New Year.

So at the beginning of 2014 I can think back and realize that I've never made a New Year's resolution. To tell the truth, I've only ever seen New Years as a great holiday, not anything important, just another day.

This year, though, I find I'm really hepped up about this new year and I'm hoping for great things. I just feel things are going to be great this year.

I think that I won't make a resolution exactly. I'm thinking of how I would raise a kid if I had one. Well, one thing, instead of watching tv or playing video games, I would have my child study languages but in a way which is fun for the kid, not a challenge.

In Canada, whenever a student studies, it's common for said student to say at the end, 'my brain hurts'. I think it's a shame that Canadian pupils have this attitude towards learning. That they have to cram and eat tuna sandwiches or swallow vitamin e tablets.

I would want to teach my kid that any learning is part of life and doesn't have to have a stigma of 'smart or stupid' attached to it. That it's enjoyable to learn.

I only mention this because I've decided that that's the way I will change my own life. I will buckle down and study languages like I've wanted to do ever since I was a child.

So I'm going to change my life, not as a resolution but as a lifestyle improvement.
Happy New Year to you all.

Turkey Dinner

Well, we had a great Christmas. I got some good presents, in fact, I will not have to take anything back, not that I ever have. I checked on some family on Facebook but did not phone.

This year, I bought a small turkey. A very small turkey. It cooked in four hours, about one hour less than we thought. I was asleep when David woke me up to tell me the turkey was done.

He made gravy and we had a good supper. The dressing was good, too. Now that it's over, I guess I have all the sales to look forward to now. As I got some money I will have some to spend.

Christmas meals for me have changed a lot since I was a child. Mom used to do all sorts of baking beforehand and we had tarts and shortbread and all sorts of things I just can't remember. She made a big turkey for seven people as my grandmother and grandfather would be with us, too.

It's not such a big deal now, with just me and David but still enjoyable, even if I can't bake very well. How do you make just enough tarts for two? Not impossible but a big bit of trouble.

Pumpkin pie was on our menu,, too, and even though I thought of making my own, I bought one instead. So now we are just going to relax for the rest of the evening and take up where we left off on Friday.

For my American and other readers, we wait for December 27th because the 26th is Boxing Day here.

Hope you had a safe and merry Christmas.

Christmas Shopping

So I did my shopping early and had it all done, forgot to send out my cards, though, so I'm mailing them tomorrow. Back to shopping. I said I HAD it all done. I've undone it because I went to the Dollar Store and bought a lot of little chocolate and gingerbread snacks that were all wrapped up Christmassy-like.

Well, don't buy treaties early. I couldn't sleep one night and opened them all up and ate them. And I'm trying to lose weight. As an aside, I've just lost 1.5 pounds since last weight-in.

Now I have to buy all those treaties again and not eat them until December 25th. Still, I'm doing better than some people. My brother doesn't shop until December 24th. He spends a lot of fore-time deciding what to get and then just races around getting it all. I have  no idea who wraps at his house.

My last Christmas shopping idea is that I've stopped sending things through the mail. My brother doesn't bother with snail mail, the same for my sister's grandson and family. I've even begun wondering whether I should stop sending cards.

All the younger people send e-mails and digital cards and so many of my older friends are dying. My step-mom just died on October 4th and earlier years have seen other cousins and aunts passing. I have a smaller list and often the news included is someone has cancer. It's so sad. But I do like to keep in touch so I guess I'll exchange cards with the few that's left.

Good shopping and Merry Christmas.

Thoughts On December

So it's December, the magical month. Unfortunately, some people feel sad at this time. Maybe they've not got any family to speak of or maybe someone in their family died around Christmas time.

I know someone like that and have decided to stop trying to get him to enjoy the Christmas spirit. Of course, I didn't know until this year that both his parent died at Christmas time. He'll only have to deal with one present from me this year.

One of the good things about living downtown is that, if you are alone, there are restaurants open on Christmas day to serve you turkey. These establishments are run by Muslims, who, of course, don't celebrate Christmas. They've found a good niche for themselves on that day as a lot of disenfranchised and lonely people come to their restaurants and stores to eat.

It's nice to go out on Christmas day and see large numbers of people enjoying themselves with other people. So if you want to hear a dis against Muslim, you won't get it here. I find they fit in well and are mostly peaceful.

By the way, while I'm on the subject, it's the Fundamentalists who are violent and crazy and that includes Christian fundamentalists who shoot abortionists and others who would be best dealt with through legal means. I mean, the way to deal with someone you curse as a murderer is to murder him? Nuts.

And we have lots of snow so I'm having fun walking around and I have some extra money this year so I'm buying things for myself. Not what I need, but what I want. Like cool shoes and a pendant. So far December has been good. I only hope the next 29 days are just as good.

Wuthering Hearts

The book that really got me to thinking about being an author was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I loved the poetry of the words and the plot, the tight timeline and characters.

I know what some of you are thinking. Characters? Aren't Heathcliffe and Catherine and the rest merely caricatures? Isn't the plot unrealistic? What about the legality of what Heathcliffe does to Hareton? It couldn't really happen, right?

Well, I  hear you, I hear you. I've been told these things to my face and had to face disgusted expressions on some people's faces when I tell them I've read the book over thirty times.

But I have come up with what I think is the real reason for the book. I know that when you take this novel in school, you read the notes that tell you that the book is about the nature of love. Hah!

I heartily disagree with this and think the book was written as a warning.

I think Emily Bronte, as a pastor's daughter, more than likely heard all sorts of domestic problems, like wife-beating and such. Stories about weak husbands and strong-minded women she probably heard before breakfast.

I think she looked at all these problems and came up with the reasons for them. Wuthering Heights, in my opinion, is a warning. She's educating people. Why do women marry abusive men? Emily Bronte thinks women are looking for 'heroes of romance' and suggest if they were more realistic about me they could avoid that fate.

Am I right? Well, I think so.

She also warns that nothing can divide a person from their happiness, it's you and you alone who make decisions to leave happiness. This is what Heathcliffe says to Catherine when she's dying. That she decided to leave, not Hell or anything else.

And how is the happiness resolved, when two parties are bending to please and be pleased, like when Hareton and Cathy go from enemies to friends. They have the same goals. Catherine and Heathcliffe were selfish and only looking after themselves.

Why does any of this matter? Well, I think it's still good to learn and realize these things today. There are still women who marry abusers, thinking they will changes and become princes. And there are still selfish people who destroy their own happiness.

So, when next you read Wuthering Heights, at least consider what I say and see if you can learn and take to heart any of the warnings and lessons in it.

Snow Days

It snowed for one day this month but didn't stay on the ground. So we haven't really had snow this year yet. I like that but sometimes, I have to admit, I actually do like snow.

I know that as an adult, I'm supposed to hate snow but I don't drive so I'm not privy to all the trouble it causes on the road. I still like to watch it come down and I like the quiet it brings.

It's always described as a blanket and I think that's a great way to put it. As long as you have a good pair of boots, snow shouldn't affect you that much.

But ice is a different thing altogether. As I'm getting older, I find I've become afraid of ice. I once fractured my thigh bone by falling on ice, that was ten years ago. I'm even older now and getting to the point where I stay in on real icy days because of the danger.

But for the most part, this season is okay with me. It's Christmas and New Years and my birthday so I get a lot of holidays at this time. Okay, technically, my birthday is not a holiday, but it feels like one to me.

Anyway, except for the falling down bit, this season is good. For a while a few years back, I began to dislike this season but I've changed again and don't mind it now. I can hardly wait to be out in falling snow.

Maybe it's a second childhood.

Which Package Is Whole?

The whole package.

How many times have you heard that said about a woman. It means she has 1. A beautiful face 2. A gorgeous figure 3. Brains.

But wait. Is that all there is to a woman, just those three things? What about a heart? What about patience? Or bravery? And the thing is, these are what women say about women.

Men don't really care about face. All sorts of plain women have husbands who treasure them. Men don't care if their girlfriends or wives are chubby. Nope. It's all coming from women. And of course, men don't care if they're smarter than their women.

So why are women limiting each other to those three things? Maybe it's what they want for themselves that they think can make them successful. Like a supermodel or something.

Just to prove a point. Think of applying the term, the whole package, to a man. What traits would a male whole package have. I bet that he has a lot more leeway than three traits, two of them, luck of the draw, so to speak.

But is this an insult? Probably not. It does prove, I think, that women limit themselves and tragically, limit each other. I had an inkling of that when I was in painting and any girl with a lot of talent but no 'female' instincts, like going out for lunch after an hour of painting, was not supported by the women in the school.

Women are afraid to step out of their safety zone, I think. They want to be assured that they will still be worth loving if they do something like mechanics. That's why, whenever I've found women in men's professions, like welding, it's because their boyfriend decided to teach them and bring them into the business.

All the women's lib screeching about wages and such doesn't make any impression on women who are more worried about being lovable. I'm just writing about this because I think women have some thinking to do. Instead of just doing what men do in a feminine way, maybe they should think about what makes a woman happy.

I'm not saying that a women can't work, just that most women are happy when they're taking care of somebody and they should make sure of their happiness before they go out and try to be successful.

Maybe then they'd have a more reasonable idea of what kind of traits a woman needs, not just what they think will make them able to compete with a man in a different way. The face to attract them. The body to make them helpless and the brains to outsmart them.

Not reasonable at all. It's time to decide who we are and what really make us happy.