The Squamidian Report – Jan. 1 / 11

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

Issue #449

 

Including:

Carol & Al

From Lorne

The Ontarion

 

Hi All,

 

Willow, the wife’s dog, had her best Christmas EVER. Mind you, her first 2 were spent chained to a tree in some lonely back yard. Her next one was in a kennel at the local dog pound where she was at least loved and protected and cared for. This one was spent with her adopted family where she is being spoiled and pampered. She was like a puppy. Her excitement bubbled over as she ran up and down the hall playing with her squeaky-toy presents. She stuck her wet nose into everyone else’s gifts as they were being opened. She feasted on turkey and collapsed into a pile of happy exhaustion. Once sound asleep and snoring, her tail would begin to wage at times as she dreamed happy dog dreams.

 

Christmas was great for the rest of us as well. Ryan and Lauren were with us over Christmas and the following days, and Warren was here for Christmas Eve. The days that followed were exhausting. The kids have moved to the city to be closer to their work and there is no need for them to be continually commuting up and down the highway. We had to have their old townhouse unit cleaned out and painted by the end of the month. Those old units are a beast to spiff up. It took days of cleaning and painting and touchup to get the place looking as good as it could look. Hours of elbow grease seem to disappear into a unit that still has its 1960’s green carpeting and crooked walls. However, his rental agreement stipulated that it had to be put back into ‘new’ condition and we have all busted our butts getting it as good as possible. I doubt any other units in the complex come even close now.

 

We got it done and they are now officially moved out and officially moved in to their new place, which is a ground level suite in a house in Coquitlam. They have actually been living in the new apartment since early December but there was still the old place to get fully moved out of and signed off from. It’s a bit hard when your best friend moves away, even if it is only and hour and a quarter drive down the highway.

 

The last days of the old year have gone out decked in brilliant sunshine that highlighted the incredible amount of snow that has pilled up in the high country. The snowline is a crisp clear division between everything white and everything green. It’s almost like a ring around a bathtub. The mountain slopes forming the sides and the valley bottoms forming the bottom of the tub. Its green up to the ring and then bright white above that. It’s a nice way to have the old year end and the new one begin. Happy New Year everyone.

 

doug

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Carol & Al

 

Doug and Greg have given us another year of reading enjoyment, how they come up with something to say week after week is beyond me.  Thanks guys for another year of the weekly, Al and I really look forward to Saturday’s reading.  Hopefully more of you will contribute in 2011.  I enjoyed reading submissions from Mom, Dad & Sus last week.

We celebrated the advent of another New Year.  I can’t help but muse on the topic of human kind’s unique attitude towards the passage of time.  No other creature seems to have the need to keep track of and somehow control the passage of time.  Mind you our cat somehow knows each morning what time Vivvy is to arrive, she is up on her stool watching for her.  But the cat doesn’t live by the clock, as humans tend to.  And many of us obsess over getting older and the fact that the years go by with escalating speed.  Every known civilization has had a calendar; most based on the moon, the more sophisticated on the sun.  Stonehenge and other ancient circles are aligned with the solstice and the high Priests of many religions were the ones who knew how to keep track of time and keep track of the important dates.

 

Most civilizations enjoy celebrating the New Year, whenever that may be for them.  The earliest records of New Year’s celebrations come from 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia – they had their big party on the first day of spring and it lasted 9 days.  Personally I think spring is a more appropriate time then winter (and at this point after Christmas most of us are partied out).  The Hindu religion also places the beginning of the new year on the first day of spring.  The Chinese, Jews & Muslim all follow a lunar calendar when calculating their different new years, which is why it is always on different days.  Did you know that Julius Caesar first set January 1st as the beginning of the year in 46BC?  He had to let the previous year run for 445 days to get the year in line with the earth’s rotation around the sun.  That was the start of the Julian calendar.  Around 6 centuries later the Christian leaders abolished January 1st as the New Year as there were pagan Roman rituals around the celebration of the new year (they probably went out and got drunk and forgot their inhibitions – like New Year’s Eve now).  In 1582, under Pope Gregory, the calendar had to be corrected again (that extra ¼ day each year that the earth takes on it’s trip around the sun had thrown off the dates again).  Leap Year was crated and the New Year was counted from January 1st again – but only in Catholic countries.  The western Protestant countries kept the first day of spring the start of the New Year until 1757.  And the reason I know all this is because my obsession with time also makes me a history nut, but only for the obscure bits like this.

 

Many of the rituals around the New Year involved starting with a clean slate.  It isn’t a bad idea to clean both your house and your relationships.  To forgive those who have wronged you in the previous year and to ask forgiveness is one of the better “pagan” rituals that we could learn from.  Our New Year’s resolutions are alone that same theme, but I think those are easier to stick by with the start of spring.  Anyway, however you celebrate the coming of 2011, may it be a fine one for each of you.  Here is a toast to good health, joyful relationships, prosperity and happiness.  Happy New Year!

 

Carol

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From Lorne

 

I don't know if this is the last Squamidian for 2010 or the 1st for 2011. In any case, happy new year all.

 

No news is good news and as I haven't any, that is good.

 

Lorne

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THE ONTARION REPORT

TO START THE NEW YEAR

2011

Hello everyone!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

 

Well, it’s 2:30am on January 1, 2011 and I’m still wide- awake and luckily so! Otherwise I wouldn’t be witty enough to fill the next couple of pages with interesting enough stuff to keep your attention for the next hour or so! Hey, I’ll be happy if you guys hang in for a few minutes! LOL! We’re enjoying a very mild January 1st and it’s supposed to be like this for another day or so. Friday, New Year’s Eve was mild and a tad rainy but none the less enjoyable. The temp during the past two days has done a number on our snow and most of it has disappeared. I’m sure we’ll get lots more of the white stuff before winter is over. I sure hope so because I don’t want to listen to the politicians whine about being short of water this coming summer and once again impose a ban on everything but taking a drink once a day! If we don’t get substantial snowfall over the winter months then the spring thaw does not produce enough water from melted snow to replenish the water table that supplies our household, industrial, commercial and agricultural needs for the rest of the year. What the heck, if 1/10th of BC’s rain reaches Ontario we’ll have plenty of H2o this year!

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 I’ve never been one to make New Year’s resolutions and this year is no exception. I’d probably just forget what it was by mid January anyway! LOL! Do any of you make resolutions and if so, do you keep them?

Our celebration this year was one of peace and quiet. We stayed home and Adam was here as well. We rented a couple of movies and only stopped the blue ray player for five minutes to watch the count down on Global TV. We usually have for years watched the celebration in Times Square with Dick Clark but this year we decided to stick to the Canadian event. It was held in Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto in front of the City Hall. As we tuned in there were four “celebrities?” hosting the event and they were encouraging the crowd to applaud and cheer different people and events of the past year. The request to let out a cheer in support of our troops stationed in Afghanistan drew the most enthusiastic response and fittingly so! Then came the “countdown”! The only personality that I recognized was Gord Martineau from City TV and he led the count from 10 down to “Happy New Year!” Then there was the icing on the New Years Cake in the form of some black chick singing Auld Lang Syne and someone forgot to teach her the words to this very difficult song! She belted it out in typical “Motown” fashion while repeating the same three lines over and over………….. and over, until finally giving her all for a butchered last note! The whole event was very unprofessional and made Canada look piss poor to anyone watching on TV! On the other hand, maybe those watching were so tipsy they didn’t even notice the amateur act! Oh well, maybe all the real singers were busy attending paid indoor events so the city of Toronto just had to make do by having the mayor’s secretary sing! Hopefully Global will get enough complaints and bad press out of this New Years side-show that they’ll do a better job next year.

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That’s it for this week folks!

Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now… Greg.

 

PS: Something To Think About>

Do your best to keep a smile on your face during the next 12 months. You know that smiles are contagious so spread them everywhere you go!

PPS: Carole, Adam and I wish you all a Very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2011!

 

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Have a good one..

the doug

http://www.thedougsite.net

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The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.