Lise's Ramblings

You cross your fingers and pray as you hit or . That beast of a machine failed you in the past. You can’t afford to have it misbehave now. You’re rushing to meet a deadline, share meeting agendas, deliver presentation handouts... Come on, come on, come on. Print. Copy. Just don’t jam. Don’t display cryptic error messages. Then those slightly warm sheets of paper slide on out and it is all you can do not to whoop a little. AWESOME!

Everyone loves to win a little something. Here in Canada, the Tim Horton’s coffee franchise understands that motivation well. The company’s annual “Rrroll up the rim to win” contest only strengthens existing customer loyalty, and even infrequent customers are lured in too. Every February–March, Timmy fans turn out in droves for the annual “Rrroll up the rim to win” contest. In the past, I worked with colleagues who would pop in two to three times per day to gamble with that giant yellow arrow. I watched them gnaw at the cup’s lip and break nails only to uncover a “Please try again” message. On a java-induced high, we Canadians are convinced we’re only one coffee away from winning a car or a giant TV. From time to time, the efforts pay off and we win a doughnut or a free coffee. To foster our hopes, every location includes in-store posters tallying how many winners there have been at that particular Tim’s. As those numbers climb, it only heightens the “Rrroll up the rim to win” ...

We gain labels based on where we live. Usually the town, city, province, state or country name gains a suffix such as -ian, -ese, -er, -i, -n, -ish or –ite. To keep things interesting, there are some odd exceptions. For example, residents of Cyprus are called Cypriots . Doesn’t that sound like something a flash mob might incite? Why do we refer to people from the Netherlands or Holland as the Dutch ? How about residents of Smithers, British Columbia…they are called Smithereens (As in blown to bits?) Then there are Michiganders . Sounds like geese to me, but they form the masses of Michigan. Here are others that don’t quite fit the mould: Mascoutan (Saint-Hyacinthe, QC) – Huh? Haligonian (Halifax, NS) Monégasque (Monaco) Novocastrian (Newcastle) Filipino (Philippines) – What’s with substituting an F for the Ph and where did the double PPs go? Glaswegian (Glasgow) Finn (Finland) – No suffix required. Why not just lop off part of the name? One of my favourites name...

Ever been stumped for what to make for dinner? May I recommend one of my favourites? The indoor picnic. I love it when we scour the fridge and the pantry, only to haul out just about anything that looks readily munchable. Olives and gherkins, crackers and fresh bread, hummus and tapenade, an assortment of cheese, raw veggies, fresh berries, clementines , and maybe even a small bowl of corn chips. (Who are we kidding? This is a picnic. Forget the bowl and just toss the chip bag on the counter. There may not be a picnic table or a checkered blanket on the ground, but that hodgepodge of food beckons from the kitchen island. We circle the island with paper towels in hand, perch on bar stools and enjoy the smorgasbord. Then we chat and reach for more. Indoor picnics are informal, insect-free and delicious. To make the experience even better, tidying up involves some crumbs and compost, but there are no pots to scrub. AWESOME!

Babies are like little cherubs. Neck rolls, pudgy wrists and feet, jowls, muffin tops over diapers, and those dimply, trunk-like thighs. We scorn those same chubby parts of our bodies, but on babies they are so endearing and kissable (see evidence in photos below, courtesy of Mademoiselle Makayla). AWESOME!

Stickers, candies, plastic jewelry, lip balm, noise makers, toys... Dollar store items are never as much fun as when they are shared in loot bags. As a child, receiving an invitation to a birthday party was great. After the games, the cake and the ice cream, then scoring loot to take home simply made it      AWESOME! Now, as an adult, having friends and family who dish out grown-up versions of loot bags for special occasions or as thank-you tokens are twice as      AWESOME!

Don't French fries taste much better when they are served up in a paper bag? The Brits call them chips. I call them yummy! What is your fave place to go when you have a hankering to reach into a paper bag and spear deep-fried spuds with an eensy plastic fork? Back in the 1990s, Frenchies in Gloucester was my fave fry haunt. Then we moved out to the country and Patati-Patata in Plantagenet topped my list. Today, Taters in Charlottetown is the bomb. Now if only Taters would stay open all year long, well that would be truly AWESOME!

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. I'm standing here outside your door..." Did someone say roadtrip? AWESOME!

No matter how green the thumb, we’ve all neglected a houseplant or two. Maybe you’ve even accidentally caused the demise of a plant through overwatering or excessive pruning. Ohhh, the guilt. Do you give up and toss the wilted, shriveled and discoloured mass of leaves that used to be a plant? Are those seemingly lifeless, bare stalks in the pot destined for the compost pile? Or do you attempt to nurse the little guy back to life? As futile as your efforts may seem, every now and then, you’ll be rewarded. That plant you had written off as a hopeless case will suddenly sprout a new leaf or bud, perk right up and display signs of life. Bringing a plant back from the brink of death… AWESOME! Meet my phoenix flower...

Sometimes a walk in the woods can whisk you off to the past. Haunting calls and gnarled trees are a good start. You can be forgiven for thinking a mythical or Tolkienesque creature may appear around the next bend in the path. Add some hairy lichen and your experience becomes positively prehistoric. How can you tell lichen comes from a different time? Besides being so odd looking, lichen grows on just about anything and it can adapt to extreme environments (Arctic tundra, lush rainforests and barren deserts). According to Nature magazine, scientists discovered fossilized lichens dating back some 400 million years. Now that's ancient! And yet, lichen can greet us as we can step into the woods today. Awesome! I certainly felt like I had tripped upon a primitive world when I spotted this lichen while hiking Partridge Island , Nova Scotia.

Not in a “Will this day ever end?” kind of way. Even though the longest, darkest day of the year happened months ago, it is only in the last week or two that I noticed it’s no longer pitch black outside when I leave the house in the morning. The same is true when I head home from the office at night. It rocks to score extra daylight hours , but at this time of year, I’ll even settle for extra minutes of natural light. It’s a far cry from summer solstice , yet as someone who isn’t really a fan of winter sports or watching sports on TV (No, I don’t know who won yesterday’s Super Bowl.), I have been counting down to spring since before Christmas. Winter storms may still hammer us for a little while, but we can face them now that the days are getting longer and the daylight reflects off the snow to recharge our internal batteries. AWESOME!

That’s your body’s innate ability to know when it is time to get up. Let’s face it, alarm clocks are horrid things. They startle you first thing in the morning. As Sharon Gold wrote, “If the ring is loud and strident, you're waking up to instant stress. You shouldn't be bullied out of bed, just reminded that it's time to start your day.” If you are like me, you usually wake up just moments before the alarm clock is set to ring. When your internal clock and your sleep-wake patterns are in synch, you can experience the satisfaction of turning off the alarm clock before the startling racket. As long as you aren’t waking hours before you intended to wake, then your circadian rhythm has set you up for a day full of positive things. AWESOME!

We may complain about the wind chill factor or hurricane force gales, but we forget that sometimes the wind makes life easier for us. In summer, a gusty wind can prevent biting insects from landing or feasting on anything, including you. On a humid day, wind can provide you with a longed-for and refreshing breeze. On colder days, wind can blow snow off our walkways and driveway to create drifts elsewhere. And if the wind picks up only after the snow falls and you’ve parked your car at just the right angle, then that wind may even sweep the snow off of your car for you. When the wind works in your favour and spares you hauling out a shovel, snowblower or snowbrush, well that’s AWESOME!

I don’t mean shaving less frequently during winter. No, I’m referring to the way animals naturally grow thicker coats to adapt to colder temperatures. Right now, our Island foxes look particularly bushy with their shiny coats. Even pets can grow thicker fur for winter protection. How cool is that natural coping mechanism? It’s evolution, but in fast-forward mode to keep up with the seasons. AWESOME! These have to be among the hairiest cows I've ever seen.

Has anyone ever advised you to “sleep on it” when you have an overactive or troubled brain? You head to bed, but pesky issues from your work or dilemmas in your personal life can get in the way of a solid night’s sleep. Fortunately, the human body desperately requires sleep’s restorative powers to get through daily life, so even insomniacs will eventually drift off into slumber. Yes, sleep is touted as essential to re-booting our bodies physically, but I never cease to be amazed by how often all those zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs serve to sort out mental clutter. As novelist William Golding once wrote, “Sleep is when all the unsorted stuff comes flying out as from a dustbin upset in a high wind.” You head to bed struggling with a problem and you wake up in the morning, or maybe even at some point during the night, with a solution. I often keep a notepad on my bedside table for jotting down these nocturnal revelations before they slip away from my sieve-like brain. Your mind couldn’t ...