What brainiac decided that these would make good mascots for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games?

According to The Globe and Mail,

The cute figures are designed to resemble cartoon-like versions of a snowboarding sea bear (Miga), a sasquatch (Quatchi) and a winged “animal spirit” resembling both bear and bird (Sumi).

The Herald-Tribune offers a nice, simple explanation of exactly what these creatures are (if cross-bred endangered species and a sasquatch can be called simple at all):

Quatchi is a young sasquatch with a long brown beard and blue earmuffs, while Miga is a snowboarding sea-bear — part killer whale and part kermode bear. And Sumi is a spirit animal that flies with the wings of a native thunderbird. There’s even a sidekick: Mukmuk, a friendly Vancouver Island marmot

The brainchildren of Vancouver’s Meomi Design (please, oh please go check out their website; it’s beyond all belief!) these guys are nothing if not cute. But in a weird, disturbing, coulrophobic way.

Is it me? I’d love to bring these cuddlies home to my kids as toys, but mascots? For Vancouver/Whistler’s Olympic Games? Hmm.

Then again, here’s what Calgary barfed up for their 1988 gig as Winter Olympic Hosts. Meet Hidy and Howdy:

Uh…yeah. I guess that qualifies as a ” ’nuff said” moment, doesn’t it.

Oh. And I’d like to officially enter into the record that I came to Calgary a full TEN YEARS after the invention of Hidy and Howdy. I do not wish to be associated with said mascots in any way. Ever. At all.

Over and out…got a few other posts germinating; promise to get them up soon!

Last night I attended a cookie exchange party. At first, I didn’t really know what to expect. I know the hostess in a roundabout way, but I haven’t seen her in years. But I decided, what the heck. I love to bake holiday goodies and I’m always up for a night out.

Wow. Was I in for a treat!

So, I baked 12 dozen treats (I made chocolate peppermint bark). But then I thought they were too small, so I added a dozen chocolate-dipped pretzels (that I also made) to each. Being new to the group and wanting to impress, I wrapped ‘em up all pretty in festive goodie bags with lovely red ribbon bows. I piled ‘em all in a box and headed out for the long drive to Debbi’s.

When I arrived, I saw that all the other guests had taken the exchange even more seriously than I did! There were several different cookie tins, mini paint cans, even chinese take-out boxes full of baking. The hostess even presented her goodies on a gilded platter topped with a red satin bow holding a large, brass cookie cutter. Oh, so very Martha! I felt somewhat cowed by the length (and expense!) the others had gone to. I’d briefly considered the mini paint cans myself, but figured the $2 price tag was too much; who spends $24 on a cookie exchange, anyway? Now I know who! Read the rest of this entry »

My cousin Madeleine died of cancer three years ago today. Each year on November 23, her parents, sister, children and close family commemorate her life. My uncle sent this out to the family by email today: Madeleine’s memorial message, published annually in the local newspapers.

To honour my inspirational cousin, I  share it with you here. (I also wrote about Madeleine and her legacy of inspiration here).

Madeleine (Little) Joiner
A legacy of inspiration

Your legacy is having been an inspiration for a legion of friends, colleagues and family
For perseverance to overcome barriers life throws at you
Wry humor behind that electric smile
Wise counsel to friends with a struggle
Compassion and commitment to all

As you were dying
You told your friend Beth that you wanted us to heal
And remember you as you lived with a smile and a laugh
Not a tear

Each day
Not forgotten
Each day
Walking in our hearts
With a laugh and a smile

Matthew, Ella, Dad, Mum and Michael, Andrew, Erin, John, Johanna, Ursula, Fiona, Sophie

These are my daughter’s inside shoes. She wears them inside (du-uh!) at school. We bought them together, on Labour Day weekend, in preparation for the new school year.

Grade 2. Big deal! In her K-3 school, she is now one of “the big kids”. She can (and did) join the choir, walk to school on her own, and take part in plays.

Like today: Alberta Opera was performing Cinderella at Girl1’s school, and they had a number of students join them in various roles, from actor to stage hand. Gir1 was one of them. She was brimming over with excitement yesterday that she had been selected (it was a lottery, she got lucky). She selected her outfit with great care last night, and woke up at the crack of dawn (admittedly that’s pretty late these days up here in Calgary – 7:00 a.m.!) ready to have a shower and get her hair styled. It was all so cute.

But nothing near as cute as actually seeing her there, acting out her wee, little part. Truth be told, it was her concentration and preparation for her role that entranced me more than her actual performance. So serious and focused, my silly little girl entranced by this tiny glimpse of the world of theatre. I watched her more than the play (which, incidentally, was remarkably good), with pride, admiration and wonderment at this serious little creature of mine.

And then I noticed her shoes. Her indoor shoes, as unfamiliar to me as a stranger’s face on her. Shoes I bought, but haven’t seen in months. Shoes she wears every day; the most consistent item in her wardrobe, in fact. In that moment, my heart lurched a little, as I realized what those indoor shoes really represent: my daughter is growing up, and that means growing away from me. Today it’s a moment’s incongruity as I re-assimilate her shoes into the database of “all that she owns” in my mind. In a few years it will be friends I’ve never met, then classes I never took, and probably even places I’ve never been. My little girl will grow up into a woman of her own. A woman who doesn’t need her Mom to kiss her goodnight, or pack her backpack, or brush her teeth.

It’s good, in its way, this relentless march towards independence, but I hope I can be forgiven for a moment of sentimentality over my baby girl’s indoor shoes.

Excuse me; I’m going to go into her room and gaze on her sleeping little girl’s face to burn it into my memory.

You remember Donny and Marie, right?

Marie was “a little bit country”, and Donny was “a little bit rock ‘n roll”. (Link to the song here, if you like. You’re welcome.)

Well, the Mormon wonder-twins might have rock ‘n roll and country covered, but I’m a little bit hippy.

Maybe it comes from being born in the sixties (I was actually born in May 1969 – almost the seventies – but I love being able to say: “I was born in the sixties!”), or maybe it was the repeated exposure to this as a child:

And by the way, if you haven’t played Free to Be, You and Me for your children, you’re all missing out! On valuable lessons like tolerance, acceptance, equality. *SIGH* Good, kind hippy values that have been swept under the carpet in our reactionary times.

Here’s my favourite: “Parents are People”, sung by Marlo Thomas and a young (and hot!) Harry Belafonte: Read the rest of this entry »