from storage so that I can shovel without my neck, cheeks, and mouth getting cold. A god send! Thank you to whomever designed that article of clothing. That and long johns and snow pants! All must have around here.

I have work to get to so I should be about my business. I understand Australia is battling bush fires in the height of their summer. I wish them well. While I like hot more than cold, those 50°C temps are just too much! You are a more hardy folk than I. Take care out there.

Welcome to Wednesday and I’ve still got more of this report left to do! Big work jobs require lots of focus, and attention to detail. Best to go slowly and be as precise as can be.

It really smacks you in the face like a slap! POW! Right in the kisser. Makes the nostrils stick together, and freezes ice right on your eye balls. It’s unpleasant to uncovered skin. Wrap up, stay warm, and stay inside if you can manage it. Polar vortex is making itself known this year!

While we did not get the full 40 cm they were warning of, we did get about 25 cm or so depending on the winds, and snow drifts that were up over my knees in certain spots that wind catches. Took me a full 90 minutes to dig out the front walk, drive way, both cars, walk way to the shed, and the entire back patio. I’ve skipped the deck because it’s cold, blowy, and I have paid work to get to at some point today.  The kids were told to sleep in since the schools were cancelled as of last evening. We knew they were to be home, same with my wife.

I’m now tired, sweaty, and thirsty. Feel a little like overheating from the strain of moving all that damn snow – again. With more on the way over the course of the next two months easily. This is the type of winter I remember from my youth, but I wasn’t by myself shoveling then, I have three older brothers, and we’d all have to help out. Now I’d like to get my kids more involved, or… Now hear me out here, I go buy a snowblower because this shit sucks. It’ll still take a while to clear, but it should save my back, arms, and heart if I can help it!

The trouble with continuous large dumps of snow is that you run out of places to put it, so it begins to encroach on your driveway width, and the piles get so high you either have to shovel the tops flat afterward, or wheel barrow your excess over to some other spot just to get rid of it. It’s a cold, wet, nightmare. At least with a blower you can atomize it, and throw it in a whisky stream out over your lawn. Beats having to raise your shovel higher and higher each consecutive snow storm until you’re placing snow gently at shoulder height to stop it from tumbling off the pile to settle back where you grabbed it from in the first place. Think digging very dry powdery sand out of a hole on a beach. The loose stuff wants to fall back down no matter what you do.

I need to eat some breakfast, then try and work. I’m waiting for my heart beat to normalize after that digging session. I’m still hot & sweaty too. Blargh. Ugh!

Welcome to Monday, I guess!?!

Not that we are expected to get anything like what the states are about to undertake, but it’s blowing around like crazy right now. Dog walk at the farm is cancelled while the snow squalls warning is still in place. I don’t fancy getting stuck at the farm, or somewhere on the road between there, and here. Not a good look to know a storm is coming, and still manage to get caught out in it.

In other news I finished one entire section of my first large report for the year, and even got a few pages into the report proper. I’d love to say it’ll be a simple thing to finish in a day, but it could take the better part of the week. These large reports are dense, and can get complicated if you lose track of where you are on the spreadsheet. Go up or down one space and you can ruin hours worth of work by being inattentive. Detailed work requires focus. So in this instance slow & steady is fast. If you never have to back track to fix a slipped digit, or space you are ahead of the game by a mile. It’s not glamorous, but it’ll save my brain. So that’s my approach! Like it or lump it.

I ended up spending about six hours on the first, and much, much, much smaller section that requires colour coding, and italicized data portions for each, and every comment. Glad it’s done. Looks good all lined up, and set out on paper. I feel good that I utilized my weekend to complete that section. With any luck I will get another few pages done of the data driven side today, all in preparation for hitting the ground running on Monday morning.

The girls are due back from Camp later on today, so my wife will be in desperate need of some alone time to unwind, and/or tackle some work of her own. I won’t be able to remove the kids from the house, but I can try to occupy them with shoveling duty, cleaning, chores, or quietly reading alone in their rooms, or a movie fort with popcorn, snacks, and an unbothered mum!

Which reminds me, I have laundry of my own to do. I should try to get a few things going while my day is still wide open. In other news, I had eighty off people swing by the blog yesterday, which is kind of high numbers, but because the new benchmark is somewhere between two hundred, and fifteen hundred views in a single day, I no longer receive those “Hey go get ’em!” Prompts from WordPress for anything less. I remember when forty three views on a single day was my all time high, and that score stayed there for years! I still take note even if the site itself doesn’t. I appreciate you all coming to my blog, and looking around for a little while. Cheers!

Oh my! New work, nice. Brand new year with returning clientele is a terrific thing to have. I for one embrace it! Plus with my wife & kids gone to Guiding Camp all weekend I don’t feel bad about logging double digit hours on the old laptop in between dog walks, and cold/flu medication top ups. At this pace I’m not exactly grinding, more of a slow mortar and pestle — Ha! If I didn’t do it now I’d just have to be thrice as active come Monday morning and who needs that kind of pressure, and grief in their lives. This portion I’m working on isn’t as detail driven, so my cold medicated mind can follow what I’m doing without causing myself major issues down the road. And that’s working, smart & hard. Keep the ball rolling while I eventually recuperate.

Plus it’s bitterly cold outside, and I’m not much for the cold, even with long johns, and snow pants this sort of chill will take the breath right out of your lungs, and seal your nostrils shut. It’ll attach itself to your eye lids, lips, tongue, and skin, and not want to let go. Dangerously low temps this weekend is what I’m getting at.

Likely no climbing this weekend either, so I had best use my hours today, and tomorrow morning to great effect, so I can at least get this section completed before I turn my eyes towards the data driven portion on Monday morning. At least I know what I’m doing this week coming.

Oh, thank you to everybody overseas who are downloading my books in the new year. I hope you enjoy them, or parts of them anyway. Ciao Bella!

What a weird week it has been with the flu/cold/cough thing going on. I missed a couple of days being in this weird, sickly sleep state. I’m not exactly on the mend as of yet, but I don’t consistently feel as bad as I did on Tuesday, and Wednesday. That’s something positive. I’ll take it.

The weather today is to take a frightening dip. Northern Ontario could see Polar Vortex lows of up to -58 °C. Which is insane, those are proper acrylic temps right there. Gas lines freeze when it gets that cold. I don’t much care for the mid minus twenties, let alone going that much further down. Yikes!

My eldest daughter’s choir was scheduled to sing the national anthem at the Ojhl hockey game last night. I initially got the arena wrong, so we needed to drive elsewhere to go to the correct spot. We were still a full hour early for the game. We watched the first period only, our town was up 5 – 0, by the end of the first period, so we went home. They did not provide a microphone for the choir, and less than half of them showed up to perform. My daughter’s new core friend group was there, so she had a blast. A few of my friends were there with kids to support the school food drive initiative. Had a good chat. Tried to keep my distance though — illness and all that.

The family is gearing up for a bitterly cold weekend at Girl Guides Camp. Just the dog and I at home while I recuperate from this random flu/cold situation. I envision dog walks, sleeping in, movie marathons, and eating a whole bunch of pizza. I don’t need much to keep me satisfied.

Had some new work in early this morning too, so that’s pretty great too. Ciao Bella!

No longer does my head feel like it will explode with a blinding headache, and the chills/fever are subsiding, however, now we welcome a runny nose, and a chest cough into the mix. I can at least eat a bit, and walk around without immediately wanting to lie down for a couple of hours. I took a good dose of NyQuill last night, so you know that I slept. I just had weird reoccurring dreams the whole time. Which is another good sign to show that I am in fact unwell. Glory days.

Luckily it has been a very quiet work week so my illness has not impacted anyone but myself, and my immediate family. Nice.

However, it is now in fact Thursday and the weekend rapidly approaches. I do not feel confident that I can host people here for a movie night, not attend any familial gatherings outside of the house. I just tried a brunch with my wife, and we maybe should have waited for Monday. What’s done, is done.

May you all feel better than I for the remainder of this horrible Canadian winter. Ciao Bella!