Tuesday, December 27, 2011

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is coming.
I hate the countdown.
It reminds me that yet another year has passed in which I achieved none of my wishes.
That another year has passed without those I love.
That I have wasted yet another year.

It also reminds me of those around me whom I love dearly and would move heaven and earth for; if I could.
Which strengthens my resolve to do some of the things I want next year.
Vicious circle? Oh yes.

How about you? Do you love or hate NYE ?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Polar Bears = Christmas?

Now don't get me wrong; I love polar bears.
But really, why are they 'decoration du jour' in nearly every shop I pass in Paris this Christmas?
Does Pere Noel now ride a Polar Bear-driven sleigh like the Ice Queen in Narnia?
Did he retire his reindeeer?
Or .... Does he now live in the Arctic?
What's the connection? Ice : winter : ice bears?
Well, whatever their rationale, I'm lovin' it.
I am doing a photo essay of all the shop displays featuring my favourite wild animal, the majestic Polar Bear.
Merry Christmas Parisian window display artists.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Bonding - bah humbug!

Bonding - no, not glue and two sides of something forced together with it, but bonding of the family variety.
Is that an American term? Should it even be a term at all?
Isn't togetherness for families what it is all about?
How sad that we have to be reminded to notice our parents, our children, our siblings. That we have to be forced together.
Have our lives been so bombarded with nonsense, that we have forgotten the basics of the family unit?
I heard a radio host talk about it on my drive to work this morning. He suggested giving your kids "total attention parent time"coupons for Christmas. I must admit, if the concept depressed me, the fact that many parents would actually do it, depressed me more.
Yesterday I baked cookies with my daughter. And I drove through the dark and the rain to pick up my son, so he could share dinner with us.
Was I bonding? Bah humbug - of course not!
But I daresay some see my actions as being the glue that keeps us together.
Oh well.