The Kitten's Yarn

Twas the day after Christmas and back in the barn,
A cute little kitten was playing with yarn.
“I am so happy, as happy can be,
For Santa brought a ball of yarn just for me!”

It chased that yarn ball as it rolled cross the floor,
And batted it 'round then chased it some more.
Until as it rolled it got stuck on a nail
And that little kitten, it started to wail,

“Oh no, my poor yarn ball! It won't roll around!
It now only sits there attached to the ground!
Is there not someone here to help me out?”
Then, in the corner, continued to pout.

It just so happens, right then I walked by
And paused as my ears caught the poor kitten's cry.
I'm a sucker for kittens, in distress or not,
So I sped up walking to almost a trot

And entered that barn so the scene I could spy,
Which was so sad it brought a tear to my eye.
So sad and forlorn was that little cat!
I walked over and gave it's small head a pat

Then I noticed the yarn ball that started this mess
And pulled it off the nail with much finesse.
But the nail was still there so lickety split
I found some stuff that worked well to cover it.

In front of the kitten I put the ball down
And almost instantly that kitten's frown
Was turned to a smile as it's heart filled with glee.
“I have my yarn ball back! Hooray! Whoopee!”

As I walked away with a smile on my face
I vowed I would soon voyage back to that place
And visit the kitten with the ball of yarn,
Which was happily playing out back in the barn.

The Mother Of Invention

It has been said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” I disagree. I think it's more accurate to list Invention's hypothetical parents as laziness and/or impatience. We don't call it that though—we say something “makes life easier.” So much stuff out there was invented because the old way was slower than we'd like and/or took too much work.

Think about it. There's really not a lot of things out there that were invented because there was a real and genuine need for it. Cars? Horse drawn carriages were just too slow. Light bulbs? We were too lazy to deal with proper care and safety procedures involved in using candles. Don't forget the printing press. Those scribes were just too lazy to write everything by hand, and we were too impatient to wait for them to do it. And then there's computers. Obviously another child of both laziness and impatience.

Don't get me wrong, though—I'm not knocking all the great things that have been invented. It's hard to mention life without most of them. I guess I'm just too lazy and impatient to do things “the old way.”

So Close, Yet So Far...

I should have been spending the night in my parents' spare bedroom. Instead, I'm in a hotel room in Edmonton. I should have spent the evening playing board games with my family, enjoying some great Christmas baking and maybe watching some TV. Instead, I spent it on airplanes and in airports.

It started with a flight from Kelowna to Edmonton. I was not on that flight, but for whatever reason it was delayed from leaving for 20 minutes. I was supposed to connect with this flight in Edmonton, which then would take me to Saskatoon.

Not only was that flight late leaving Kelowna, but there were technical difficulties when the plane was going to leave Edmonton. By the time we were finally taking off, it was an hour later than it should have been departing.

And then came the weather. While we were enroute to Saskatoon, it started to rain. Freezing rain. As the Captain was starting his descent, he learned that the runways had frozen over. Plus, there were strong winds too. Definitely a bad combination, so he turned the plane around and headed to...

Calgary. Once in Calgary, we all deplaned while we waited to find out what was going to happen. And waited. And waited. It was determined that, unless individuals decided to make their own alternate arrangements, we all would be flown... Wait for it... Back to Edmonton.

Of course, that meant more waiting, as they needed to bring in a new crew and sort out everyone's luggage, to sort out what was and wasn't going back to Edmonton. At least I was certain that my luggage wouldn't be lost, as I personally watched it being reloaded.

It was appreciated that the Captain and crew for this extra flight injected extra humor into everything they said to try and lighten the mood. There were lots of laughs to the Captain's comment that the Customer Service folks in Edmonton were already donning their tackle gear and hockey pads... But it was indeed very much appreciated that the Captain took the time to explain the situation and what happened, not to mention that he and the crew probably gave up their own evenings with family for us.

After getting into my room, at about midnight local time, I checked for my updated boarding pass online. The passengers from this flight were being put in to any empty seats on flights to Saskatoon the following day. It looks like I'm on the 3:20PM flight—exactly 24 hours after my original flight was supposed to leave Edmonton. Oh well. At least I do have a couple food vouchers, so I can have a nice lunch at the Chili's in the airport.

I guess I can say that today was a bit of an adventure... Just not one I hope to repeat anytime soon. It's a little frustrating to think that if the flight had even one less delay, it may have beaten the icy runway conditions. I hope and pray that things go smoother tomorrow. That would not be fun at all, to be turned away from Saskatoon two days in a row!

Santa Claws

I don't have a Christmas tree, but here's a short cartoon about one.

Home for the Holidays?

I had a strange realization last night. In a couple days I fly out to spend Christmas with my family, but I'm really not “Going home for the holidays.”

After I moved out on my own, my parents moved a couple times themselves but those other houses still felt like home to me, even though I never actually lived in either of them myself. But it's different now after this third move, to Saskatoon.

Other than the rare times with snow on the highways or some other road obstruction, I've never had to travel for longer than 40 minutes to spend time with my family. With their other houses I always felt at home there, as I was able to visit frequently and spent a lot of time there so I was strongly accustomed to them. In fact, while I lived in this apartment, to me home was my parents' house.

This Christmas I'm going to a house I've never even visited before. I know, technically I have been there back in September when I helped them move. But really, the extent of my time in their new home was just spending a day unloading a truck into the empty house and eating a quick-and-easy KFC take-out dinner. I spent that night back at my brother and sister-in-law's place and flew back to Abbotsford the following morning. I have a mental image of what their unpacked-and-set-up home might look like but that's it.

And now, with the extra physical distance between us, it takes much more time and expense to visit. I probably won't get out there more than a couple times a year, so by the time their house might start feeling like home, they'll be moving again and it'll start all over. Although I will certainly look forward to all my visits to see my family (although that may change after experiencing a Saskatoon winter...), I'm not sure that I'll be able to view my parents' house as home ever again.

And thus begins the process of redefining what home means to me.

I Saw Three Ships Do WHAT???

There is a well known Christmas carol that has the lyrics:

I saw three ships come sailing in On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day

. . .

O they sailed into Bethlehem, On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day

Obviously, the songwriter did not do his research, as Bethlehem is nowhere near water. I don't know how these ships are supposed to have sailed in. From the satellite photos, there doesn't even appear to be a river near it, or at least not one capable of having a ship sailing up it!

But I guess it's always possible he was actually referring to an airship...