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Playing in Mud
I was engrossed in hanging out the laundry when the bus arrived home. After a couple of minutes, my daughter joined me on the back deck. “Mummy, why aren’t we allowed to play in the mud at school?” I looked over at her: she was wearing navy pants and a brown hoodie with nothing underneath…
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Gender Inclusive Language
This falls into the “tidbits from my notebook” category: “Our most important stories are silent, woven into the fabric of our language. (This is not a novel idea. There are no novel ideas, but paradoxically, each particular combination is unique.) “Everybody knows that ‘he’ includes women,” is only even available as a thought because somebody…
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Electoral Reform – Why?
(Quick primer appears at the bottom for my American friends who want to follow along. Might title that one: The Vote is Stacked Against Electoral Reform) So. It happened. Again. “Split the left.” “Need to unite the left.” “First past the post gives us a majority with a minority of voters.” This is not new.…
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Faster Food
Feeling contrary and sick, I don’t want to talk about the election or Osama bin Laden today, so I’m going to talk about food instead. Here is my strategy for using convenience foods that don’t have extra ingredients to put dinner on the table in under half an hour. These are not gourmet meals, but…
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Beltane Festivities
It rained. I was sick. I stayed in bed until after lunch, and my partner eventually found me sitting at the desk listlessly clicking through twitter-generated tabs. “Are you coming to plant the May pole in the compost heap? New pile of poo!” (Oh, you know how to talk dirty to a semi-pagan nascent farm…
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PostADay is 1/3 done
They tell me over at PostADay that we are 1/3 of the way there. Well, I’m 1/3 minus 2, or something. I think that there were a couple of days there with bonus posts, so it will all even out in the end. Also, if you’ve been with me for the long haul, you’ve probably…
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Ice Cream Dreaming
Today’s Daily Prompt was: “Describe the unhealthiest meal you’ve ever eaten. How did you feel afterwards?” I probably can’t dredge up the True Answer to this question, being the one that could be verified by friends and family. It probably includes nachos, though. I will, nonetheless, tell you about my favourite unhealthy meal, because it…
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In The Garden
This week in the garden: 1. Coltsfoot. This is also called son-before-the-father, because the flowers come out before the leaves. It is considered a weed by the powers-that-be, but is considered a food by the honeybees, and comes out about 2 weeks before the dandelions. It is therefore welcome, and one of the early signs…
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What the Internet is Really For
Everybody keeps telling me that it’s all about the cats. [slideshow] Feel free to generate LOL captions.
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A Grand Scheme
After ten straight hours of bingeing on chocolate eggs, what eventually hatched was a scheme. Lacking a phaeton-and-four, it was a simple plan. (The author has just finished a Jane Austen book, and is thinking of seasides, horse-drawn carriages, and misadventures that result in stays of se’ennight, ending in marriage.) It began as a casual…
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Weekly Photo Challenge: One
For the Weekly Photo Challenge