Going to Church tomorrow?

Church authorities removed this sign after they received complaints from the community. A little bit of bad judgement , I think.
Photo "borrowed" from the Toronto Star.

Five things...

Xtreme English tagged me to do one of these crazy memes that are going around.
I'm supposed to name five things in my current life that I never dreamed would be in my future when I was 25 years old. Then I have to tag five other people who, hopefully, will do the same and report back! OK... let's go! (be warned, it's pretty boring)

Thinking back to when I was 25, I had been married for 4 years, I had emigrated to Canada and was living in Toronto, a very long way from my family in England.

• At 25, I couldn't imagine how my life would change with the responsibility of children, but OlderSon was born the following year, and YoungerSon followed a few years later. And I managed fine. My family has grown. I have two gorgeous daughters-in-law. A bouncy grandpuppy, two grandkitties and two grandhorses. And a beautiful grandbaby about to make his/her debut. Yippee!
• International travel was non-existent during my childhood, so I never throught I would see the wonderful places I have visited... Egypt, Israel, France, Greece, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, USA... the list goes on.
• I didn't imagine working for the same company until retirement, but I did.
• I certainly didn't envision having a computer of my own, or a fax machine, or a cell phone, or playing video games, or being able to communicate with people all over the world via the magic of the Internet.... all futuristic technology back in 1970.
• As children, my friends and I would wonder if we would be alive when 1999 turned into 2000. It seemed so far in the future. But here I am, I survived Y2K and I intend to stay around for quite a few more years.

I'm not tagging anyone to do this... if you want to take up the challenge , please do!

Is Red Dead?

How many redheads do you know? Are there any in your family?

This article in theToronto Star says that redheads may be a thing of the past in 100 years time.

Both parents need to carry the recessive gene to produce a redhaired baby. My father had red hair but nobody in my mother's extended family did, so I was a surprise. I have quite a few redhaired cousins on my father's side of the family.

It was the bane of my life as a kid. I was called GingerNut, Red, Carrot Top. One girl wondered how I could sleep at night. "Doesn't your hair keep you awake?" she asked. Hmmmm.
My mother always dressed me in blue, she said it went well with my hair. I avoided wearing blue for years, but I like it again now.

There must be lots of redhead bloggers out there. A few that spring to mind are Ginnie at In Soul, Sue at Photowannabe and MaryEllen at Xtreme-English. I'd love to hear stories of how you all survived the inevitable taunts that go with being a redhead.

Only a month to go before my first grandbaby arrives.

I wonder if........

Leon

Some people love to be the centre of attention, we all know one or two, don't we, always telling jokes or slipping on banana peels. Does this apply to cats too?

Leon doesn't know he's a cat. He thinks he's a stand-up comedian. He's convinced himself that his mission in life is to entertain an adoring public.

Leon was a wild cat. He was taken in by an elderly lady, but when she moved to a retirement home a few years ago, she was only allowed to bring two cats, and Leon was number three, so he came to live with OlderSon and The Equestrienne as JoJo's step-brother.

He's expert at falling off the bed, falling off chairs, falling off knees, falling off anything. He can turn somersaults on the carpet, and make funny noises at the same time. And the more you look at him, the more he loves to go though his roly-poly vaudeville routine.

Quite a character. What he really wants is a booking at Yuk-Yuks.

First two phots by OlderSon... see, I give credit where credit is due!

JoJo

On a visit to OlderSon and The Equestrienne's house, I consider myself lucky if I catch a tiny glimpse of JoJo. She's not a lap cat. She stays in the basement, only reluctantly showing her face upstairs if she hears the rattle of the kitty treat bag.

Her mother was a feral cat who gave birth to a litter of kittens in the wild. JoJo was the only kitten to be caught and brought home. Nobody knows what happened to her brothers and sisters. That was almost seven years ago, and she's still very nervous around people.
She'll never change. Her mother taught her well.

Fogged In

Not quite a pea souper, but almost. At least some of the snow is melting.

California has rain and wind, Eastern Canada is digging out from four big snowstorms in the past week, and here in S. Ontario we have fog.

Strange weather for January. A good day to stay home and bake bread.

Movie'n'Mexican 2008

This year's Movie'n'Mexican took place last night.

I don't really know how this annual event got started. I think just after Christmas about 8 or 9 years ago OlderSon and The Equestrienne went out for Mexican food, and then saw a movie, and the following year, more family members joined in, and it's now become a family ritual, all part of the Christmas and New Year holiday celebration.

And it always has to be Mexican food.
Chinese, Greek, Italian.... just not acceptable! Viva Mexico!

We saw JUNO. A great little movie. Nobody dies a horrible death, there are no fiery explosions and no guns, knives, or other weapons of mass destruction. No detectives. No FBI agents lurking in the shadows. Just a story about people and the human condition. And the leading lady, if you can call her that as she is definitely no lady, is a marvellous character, memorably played by Canadian actor Ellen Page. See it... you'll like it!

And then to eat. BarBurrito on Yonge Street. Qesadillas. Tacos. Nachos. Steak Burrito with hot sauce. The Space Cadet thought he could eat two large ones, but finally had to concede defeat and share the second one with OlderSon.
That's it, folks.
I declare Christmas and New Year celebrations are now officially over.