green

To tell you the truth, ousooner, I really do see where you are coming from. Your nation and my nation have had very different histories. Our roots are different. This difference has led us to have a different relationship to government. And remember, too, that we are a very small country population-wise. I believe that most Canadians do tend to believe that we really do have a voice in our governmental affairs at all levels. It is for this reason that it does not occur to us to mistrust our government. We really do believe that the state is us. And so far this has worked pretty well for us Canucks. Where there is the stench of corruption there is also a clutch of whistle-blowers. And our party leaders, including our current Prime Minister, regularly make appearances on our national satirical TV shows only to be shown up as fools. They do this voluntarily and with good humour. Sometimes I forget that you folk relate differently to your government. This is my mistake.

Yabba dabba doo. Green has finally attacked her roots. Her hair looks pretty kinda okay. Too bad that another blizzard just has drifted into the hood. There is no sunlight in Greenland but the neighbourhood does look kinda, sort of gorgeous. There is something special about fresh snow, you know. My street really does look like a winter wonderland.

I sure am one disorganised grrlie. The one thing that I can say is that the bigger the gang, the more stressed out and dysfunctional the experience will be. This means that Kat, Green, BJean, Laurend, and Wheets look to be a fine gang, one who will enjoy each other's company and who will have tres beaucoup de fun together. A group of 5 also means that we will feel comfortable splitting off into sub-structures according to our interests and yet we will, group-wise, be unlikely to feel threatened by our individual forays. The big deal, the way I see it, is that we want to hang with Kat and yet we don't want to squeeze her. For sure Kat does not want a bunch of crazed band brats crashing on her living room floor. This means cheapo hotel rooms. It is either that or engaging in short-term romantic relationships with some of the local cats. I think I prefer the first option at this point in my life. I am old and I am on a bunch of anti-depressants.

Oh my friend, ousooner! Yup, Canada finds herself following those countries which form the bulk of the western, post-industrial, democratic block of nations. And yes, Canada has opted for her own form of modified socialism or, depending upon how you are going to choose to view it, her own form of modified capitalism. My hunch is that we Canadians sure are happy living within the framework of this particular social and economic environment. The big truth is that the Canadian economy is doing just fine, and that the exremely modified communism or, um, er, socialism practised in this country throughout many decades now, has done little to rein in the financial energy of this country and yet at the same time there is a prevailing philosophy that we must work hard to maintain the social safety net for those who belong to the middle, the lower middle and the working classes. Now you should take care to note that these are not folks who fall into the category of being yer welfare bums. These are yer decent folk but let us subtract their health benefits and the rights of their children to gain access to a decent education - priviledges which all of us Canucksters assume to be part of our rights - and you have what? The underpinings of yet another generation of socially marginalized class? Folks like yourself are talking about agreeing upon a loss of recognition of work value and of emotional engagement in your society from yet another group of individuals? I know that I may sound like an idealistic Canadian but I do feel that our investment in the health and the education care of all of our citizens is always the wisest move. Look at it this way, eh: stupid and unhealthy critters are unlikely to survive, don't ya think? I say that it is better for us to invest the bucks, to chose to engage in the future of our cities, states/provinces and nations. We can't drag the damn $$ into the grave, can we?

Chick response here. I have found that a prolonged domestic arrangement does two things: I will continue to fall more and more deeply in love with my mate. At the same time I find that as my love and personal commitment deepens, my sexual passion grows increasingly chilly. Domesticity and brilliant sex simply cannot happen in tandem, sez Greenie grrl.

Oh, I confess to being a rambler!!!!!!!!

Mariposa, it seems to me that your husband is only trying to send you his love farts/les pets d'amour. I am sure that you can think of a suitable response. My advice is to go fer it grrl! and I wanna hear all aboudit.

I wanna hear about the next disaster. I wanna hear all about the visit of your ghastly in-laws. You realise that this hideous sequence of horrors could be spun into gold, it could be engineered into an absolutely hilarious movie script. Should you do this and find yourself beyond stinking rich, think of Green and remember to toss her a certain percentage of your wealth. I am thinking of something around 10%, eh.

Perhaps I shouldn't be saying this but Obama is the most Canadian* (and not in the nouveau racist use of the term) of your candidates. His values and his personal style are very much in touch with our own style and set of values. In short, speaking in terms of the Canuck Gestalt, he is the most easily understood of your candidates. And it is true that Canuckis sure do like him, in fact we like him a lot. Whenever I get into casual discussions with people on the street or in stores they seem to be overwhelmingly in favour of Obama. Moreover, those folks who write in the op-ed pages of our newspapers seem to prefer Obama, too. Nevertheless, you Americans may be interested to hear that we Canucks are awfully impressed by the fabulous diversity of your current choice of candidates. Though we Canadians love to think of ourselves as an advanced multi-culti society, we persist in offering our electorate a selection of straight white guys as the only options for the top position in this country. *Speaking of us Canadians, I continue to be wildly amused that the new term for black Americans is Canadians. I think that this might be because this Canadian has to apply number 50 sunblock whenever she must leave her house. I guess it ain't the N-word; it is now the C-word that we will be talking about. Too bad that Green can't jump, nor can she dance. But that's life, eh. Not all Canucks are born equal. hah!

I really like your attitude. I think that it is an even-handed one. You have been able to separate Bill's behaviour as a male slut from his other undeniable abilities. One can be wise in one area and a complete fool in another. In fact most people are. George W is a stunning example of this. He may be faithful to his wife and he definitely seems to be attached to his Bible but he sure has made a bluddy mess of the Presidential Office both in terms of your own domestic health and with respect to America's international street cred. This is a real tragedy in my books. I am one of the many foreigners who are anxious to see America to continue to do well. You see, I believe that the health of the west depends upon you.

You look absolutely lovely and you have already done a fine job of losing weight. I am sure that you will nail those final 20lbs. It is nice to see you back and great to see your photos and get your update. Congratulations!

Yep, Wheets, Laurend, let's all do it! I think that this would be oh so cool.... Whaddya think, Kat, if Wheets, Laurend, BJean, and Green all descend on your part of the world for a visit with you? You could give us the name of a hotel nearby, etc, and one of us, someone more organised than me could work out all the details of the trip. I am good at showing up on time, and being a pleasant and amusing travelling companion.

Paulax, you are absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations, grrl!!

Merci mille fois. T'es tres gentille. Et bien sur je n'ai aucune desire a me faire faire premier-ministre! J'ai trop d'histoire! *clin d'oeil* Et J'adore le calme, la solitude.... Oui, j'ai eu beaucoup de succes avec le Lap band. Ca fut un vrai miracle. Ca va t'aider enormement, j'en suis sure. Il faut que tu sache les regles du regime. Ca veut dire manger que de tous petits morceaux, manger les Proteins de prime abord et des legumes, des fruits. Il faut eviter les boisons carbonises, des sodas, de la biere (snif), du Perrier.... Et c'est interdit a boire et de manger tout a la fois. Mais bien sur tu le sais deja, hein? Ca me fait beaucoup de plaisir a t'ecrire. Merci. Je te demande pardon car je sais que je fais un tas de fautes de grammaire, etc. Et je souffre enormement du sujonctif - ou bien la manque de le bien savoir. En plus, je n'arrive pas a mettre les icones sur place dans mes posts. *double snif*

Thanks for the advice, Peaches. I do rinse my mouth and spit but, you know, I have been wondering if the inhaler has been affecting my throat! My asthma has only recently been diagnosed but my doc thinks that I have always had it. This would make sense. There is asthma, along with depression, in our family. blehhhh!

Pasta Alfredo and a filet mignon extra rare. Add in a bottle of French red.

Dynamo! It is so nice to hear your voice again, grrl! You have been MIA for awhile now. Welcome home.

The point which you introduce in your final paragraph was the only issue which made me feel guilty about skiving off jury duty. I am a fairly detached and savvy individual. I am also fairly good at taking charge. All of this would have been something of value to offer up to our legal system as a member of a jury panel. But I am also a raving neurotic. Whaddya gonna do?

Ingyrob, that is adorable.

Oh yah, it is true that Green has an undeniable charm, and even more so when she is feeling cheerful enough to involve herself in mucking out her crib and taking care of her personal grooming. She figures that March will be the month when she gets it all together. March will be the month when the sun will return to Canada. (It is true that Green's face and figure do look pretty damn good now thanks to surgical intervention.) Too bad about the woolly legs and the bi-coloured hair.

Bravo! Je suis tellement contente a ecouter de tes nouvelles. J'avais beaucoup de succes grace au band. J'arrive a porter des fringues chics meme. Et non, je ne suis pas quebecoise. J'habite a Toronto et je suis anglophone (comme cet ordinateur) mais j'ai vecu en France il y a longtemps et j'ai envie a te parler en ta propre langue. Cela me fait plaisir, c'est tout.... Bien sur je suis en train de tout oublier, de tout perdre par rapport ma connaissance de la langue francaise. *snif* Et cela me rendre triste. OHIP est l'acronyme de l'assurance medicale de l'Ontario. Voici cette petite histoire de Verte!

And re fart types, I once knew a family who categorized them as fizzes, fizzy-fuzzes, fuzzes, and basso-profundos.

Wheetsin, your explanation does make sense. We do become inured to odors. This is a good thing for those who work in sanitation, with the elderly, the newly dead, or around infants. And I found your reason for taking French tres drole. I took French, Latin, and German in highschool. I was lousy in French and so decided that it was an idiotic language. In my early 30s I ended up living in France and formally studying the language while I was there. I became fairly comfortable in this, a very complicated language, but have managed to forget most of what I have learned since coming back to Toronto. This is kind of sad, I think. Still, French friends do periodically come to visit and after some exposure my knowledge begins to come creeping back.

I am oh so for this idea. And I am retired. We should determine on a good time and then the 3 of us will be there because we ain't square. This could be total fun for us. And what is this about ballooning? I went ballooning in Turkey and it was bluddy brilliant. I sure would love to do this again. And as for shopping and eating bbq, meeting cowboys and horsemen, any of these events sound interesting to me. Remember that I am Canadian. Canadians can do snow.* *Come to think about it, I live in Toronto, and thanks to global warming and big city micro climate we don't see much snow anymore. Maybe I cannot do snow. !!?!! Just a thought. A thought which other Canucks will appreciate, especially those who detest Toronto. *wink & lol*

Bwahahaha! I am still a practising tabacconista. My fingers are yellow, my teeth are green and my lungs are brown.