Got the cold...

Hello, peeps. So, I have the cold I was catching last weekend. It took its own sweet time to arrive, and it has yet to reach a peak. I've spent the past couple of days in bed, because it's made me feel like death microwaved, and snuffly to boot. With a weird heaviness in my throat. I'm not sure what that's all about, but it's annoying.

Yesterday I took the bull by the horns, and stopped all the applications I had been doing on Facebook. They took up so much of my time that it was ridiculous. I am not tied as closely to the interwebs, and I've been feeling more human every minute. Despite the cold, which just generally makes everyone feel like a sack of shit in a cheap suit, you'll pardon the expression.

Poppy, the bunny, hasn't been out of her hutch much lately. (Yes, I noticed the rhyme, but have decided to ignore it.) She needs more out time, but she will insist on chewing through electrical cords and on upholstery and just every damn thing. It's very hard to keep a constant, vigilant eye on her - you never know what will tickle her tastebuds next. But she does these gorgeous little bunny hops in the air when she's feeling the breeze of freedom and happiness running in her veins, and that only happens when she's out. So, tomorrow, I'll take time to let her out and watch over her. Everyone needs that breeze regularly.

I've been reading Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. Giller Prize 2009. It is lovely. Very Canadian, and so gently written, despite some violence. Easy to see why it was given the Giller's thumbs-up. I sent a mini-review of mine own to the book group in NZ, and several of the members wrote back that they'd never heard of the Giller. Someone also remarked that it was likely that Canadians had never heard of the Montana Book Award, either, and that that was a sad thing. It IS a sad thing. These winners are generally well worth the time spent reading them, and they deserve world-wide audiences. I don't know if news of the G-Gs makes it down there - I haven't noticed press on it from the Herald, or other places. But of course, we all know about the Pulitzers and the Booker and the others from the US and the UK. Perhaps it might be a rewarding mission to discover the book awards in English-speaking countries, and read those awards' winners. Could start with the colonies. Easy enough to do via the interwebs, as is everything else, even Christmas shopping. Perhaps a new blog...

Speaking of Christmas shopping (did you see what I did there?), I think I'm going to do almost all of it online this year, from www.etsy.com. Handmade stuff, and the money goes right to the creator. Plus, I won't have to go out to buy things - it'll all get sent. Some really incredibly creative people out there. I love, love, love the way the interwebs have made that world closer, the world where beautiful things are being made, just because they're beautiful. Such constructive, imaginative, inspiring, ingenious people and they're all over the world. It's so heartening that it doesn't have to be destructive, doesn't have to involve violence. What a relief, I can tell you. I'm done with doom and gloom, and I'm all for sugar-coated sweetness and light and stars. Mostly, because lord knows, I have my dark corners, and I like them. They give me unexpectedness and they keep me grounded. But they don't include much laughter that comes from deep in the belly, and that is what life is about, peeps. Laughter and dance. Poppy would agree.

PS. about the cartoon above. Obviously, it's not by me. I got it from a site called imgfave.com, and now I can't find where I got it on the site, nor can I find the cartoonist. But I LOVE it. Reminds me of Emma Goldman, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." Go, Emma!!