the pomegranate tiger

This may have been the quietest Christmas we've had in a long time. We only had our immediate family for dinner and it was so much less stressful. The snow kept falling through most of Christmas week and except for a couple of forays to finish shopping, I remained ensconced in front of my fireplace. Our older son and girlfriend came on Christmas eve and stayed until this a.m. (the 29th). Christmas day, we had gift opening with lots of pictures and laughs, brunch, some Scrabble playing, Rock Band 2, turkey dinner, more Scrabble playing and Rock Band (last year it was Guitar Hero), then more food and munchies. It was lots of fun. Mind you, I didn't play Rock Band, but it was sure fun watching others play it. Oh, and did I mention wine? As usual, (among other things) first son got me books and second son got me CDs: The books: - A Good Catch - Sustainable Seafood Recipes from Canada's Top Chefs by Jill Lambert (foreward by David Suzuki); and - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and t...

I had to add this video of K. D. Lang from her performance on the 2005 Juno Awards. It's my favourite version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and makes me cry every time I see it.

** I posted a slightly different version of this video yesterday. For those of you who follow American Idol, you'll already know that Jason Castro, one of the contestants sang this version of Over the Rainbow on Tuesday night. It's a version originally done by a beautiful and wonderful Hawaiian singer named Israel Kamakawiwoʻole . He died in 1997 at the age of 38. For those who have never heard the original version sung by Iz, please watch and listen: . . . to remember him and because it's so beautiful.

What I'm listening to on a rainy Saturday afternoon: Raising Sand - by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss You can listen to the entire album on the official website (click on the above title). This collaboration by former Led Zeppelin front man, Robert Plant, and bluegrass country fiddle player and singer Alison Krauss, on the surface, seems unusual, but it really works. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. Always a good sign. I received this CD from one of my sons for Christmas. J, knowing I'm too cheap to buy CDs for myself, is always trying to expand my music library. I have very eclectic tastes that cross pretty much all musical genres with the exception of rap (to me, rap is a form of spoken poetry, but that's an entirely different discussion). My opinion is that I won't know if I like or dislike something until I've actually heard it. In the past couple of years, besides the Plant and Krauss, he's bought me Ryan Adams (Cold Roses); Neko Case (...

I don't normally link YouTube videos, but when I came across this one, I just had to put it here. Even if you're not a fan of reality shows or talent shows, please watch. This brought me to tears -- and not just a few welling-of-the-eyes tears. His name is Paul Potts and he's made it to the semi-finals of a talent show in the UK. He says he was bullied in school and lacked confidence, but has always wanted to pursue a career in music.

For our recent vacation, my husband and I took a cruise. You can do as little or as much as you like and it's one of the most relaxing types of vacations I've been on - a great place for a people-watcher like me. I love dancing and watching others dance – all forms of dance - ballet, jazz, ballroom, it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s music and movement, I’ll watch. So while on this vacation, I mostly watched the sixty-plus crowd dance. Why this age group? Because they can really dance. Almost every night and on every special occasion, they’d be the first on the dance floor. They did it all: foxtrot, cha-cha, rumba, salsa, waltz, jive. They did it with verve, enthusiasm and energy – especially the jive. I was in awe. All these grey-haired seniors dancing and boogying as if they were still in high school. Then it occurred to me – they’re probably the last generation who really learned “how” to dance as a matter of course when they were young. I grew up in the fifties and sixti...