It’s almost 7 pm, is still 34 degrees outside and this is what the sky looks like right now…..

Holy Hella

Wanna guess what’s coming next?

I logged 5 hours on the beach yesterday as it was center of the fucking sun hot.

Melanomalicious

40 degrees is beach weather no matter how you slice it. Appears that there will be more of the same today.

loveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveitloveit.

Gray proves that babies know what they like.

When wanting to appear very tanned, one should always be photographed with pasty white babies……..

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…………….

Contraband!

“I forgot to tell you in my email yesterday that they took away my bottle of apple juice that you had in the Diego bag. No liquids allowed. So i ask security dude after it went through x-ray and he opened my bag to take it out, “well can I, like, drink it right now?”. He said no, unless i go back out into the public area, so I was ticked off and said fuck it, you can drink it.”

There is a bear issue afoot it seems. Matt’s site has an interesting post on the the dilemma and as I watched the news this morning I couldn’t help but shake my head. Some loud mouth twat was on complaining about them in her Lower Mainland neighborhood. Her comment went something like this…….

If you don’t get someone out here I’m gonna sue the city!

I really wish that bears had the capacity to utilize the legal system. I’d love to see one drag her ass into court for building her shitty little rancher in their backyard.

Grrrrrr…….

Ye olde stomping ground

After dropping Steve at the airport I made tracks to downtown Kelowna to visit my best friend Susin and her delicious husband & son. Long before the wonder lust (and semi irritating) habit of randomly moving to a new city/province/country because “I haven’t live there before” set in I spent my so called “formative years” in Kelowna. Each and every time I go back there I am reminded that it is no longer the city that I knew as a child. I was raised by a hippie single mother who worked three jobs and put herself through night school while battling chronic depression, all in the name of making a better life for her three children. Needless to say, we didn’t have many rules in our house, in fact we didn’t even have a key to the front door. We had lost all copies and re-keying was far too expensive so we relied on honesty and two very large dobermans to keep the bad people at bay. I am proud to say that we were never robbed and I like to think it was our open door status rather than our dobermans that made this possible. As our door was always unlocked, friends of the family would often crash there after we had all gone to bed. We left a stack of blankets on the hearth and it was not abnormal to wake and find one of my or my brothers friends vacuuming or cooking breakfast, or dusting as a contribution to the house. I am sad to say that this would never fly in today’s society.

Susin & I and our group of friends would routinely stroll/bike/lurk through the street of our neighborhood until the wee hours of the morning. We felt safe. We were on our home turf and in some weird way, the occupants of the “Taylor Road House” were untouchable. Suz mentioned to me a while back that a couple of our old friends had driven by the house that was once be half painted and slightly “quirky” in it’s population. They stopped the car and had a “moment of silence” for Taylor Road in appreciation for the very fact that it existed, that the only rule was respect and that they had been a part of it. My Mother, bless her crazy ass soul, made that town remarkable if only by her trust in us doing the right thing. She helped raise more than a few of my and my older brother’s classmates.

It’s sad to go back to something so great and have it not be what you remembered.

This is my official ode to Taylor Road and all that passed through it’s doors.

3 female aid workers- including 2 Canadians- were killed in Afghanistan today and a 4th was critically wounded. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack which brings the tally so far this year to 23 killed. Compare that number to 15 killed in 2007.

As security in the region takes a sharp spiraling nose dive, international aid groups are quietly and unhappily being forced to suspend their vital operations. This is a huge win for the Taliban and an equally enormous blow to those non-military workers who risk their lives for strangers. As these groups pull out the ones who suffer the most are the ordinary people who are on the receiving end of such aid.

It sickens me, this targeting of international aid groups, or in the inverse, situations like the Betancourt rescue earlier this summer where Colombian military forces disguised themselves as Red Cross aid workers to trick FARC into releasing their prisoners for “transport.” In the end, and in either situation, it’s the aid worker who gets the shaft, and more often of late, the bullet.

I have a long history of wanting to punch people in the throat. Nancy Grace & Dubya have always had a reserved spot at the top of the list and let me tell you, it’s getting really crowded. Hate me if you may but those daring soldiers in Columbia are on it for their myopic decision to misrepresent the Red Cross and therefore put all future aid missions at risk. The Taliban have been on it for a while, along with many, many others. The only list that the 23 dead aid workers will be on are lists of bereavement. The sheer volume of those killed during this insanity are creating their own sad list and it is one that we as a human race should be profoundly ashamed of.

I had dinner last night with some dear friends who are visiting from Australia and with them came came their ridiculously gorgeous new daughter Charlotte.

It hurt my uterus to hold her.

On Thursday driving Steve to the airport in Kelowna will give me a perfect excuse to take an entire day off work and visit with my best friend Susin’s little man- who I like to refer to as my baby- Grayson, aka G J Smoove. I am ranked with the undisputed titles of “favorite aunt” and “baby whisperer”. I’m a spoiler- giving gifts randomly and without occasion, I am also patient, willing to make a fool out of myself, and usually prefer the kid’s table to the adults. Having said all of that, my two daughters are both black, hairy as hell and one has a beard and mustache combo that most men envy. Before you start dialing child welfare on me, let’s clarify; 1 dog + 1 cat = 2 daughters

I am a little obsessed with my pets, particularly my dog who is substantially less independent than the cat. I schedule activities around how long she has been left alone and yes, if you must know, she goes to daycare at least once a week.

I look at Maggi’s dog shit to ensure that everything is A-OK.

Considering my over protective, anal retentive and obnoxious parenting skills with kids of the 4-legged variety, it is fairly obvious that despite any desire to do so that I may feel, having a kid of my own is clearly not a good idea.

Does this come with a face guard thingy?

Poor thing would be so uncomfortable living in that fucking bubble wrapped bedroom. I also fear that the mandatory protective helmut would ostricize the child and make friendships difficult.

I was (sort of) among one of the billions watching the spectacle that was the Beijing opening ceremonies. Okay, I’ve had a few days to really think about it and I have to say, they still make me want to vomit a little. I feel the same way about them as I do about fireworks which I have quietly boycotted because I see them as a ridiculous waste of money. This started during the years I lived in downtown Vancouver and would witness countries that openly struggle to feed their own population spend millions to compete in the “Symphony of Fire”. Please don’t come at me with the “attracting much needed tourist dollars” argument. Just how many people standing on the beach watching colourful explosions in the sky went home and thought “Hmmmmm…. Those fireworks were amazing, I think a vacation in Argentina is a terrific idea!” I have backpacked through Argentina, and I can say without a doubt, it was not due to their fireworks. (more…)