Her Word Is An Anvil

Hi Carolyn,




Well let me just say that if there is ever a situation where someone comes  to me and says “ What do you know about this Carolyn Varvel person?” or let’s say the folks at Alfred A. Knopf, or Penguin Books or Random House were doing background checks for potential new editors or entry level publishing managers and they came to me for a character reference. The situation could unfold as follows:

　

They ask me how it is to work with or deal with Ms Varvel. I respond  that her word is an anvil. I continue by noting that when she says something will be delivered then you can depend upon it being delivered, and in a thoroughly effective fashion. They would then probably ask for some anecdotal example to corroborate this semi-hyperbolic statement.. I would counter by noting that on January 5th, in Conversations at Wormhole Electric she said that snow would be delivered to myself and the rest of us here in Southern and Central Ontario. She didn’t use any puffery or ostensible terms - she simply stated that " we're sending you more of the cold white stuff”




I would then proceed to point out that she delivered  on her undertaking, and delivered in gold-plated spades, no , in titanium plated spades.

We are in the process of digging out from a blizzard that can only be described, as the guys in the old school barber shop I visited recently would say,  as an absolute “ corker “ We had the experience of being, for all intents and purposes, pinned in our domiciles for 48 hours straight simply because it was a maelstrom outside. There was no point in clearing any walkways or driveways because they’d be filled back in and more within the hour. Our home looks like some gargantuan pastry chef picked it up and plunked it into a bowl of white fluffy icing , mixed it around thoroughly and put it back. The outside windows, facing all four points of the compass, are snow encased.





There were no power outages, which is good because we were really cooped up in here for two full days. It must have been something to be on the prairies as a pioneer and pinned down for weeks on end by a fierce winter. We’re stir-crazy here after only three days!


Okay, I’ve had my little weather-induced therapeutic behavior episode here. On to other stuff.







Boy, I was sad to hear that Phil Everly passed away earlier this week. The air and web waves have been full of accolades, and rightly so. I won’t attempt to add to them because the sheer volume speaks for itself. I did, upon hearing the news go back and listen to all of my Everly Brothers stuff and then to the later icons who claimed them as a seminal influence. I especially listened to early Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Beach Boys stuff and other groups whose harmonies were part of what put them on the top shelf. When I listened to them I could pick out the individual voices but when I listen to Phil and Don it was like one man possessed of two sets of vocal chords  - wow!

It’s still the ultimate instrument - the human voice. I am so tempted to go on here but it would simply end up being a slobbery blubbery wake-like couple of paragraphs.


About your vacation......

Hawaii no less. That is a no small potatoes ( or should that be pineapples?) vacation, especially in the winter months. I’m glad it met the anticipatory expectations it must have had if it was something you’d been saving up for and contemplating for a number of years. Your descriptions and pics of the islands were great. If I were there I think I’d be hanging around the volcanoes as much as I possibly could. They must be like the Rockies in that they really put we humans in our place as just one small and fairly insignificant  piece in the big puzzle. And I agree that natures ability to heal after such a violent wound is another reason to regard her with unlimited awe.









You didn’t happen to see a hunky, woolly-chested, tall P.I. in a red Ferrari scooting about, did you ?






Glad you got a wee kick out of the twelve minutes of Christmas thing. I actually did have a bit of a dream on Christmas eve and it did have good ole’ Sanny Clause in it and some time travelling stuff. That could have been in part because traditionally we watch the  Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol just before we hit the hay each Christmas eve. Been’ doin ’that one since we were kids ourselves.


BTW, if you had only 12 minutes worth of time travel how would you spend it?



Speaking of spending time I should correct a slight misconception. We are only going to be in Mexico for about five weeks and a bit. We tried to make it more but this kitchen thing got in the way. We will be here when the tear out part happens and when the installation of the new kitchen happens. During our away time our son, who spent a number of years in the renovation business will be putting in the oak flooring that will be underneath all of this kitchen stuff and out into our mudroom and laundry room as well.




We are able to make this extended stay happen because we have some friends who, when their nest emptied, cashed in the property they had here and bought a cottage  on Lake Huron and then went to Merida and bought an old home right in the centre of Merida and had it restored and also stuck a small guest house on the other end of the property.  That's where we are staying. It all sounds extravagant, I suppose,  but with the difference in materials and building costs its actually far less expensive than one might think.





We actually just transfer our everyday lifestyle from cold here to hot there for a number of weeks. In February, to be hanging the wash out in a breeze that one would normally face in a hot July is most mentally beneficial, let me  tell ya. Groundhog Day becomes Gecko Day.




Okay, to the 2014 Riddle Cave we go. My last offering was " pots and pans " - I think I'm on a utensil kick because we're sorting through the junkyard of them we've accumulated in our old kitchen. The Salvation Army Thrift Store is the next stop for wackloads of " stuff " from here lately, including utensils galore.

I can't quite get a definitive handle on your riddle, Carolyn and times up so I am gonna guess that its - fossils, like those found in solidified lava.

Here's the second one for this year:

A better alternative to

teeth, table edges or pliers

Gives you the leverage to

Open up a world of possibilities

 

 

 

See you next time Carolyn and I hope your research is zinging along like a zipper on steroids too.

 

Don

 

 

 



 

All Images sourced from Google Images

Fig. 1 - rcmp.grc.gc.ca
Fig. 2 - allposters.com
Fig. 3 - guardianlv.com
Fig. 4 - daysofthecrazy-wild.com
Fig. 5 - tomselleck.tv- website.com
Fig. 6 - travelyucatan.com
Fig. 7 - thefamilywithoutborders.com
Fig. 8 - magnum-mania.com